Chapter 1550: The Rise and Fall of the First Empire — Who Wants to Commit Suicide?

The basic combat unit of the Ottoman Empire's infantry was not the company but the battalion. Therefore, what deployed on the battlefield was not a series of company line formations, but rather much "thicker" battalion squares.

Of course, these battalion squares were not the same thing as the earlier Spanish tercios. Ahmed Köprülü's "Ottoman square" was designed like this: one company of long musketeers formed a slender two-rank close-order line at the very front of the formation. One company of matchlock men formed a looser four-rank formation behind the long musket company. Two companies of pikemen were placed behind the matchlock company, also four ranks per company, eight ranks in total, likewise in open order.

In other words, the Ottoman battalion square had fourteen ranks in all, of which six were musket ranks — which looked very unfavorable for developing firepower.

Besides being unfavorable for developing firepower, the Ottoman square was also so deep that its front facing the enemy was correspondingly narrow. And since the forces the two sides committed to the battlefield of Győr were roughly equal, the Holy Roman Empire army's battle line was nearly twice as long as the enemy's.

This meant that the Holy Roman Empire's troops could very easily envelop the Ottoman Empire's troops from both flanks.

Count Montecuccoli, observing the battle from the front, saw the Ottomans' "backward" squares and very keenly spotted the enemy's weakness, while also guessing their main axis of attack.

"Your Majesty," he advised Emperor Leopold, the nominal Regional Commander of the Holy Roman Empire forces in the battle, "we should concentrate more than half of our artillery in the center of the line — I expect the Ottomans will soon launch a fierce assault on the center of our line. At the same time, the regiments on both flanks of the line should prepare to envelop the enemy!"

Charles of Lorraine, standing nearby, was the chief of staff of this Holy Roman Empire army assembled at Győr. Seeing the Emperor nod, he immediately summoned orderlies and turned Count Montecuccoli's words into a stream of orders to be passed down.

March 30, 1675, 8 a. m. Zhu Hengli had already followed his "Goa Regiment" to its position in the line. The "Goa Regiment" was located in the second line, near the center. Behind him was Ahmed Köprülü's central force, and the Grand Vizier's three-horsetail banner flew high not too far behind Zhu Hengli.

Zhu Hengli himself did not concurrently serve as regimental commander, so he was free to move about the battlefield. However, Ahmed Köprülü, fearing for his safety, forbade him from getting too close to the front line and only allowed him to move about behind the second line.

At this moment both sides on the battlefield were busy deploying and had not yet opened fire. So there was no gunsmoke blocking the view, and visibility was excellent. Standing in his stirrups, Zhu Hengli raised a telescope and carefully observed the deployment of both armies on the battlefield.

Although he was not a professional soldier, he had taken many military courses (military classes at Laoshan Middle School and the Imperial Academy), so he was not a complete layman in military matters. Seeing the Holy Roman Empire's artillery moving toward the center, he knew there would soon be a bloody battle on the center line. He also knew that his own position was rather likely to be shelled. So before the artillery duel at the front formally began, he turned his horse around and, with a few Mongol cavalrymen guarding him, galloped off to beneath the three-horsetail banner.

Before he could even rein in his horse, the war drums sounded — boom, boom, boom!

Zhu Hengli hurriedly steadied his horse, then rose up in the stirrups again and raised his telescope to observe the situation at the front.

It turned out that ten battalion squares of the Ottoman army had begun their first wave of assault!

……

"They actually attacked!" Count Montecuccoli muttered under his breath. "Without even an artillery bombardment... have these fellows gone mad?"

"Count, the enemy's tactics are truly too backward!" Leopold I said in a cheerful tone, as if victory were already in sight. "Let our artillery open fire and blast them all to pieces!"

Count Montecuccoli nodded, and only then did Charles of Lorraine say loudly: "As you command, my Emperor!"

The six-pounder cannons placed in front of the Holy Roman Empire army's formation soon opened fire!

The cannons brought to the Győr battlefield by the Holy Roman Empire's artillery today were of two types: six-pounder cannons and twelve-pounder short guns. The former were direct-fire pieces, deployed in front of the formation, capable of firing solid shot straight at the Ottoman squares, and also of firing grapeshot.

The latter were howitzers, deployed on open ground between the first and second lines, and not concentrated in one place — the main reason for this deployment was to prevent sympathetic detonation. If the howitzer positions were concentrated together at the front of the line, and the enemy's howitzers landed a single shell among them, the battle would be over!

However, dispersing the howitzers behind the first line greatly reduced their accuracy and power. They could not fire at moving targets, could only bombard the enemy's stationary formations and artillery positions, and it was very difficult to concentrate their fire.

So what opened fire now were the twenty-odd six-pounders concentrated at the front of the center section of the first line, firing solid shot of modest power.

At the same moment the Holy Roman Empire's artillery opened fire, the Ottoman formation also changed. The first two ranks of long musketeers among the ten advancing squares suddenly quickened their pace, moving forward at quick march, while ahead of them, from somewhere, a group of skirmishers appeared running forward. The main body of the squares, made up of matchlock men and pikemen, continued advancing at ordinary march pace.

The Holy Roman Empire's artillerymen did not realize how dangerous those quick-marching and running musketeers were, and as usual aimed their muzzles at the slowly advancing infantry squares — they moved slowly and were a large mass, easy to hit. Some highly skilled Holy Roman gunners could even send a cannonball flying over the heads of the two ranks of musketeers advancing at quick march, then have it land and bounce up again, sweeping through the Ottoman great square at low altitude — one cannonball could knock down a whole row of men. How thoroughly satisfying!

"Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!"

The Holy Roman Empire's infantry let out earth-shaking cheers that nearly drowned out the booming of the cannons.

The Holy Roman infantry regimental commanders directing at the front did not relax their vigilance because of the artillery's performance. They had all spotted those fast-running Ottoman skirmishers — they must not be allowed to get near their own artillery positions!

Large numbers of Holy Roman jägers were quickly sent out. The exchange of fire between skirmishers and jägers soon began, and the strangely dense crackle of gunfire rang out once more all along the front. But the Holy Roman front-line commanders did not pay it much attention, because there was no time for them to notice such things. The "death-defying" Ottoman musketeers had actually charged in two-rank line formation straight at the artillery positions in the center section of the Holy Roman line.

Was this a suicide charge?

Were these Turks in such a hurry to meet their Allah?

The Holy Roman officers and soldiers were all stunned by this brainless suicide charge!

But they were not stunned for long. The artillery and infantry adjusted under their officers' direction. The artillery stopped bombarding the slowly moving squares and began loading grapeshot, waiting for the Ottoman infantry to enter range.

And the Holy Roman infantry made ready to charge, waiting for the artillery to blast the Ottoman infantry apart so they could rush forward and reap lives.

But just as the Holy Roman Empire's warriors were waiting for total victory, the Ottomans opposite suddenly halted their advance — stopping about 220 yards from the Holy Roman artillery positions and beginning to dress their ranks!

What did this mean?

Wasn't this distance a bit far?

Were they all riflemen with rifled muskets?

The questions in the Holy Roman warriors' minds were soon answered: more than a thousand Ottoman musketeers fired their first volley!

From 220 yards away, firing volleys with rifled muskets... this method of fighting was truly somewhat unexpected, and the effect was naturally extraordinary — the first volley knocked down several dozen Holy Roman Empire artillerymen.

But the Holy Roman Empire's front-line commanders were no pushovers either. They all knew the weakness of rifled muskets — slow to reload!

So immediately several infantry regimental commanders ordered their musketeers forward, wanting to fight the enemy in line-infantry fashion...

(End of Chapter)