Chapter 4.10

A Peaceful Land of the Orcs (4.10)
Battalion artillery such as the 57mm mountain gun, despite its toy-like size, is equipped with a feature at the rear of its gun carriage, resembling the blade of a plow. This part, called the 'trail spade,' anchors into the ground to absorb recoil and prevent the gun from moving backward during firing.

The shells for the gun are small and quick to load. Additionally, due to the gun's compact design, it can be maneuvered with ease. Officially, four soldiers are required to handle it, but a strong Orc could single-handedly move it if necessary. This level of mobility is achievable even by Humans or Elves, though not as effortlessly. Thus, the 57mm mountain gun is a highly mobile weapon, albeit with moderate firepower, capable of firing rapidly.

On the other hand, the 75mm field and mountain gun is a much larger piece of artillery. It requires six horses to pull the gun and its accompanying ammunition wagon, with six personnel to operate it. Each shot causes significant recoil, pushing the gun backward. Returning the gun to its original position for firing is the most challenging task for its crew. The quicker this is done, the faster they can fire. Skilled artillery crews can achieve a maximum rate of seven rounds per minute, although the typical rate is around three.

Ideally, terrain modifications are made by piling up earth behind the gun to absorb recoil, allowing the gun to automatically return to its original position after firing. This preparation enhances the firing speed.

The gun has an effective firing range of approximately 2,500 to 3,000 meters. While it has a maximum range of 5,000 meters, firing at such a distance is rare and typically reserved for large targets like fortresses. At maximum range, the target would be near the horizon, making it difficult to observe. Moreover, even on the plains of the Star-Euro continent, terrain features like hills, forests, and towns often obstruct visibility. Consequently, the direct observation and engagement range is usually less than 5,000 meters.

This limitation reflects a broader issue: the rapid advancement of artillery technology has outpaced the development of observational tools and techniques. As such, direct fire, where artillery crews visually observe and engage targets, remains the dominant method. Indirect fire, involving forward observation teams or elevated vantage points to relay target information back to the guns, is less common and requires dedicated communication teams, which most artillery battalions lack.

Artillery is often called the 'king of the battlefield.' Its full-scale barrages resound, shaking the air and overwhelming the enemy's logical thought process.

Even so, Dineluth, with furrowed brows and narrowed eyes, licked her lower lip lightly as she pondered calmly. Normally possessing a wild and natural beauty, her expression in this moment mirrored that of a composed yet ferocious predator.

Having encountered a series of innovative systems and technologies from the Orcsen military all at once, Dineluth found herself unusually composed. This allowed her to shift her perspective and consider how to attack the "iron violence" unfolding below. While impressed by and admiring many aspects of the Orcsen military, she recognized the impossibility of copying everything, such as the number of rifle rounds each soldier carried. Instead, she focused on identifying approaches that suited her own forces.

Through her binoculars, she scanned the blue army across the river, 1.5 kilometers away. They had deployed using the stone walls of a former grazing area. While they were firing back, their movements seemed strangely subdued. Sending out waves of magic detection, she confirmed that no reinforcements were following them.

'They're scheming something,' she concluded.

Breaking through such a highly modernized military force is possible through a few strategies: deploying overwhelming firepower or manpower or outflanking them. Dineluth’s reasoning was sound. The principles of tactics remain relatively unchanged despite the passage of time. At its core, victory on the battlefield boils down to neutralizing the enemy forces—either directly or indirectly.

Meanwhile, the blue army’s actions, appearing to deploy slightly inferior forces against the red army while accurately gauging its strength and positioning, turned out to be a diversion. The main force had circled around from a point 6 kilometers east of the current location. Engineers had constructed a bridge across the river, which ran from east to west through the training ground, enabling the Blue Army to strike deep into the Red Army’s rear.

The river’s width and the terrain had led the red army to dismiss this possibility. Early in the exercise, the red army’s cavalry company had burned down all but one bridge across the river, believing the Blue Army had no choice but to attack the defensive positions visible from the command post. The remaining bridge led to a road that intersected at this very crossroad.

Building a bridge may seem like a daunting task. However, by this time, engineering techniques had advanced enough to make such feats possible in a short period.

The key technology was the pontoon bridge. Simplified, several small boats are placed side by side and connected. Boards are then laid across them to create a floating bridge. This method, known as pontooning, had already begun to emerge before the Dutone War.

Modern engineer units had further refined this process by standardizing and maintaining a supply of bridging materials. In the Orcsen military, grenadier divisions included a specialized bridging column as part of their engineer battalion. Composed of four 83-man bridging platoons, this unit carried the necessary materials to construct these temporary bridges.

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