Chapter 953: 861: Capturing Cologne

Chapter 953: Chapter 861: Capturing Cologne

“The enemy is retreating!”

“Charge, take the fortress!”

“Follow me, there’s a gap on the west side!”

The rapid sound of military drums echoed in all directions, as several squads of French infantry successively passed by Lieutenant Gerard, surging towards the fortress ahead in waves.

The rifle squad he commanded had already silenced the Austrian cannon on the forward flank, and since riflemen were not involved in the task of capturing the fortress, they seemed somewhat idle at the moment.

He was about to order a return to the camp when he suddenly saw several companies quickly heading north, even though the fortress was to their east.

Gerard had excellent eyesight—a basic requirement for a rifleman—and at a glance recognized the flag at the front of those formations.

“The Ninth Infantry Battalion?”

He quickly ran a short distance towards the skirmishers and soon found a familiar face in the middle of the formation, waving his hand: “Felix, what mission are you on?”

The lieutenant first glanced at his own company commander—infantry aren’t as unrestrained as riflemen—then turned his head and whispered: “Quite a few Austrians are retreating from the north side of the fortress, and we have been ordered to intercept them.”

Gerard’s eyes lit up immediately, turning around to vigorously wave at the members of his rifle squad who followed him: “Hey, we’ll rest later, let’s go over there for some action first!”

All 14 soldiers howled at once and rushed northward with him.

Since the war began, the hunting soldier camp hadn’t had many opportunities to engage—the Massetna’s Army previously employed a baiting strategy, careful not to attack the enemy too fiercely, thus keeping the hunting soldier camp on standby. Even during the counterattack, they fired only a few shots before the Duke of Brunswick surrendered under heavy encirclement.

It wasn’t until the siege of Cologne Fortress that the riflemen had a real battle to fight.

However, the time was ultimately too short, and Gerard’s squad hadn’t earned enough battle honors, so they were all raring to go, extremely excited.

Since riflemen weren’t required to maintain formation, they quickly overtook the infantry battalion, reaching the north side of the fortress first.

Then Gerard saw a tide of over a thousand routed soldiers pouring towards the northwest. There stood another fortress right next to the Rhine River.

The sergeant of the rifle squad hesitated, speaking to Gerard: “There are too many enemies; we’d better wait for the infantry to engage before making a move.”

They only had 15 men, and if the Austrian Army sent just one infantry company charging at them, they would all be sacrificed here.

Seeing the furthest enemy about to enter the artillery coverage of the northwest fortress, Gerard smacked his lips and resolutely said: “The Austrians are already in chaos and won’t organize a counterattack. If you’re a man, follow me.”

He quickly ran to a sturdy pine tree, estimated the distance, and raised his August 1790 Hunting Rifle.

With a bang, an Austrian lieutenant 130 paces away fell from his horse, and the soldiers beside him immediately gathered warily, raising their guns and aiming in all directions.

But soon, another series of gunfire erupted, and seven more fell instantly with bullets.

Just as Gerard predicted, they couldn’t figure out where the enemy was and ran away in a panic while shouting mindlessly.

The Austrian Army formation in front was immediately disrupted by them.

An officer blew a whistle to maintain order, but as several soldiers died in the second round of fire by the French riflemen, the chaos worsened.

Gerard loaded his ammo excitedly, habitually reminding his soldiers: “Use the force of cracking open a walnut to pack the bullet, not too big, not too small…”

As he spoke, he raised his gun, quickly targeting what seemed to be a sergeant in the Austrians, but suddenly noticed over a dozen horsemen heading their way.

He squinted his eyes, judging by the elaborate uniform and the tricorn hat with a silver badge worn by their leader, it was someone with a high rank.

Possibly even a lieutenant colonel.

Gerard hurriedly signaled his soldiers: “Wait! Ten o’clock direction, those horsemen coming this way, did you see them?”

“A bit far…”

“Sneak over together with me, then aim for the leader and fire. Go!”

Momentarily, over a dozen men crouched and crept to 140 paces from those officers, raised their guns on Gerard’s command.

The Austrian officer was swinging a whip, loudly commanding soldiers, but his figure suddenly disappeared from the horse.

Nearby, a burst of gunfire rang out.

In an instant, the Austrian Army erupted in panicked shouts as hundreds of soldiers who had rushed from the northwest fortress surrounded the wounded officer, some firing aimlessly in return.

The entire retreating Austrian Army formation bunched together, plunging into several times more chaos than before.

“We probably caught a big fish,” Gerard grinned, but then saw over a hundred enemies rushing their way and quickly waved his hand, “Let’s get out of here, run!”

Ten minutes later, Felix’s French infantry battalion finally arrived, only to see the chaotic Austrian Army formation.

The battalion commander was overjoyed, immediately ordering his men to form a line and prepare to attack.

Gerard met him face to face, finally letting out a sigh of relief, breathlessly saying: “Sir, we just killed a high-ranking officer who came from the northwest fortress.”

The battalion commander raised his binoculars at the news, indeed seeing people continuously coming out from the fortress ahead, and chaos near the southern entrance.

His heart suddenly stirred, turning to the order officer: “Order everyone to switch to assault columns, we’re attacking the fortress directly!

“Send someone to contact Major Waser, requesting reinforcements.”

On the northwest side of the Cologne Fortress Group, large numbers of Austrian Army soldiers were coming and going, shouting, “Lieutenant Colonel Strauss was shot!”

“Get the Grenadier Battalion out to support!”

“No, retreat back to the fortress quickly, watch out for the French attack…”

“The commander’s life is at stake, where is the military doctor, hasn’t he arrived yet?”

Just then, dozens of French battalions suddenly appeared on the southern side of the fortress, rushing towards the entrance at great speed.

The Austrian garrison was immediately taken aback; some wanted to close the gate while others tried desperately to stop them, because Lieutenant Colonel Strauss hadn’t returned yet, while others called loudly to organize a defense.

But everyone, like headless flies, crowded together, making the scene even more chaotic.

Yes, the Strauss that was just shot by Gerard’s squadron was actually the commander of this fortress.

In the Austrian forces retreating here was Major Strauss, his cousin.

Worried about any mishaps, he personally led the team out for support, only to see the soldiers in disarray and without thinking, stepped forward to stop them.

The result was him walking right into Gerard’s gun muzzle.

The fortress’s artillerymen obviously did not respond quickly enough, taking quite some time before firing the first shot, while the French infantry were already less than two hundred paces from the fortress entrance.

Seeing this, Gerard felt a surge of heat and led his men up, starting to suppress the artillery in the upward diagonal direction with gunfire.