Musket Girls! ~Tensei Sanbou to Senretsu Otome-tachi~ - Vol. 4 Ch. 21 - The Retreat From Kionis ②

[Alex_79]

Damn ninja's cutting onions again. * wipes eyes

Gonna play Winged Hussars to calm down

Thnx for the chapter

 

[Nemo2342]

They aren't out of the woods just yet. The little trick MC just pulled may have won this battle, but it's not going to work with them on guard the next time.

Even assuming they don't pursue, MC is still going to have to deal with a 3 days or so of marching in current conditions.

Who is going to tell them? Page 25 says that all enemy forces have been wiped out.

Still not enough for the poor girls we lost, but it is at least something.

 

[xzenocrimzie]

Who is going to tell them? Page 25 says that all enemy forces have been wiped out.

Still not enough for the poor girls we lost, but it is at least something.

To be fair those 100 horsemen were not the only ones that could pursue them. However, I will keep my mouth shut on what comes next.

 

[hippomann]

Everytime I come back to this series I cant remember what noble house their special brigade is actually tied to. I know they have a lot of dealins with the suspicious woman from the 5th ranked family but I don't think she's actually in their chain of command, just someone who offers them deals they cant refuse. The commander is a memeber of a specifc house and their base is the territory of one of the families but I never remember which.

 

[hippomann]

Every manga about a comander in some historically accurate army will eventually have a chapter reminding the characters and the reader that war is actually not very pleasant. But I really like how girls with muskets did it with many injuries spread through out a pretty long battle with little fan fair and then at the end seeing all the more prominant ones shown again in the aftermath. Comared to the way Virgin know did it where one character with some development gets mortally wounded and has a long emotional chapter deticated to their passing and memory.

 

[BanzaiYuri]

3 dead, but Lela still around? She's got stamina, that's for sure... F to the Unknown Waifus

 

[mrboxeater]

isekai without magic bullshit is so brutal

 

[nomadicengi]

Losing 3 and have a few injured after the fight out of 60 able hands before the fight? This is quite possibly the best outcome they can get based on what was dealt on their hands.

Sadly, this is war and there's no guarantees that everyone will get out of it unscathed.

 

[KriegGuardsman]

Yeah that was the Cheval de frise I mentioned in the comments two chapters ago, not sure where they got the wood though?

I also don't really know what those cannons are. They seem to have about 6 of them, which is a very healthy battery. Since it's a primarily infantry unit, I'd expect them to be 3 pounders, which would make them the lightest artillery available, low power but very maneuverable. They might also be 6 pounders but that would be heavy enough that they'd have to be ditched. In any case, the "brigade" (at less than 60 they're a platoon, brigades have to be multiple regiments, so at least 2000 soldiers) has a considerable amount of firepower.

In military doctrine, what the lieutenant is doing is a "Withdrawal under pressure". It is understood as the hardest and most delicate maneuver you can ask out of a unit. Mind you, just by remaining organized and moving at a decent pace they've automatically become the hardest target to attack for the kionis cavalry units, that show of force alone might compel the others to focus on less organized targets instead. In any case, 3 (soon to be 4) fatalities and 2 wounded so far is a fantastic result. If they had even one understrength cavalry troop with them they'd be at 0.

 

[xzenocrimzie]

Everytime I come back to this series I cant remember what noble house their special brigade is actually tied to. I know they have a lot of dealins with the suspicious woman from the 5th ranked family but I don't think she's actually in their chain of command, just someone who offers them deals they cant refuse. The commander is a memeber of a specifc house and their base is the territory of one of the families but I never remember which.

The 6th Brigade is a military formation from House Medilen, which is a coastal territory in the North Eastern part of the Empire. Our dear Colonel is Alzer Medilen, a member of the noble family which gave her the commission, however she is both near the end of the line of succession, and uninterested in the politic of the Schweidel Empire. You can also tell that this formation is from Medilen because the coat of arms on their Shako caps, which is the Dragon. Medilen is the fourth House in the hierarchy, and so their normal military formations would be called the Fourth Division. However since the 6th Brigade is a special formation, they operate independently from the normal command and control of the House's Divisional Headquarters. The 6th Special Brigade Headquarters is located in the mountains between the territory of House Zichtberg (2nd Division), and House Mildor (3rd Division).


Lieutenant Krombertz is originally from Ritreille, which is why in the first chapter his shako cap has the serpent emblem of House Ritreille and the 5th Division. He was originally under the command of Duchess Ritreille, as she is the provisional head of House Ritreille until a male member of the family comes of age to take over. Duchess Ritreille is the one who approves Yuiner's transfer to the 6th Special Division for unknown reasons.

Check Chapter 19 page 3, chapter 15 page 22, and chapter 2 page 10.

 

[xzenocrimzie]

Yeah that was the Cheval de frise I mentioned in the comments two chapters ago, not sure where they got the wood though?

I also don't really know what those cannons are. They seem to have about 6 of them, which is a very healthy battery. Since it's a primarily infantry unit, I'd expect them to be 3 pounders, which would make them the lightest artillery available, low power but very maneuverable. They might also be 6 pounders but that would be heavy enough that they'd have to be ditched. In any case, the "brigade" (at less than 60 they're a platoon, brigades have to be multiple regiments, so at least 2000 soldiers) has a considerable amount of firepower.

In military doctrine, what the lieutenant is doing is a "Withdrawal under pressure". It is understood as the hardest and most delicate maneuver you can ask out of a unit. Mind you, just by remaining organized and moving at a decent pace they've automatically become the hardest target to attack for the kionis cavalry units, that show of force alone might compel the others to focus on less organized targets instead. In any case, 3 (soon to be 4) fatalities and 2 wounded so far is a fantastic result. If they had even one understrength cavalry troop with them they'd be at 0.

How they got the wood and rope is explained in this chapter actually (I had previously thought it was the next chapter sorry, eto bleh)

They have 5 cannons in their battery, which is defined in Chapter 18 on page 2. I'm guessing that the guns are going to be 4 pounders, possibly 6 pounders judging by the build. Many countries during and after Napoleanic times were moving towards 6lber guns instead of 4 because of the increased firepower, however it's completely reasonable for Yuiner to use this to his advantage to pick up old 4lber field guns that other formations are trying to discard for himself. Both for their price, and because the women of the 6th would have an easier time moving the lighter 4lber guns. This detail may never be brought up in the manga, and the author may not even have written it in to the original LN, but it would definitely be a very realistic (possibly unintentional) detail.

Brigades both IRL and in this context are used as organizations of smaller units, not as units in and of itself. The 6th could ostensibly be organized as a single battalion under the 6th Brigade label which is how Alzer Medilen was able to raise the unit. However, obviously, she doesn't have the manpower to fully staff a battalion, and the 6th operates more like an independent Company than a Battalion not to mention a Brigade. The nomenclature is likely both aesthetic and also to give them autonomy to perform as an independent unit outside of the Medilen divisional COC. If they were a Battalion organized under the 4th Division, they would likely not be given the freedom to operate as they have. We saw this a little in the battle, as they were forced to man a specific (very undesirable) position in the larger formation. The author likely omits the definition of the subunits of the 6th Brigade for readability and more broad understanding. In reality they would likely not be just the "6th Brigade", but would be organized as the 1st Battalion, 6th Special Brigade, Medilen 4th Division. However, keeping the unit referred to as a single name helps with readability and consistency especially for those without a particular autism for this sort of stuff. This series already has a lot of proper nouns that need to be remembered that people have a tough time with lmao.

You're right on the money with their outcome of being able to extract with single digit casualties out of that situation is nothing short of a miracle aided by proper tactical leadership. Yuiner did not have it easy at all during this battle and he performed exceptionally well. It just shows how much his combat experience from before Chapter 1 helped mould him into a decisive effective infantry officer. I'm surprised the material doesn't portray him as more out of his element, as before he was focused entirely on obtaining victory at the expense of the lives of his men. However here, he is having to balance his duty to victory with protecting the lives of the girls. Them being able to retreat at the pace they did likely saved them from getting run down by an even larger unit of Cavalry. Historically, a significant portion of battlefield deaths came from cavalry charges. But not from the cavalry smashing lines of infantry. They got their kill counts from running down routing infantry trying to retreat from a battle. Trading 100 Cavalry for 3 line infantry is an exceptionally bad trade for Kionis.

He's already voiced that he knows its inevitable that some of the girls are going to die not just under his command, but by his command. How he reconciles this will be interesting.

 

[RogueCitizen64]

Who is going to tell them? Page 25 says that all enemy forces have been wiped out.

Still not enough for the poor girls we lost, but it is at least something.

My assumption is that those losses were a wake-up call. I doubt they’ll be so overconfident that they’d fall for another false surrender a second time.

 

[unkman]

For real. If this was a real engagement and not a manga, <60 line infantry and 5 cannon versus 100 cavalry, they would have taken at least a dozen killed. It's a miracle that only one soldier went down during the bayonet charge.

the strategy used was very good, using their own victory, pride and ego to make them have tunnel vision to go after yuner, make them very vulnerable to any trap, they don't even see that there was cannon pointed on them, and when the cannon strike, the smoke cloud the battlefield, killing some and disorganized them even more, and hiding the trap that was waiting them before them.

and don't forget the musket formation that take some cavalier, enraging them more before they enter the tunnel made from the carriage that bloke them to maneuver, the big force of the cavalry.

nah, it's a very realistic engagement, the hasard or the plot armor has nothing to do with that, the plan was very good.

i'am very curious if in the novel that was the case, if not the mangaka and the author has made a pretty good job to make a very plausible plan.

 

[jarjaxle]

War is a Hell...they were somewhat Lucky that 1st mission in Mountains went as it were.....now.....it is time to hit the Brutal Truth that People Die in WAR

 

[kuzunagi13]

o7

 

[Carpatia]

I'm actually glad (though it sounds weird) that some characters die. Many works tend to avoid deaths like plague, and it makes sense from a sensible and consumer-appealing perspective.

I hope this manga continues this way, big expectations for this.

 

[KriegGuardsman]

@xzenocrimzie I know that in Russian doctrine brigades are usually separate while divisions are under armies. It is probable that the Empire also works like that, with brigades being the lowest autonomous unit on an operational scale. Though, I think that they'll reach the regular 2-3k figure in time as the story progresses

 

[Arcara]

The 6th Brigade is a military formation from House Medilen, which is a coastal territory in the North Eastern part of the Empire. Our dear Colonel is Alzer Medilen, a member of the noble family which gave her the commission, however she is both near the end of the line of succession, and uninterested in the politic of the Schweidel Empire. You can also tell that this formation is from Medilen because the coat of arms on their Shako caps, which is the Dragon. Medilen is the fourth House in the hierarchy, and so their normal military formations would be called the Fourth Division. However since the 6th Brigade is a special formation, they operate independently from the normal command and control of the House's Divisional Headquarters. The 6th Special Brigade Headquarters is located in the mountains between the territory of House Zichtberg (2nd Division), and House Mildor (3rd Division).


Lieutenant Krombertz is originally from Ritreille, which is why in the first chapter his shako cap has the serpent emblem of House Ritreille and the 5th Division. He was originally under the command of Duchess Ritreille, as she is the provisional head of House Ritreille until a male member of the family comes of age to take over. Duchess Ritreille is the one who approves Yuiner's transfer to the 6th Special Division for unknown reasons.

Check Chapter 19 page 3, chapter 15 page 22, and chapter 2 page 10.

How they arrived at present HQ location which is nowhere near Medilen territory is also not explained yet, could be a favour from 5th again

 

[rephikul]

He thought about the lack of medical tech, but there's no much he could do without medical knowledge himself.

their world has not industrialized, they cant produce antibiotics at a scale foot soldiers can appreciate even if he teach them. He also would have no equipment to measure or improve his process with. Basically he'd be forced to tech at the same rate as the world after the initial breakthrough. Tho ugh just being able to make antibiotic at all 200-300 years before its time he wont need to join the army. Dude would have been filthy rich. And that'd mean this manga couldnt justify its existence.

 

[Oberon-056]

They aren't out of the woods just yet. The little trick MC just pulled may have won this battle, but it's not going to work with them on guard the next time.

Even assuming they don't pursue, MC is still going to have to deal with a 3 days or so of marching in current conditions.

It still brought them time. The Calvary that caught up to them did not have any of their members retreat. They all just charged in to try and dispose of the enemy, and ended up running straight into a killing field.

Funnily enough, Yuiner actually did a smart move by keeping HIS Battalion-specific rifle and bullet a secret from the Witch, because if he did reveal it, the Enemy Calvary would have had a much longer ranged weapon that would hit more accurately. (The rifles his unit use have an "Acorn Shaped bullet" while also having rifling inside of the bore.)