Chapter 10: The Dead Arms

Rudolph entered the headquarters of the trenches, took out his binoculars and observed, smoke and dust rose in the distant fields, and the Hungarian hussars came.

Hussars were lightly protected, heavy speed and mobility. They were lightly armed and richly dressed, and their horses and scimitars galloped like the wind. Dressed in a Dorman tunic and a cloak jacket, brightly embroidered and brilliantly friezed, they were brave and fearless.

According to the scouts' reports, there is no longer a single formed unit ahead. Rudolph couldn't help but wonder if cavalry could still be used as the main force of the attack. The cavalry of two divisions was able to defeat a force of more than 40,000 men. Rudolph once suspected that he was in Napoleon's time.

In that year, cuirassiers such as the Guards and Hussars were no longer invincible, and musket bullets could penetrate the strongest armor. At the same time, the chasseurs had no bullets, the dragoons were omnipotent, the hussars were not afraid of death, and the lancers were both offensive and defensive. Before machine guns were widely used, the battlefield was dominated by cavalry. In particular, the mobile and agile hussars, who were the absolute workhorse, have taught Europe how to use the hussars since the sixteenth century, from the ancient sabers, to the modern rifles. Now the cavalry is more of a hybrid.

Take Austria-Hungary as an example, the cavalry in the army was divided into hussars, dragoons, and lancers. But in essence, they were closer to the chasseurs. The Chasseurs were created in 1779 by France after the Seven Years' War, and they were formed by hunters, forest rangers, and fought mainly on large-caliber muskets. Nowadays, the cavalry of various countries use sabers and carbines, and the so-called name is nothing more than a historical inheritance.

The ground trembled slightly, and Rudolph stared at the front, and after discovering the position, the hussars gathered their forces and charged.

The ground was rolling up with gray smoke, and the hussars rushed into full range of their guns. The machine gun was Rudolph's only heavy weapon, and they were the first to fire, but at long range, they could not even delay the enemy's attack in the face of the scattered cavalry.

Rudolph saw the hideous faces of the Hungarians and saw the waving swords. In a hurry, the rifle fired. This time, some fell, some fell, some fell, but soon, they were drowned in the wave of their successors.

Rudolph was terrified, and now he could only pray that his deployment would work. Rudolph watched the situation on the battlefield, his right hand clutched tightly on the holster at his waist.

The cross-blockade of the machine guns worked, the cavalry on both flanks were constantly knocked down, suppressed, and in the net of fire they were forced to gather and rush to the weak link between the two positions, where there were only two machine guns with direct fire.

The machine-gun fire had not yet gathered, and the cavalry were crowded into the middle area.

The sound of carbines rang out, and in front of the position, some of the cavalrymen dismounted and began to return fire. Soon after, they were drowned in the horses as they crawled forward.

In the trenches, blue-gray figures are constantly falling, and among the horses, colorful figures are flying. The flank positions were relatively concentrated, and the defensive line had not yet been breached, but on the slightly wide main position, the cavalry had already attacked the first line of trenches, and a tragic white-knives battle broke out. Rudolph sent a platoon to support the battlefield in the gap. With the last hundred people in reserve, Rudolph left the command and passed through the communication trenches to the third line of trenches.

Rudolph could see the flying tassels on the cavalry. Rudolph was a little startled, and he pulled out his pistol. Soon, the soldiers in the first trench, before they had time to retreat, were surrounded by horses.

Rudolph's soldiers resisted with great difficulty. The brave fought back heroically with bayonets in their hands, and many more forgot to shoot and had to huddle in the trench with their backs to the earthen wall.

The Hungarian cavalry were the best warriors, they were skilled and fearless of death, they galloped among the dancing swords and the flying blood.

Watching the soldiers in the forward positions being surrounded and slaughtered, Rudolph's heart was like a knife, but there was nothing he could do. The army was already stretched thin, and Rudolph could only try his best to protect the machine guns in the rear, only in this way could he protect as many lives as possible.

From the perspective of universal values in the future, this is an extremely inhumane act, and seeing his comrades die in front of his eyes, Rudolph's heart was violently shocked. But he had no choice, and in the darkest place on earth, war, Rudolph had to follow the law here: in order to win, he must ignore everything.

A company of soldiers disappeared into the herd of horses, like a drowning man struggling in a wave. The Hungarians rushed over, and then they were constantly knocked down. The barrel of the machine gun turned red like a soldering iron, and the water cooler was covered with white mist. Rudolph was already numb at this point, and he waited quietly, waiting for the enemy to attack the position, and that was when he played his hole cards.

Major Havel had already given the order to load the bayonet, he drew his saber and organized the soldiers to rush out of the trenches. The same order was given by Rudolph, who personally led the reserves into battle.

With soldiers knocked down by stray bullets, Rudolph was tempted to leave the battlefield and abandon this style of fighting with the lead charge. He quickly abandoned this unrealistic idea, and the same major, Javier, who had already led the phalanx, rushed into the enemy group.

Rudolph saw that Havel and his soldiers were fighting the enemy. The sturdy Hungarian, with the reins in one hand and a saber in the other, stepped into the crowd. A war horse, with an unparalleled impact, plunged deep into the bayonet. Several soldiers fell, and the Hungarians on horseback jumped down, and before they could gain a foothold, they were stabbed in the heart by the swarming bayonets. Rudolf arrived at the place of battle, the land in front of him was full of horses and human corpses, the Hungarians could no longer charge in this bloody land, and they lost their speed under the strafing of machine guns, and they had to dismount and fight.

Rudolph raised his pistol and shouted for the soldiers to attack. Gomez, who was in the flank position, also charged. The Hungarians were cut in half, and the cavalry in the rear, suppressed by machine guns, had already begun to organize defense. Rudolph and his party surrounded dozens of enemy troops, who refused to surrender and still put up useless resistance.

Rudolph refused to kill, and his sanity had not yet been extinguished in the fight.

"Ahh One of the soldiers next to Rudolph was knocked out, and he caught a glimpse of a Hungarian forty meters away, holding a carbine, aiming at him. "Bang bang." Rudolph ran out of pistol bullets, and the Hungarian's neck burst out with a column of blood.

It was the first time in Rudolph's life that he shot and killed someone, and watching a life pass by his own hands, Rudolph felt like he had gone to hell.