The situation at 9.40am
At 9.10am, Baron Hunchmausen despatches a messenger to find Colonel Rimmer and inform him of the sounds of firing at Schrote and his intent to hurry there at best speed. At 9.20, a message, written at 9.10, arrives by rider from Colonel Kluck und Gluck: Schrote is being assaulted by a force comprising of a regiment of enemy hussars. He urges the baron to hurry to his assistance.
Hunchmausen hurries forwards towards Schrote. As he nears the town, the sound of firing grows louder and smoke rises from the town itself. At 9.38, a messenger arrives from Colonel Rimmer, written at 8.00am, acknowledging receipt of his orders. He will move his main force to Widenlau according to the route that the baron has specified, and has detached officers on the missions that Hunchmausen has designated.
At 9.40, the Baron arrives in Schrote just as the battle there is ending. Colonel Kluck und Gluck is giving a speech. A few of the houses are smouldering. Luckily, and rather surprisingly given the otherwise fine weather, it seems to have been raining here, which has helped deal with the fires. The enemy have been driven off, but not broken. From the cathedral spire it can be seen that enemy hussars seem to be maintaining posts of observation a short distance to the west, on the Schrote-Bautzen road. The colonel notes that he has captured 29 of the enemy – 19 are heavily wounded; the remaining nine are as healthy as can be expected from hussars that are also Nabstrian. Luckily for the prisoners, they were captured by the Gelderlanders: the Vulgarians would have wasted no time in building a wicker man and offering thanks to Czernobog, the Dark Master.
Hünchmausen congratulates the colonel and sends for a local surgeon/carpenter to tend to all wounded parties. He orders a report regarding the whereabouts of the Emperor, and orders a private meeting in which he will quiz Friar Conviction for any information.
Meanwhile Schtiffi and three hussar squadrons, supported by a squadron of dragoons, scout the enemy outposts to the west with a view to driving them off. The remaining hussars scout a little way down the south west track towards Redderblau Hill and The Eastern Marsh.
The Situation at 9.55am
The weather is fine again. Who knew?
Bishop Baldwin insists that he, and not Friar Conviction, should be the one to talk to the baron. He engages Hunchmausen in a short and rather elliptical conversation at the cathedral, in which the bishop exhibits only the haziest of recollections as to where the Emperor was when he went missing, or, indeed, who he might have been in the first place. This meeting, however, is suddenly interrupted! Messages arrived from the cavalry forces to the west and southwest. To the west, Major Zchtiffi reports that the Nabstrian hussars have easily given ground and that the line of their outposts now sits some quarter of a mile from Schrote. He wishes to know if he should push harder, as it were, and continue advancing westwards along the road.
More significantly, to the southwest, hussar scouts report bumping into a superior force of enemy hussars on the track to Redderbalu Hill; probably a regiment in strength and probably Bachscuttel, by the shabbiness of their uniforms. The observer on the cathedral spire confirms this information, and reports that the enemy force is advancing rapidly and is now probably half a mile distant. Enemy infantry seem to be following – perhaps in battalion strength!
Hünchmausen casually mentions to the bishop that two Guildsmen of VAGG, two of Chief Justice Kutsnutzov’s most skilled operatives, are accompanying the Vulgarian relief force approaching Schrote and so, with a shudder, answers will no doubt soon be forthcoming in due course. The baron then secretly send a trusted aide to meet with Friar Conviction and question him. A close watch is set on the bishop.
With the arrival of news from the various scouts, Hünchmausen despatches a messenger towards Widenlau to find Rimmer and urges him to move swiftly to join the Gelderlanders at Schrote.
Zchtiffi is ordered to leave a few men to shadow the enemy and report, but the bulk of his forces, hussars and dragoons, are to regroup with the main force at Schrote. Similarly,since the watchers from the spire can see the enemy advance from Redderblau, the hussar force there withdraws leaving just an observer or two to keep a close watch on the enemy advance. In the meantime, Hunchmausen begins organising forces around the southern area of Schrote, facing Redderblau, looking at defensible positions such as hills and places to position artillery and anchor the flanks. 
Returning to his headquarters, the baron considers his situation.
'Schrote is surprisingly large, Czibimibbly', he says ruefully, staring down at the map.
'It's Czernazmije, sir', says Czernazmije. 'But that's a map of Italy, my lord. See, here is our map of Schrote'. He unfolds a tiny piece of paper. The assembled officers lean forward, desperately trying to discern some detail on the undersized drawing. 'So', says the Vulgarian, pointing a finger at the map, and so, incidentally, covering most of it up, 'The enemy advancing from the west is probably half an hour away; and from the southwest only, perhaps, ten minutes. In each case, though, and notwithstanding cavalry deployed to screen the advance, the enemy are in march column for travel on roads/tracks. They can either try and attack straight from the march, with all of the difficulties that would entail; or, they can spend time deploying first, and then attacking us. As to Rimmer: we sent him a messenger about an hour ago. In theory, assuming no cock-ups (the other officers sigh pessimistically) he should at least be at Widenlau and have already received our missive: that would mean that he has three miles to cover: that's about an hour to force march his infantry, but about half an hour or so for his cavalry. Of course, if he's closer than Widenlau, then it'll be less. And if he's stopped for refreshments, then it could be longer'.
'Hmmmm', says the baron. 'What to do; what to do?'
The assembled officers wait expectantly.
'No, seriously, gentlemen', says the baron. 'What should I do?'
Czernazmije clears his throat.
'Chibblybibbly?' says Munchausen hopefully.
'Alas, sir' says Czernazmije', Chibblybibbly isn't here. But, in my opinion, this is what we should do ....'"
No comments:
Post a Comment