Zeigler's Headquarters: Day One, 10.40am

Zeigler has arrived in the environs of Schrote. The enemy hussar squadron has regained Schrote itself, helped by a covering force of a regiment of enemy cavalry. Hussars have established a line of outposts to keep the town under observation. Patrols have made contact with the left of Colonel Nockenshoppe’s position. Nockenshoppe’s troops are deployed on either side of the Redderblau track. Colonel Pfanensteil informs Zeigler that the hussar stragglers have been returned to their units. He informs him that his wounded have been placed in Zeigler's wagons.

Within the town itself, it is clear that the enemy garrison is much stronger than that faced earlier by Pfanensteil – no doubt the troops chased by Nockenshoppes, at least a regular battalion and a cavalry regiment, are within the perimeter of the enemy defences. The enemy have made efforts to fortify the town, and several barricades have been thrown across the roads into Schrote itself.

The jager have yet to arrive, but will no doubt be here presently.

Zeigler decides immediately to send picquets to cover every road out of Schrote. 

His first plan is to bombard Schrote into submission using his pair of guns, flattening every building. To this end, and to add to the fun, he sends a picquet of hussars back to Humpe to find a blacksmith and the means to create some heated shot. The gunners are put under strict orders not to target the cathedral itself, although ‘overs’ will be, of course, regrettably inevitable and the chipped stonework will simply add rustic charm to the building (and value to the building’s draw for tourists 200 years hence).

Zeigler's artillery commander, Captain Kugel, snaps a salute. 'Colonel – both of my guns are ready to deploy! Do you wish me to place them on a low rise, for maximum fields of vision (which would also make them more visible); or, is it your intention that we should only concern ourselves with enemy buildings, in which case they could be in a less visible position, from which they would still be able to target the upper stories? Do you wish me to position the guns at a range that will allow all of the enemy buildings to be brought under fire, or can we deploy further back?’

The colonel seems tetchy. 'Kugel, stop bothering me with questions that you should be able to resolve yourself! Deploy the guns so that they can hit the lower stories of the first row of houses - target the red house first. Keep well out of musket range but close enough to secure easy hits on the houses. The aim is to demolish each house in turn, thus collapsing the buildings and the enemies morale at the same time!'

Zeigler gets even tetchier when he realises that each 'house' actually represents 8-12 actual buildings, leaving his two guns, a 3pdr and 6pdr, quite a lot of work to do. Kugel is dispatched to find Zeigler's sh*t, which the colonel has now comprehensively lost.

 

The colonel comes up with a second plan. He orders Kugel to fire at the enemy infantry holding the hedge line. The rest of his troops he draws up just outside of artillery range. His intention now is to bombard and demonstrate until night fall (hopefully by then the blacksmith will have turned up to heat the shot). The artillery will fire off 80 rounds each of the 200 that they have available. Every half hour, one or other of the musketeer battalions will form up into an attack column, with much beating of drums, but will then stand down. As dusk approaches, the fire will be redoubled, and the Bachscuttel musketeers will form up and then march forwards to just outside of enemy canister shot, before withdrawing.

The purpose of this activity will be to keep the enemy's attention fixed on his main force. This is because Zeigler himself intends to lead a small group of elite troops in a raid upon the cathedral! He will seize the bishop; spirit him out of the town; and squeeze from him the whereabouts of the emperor! This plan has the obvious advantage that, in Mittelheim, clandestine raids on enemy positions never go wrong: never, ever, ever, ever.