Chapter 194: Lightning War

The following day Berengar and his armies packed up their supplies and began to march, an army of 30,000 men, comprised of three divisions of ten thousand men each. Was fielded to fight this campaign that Berengar had decided to name the Lightning War. The Divisions were split into four brigades in total, two infantry, one cavalry, and one artillery.

The Artillery Brigades contained roughly 3,000 - 4,000 men in and total and up to 70 field guns in each. The amount of explosive firepower that a single Artillery Brigade wielded was in itself enough to bring down any armed force that dared to get in its path. Especially when complemented by the Infantry Brigades.

As for the Infantry Brigades, they held 3,000 - 5,000 men in each brigade, and these units consisted of various units, ranging from Line Infantry, Grenadiers, Jaegers, and even Light Infantry. Obviously, there were other units within, like Medics and Sappers. It was a well-oiled machine designed with a single purpose, absolute annihilation of the enemy.

The Cavalry brigades, on the other hand, were much smaller in size. They were filled with 2,000 men and their horses per brigade. As for the units within these Brigades, there were also split into different groups, such as Cuirassiers, Demi-Lancers, and Hussars. There were also units of Dragoons and Mounted Infantry, but they were smaller in number, as their purpose was more specialized.

The expense that Berengar had to pay to not only train these troops but maintain them was significant. If one counted the sheer cost he paid to acquire the horses to ride; it was enough to bankrupt most Counties in the European world. However, Berengar was very wealthy after the monumental success of his diverse economy and could afford to bear such an expense.

This massive force was followed by the medieval army of the County of Vorarlberg, who were all completely shocked by the size of Berengar's army, and the equipment they used; there was likely no other army in the world as grand as his. They felt inadequate when they gazed upon the blackened steel plate and extravagant clothing beneath it that the Tyrolean forces wielded.

The plan was for two divisions to follow Berengar to Salzburg, where he would meet the Bavarians in the field and retake the castles and cities they had seized. With such a large force that contained an absurd degree of firepower. Berengar could easily swamp the entire County within a matter of weeks, at most a month.

The other army would be led by Eckhard and Count Audegar and would consist of one of Berengar's divisions, supported by the 5,000 men of Audegar's military. They would attack the County of Kärnten, where Count Otto and his 10,00 men would reinforce them. They would launch an attack from both sides of the County and meet in the middle after dispelling the Bavarians from the region.

After both regions were secured, Berengar would march his army on Lower Austria and Vienna, and Eckhard and his allies would march on upper Austria. From there, any Bavarians who remained in the other counties would be quickly defeated, thus restoring Austrian control over their territory.

This was the invasion plan, and Berengar felt he had enough men and firepower to complete it. Thus he met up with Eckhard and Audegar at a crossroads which would take them in a separate direction. The three men sat on horseback as Berengar said his farewells.

"The next time I see the two of you, I will have taken Vienna! I look forward to the day we can all meet again!"

Eckhard nodded at Berengar before saluting one last time.

"Your Excellency, I will do as you have instructed to the best of my abilities!"

Berengar nodded with a smile on his face before responding to Eckhard's claims.

"I am sure that you will not disappoint me. Until we meet again, Ser Eckhard, Count Audegar."

After saying such a thing, Berengar and Eckhard's forces separated. Where Berengar slowly made his way to the County of Salzburg. By the time he arrived in the region, he had noticed that the villages that he passed by had all been looted, many of them were abandoned entirely.

The devastation brought to the Austrian lands was horrifying, bodies of men, women, and children were hewn about, and many of the women had appeared to have been thoroughly used by the men of the Bavarian armies before their deaths.

Berengar and his army eventually made their way through the border town and towards the first Castle on their path, which was supposed to protect the villagers; it was currently undergoing a siege by the Bavarian Armies, who had not yet noticed Berengar and his own army's approach. As such, Berengar instantly gave an order to his army.

"Get into formation, and ready the cannons to fire! Infantry, prepare your muskets, cavalry, be on alert!"

Berengar had two divisions under his command; he currently had 140 12 lb field cannons in his ranks which were rapidly put into position and loaded. Before long, tens of thousands of infantry loaded their rifled muskets and formed ranks.

By the time they were entirely in formation, the Bavarians had just noticed their approach and began to panic; such a large army had crossed the Tyrolean border and encountered them during a siege, it was as if they come across a poisonous snake as they were crapping in the woods.

They had no idea how to react to the situation before them. Still, seeing the army hundreds of meters away, with over a hundred cannons being rapidly loaded, many of the men instantly began praying to God for their salvation.

These prayers were cut short as the thundering echo of 140 cannons firing at once filled the air while the shells fell from the sky and pounded the besieging army. The massive ranks of line infantry and grenadiers advanced towards their effective range so that they too could batter the enemy, while the jaegers fired from a distance of roughly eight hundred meters.

Thousands of besieging Bavarians were shredded by the explosive blasts and shrapnel of the cannon fire, only for the survivors to be mercilessly gunned down at a distance by the muskets. This besieging army was not large and held only about 5,000 men in total; it did not take more than a few cannon and musket volleys to mercilessly tear the siege camp and its forces apart instantly.

Limbs were scattered across the ground, and blood pooled in the grass as the defenders of the Castle gazed on with horror at the scene that had just transpired. Such overwhelming power was inconceivable, and Berengar did not even need to unleash his cavalry.

The Lord of the Castle sat atop his ramparts looking at the simple yet dignified banners of the von Kufstein family and thanked God for his salvation; he was in a crisis having no idea how he would be able to defend his territory against the besiegers effectively. Yet, in his hour of need, the Tyroleans finally arrived from beyond the border and liberated him and his people from the injustice of the Bavarian occupation of Salzburg.

There were still plenty of regions within Salzburg that were holding out, hoping for a savior; the same could be said across all of Austria; though it had been months since the Bavarians invaded, they could not bring down the enemy's walls as quickly as Berengar could. Thus they were forced to besiege every Castle and City slowly. The Bavarian invasion of Austria was a prolonged process that was intended to take months, if not years, to complete.

Now that Berengar had arrived with 140 cannons, he would be able to bring down a city's walls within a day, it was an army the likes the world had never seen before, and Berengar had deliberately waited until he had three divisions before marching to war because he wanted his campaign to be another overwhelming victory.

With the power in his hands, a mere Duke would not be capable of defeating him in battle. To counteract Berengar's hundreds of cannons and thousands of infantry equipped with mostly rifled muskets, there would need to be an army 2-3 times the size of his own, and only a Kingdom could muster such a force.

After defeating the besieging army of 5,000 men as easily as cutting through the grass, Berengar did not bother approaching the Castle's gates; many more battles like this needed to be fought, and as such, he quickly gave another order to his troops.

"Regroup, and prepare to march!"

After spending a considerable amount of time getting back into marching formation, the army once more began to set out on its destination; they intended to fight their way until they had liberated the Capital of Salzburg, which was currently under siege, Wolfgang's brother valiantly defended the region, while the man who is supposed to be the current Count of the area hid within his wife's family's estate.

As such, Berengar would encounter many minor skirmishes like this on his way to liberate the capital. They all ended just as quickly and in just as brutal of a fashion. Wherever his army marched, they reaped thousands of Bavarians lives. Any fool who placed themselves in between him, and the main Bavarian army in the County of Salzburg, would be rapidly gunned down by Berengar's troops.

This Lightning War or Blitzkrieg as Berengar had dubbed it, named after the German strategy in the early days of WWII from his past life, was highly influential in cutting off the enemy; not only did Berengar practice this tactic in Salzburg, but Eckhard also similarly commanded his armies in Kärnten.

Berengar was not exaggerating in the slightest when he stated in his speech that he and his men would be home before the leaves fell from the trees. Though it was a reference to Kaiser Wilhelm II's speech to his troops before the start of the Great War in his previous life, he entirely meant those words and knew he was fully capable of making them a reality. As such, the war waged on, and Berengar would soon be the power behind the Austrian throne.