The Longboats
Chapter 9

Yngvildr had joined Sigrun to push the Greeks back on their flanks but a new threat showed in the form of a large unit moving in from the coast. She saw them as they came over a far hill into their sight; the flags they carried were yellow with a large white cross trimmed in deep blue with all of them wearing the mustard yellow of the Greeks. It must be the Romans, she thought and they were in a mass formation that stretched several hundred yards wide and four ranks deep as they came over the hill. Further to her left she saw another Roman formation heading towards the Saxon lines with only twenty or thirty yard gap between the two formations.

Ralf ran to her side out of breath, grabbing her arm and pointing to the rear.

“I have fifteen Parrot rifles unhitching down there,” he pointed to the bottom of the hill they were on where the teams were already pushing the guns uphill into position. “I need your troops to get between all the guns then we’ll use canister shot when they get close.”

“Alright but can you hold off firing until they get really close?” She looked at him with a frown. “I want to make sure we can engage them before they are all dead!” She smiled.

Ralf smiled broadly.

“Whatever you want, you’re the boss.” He turned and helped his troops pound in stakes on top of the hill, then tie ropes to the wheels so they wouldn’t roll downhill after they fired.

“Aage! Get our Hardcore spread out between the guns and have them open fire when they get to the base of our hill. It looks like they out number us three or four to one so Ralf is going to use canister shot when they get real close.”

Sigrun stood on the top of the hill a few hundred yards from Yngvildr and watched as the Romans advanced towards both his as well as her position. He saw Ralf position his guns with Yngvildr and the Hardcore fall in among all the guns in a long line. His troops were lying down on the hill top, waiting for the Romans to get within two hundred yards before he ordered them to fire. Artillery started coming in from the Greek lines on a hill to his left and falling harmlessly to the rear. Then our artillery began to fire from their original position atop a hill a few hundred yards back. He could see their flashes among some trees on the hill behind them and they sent rounds into the Roman lines causing gaps that were quickly filled by men behind them. His reserves were below a hill not far behind him, all three hundred of them and that was all he had to plug any gaps in the line.

Yngvildr stood up to see her line of defense, the Hardcore as well as regular troops lined the top of the hill waiting, either lying down or kneeling but all had their bayonets fixed to their rifles. She saw the Romans in perfect order as they approached the base of her hill and continued to march up the slight incline.

“FIRE!” She yelled and the entire line opened fire with their rifles and one machine gun.

Romans began to drop by the dozens all along their line but they continued to march up the hill, their officers barking commands in the rising noise.

“Ralf! FIRE!” She yelled and Ralf swung his arm in a downward motion which caused all fifteen guns to fire simultaneously. The smoke and noise was so much she felt her ears would burst and held both of them with her palms and her mouth open then fell to her knees.

Shaking her head, she stood to look downhill. The destruction was massive with casualties that were not bodies but pieces of bodies and lumps of flesh that were strewn in all direction. Ralfs artillery crews were reloading at a frantic rate as the Romans had balked but then started moving forward again with their officers prodding them forward.

“Keep up the fire! Hold the line!” She yelled then pointed her pistol at the advancing Romans, they were now only ten yards away and closing. She could see their clean shaven faces and closely cut hair as they bent forward, heads down as if in a heavy rain storm and continued to advance. They did not fight as Greeks; these men were true warriors and would not stop until we were either dead or captured or she killed them all. The Romans fired their Sharps rifles and reloaded as they marched forward causing her troops to start falling and yell in agony.

“RALF!” She yelled as the guns fired again, causing huge gaps in the Roman lines as far back as twenty yards with nothing but limbs and body parts scattered in the line of fire. The thick smoke drifted away to her left revealing a scene she had never before witnessed.

Sigrun saw the Parrot rifles fire again but the carnage he witnessed was stunning to him. He stood there scanning the area they had cleared of Romans with the canister shot that stretched back at least twenty to thirty yards into the Roman lines. He closed his mouth and returned his gaze to the front where the Romans were still coming up hill with four ranks that stretched over one hundred yards wide. His troops on the hill top were not enough to hold, he thought.

“HOLD THE LINE! HOLD THE LINE!” He aimed his rifle at the approaching Romans that were now within one hundred yards away, their flags flying in the mid morning breeze.

“FIRE!” His rifle kicked in his shoulder and he began to work the bolt, firing as fast as he could, then reloading from his cartridge pouches to fire again.

The Greek artillery had adjusted their fire and shells began to fall just behind his position and he knew that the next time they would have his position and the rounds would fall right on top of them. If he fell back they would be on the reverse slope and unable to see the enemy, if he stayed they would get pounded by Greek artillery. He decided to stay and hold as long as possible.

“HOLD THE LINE!” He yelled one more time before the artillery began to fall among him and his troops.

Hagan could barely see the Roman lines as they came into view marching up the hill held by Yngvildr so he ordered his gunners to commence firing. He watched as further out, the Romans began to converge on Sigruns line of defense but Sigrun looked out numbered and the situation did not look good for him.

“Send a message to the other boats. Adjust fire to support Sigrun.” He said without removing h is binoculars.

He felt the slight concussion from the other boast as they adjusted their fire to support Sigrun on the far hill. The Romans were already on top of the hill with Sigrun so all he could do is try to keep the Roman reinforcements from reaching his position.

“Sails on the Horizon!” The lookout yelled from the top of the mast.

“Who the hell could that be? Romans?” He turned with his binoculars to look out to sea.

A mile away he could make out several square sails heading towards him but the brown color was unusual and he couldn’t identify them. They had boats similar to his and he saw smoke coming from them proving they had steam engines and, looking closer, he saw the boats were exactly like his! He dropped his binoculars and looked out to sea with a frown.

“Who are you?” He asked no one but continued to stare in the distance knowing they were under full power with sails and steam and they would be here in only a matter of minutes.

“Send message to outlaying boat. Watch for unidentified boats to your north east.”

“Aye, Captain.” He heard for the first time. That had to have come from that sailor hearing Gunny.

He pressed his binoculars to his eyes again and squinted as he leaned forward, trying to see who it was. Their flag was dark blue with a horizontal white cross and another vertical white cross, all trimmed in bright red. Then he saw a man on the bow of the lead ship waving a large white flag back and forth. As the ships neared he saw that it was a black man waving the flag and as it neared and he recognized him. He lowered his binoculars with a smile.

“Who is it, Captain?” A crew woman asked.

“It’s Colonel Jackson!” He said, then laughed loudly.

“Send message to hold fire! They’re friendlies!” He said as he stood on one leg against the railing to relax.

Yngvildr reformed her lines making sure the wounded were taken to the rear as the Romans regrouped not far away.

“KEEP FIRING!” She yelled as the gun crews began to reload quickly and rifles cracked along the line on top of the hill.

Romans were still falling in their ranks by the dozens when she saw them begin to fall back in perfect order. These Romans are true warriors she thought as she watched them fall back without breaking their ranks until they were on the opposite side of the hill and out of sight.

Oswald had been walking for hours when he finally came over a hill and saw the city of Amsterdam in the distance several miles away and it was covered with plumes of smoke. His army had been on the move since before the sun came up and his ‘closing the door’ move had been ineffective so far because he simply had seen no Greeks. As he neared the city however, he could see the rear of the Greek lines several miles away as they were all facing away from him towards the city itself. He was in a perfect position to attack their rear and just roll them up into a ball and destroy them at once. He could see his point platoons stretched across the vast country side in small groups, five hundred yards ahead of his main line, which stretched for hundreds of yards and they had halted in place.

“Send the point platoons over that far ridge and have them report what’s on the other side.” He said to his communicators.

As he stood there he saw all six platoons began their forward movement toward the far ridge, another five or six hundred yards ahead of them. With the open country he could see in all directions for miles except over the sides of hills, that’s why he sent his point platoons in advance before he committed his main force, he didn’t want any surprises as he crossed another hill.

As if on Que, there was firing that rose to a loud fire fight on top of the hill coming from his point platoons, he saw them halt at the top and begin to fire downward in the valley below.

“What’s going on!” He yelled to the communicators who tapped frantically on the telegraph.

“SIR! The point platoons have contact with the Greeks rear guard.” The communicator yelled.

“The point platoons repeat......they need assistance! Enemy artillery limbered and moving out. Infantry in formation.”

“FORWARD!” He yelled. “Let’s get there before they have time to regroup!”

His entire army of thousands began to move forward towards the ridge, across the open ground to the top of the ridge at a run. As he came to the top of the ridge he could see below him that the Greeks had been preparing to move out just as he arrived. Their artillery was limbered up to the teams of horses and could not fire, their infantry had been in column, waiting to march away and he was on their flanks.

“Get those rifles on line and FIRE!” He yelled as his army reached the top of the ridge.

The Greeks soldiers began to panic at the sight of thousands of Germans on top of a hill firing down on them with no place to hide. Greek soldiers fell by the dozens then by the hundreds with the horses running away trailing the artillery behind them as they ran over soldiers trying to escape. One of his five machine guns began to bark away into the Greek soldiers and he could watch the rounds rake into their confused mass as soldiers began to fall by the dozens from it. Far to their rear he saw hundreds begin to flee over the far hill and out of sight. Others at the base of the hill began to raise their hands in surrender, throwing their rifles down, pleading for mercy.

“Cease FIRE! CEASE FIRE!” He yelled.

Slowly the firing began to slow to a stop as the word was passed down the line to halt firing. Standing, he could see hundreds of dead and wounded below him, horses that were either wounded or dead with over turned artillery and wagons. Moaning of the wounded came up him from the wind that blew into his face as well as the screaming of the wounded horses. He shook his head at such a waist of infantry by their leaders.

“Let’s go! See if we can replace any officers we can talk to.” He then started to walk down the side of the hill towards the carnage below. He was told by the situation reports that he had absolutely no killed and only eighteen wounded from this fight, which was something he could not believe.

He now had to get the prisoners under guard, take care of their wounded and continue his advance towards the rear of the Greek main lines.

Sigrun hugged the ground as Greek artillery began to tear the earth to bits, throwing dirt and rocks in all directions with the concussion pushing him into the ground with every explosion. His ears felt as if they would be torn out of his skull causing him to get nauseous and dizzy. Nothing would have prepared him for this, not even Gunny telling him this would happen months ago in a briefing. His eyes were closed tightly, mainly to keep from getting blasted by dirt from the artillery and he wondered how, in the name of the GODS did Gunny and his men fight these kinds of wars? This was madness, he thought.

“HERE THEY COME!” Someone yelled from the line next to him.

Looking up and over the hill, he saw the Romans had regrouped into a line of attack again and were marching up hill, firing as they advanced.

“GET ON LINE! HOLD! HOLD!” He yelled as he knelt and began to fire into their ranks.

More artillery was coming in, he could hear it now and could tell if it was going to hit near him or not and this was going over his position, landing just behind the Roman lines. A few seconds later more artillery flew over him into the Roman lines with such accuracy it tore them apart causing them to balk. Where was it coming from, he wondered as he continued to fire into them then reload again and again until they began to fall back in perfect order, never breaking their ranks as the Greeks did, until they were over the far hill and out of sight.

He sat back on his butt taking a deep breath then scanning the field below him.

“This is madness!” He said as he saw hundreds of dead and wounded in front of him.

“HOW?”

He wondered how this could go on for years as Gunny had said wars do in his time. Where did they get the soldiers? Why did they continue to fight like this? This would devastate an entire culture! Then he remembered how the Greeks had wiped out several towns, literally wiping out everyone that was there, men, women, children and even their dogs.

Sitting back he looked right, then left at his soldiers as they began to recover from the attack by siting down, drinking water or helping the wounded to the rear while others just sat staring forward as he did. Docs were scurrying about trying to save those that were not wounded so badly. Light smoke drifted past them from several fires started by the artillery with a silence that seemed other worldly. He sat there, un-moving for several more minutes, scanning the battle field and it’s carnage unlike anything he had ever seen and he had been in many battles in his life, but this? It just seems there was bravery but very little glory in fighting like this and the sad fact was, they were a long way from an end.

Yngvildr stood on the hill top looking down into the small valley below their position. Her soldiers and Hardcore were regrouping into line, waiting for another Roman attack as Ralf reloaded his guns then stood by watching the far hill intently and un-moving. Wounded were carried back by stretcher bearers to a hastily built medical areas with Roman wounded mixed in with them. Everyone gets treated here, she thought, especially the Romans. They were warriors worthy of fighting, she thought as she began to walk forward into the battle area.

The dead and wounded were further back than she had thought because of the canister shot from Ralf, which made men simply disintegrate when fired, leaving only mounds of flesh. Arms, heads, legs, feet and torsos were strewn about the ground as trash after a big party. Weapons were in the hundreds among them and she made a mental note to recover these weapons for later use.

“Report from the Germans!” A runner handed her a piece of paper.

‘Contact with Greek rear....destroyed rear guard, captured artillery.....twenty three.’

“Well. Good news for once.” She said. “Tell them we have held the city but with great cost and to keep moving towards us.”

She turned to the runner as he left.

“Wait! Send a message to Gunny and ask him what he wants us to do. Hold or chase the Romans.”

He stopped, turned to her and walked a few paces towards her.

“Yngvildr! Gunny is missing.”

She felt her face sting with shock.

“MISSING?” She asked.

“Yes. We received a message during the fight that he could not be found. They are searching for him now.” He then turned and ran off to send the message.

She stood there watching him run back up hill with a blank look on her face and a feeling of emptiness in her heart.

“NO! Odin would not take him yet. He is not finished.” She said then walked up hill with determination on her face.

Hagan had taken Jackson on board his boat with warm handshakes as his naval gun fire pounded the Roman forces on land. He noticed there were over twenty English boats on the water near him and all were full of soldiers in the old style dress but he also saw four new steam ships he had heard were ready to deploy. Then he scanned the English boats and saw they were all oars and sail only.

“I thought those boats were not ready yet!” he asked Jackson.

“Skipper got them to complete them early so we could go get the English.” Jackson said.

“Well, Colonel Jackson!” He said with a smile. “I see you made an impression with the English at any rate!”

Jackson smiled, looking behind him at the English fleet.

“Well. They don’t look like much but if we arm them we will have another allie.” He said, then saw another Englishman climbing out of an English boat into his. Jackson helped the man over the side rail then introduced him.

“Captain Hagan. This is Major John Welsh. He is from, well, around the same time line as Gunny and I are but a bit different.”

Hagan shook hands with him them cocked his head.

“You are the one I heard of, Major.” He said flatly. “Skipper told me you were trying to make contact with us for some time.”

“True,” he moved to his side, glancing out to the land where the battle had just died down, smoke rising in many different places around the city.

“We have been fighting the Romans for several years. The English want them, how shall I say....removed?” He smiled.

“Good. We can use more allies now that the Romans broke their word with us.” Hagan said it with a sour face.

“Yes.” The Major looked at him intently. “I realize that breaking ones word is worse than killing your neighbor in your culture.”

“Yes it is!” Hagan said flatly. “We all want revenge on those bastards!”

“Well. We are here to see you do just that!” The Major said with a smile. “Our ships will be used to shuttle your troops back and forth from the rear, what you call Skavateland, while your ships can remain on line looking for the Greeks.” He paused. “We only need to be armed.”

“I have trained them in the use of our weapons and have enough for about a two hundred man company. We’ll have to get the rest from Skavateland and here, from the dead and wounded that don’t need them anymore.” Jackson told Hagan and Hagan nodded.

“Good, Jackson. Looks like you’ve been busy!” Hagan smiled at Jackson then slapped him on his shoulder.

“Come below and we’ll have some mead to seal the deal.” He stopped as he held the railing on the ladder downward.

“By the way, Jackson. We received messages about Gunny. He’s missing.”

“MISSING!” Jackson stood straight up. “But ...HOW?”

“Don’t know. We got the message about an hour ago. May be he’s still on the battle field but they are still looking for him...or for his body.” Hagan said as he turned and went below, passing the telegraph room and into the galley.

He led them into the narrow passageway to the galley where he had his maps spread out on one of the tables.

“MAPS?” The Major said with raised eyebrows. “Where did you get maps?” He asked.

“OH!” Hagan said with a smile. “We have many things that you will replace amazing. We even have electric lights, I think you call them, back in Skavateland I heard.”

Gunny Anderson was still with the Saxons after the First Sergeant left and had three communicators with them sending and receiving messages through the battle. He had been with the Saxons when they tried to run away from the attack but he and the first Sergeant threatened to kill the first man that fell back. Several years ago, when they first got there, he was a corporal, assistant squad leader of first squad, third platoon. When he was offered the opportunity to be an officer in the new army he refused and wanted to be the company Gunny. As a corporal, he felt he didn’t have the knowledge to led troops in combat but he knew for sure he could be their Company Gunny. Now he was basically second in command of the entire Saxon army! He was telling Fiete, the new Saxon leader what to do and where to go.

“Fiete!” He yelled to the Saxon leader.

“We need to straighten our lines in case the Romans attack again. We have to be ready!”

Fiete nodded then turned to his men and started giving orders as his men were straggling around the area aimlessly. Anderson shook his head as he watched their lax security wondering if he would be able to hold the line against another attack. These Saxons seemed as if they had absolutely no discipline at all! It was that fact that bothered him the most but he knew they would fight when he kicked them in the butt.

“Gunny?” Someone behind him asked, as he turned he saw a boy holding one of the Sharps rifles and he was covered in dirt and grime.

“Yes?” He asked, looking down at the boy.

“Can I join your unit?” He asked with a serious look on his face.

“What?” Anderson smiled at him. “Why do you want to join MY unit? You’re in the Saxon army.”

“Well. I saw how you fight the other day. Then today I saw how your unit fights and I want to be one of you!” His face was sincere.

“Lad. I would have to talk to your folks first before you can do that.” He told him.

“The Greeks killed my family last year.” Was all he said as he stood un-moving.

Anderson felt taken aback at that and not knowing really what to say, he leaned close to him with a hand on his shoulder.

“Son.” He looked him straight in his eyes. “I want you to go up that hill.” He pointed to their right rear, towards the Norse lines. “And replace Bravo Company and tell them I sent you to join their ranks. And to get you a decent rifle.” He smiled at the boy as he walked off up the hill.

“I wish I had more like you, son.” He said under his breath.

He turned around and a runner held a message to him. As he read it his heart seemed to stop.

‘To all units. Gunny missing! All hands look for the king and when found respond immediately.’

He looked up at his surroundings and saw the Saxons just beginning to get back into the lines to await another Greek attack with most looking like they did not want to fight any more. If they were not so weak, he could go look along the lines for the Gunny. If he’s dead, could we still win this war, he wondered.

Sigrun had his troops start clearing the lines of the dead as they set them in lines at the back of the hill to transport them for burial. Their rifles and equipment were loaded into wagons so he could send it to the coast for Hagan and the English that needed weapons and ammunition. He looked up at the sky and saw the sun was low on the horizon then around him at the scene of battle in all directions. There were still bodies strewn as far as he could see with dead horses, over turned wagons and broken artillery pieces with smoke rising in small plumes everywhere he looked.

Taking a deep breath he sat down near a crumpled wagon with two dead horses. It was the horses that had nothing to do with war and they were the ones that suffered the most. He remembered the Gunny once said, ‘animals don’t know what’s going on and they work for whoever has them’. He placed his hand on the rump of one of the dead horses and sighed deeply as he scanned the carnage around him. He remembered how Gunny loved the horses, even though he never rode one before he still loved them for some reason. Sigrun then knew then why Gunny loved horses and animals so much and he began to cry, his head held between his knees as he hugged his knees tightly.