Chapter 321: Austrian Ghosts (1/2)

Within the valleys beneath the Italian Alps, the Italian Army had begun to resort to unconventional tactics. The Italian commanders had come to recognize that there was no conceivable way to win a field battle with the Royal Austrian Army.

As such, they had begun resorting to guerilla warfare, utilizing skirmishers dressed as peasants, villagers, refugees, and merchants to attack the Royal Austrian Army via ambushes. As a result, Berengar had slowed his march to Milan and instead sent out his Jaegers to hunt down and destroy the Italian guerillas.

These Jaegers were an elite unit of marksmen and skirmishers armed with the 1419 Jaeger Rifle, which was based upon the Whitworth rifle from Bernegar's previous life. These weapons were capable of engaging targets out to 1000 yards and, thus far in Berengar's service, acted as snipers hidden behind enemy lines.

However, they were more than simple marksmen, seeing as most of these men came from a hunting background, they were skilled trackers, scouts, and light infantry. The Jaegers were also fully capable of sustaining themselves in the field. As such the Jaeger Corps were among Berengar's most elite units, and thus he equipped them in such a manner.

While initially dressed in green and black Landschnekt style clothing, this fashion proved to be widely ineffective in the field. As such, Berengar had recently begun experimenting with rudimentary camouflage patterns.

Unlike his primary units, which were designed to attack in formations, this specialized unit of skirmishers was intended to blend in with their environments and take out high-profile targets from long range.

As such, Berengar had opted for a far more modern approach to their uniforms. Rather than the flashy Landsknecht pattern attire of Austria's regulars, the Jaeger units fielded uniforms that were a mix of WWI and WW2 German uniforms from Berengar's previous life. The base attire was a standard m43 pattern uniform in the color of feldgrau. These men would wear a splinter camouflage smock over their field jackets and a matching m43 field cap.

They were also equipped with a more modern style helmet based upon the m38 stahlhelm used by German paratroopers in WWII. This stahlhelm was painted like the breastplate and had a wire net around wit which contained various forms of fabric to act as faux foliage.

These Jaegers wore hardened and quenched high carbon steel breastplates based upon WWI German trench armor designs. However, they had been modified to make it easier to shoulder a rifle and were lighter weight with improved mobility. These breastplates were hand-painted in earthly colors by the soldiers who wielded them, in a pattern similar to that seen on old German M38 Fallschirmjäger Stahlhelms from WWII in Berengar's previous life.

Over these breastplates was a brown leather webbing in the form used by Imperial German Soldiers during the Great War within Berengar's past life. The primary difference was that this web gear was made out of dark brown leather, and was designed to carry their quick loading tubes as well as other tools like bayonets, canteens, and spades. Their boots were also made of the same dark brown leather.

When compared to the renaissance style uniforms fielded by Berengar's regular troops, these Jaeger's were far more modern in appearance and were very hard to spot when adequately concealed. As such, they were the perfect unit to hunt down and destroy the Italian Skirmishers.

At the moment, a Captain of a Jaeger Company was crouched within a tree line, observing a group of potentially hostile targets in the distance.  This officer was named Andreas Jaeger; Like so many of the men in this elite unit, he was a hunter before being drafted into the Austrian Army during Berengar's previous campaigns. For some time now, he had fought among Berengar's forces and was one of the first to be trained into the role of a Jaeger.

With ample experience in unconventional warfare, he was the ideal candidate to lead the more veteran Jaegers in the hunt for the Italian Guerrillas. While he and his soldiers quietly marched through the Italian Alps, they spotted a trade caravan roughly 500 yards in front of them.

Captain Andreas motioned for his troops to hold their position and conceal themselves; as they did so, he pulled out a pair of binoculars from his webbing and began to observe the Caravan's movements. What he saw confirmed his suspicions; this alleged merchant caravan was comprised entirely of relatively young men.

These men appeared to have weapons within their wagons, such as crossbows, longbows, and rudimentary hand cannons. At the moment, they were gathered around a fire drinking wine and feasting on a fresh game that they had hunted.

Andreas placed his binoculars within his webbing before unslinging his rifle. After doing so, he cocked the flintlock action on his weapon, where he began to adjust his iron sights so that they were set to the appropriate distance.

While he was doing this, his soldiers took note of his actions and prepared to take their shots. After Andreas lined up his sights upon his target, he gave the order to his nearby troops in a hushed tone.

”Fire at will!”

With this said, Andreas squeezed the trigger on his rifle, where the flint struck the pan and ignited the gunpowder contained within, sending the hexagonal projectile down range and into the torso of a man who was barking commands at the rest of the Italian Skirmishers.