Chapter 321: Austrian Ghosts (2/2)

The 1419 Jaeger Rifle had a muzzle velocity of roughly 1200 feet per second, thus breaking the sound barrier. As such, the hexagonal-shaped bullet struck the target before he could even hear the sound of gunfire go off.

Shortly after the echo of gunfire was heard in the distance, the Italian soldiers began to panic; this was because the man's torso was blasted apart by the .451 projectile before they could even hear the crack of gunfire.

Before long, more thunderous echoes could be heard in the distance, which followed the deaths of their comrades. With this in mind, the Italians broke free from their shock and began to take cover behind their wagons.

When Andreas saw this, he motioned for his troops to flank the enemy position. Two smaller groups of Jaegers immediately broke off from the main force and approached both sides of the enemy encampment.

One Italian soldier reached into the wagon where he grabbed ahold of a longbow contained within and a quiver of arrows. However, before he could get back behind cover, he was shot through the gut by Andreas who was hidden in the distance.

The man instantly fell to the ground while grasping ahold of his punctured gut. He struggled to hand off the weapon and its ammunition to a nearby soldier as the life faded from his eyes. The Italians were shocked by the recent development; aside from the muzzle flash, and the following smoke plume; they could not make out the slightest semblance of the enemy's figure.

At a distance of 500 plus yards, the camouflage pattern uniforms considerably broke up the silhouette of the Austrian Jaegers who continued to maneuver and fire upon the Italian Skirmishers from the treeline on the hills above.

Eventually, one of the Italian soldiers managed to get ahold of a bow and randomly fired into the distance near where one of the muzzle flashes went off; however, the Jaeger was far out of range of the primitive weapon and remained utterly unscathed.

Instead, such actions brought the fury of the soldier who was targetted, and his next shot penetrated right through the forehead of the Italian soldier who had dared to fire upon his location. Before long, the Austrian Jaegers had flanked the Italian Skirmishers on all sides and set up a crossfire where the remaining Italian soldiers were gunned down, like the dregs they were.

After it was confirmed that all of the Italian skirmishers dressed as traders were killed in battle, the Jaeger's approached the encampment to search for anything of value, whether that was intelligence or simply supplies.

A few Jaegers were put on guard while the remainder ransacked the camp until finally, an exciting find was made by one of the Austrian soldiers. The man who found the piece of parchment quickly brought it over to Andreas, where he laid it out on the ground.

This large piece of parchment contained the deployment of all Italian scouts and skirmishers within the region. It was a valuable piece of intelligence; when Andreas saw this, he grabbed ahold of the man's shoulder and grinned emphatically.

”Private Mueller, you have done well! With this, we know the general locations of our enemies and can quickly ambush them. I want you and your squad to copy down this information and relay it back to the main force!”

The young soldier quickly saluted Captain Andreas before following his orders. With this piece of information, the Austrian Army would have an easy time cleaning up the Italian Soldiers who sought to hamper their advance through unconventional warfare.

While this company of Jaegers had engaged in an ambush on the enemy skirmishers, others like them were fighting throughout the Northern Italian Front, advancing upon the Italians while hiding within the terrain like a unite of specters, reaping lives while moving unseen. As soon as the information of the enemy's whereabouts was spread to the other units, a slaughter the likes the Italians had not expected would occur.

The invention of camouflage would play an important role in Austria's future success with the many conflicts they would engage in. The Italians would come to refer to the Jaegers by the nickname ”Fantasmi Austriaci,” in other words, ”Austrian Ghosts.”

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