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By 1890 the Oenotrian War had ground to a halt. The Canal Martians
vastly outnumbered their Tellurian opponents and had shorter supply
lines, but the British had superior technology and better-trained
forces.
Oenotrian acquisition of terrestrial firearms had, till 1890, been
spotty at best. Ground cleanser influence among the political elite in
the Six Cities League made further acquisition or even use of such
weapons impossible. Henceforth, the Oenotrian legions would equipped
solely from local resources.
Oenotrian military organization had been haphazard, too. Individual
legions ranged anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand troops.
Mercenary forces of varying sizes were attached to the legions
willy-nilly. About the only standard formation found throughout the
army was the artillery battery attached to each legion.
Even before the fighting had stopped, the Oenotrian high command had
begun reorganizing, rearming and retraining its army. What emerged by
1891 has been called the New Model Oenotrian Army.
Reorganization
The task of reorganizing the army fell to General Umri Ooshaati, a
capable combat commander twice wounded in actions along the Avenel
Canal.
Ooshaati experimented with numerous formations, finally settling upon a
legion of eight companies, each with a paper strength of 80 troops and
commanded by a marchmaster. The eight companies would be split into
two four-company battalions, each commanded by a swordmaster. The
companies themselves were commanded by a first sword, and could be
split into two platoons of 40 troops each commanded by a bannerman.
Each of the platoons could be split into two 20-soldier squads, led by
a squad leader. This latter development was a major divergence from
traditional Canal Martian formations, as the squad leader was not an
officer but a non-commissioned officer.* An 80-soldier company of
mercenary cavalry was attached to the legion to act as a scouting and
screening force. Additionally, Ooshaati retained the six-gun battery,
though the light and
heavy guns of which it was made had proved
inadequate against British weaponry.
Rearming
Because of political considerations, Ooshaati was unable to procure
modern weaponry for his troops. Instead he undertook to rearm his
troops with the best available weapons. As the standard long-arm of
the legions he selected .53-caliber muzzle-loading flintlock rifle
using patched-ball ammunition pre-loaded in paper cartridges. This
weapon could be assured of a hit out to 100 yards, and could be lethal
out to 800 yards. Each soldier carried 200 rounds on his person. A
16" ring bayonet was also issued for hand-to-hand fighting.
For close-in work, each soldier was issued four black-powder hand
bombs. These came with fuses marked in five-second increments. The
bombs weighed about a pound each and when exploded were lethal to about
five yards, with fragments travelling as far as 15 yards. The troops
were taught to throw these as far as 40 yards. Using a "David and
Goliath" sling, some soldiers were able to deliver the bomb as far as
80 yards.
An innovation in artillery was the 2"
mortar, dubbed the "little
lobber" by the British who first encountered it. The weapon, weighing
a little more than half a ton was hauled to the battlefield via wagon
where it would be emplaced out of the line of sight of the enemy. The
mortar fired a shell identical to hand bomb carried by the infantry,
but could toss it between 125 and 250 yards. The mortar was issued two
to the company. It could fire four rounds per minute and could be set
up in a little over three minutes.
Tactics
Ooshaati also developed new tactics to offset the British technological
advantage. Where possible, he mounted his troops to give them greater
mobility. He emphasized open formations both to take advantage of the
terrain and to offset the effects of British artillery fire. Whenever
possible, he had his troops fight from prepared positions, adopting as
his operating motto: Strategic Offensive, Tactical Defensive. In the
period of 1890 to 1891, he developed the rudiments of coordinated night
actions and infiltration tactics, relying on his smaller formations to
work their way around British positions to take them from the rear. By
the end of 1891, Ooshaati was prepared to put his New Model Army to the
test.
*Historians mark this development as the beginning of the softening of class lines in the Six Cities League. While Oenotrian officers, much like their terrestrial counterparts, often came from the upper strata of society, the squad leaders rose from the ranks, which were themselves composed of the dregs of society. It is telling that within a generation the Oenotrian
military had developed a professional NCO corps. |
