Chapter XXXIX: Battle of Plauen and the Pomeranian Crisis.
April 29th, 1112
Prince Pomulius II of Salzwedel-Stormfury
The Tiger of Salzwedel had finally cornered his prey. After a several weeks of hard marching, skirmishing and maneuvering; Pomulius had finally been able to bring the Army of the Albingian League into battle outside of the village of Plauen, some 40km west of Jascke. The outnumbered Albingian Army of 18,000 drew itself up upon the strong hills that guarded the road to Jascke, there was no way of outflanking them anymore, but Pomulius was happy that the chase was now over, and he could now go in for the kill. Leading his army of 34,000 into positions, he gave the order for the artillery to open up when they were ready. At 700hrs that morning, the Tiger's artillery opened up on the Albingian Army. The Battle of Plauen had begun.
Pomulius' plan was to drive the Albingian Army off the Plauenberger Hill on his right with the bulk of his force, while using the rest of his army to tie them down. He would also try to use the terrain on the Right Flank to hide the movements of some of his veterans which he planned to deliver the crushing blow. After the Albingian Artillery was silenced at 830 hrs, he began his attack. The Pomeranian Infantry marched with great discipline and order across the rough terrain while a cavalry battle would emerge in the center of the battlefield between the Hussars of both armies. Albingian Infantry took cover from the artillery fire and awaited the order to unleash fire on the approaching Pomeranians. At 900hrs, Glückstadt himself riding up the line coolly as artillery fire plunged around him gave the order:
"Steady boys, Aim, Fire!"
The crack of thousands of Muskets opened up at once like an orchestra of death and many dozens of Pomeranians fell. But they held firm and delivered their own volley back with just as much ferocity on the Albingians. For the next half hour, both lines on the right would exchange fire. The Graf of Ratzeburg-Schwerin, commanding the Albingian Center would start to move his troops up to support the right. Schwerin, leading from the front, was subjugated to artillery fire and soon found himself entangled with the Pomeranian force sent to pin him, which forced him to fall back on to the hill with minor losses. On the Pomeranian Left, the Fürst of Jascke held his position and he too would engage with the Pomeranians approaching him. By 920hrs,
the whole line was consumed with Musket Fire that would rage for hours.
Battle of Plauen
Pomulius, however, was about to break the stalemate. Leading 2,000 Grenadiers personally, he had marched them into position on the flank of the Plauenberger at 1325hrs and shouted:
Brave Grenadiers! Fix bayonets and show the world once more why Pomeranian Grenadiers are the best in the world! CHARGE!!!!
With a trumpet and a mighty shout, the Grenadiers surged forwards to find that Glückstadt had moved up his some of his reserves to face them. These reserves were able to get off one volley before the Grenadiers fell upon them and routed them from the field. Disaster was approaching for the Albingian Army if action wasn't taken fast, and Glückstadt quickly ordered his final reserve, the Grünewalder Life Guards to counter charge while he started to pull his army back.
The Grünewalder Life Guards, who lost 1/3 of their men that day.
Pomulius, sensing the blood in the water, ordered his commander facing the main position at the Plauenberger, the Graf von Marschwitz, to charge as well meeting the Albingians in front of them and causing the line to break. But problems in the center prevented what would have been a total victory from happening at this point. Schwerin, leading the Adelsheimer Dragoons and Leuchtenberger Kürassiers charged down and routed the Pomeranian holding force, and drove towards the Pomeranian Right; which forced Marschwitz to halt and turn to face the threat.
Schwerin's Charge
Pomeranian Cavalry was able to come up to fend off this threat, but the 10 minutes of hesitation caused by this would allow total victory to disappear. The Albingian forces on Plauenberger were rallied by Glückstadt, and able to fall back in good order and the sacrifice of the Grünewalder Life Guards had saved the army. By 1530hrs, the Albingian Army had withdrawn in good order back to Plauen itself. With his men exhausted from the hard marching and fighting, there was little that Pomulius could do to stop them from withdrawing across the Zirzow River towards Jascke now.
It was a bloody battle for both sides, with the Pomeranians losing some 3,200 men to 5,400 Albingians. While it was not the killing blow that Pomulius wanted, he had the Albingian army effectively out of battle for months. That was great news for Pomulius but the most important result of this battle for him was that it restored morale to his ranks and gave many of the armies' less experienced troops much needed combat experience. Instead of pursuing the broken army, he marched south, knowing that time was precious with Pomerlane hot on his tail.
Glückstadt, on the other hand, came out of the battle with a depleted forced of 12,600 that had just survived annihilation thanks to his own and Schwerin's actions. He would need time for reinforcements arrive from the North to bring his ranks back up to combat strength, but morale was surprisingly high for an army that had been almost destroyed. It was the first combat for many of the Albingians and they had held their own for hours against the extremely well drilled Salzwedel Infantry. The bravery of both Schwerin and Glückstadt were not lost on them, as was the sacrifice of the Grünewalders. All in all, the Albingians had performed well despite the losses and near disaster telling otherwise.
Meanwhile, in at the Waldpalast in the City of Pomeraniopolis.
Mid-April 1112
King Pomeralius was furious that Pomerlane had broken his agreement with him. The fat King, known most for his gluttony, parties and many bastard children; was not entirely what he seemed to be by his habits. Yes, he had little experience commanding an army but had been trained in it many years before and in his free time had studied military arts, took part in jousting matches and fenced. It was his duty after all to be the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Army and it was expected that he would lead from the front. It went against his honor for a foreign Prince as he saw Pomerlane to disobey and offend him in such a matter.
But what made him even more mad was the news that his former mentor, Quedlinburg and the Albingian League rising to join this invader. Quedlinburg's defect stung the most and he ordered that his name be expunged from all records and all of his titles stripped. He would send a letter to these treasonous vassals which stated:
To the treasonous Princes who dare to defile our divine and just rule,
By joining this rebel Prince in an invasion of our Kingdom, you have committed treason against us and blasphemed the holy name of Pomu herself. We thus hereby declare that your lands, properties, and titles are now forfeit. Unless you abandon this folly within a month of receiving our decree, we believe it just and right to declare you and all of your families as enemies of the state, which henceforth shall put gold upon the head of anyone who extinguishes your lives or those of your families. Be warned that should you be captured; we will make sure that the utmost brutality is brought upon you and your house. Your treason shall not be forgotten, and your names will burn in hell, a memory of vassals who broke their oath to their liege. We and the Royal Army shall ensure your fate regardless.
From His Royal Majesty, King Pomeralius IV of Pomerania, by the Grace of Pomu and the Divines
Pomeralius also sent a letter to Emylia:
To the Empress of Ninisani and the Archduchess of Eliria
Your husband has broken the agreement we came to agree on together and you have shown yourself to be a lying whore or a weak ruler by his actions. Whatever the case maybe, consider this letter to be an official declaration of war between our two nations. I shall not hold back the might of my Kingdom for this grave breach of trust that both of you conspired against me nor shall I allow such a foolish woman to rule over the Empire or even her own Archduchy anymore. We Pomeranians have long protected your rights and though I do not approve of my vassals' actions, they are still my vassals and kneel before me. Does your husband not kneel before you as the Empress? I planned to execute my royal authority to stop the bloodshed and was writing a letter to you and Magnus to call for a truce, but clearly there is no respect to be found on the Imperial Side. Furthermore, I have learned that it was you that enticed my own vassals to join your lecherous husband, which tells me you are indeed a lying scheming whore more than a weak ruler. Beauty only gets you so far in life, and you will soon find out why we Pomeranians are the most powerful nation in Ninisani and what it feels like to be not only without our protection, but to fight against us. If my vassals have given you fits, then surely the Royal Army will give you thrice as many soon enough.
From His Royal Majesty, King Pomeralius IV of Pomerania, by the Grace of Pomu and the Divines
To punish these traitors, Pomeralius soon after he sent these letters out order the Royal Army to gather and prepare for campaign. He sent letters to all of his vassals informing them that the Kingdom was now at war with Eliria and Syrenia, and that Quedlinburg and the Albingians were now official enemies of the state. It would not be long until the Royal Army would begin its march to join with Pomulius and defeat the bandit Prince of Greifswald and his traitorous friends. The gloves were now off, and Pomerania had formally entered the fight with all of her might and prestige.
The Letter's reception
When the letter was received by Quedlinburg, he was in the midst of a meeting with Pomerlane on the road between Salzwedel and Mansfeld on May 10th discussing strategy. The Letter was read aloud to the gathered generals and was found to be quite amusing by all of them. One of the younger officers, in attendance, Pomernius-Karl, Freiherr von Wietersheim was so amused that he decided to send a letter back of his own with the input of the others:
To the Great Fat Slob of Pomerania, the Cuckold of the Palace, the Shit Eater of Pomeraniopolis and the Cocksucker of Pomura,
Your own debauchery and blasphemy are known through the known world and is so notorious that peasants joke regularly about your sins. When you try to stand up from your throne, you are greased up so like a pig and have 20 attendants with you so that you can actually stand up without breaking the throne. You consume more food in one sitting than our army does in a week. You have so many bastard children by your mistresses that the exact number has been lost over time. You claim to be a powerful ruler but the only things powerful about you is the powerful stench of your sweat and the shits you leave in the chamber pot. The only thing you have ever ruled in your life is the dinner table and not one of your subjects takes your word seriously. Instead of riding a proper warhorse, you have to ride a mule into battle so that the animal is not crushed under your immense weight. For a man who gets exhausted by merely getting out of bed, it is amusing to hear about how you will ensure our destruction in combat. You will eat all of your armies' rations before you ever reach us anyways. But this is not the best part, indeed, the fact that you and your dynasty have cuckolded the state to Pomuran Blasphemers, who are wicked in the eyes of the Pomu and the Divines, alike show that your Divine Right has expired and you are a mere pissant codpiece for your Pomuran masters. We will make sure of that soon enough, your Great Fatness!
From Your "ever loyal and ever-loving" vassals in the service of a righteous cause.
The Albingians also wrote a much less amusing reply, which called the King a blasphemer and a puppet ruler for the Triumvirate. The Empress received the letter in June and was so aghast by it that she immediately burned it and issued an Imperial Ban on the King of Pomerania, which declared him deposed. Unlike Magnus, whom she respects for being a fair ruler all things considered, the King of Pomerania had warranted this by his inability to control his vassals and by his threats on the Empress herself. Imperial Bans had little impact since they had no real power anymore, but this one in particular would be meaningful down the line as things progressed in the Great Pomeranian War.