xymnovel Chapter 109 The Battle of Cooks 16
Chapter 109 The Battle of Cooks 16
Chapter 109 The Battle of Cooks 16
June 3, night.
A closed carriage, escorted by 20 hussars, slowly passed through the gates of Cooksport and drove straight along the quiet streets toward the villa where Dugan was staying.
The person riding in the car was French Army Brigadier General Lacourt, who had just been captured at the swamp camp.
Even though he was already a prisoner, Lakul remained calm and composed, not at all like a general who had surrendered.
However, his bloodshot eyes and listless, dim gaze could not be faked.
The carriage stopped in front of the villa’s main gate. Two British soldiers stepped forward, lifted the carriage curtain, and gestured for Lacour to get out.
Escorted by guards, the defeated French brigadier general entered the villa.
Inside the hall, candlelight shone brightly.
Dugan stood on the steps in the center of the hall, with other officers such as Gris, Ken, and Colonel Deken standing on his left and right.
Dugan stood on a step two steps higher than Lakul, looking down at him.
Lacour also looked up at the young British Army brigadier general.
Major Augustus Hunstein stepped forward and handed Lacour his sword.
"General, we have accepted General Lakul's surrender."
Lacourt walked grimly to Dugan's side, bowed slightly, held the sword hilt with both hands, and turned the sharp blade toward himself, formally surrendering to Dugan in the most formal and humiliating posture of a European soldier.
"I, Louis de Lacourt, Brigadier General of the French Imperial Army and Commander of the 4th Garrison Brigade, hereby formally surrender to Your Excellency."
Dugan took the sword with one hand, drew it with a thud, and then sheathed it again.
According to the current rules of war in Europe, the victorious side should pretend to admire the sword of the surrendered side, and then generously and gentlemanly return the sword to the other side as a sign of good manners and to give the other side some dignity.
So when Lacour saw Dugan sheath his sword, he prepared to raise his hands and take his own sword back.
"These are my spoils of war, keep them safe for me."
However, Dugan did not return the sword to Lacour, but instead handed it to his servant Aldo, instructing him to keep it safe.
This is tantamount to publicly slapping Lakul in the face and publicly humiliating him.
"General Dugan, you are a respectable nobleman, must you humiliate me like this?" Lakul's face was ashen.
Dugan certainly understood this, but he was enjoying the feeling of victory. He said, "If you defeat me next time, I will offer my sword with both hands."
Although Lakul was furious, he was speechless.
Meanwhile, the cleanup work on the swamp battlefield was also being carried out overnight.
After the battle, apart from the French soldiers who died in battle, fell into the swamp and went missing, and a small number who escaped in the chaos, the British army captured a total of more than 2,100 French ordinary soldiers and junior officers.
How to guard and manage this large number of prisoners of war at the lowest cost has become a pressing problem for Dugan.
Conventional military camps have limited space and cannot accommodate more than two thousand prisoners of war.
If they are detained separately, a large number of front-line combat troops will be used for guarding them, which will indirectly weaken the front-line combat power.
If the prisoners of war were to revolt, it would pose a huge internal threat to Cuxhaven.
After much deliberation, Dugan chose an excellent location for detention.
On the eastern side of the Blexen Marsh lies a small, isolated island surrounded on three sides by peat bogs, connected to the outside world only by a narrow dirt road.
This isolated island is flat and large enough to accommodate more than two thousand people. The surrounding mud and swamps are a natural prison, and the prisoners of war have no way to escape.
The British army only needed to deploy a small number of sentries at the single entrance and exit to easily complete the guarding work.
After the order was given, more than 2,000 prisoners of war were escorted to the swampy island in batches overnight. Simple tents were set up on the island, and basic living areas were divided. A simple but extremely sturdy temporary prisoner-of-war camp was thus formed.
During the process of identifying prisoners of war and registering them in the roster, Dugan discovered another detail.
The garrison under Lakul's command has a rather complex composition.
Sixty percent of the soldiers were recruited from mainland France, while the remaining forty percent were Dutch soldiers and Belgian Lowlanders who were forcibly recruited and incorporated into the French army after the French occupied the Low Netherlands region.
The two types of soldiers were already deeply conflicted.
The French have always been arrogant and looked down on the Low Countries, considering themselves conquerors and oppressing Dutch soldiers in every way.
The Dutch had long resented the French occupation and conscription, but were forced to fight alongside the French.
After discovering this problem, Dugan came up with a new way to manage these prisoners of war.
The next morning, inside the isolated POW camp, several British soldiers on guard began chatting.
"Did you know that the key to easily crossing the swamp, launching a surprise attack on the camp, and annihilating Lakul's forces was the mud sled tactic?"
"Of course I know, but our General Dugan is a nobleman born in London. How would he know about the tools used by Lowland fishermen?"
"Of course, it was those Lowlanders in the French army who deserted and were caught by us, and almost got executed!"
"They said anything to save their lives?"
"Otherwise what? If these Lowlanders hadn't betrayed the French, how could we have won so easily?"
Similar words spread rapidly among French prisoners of war, like a virus.
The French soldiers, already frustrated and with nowhere to vent their anger due to defeat, instantly found an outlet for their fury.
All the resentment from defeat and the humiliation of being captured were transferred onto the Dutch prisoners of war in the camp. Suspicion, hostility, and insults followed one after another, and conflicts involving dozens or even hundreds of people broke out one after another.
The Dutch soldiers, not to be outdone, retaliated, accusing the French army of arrogance and being aggressors who invaded the Netherlands.
The two sides were hostile to each other, wary of each other, and monitored each other, dividing the entire prisoner-of-war camp into two opposing groups.
When the snipe and the clam fight, the fisherman benefits. French and Dutch prisoners of war denounce each other, and the British army only needs to offer some bread and dried meat as a reward.
Later, Dugan simply appointed Dutch prisoners of war, who were less hostile to the British, as minor leaders in charge of the POW camp.
Having been bullied by the French so often, the Dutch naturally wouldn't treat the French prisoners of war well, and the conflict between the two groups of prisoners of war deepened.
All the prisoners were preoccupied with infighting and suspicion. They would fight tooth and nail over a few loaves of bread and jerky, so naturally no one could unite to discuss trivial matters like riots or prison breaks.
March 5nd, afternoon.
More than 100 kilometers from Cuxhaven, on the outskirts of Øresund.
On the flat plain, 16,000 French troops marched in long columns, slowly making their way north.
Bernardot was waiting anxiously because no messenger from Lacourt had come to report on the military situation for three days.
In Bernardo's overall plan, the four thousand troops in the swamp were enough to tie down Dugan's main force for a period of time.
Once I lead my main force to the battlefield, we will encircle them from two fronts and easily break through all of Cuxhaven's defenses with superior forces, securing the final victory in this battle before the Emperor's coronation ceremony.
Bernardo Silva's abilities were not outstanding, but he was capable of coordinating attacks and feinting attacks on the enemy's flanks.
However, instead of Lacourt's messenger, Bernardo received three ragged, mud-covered men.
The French soldiers were in a sorry state.
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"Three days ago, the British suddenly crossed the swamp and launched a surprise attack on us."
"General Lakul has surrendered."
Bernardot stared wide-eyed in disbelief. "What? Lacour surrendered?"
"Yes, Marshal," the soldier replied, panting.
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