Hypothetical question?

[dehrm774]

Setting is medieval times, so no vehicles or guns. A company of 100 strong manning a small fort at 6000 meters of elevation have lost almost half their men to an unknown enemy over the course of 4 months. 16 were killed, 2 survived through amputation, 27 men have gone missing. A scheduled company change of 50 men are arriving in 2 months to relieve (under normal circumstances) half the men stationed at this fort. Men are stationed there for 1 year periods. Switch occurs every 6 months.

My question: what would leadership of said fort do? They already sent a squad of 8 to the larger fort (1 week away) at the 3 month mark but have not heard back. It’s now month 4 and as previously stated a new company of 50 men is scheduled to arrive in 2 months.

 

[Devor]

You can't really respond to an unknown enemy, so I should think the priority would be trying to get a visual on the enemy. You can send out forces, but spaced so that everyone is visible to someone else, with the last person visible from the fort. When something happens, everyone pulls back, so they can report what happened. Whether it's a monster, or a pack of brigands, or a force of nature, they would all have different ways you should respond.

Another priority would be warning the reinforcements that something is going on. Smoke signals should work for that, but maybe you have to build a tower and light a beacon. Something they can see, so even if you don't have a system worked out, they can go, "Whoah, there's something odd going on here. We better be careful."

Finally, you'd definitely want to bunker down the fort. Clear the surrounding terrain, set up trenches, set up earthen barricades, build pit traps with spikes, make sure you have maximum visibility and obstacles in every direction. See how far you can get a tunnel dug.

Of course, hopefully you can get an idea of what the danger actually is, and then you can figure out if there's a safe way to send out scouts and messengers along secret tunnel exits and roundabout routes. That's part of how they lost so many people already, though, so first they need to learn something about their enemy if possible.

 

[Queshire]

By the by, Ask the Staff generally isn't the right spot for a question like this (and boy won't this sound strange if Devor already moved the thread.)

 

[pmmg]

Send word to the higher ups. Abandon it. Pull back, regroup, and come at it with a bigger force and better plan.

Or...if possible, fly up into orbit and nuke the site from there.



Just some math...

100 men - half the men = 50.
50 men coming to replace 50 = every man is replaced, or there is no rotation.,

 

[Devor]

By the by, Ask the Staff generally isn't the right spot for a question like this (and boy won't this sound strange if Devor already moved the thread.)

I hadn't noticed.

I'll move it to ... I suppose Writing Discussions now.

 

[Devor]

100 men - half the men = 50.
50 men coming to replace 50 = every man is replaced, or there is no rotation.,

He said that 50 people come every six months, but stay for a year. So half the group rotates out. Of the 50-ish survivors, some would have completed their 1-year rotation, and some are only at six months.

 

[pmmg]

Lets just say....

You are half way through a 1 year tour, in a battle zone where life expectancy is low, the certainty of the threat is high, and knowledge of the foe is zero. You are one of 50, and 50 guys are coming, expecting to replace 50 guys... which part of your tour are you in?

As a commander, if I am losing 50 people at a position where they can get me indefinitely, and we cant get them, I am going to wonder what our purpose is. Seems to me, we are on weak ground. Another 50 is not going to help. So, how important is this base?

 

[Devor]

Oh, well, that’s another question. Who knows if the new 50 will even make it or the surviving fifty will still be alive? You don’t know what the foe is, or any context really, so who knows if the fifty will die coming, rotate as planned, replace the dead, or escort them out of there?

 

[Penpilot]

I think a lot of this depends on the context. What are the commander's standing orders? How important is the fort? What are the consequences of its loss? What are the fortifications like?

I'm hardly an expert, but I remember reading about medieval castles withstanding sieges from thousands with only a hundred or so defenders. I vaguely remember reading something about a castle holding out for an extended period with something like 6 defenders.

So, with no sieging army in sight, and say, orders to stay put, wouldn't the simplest thing to do be to gather supplies, lock down the fort, and not send anyone out from the fort to be ambushed? Then just wait for news to arrive form the relief or other sources.

 

[skip.knox]

What does it matter? No, seriously. You are writing a story. You can have the commander do anything you want. And that can have any consequences you want.

I would ask what will *this* commander do? Is this commander a time-server who just wants a minimum of fuss? A would-be hero who is reckless with his men? A buck-passer? Does he trust headquarters to respond to whatever request he makes? Does he even believe a message will get through? How are the soldiers taking all this? Are they panicked yet? Or do they believe in their commander and will fight to the last?

All possibilities are open and it's up to you to make the chosen path a convincing one for your readers.

 

[ThinkerX]

A problem that serious? The commander gets a message to his superiors. In the meanwhile, strength in numbers. NOBODY goes anywhere or does anything alone. Internal patrols at erratic intervals. Sentries are in groups of two or three, minimum. Lots of internal passphrases to catch out infiltrators.

 

[CupofJoe]

At 6000m [19,700 ft] they are going to have trouble breathing, walking around, talking...

 

[Queshire]

Never deal with numbers when you're writing fantasy. =0

 

[Prince of Spires]

At 6.000m humans could still function decently, especially if it's an overall high altitude region / country where the people have adapted to the higher elevations. And it would of course go for both the attackers and defenders (though the defenders may have an advantage, since they've been up there a long time and might be more used to the height).

I agree with skip.knox that this really starts with who the commander is. Is he a grizzled veteran who's seen everything alread? Or is he new to the post because the 3 commanders above him are among the 50 dead?

How important is this fort? And maybe more importantly, how well can it be defended by 50 men? If the place is easily defended by the 50 men, then in all likelyhood they'd stay where they are. If it would be hard to defend it because they are 50 men short, then you would have some debate about leaving instead of staying. People don't like certain death after all. A veteran commander would probably make more rational decisions than someone new to the position.

 

[Finchbearer]

When you’re dealing with hypotheticals, perhaps keeping it hypothetical for the reader too - ie. Instead of giving hard figures out in the prose, just say that ‘more men were deployed to replace the ones who were killed’, sounds better and way more ominous with an undetectable enemy as the underlying tension.

 

[Dankolisic]

Setting is medieval times, so no vehicles or guns. A company of 100 strong manning a small fort at 6000 meters of elevation have lost almost half their men to an unknown enemy over the course of 4 months. 16 were killed, 2 survived through amputation, 27 men have gone missing. A scheduled company change of 50 men are arriving in 2 months to relieve (under normal circumstances) half the men stationed at this fort. Men are stationed there for 1 year periods. Switch occurs every 6 months.

My question: what would leadership of said fort do? They already sent a squad of 8 to the larger fort (1 week away) at the 3 month mark but have not heard back. It’s now month 4 and as previously stated a new company of 50 men is scheduled to arrive in 2 months.

How about the leader releases only 25 men back and keep 75 men ( 25 old and 50 new ) with a promise of better pay or something like that? And while waiting, try to gain intel on the enemy somehow?

 

[Jackarandajam]

Setting is medieval times, so no vehicles or guns. A company of 100 strong manning a small fort at 6000 meters of elevation have lost almost half their men to an unknown enemy over the course of 4 months. 16 were killed, 2 survived through amputation, 27 men have gone missing. A scheduled company change of 50 men are arriving in 2 months to relieve (under normal circumstances) half the men stationed at this fort. Men are stationed there for 1 year periods. Switch occurs every 6 months.

My question: what would leadership of said fort do? They already sent a squad of 8 to the larger fort (1 week away) at the 3 month mark but have not heard back. It’s now month 4 and as previously stated a new company of 50 men is scheduled to arrive in 2 months.

Depends on who's running the place, and how strategically important the fort is.

If it's a redundant outpost run by a powerful empire, they might just fall back to a safer option and reinforce (see Hadrians wall).
If it's an important outpost, they'd probably send more reinforcements, possibly new leadership, and dig in.

On the question of who's running the place, a larger empire is going to require more accountability, so the leadership at the fort would have to balance between having to send bad reports/requests for more men and trying to take care of the problem themselves. Depending on their disposition, they could prioritize either way: caring about the men and erring on the side of safety, or withholding reports and risking their men to try to solve the problem before they have to report it.

 

[Jackarandajam]

Not knowing any more that I do I would say:

At the point of 50 people being lost, several reports have already been sent about an unknown enemy.
An official directive would be immediately forthcoming for those still stationed at the fort to hold their ground and expand the fort to temporarily accommodate an additional 200-500 troops (or a much smaller unit of specialists) until the problem is sussed out.

If the forts commanding officer is just now reporting, he could expect a court martial if not execution for his dereliction of duty.

(I think that is what I would be expecting to happen and would want an explanation if it isn't how things are playing out. I encourage you to complicate the situation immensely.)