And it’s probably pretty easy to hit a pike block when you and 100 of your best friends are hip firing at it.I think the idea was to get a huge volume of lead balls flying in the general direction of the enemy, I don’t think deliberately aiming was encouraged in some cases. A few accidental deaths from friendly fire was acceptable, the ordinary soldier was probably considered a lower form of life anyway to the elite.
For much of their history, Landsknechts tended to come from a higher social status than peasants (due to the costs required to join), so they would probably have been less pleased about friendly fire.
The Swiss and landsknechts had a tendency to execute each other during the Italian wars, due to their bitter rivalry.
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