The day after the Irish Independence Army declared the armistice null and void, a British Navy detachment appeared in the open sea under the control of the Irish Independence Army, named "Port Carroll".

The port was built after the armistice was concluded and is now the largest port in Ireland's anti-British base. The port is named after Carroll because Carroll generously donated all of his prize money to the independent cause of the Irish after receiving the Prometheus Prize. And most of the French ships, especially those transporting all kinds of weapons and supplies, would have come ashore from here. Therefore, it became the first target of the British.

Because it is suspected that the Irish have laid mines near the port in advance to prevent the British fleet from shelling the port, (who let the French have mines as well?) So the British fleet did not approach directly to shell the port. In addition, there was a fort built near the port, and the result of the hot air balloon reconnaissance was that there were more than a dozen cannons on the fort.

Although the British estimated that most of the cannons were the work of Irish carpenters, because Ireland could afford to place more than a dozen cannons on a single turret. But as long as one or two are true, a fleet without reliable high-explosive shells will still suffer a lot in the face of such batteries.

So, the British fleet did not really attack the port of Carroll, but anchored outside the port to prevent any possible ships from entering the port.

Ireland has a long coastline, and the coastline under the control of the "rebels" is not short, and it is not easy to completely cut off the French and the Irish. However, the blockade of their largest port can greatly reduce the amount of supplies they get, after all, the lack of port facilities has a very large impact on the transportation of materials. At least, the most dangerous cannons or something can't get ashore.

On the other side, the Irish Independence Army (IRA) is planning its first major operation – to seize Athlone and cut the railway from Dublin to Galway.

"Comrades, you see, this is the situation that our comrades obtained through secret channels about the deployment of British troops in the Athlone area." Division Commander Joyce spread out a map on the table and said to the three regiment commanders gathered around, "You all come and see, this time our division has won the task of the main attack with great difficulty, and we must fight this battle well." Otherwise, if there is such a thing in the future, we are embarrassed to fight with the second division? ”

Everyone gathered around and studied the map.

"The British are very much like ......," said Westwood, the commander of the First Regiment.

"Very much like what the Villefort advisers told us, the French defense system at Verdun." Clarke, the head of the third regiment, also said.

"According to the Villefort advisers, the French do not have too many good ways to deal with this defense system on their own, and if they must attack hard, they can only rely on the advantage of firepower and gnaw little by little." "But that's the French way, and the French have a firepower advantage, and we don't." ”

"The setting of these fortifications is quite reasonable, and if we attack hard, the losses will be too great for us to bear." "But, as Mr. Joseph Bonaparte once said, 'For the most part, defense is a more powerful way of fighting than offense, so a general who is good at attacking will try to create a situation in which the defending side will have to leave their preconceived defensive positions and fight himself in a battlefield where they do not expect.'" So, let's think differently. Let's not rush to target Athlone in the first place. Our goal is to cut off and destroy the entire railway line, not necessarily to take Athlone. ”

With that, he stood up and pointed to the railroad line that crossed Ireland on the map: "You see, this is our real goal, Rail 1. Along the No. 1 railway, the enemy has a series of large and small strongholds. If we try to sabotage the railway, we will first have to face the resistance of these small strongholds. These small strongholds were also relatively strong, and if they could not be taken quickly, the enemy could quickly mobilize troops to counterattack us by maneuvering by rail. However, if we can quickly take such small strongholds, then they will have to fight us in less than ideal conditions.

The British's estimation of our ability to attack the fortified positions was somewhat inadequate. After all, they don't know that we have some weapons here that have never been on the battlefield. We should be able to capture these small strongholds much faster than they expected. And the speed of their reinforcements, I'm afraid it can't be fast......"

"Let's put on the appearance of besieging Athlone, cutting the railway line from here and here," said Kane, the commander of the second regiment, who had not spoken all this time, "so that the enemies of Athlone will not dare to come out easily, and the British should send troops from Dublin and Galway to relieve Athlone from the east and west."

According to what we know, the British have 80,000 troops in Dublin, but excluding the 'black dogs', who can hardly be counted on, there are only 30,000, and excluding some indispensable garrisons - hehe, there are so many bottles and cans in Dublin, and they can't rest assured that there are not many people left. You know, they have to guard against not only us, but even the 'security forces'. Therefore, among the 80,000 troops, there will probably not be more than 20,000 people who can use them for mobility. However, our strength is not enough to eat 20,000 people, even if we call both the county brigade and the district brigade, it will not be enough.

But if we can hold them off with a smaller force, for example, if the 2nd Division they can hold off the attacking enemy forces along the way, then we have a chance to concentrate on taking out another group of the enemy coming out of Galway.

The British numbered more than 30,000 in Govel, and because of its proximity to the base, there were not many 'security forces'. But 4,000 of them are navy, so the army they can use will not exceed 10,000 if they reach the sky. We will concentrate the main force and send reinforcements to the encirclement point, and maybe we will be able to eat these 10,000 people. After these 10,000 men are killed by us, I estimate that the British in Dublin will immediately retreat, so that until the British send a large number of reinforcements from the mainland, neither Dublin, nor Govel, nor the British army in Athlone will have the ability to attack actively, and then we can destroy the railway undisturbed for a while. It's not just this one, it's the same with other railways. Without these railways, even if the British had added some troops, the threat would have been much smaller. ”

"Oh, yes, Kane!" Joyce patted him on the shoulder, "Well, let's get the whole plan out and show it to President Russell, well, the second division is said to want to do something too." ”