In fact, not only the British, but also the Irish, they didn't expect God to help so much in the past two days, and the attack seemed to be quite smooth. So at least those guys from the second division couldn't help but think about the fake show, and couldn't help but think, why don't we just take Athlone down! Even O'Hara, the commander of the second division, had this thought, and it could be regarded as Jerry's don't revolver - he had the heart to beat Tom.

But the heart of beating Tom returned to the heart of beating Tom, if you really want to fight, it is not so easy, not to mention anything else, there is not much ammunition prepared for them. In particular, the shells of the "Gustav recoilless gun", which played an important role, were already consumed by a third last night. So, if he really wants to hit Tom, he first has to get the people of the military council to give him more shells.

"This can't be done, the military council has already decided, this is a strategic decision, how can it be changed casually? Besides, we are making good progress ahead, and that's because the weather is particularly suitable, but you see, there is no fog today, so the British counterattack was easily beaten back by you...... Well, our luck is really good, but we can't put all our treasures on luck when we fight, don't you say? So Commander O'Hara's suggestion was rejected by President Russell.

However, the division commander O'Hara still had to pour some shells, because in order to complete the feint mission, to force the British to send troops to relieve the siege of Athlone before the reinforcements were fully in place, they did need to put more pressure on the British in Athlone.

However, the weather no longer helped the Irish, and the fog did not appear again, but the Irish continued to make progress beyond the expectations of the British thanks to new weapons and high morale.

However, the British still did not immediately send troops from Dublin and Galway to relieve the siege of Athlone. It seems that the British feel that they can continue to hold on. So, in order to increase the pressure on the British, even President Russell had to tilt resources towards O'Hara.

But the British adapted quite quickly to the attack of the Irish, and they quickly adapted to the Irish's "recoilless guns", which, although powerful, had a limited range. Although the French claimed that the thing had a direct range of 400 meters, the shooters often had to risk approaching about 200 meters before firing if they wanted to maintain accuracy. And in order to save precious shells, gunners often risk approaching about 100 meters before firing. And at such a distance, the platoon guns of the British were already able to pose a considerable threat to the shooters.

The British specially concentrated some soldiers with good marksmanship and put them in charge of fighting the "recoilless gunners" of the Irish. This also led to the fact that the Irish gunners were consumed even faster than the shells. And the absence of fog also makes it difficult to clear mines. Although the French also provided the Irish with the means of rocket demining, they were also constrained by the problem of money, and they had very few of these things in their hands (this thing was much more expensive than mine detectors), and with mine detectors, the speed of mine clearance was very slow, even at night, because of the presence of British searchlights, it was very difficult to clear the forward positions of the British.

This made the attack even more difficult, and the British were still unhurriedly waiting for reinforcements from home to arrive. Based on the information sent back by the Federation's intelligence officers in Dublin about the British ships that came into port every day, it was inferred that British reinforcements from the mainland were constantly arriving, probably more than 20,000 men, and that new troops were constantly being sent to Dublin. It is estimated that in a few days, the total number of newly arrived British troops will rise to 50,000, and with the addition of the original troops, the reinforcements that can be sent from Dublin alone may reach 70,000 or 80,000. Such a force is no longer something that the Irish Independence Army's blocking forces can stop, and the British did not send reinforcements to Galway, which shows that the British did not intend to send troops from Galway to relieve the siege of Athlone, so the plan to block Dublin's reinforcements in the east and eat Galway's reinforcements in the west is no longer successful.

With this in mind, the Irish simply changed their plans and joined the 1st Division in the siege of Athlone. However, this did not play a decisive role, as the scope of the fortress of Athlone was limited and could not accommodate as many attacking troops. As a result, the progress made in the next few days was limited, but the casualties were greater.

The 50,000 reinforcements requested by the Duke of Norfolk were basically in place. He even had time to give them a little rest before sending an army of 70,000 men to relieve Athlone.

Although the Duke of Norfolk was not in a hurry at all when he sent out the army, as soon as the reinforcements set out, he kept urging them to speed up. He knew that as soon as reinforcements were dispatched, the rebels would soon get the news, and if he didn't move quickly enough, the rebels would all run away. If they can't be caught under the city of Athlone, then the war will be a quagmire again.

However, after departure, the British army did not move as quickly as the Duke of Norfolk had hoped, because the train pulling the army was ambushed shortly after it departed.

The ambush did not cause much damage to the British, who did not exert much effort to repel the rebels. The main thing that really caused them trouble was the destruction of the railroad by the rebels. Although the British were prepared for the destruction of the railway, and the military trains carried all kinds of things to repair the railway, it slowed them down. But even so, because the Irish had to act now.

After receiving news of the British reinforcements, the 1st Division was sent out to carry out the task of blocking the attack, to ensure that the other units, especially the county brigades and district squadrons, could retreat smoothly. Prior to this, the 1st Division had taken advantage of the small British strongholds they had captured between Dublin and Athlone, and had remodeled them to establish a relatively storey defensive line. Now the 1st Division relies on this line to resist British reinforcements.

This line was built rather hastily, with ample reinforcements from the British and far outmaneuvers of the Irish. However, in order to cover the retreat of other armies, the 1st Division had to rely on this to resist the British army. Although the Irish 1st Division was well-trained and had high morale, they were able to hold off the British for only two days at great cost. The line was broken by the British.

By this time, most of the Irish troops who had entered the battle had already completed their retreat, but the retreat of the blocking forces of the 1st Division had become very difficult, and the British had been biting behind them. Finally, by the time the 1st Division used its familiarity with the terrain to get rid of its pursuers, the 1st Division's blocking force had been reduced by almost half.