In the drizzle, the regiment commander Tong Weisheng looked gloomily at the flickering battlefield in front of him illuminated by flares, the dense explosions came and went, the gunfire of rifles, heavy machine guns, and light machine guns was intertwined with dense and indescribable, in just half an hour, his two battalions were disabled, and the three defensive lines he was responsible for were broken through, if it were not for timely reinforcements, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Twenty years in the army, such a fierce positional battle, such a tragic battle situation, he is the first time to experience, all along, Yuanqi New Army in foreign wars have relied on the advantage of weapons to easily win, this time it is a real opponent.

The proportion of mortars and heavy machine guns equipped with German infantry seems to be higher than theirs, the artillery is accurate, the infantry artillery is skillful, and the charge is also fearless to death.

"Report——, more than half of the three battalions were killed or wounded, request reinforcements!"

Where are there reinforcements, even the guards around him have gone up, Tong Weisheng sighed secretly, and said in a deep voice: "There are no reinforcements, let them hold on for another ten minutes!" ”

Hold on for ten minutes, he doesn't know if this is Wangmei to quench his thirst, he said that he would hold on for half an hour, now that the time has come, there is still no artillery support, the Germans are like crazy, the offensive is urgent and fierce, ten minutes, I don't know how many lives to fill.

He was about to drill into the headquarters to ask the brigade headquarters for reinforcements, when he heard the whistling sound of artillery shells in the air, and then a series of explosions sounded in front of the position, which was the 75th Marine Artillery fired, and his heart was suddenly relieved, and he finally looked forward to artillery reinforcements!

The rate of fire of the 75 Marine Artillery was extremely fast, and it could fire 20 rounds of 7-kilogram shells in one minute, and as soon as the cannon was fired, it could form a continuous suppression of firepower, and as the shelling extended, the mortars fired by the Germans in front of the position were immediately dumb, either bombed or busily transferred, and the small-caliber mortars and heavy machine guns in the trenches that were painstakingly suppressed suddenly became energetic as if they had been beaten with chicken blood.

On the preset artillery position, under the illumination of a gas lamp, a 105 light howitzer was being hurriedly pulled into the gun position, and the battalion commander Lin Mengxiong urged vigorously, "Fast, fast, the target is in the southeast direction, and it must be put into a state of readiness within one minute." ”

Seeing that the landing artillery had already begun to shell, he couldn't help but be in a hurry, he knew very well that once the artillery position was exposed, it would immediately attract the shelling of the German artillery battalion, and he must lock the position of the German artillery battalion as soon as possible and carry out the shelling, the German artillery was experienced, and the western artillery battalion had suffered a big loss, and he did not dare to underestimate the other party at all.

"Shhhhh

Seeing that the German artillery fire was fierce and accurate, Lin Mengxiong couldn't help but secretly speak, thinking that there were not many German artillery on the Eastern Front, and look at this posture is at least more than 30 guns, otherwise it is impossible to hit so accurately at night and without observers.

"Report, the guns are loaded, and the order is given."

"Six Rapid Fire!" Lin Mengxiong shouted loudly, he also adopted the method of playing covered by near and far artillery fire, only in this way can we ensure that a salvo can be prepared to hit the target, the killing range of high-explosive shells is as high as 60 meters, as long as there is no big deviation, there is basically no problem.

When the 105 light howitzer returned fire, the land artillery on the other side also opened fire in unison, and the shelling speed of the marine artillery was faster, and in an instant, the exposed artillery positions of the German army were shrouded in gunsmoke.

Frederick galloping east. When Karl saw this scene, he almost fell off his horse, and only then did he judge that the number of artillery of the Qing army on the Eastern Front was not much, and looking at this formation, there were at least three artillery battalions.

"Your Highness!" James urged his horse to follow, and said loudly, "Break through to the east....... ”

Frederick. Karl slowly reined in his horse, looking at the eastern front with constant explosions, the artillery of the Qing army is still carrying out carpet shelling, without the containment of artillery, the artillery power of the Qing army can be brought into full play, once the advantage they took was suppressed by the artillery fire, it will be wiped out in an instant, and they fantasized about being able to break through the defense line as soon as possible, once the two armies are intertwined and mixed together, the Qing army is to occupy the artillery advantage, and there is no place for it, I don't want the Qing army to defend so tenaciously, and now everything has come to naught.

Retreat, it's too late to retreat now, at least three kilometers are within the range of the Qing artillery, under the guidance of the flares, the Qing artillery can carry out artillery bombardment in an orderly manner, even if it is a multi-way breakthrough, it will pay an extremely heavy price, not to mention that the Qing army still has a large number of cavalry eyeing the enemy, and there is no chance of breaking through at all.

Although he has always been known for his ruthlessness and ruthlessness, he still couldn't bear to send 20,000 or 30,000 troops under the muzzle of the cannon with his own hands, and he was silent for a while, and he said with a miserable face: "Let them surrender." ”

"Your Highness can't surrender!" James said as he whipped a horsewhip on the opponent's horse's buttocks, and then shouted loudly: "Protect Your Highness to break through!" ”

The rain gradually stopped, the sound of guns and artillery gradually thinned out, under the Qing army's land artillery and light howitzer sweep in turn, the German army quickly retreated, and a small group of troops tried to continue to retreat, and immediately suffered from the intensive artillery bombardment and machine strafing of the Qing army in the rear, breaking through to the east, and the dense shells immediately scattered like raindrops.

Sanderton, Command.

Report ——。 Chen Baicun, commander of the 252nd Brigade, reported aloud with an excited face: "The German army has surrendered!" ”

"Disarm, fence with barbed wire first!" Feng Zicai asked with concern, "What about the casualties of the troops?" ”

Listening to the question of casualties, the excitement on Chen Baicun's face immediately subsided, "It was very difficult to defend, and the fight was also fierce, and it was estimated that the rough step should be more than seven or eight thousand......." ”

More than seven or eight thousand casualties? Yi Zhengxing couldn't help but be stunned, this number was really a bit appalling for the new army of Yuanqi, Feng Zicai was also silent for a long time, this victory was beautiful, but the price was indeed too great, he didn't know how to write a battle report, and after a while, he asked: "Frederick. What about Carl? Can you find it? ”

"Not yet." Chen Baicun said: "A part of the German army broke through to the east. ”

"Let the Boer cavalry immediately divide up and chase and intercept them." Feng Zicai said in a deep voice: "The German troops who broke through must all be intercepted!" ”

When the staff officer went out to give the order, Yi Zhengxing asked tentatively: "How can the casualties be so large?" ”

Chen Baicun knew that he had not seen actual combat, so he said: "The German army is equipped with a large number of small and medium-caliber mortars and machine guns, and our army's trenches have been washed out by heavy rain and long-term rain soaking, coupled with intensive shell explosions, the trenches have collapsed seriously and are muddy, which has seriously affected the movement of soldiers in the trenches, and even the supply of ammunition has been greatly affected."

In the absence of artillery support, our troops were almost completely suppressed by the Germans, and in addition, the Germans were equipped with a large number of grenades, which were quite lethal in the trenches. ”

After a pause, he continued: "It is undeniable that the combat power of the German army is indeed not comparable to that of the British and French armies, and it has completely abandoned the old tactics, and they are all experienced generals and veterans, and the firepower configuration of the company battalion seems to be higher than that of our army....... ”

Shanghai, Zhennan Wangfu, Changle Book House.

Although it was the middle of the night, Yi Zhishu still got up at dawn, and rushed to the study early after breakfast, after hearing the report, Yan Yangtian hurriedly took a telegram and rushed over to report, "This is a telegram received at six o'clock in the morning, the German army attacked at night with heavy rain, and fell into the situation of internal and external attacks. ”

After reading the telegram, Yi Zhizu said slowly: "Feng Zicai seems to have been prepared, but the troops are already insufficient, and it is a rainy night, so I am afraid that it will be a vicious .......battle." ”

"From the student's point of view, it's a bit risky." Yan Yangtian said worriedly: "The German army carries a large number of new 77mm rapid-fire guns, and is equipped with a large number .....of mortars. ”

The German army has been at war for many years, but the Yuanqi New Army has hardly had any decent war, the officers and soldiers of the unit lack actual combat experience, and they also divide their troops to attack inside and outside when the troops are at a disadvantage, and the night battle has greatly weakened the artillery advantage, the situation is really not optimistic, and he groaned slightly, and then he ordered: "The battle report is always reported." ”

I waited anxiously for a book morning, until after 12 noon, Yan Yang walked into the study quickly, "Headmaster, Standton has a great victory!" ”

Listen to the great victory. Yi Zhi couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, took the telegram and read it carefully, the smile on his face gradually solidified, killing 9,000 German soldiers, capturing 12,000 German soldiers, and another 3,400 escaped, his own casualties were as high as 11,000, and the number of dead officers and soldiers reached more than 7,000.

After reading the telegram, Zhao Liewen was also silent for a long time before he said: "After two hours of fierce fighting, the casualties on both sides are so large, and the battle situation is so tragic, it is really rare!" ”

"Not strange." Yi Zhishu quickly adjusted his mentality, and said in a gentle tone: "The lethality of weapons now is very different from before, land artillery, mortars, heavy machine guns, light machine guns, semi-automatic rifles, which of them are not killing weapons." ”

After a pause, he continued: "Standton victory, telegram commendation, the fallen soldiers built a well-dressed grave in Stedton, and the ashes were escorted back home. In addition, Feng Zicai was ordered to lead his troops to withdraw to Maputo. ”

In the Mozambique Strait, a fleet of more than 30 ironclad ships and more than 100 merchant ships quickly entered Maputo Bay, and after entering the calm bay, 12 ironclad ships broke away from the fleet and drove at high speed to Maputo Port.

The fleet arrived at the port wharf, and saw Yi Zhengxing and Feng Zicai on the dock to greet them, Xiao Mingliang and Li Hongzhang were both shocked, the fleet encountered a not big storm at sea, although there was no loss, but the voyage was delayed for a few days, these two appeared in Maputo, could it be that the war was unfavorable?

On the dock, Xiao Mingliang didn't want to ask, but Li Hongzhang had no scruples, and after seeing the salute, he asked directly: "Why are His Highness and General Feng in Maputo?" ”

Yi Zhengxing said with a smile on his face: "After Standton inflicted heavy losses on the German army, I was ordered to retreat to Maputo. ”

Hearing the heavy damage to the German army, Li Hongzhang couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, and hurriedly arched his hand and said: "Congratulations to His Royal Highness the Prince for his great victory!" Congratulations to General Feng. ”

The casualties in the first battle of Standton were too great, and the German commander Frederick. Carl also escaped, although he was rewarded by the telegram, Yi Zhengxing and Feng Zicai were not happy, Li Hongzhang congratulated him, both of them looked a little embarrassed, Yi Zhengxing smiled and said: "John's Fort is lost, there is nothing to congratulate." ”

Back in the barracks, Yi Zhengxing did not hide it, and told the real situation of the night battle in Standton in detail, Xiao Mingliang said with emotion: "In just a few years, European countries have caught up in terms of weapons...... ”

"The weapons are becoming more and more advanced, the lethality is also increasing, and the casualties are naturally getting bigger and bigger." Li Hongzhang said slowly: "However, for my country, it is not a bad thing, in terms of population, my country has advantages that are difficult for European countries to achieve. ”

Yi Zhengxing glanced at him and said, "Is General Xiao worried that the combat power of the British and French navies will also catch up?" ”

"Both rapid-fire guns and torpedoes were made public during the last battle in South Africa." Xiao Mingliang said slowly: "Rapid-fire guns have obviously been popularized in European countries, and torpedoes——, it is estimated that Britain and France should also develop them." ”

Yi Zhengxing said: "China is not standing still in the development of torpedoes, even if Britain and France develop torpedoes, there should still be a big gap?" ”

Xiao Mingliang said slowly: "You will know their details after a fight." ”

Fight? Is this to take the initiative to find the warships of the European coalition to start fighting? Yi Zhengxing said tentatively: "Show weakness? ”

"Show weakness, find out, and make no mistakes." Xiao Mingliang said with a smile: "The development speed of European ironclad ships in recent years is also not satisfied, especially the speed and naval guns, we should also take a good look." ”

"England should also want to take the opportunity to touch our bottom line." Yi Zhengxing said: "We have suffered a lot of losses in the night battle of Steadeton, and the naval battle is even more dangerous....... ”

"Your Highness needs not worry." Xiao Mingliang said disapprerovingly: "The biggest threat to the ironclad ship is the torpedo, and with the firepower of the ship's guns, it is really not an easy task to sink a large and medium-sized ironclad ship." ”

Yi Zhengxing has personally experienced the naval battle of Mozambique and seen naval artillery shooting, it is indeed not easy to sink an ironclad ship, even if it is scarred by naval guns, it is not easy to sink, but it is a torpedo, once hit, there is a danger of sinking.

Seeing that it was a slit in the words, Li Hongzhang asked: "His Highness withdrew to Maputo, how did the Transvaal react?" ”

"Not much of a reaction." Yi Zhengxing said: "In the battle of Standton, our army suffered heavy casualties, retreated to Maputo to rest and wait for reinforcements, what can they say?" ”

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Chapter 1041: The Arrival of the Fleet (Page 1/1)

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