Port Cork, Ireland

The gunfire at night is like autumn rain, sometimes scattered, sometimes dense. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 The people waited for dawn with trepidation, opened the windows, and found that the streets and alleys were covered with the tricolor flags of the Irish independence movement, and there were people with loaded guns everywhere, who obviously did not have uniform uniforms, but ordinary civilians, who could blend in with the crowd when they dropped their guns, and now took over the port city instead of the police and security forces.

"Ireland is the Ireland of the Irish! Ireland is Free Ireland! Get the British out of Ireland! We do not accept the rule of the British! "A group of women shouting slogans, handing out leaflets along the street, and when they encounter people who respond positively and are angry, they will direct them to the recruitment station, some of them are indifferent, others are evasive, and when they encounter this situation, the women do not act in a radical way, and they quickly move on to the next person after stuffing the leaflets.

In the square, where public events were often held, the Irish Republican Brotherhood set up loudspeakers and "bombarded" people's ears with impassioned speeches, and they drove in a truck to hand out rifles and ammunition to those who had voluntarily registered and sworn to fight for Irish independence. Despite the well-armed and well-trained British army in which the Irish independence movement was confronted, in the space of a single morning, hundreds of men, ranging from enthusiastic young men to middle-aged men with beards and bellies, took up arms.

At sunset, the voice on the loudspeaker was still full of emotion: "Fellow Irish people, brothers and sisters, we are fighting for the independence of Ireland." Do not be deceived by the autonomy promised to us by the British government, for that kind of freedom is far away, and only by force against force can Ireland's independence be truly achieved! Whatever you look like - even if it's just standing behind you and shouting for us, please support us! Support the Irish Republican Brotherhood! Support the Irish Volunteers! ”

Sudden gunshots and explosions came from the north of the city, and some gloating people muttered to themselves behind the windows: "Look, these guys who don't know whether they are alive or dead are about to be cleaned up, where can they beat the British army, this stupid act gives the British an excellent excuse to use force!" ”

On the side of the road north of Cork, the battle to stop the British army has begun.

One of the two leading armored vehicles was on fire, with the corpses of several soldiers lying on the sidelines, and the other armored car had a flat tire on the left side, and the machine gun on the car was constantly spewing out tongues of fire, and a series of bullets swept into the woods not far away.

The drivers and occupants of the armoured vehicles had mostly survived, and the British soldiers in khaki uniforms scattered to the side of the road, and after getting a general idea of the enemy, they profited with sustained and rapid fire and began to attack in an orderly manner.

In the woods, led by a man in a cap and suspenders, thirty or forty Irish Volunteer soldiers opened fire on the enemy from pre-dug firing bunkers.

Powerful, accurate and durable, the Mauser G1898 is a classic military rifle, but even in the hands of a qualified German soldier, it is difficult to compete with the British Enfield MK-I, because the rate of fire between the two is so different. If it weren't for the fact that this group of Irish volunteers had a Maxim water-cooled heavy machine gun, it would have been difficult to hold out for a few rounds under the guns of three times the number of British soldiers, not to mention the simple fortifications built by these non-professional soldiers were far from being comparable to the trenches on the Western Front. As time passed, while the ambushers continued to inflict casualties on their opponents, more and more of their companions were knocked down by the opponent's bullets.

Seeing a small group of British soldiers advancing to the edge of the woods under the cover of superior fire, the man in the cap shouted, "The first group throws grenades...... Pull the fuse first and then throw it! ”

At his reminder, several Irish Volunteer soldiers removed the wooden-handled grenades from their belts or boots, threw them in a decent throwing position, and only heard a few explosions, and the British soldiers near the woods were blown out in an instant, and the rest were crawling to the ground. The sound of the grenade explosion made the ambusher's side slightly more vigorous, but the overall situation of the two warring sides did not change much, the only Maxim machine gun arranged in the woods was "taken care of" by the British firepower, and the soldiers operating the machine gun were shot in the head one after another, resulting in intermittent firepower, and it was difficult to play an effective suppressive role. However, the capped man was not willing to retreat, and he continued to increase the number of men in the battle to the machine gun position to replace the shot shooter, and after a while, he asked his second group to throw grenades.

Several grenades exploded one after another, but the British soldiers were on guard, they spread out in formation, attacking the woods from several directions, the relatively weak side of the ambusher's defense soon became a breakthrough for the British army, these trained professional soldiers quietly entered the woods, groped their way to a position where they could see the enemy's figure and suddenly opened fire, the four Irish Volunteer soldiers who were operating the Maxim heavy machine gun were the first to bear the brunt of the attack, and in the blink of an eye, they all fell in a pool of blood, none of them were spared.

In the individual bunkers built against trees and mounds, most of the Irish Volunteer soldiers were bewildered by the sound of gunfire coming from all directions, unaware of the approaching danger at the moment of danger, and at a distance of fifty or sixty meters, the British soldiers who burst into the woods were able to easily shoot the ambushers who were bent on firing forward. By the time the cap man found out, his soldiers had been reduced by nearly half!

"Pay attention to the right...... There are British! The man in the cap reminded the warriors loudly as he bent his waist to the right. The British soldiers discovered his attempt and opened fire on him. The man in the cap narrowly missed a shot as he slid through the flying wood chips and dirt, and the grenade was the only advantage he and his Irish Volunteer soldiers had in terms of weaponry compared to the British soldiers in front of them. With the rise of rifle range and cannon power and the advent of machine guns, the grenadier this ancient branch gradually withdrew from the active ranks of the armies of various countries, in 1914, only Germany and Russia produced and equipped grenades in large quantities before the outbreak of the war, although Britain and France and other countries did not lack this technology, until the trench defense replaced the bayonet attack did not realize the importance of grenades, and weapons from research and development to production and then to equipment must need a process, for the front-line soldiers, this is destined to be a long and painful process, Even with temporary replacements, British troops in Ireland were at the back of the equipment priority because they were far from the front line.

Judging by his demeanor, the man in the cap had received preliminary military training, was bold and careful, brave and decisive, but was still 108,000 miles away from the standard of a qualified officer. Leaning against the root of a large tree, he pulled out two wooden-handled grenades from his belt, spotted the position of the British soldiers, threw one, and then threw a second one just after the explosion had been interrupted by the British soldiers, which had miraculously knocked down three or four British soldiers. Nearby Irish Volunteer soldiers took advantage of the situation and cleanly dealt with the deadly threat with a small counterattack, but British soldiers from other directions continued to break into the woods, and the engagement distance was compressed to an extremely disadvantageous point for the ambushers. Seeing that the situation was not good, many Irish Volunteer soldiers hurriedly threw grenades, or retreated without the order of the cap man, this temporary front was on the verge of collapse, if they did not retreat in time, being eliminated by the British soldiers was probably the only fate of these Irish Volunteer soldiers.

"Everybody hold on! Reinforcements will arrive soon! Hold on for another five minutes! ”

The man in the cap shouted at the top of his voice, and before he could shout a second time, a shuttle of machine-gun bullets swept in, forcing him to keep his head close to the ground.

The Maxim machine gun, which had killed many British soldiers, had been controlled by the British soldiers, and was now falling past the muzzle of the gun to fire the Irish Volunteer soldiers, and the situation was even worse for them.

Between the gunshots, the Briton on the opposite side shouted, "Surrender!" Irish! There may be a way to survive if you surrender! ”

The man in the cap shouted, "Rather than lay down your weapons and be hanged by you, you should fight to the death!" ”

In response to him was another shuttle machine gun bullet.

Gradually, the British soldiers, who took control of the situation, forced the ambushers back to a corner of the woods. There have been many uprisings in Ireland throughout history, most recently in the 19th century, and the failed insurgents ended up as hopelessly as the man in the cap claimed. It is precisely because they are aware of the cruel methods of the British rulers, except for those who are dying and seriously wounded, the living Irish volunteer soldiers are making the last resistance, but the cold and shining bayonets on the British soldiers still cast a layer of pathos in everyone's hearts. The war for freedom had just begun, and the external situation was more favourable than ever for the Irish independence movement, and perhaps in a few weeks the independence that the Irish had longed for for centuries would become a reality, but this was the outcome of their first battle......

Suddenly, there was a dense burst of gunfire outside the woods, and after a few moments, only the British officers could be heard shouting tactical orders, and the British soldiers in the woods retreated in the direction of the road.

"Reinforcements are coming! Our reinforcements are coming! ”

The surviving Irish Volunteer soldiers were so excited that they embraced each other in tears, and under the leadership of the cap man, they tried to chase after the retreating British soldiers, but they were subjected to a systematic burst of fire from the other side, and the last group of valuable combat strength lost several more.

Outside the woods, a group of armed men dressed as civilians came along the road from the direction of Cork Harbour, and after coming into range of British guns, they did not blindly charge with the momentum of a new attack, but advanced in groups alternately under the high-pitched sound of commands. The accuracy of these people's shooting is not flattering, but they are better than the number of people, and they have the confidence to fight with the British soldiers.

The British army, which had rushed to Cork to suppress the independents, had been a company in size, but had lost a lot of strength by the ambush, and after the battle just now, the remaining soldiers were less than 100, and the ammunition they carried with them could only last for a battle. Thinking that the battle was coming to an end, the British soldiers who remained outside the woods had just unloaded two boxes of ammunition from their trucks, and before they could be distributed, they were attacked by nearly 200 armed men, and only the machine-gun fire of armored vehicles barely controlled their attack, and the situation of the battle suddenly turned dramatically.

(End of chapter)