Chapter 539: Fierce Battle of Port Said
"Comrades, across the street is Port Said, which is controlled by the British!"
"It was here that the Suez Canal was opened, and the British warships sailed from here to China, killing our people and harming our comrades, and imposing countless unequal treaties on us!"
"Now, under the leadership of His Majesty our Great Emperor, we are strong, and the blood feud of the past can finally be avenged!"
"Now, the warships of our Imperial Navy are going to Europe to fight the British, and the Suez Canal is the only way to go, but in front of us, the British are holding on to Port Said, and they want to block our Imperial Navy from going to Europe!"
"Comrades! What do you say we should do? ”
On the deck of the No. 1208 troop carrier, all the officers and men of an infantry battalion in the 33rd Town were fully armed, loaded with guns and ammunition, and lined up to prepare for departure. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info
Before leaving, their battalion commander Zhang Zhihua was holding a loudspeaker and conducting a general mobilization for war.
"Defeat the British!"
"Occupy Port Said!"
"Long live the Chinese Empire!"
……
Zhang Zhihua's short remarks aroused the fierce fighting spirit of the officers and men of the whole battalion.
"Good!"
"Raise a soldier for a thousand days and use it for a while!"
"Today, let the British in Port Said see the power of our Chinese Imperial Divine Army! The goal of our three battalions is the first-class merit of all individuals and the first-class merit of the collective! Is there confidence? ”
"Yes!"
"Be louder, mosquitoes are your relatives!"
"There is !!"
"Excellent! All of them! Turn back! Let's go! ”
……
Hundreds of officers and men of the third battalion had been waiting for this moment for a long time, and after hearing the command, they quickly walked to the side of the ship and disembarked along the rope ladder in an orderly manner.
On the sea, thousands of landing craft were already waiting.
The soldiers of the Imperial Chinese Army on each troop carrier, after the pre-war mobilization of their respective commanders, quickly disembarked and boarded the landing craft.
All the officers and men of the 33rd town were divided into squads, each squad had a fast landing craft, and then rushed to the coast in groups.
At the same time, the main guns of the ships of the Navy's Mediterranean Fleet were raised high, their shells loaded, and they aimed at the British defensive positions along the coastline.
Knock knock!
The flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet, the heavy cruiser Harutsuki, fired a salvo of the main guns.
Immediately afterwards, five heavy cruisers, including the Xiayue, Qiuyue, Taoyue, Heyue, and Haiyue, also fired a salvo of fire, and other light cruisers, destroyers, and other main guns also opened fire one after another, all aiming at the beach-grabbing landing zone.
The cannon roared, and the smoke of gunpowder filled the air.
Under the cover of the firepower of the Mediterranean Fleet, all the officers and men of the 33rd Town began a large-scale beach-rushing landing operation.
In an instant, thousands of fast landing craft rushed towards the beach five kilometers away.
This is the fastest landing craft developed by the Chinese Imperial military, with a speed of up to 45 knots, and when it sails, it splits a huge wave of nearly two meters, and if there is no wave guard, more than a dozen soldiers on the speedboat would have been overturned by the huge waves in an instant.
Along the beach, tens of thousands of British troops were stationed.
When the British army learned of the Chinese Imperial Army's surprise attack on the Mingang estuary, they realized that the other side might choose to enter the rear of Port Said from Manzailai Lake, so the commander of the British Army Port Said immediately ordered the 10,000 British troops at Manzailai Lake to enter an emergency combat state and resolutely prevent the Chinese Imperial Army from landing behind Port Said.
At this moment, the British army saw that the Chinese Imperial Army had begun a beach-grabbing landing operation, and immediately fired back.
The British army here did not have fortress artillery, so there was no way to take the warships of the Imperial Chinese Navy, their artillery was all army artillery, which could only be used to attack those landing craft that rushed to the beach.
Boom!
Boom!
Columns of water exploded on the surface of the sea, splashing and rolling waves.
From time to time, landing craft were hit, but this did not affect the will to fight of the soldiers of the Chinese Imperial Army, who were all elite and had long been not afraid of this level of artillery fire.
In this era, the landing craft of European and American armies mostly sailed at speeds of less than 12 knots. The bow is equipped with a bow and a springboard of the same width, and the loading compartment is open, equipped with machine guns or small-caliber naval guns. Its advantages are shallow draft, maneuverability and flexibility, and it can go deep into shallow waters and shore beach landings that cannot be reached by landing ships, but it has a small endurance, low speed, poor seakeeping, and a limited range of activities.
Thanks to Li Weiguo's avant-garde guidance and inspiration, the landing craft of the Chinese Empire developed the high-speed landing craft DDG-1000.
The name is just a bad taste, and it was deliberately used by Li Weiguo to disgust the most awesome littoral combat ship of the US Navy in later generations, but in reality, the landing craft is not as big as a destroyer, but much smaller. The entire DDG-1000 has a hull length of 6.90 meters, a width of 2.20 meters, a depth of 0.96 meters, a draft of 0.35 meters, and is equipped with a DDG-1000 (the same name as the ship), with a horsepower output of 85-200, a speed of 30-45 knots, a cruising range of 50 nautical miles, a crew of 13 people (fully armed soldiers), and a Thunderbolt heavy machine gun with 100 rounds of ammunition.
This kind of fast landing craft, with a limited membership of 13 people, is just the strength of a squad, and it is tailor-made for the Shence Army of the Chinese Empire.
With the DDG-45 landing craft at a speed of 1000 knots, it takes only a few minutes to reach a short distance of five kilometers.
Before the British could react, the soldiers of the Chinese Imperial Army washed up on the beach.
The battle soon began on the beach, and British heavy machine-gun fire blocked the beach, forcing the Divine Army fighters who had just washed up on the beach to crawl forward and find cover to return fire.
"Mortar!"
"Here!"
"There is a heavy machine gun fire point in the direction of one o'clock!"
"About 350 meters away!"
"him for me!"
"Yes!"
Two mortarmen of the fifth squad, having received the order of the squad leader, quickly assembled the 60-mm mortar, the gunner took aim, and the deputy gunner quickly took out a mortar shell from the ammunition box.
"Watch out for shelling!"
The gunner shouted, raising the attention of the surrounding warriors, and at the same time released the cannonball in his hand, causing it to slide down the barrel.
Boom!
The cannon was discharged, and the British machine-gun fire point on the opposite side exploded.
"Well done!"
"Rush me!"
The squad leader shouted, raised the submachine gun in his hand and rushed forward first.
The other fighters did not hesitate at all, and they all rushed forward after him.
In the British firepower point where the mortar had been dropped, five or six British soldiers were on all fours, gray and starry.
The explosive power of the mortar shell is not too strong, the radius of the explosion is several meters, and it will not die unless it is directly cut by shrapnel.
Six British soldiers were very pointed, and the shells exploded directly in their midst, killing all on the spot.
The fifth squad quickly occupied this British firepower point, and then along the trench, fiercely attacked other British troops in the trench.
After seeing the Chinese Imperial Army rushing into the position, the British heavy machine guns on the circular position quickly turned their muzzles and blocked the passage, preventing the men of the fifth squad from continuing to attack the British soldiers in the trenches.
The British firepower was at a high place, surrounded by sandbag bunkers, and only one gun hole was exposed, while the men of the fifth squad were all in the trenches two meters deep, and the fire of both sides was fired, and the people of the fifth squad obviously suffered a loss.
"Pyro!"
The leader of the fifth squad shouted, and the flamethrowers quickly crawled forward, and when they were twenty meters away from the British firepower point, they suddenly shot out a fire dragon and directly hit the British machine gun battlement.
Ahhh
I only heard a scream, and the upper body of the British soldier inside was ignited, and he screamed in pain as it burned.
A British soldier tried to substitute him, but the Pyro fired several fire dragons again and drilled into the machine gun battlement, and another British soldier who tried to come up to replace him was also hit, followed by screams.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, the fifth squad leader gave an order, and the whole class rushed forward.
The two warriors each took out a radium and threw it through the battlement.
There were two loud bangs, black smoke billowed out, and the screaming inside also stopped.
However, for the sake of safety, the flamethrower breathed fire into the battlement again, and after making sure that there was no screaming, the whole squad quickly moved forward to attack the next British firepower point.
The soldiers of the Chinese Imperial Army were more heroic than the other, and they were more energetic on the training ground in peacetime, and they did not give up a single inch on the battlefield, charging forward bravely and wittily one by one, constantly breaking through the coastal blockade line of the British army.
The beach-grabbing landing lasted less than an hour, and 10,000 British troops were defeated, leaving thousands of corpses behind, and hastily withdrawing from the coastline.
"Bastards, you bunch of shit! More than 10,000 people guarding the coastal defense line were lost in less than an hour, you are stupider than pigs! ”
Looking at the gray faces, their heads and arms wrapped in white gauze, and their embarrassed appearances, Major General Miller, the commander of the British army in Port Said, wanted to vomit blood angrily.
At this time, there was an urgent report from the herald.
"Report, the enemy has all gone ashore!"
Miller was shocked and hurriedly asked, "How many are there?" ”
"There is only one number, and it is the thirty-third town of the Cyprus Governor's House! About 25,000 people have come ashore, carrying a lot of heavy equipment! Tanks, artillery ......"
"I see!"
Miller interrupted the other party's report and said, "It's bold that just 20,000 people would dare to attack Port Said!" We still have 45,000 troops in Port Said, even if we have 100,000 troops, we can easily block it! ”
When saying this, Miller directly ignored the comparison of combat effectiveness. The army that can block 100,000 troops in his mouth refers to an army with the same combat effectiveness as the British army, and as an attacker, the loss of 100,000 troops is not alarmist.
However, if it is replaced by the Chinese Imperial Army, the combat effectiveness of the British army cannot be compared. Obviously, Miller deliberately ignored the combat effectiveness of the Chinese Imperial Army, and only wanted to increase the confidence of his men and hold Port Said.
Of course, Miller was a little scared in his heart, but when he thought of Port Said's strong defensive capabilities, he was somewhat confident.
The battle reports kept coming back that the Chinese Imperial Army had entered the city of Port Said and engaged in fierce street fighting with the British army.
Tanks roared and drove into the city, shells destroying the British positions ahead. Fighter planes roared in the air, and bullets rained down like a torrential rain, leaving the British with nowhere to hide.
It was a feast of steel rain, and wherever it passed, the British army suffered heavy casualties.
However, as the battle line approached the fortress, it gradually came within the effective range of the British fortress guns.
When the artillery of the British fortress roared, the offensive of the Chinese Imperial Army was hindered and blocked, and casualties began to increase.
Yuan Shikai personally supervised the battle, and when he saw the fierce artillery fire of the British fortress, he couldn't help frowning.
"Inform the Air Force brothers, focus on greeting the British fortress artillery!"
Yuan Shikai had tanks and cannons in his hands, but he couldn't fight against the fortress artillery that was defended to the teeth, but he could use fighters to attack the British artillery who operated the fortress guns.
Killing all the British artillery is equivalent to destroying the British fortress artillery.
The Imperial Air Force of China showed its unique advantage at this moment, that is, it was condescending and could attack any target at will.
Fifteen hundred F16 fighters were divided into several batches, taking turns to attack the British fortress batteries, shooting a large number of British artillery, so that the defenders on the batteries became fewer and fewer, and in the end, there was no one to operate the fortress batteries.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Yuan Shikai ordered all the officers and soldiers of the 33rd Town to seize the golden opportunity and launch a powerful offensive.
Miller's self-confidence gradually faded, and without the support of the fortress artillery, the British could not hold off the onslaught of the tanks in the ground battle.
At present, the only reliance of the British army is the strong walls of the fortress, which can at least block the advance of the tanks and force the Chinese Imperial Army to engage in direct infantry combat with the British army.
However, Miller still underestimated the combat effectiveness of the Chinese Imperial Shence Army, and even if the soldiers of the Shence Army did not have tank support, their combat effectiveness was not comparable to that of the British Army.
Soon, the 33rd Town launched a full-scale siege battle, but most of it was a feint, and the 3rd Battalion of the 2nd Regiment where Zhang Zhiguo was located took on the task of sharp knives, climbing up from the southwest side of the fortress to tear a hole.
Over there, the fighters of the Air Force continued to suppress the British troops, covering the officers and men of the third battalion to climb towards the city.
There were soldiers with strong and flexible bodies who climbed up first, then drove piles, lowered the rope ladder, and the other fighters of the third battalion quickly climbed up the rope ladder.
A British soldier found out and was about to shout a warning, but was shot dead by a sniper from the third battalion.
But the British army was not stupid after all, and there were always people who noticed that something was wrong, and then sensed that there was danger on the southwest side.
"Shoot me! Blow them up! ”
Miller shouted frantically, using the only mobile artillery regiment in the fortress to destroy the danger that was taking place in the southwest direction.
Boom!
British shells roared, and the third battalion faced life and death.
At the critical moment, Yuan Shikai, who had been paying close attention to the situation of the third battalion, also made a decision.
"Fire! Do whatever it takes! Knock out the artillery positions of the British army for me! ”
Knock knock!
The artillery regiment directly under the 33rd Town also opened fire, aiming at the position of the British artillery regiment, and shelling an infinite number of times until the opponent was destroyed.
The fierce artillery battle between the two sides made the battle instantly white-hot.
The Chinese Imperial fighters in the air also quickly became involved in the battle, and some of the pilots saw the British artillery positions and consciously dived to attack.
In this chaotic artillery battle, many Chinese Imperial fighter planes were hit and crashed by their own artillery shells, but the pilots still rushed into the artillery rain to fight without regrets, and they wanted to regard this battle as a protest to the army and navy, and also Zhuang Jiuxia's protest to Zhang Xiaoliu and Lin Jiyun in disguise.
The British artillery regiment was destroyed in less than half an hour under the joint attack of the Chinese Imperial Air Force and the ground artillery regiment, and the distressed Miller burst into tears.
Without artillery fire, the 3rd Battalion quickly took control of the southwest corner of the fortress, and then more soldiers of the Imperial Chinese Army climbed up the rope ladder left by the 3rd Battalion and stormed the fortress.
Miller tried to recapture the gap and organized many counterattacks, but unfortunately the British army's will to fight had collapsed, and the fighting passion was far less than that of the Chinese Imperial Army.
Once the Chinese Imperial Army entered the fortress, the battle was completely different from before, and the Chinese and British armies fought in the narrow and winding passages of the fortress, and individual weapons played a huge role.
The submachine guns and flamethrowers of the Chinese Imperial Army played for a long time in this environment, while the British army could only rely on rifles to shoot back, and the firepower was much weaker.
The battle went in a direction that was unfavorable to the British army, and Miller was anxious, but there was nothing he could do. (To be continued.) )