Before the start of the battle...... Or rather, before Dannatt ordered the soldiers to open fire, Winston. Churchill also fantasized about seeing the precise and fierce volleys of British soldiers, and the German soldiers who kept falling like wheat swept by a sickle. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 Info Churchill believed that good British soldiers could crush the first German offensive in the same way that Napoleon's Guards at Waterloo did.

But this is not the case.

Dannat's soldiers were firing desperately. Their response was outstanding, their enthusiasm was indisputable, but their aim was terrible. Not a single bullet hit the approaching German soldiers, on the contrary, the first salvo of which the Germans returned hit at least thirty people, almost a platoon.

It was only at this time that Churchill suddenly realized that George. Lieutenant General White's two defeats at Mount Tarana and Nicholson Canyon were by no means solely due to intelligence errors or the participation of the Germans in the fighting, but the lack of trained soldiers in the colonial forces was the main problem. He began to suspect that even if only 3,500 Boer militiamen attacked Ladysmith, the lieutenant general might lose the battle.

Churchill took out his pen and notebook and, as he thought quickly, jotted down the proposals he was going to submit to the Secretary of War for the military training of the colonial garrisons. Before he could do this, though, the results of the battle were already there.

The short, only a few minutes of exchange of fire cost Dannatt nearly a few dozen men, while the Germans had nothing to lose, and reduced their distance from their positions to within two hundred yards - and then, apparently because of their obvious superiority in shooting, the Germans stopped advancing and stayed where they were firing at the British soldiers, rather than continuing to shorten the distance and bring the battle to a white-knuckle phase.

The threat level of the Mauser rifle is increasing rapidly. Finding that it was impossible to stop the Germans, and that they had become targets for the Germans, the British soldiers quickly abandoned their posts—at first a few soldiers, then a dozen, then dozens, officers joined the soldiers, and finally, everyone began to retreat into the city...... A more accurate, and completely uncompromising way to put it, is a rout.

Nearly 400 surviving and mobile British soldiers swarmed into Leddy Smith, followed by the Germans who hastily disbanded their formation and charged. Either side looks like a mess, no organization, no command, only chaos.

It seemed that soon, and in just a few more minutes, Lieutenant General White's third defeat would come. Of course, if the lieutenant general is able to regroup his forces and set up a new line of defense using the various buildings of the city, then he can continue to stall for time...... Just if.

Not every "if" will become a reality – but it's worth trying.

When Churchill found that he had outpaced most of the officers and enlisted men and made it to the front of the crowd, he felt that he could make such an attempt. And very luckily, White and Dannat were right next to him, so there was no need for him to waste time looking for a guy who could give orders.

Churchill slowed his pace, turned his head and shouted to White: "We must rebuild the line, General, or we will all become prisoners of the Germans." ”

"I know, Mr. Churchill," White replied, "but what should we do?" ”

"As I said" - he did not actually say it, but Churchill is sure that White and Dannet would have thought he did - "let all your soldiers enter the building and engage the Germans with fire, and the walls and furniture should provide them with some cover." ”

"This would have allowed the Germans to attack the buildings of the city indiscriminately, Mr. Churchill."

"If we hadn't done that, the Germans would have taken Leddy Smith in a few minutes." Churchill argued—he knew, of course, that he could convince White," "and that the Germans would not necessarily shell the city." Maybe they will choose to continue the siege and give you a chance to surrender with dignity. ”

Holding on to a city long enough to finally lay down your arms with dignity is obviously better than abandoning the city in less than half an hour and sending yourself to a prisoner of war camp. Churchill knew exactly what White would do - just as he knew that the Germans would not waste time continuing to besiege the city.

"Perhaps we should not pin our hopes that the Germans will abide by the rules of engagement of civilized people." White felt dizzy as he needed to listen.

"Maybe. But at least it's worth trying. In any case, the Germans are civilized people like us. Churchill shouted.

With few other answers, White finally decided to go with Churchill's idea. He turned his head to Dannat, who was slightly behind and was trying to regain control of his soldiers, and shouted, "Major, you already heard? Let your soldiers enter the building next to the street, which is their new position. ”

"I don't think it's a good idea, General." Dannat muttered, but decided to carry out the order, grabbing the collar of a sergeant who tried to overtake him, "Sergeant, take a few men to the house on the left, I want you to stay there until the battle is over." ”

Then he gave more orders.

"Lieutenant Grant, get me some people to control the building on the right."

"Second Lieutenant Lawrence, lead your soldiers into the church."

"I need two platoons to control every building around the square, get someone for me right now......"

A minute later, the British soldiers who could still hear the order and were willing to carry it out began to rush to the buildings that Dannat had asked them to control, piling up everything that could be moved in the house to the windows as fast as they could, leaning there and firing at the German soldiers who rushed up. Although the shooting skills of the British soldiers did not improve compared to the previous ones, for the first time, the Germans felt that they were hindered in their offensive.

Once again, they stopped advancing and quickly dispersed, exchanging bullets on the street with their opponents in the houses. After a period of rout and confusion, it seemed that the battle could continue again.

Seem......

"The British withdrew to Ladysmith?" The German servicemen showed their usual efficiency, and in less than ten minutes, Bedholt. Colonel Coster had gotten the news, and his eyebrows were twisted into a ball.

British troops withdrew into Ladysmith. The colonel did not consider this a good sign for his actions. Moreover, there are more troublesome problems.

"The British took control of many of the buildings and used them as bunkers to hold back our troops. The soldiers had to clear each house one by one......"

"Nope." Cowes interrupted the officer who was reporting, "Get the infantry out of the fight." ”

The officer looked confused. "Colonel?"

"Let the infantry withdraw from the battle. We have to save time and at the same time reduce human losses. The colonel explained, repeating his order again, "Get the infantry out of the fight." ”

"But Ladysmith ......"

"Order the artillery to open fire on Leddy Smith and destroy the area controlled by the British troops."

※※※

Cape Town.

The Prime Minister of the British Cape Colony, Alfred. A small welcome ball is being held at Sir Milner's official residence to welcome Redforth of the South African Expeditionary Force. Admiral Buhler, as well as all the senior officers of the expeditionary force. To Sir Milner's dismay, however, the ball, which was supposed to be extremely enthusiastic, had nothing to do with warmth, cheerfulness, or any other expression of joy, or even resembles a ball.

It's more like a small military meeting. No one danced, the orchestra and attendants were expelled from the hall, while the ladies hid in the next room, where officers and colonial officials gathered in groups to discuss the headache of southern Africa with empty wine glasses.

So far, all the news has been bad, and the worst news is that the Boer army has surrounded the Kimberley - three days ago, there was no update. Cape Town received only a telegram from the Kimberley's defenses asking for help, and communication with the city was completely severed, and no one knew whether the city was still under British control or had been captured by the Boers.

Sir Milner and his advisers knew only one thing now, they had to send reinforcements to the Kimberley at once.

"Reinforcements must be sent immediately." Sir told Admiral Buller, "I am not worried about the situation in the Kimberley, but about our former colonial prime minister. ”

"Mr. Rhodes? What did he do? "The admiral wants to know.

"He is gathering gunmen and mercenaries and preparing to personally lead them to Kimberley to defend his diamond mines." "I don't think a group of improvised militants will do anything but put him in danger," Milner said worriedly. ”

"So you want me to end the crisis in the Kimberley before Mr. Rhodes embarks on his adventure?" Bühler asked.

"It's easy to do, isn't it? The Boer militia is simply vulnerable in front of your regular army, Admiral. Milner complimented, "Just send one brigade to the Kimberley and our problems will be solved......

Jazz was interrupted by an uninvited guest—and his secretary, with a look of palpable panic and frustration, came up to his side. "Two pieces of bad news, Sir."

It was purely a human reflex, and Milner thought of the trouble he was talking to Buhler about. "The Boers occupied the Kimberley? Or is Rhodes already on the move? ”

But neither Kimberly nor Rhodes, the bad news came from the East. "Boer forces captured Ladysmith."

"Impossible." Milner's first reaction was that it was a false report, "Leddy Smith had a brigade of Lieutenant General White, and it was impossible for the Boers to take it easily." ”

"Sorry, sir," the secretary looked sympathetically at his prime minister, who at first felt exactly the same way as sir, "the news came from Durban, and it has been confirmed. The Boers captured Leddy Smith, and Lieutenant General White's forces were wiped out. ”

"The Boer militia is not so combative!" Milner was furious and vehemently retorted to the secretary's nonsense, "They can't eat one of our brigades!" This must be a Pretoria rumor......"

"Calm down, sir." Admiral Buller interjected appropriately, "Regarding the situation at Leddy Smith, we can send a telegram to Durban and ask them for a more detailed report. ”

"It must be a rumor." Jazz still stood by his opinion.

"I also hope it's a rumor." The admiral took a more conservative approach, and then he turned to the secretary, "What's the other bad news?" ”

The secretary sighed to himself and replied, "When Ladysmith fell, a reporter from the Morning Post was still there. ”

"A journalist?" This shouldn't seem to be bad news......

"His name is Winston. Leonard. Spencer. Churchill. ”

Admiral Buller decided to retract his judgment: it was indeed bad news. (To be continued, if you want to know what will happen next, please log in to the www.qidian.com, more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!) (To be continued.) )