Chapter 7: Capsizing

The outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War was formed by the joint promotion of several major powers in the world. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 Although only Japan, a small country, and Tsarist Russia, the weakest of the imperialist powers, are participating in the war, Britain, France, the United States, and Germany are secretly fueling the troubles.

In this era of rapid development of science and technology, new types of weapons are emerging one after another. With the exception of some people who have come from the lower reaches of history, everyone is still exploring the use of new weapons, and there is no convincing way of warfare. The Russo-Japanese War became an opportunity for many countries to test new weapons and new combat theories.

During the Gengzi period, rapid-fire guns and heavy machine guns had already shown their might on the Chinese battlefield. However, at that time, the Chinese army did not put many rapid-fire weapons on the battlefield, and although it caused a large number of casualties, it did not alert the European and American powers.

This is true not only in countries such as Britain, France, and the United States, where conservatism prevails, but even in Germany, which is famous for its general staff system, there are still all kinds of doubts and concerns about heavy machine guns in the military. If nothing else, bullet consumption alone is enough to collapse logistics.

At a time when the whole world was skeptical about the superiority of heavy machine guns, only the German emperor paid out of his own pocket to equip the army he could directly control with several hundred of them. Japan is an island country with few resources, and originally fired bullets at heavy machine guns, which were like firing yen, and did not want to be equipped with more new weapons, but they were taught twice by the Chinese with machine guns and cannons after the first noon, so ....

Even a dog, after being beaten twice, has a reaction and is touched. At this time, the Japanese had not yet ossified to the point where "it is not me who is wrong, but the world." After carefully studying the battle reports, the Japanese quickly learned how to use heavy machine guns and rapid-fire guns in field battles, which was not very difficult.

Coupled with the fact that the Japanese were given more steel and explosives than they had historically been, they were equipped with much more rapid-fire weapons than they had historically. In the previous field battles, the Japanese beat the Russians by virtue of their superiority in weapons and equipment. But now, in front of the Japanese is the most impregnable fortress in the Far East - Lushun.

In the face of those permanent duties, not to mention 75mm rapid-fire guns, even 105mm howitzers are not so much. Conversely, the defenders' artillery and heavy machine guns can deal a devastating blow to the attacker.

The Japanese army besieging Lushun had 60,000 troops, 400 artillery pieces (including 198 siege guns) and 72 machine guns. At the same time, the Japanese blocked the port with a fleet (52 warships).

On August 7, 1904, the Japanese attacked. For the first time, the commanding heights of the frontier on the periphery of the fortress were captured - the Great Lonely Mountain and the Little Lonely Mountain. The Japanese army fought 12 battalions against 3 battalions of the Russian army. The two sides fought fiercely for four days over these two tactical points. In the end, the high ground fell into the hands of the Japanese. On August 10, 1904, the Russian fleet, on the orders of Alekseev, tried to break through the blockade and sail to Vladivostok.

However, due to Withoeft's poor preparation and improper command, he encountered the Japanese fleet and was killed on the spot, and the rest of the ships were forced to retreat to their bases; Part of the ships fled to Chinese ports and were disarmed (Russo-Japanese Battle of the Yellow Sea). On August 12, 1904, the Russian Vladivostok detachment was destroyed by the Japanese Second Fleet of Hikonomasi Uemura in the Battle of Ulsan.

On August 19, 1904, the Japanese launched their first assault on the fortress, attacking day and night, and the two sides fought fiercely until August 24. The Japanese captured some of the forward fortifications, but suffered about 20,000 casualties (1/3 of the total strength), demoralized, and many self-inflicted wounds. The Russian army also suffered 2,500 casualties. At this point, the Japanese army gave up the plan to quickly capture Lushun and changed to a long-term siege.

"Tsk," Chen Cheng sighed with the casualty statistics table, "The Japanese casualties are really heavy." ”

"The fortress is not so easy to fight, not to mention that Nogi Noshinori is not a general who is good at attacking cities," Lin Mengchu sneered: "A brainless person like Nogi should not let him attack the fortress, but should put him in the sequence of attack." I don't know what Dashanyan thinks, obviously there are many better candidates, but he sent Nogi Noshinori to Lushun, is this to borrow a knife to kill people? ”

"Well, Dashan Yan shouldn't have thought about it that much. Good generals are needed in any direction, and Nogi fought well before, and he didn't expect to kill and wound so many people. Besides, even if Nogi Noshinori is a diehard loyalist of Emperor Meiji, Oyama Iwa........ Well, I also think that Oyama Iwa is a bit of a pit Nogi. ”

"Emperors, veterans, conglomerates, warlords, Hirobumi Ito, they are really amazing, they can put so many dissident guys on the table." Lin Mengchu said: "But maybe the pressure in Japan is too great, and it may be that the pressure can be relieved by going to war abroad." ”

"The Russian army in Lushun is fighting very well, and the exchange ratio is almost 1 to 10." Chen Cheng didn't answer the topic brought up by the girl, so the eldest brother doesn't have to laugh at the second brother, the current China is different and there are many princes? Even in China during the Republic era, there were many factions.

"I think we rejected the Russians when we sold them military supplies like heavy machine guns and canned food, right?" The girl picked up the battle report and asked, "Why do I think the Russians have a lot more heavy machine guns?" There's a lot more ammunition and shells in stock, too."

"Well, because the French gave them a lot of loans?" Chen Cheng hesitated for a moment and said, "Okay, that's the support of Comrade Nikolai Song Biao to his Slavic brothers." By the way, he also revealed a lot of the Japanese campaign deployment to the Russians. ”

"Slavic brothers .... Hmph, Song Biao, that's also your indulgence, right? Lin Mengchu looked at Chen Cheng with a smile on his face, and said: "It's best not to play around, walk the tightrope and show the limit, it is possible to maximize the profits, but it is also the most likely to have unexpected situations, don't get yourself into it when the time comes." ”

"Don't be afraid!" Chen Cheng said confidently: "Don't say anything else, our current steel production can crush the Japanese, are you afraid that they won't be able to go to heaven?" ”

"I don't mean the Japanese, but the Russians," the girl stretched out her index finger and dotted on the map, "don't you think that the Russians are so powerful in the Northeast that they can be invincible?" ”

"Is there one?" Chen Cheng carefully looked at the various numbers marked on the map, and said suspiciously: "But I see that the Russians are forced by the Japanese and don't dare to fight in the field, so they can still turn it up?" I don't believe it. ”