Chapter 40: The British Army
Captain McCaray was not satisfied, and even if he ransacked a small town in the Qing Kingdom and looted a lot of property, it still did not calm his dissatisfaction. McCalall's 14th British Infantry Regiment was stationed in Beijing, and his 3rd Battalion was at large for a while, but soon the commander of the 14th Regiment, General Chaffee, ordered his 3rd Battalion to escort supplies back to Tianjin. Tianjin has long been out of oil and water, and returning here means losing the opportunity to make a fortune, can you not be angry?
After just two days of stationing in Tianjin, McKala couldn't stay still, and heard that the big car market town in the south was relatively prosperous, and had not yet been sacked by the coalition forces, so there should be a lot of oil and water, so he set off with the third battalion. As a result, after arriving at Dache Market Town, the people there were very uncooperative, and the dissatisfaction of being sent back to Tianjin and the losses in the battle with the Boxers and the Qing army some time ago made McCala's heart full of anger, and in his opinion, this inferior people should take the initiative to offer their possessions, just like the Indians. Therefore, the order was immediately given to open fire, and this time it was impossible to contain it, and the dissatisfaction of the soldiers was also very strong, why should those Indian soldiers be at ease in Beijing, while we, the pure British soldiers, had to eat dry food? First several rebels were assassinated, and then the massacre quickly spread, and the entire third battalion was plunged into a killing spree.
At this time, there was laughter and laughter in the procession, and the previous grievances were finally vented, and a lot of property was looted, loaded on a cart and pulled by a donkey, so the march was very slow. Captain McKala is not in a hurry, this place is really close to Tianjin, and there will be no danger. He rode his horse and looked around, what a wonderful place, what a vast territory, so many people and wealth, this should have become a colony of the British Empire, and those timid politicians should have established a real colony here a long time ago, just like India, so that this place would become a source of raw materials and a market dumping ground for the empire on which the sun never sets, and another shining pearl of the empire, instead of forming alliances as it is now, sharing wealth with other countries.
The terrain near Tianjin was flat, and the 2nd Squadron rode bicycles and traveled fast even on dirt roads, and despite their physical strength and bumps, they finally caught up with the tail of the coalition forces after more than twenty minutes.
"The first squad went around from the left, the second squad went to the right, the third and fourth squadrons followed me to attack the front, and the artillery squad immediately prepared on the dirt slope over there to attack first!" Five hundred meters from the tail of the coalition forces, the leader of the second squadron, Luzon, ordered that the coalition forces swaggered forward, not noticing the situation behind them at all. It is not known how many people there are in the coalition forces, and it is not clear whether the coalition forces have artillery, but the first squadron should come to support soon.
The team members got out of the car and checked their equipment, and then quickly moved into the attack position. The five infantry guns were quickly deployed, and after five minutes they were ready, at this time the coalition brigade was about 700 meters away, which was exactly the optimal design distance for the infantry guns.
"High-explosive shells reloaded!"
"Put!"
"Boom!" Four of the five high-explosive shells fell into the coalition brigade and exploded, and the superior quality of the genetic soldiers played a role, and the coalition forces lost more than 30 people in the first round of shelling.
"Da Da Da!" The three or four squads that had entered a distance of a hundred meters immediately opened fire, and the bullets from the two light machine guns swept over, and the coalition soldiers who stayed behind fell one by one.
McAlla, who was riding at the front, hurriedly dismounted and shouted, "Hide, hide!" "When we are attacked by an unknown enemy, the number of places and the direction of attack are not clear, so it is the right way to deal with it by hiding first and then counterattacking. The soldiers of the third battalion quickly made a tactical move after overcoming the initial panic - lying on the side of the road with their heads in their hands. After a few rounds of artillery fire, McCara sensed that something was wrong, how many cannons were there? Shells fell one after another, according to this situation, there should be more than fifteen cannons firing at their own troops, could it be a large army of the Qing army? There are only three hundred people in his own three battalions, and he did not carry artillery this time!
The special operations team did not give McCara more time to think, the first and second squads on both sides had already outflanked and opened fire at a distance of fifty meters, and the density of fire caused by light machine guns and rapid-fire rifles made McCara more certain that he had encountered the main force of the Qing army. Didn't it mean that the main forces of the Qing army in the north had been wiped out, could it be the reinforcements sent by those governors in the south?
"Move closer to me and organize a counterattack!" The glory of the British Empire led McCala to make the decision to fight back, and as an honorable British Empire officer, he would not allow himself to run away without a fight, which would be a lifelong shame. On the contrary, he saw it as a great opportunity for his own meritorious service, as previous battles had shown that although the Qing army had relatively advanced weapons, the officers' tactical literacy was low, and the soldiers were demoralized, and they were defeated at the first blow. Although the third battalion did not carry artillery, he did not think that his troops would be wiped out, not to mention that this place was too close to Tianjin, and there should be coalition patrols more than ten miles away, it was impossible for them not to hear such a loud voice, and there would be reinforcements arriving soon.
"Fire, you cowardly fools, fight back!" Thinking of this, McCara became more confident and immediately ordered the soldiers to fight back, but nearly three hundred people had already suffered a lot of losses under the continuous shelling and fire suppression, and the rain of bullets and explosions made them unable to raise their heads.
"Captain, there are enemy attacks from the rear and on both sides, but the number is very small, it should not be a large force of the Qing army. I advise the soldiers to strike on both sides, we must change the passive situation! The lieutenant company commander beside McCala, lying on the ground and shouting.
"One company attacks to the right, two companies attack to the left, quick!" With the command, the soldiers finally came to their senses, and after hearing the order, they began to bend down and attack under the command of the commander.
"Change the bullet!" The first squad of machine gunners shouted loudly, two thirty rounds of ammunition had been fired in a short time, and at the beginning they swept more than a dozen British soldiers, and after they lay on the ground, the machine guns were used as suppressive fire, and the accurate shooting was handed over to the riflemen, and the fifty meters away from the genetic soldiers could be said to be pointing where to fight, there was no cover on the road, and it was difficult for the British to avoid the shooting of the team members.
"Enemies appear in front of the left!" The British army of more than 300 people in a platoon of four people stretched for nearly 100 meters on the main road, and there were only 11 people on one side, which could not cover everything. Soon the British began to rush out in an organized way and attack on both sides.
The machine gunner had just changed the magazine, and he was overjoyed, you guys don't have much to do with me, aren't you standing up as a target? "Dada-da-da!" There were seventy or eighty people attacking the first squad on the left, and the light machine gun fire caused more than ten people to fall to the ground immediately, coupled with the fire of rapid-fire rifles, it took less than a minute for the British to rush to 20 meters from a distance of 50 meters, but more than ordinary people fell to the ground.
"Grenades!" The grenades that had been prepared for a long time were thrown, eight grenades exploded in the crowd, and more than a dozen more people fell to the ground. The squad leader raised his submachine gun and fired, and the other team members also drew their pistols and opened fire on the enemy who was close at hand, and the attacking team all fell in front of the team, and no one broke through. The second squad on the other side faced the same situation.
Luzon, who was behind, saw the heavy losses of the British army, and immediately ordered the artillery to stop firing and three or four squads to assault. The third battalion of the British army had lost more than two hundred men at this time, McCala was dumbfounded, he saw that there were few enemies on both sides, but the firepower was extremely strong, and the soldiers who attacked on both sides were all killed and wounded in less than three minutes, and they didn't even have time to retreat! I thought that I could attack it in an instant with an attack distance of just fifty meters, but I didn't expect this to happen. There is still a powerful firepower attacking from behind, so you can't hesitate any longer!
"Retreat, we retreat!" McAllay shouted, if he didn't retreat, he could lie on the ground and counterattack, and after the order to retreat was given, the soldiers ran forward frantically, all of them becoming obvious targets.
Luzon led the charge while firing guns, two machine guns provided suppression in the back, and before they could get close to the coalition forces, they turned around and ran, and some even threw down their weapons in their hands! What else is there to say, "Fire with all your might!" Saying that, the submachine gun in his hand fired violently, and the distance of less than forty meters was completely within the range of the submachine gun, so that the British could also taste the Chicago typewriter!
The first and second squads on both sides also entered the pursuit, and the British troops, who were less than 100 people, had no power to fight back, and half of them fell to the ground before they could run a hundred meters.
"Surrender, we surrender!" Several British soldiers immediately knelt on the ground and raised their hands when they saw that the situation was not good, and the rest also reacted and made the same action, and soon, dozens of surviving British soldiers all surrendered. Luzon caught up, replaced a magazine with a submachine gun in one hand, and signaled a look to the team members on the left and right, and everyone nodded in understanding. In this battle, all 302 soldiers of the 3rd Battalion of the 14th Infantry Regiment of the British Army were killed, and none survived.