Now they began to move towards Southern Rhodesia.

After more than ten days of boring and long marches, Colonel Boloyevich arrived in Bulawayo with his exhausted team.

Bulawayo was an important town in British Southern Rhodesia, and Bolojevic suddenly decided to occupy it. Maybe it will be of great use in future operations, at least he can have a support base for retreating, he thinks. What's more, he needs a win to boost the flagging morale.

Navarro, Baggio and two other Italian-speaking soldiers were sent on reconnaissance missions, disguised as an Italian expedition, and now they sit in a small hill town outside Bulawayo, carefully observing the situation in the city.

"What do you see?" Baggio asked.

"There is a garrison in the city, and their barracks are southeast of the city." Navarro put down his binoculars and marked some symbols on the paper that no one could read.

"How many are there?" Baggio looked a little nervous.

"I can't see clearly, there is probably a company, as if there are some black soldiers." Navarro slipped paper and pen into his jacket pocket, "Maybe we should go into town and have a look." ”

"The Colonel has sent some black men into the city, and it may not be long before they come out. We are here waiting to meet them. Baggio said that the blacks who were sent out did not know the local language, which was dangerous, but the guide said that they had their own way of communicating and did not need any language.

Sure enough, the black men came out of the city in the afternoon, and the information they inquired about was very detailed, and the situation in Bulawayo became clear. Within about 200 kilometers of the vicinity, the garrison in the city of Bulawayo was the only military force of the British in the area. Their strength was about 300 men, half British, half native. They had two heavy machine guns and two infantry guns.

Navarro didn't know how these blacks communicated, but it was magical.

Boloyevich listened to the report of his subordinates, thought for a moment, then looked up and asked: "How is their defense system?" ”

"Defense system?" Navarro paused for a moment, then said, "No, nothing, Bulawayo has no walls. And the barracks had only a mud courtyard wall, oh, and a few rows of mud houses. ”

"That thing doesn't even count as cover, our artillery will level it in 5 minutes." Bolojevich smiled, in Abyssinia he had already seen quite a few such battles.

"We're going to do it tomorrow morning!" He nodded and said to his officers.

Rumble! Boom!

Before dawn, the British officers and soldiers, who were still sleeping in the Bulawayo barracks, were awakened by the sound of violent explosions, and they soon realized that they were under attack. The soldiers hurriedly put on their uniforms, grabbed their weapons and rushed out of the barracks, looking for their commander in the barracks of explosions or running to the courtyard wall to prepare for the enemy. A lieutenant officer ran with a group of soldiers to the two infantry guns in the courtyard, hoping to counterattack the enemy with them.

The two Maxim heavy machine guns in an earthen watchtower let out a low roar, spitting tongues of fire at the shadowy figures around the barracks.

In the midst of the chaos, only Major Dudley seemed a little overwhelmed. A wolf-looking sergeant ran up to him and reported to him breathlessly: "Captain, we have encountered at least two thousand enemy attacks, regular troops, they have heavy machine guns, and at least a dozen artillery pieces......"

"Oh my God, where did the regular army come from?" Major Dudley shouted, "Boer troops?!" ”

"It should be, Major!" The sergeant replied.

"So what should we do?" Major Dudley jumped to his feet in fright, and a cannonball exploded not far from them. Bomb, he shouted with some panic.

The sergeant rolled his eyes, but said nothing, it should be you who gave the order, ask me what I am doing!

A cannonball exploded on the earthen tower. It exploded, a huge ball of fire rose up, the entire watchtower collapsed in half, and the two heavy machine guns on which the British relied in their hearts were also dumbfounded.

"Run!" Someone shouted.

"We can't run away, we're surrounded!"

……

"Stop shelling!" Bolojevic stood on a hill outside the city, contentedly observing the fierce explosion in front of him. In less than ten minutes, the British barracks of Bulawayo were in ruins, with stones, burning timber and collapsed earthen walls, and almost no intact buildings.

Before he could give his men the order to charge, a white flag had been raised in the barracks: a British soldier carrying a white shirt from a branch was shaking incessantly.

General Kronze, who had been ordered to receive the supplies purchased, the rifles and artillery, which were important for the Boer army, rushed to Bulawayo to meet Bolojevich, who was even more pleased with the nearly 2,000 "volunteers" brought by the colonel.

"But what's the use of you occupying here?" The general glanced around the ruined town of Bulawayo.

"Perhaps, this can be used as a logistics base." What he did not say was that the Duke of Istria was not optimistic about the prospects of the Boers, and when he came, he told him to keep a retreat at all times.

Lieutenant Colonel Mayer was left behind in Bulawayo with a company, while Bolojevic led the "Volunteer Brigade" to Pretoria with General Kronze.

"But what about these people?" Mayer pointed to the more than 1,800 black porters who had been left behind with him.

"Arm and train them, we need to keep the path open." Bolojevic said.

"But there are no weapons......," said Lieutenant Colonel Mayer.

"It's going to be soon. The next batch of munitions will arrive in a month's time, and you'll have to take them with you. Boloyevich interrupted Mayer's speech, and then went away with his "large army".

Lieutenant Colonel Mayer was to lead the blacks back to Dar es Salaam, the port of peace, where another group of weapons and volunteers soon arrived.

Bolojevic finally met President Kruger in Pretoria, who was even older and more tired now that the war had begun.

The coming new century did not bring much joy to the Boers, on the contrary, a fire had already been lit in the land on which they depended. At this time, the commander-in-chief of the Cloth Army, Piette. General Zuubert was commanding the main forces and fighting fiercely with the British in Natal, and the "Volunteer Brigade" led by Boloyevich came at the right time.

In Pretoria, after a short break, they were immediately sent to the Natal front.

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