Manila in the 19th century was much smaller than it is now. Roughly only a small part of the old town is included. And its topography is interesting, it is bordered by the sea to the west, rivers to the northeast, and land to the southwest. Rivers and seas enclose it from three directions, and the terrain is easy to defend with a strong navy. However, when the Philippine rebels attacked Manila, the U.S. Navy seemed to have disappeared.

The US Navy, of course, is not missing, in fact, they have been waiting for orders at sea all the time. At three o'clock in the afternoon, the fleet, which had been hiding on the other side of the bay, had finally received the order to attack.

"Your Excellency, Mr. Governor-General, has ordered us to strike at once and block the retreat of the Filipinos." A herald took a telegram and said to General Dewey.

"Okay, let the fleet burn up at once, and in half an hour, we will attack." General Dewey said.

The boilers of the fleet on standby are always lit, but in order to save fuel, the pressure on the boilers is insufficient.

Soon, thick black smoke began to rise from the chimneys of American warships. It's not that the fuel quality is bad, or that the boiler is a problem. However, when the external combustion engine needs to increase the power rapidly, the combustion efficiency will inevitably decrease. Even today, some ships that still use steam turbines often have stories of black smoke billowing when they need to quickly increase the pressure of their boilers.

……

Aquinado was still hesitant to throw the remaining troops of his family into the assault on Manila. Because although the American line of defense looked crumbling, the casualties of the attacking troops were not small, and they always seemed to be a breath of air, so they failed to capture the American positions. The other anxious commanders had already invested most of their clan's strength, and now they had come to Aquinado and asked him to bring in the last few troops in his hands.

"President Aguinaldo (Although he has not yet officially established his own country, Aguinardo's position as president is basically certain. With a little more effort, we can take Manila down. Mr. President, please shoot the last of the reserves. ”

The reason why Aguinaldo still kept a lot of reserves was not because of his military qualities, but because of two considerations: first, Aguinaldo felt that the Americans would not be defeated lightly if they were useless, and it would be a great loss if they threw their own men out to take the lead. Secondly, if those guys really hit in time, their losses will not be small. When the time comes, the self with the most remaining troops in his hand will naturally speak more effectively.

Now at this point, Aquinardo is a little hesitant. Because if at this time, because his troops are put in, and Manila is finally taken, then the political benefits will be too much. So Aguinaldo hesitated for a while and made the decision to put the reserves in.

But just as the reserves were about to leave, Aguinaldo inadvertently glanced in the direction of the sea, and this glance immediately made his face change dramatically. He saw that on the other side of the sea, a fleet was approaching!

"Damn it! The Americans have come to copy our back road! We were fooled! Aquinardo shouted.

Manila, surrounded by water on three sides, is naturally like a pocket, and now most of the Filipino troops have gone into the pocket, if the American fleet comes with troops and blocks the exit, then the Philippine rebel army will have only a dead end.

"Quick! Let our troops retreat! Aguinaldo shouted, "I'm going to hold a way out with my reserves, and you can get the army out quickly." ”

Everyone else knew that this was not the time to lose time, so they all hurried towards the city.

However, in the absence of pre-set fortifications, it is not easy to resist a landing force supported by 11-inch cannons, and even the most elite troops of the British Empire, the largest country in the world, may not be able to do this. The level of combat effectiveness of the Philippine rebel army is not on the same level as that of the most elite units of the British Empire, and they have almost no idea how to deal with heavy artillery attacks. So, how could such an army be able to hold such a passage of life?

Sure enough, when the Americans began to land, Aguinaldo tried to get his army to drive the Americans out into the sea, but the American fleet fired only one salvo and left the Filipinos with hundreds of corpses. Such losses were completely beyond the reach of the Philippine army, so before they could reach the range of the rifles, the Philippine reserves collapsed. Faced with this situation, Mr. Aguinaldo immediately ordered all the reserves to retreat, and as for the Filipinos in the city, let them fend for themselves.

"The life of the barrel of a naval gun is quite limited, and it is simply a waste to use it to hit such a low-value target." Lieutenant Commander Hill said to Lieutenant Commander He-Man, who was about to land with the army and was in charge of plugging the gap, "Those monkeys in the city are going to run out like crazy." And our shells are limited, and it is impossible to suppress them with bubble pots indefinitely, so you have to move a little faster and form a defensive line as much as possible. ”

"Rest assured, we'll be able to set up a line of defense soon...... You navy just stingy. Oh, look at the right point when you fire the cannonball, but don't knock the shell over our heads......" replied Lieutenant Colonel Seaman. Then he raised his binoculars and saw that the soldiers had already begun to land on land, so he said to Lieutenant Colonel Hill: "I'm sorry, I'm going to be out of company, I'm going to the shore......"

"Please." Lieutenant Colonel Hill said.

……

The Filipinos did not react as quickly as the Americans had assumed when they first prepared, after all, the heralds had to find the relevant troops, convey the orders, and then the commanders on the front line had to retreat the troops from the state of exchange of fire and then throw them into the breakout. This series of gadgets is not an easy task, even for a well-trained elite unit. Naturally, it was even more difficult for the Filipino rebels, so by the time Seaman's infantry regiment had spent almost an hour setting up an improvised defensive line, Lieutenant Colonel Seaman had not been able to see a single Philippine unit in his binoculars.

It was a full two hours before the first Filipino force tried to break through appeared, but they were not numerous, and the imaginary scene of countless barbarians swarming like locusts did not appear, and this Filipino force was only about a hundred people at most, so few that the navy guys didn't bother to use their 11-inch guns at all, they just let a destroyer firing two symbolic shots with its 5-inch guns, killing only three or four Filipinos. Then, the Filipino army immediately collapsed, and they dropped their weapons, scattered, and ran back, and in a short time they ran back into the city.

"Hell yes! , let the guys in the navy not shoot indiscriminately! Lieutenant Colonel Seaman scolded, "Otherwise, we will have nothing to do." ”

However, the hard-working army (at least compared to the navy, there are few in the army that is not hard-working) will never be without hardship. Got time? And that doesn't expand the foxhole into a trench? Why don't you tear up the barbed wire fence and plant mines? Anyway, there is.

Three hours later, a large number of Filipinos appeared, and this time, there were more people, and the black pressure was overwhelming, like locusts. They rushed towards the American line of defense.

"It looks like the establishment is all in chaos." Looking at the swarming Filipinos, Seaman said to himself.

He-Man's guess was absolutely correct. Retreating in front of enemy lines is a very difficult task, and even the most well-trained troops may not be able to do it well. During the War of Liberation, the New Sixth Army, the main force of the Kuomintang, was completely annihilated when it retreated in front of the enemy. Of course, the elite Cheng dù, the first-class main force of the Kuomintang, was nothing in the world, and compared with the first ten SS of the Germans, the Great Red First Division of the Americans, and the Fifth Guards Tank Army of the Russians, the gap was quite obvious. However, considering that the remnants of the Kuomintang will flee to Southeast Asia after defeat, they can beat those government forces in Southeast Asia in a variety of ways. Compared with the Filipinos, the level of the New Sixth Army is probably like a myth. When the New Sixth Army retreated in front of the enemy, it was all out of order, so how could the Filipinos not be in order?

These people swarmed in a mess, and then they were hit by a salvo from the American fleet halfway through. Probably seeing that there were too many Filipinos, the guys in the Navy fired hundreds of precious 11-inch shells in one go. Heavy artillery fire covered the Filipinos, and one guy caused nearly a thousand casualties. The Filipinos were also confused, they ran in a panic, some ran back to the city, some stupidly ran to the front of the American positions, and then were beaten into a sieve by machine guns, and some ran to the river, trying to swim across the river, and then were beaten to pieces with machine guns and small cannons by the river flotilla that had been guarding there for a long time.

All in all, this breakout operation was easily crushed by the Americans. Soon, it was dark, and until nightfall, the Filipinos had not launched any breakouts.

Before it was dark, the Americans pulled up wires and installed the latest searchlights in their own lines. At the same time, every dozen seconds, the Americans fired several flares into the sky, and as a result, the plans of some Filipinos to break through at night failed again. By daylight the next day, the Filipinos were horrified to see that the line had become stronger and stronger. So by the afternoon, some Filipino troops had begun to surrender to the Americans. With those who take the lead, there will naturally be more followers. By sunset, most of the Filipino soldiers had entered the American prisoner of war camp......

I don't know what I ate, but I made a gout problem again, and I barely knocked out a chapter with one hand today. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. R1058