In the early morning, the sun shines brightly and the mist clears. With a slight roar of machinery, several gray-black warships slowly sailed away from the British anchorage in Hong Kong and sailed straight out to sea. On their towering masts, all of them flutter the black vulture navy cross flag in black and white tones.

On 3 August 1897, the last group of officers and soldiers from Germany arrived in Hong Kong. Since most of them were on the sea for the first time, the landlubbers were extremely uncomfortable, even though they were on a comfortable ocean liner. In order to regain their fitness and ensure that they were in the best possible condition for the upcoming battle, Tirpitz had to patiently let them rest for a few more days, and only on August 7 did he assemble the guys and set off for the official departure.

At present, the only naval strength that Spain can handle in the Pacific Ocean is only one outdated 3,500-ton fourth-class cruiser: not only is it less than two-thirds the speed of the German battleships, but the 6.2-inch (157.5mm) naval guns equipped with it are also old-fashioned mounted guns, and the comprehensive combat power is much worse than that of the outdated protective cruisers in the Beiyang. And their other five gunboats, whose displacement is only 500-1100 tons, are completely unable to pose any threat to the enemy in a head-on engagement. Moreover, at this time, these Spanish warships were still suppressing the natives who invaded Manila hundreds of nautical miles away in the Cavite area, and they could not reach the Santa Ana area in the northeast corner of the Philippines. Under these circumstances, Tirpitz decided to send only part of the fleet to provide fire support to the army.

"Fort Wissen", "Queen Augusta", "Vulture", and "Sea Hawk", these four warships constitute the entire force of the forcible occupation of Puerto Santa Ana. Among them, the "Wisenburg" is the No. 4 ship of the Brandenburg class, and its six 283-mm heavy guns are no less effective than the latest "Caesar?" when carrying out shore bombardment missions. Frederick III". The Empress Augusta began construction in 1888 as the first attempt by the German Navy to go from a small cruiser to a capital cruiser, but it was a great failure. Except for the impressive speed of 21.5 knots, there is nothing remarkable about the rest of the place, and the degree to which the large ships are equipped with small guns is even more outrageous. On the 6,056-ton hull, the Germans only equipped her with 4 150-mm guns and 8 105-mm secondary guns, which is only equivalent to the level of a 3,000-ton protective cruiser. However, although she was no match for an enemy ship of the same class, there was no pressure to bully a small Spanish gunboat with only one-tenth the tonnage of her.

In addition to these two "main" ships, the remaining two light cruisers "Vulture" and "Sea Hawk". These two ships belonged to the American Eagle class, and were fourth-class cruisers built by the German Navy in accordance with the 1888 plan for the garrison of overseas colonies. It has a standing displacement of 1,559 tons, is armed with eight 35-fold diameter 105-mm guns, and has a speed of 16.5 knots. With a draft of 4.8 meters, they can penetrate less than 100 meters from the coastline, deliver equipment to the shore in small boats, and directly use the ship's cannon to carry out close bombardment of enemy targets.

About 1 nautical mile behind these 4 battleships, 3 transports of various sizes followed closely. Because the German Far East Fleet was not only to capture Santa Ana, but also to capture the island of Pallavi, behind the port of Santa Ana, as a forward base for the storage of supplies. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to build temporary warehouses and corresponding landing grounds on the island. The three transport ships were loaded with all kinds of munitions needed for the battle, as well as the corresponding building materials needed for long-term garrison. Nearly 500 heavily armed German officers and men were hiding in the cabin on the shallowest draft, and the moment the ship reached the dock was the moment they began to fight.

After a day and a night of sailing, the German expeditionary fleet finally arrived at the port of Santa Ana, which they had been dreaming of. The sea breeze is blowing and the waves are gently swaying. Due to the war, this coastal town has not shown the vitality it deserves. More than a dozen small sampans float sporadically on the surface of the sea as far as the eye can see, swaying with the waves; The docks were empty and deserted, not only were there very few piles of goods, but even the figures of people were rarely seen.

Although Tirpitz had long expected this to be a completely undefended coastal port, he couldn't help but look excited and ecstatic when he saw it with his own eyes. As long as it could seize this low-hanging fruit, Germany would have its own territory in the Far East; From now on, the German Far East Fleet will no longer have to send people under the fence, everything will have to be done according to the face of the British!

On Tirpitz's orders, the German fleet began to move quickly. The boilers of the 2 small cruisers began to run at full capacity, and the chimneys spewed large clouds of thick black smoke; The speed of the battleship gradually increased to 16 knots, and it rushed straight to the forefront of the array. On the transport ship in the rear, the crew is working hard to remove the shipboard boat from the steel frame and place it on specific take-off and landing machinery and fix it in place. Hundreds of German Army officers and men swarmed out of the hatches like ants, and then stood densely packed on the entire deck. They wore steel helmets with large ears on their heads and were armed with Mauser 1888 rifles; In a single row of vertical cassette magazines, five rounds of 7.92 mm ammunition have been fully assembled, ready to fire a lethal shot at the Philippine monkeys.

Perhaps it was because the Spanish colonial army was driven away that the local natives relaxed their vigilance, or perhaps this group of brave and ruthless barbarians had never seen modern war ships in the first place, and the two 1560-ton cruisers rushed to the dock, and these natives did not make any reaction. After seeing that the pioneer ships were flying the flag that everything was going well, the transport ship carrying more than 480 army officers and men sailed to the shore at full speed, and then anchored and stopped in the shallow water 200 meters away from the coast. The officers and men of the army passed through the gangway and methodically boarded the lifeboats that were unloaded into the sea; With the sudden sound of electric motors, these small sampans with a displacement of 4-5 tons staggered towards the land.

It was only then that the Filipino monkeys on the shore reacted. These steel battleships in front of them are definitely not something that the Philippine rebel army can have, only the Spaniards who have colonized this land for more than 300 years will have this kind of advanced weapon! When they saw the black hole of the guns on the German battleship, the Filipino natives on the dock were terrified; After a burst of chirping birds, they fled for their lives in embarrassment. The German Far East Fleet successfully completed the first step of the landing of the army without firing a single shot. After all the soldiers went ashore, more than 10 large lifeboats took on the task of munitions carriers; Boxes of ammunition and munitions were unloaded from the transport ships, which were then transported to the docks.

One hour later, all the war materials, including 6 cannons and 34 mules and horses, were landed. After a brief build-up, the army was divided into several units, moving towards warehouses, barracks, and government buildings. At the same time, the dark line that Tirpitz had buried in 1 year also came into play. A group of Filipino traitors who had been bribed by the German side joined the ranks of the German army in line with the great mission of "leading the way to glory and liberating the Philippine country" and pointed out the direction and path for the German officers and men on the march. They ran at the front of the procession, holding megaphones, and shouted to their compatriots in bird language, telling the local population not to resist the occupation of the port town by the Imperial German Army; Only when a docile citizen actively cooperates with the actions of the German army can he have a way to survive under the rule of the Imperial German Army.

Hearing the call from the Filipino traitors, the local natives understood what was happening. Although they didn't know anything about Germany as a country, when they heard that these guys were going to colonize them like the Spaniards, they exploded. The victory over the Spanish army had just made them complacent; The fierce and ruthless temperament in their bones stimulates their savage blood. Without waiting for the arrival of the army, the Filipinos themselves picked up axes, clubs, knives and forks and launched a scattered charge against the Germans.

Faced with this scene, the German officers and men did not hesitate, they quickly raised their guns in their hands, and pulled the trigger in the posture of training target shooting in peacetime. Before landing, Major Dim had repeatedly conveyed Tirpitz's instructions to them that the only way to deal with these Filipinos was to completely subjugate them by absolute force! With the crisp and piercing sound of gunfire, the natives who rushed in front were shot and killed, their limbs convulsed, and blood flowed all over the ground; After throwing down more than a hundred corpses, the Filipinos suddenly scattered like birds and beasts, and disappeared in a few corners. The German officers and men advanced smoothly, and it took just over an hour to quickly occupy the granaries and government buildings.

During the capture of the rebel barracks on the outskirts of the city, the German officers and soldiers met with decent resistance for the first time. The Filipino rebels already had guns captured from the Spaniards and were cowering in the few strong forts left behind by the Spaniards. German officers and soldiers pushed 37-mm towed marching guns, but they still could not inflict effective casualties. At critical moments, the naval warship demonstrated its unparalleled might; Upon receiving the news that the army was blocked, the Empress Augusta began to move slowly, and after reaching the direct gun position, she opened heavy fire on the target fort with three 150mm guns on the side of the gunwale. With a series of thunderclap-like roars, fiery red cannonballs rose into the air, dancing angrily, cutting a red and gorgeous arc in the air, slamming into the rebel fortress, and the waves of fire exploded one after another, and the arrogance flew sideways. Under the precise bombardment of 150-mm heavy artillery, the rebel fortifications collapsed in an instant. By noon, the seaside town of several thousand people was completely covered with the black, white and red flag of the German Empire.

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