At this point in the battle, the Italian army had missed several opportunities to turn the tide of the battle.
A counterattack that is not resolute enough means a waste of troops and morale. This is a typical futile effort. Now their failure is only a matter of time.
The 71st Battalion in the southwest immediately shifted to an offensive posture. Under Blake's command, the three companies deployed in a layout of one in front and two in back.
Although the entire offensive front is nearly one kilometer wide, there are only three or four locations available for breakthrough.
For a time, on the battlefield of several miles around, the sounds of gunfire, shouts of death, explosions, and wails mixed into a grand symphony. Looking down from the sky, you can see clouds of gunpowder smoke bursting out from time to time, and those densely packed small black dots are soldiers on both sides of the attack and defense.
Despite the obvious decline, the Italian army did not seem to intend to surrender. They hurriedly shrank their defense lines and retreated directly to the area adjacent to the Tejo River to continue their stubborn resistance.
In fact, the battle is progressing very quickly. From the early morning attack to now around 7 a.m., in just over two hours, the seemingly complete and solid garrison of the Italian 79th Infantry Regiment has been torn to pieces. Fallen.
"What are the Spaniards doing?! Are they watching a show?!" the disgraced Lieutenant Colonel Alcid yelled at the adjutant.
The latter replied helplessly: "The National Army does not have enough ferries! They do not dare to act at will. I don't know if there are enemy troops on the north bank of the river. They may have secretly crossed the river downstream or upstream!"
"Stupid! If the enemy has that many troops, they will definitely attack us with all their strength first!"
"Yes, Lieutenant Colonel, I'm asking them for reinforcements right now!"
"Quickly, as soon as possible! We are in extremely critical situation now!"
At the moment, two CV33 ultra-light tanks and several unknown armored vehicles became the biggest obstacle to the International Brigade. Machine guns fired continuously, moving while suppressing the attacking companies.
These Italian vehicles with an armor thickness of no more than one centimeter are completely thin-skinned and large, but they are still not able to be penetrated by ordinary infantry ammunition, and offensive troops without professional anti-tank weapons cannot effectively damage them.
However, the over-excited 71st Battalion still tried two unnecessary attacks. However, such a radical approach was undoubtedly wrong - both attacks were collapsed by the intensive firepower of the Italian army, and dozens of British volunteers were left dead everywhere.
Zhou Changfeng, who was on Highland 109, watched the whole process in the artillery mirror. He was so angry that he turned around, picked up the phone, and cursed into the phone.
"Blake! Is there something wrong with your brain?! Such an attack is meaningless! How did you graduate from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst?! The German's assessment is absolutely right!"
The so-called "German evaluation" refers to what they mentioned in their chat some time ago. Chretien said that he seized a diary on the eve of the end of the European War, which was recorded from the perspective of a German lieutenant. His evaluation of the military officers of Britain, France and the United States.
He said: "...the British army during the attack was stupid, slow, and uncoordinated at all. But every British soldier was not clumsy. This may be because they lacked coordination training...Most British officers were foolhardy. , they are very brave, but lack the calmness that an officer should have, which is quite unreasonable..."
Later, the anti-tank detachment arrived belatedly.
Although the Soloton S18-1000 20mm anti-tank gun is called a "gun", because the caliber has reached the 20mm dividing line between guns and guns, it is not impossible to call it an ultra-light anti-tank gun.
Its total weight is as high as 45kg. It fires semi-automatically. When firing a 20×105mm armor-piercing projectile, it can penetrate a 40mm thick vertical armor steel plate at a distance of 100m.
The four-person team divided the work in pairs, with two people carrying guns in front and one behind, while the other two people carried ammunition boxes and one person was responsible for observation.
After they found a suitable position, they placed the bulky thing on the ground. The deputy shooter inserted a huge ten-round magazine into it, and the main shooter struggled to shake the rocker on the right side of the gun body, one, two, three, enough It takes three full rotations to complete loading.
Obviously, in order to fire such a powerful ammunition, the spring force of the recoil spring may require an ordinary person to use a lot of strength to pull it open. In order to save labor and convenience, Soloton Company ingeniously designed a mechanism that uses a rocker to assist loading.
"Boom! Boom!"
Two 20mm armor-piercing incendiary bombs were fired at a speed of more than 700 meters per second, accurately hitting a CV33 more than 300 meters away.
The brass of the warhead was squeezed and deformed by the armor, and the steel core inside easily penetrated the 13mm thick steel plate on the front; at the same time, the aluminum-magnesium particles mixed between the core and the armor were squeezed and exploded. Along with the bullet core, it rushed into the interior of the car body.
This armor-piercing incendiary bomb completed its mission. The driver of the CV33 was killed on the spot by the bullet core, his clothes were also ignited, and the interior of the vehicle was a mess.
The anti-tank teams opened fire one after another, and the unique loud gunfire almost echoed throughout the battlefield.
The aftereffects of the 20mm shells were obviously stronger than those of large-caliber bullets. Those fragile ultra-light tanks and armored vehicles were paralyzed one by one, and wisps of gray smoke or white smoke emerged from the gaps in the wreckage.
Seeing that these obstacles no longer existed, the British volunteers, who had been suppressed for a long time, immediately cheered, and immediately jumped out of the craters or bunkers one by one, and continued to attack in depth.
After solving those armored targets, the anti-tank teams were not idle. The powerful anti-tank guns were equally effective against those civil fortifications. All Italian machine gun fire points that fired were mercilessly attacked.
The cloth bag filled with sand and soil was beyond the reach of ordinary bullets, but it was easily penetrated by the 20mm warhead containing more than 40,000 joules of kinetic energy!
A Fiat M7914 heavy machine gun team was shooting desperately. The deputy shooter was concentrating on loading a new magazine into the weird magazine feeding device, but suddenly found that the machine gun had stopped firing?
He turned his head to look in surprise, but was so shocked that he trembled all over - only a fraction of the main shooter's head was left, like a watermelon that had been opened.
As firepower points were eliminated one after another, the Italian army completely lost the ability to effectively defend and was retreating steadily.
And the last straw that broke the camel's back is funny to say -
Because Zhou Changfeng on Highland 109 observed the National Army on the north bank of the Tejo River arriving in several small boats for reinforcements, he ordered a mortar platoon to be ready. When dozens of National Army soldiers landed on the river beach, , and was blown away by more than a dozen mortar shells.
At this point, the Italian 79th Infantry Regiment collapsed on the spot, and several companies began to flee involuntarily toward the river beach.
"Sir! The troops are out of control! The frontline units are retreating spontaneously!" The adjutant's big cap on his head was tilted, and he said urgently: "We should leave this ghost place now!"
"Order D Company to hold on for another ten minutes! The regiment is preparing to evacuate!" Lieutenant Colonel Alchid knew that the situation was irreversible, so he quickly organized his troops to retreat to the northeast.
But most of the panicked soldiers didn't care about this. They regarded the high-morale International Brigade as a scourge, so they just ran around without hesitation.
Some people even jumped into the Tejo River in a daze and tried to swim to escape.
At 8:02 in the morning, the battle was basically over.
"The defeat of an Italian infantry regiment in four hours was not a field situation, but a situation that was defended here. There is no doubt that this is a glorious victory, and the world should know about this battle!"
Chretien was very excited, clamoring to take people to the scene to take pictures, and then make it public, so that the whole world would know about this hearty victory even though it was a weak victory over a strong one.
At this time, someone ran over quickly, stood at attention, saluted, and reported: "Sir, Captain Blake is injured and is now preparing for surgery."
"Huh?" Zhou Changfeng frowned slightly and asked, "What happened? Is it serious?"
In the previous battle, Blake, who served as the commander of the 71st Battalion, was injured by a stray bullet flying from nowhere, but it was not very serious. Therefore, he refused to leave the front line and was simply bandaged.
He commanded the battle with injuries for more than an hour, and just now he was knocked down by shell fragments. It is said that the shrapnel opened a gash in his abdomen as long as his index finger.
"Tell him that only those who can correct their mistakes in time are qualified officers." Zhou Changfeng casually instructed: "I hope he will not be impulsive in the future and at least be responsible for his subordinates."
"yes."
The National Army on the other side of the river obviously did not expect that the battle would end so soon. A regiment of Italian troops had been standing still and defending a place that had been built for dozens of days. How could they disperse so quickly?
A company of the 96th Infantry Brigade of the National Army that came across the river for reinforcements also suffered heavy losses. Most of them were dragged away by the fleeing Italian army and retreated together. The rest were killed or wounded, and more than a dozen people were captured.
After walking around the edge of life and death, the 50th Brigade seemed to have matured a lot... In other words, those ignorant recruits had transformed after being tempered by blood and fire. Those who were still bragging carelessly last night now also Become less talkative.
Collecting captured equipment and escorting captured enemy soldiers, soldiers in groups of three or three were cleaning up the scene on a battlefield where wisps of smoke were still rising everywhere.
In everyone's eyes, the biggest gain from this battle was probably the artillery. The original lack of heavy weapons suddenly ceased to exist.
The Italian artillerymen who left in a panic did not do any damage to these artillery pieces. Six 105/32 105mm howitzers and 12 70/15 70mm mountain guns were placed motionless on the artillery position, with piles on the ground. Empty cartridge case.
Further back, there were boxes of neatly stacked cannonballs. Chrétien, who came to inspect the trophies, concluded at a casual glance that there were at least two more bases here.
Just as everyone was contentedly picking up various harvests, they suddenly heard someone shouting "enemy aircraft" in a sharp voice.
When everyone looked up to the sky one after another, the roar of the aircraft engine just came over, and they saw nine biplanes flying towards this side in a standard formation.
Even in later generations, coordination between air and ground was a very complicated matter, so cumbersome that the standard execution procedure for air support had a page in its title.
Now, although the system construction has not yet been perfected, coupled with the limited level of radio technology, the efficiency of air-ground coordination is actually not high. It is often only suitable for pre-planned goals, and it is difficult to cope with real-time changing situations.
You must know that many pilots are still accustomed to using gestures and waving flags to communicate, and the efficiency can be imagined.
The nine CR.32 fighter jets that arrived belatedly were a little overwhelmed. From the perspective of the pilots, they took off without stopping after receiving the order. How come the ground troops had already been defeated by the time they flew into the sky? Already? Only a few hours have passed.
They descended one after another, flying past at low altitude and low speed, trying to figure out the situation on the ground.
"Damn it! When is our plane coming?!"
Chretien was quite anxious, because there was not enough anti-aircraft firepower, and the 50th Brigade could only hide in bunkers. He was afraid that these Italian aircraft would blow up the captured supplies and weapons and equipment.
Miller on the side shrugged and replied: "It may arrive soon. We have applied for it a few days ago. According to the plan, the air support will arrive at about eight o'clock."
Italian aircraft were hovering in mid-air like headless flies. They neither decisively attacked the supplies nor chose to leave. It could be seen that they were communicating with the headquarters and waiting for orders.
At this moment, several small black spots appeared in the sky due south, and they were approaching rapidly.
Miller hit the mark. Six He-51 fighter jets of the Republican Air Force approached the battlefield at an altitude of about one thousand meters, and then began to descend in preparation for a fight.
Fights between biplanes naturally tend to be more dog-fighting. In fact, in this era when air combat tactics are still in the exploratory stage, many monoplanes also emphasize horizontal rotation speed in their design to ensure dog-fighting capabilities.
Seeing that their own air force had joined the battle, the soldiers on the ground looked up.
The Italian fighter jets responded immediately. They directly discarded the mounted aerial bombs to reduce the weight so that they could engage in close combat more flexibly.
The falling aerial bombs exploded in clusters, and the explosions caused the 50th Brigade to rush to find cover. A 50kg aerial bomb hit a pile of food supplies, and all kinds of cans were flying in the sky. It seemed like a heavy rain of iron pieces, minced meat, and biscuits fell in the sky.
In a sense, a dogfight between a group of biplanes is a good spectacle, and it is much more interesting than a monoplane that comes and goes like the wind, dives up and down and shoots away in one blow.
After the tail of a CR.32 was bitten, the fuel tank was hit multiple times. The entire aircraft turned into a smoking fireball and fell almost vertically from the sky.
Seeing this scene, the people below all cheered in unison.
This encounter in the sky lasted for more than ten minutes, and the two sides were inextricably fought. At the end, a total of two CR.32s were shot down and many others were damaged.
Looking at the Italian military aircraft getting further and further away, Zhou Changfeng breathed a long sigh of relief.
Now, we can finally take stock of the gains from this battle with peace of mind and see what other equipment the transport brigade has transported.
He tilted his head and asked: "Miller, have the statistics been completed? How many things have the Italians left us?"
(End of chapter)
