The time has reached eleven o'clock at noon, and the artillery of the Amami Oshima counterattack has been rumbling for six hours. At this moment, the Kobo Mountain Fort has fired the last of its shells. It was thought that 1,200 shells would be enough for the fort to fight for a day. , as a result, everyone underestimated the intensity of this naval battle.
For a whole half day, all the soldiers on Gaobo Fort became robots. They only knew how to silently aim, load, fire, then aim again, load again, and fire again.
At the last moment of the fight, they even skipped the aiming process. Anyway, there were targets everywhere in the strait and fleeing soldiers everywhere in the sea. Every shell could gain something.
The only thing the garrison of the fort could do was to accelerate, accelerate, and accelerate again... The normal firing rate of one round every five minutes was now increased to one every three minutes. The nine artillery pieces fired 1,200 guns in six hours. Multiple shells rained down.
"Fire! Fire! Keep firing...Fire!" The company commander on the fort didn't know that blood was oozing out of his ears. He was deafened. The sound of the cannon had stopped long ago, but he was still immersed in the cannon fire just now. Unable to extricate himself from the battle.
The brothers rushed over and hugged him, "Company Commander! We have no more artillery shells! All the artillery shells have been empty..."
The excited company commander's eyes were full of frantic looks. He couldn't hear what the brothers around him were shouting. He only knew how to clenched his fists and shouted fiercely, "Fire! Keep firing! Sink all the enemy ships... Hahaha, don't even think about any of them." run!"
There was a crash... A soldier picked up the bucket for wiping the artillery. Half the bucket of cold water was poured on his pocket and he woke up the company commander. "What's the hysteria? Come and see! The enemy's flagship has gone crazy... He will perish with the Zhiyuan!" "
The company commander finally woke up. He climbed to the edge of the trench with his brothers, looked down and saw the St. Peter burning like a big brazier in the sea, rushing straight towards the Zhiyuan.
At this moment, the distance between the two ships was less than one thousand meters, and the Zhiyuan still showed no signs of evasion. It just silently fired one shot after another, blasting jagged gaps in the enemy ships on the opposite side.
After all, it was the flagship of the Russian army, and its armor protection was indeed strong enough. The hull was so scarred by more than ten shells that it was almost out of shape, but it was still moving forward with difficulty.
Perhaps it was the expeditionary force's last bit of luck protecting him, or perhaps it was the reflection before his death. In short, the St. Peter performed a tragic suicidal charge for everyone on the battlefield.
Failure or failure! If I can't beat you, I can die with you! The fleet's doomsday tragedy is clearly evident at this moment.
The fleeing warships and swimming sailors on the sea were stunned.
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At that moment, people even forgot to escape. At the gap in the incomplete deck guardrail, Stefanski stood there like a statue holding a command knife, and his feet seemed to have taken root.
The old general just kept repeating the words "Crash into Shen Zhiyuan... Crash into Shen Zhiyuan... Crash into Shen Zhiyuan!"
Xiao Letian also saw the tragic scene. He put down the telescope with a sigh, "After all, it is also a thousand-year empire! After all, it is also a nation with its own glorious civilization... They have their pride and persistence, whether they are enemies or friends, this Self-respect and self-improvement are worth learning!”
The burning St. Peter was getting closer and closer, and in the blink of an eye, the distance between the two ships was less than 500 meters. In a naval battle, this was already an extremely dangerous distance, and a collision would occur if you were not careful.
But at this moment, Stefanski's luck finally ran out. More than three hundred mines scattered all over the exit of the strait were not easy to avoid. The mines that followed the undercurrent and rushed into the strait finally pushed the striker against the armor of the St. Peter. .
There was just a muffled roar, and a huge air bubble suddenly bulged up from the waterline on the starboard side of the St. Peter. The powerful explosive force of the white waves directly dug out a huge hole with a diameter of three meters in the belly of the battleship.
The entire strait was undulating with waves, and the waves generated by the explosion rushed radioactively in all directions. At this time, when people looked at the St. Peter, they looked like a blue whale with its belly ripped open, with its internal organs falling out.
The sea water poured in, and the rags inside the battleship kept pouring out. The battleship began to tilt at a strange angle... No matter how strong a warrior is, there is a moment when the blood is drained. The St. Peter's suicide attack finally failed.
Stefanski, who collapsed on the deck, burst into tears, "There are only 400 meters left! I succeeded with only 400 meters left! God, why don't you bless us, but go and bless those infidels! Why... …”
With the pistol pressed against his chin, the commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force's last words in his life were only three words: "Why!" After saying this, a gunshot rang out, and Stefanski was martyred with the ship.
There were cries on the sea. Regardless of whether Stefanski's command was right or wrong, good or bad, at least as a general, he still won the hearts of the soldiers.
He is fair, knows how to motivate soldiers, and is not greedy. Although he is from a noble family, he does not have too much arrogance. At that time, such a general was worth the soldiers' lives to follow.
But it's a pity that he met a rare genius, a monster who has insight into the direction of history, so his failure is inevitable.
Xiao Letian watched as the St. Peter made a loud rattling sound, and the seawater kept pouring in. The gradually silent warship formed a huge vortex on the sea, and this vortex attracted three more mines and struck it. Go up.
Boom boom boom... there were three huge muffled sounds, water columns rose into the sky, and the Russian flagship was blown to pieces and disintegrated in the sea, turning into a floating wreckage.
The destruction of the flagship completely brought the morale of the Russian army to a freezing point. The remaining warships no longer had the courage to confront the Zhiyuan head-on. They hid as far as they could and sailed out of the strait as if they were risking their lives.
"Long live! Long live the Prime Minister! Long live the Navy!" There was a rejoicing on Takahata Mountain. The brothers in the fort knew that their mission had been completed. Now the war situation was decided. The Prime Minister's strategy came to an end. The trap of Amami Oshima caught the prey firmly. .
At this moment, the Zhiyuan is like a lonely hunter wandering among the sheep. When he raises his shotgun, there is always prey falling under the muzzle. Those warships that were lucky enough to escape the Zhiyuan's artillery bombardment could hardly break through the mine blockade. From time to time, the unique low sound of mine explosions could be heard at the exit of the strait.
The battle lasted for another hour. No matter how proud the army was, they could not bear such a one-sided massacre. The endless mines on the sea completely shattered their hopes.
At a quarter past twelve, the frigate Polar raised a white flag and announced its surrender to Zhiyuan. Five minutes later, the frigate Volga also raised a white flag. Ten minutes later, the main battleship Diamond also chose to surrender.
Within an hour, a total of two main warships and three frigates of the Russian Expeditionary Force announced their surrender, while other warships still stubbornly resisted until the entire army was destroyed.
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