The Army's Second Battalion was very dissatisfied with the Navy's behavior. However, they couldn't waste time arguing when they landed. They still had to do what needed to be done. Immediately, the people of the Second Battalion and the Third Artillery Company began to attack the city gate. Attack.
Calling it an attack is too much... After all, there are no Spanish garrisoning the city gates anymore. Even the city gates were blasted to pieces by naval artillery, and one side of the city wall collapsed.
The men of the second battalion held guns and gradually approached in skirmish formation, occupying the city gate without any resistance.
However, they were not in a hurry to continue entering the city. Instead, they asked the second artillery sentry that accompanied the team and an infantry artillery team strengthened by the regiment to carry out extended bombardment and continue to attack the remaining enemies in the city.
Continuing artillery knockdowns is not to kill or injure many enemy troops, but to cover the attacking troops, prevent the enemy from gathering on a large scale and counterattack, and at the same time force the remaining enemy forces to collapse or even flee.
After all, this is an siege, not a siege. Capturing the city is the most important. It doesn't matter whether the enemy escapes or not. It would even be easier if all the enemies escape.
Although the army's artillery is not as powerful as the navy's naval gun, the artillery battery sent by the division's artillery regiment is only equipped with four 75mm mountain guns, and the infantry artillery platoon sent by the regiment is equipped with only two 70mm infantry gun.
However, both types of artillery are very light and have a relatively large shooting elevation angle. They can raise the elevation angle and bypass many buildings to bombard targets in the city.
At the same time, when necessary, the elevation angle can also be lowered and the target can be hit with a flat shot.
In particular, the two 70mm infantry cannons are very useful in this kind of small-scale combat. A few artillerymen can push and pull them forward, and then carry out artillery fire when they encounter visible targets. They can also carry out large-scale artillery fire according to the instructions from the front. Angle of reflection.
When shelling at an elevation angle of 70 or 80 degrees, the ballistic curve is very similar to that of a mortar or later mortars.
More importantly, this thing is a rifled gun, so the shooting accuracy is very high.
Although there were only two 70mm infantry cannons, the efficiency of covering the attack was very high. After dozens of consecutive shellings, the infantry troops were successfully covered as they advanced deep into the city.
As for the 75mm mountain cannon, it was already used as a long-distance support artillery at this time. It was set up outside the city and carried out precise artillery fire at targets one or two kilometers away.
It effectively replaced the navy's naval guns and provided sufficient fire support for the infantry.
After all, as the infantry entered the city, in order to prevent accidental damage, the navy did not stop the artillery bombardment, but the artillery bombardment targets were also carried out covering artillery fire in the deep areas, making it difficult to directly and effectively support the army's operations.
With the continuous bombardment, the infantry of the second battalion separated into three companies with the company as the main tactical unit. Each company was responsible for a direction of attack and advanced from the left, middle and right sides at the same time. Finally, there was an infantry company. Serves as a strategic reserve while protecting the rear artillery.
After the infantry penetrated deep into the city, although artillery bombardment was important, infantry firepower began to become the protagonist on the battlefield.
After all, this is a siege operation. Once you go deep into the city, it can be regarded as a street battle to a certain extent. Infantry firepower cannot fully cover the effective cover. In many cases, small-scale infantry operations can only rely on the infantry's own firepower, which is Type 18. Mainly rifles, Tianwu revolvers, and grenades.
Lieutenant An Xitong now carries a Type 18 rifle. As a platoon leader, he also has a 22-year-old command knife and a Tian-5 revolver on his left thigh.
The command knife is a 22-year-old command knife produced by Hantian Arsenal, which is slightly improved from the traditional waist knife.
The traditional waist sword was born out of the Japanese sword. The locally improved waist sword was the standard infantry one-handed saber in China from the middle and late Ming Dynasty until the 1920s of the Chu Empire.
It was not until the 1920s that the Dachu Empire specially developed a new twenty-two-year-old command knife, but the general style was not much different from the traditional waist knife.
After all, after the 1920s, the saber was not used more for combat, but more as an individual self-defense weapon and ceremonial item. Compared with the so-called combat performance of the infantry saber, the Chu army preferred to maintain tradition. So even if there is an improvement, it is not big.
The blade and handle are all made of steel, machine-made... The quality is naturally not as good as those hand-made fine sabers, but compared to a large-scale mass-produced saber commonly equipped with officers at all levels, It's already pretty good.
It is characterized by the use of new steel materials, coupled with some special processes, which makes this knife have the characteristics of light weight, high strength and high toughness.
The disadvantage... is the same as most of the weapons and equipment of the Chu army: expensive!
After all, new materials and new processing techniques are often synonymous with high prices.
But even so, many officers, especially those who are not short of money, are more inclined to order handmade sabers.
The military's non-interference in this matter is the same as non-interference in soldiers purchasing their own pistols.
Anyway, the army issues Tianwu revolvers, and they only issue standard pistol ammunition. You can also buy other pistols by yourself. If the ammunition is universal, you will be issued ammunition. But if the ammunition is not universal, you will have to find your own way. solved.
Ordinary riflemen and other infantrymen are not issued pistols... but soldiers are not prevented from purchasing their own pistols.
In order to increase their chances of survival on the battlefield, many soldiers often purchase their own pistols. After all, pistols in military stores are not expensive. You can buy one for a small amount of money and take it with you for self-defense on the battlefield. Ammunition can also be obtained for free from the military headquarters. Many soldiers Be happy to do it.
This also led to the fact that the armies of the Dachu Empire were equipped with pistols at a very high rate, and most of them were purchased by the soldiers themselves... However, in order to stabilize the logistics supply, although the pistols equipped in the armies were diverse, they were basically the same. Use standard 11mm pistol bullets...because other types of pistol bullets are not provided by the military, so you have to buy them yourself.
Although Lieutenant An Xitong said that as an officer, he led a platoon to fight, but he did not wear Shaobao like many officers in the indigenous army, and he used some kind of saber to command. Instead, he wore ordinary officer combat uniforms, and Holding a Type 18 rifle.
He is now leading his soldiers to take down a church ahead.
According to reports from his men, about dozens of armed men took refuge in the church and fought back against the infantrymen under his command who had arrived here first.
However, the opponents used old-fashioned flintlock guns. Although they fired, the bullets flew to nowhere. Apart from frightening a few soldiers of the Chu army, they did not cause any casualties to the Chu army.
When the opponent resisted and fired, the Chu soldiers did not continue to rush forward stupidly. Instead, they found a bunker and set up their guns, and then promptly notified the friendly forces behind them.
After learning that there were dozens of armed personnel resisting in front, Lieutenant An Xitong immediately led the entire platoon's main force and surrounded them from many directions.
After arriving, Lieutenant An Xitong poked his head out of the bunker and took a closer look... He didn't know whether the person on the other side was stupid or smart!
Call them stupid, but at least they found a church with a strong bunker. Because this kind of building is made of stone, it has good protection against bullets and other light firepower.
But to say they are stupid is because the church is surrounded by open areas... Once they hide in and are discovered by the Chu army and set up guns, they will not be able to get out!
After thinking about it for a moment, An Xitong immediately sent someone to call the nearby artillery units. One of the 70mm infantry gun batteries was fighting with their company and happened to be nearby.
Call them over and fire a few direct shots at the church opposite, and that's probably enough.
As for directly commanding his infantry to attack without artillery support... He is not that stupid yet.
Although the Spaniards on the opposite side were equipped with flintlock muskets, flintlock muskets could also kill people.
Not to mention too much, An Xitong would not be happy if so many of his men were killed or injured.
Although people will die in war, the only way to reduce casualties is to reduce casualties.
After all, he is not commanding an Indian servant army and can attack at will. He is commanding a local army... Every soldier is a serious Chu countryman.
If there are a few battle casualties in a battle, the superiors will have to scold him. If there are too many casualties, he may have to go to a military court.
Why?
The European Expeditionary Force went all the way north from South Africa, captured at least dozens of colonial coastal cities, and controlled almost the entire West African coast. This lasted for several months.
How many total battle casualties were there?
Forty-two people!
Twenty-six of them were accidentally injured by a dumb bomb. During the attack on Ghana, the navy fired many large-caliber artillery shells, and naturally there were some dumb bombs among them. The infantry may have been too relaxed after landing.
A group of infantrymen were particularly interested in a 150mm dumb bomb... They even gathered around to flip it over, but with a bang, a group of infantrymen were blown to pieces and all of them were killed...
One dumb bomb wiped out half an infantry platoon, twenty-six people, more than the regular number of casualties of the Chu army's regular army in several months of fighting in West Africa!
This matter was reported directly to the 53rd Division Headquarters, leaving the commander of the 53rd Division, Major General Ding Zhengqing, speechless for a long time. In the end, he cursed the officers under him bloody. Let them once again enhance battlefield safety training.
Most importantly, don’t mess with the dumb bombs that didn’t explode!
When it comes to cleaning up dumb bombs after the war, let the prisoners of war do it as much as possible. If you can't let the servants do it, don't do it yourself stupidly...
At that time, Major General Ding Zhengqing hated iron and steel: "Even my dog knows that the Navy is unreliable, and he still goes to clean up the Navy's dumb bombs. This is a life-threatening situation!"
Excluding these more than twenty unlucky men, strictly speaking, the Chu State's regular army had only sixteen combat deaths in a series of operations in West Africa!
Not one too many, not one too little, just sixteen.
On the contrary, the 3rd Indian Division of the Servant Army had more casualties, but the number of casualties was actually only about a hundred... and there were more injured, probably several hundred.
When the Chu army fought in West Africa, the overall casualty rate was very low, while the regular army's casualties were even lower, less than a hundred so far.
Of course, this is only talking about combat casualties. In fact, there are also some non-combat casualties, such as those who fell into the sea, were bitten by snakes, fell ill, etc.
This part is actually more. The non-combat casualties of the 53rd Division are hundreds of people, which is much greater than the combat casualties.
There is no other way to fight in unfamiliar places with very harsh natural environments, especially in Africa. Non-combat attrition has always been a serious problem for the Chu army.
This is also the reason why the Chu army organized a large-scale Indian servant army and transferred it to Africa to fight.
What they fear is not combat casualties, but non-combat attrition.
The infantry platoon led by An Xitong has not lost a single member since its departure from South Africa. Although several people fell ill during the process, they have gradually recovered and returned to the team.
Lieutenant An Xitong did not want his troops to be attrited in the small and broken city of Tangier, so he was very cautious in directing operations.
Especially in this kind of combat environment that favors street fighting, he will never waste a fight... As the saying goes, if you can use artillery to solve the problem, you will never use a rifle. If you can kill the enemy with a rifle from a hundred or two hundred meters away, you will never rush up and fight. If the enemy is in close combat, you can use grenades and pistols to defeat the opponent in close combat, and you will never need a bayonet.
To eliminate opponents as much as possible while ensuring one's own safety is the pursuit of the contemporary Chu army, and it is also the action guide for many officers in the Chu army.
In the contemporary Chu army, if you are like Nogi Nogi and Haige, treating soldiers directly as cannon fodder and forcing them to charge forward and die... all that is waiting for you is a military court.
This is not because the Chu army is afraid of death in battle, but because it is clearly equipped with countless advanced guns and has an absolute lead, why do you still let the soldiers line up to die?
It's totally unnecessary!
The same is true for Anxi Tong today. There are friendly 70mm infantry artillery here, so there is no need for his infantry to attack by force.
Soon, an artillery crew pulled a 70mm infantry gun over. After carefully observing the battlefield, a sergeant commander of the artillery crew said to Comrade Anxi: "We have shot many such church-like buildings. These buildings may look solid, but in fact they are just that!”
Comrade Anxi said: "In that case, let's ask the artillery brothers!"
The artillery crew did not delay and quickly completed a series of preparations for the bombardment.
As the 70mm infantry cannon fired flatly, a cloud of fireworks suddenly erupted from the chapel in front. Before the smoke fell, the 70mm infantry cannon on the side fired again.
This small and medium-caliber breech-mounted rifled gun can fire much faster than the large-caliber naval gun in the Navy, and can reach three or four rounds per minute.
The fast rate of fire is mainly due to the small caliber, light ammunition, and the rear loading, which makes loading more convenient.
But more importantly, this thing is a short-barreled artillery piece. At the same time, the shells have relatively little propellant and relatively low chamber pressure, which also results in a small recoil force... Although this thing is still a rigidly connected cannon, but Because the recoil is relatively small and the weight is light, it is easier to reset and aim.
Sometimes if the terrain is suitable, the Chu army's infantry artillerymen will simply place large rocks behind the gun mount to forcefully offset the recoil. This way, they don't even need to reset... and the rate of fire can be faster.
For small and medium-caliber breech-loading rifled guns, the biggest factor affecting the rate of fire is no longer loading, but reset!
This is also the reason why the 55mm naval gun of the Dachu Empire Navy has a very fast firing rate. Because the recoil of this thing is relatively small, it is simply possible to install the cannon directly on the hull and use the hull to resist the recoil. There is no need to reset...the breech-loaded rifled gun that does not need to be reset, and coupled with the fully loaded ammunition, a skilled gun crew can easily fire about ten rounds a minute.
Because of this, the Navy even wants to develop a so-called rapid-fire gun with a smaller caliber and a faster rate of fire.
However, this rapid-fire cannon is not the same concept as the cannon-backed cannon!
The rate of fire of the 70mm infantry cannon was also very fast. Shells were fired one after another, and soon the church in front was filled with smoke and dust.
A few minutes later, after withstanding the continuous bombardment of more than ten artillery shells, the seemingly solid stone church in front finally collapsed and collapsed.
Among the billowing smoke and dust, there were still scattered people running out.
At this time, An Xitong led his infantrymen to raise their 18-year-old rifles and shoot.
Lieutenant An Xitong's marksmanship was pretty good. Although he missed with the first shot, his second shot hit a Spanish soldier who fled in embarrassment.
The bullet came out from about a hundred meters away with a muzzle velocity of 430 meters per second, crossed a distance of one hundred meters in a slight curve that was almost invisible to the naked eye, and finally hit the enemy's back.
The lead bullet entered from the enemy's back, then deformed and rolled, creating a huge wound in the enemy's body!
At a distance of one hundred meters, it was almost impossible for previous muskets to accurately hit a moving target... even widening it to fifty or sixty meters would be difficult.
This is also the case in musket combat, where there is almost no situation of individual shooting, because it is impossible to hit... Military operations using muskets use multiple people to shoot at the same time, mainly to attack group targets.
This is also the reason why line tactics finally emerged and became the core tactic of Suifa and even the percussion musket era. For no other reason than because this tactic can maximize the firepower of the flintlock/percussion musket.
But in the era of breech-loading rifled rifles, the improved shooting accuracy brought by rifling can completely allow a skilled shooter to accurately hit the enemy at a distance of one to two hundred meters or even two to three hundred meters.
If it is targeting a group target, then the shooting distance can be increased to five to six hundred meters or even more than one thousand meters. This is also the reason why the scales in many early rifled rifles can easily reach over one thousand meters or even more than one thousand five hundred meters.
Such a long-range ruler is not for you to use for precise strikes, but for attacking group targets.
The dozens of Chu soldiers led by An Xitong almost completely destroyed the Spaniards on the opposite side in terms of weapons and equipment and firepower, so much so that the dozens of Spanish soldiers in the church did not even resist effectively and were first shelled. Some of them were killed, and the rest were named and killed one by one while escaping.
In less than ten minutes, this group of Spanish soldiers declared their entire army destroyed. Most of them were killed on the spot, and a small number were injured and captured. Whether they can survive in the future depends on whether they are tough enough and can survive it.
At the same time, the Chu army that entered the city continued to clean up, and after spending most of a day, they finally cleared the entire Tangier City.
At this time, the city of Tangier has become a complete ruin... The previous naval bombardment was too fierce, and the subsequent army entered the city. In order to reduce its own casualties, it also used artillery to demolish the buildings as soon as they were seen, so that after the attack, There is not even a single intact building left in Tangier.
As for the casualties of the Spanish garrison in the city and other natives in the city... To be honest, I don't know. The Chu army didn't bother to count them anyway.
Anyway, we learned from the prisoners of war that there were originally more than a thousand Spanish troops stationed in the city, and there were also thousands of civilians in the city.
After the city was conquered and all the remaining living people in the city, including those prisoners of war, deserters who had infiltrated among the civilians, and ordinary civilians, were escorted out of the city, when the Chu army conducted an inventory, there were only more than 2,000 people left. .
This is pretty good!
Sometimes the Chu army attacks some coastal colonial cities. If the opponent's city is small and unable to resist, it will often lead to heavy casualties, and it is common for even the whole city to die.
The naval guns of the Da Chu Empire Navy are still very fierce!
Of course, this cannot be blamed unilaterally on the Chu army's artillery being too fierce, but also on the fact that contemporary European cities are too small...
If you put it in a place like Songjiang City in the Great Chu Empire... To be honest, even if you don't resist, just let go and let your navy explode, the navy won't be able to finish it...
You can't even blow up most of the city... People can drink coffee in the office building and shout: If you can, blow me up!
Because the range of the naval gun is not enough.
The urban area of Songjiang City is too big, covering an area of dozens of kilometers. In the face of such a huge city, the 250mm main gun range of the new generation Jinling-class battleship still under construction by the Navy is not enough!
You can't even hit me, and you're talking nonsense.
Even if it could be hit, with the density and power of naval gun firepower of the contemporary Dachu Empire Navy, it would be difficult to deal with a city like Songjiang City, which is full of cement and steel buildings, has a dense network of underground drainage pipes, and is even building a subway.
It is inevitable to cause huge losses, but it is impossible to kill everyone in the city with artillery!
Unfortunately, Songjiang City is the Songjiang City of the Chu Empire and has nothing to do with Europeans!
However, contemporary European cities, especially some non-capital cities, are generally small in size, and the Chu Empire's navy would not be under any pressure to bombard them.
Tangier is a very typical example.
After the battle, the city was completely destroyed and thousands of people were killed or injured.
Even after the Chu army entered the city after landing, it was impossible to find a suitable building to serve as a camp. In the end, they had no choice but to leave the city and build a field camp outside the city.
This can be regarded as shooting oneself in the foot.
For this reason, several army officers from the Second Battalion of the Army yelled at the navy again!
(End of chapter)
