"Martinez, your mission is to hold your position, what are you doing here?"
Diego, the commander of the first regiment of the Spanish 3rd Division, saw the commander of the first battalion guarding the first line of defense running to the command post in the rear. He was very dissatisfied and thought that he was suspected of cowardly fighting to save his life.
The Third Division, as Spain's elite force, has strong combat effectiveness and is highly valued. However, because of its importance, many powerful people send their children here to pay their dues.
Martinez, one such person, was pushed here by his father, the count, with great efforts and ran it as the battalion commander.
Diego and his immediate boss, Commander McGee, are academic officers who have studied in Germany and attach great importance to military discipline.
They have no objection to nobles' children serving as soldiers. After all, they also have aristocratic backgrounds, but they also have a bottom line, that is, the nobles they use must have real materials, and they extremely hate people who have no abilities except connections.
Martinez had not studied in a powerful European country, France, or Germany, nor was he an outstanding graduate of the Capital Military Academy, so Diego, who was also a noble, looked down upon him.
In his eyes, Martinez is a good example of a good-for-nothing who entered the military academy through the back door through connections and then rose to power by operating in the army. Without his father, this man is nothing.
Martinez also knew that he did not have strong military qualifications. He was able to become a battalion commander through back-door operations. He knew that his superiors disliked him.
But at this time, as a qualified soldier, Martinez clearly knew that his first line of defense was in crisis. The most important thing now was to ask for military support and destroy the Portuguese river beach positions.
"Captain, more and more Portuguese have gathered on the river beach. Their number exceeds a battalion. They have sophisticated weapons and extremely high tactical skills. They have almost formed a simple defense line.
I asked artillery to bombard the river beach and destroy their defenses, otherwise they would gather more and more people and the consequences would be disastrous. "
"Snapped!"
After hearing Martinez's words, Diego was furious and slammed the table hard.
"Are you a waste? You actually let the Portuguese build a defense line on the river beach. How did you defend it?
Our troops are well-organized, have sufficient ammunition, and are facing the river beach from a high position. This is a good defensive condition.
The Portuguese have a limited number of people who can log in at one time. Facing our strict defense, they will give away as many as they come, but you can give them a firm foothold. "
Faced with such a waste that delayed the war, Diego would not tolerate it. He directly ordered the guards to arrest Martinez and send him to a military court.
"Martinez, you delayed the opportunity and made defensive mistakes. Now you have been removed from your position as battalion commander and will be subject to a military court in the near future."
"Captain, you can't do this. You should listen to me and explain the situation before making a decision." Martinez struggled to break away from the guard controlling him and tried his best to complain to the commander.
"Shut up! Take this trash down with you."
Diego will not listen to such rubbish. This is a time of war, not a time to talk about relationships. Military matters are the highest priority now.
Spain took this Spanish-Portuguese War very seriously. They knew that if Spain lost the war, everything would be over.
Spain is now gathering all its forces into the military, aligning everything with the military, and eliminating all constraints.
"Let the messenger give my order. The artillery of our regiment will bombard the river beach. The 3rd Battalion of the Militia and the 4th Battalion of the Militia will support the front line."
After conveying the instructions to his subordinates within the regiment, Diego paced back and forth a few times before picking up the phone and contacting the division headquarters.
Diego is a cautious person. Although he has not listened to Martinez's intelligence report, he knows that there are no small things on the battlefield, so he must deal with them carefully.
After learning that Portugal was gathering more and more troops, Diego carefully prepared to mobilize as many artillery pieces as possible to bombard the river beach.
"Diego, why are you calling me?"
Although Diego is only a regiment commander, when he was studying in Germany, he met his senior, now the division commander, McGee. The relationship between the two is very good, so he often contacts the division headquarters beyond the brigade level.
"Division Commander, that bastard Martinez did not defend well and allowed the Portuguese to establish a position on the river beach. Now more and more people are gathering together. There are too few artillery at the regiment. I hope to get support from the artillery at the division."
"How many Portuguese are there on the river beach now?"
"More than one battalion!"
"There are indeed a lot of people gathered, but the division-level firepower is a bit overdone. I will order all the artillery of your brigade to support you."
"Division Commander, I hope to mobilize the artillery regiment. This will be safer."
“Diego, the range of the artillery regiment is too large and it is vulnerable to concentrated fire from enemy artillery. This is too dangerous.
As you know, the Portuguese have a lot of artillery, and our artillery regiment has suffered heavy and large losses not long ago, and we cannot easily touch it now. I don't want to use them until the critical moment. "
"Okay, sir, I understand."
Diego understood what Commander McGee meant.
The current main artillery regiment of the Third Division is very precious. Now that the war has just begun, it is indeed not the time to mobilize them.
"boom!"
"boom!"
"boom!"
…
The Portuguese river beach position was bombarded by artillery fire from several regiments of the 1st Brigade of the 3rd Division. For a moment, thunder roared and dust and smoke flew up.
Facing the artillery attack, the Portuguese covered their ears and hid in the trench holes.
Due to the relatively moist soil, the river beach position quickly collapsed in many places under Spanish artillery fire, and many soldiers were buried.
"I Have a Picture Book of Ghosts and Gods"
As the artillery fire continued, more and more trenches collapsed.
Faced with this situation, the Portuguese army had to leave the trenches, brave artillery fire, spread out and dig foxholes to hide.
The Spanish bombardment came very suddenly, and the river beach and river surface were attacked, causing a lot of losses in a short time.
However, after all, the firepower at the brigade level did not cause too serious losses to Portugal. Portugal only lost two gunboats in this run, and only two platoons were injured or killed in the river beach position.
After a sudden shelling by the Spanish, which lasted for three minutes, the Portuguese immediately suspected a more violent color.
"The Spaniards actually dare to fire cannons. How brave they are." Jerry West, commander of the 17th Division, said angrily.
The Spaniards have a limited number of artillery on the front line and a small base of artillery shell reserves. They have also received sneak attacks from the Portuguese before, so they have been very timid after the war.
“Division Commander, this artillery attack is only brigade-level firepower, and the amount of ammunition at this level will not continue the artillery fire for too long.
I judged that this should be the Spanish frontline force, which used its own initiative and launched a beautiful surprise attack. "Chief of Staff Gauss said.
"The Spanish Third Division is indeed worthy of being an elite force. I was a little underestimating the enemy."
West issued new orders. "Give me the order to bombard every fifteen minutes. Give me the order to continue bombarding the enemy's forward positions and implement fire suppression.
Also, send more mortars, cones, Lewis machine guns, and grenades to the front line. The river banks are wet, the trenches are not performing well, and the front line troops must push forward. "
