Chapter 153: Preparing for the Rain (Sixth)

Three green signal flares flew into the sky, and 3,000 Ethiopian cavalry in uniform, holding spears and tides, rushed down the east slope of the valley like water. After the smoke and dust spread across the valley, they rushed straight to the gentle slope of the west slope of the valley that had been occupied by the Italian army.

At the same time, the Duke of Matafaria personally commanded the reserve team deployed deep in the valley - the 12th Infantry Brigade and 20,000 feudal militia - to launch an attack on the hillside west of the valley, with twelve 105mm howitzers directly under the reserve team provided fire support. The 11th Brigade, ambushed on the cliffs on the east side of the hillside, was also ordered to leave the tightly guarded positions and detoured attacks from behind the valley.

"At this point, the carefully designed ambush battle completely turned into a frontal decisive battle under adverse conditions. The Italians occupied the hillside to the west and set up machine guns and mountain cannons. The Egyptian army, which had just suffered a heavy blow, was forced to cross the valley to launch a back attack. They could not see the activities of the Italian army behind the hillside, but the Italian army could clearly observe their every move... At this time, if the Duke of Matafaria had a balloon or one or two aircraft in his hand, it might have prompted him to make up his mind to withdraw from the battle earlier. Unfortunately, the two planes that the emperor promised to send to the duke had an accident on the way to the transition. One crashed and the other landed, and the engine could no longer be activated. As for the carriage that transported the balloons, at the beginning of the battle, he was still staggering on the dirt road a hundred kilometers away from Kolahei..."

Twenty-five thousand Ethiopian infantry and three thousand cavalrymen made a shocking cry. The spears were tilted forward like forests, as if the forest in another world was moving. Several huge green, yellow, and red horizontally patterned national flags were flying in the sand and dust in the sky.

The Fourth Cavalry Regiment took the lead and rushed up the hillside with flying shrapnels - in front of them were the Maxim water-cooled machine guns that sprayed bullets like faucets!

The Italian infantry launched three rows of horizontal lines behind dozens of machine guns, with bayonets standing in hand. Each of the 180-person horizontal lines were no less powerful than a machine gun platoon. They were not afraid of the Ethiopian cavalry rushing down from the top of the slope, because their own cavalry was behind the horizontal lines and could rush out from the gaps between the infantry at any time to fight.

The Ethiopian cavalry who charged with spears under their armpits were exposed as soon as they rushed up the hilltop. Their figures were particularly prominent on the ridgeline, becoming a wonderful target for Italian shooting hands.

Waves of superb equestrians rushed to the top of the slope, and trees fell down like snow. The bodies of the people and horses became taller and taller, so that the riders behind had to spend time around - this was tantamount to 'suicide' in the dense rain of bullets.

In less than a quarter of an hour, 2,500 Ethiopian cavalry who rushed up the hill were knocked off their horses. There is no doubt that the tragic belongs to them, and the glory belongs to Maxim.

Earl Geisel, deputy commander of the Fifth Cavalry Regiment, who was hit by three bullets, climbed over the top of the slope and promptly prevented the last cavalry battalion of the regiment from entering the battle. Finally, he saved the last few hundred cavalry for the "Second Field Legion of the King of Kings".

While the cavalry collapsed, the "25,000-man charge" initiated by the Duke of Matafaria himself was just about to reach the tide. As the vanguard, ten thousand feudal militia holding spears, hoes and even wooden sticks, surrounded the top of the slope, and rushed to the Italian army, who were waiting for battle under the slope like an avalanche.

The battle instantly evolved into massacre. In front of dozens of Maxim machine guns that fired 300-500 rounds per minute and thousands of Gebel rifles that fired 15-20 rounds per minute, the sea of ​​people was a sea of ​​corpses, and the Italian army's howitzers also fired deadly shrapnel from afar. The shells fell concentrated near the top of the slope, and the god of death's sickle swept repeatedly among the dense crowd. One after another, the vague flesh and blood curtain covered the earth and the sky.

When the 12th Infantry Brigade, led by the Duke of Matafaria, rushed to the top of the hill, every step was the flesh and blood of his own people.

The 12th Brigade used two regiments to form a scattered line, one regiment as a reserve, with five thousand militias covering each of the wings. The regular army officers and soldiers shot while shooting, which could kill several Italians. But at this moment, under the intensive shooting of various firepower of the Italian army, there was no fundamental difference between the regular army holding Hanyang rifles and the militia holding wooden sticks.

The Italian artillery fire repeatedly swept the battlefield, and the Egyptian army deployed in the valley could not exert its power due to terrain problems. Only a dozen small mortars carried by the infantry caused certain damage to the Italian army, but these small cannons quickly exhausted the ammunition and medicine...

The dead bodies quickly piled up, and the feudal militia on both wings of the 12th Brigade quickly lost the courage to advance. They collapsed like a tsunami when they charged just now. The flags were printed with the Matafaria family's emblem, the unknown combs, the non-production spear tied to the tip of the spear with ropes, the ordinary hoes, and the sharpened or almost unprocessed wooden sticks were thrown all over the floor.

Affected by the dispersion of militia, the fighting will of the regular army rapidly faded, and more and more soldiers crawled behind the pile of corpses, either shooting randomly, or simply hiding there without doing anything. From time to time, scattered soldiers climbed over the top of the slope and fled back to the valley on the other side of the hillside. Witnessing this, the Duke of Matafaria drew out his battle knife and ran around the pile of corpses, kicking the "cowards" ass, shouting and encouraging: "All of it! Charge, charge! The 11th Brigade will immediately launch an attack from the enemy's flanks, and victory will immediately belong to us, and we!"

The bullet whizzed past the Duke, and it might be only a matter of time before he hit him.

Li Xiuping didn't want to die here, nor did he want to die so worthless. When he saw the tragic situation of corpses everywhere in front of him and the tightly arranged formation of the Italian army, he realized that the battle was meaningless. At this moment, taking advantage of the opportunity that Duke Matafaria skipped over him and suddenly grabbed the duke's hand.

"Sir, your task is to stick to Korahashi!"

"I know! Let go!" The duke waved the Western sword and shouted fiercely at Li Xiuping.

"It's still time to bring the army to Korahe, where we should slaughter the Italians!"

Before Li Xiuping finished speaking, a shrapnel exploded nearby, and the powerful shock waves and shrapnel rushed down the two of them together...

I don't know how long it took, but it felt like it had been a long time, but in fact, maybe only a few seconds, Li Xiuping slowly wiped off the sticky things on his eyelids. He finally opened his eyes and was lying in front of him with blood in his body.

"Duke..."

"Transfer my order, and the whole army will withdraw from Korahei." The duke swallowed the blood foam and spit out these words with difficulty.

It is not easy to retreat in front of an advantageous enemy, not to mention that the general was seriously injured.
Chapter completed!