Chapter 1651 Attacking Manila (1)

In Haihan's army troops going to Manila this time, the Ministry of National Defense assembled several elite units such as independent special operations battalions, cavalry battalions, Marine Corps, and South China Sea Special Operations Group. From a certain point of view, this combat operation is also

For the first time, these elite troops competed together in actual combat. In order to mobilize these troops from all over the world to participate in this operation, the Ministry of National Defense also spent a lot of effort, and the mobilization of troops took as long as

In the past few months, military expenditures have reached millions, and the purpose is to add a few more weights to the balance of the Battle of Manila, so that the Spanish's largest stronghold in the Far East can be conquered in one fell swoop.

For the commanders of each army, this combat mission naturally has a different meaning. In the past, these troops were undoubtedly the strongest in their own defense areas, and they also led the way in front of their colleagues.

type, but this time the troops mobilized to fight in Manila were all elite troops. The Minister of Defense personally came to supervise the battle. All the troops were holding their breath to perform well and strive to take the lead in this battle.

As the saying goes, there is no first in literature and no second in military force. Which unit has achieved the greatest military success in this operation will truly establish its position in the Haihan Army. This is much more than each boasting about their own achievements in the past.

After all, in the past, the enemies faced by each army were different and the combat environments they were in were different. It was difficult to distinguish which ones were stronger and which ones were weaker. But this time it was different when attacking Manila City. Everyone was dealing with the same enemy. Who was the enemy?

The more capable you are, who is the real ace unit? You will know once you put them on the battlefield.

Although everyone is gearing up and eager to try, it is inevitable that there are commanders who are not so excited about it. As the commander of the cavalry battalion, Harugong is not so satisfied with the battle plan to attack Manila. Of course, this is not a command.

The headquarters must wear small shoes for his troops, but the usefulness of cavalry in siege warfare is indeed very limited. Although the weapons, equipment and combat capabilities of the cavalry battalion are not inferior to other units, the headquarters will certainly not have enough infantry.

Under such circumstances, he would arrange for the cavalry to dismount and fight on foot, so his troops could probably only be used as security and mobile forces on the periphery during the siege.

Seeing other troops receiving their respective combat missions, the cavalry battalion could only serve as peripheral support and would hardly have any chance to perform. Naturally, Harugong was not in a better mood. Yan Chujie knew that his old friend was not feeling well, so he

The task of field liaison was also handed over to the cavalry battalion, which was reluctantly used as a comfort condition.

Among the other troops participating in the war, the one with the most experience in siege warfare is naturally the earliest special operations battalion in the army. This unit has been in the army since the Annan Civil War, and has been tasked with attacking.

The cities they passed ranged from county towns with a population of one or two thousand people to fortified cities like Hue Prefecture. In addition, when they attacked two Spanish strongholds in Taipei in 1633, the special operations battalion served as the main force on the battlefield to defend the Spanish.

The means are the most obvious.

Therefore, the special operations battalion led by Qian Tiandun did its job this time and became the main force to attack Manila. And Takahashi Minami, who served as the battalion commander, was naturally entrusted with important tasks again.

Takahashi Minami himself has no special feelings about this task. Being the main attacker on the battlefield is a natural arrangement for the special operations battalion, not to mention that the opponent was a subordinate of the special operations battalion four years ago.

The defeated general was handed over to him to command this battle, and he was already familiar with his skills.

Of course, Takahashi Minami will not take his opponents lightly because of this. In the past few days, he has sorted out the information on Manila's city defense deployment and conducted a campaign drill at the headquarters with senior officials of the Ministry of National Defense.

, tried their best to improve the siege tactics.

In fact, to be serious, the combat environment that the special operations battalion is really good at is mainly mountainous and jungle, and siege warfare is not its specialty. In terms of tactical drills and weapon equipment, the special operations battalion is also more inclined to the needs of field operations. However, recently

In the past few years, the special operations battalion has accumulated a lot of experience in siege warfare in the north and south. In addition, the Ministry of National Defense specially mobilized two artillery companies, a team of snipers, a cavalry company and an engineer company to attack Takahashi.

Now that Nan Da has started, there is nothing faulty about this arrangement.

According to the battle plan, the Haihan Army marched from south to north, and the south of Manila City became the Haihan Army's main attack direction. The Spaniards originally wanted to make a big fuss on the west coastline, but the plan did not change quickly.

The Japanese army voluntarily gave up its plan to attack Manila Port from the sea, and instead advanced towards Manila City from land. As a result, the heavy-fire coastal defense batteries deployed by the Spaniards near the harbor basically lost their defensive functions. Although the Spaniards still

There is time to redeploy these coastal defense artillery to the south of the city, but without a solid fort as a bunker, it is difficult to predict how long these large-caliber artillery with obvious targets can last on the battlefield.

However, Takahashi Minami did not expect that the Spaniards would be stupid enough to close the city to defend. Before Haihan launched a formal offensive, the Spaniards would definitely set up a good position outside the city and have a decent fight with Haihan first.

Therefore, the special operations battalion did not move very fast, and it also sent out many outpost reconnaissance cavalry to confirm the enemy's deployment.

And just as Takahashi Minami expected, the defenders of Manila City were not so conservative that they stayed behind closed doors. Colonel Francis, who was in charge of commanding the city defense, had already deployed a position outside the city, preparing to attack the invaders. However, in Haihan

Before the army arrived here, Colonel Francis received a letter sent back by the Haihan people through a Spanish prisoner they released.

This letter was in the name of the Haihan Defense Department, warning the Manila authorities to voluntarily give up resistance and accept the Haihan Army's occupation of the city of Manila. Otherwise, if the war continues, the Haihan Army will not be able to guarantee the personal safety of local Spanish immigrants. In the end, it was still

A list of officers who had been captured in naval battles was listed, and a high ransom price was offered. If the Manila authorities were willing to pay the money, these prisoners could be released immediately and returned to Manila, otherwise they would be shipped overseas.

Worked as a coolie somewhere and lost personal freedom forever.

After receiving this letter, Francis did not dare to make the decision without authorization, so he ordered the letter to be sent back to the Governor's Palace in the city for Aragones to make a decision. Aragones understood this very clearly, and after redeeming these people

If the city of Manila still cannot be defended, then everyone may become a prisoner of Haihan, and the money is equivalent to being given in vain; if it can be defended, it will not be the credit of these more than 30 naval officers. Since

Why rush to redeem them? It is better to wait until Haihan is defeated and then renegotiate the ransom with them. In theory, the price can be lowered.

"Reply to them, and all negotiations, wait until the end of the war." Aragones quickly made up his mind. Although he had asked Juan to return to Manila as safely as possible, since the navy group has become the enemy's

If they are imprisoned, there is no need to rush to get them back.

The Spanish's reply was quickly sent to Haihan, and the headquarters was not surprised by the result. If the Spanish compromised so easily, then the previous work of persuading Juan would not have been so difficult.

"You won't shed tears until you see the coffin, and you won't look back until you hit the south wall!" Qian Tiandun sighed: "It seems that this battle still has to be fought to a conclusion."

"Stop pretending. I think you are the one who is most eager to start a fight." Harugong immediately exposed Qian Tiandun's "hypocrisy" mask: "The main force is your troops. If the Spaniards really surrender, then

But there will be no chance for the special operations battalion to perform."

Qian Tiandun said seriously: "If the Spaniards surrender, then the purpose of our expedition to the west will be achieved. Not only will we save a lot of military expenses, but we will also avoid casualties. The post-war reconstruction work will be easier.

Isn’t this a good thing?”

"The consciousness is so high now!" Harugong tutted: "You were not so kind two months ago when you were hunting wild boar skins in Liaodong."

"That's different." Qian Tiandun shook his head and said: "The Hou Jin Dynasty and the Han regime are incompatible existences. If they gain power, it will affect the development of society and culture, and it will not be good for our country in the long run. As for attacking Spain

, this is purely the need for our country to expand outward. We just want to seize Spain's colonies in the Far East, and it is impossible to destroy this country. We just need to drive them out of this area."

"What's the difference?" Harugong still didn't quite understand what Qian Tiandun wanted to express.

"One is a relationship that cannot coexist, and the other is a relationship that can only coexist. Simple and clear enough, right?" Qian Tiandun could only simplify the complex and explain: "What we want is control of the Manila area, not the city.

The lives of these Spaniards."

"They have been operating here for more than half a century, and they cannot give up easily." Yan Chujie took over the conversation and said: "Think about it from another perspective, if you were the Governor of Manila, what would you do, fight or surrender?"

"Of course it's a war!" Harugong didn't hesitate at all about this issue, and immediately gave his choice: "Even if you can't fight, you must try your best to cause enough trouble to the intruder to let the other party know that they want to rob it.

The heavy price this place has to pay. If it were to be lowered directly, wouldn’t it mean that we would just be waiting to be slapped on the door in the future?”

"The Spaniards in the city probably have similar thoughts." Yan Chujie nodded and affirmed Harugong's opinion: "They can't surrender without a fight, otherwise how can they return to China for business in the future? Whether they can fight or not is one thing.

, but whether you dare to fight or not is another matter. If we surrender without even fighting, the governor in the city will probably go to jail directly after returning to the country."

Yes, for Aragones, even if the Haihan people expressed the possibility of a negotiated settlement, there is actually no second option for him besides fighting. Spain can lose this battle, but it cannot stop fighting.

Otherwise, he will lose not only the dignity of the Spanish Empire, but also his personal future.

If you can kill and injure a certain number of Haihan people in the battle, even if you lose the battle, you will have an explanation for the country after the war. If you are lucky enough to kill one or two high-ranking Haihan generals, you can hope to escape the responsibility for the defeat.

It's even bigger.

Since there are still large settlements outside Manila, it is difficult for the Spanish army's musketeers to set up their formations here, so they have to deploy their positions further south, on the plains where there are not many residential areas. But in this way, it is more feasible.

Under Haihan's wishes, the military originally did not want to accidentally injure too many civilians during the siege. The Spaniards were willing to pull out their troops to fight, which was naturally the best thing.

"They still have a very traditional configuration of spearmen and musketeers." Qian Tiandun confirmed the situation on the Spanish position two miles away through the telescope, and said to Gao Qiaonan: "This is not difficult for us, be careful.

That’s all the artillery fire in their formation.”

Gao Qiaonan saluted Qian Tiandun, then rode forward and issued combat instructions to the special operations battalion.

The Spanish phalanx was the basic combat unit of the Spanish army from the 16th to the 17th century. It included two arms: spearmen and musketeers. A phalanx generally included ten companies of spearmen and two companies of musketeers. Each company

There are about 250 people. There are also more than 20 people including the phalanx commander, military commander, quartermaster, military police chief, chaplains, supervisors, doctors, drummers and other personnel.

After entering the 17th century, with the development of military technology, the proportion of musketeers in the square formation became larger and larger. By the middle of the 17th century, the proportion of spearmen dropped to one quarter, while the proportion of musketeers reached

There was a three-quarters majority. The infantry phalanx outside Manila did not have such a high proportion of musketeers, mainly because the number of Hispanic soldiers was limited, and the authorities did not allow indigenous soldiers to be equipped with muskets, so the two arms

The ratio is about one to one. And the spearmen in the phalanx are almost all local indigenous soldiers who take orders from the Spaniards.

In addition to the infantry phalanx of up to 3,000 people, the Spanish position also had an artillery unit with 16 cannons and a cavalry team of 200 cavalry. In addition, the authorities also conscripted about 2,000 civilians.

Responsible for providing logistical equipment for the combat troops. In terms of the number of troops invested on the frontal battlefield, Spain still has a small advantage. But if it compares with the actual combat effectiveness, the Haihan Special Warfare Battalion commanded by Takahashi Minami is ahead.

Too many.

At about four o'clock in the afternoon on January 20, a red flare was fired into the sky from the Haihan Army formation, which was an order to attack the troops participating in the war. Takahashi Nan raised his hand and raised his whip and pointed at the Spanish position to the north, specifically

The troops of the war camp were organized into companies, with the artillery troops in the middle, and slowly pushed forward. Drums also began to sound in the Spanish formation, and the soldiers assembled in formation, preparing for a head-on confrontation with opponents from afar.
Chapter completed!