More and more soldiers climbed onto the beach. Some took off their shoes and poured the gravel into their boots. Others went back to help the sailors push the boat back into the sea.
Soon nearly 200 people came ashore, and then the troop landing speed began to slow down.
Many small boats were stuck near the beach, and their return speed was extremely slow. Most of the troops who landed later did not even carry weapons and equipment.
A 105 mm caliber howitzer has been sent to the shore, but the shells and the truck towing the cannon are still missing.
The first car to land was unloaded too early. The whole car was soaked in water, and its engine was scrapped and completely damaged.
On the contrary, the signal corps and their war horses are much more active. In addition to being able to go ashore by themselves, the war horses can even help pull small items ashore.
"Who told you to be in such a hurry to get the car ashore? The soldiers have not even landed. Why are you so anxious about the equipment? Ah? Why are you so anxious?" After resting for more than ten minutes, the 1st Battalion Commander finally remembered his work and pointed to the scrapped car.
That car, shouted to the sergeant unloading it.
"I don't know what's going on, sir!" The sergeant felt a little aggrieved. He was not in charge of loading and unloading cargo, so who knew what was going on.
Perhaps this matter itself was operated by the sailors and had nothing to do with the army officers and soldiers. Who made the landing process so chaotic? No one understood the situation.
"Where are the scouts? Have they dispersed? Are there any villages nearby or are there any local residents? I don't know anything. How can I command this situation?" The 1st Battalion Commander sighed and turned to ask the officer beside him.
The officer also looked embarrassed: "Battal Commander, the reconnaissance platoon directly under the battalion headquarters has not yet landed. Those horses are the messengers from the 1st company headquarters..."
"Where are the machine gun groups? How many machine gun groups are ashore now?" The 1st Battalion Commander encountered such a chaotic situation for the first time, and he was a little confused.
At all times in the past, his organizational structure was complete and his troops were mobilized as easily as his fingers. It was impossible for such a situation to occur.
The officers below are actually confused one by one - the 2nd company commander has not even found his company headquarters yet.
"We have seven machine gun groups ashore..." the officer answered truthfully.
"So many?" The commander of the 1st Battalion was delighted when he heard this. If he had 7 machine guns, he could almost build a defensive circle around the landing site. This would at least ensure that the follow-up troops could land ashore without incident, which was good news.
"Sir, their machine guns haven't landed on the shore yet, or they haven't been loaded on the ship at all..." The officer spread his hands in embarrassment and poured a bucket of cold water on his commander: "There is only one machine gun on the shore now...
…”
"They all got on the boat empty-handed? And then they went ashore like that? How could they fight without weapons? Huh?" the 1st Battalion Commander collapsed.
"I asked, and the order given by the 2nd Battalion said that people should go ashore first, and the equipment would be transported later... So they came ashore the fastest, but they didn't bring weapons. Oh, it's not that they didn't bring weapons at all.
, there are seven or eight people carrying S3 pistols." The officer quickly explained.
"What's the use of that?" The 1st Battalion Commander's face turned pale. He once again caught a glimpse of the mighty 105mm caliber howitzer that didn't even have shells, and his whole body became worse and worse.
Now, the troops landed by the Datang Group are really messy and varied - some are from the 1st Battalion, some are from the 2nd Battalion, and some are from the 3rd Battalion.
At the same time, the arms also include combat infantry, engineers, communications, transport and cooking troops. There are more officers and fewer soldiers, more people and fewer weapons...
The troops were not subordinate to each other, the officers could not find their soldiers, and the soldiers could not find their commanders. The chaotic scene was very touching.
This is just a small-scale landing of less than 2,000 people, and it has already become such a mess. If it were a large-scale landing of tens of thousands of people, it is estimated that the trouble caused by yourself would be enough to cause heavy losses to you.
"You take that machine gun team with guns! Have you seen that commanding height? Go there and build a defensive position!" Because there is no map, the 1st Battalion Commander can only rely on his eyes to roughly deploy his troops.
"Ask the people from the 1st Company and 2nd Platoon to go ashore and set up cover barriers on both sides of your defensive position! Do you understand?" He pointed in that direction and confirmed that his men understood his arrangements.
"But...sir...there are no enemy troops here at all..." the officer reminded with some anxiety.
"Execute the order! Everything must be carried out according to the prescribed procedures!" The 1st Battalion Commander stared at the opponent's eyes with great annoyance: "Get out!"
"Yes!" The officer quickly stood at attention and saluted, and then went to find the only machine gun team that landed with weapons.
As far as the eye could see, two more small boats docked, and dozens of soldiers jumped out of the boats. To the 1st Battalion Commander's relief, he saw that these soldiers were all armed.
In the distance on the sea, a Wolf-class cruiser was walking outside the fleet with black smoke. Many small boats that had earlier rushed to the beach were still struggling to return home.
"Battal Commander, you'd better come over and take a look at this..." A squad leader, carrying a Thompson submachine gun on his back, jogged and staggered to the front of the 1st Battalion Commander.
He gasped and pointed in the distance: "There is a path over there, and on the other side... it seems to be abandoned farmland."
The presence of farmland and paths means that people have lived here before. This discovery made the 1st Battalion Commander wary. He frowned and raised his hand, motioning to the squad leader who came to deliver the news to come with him and take a look.
The two men pushed aside the bushes, climbed onto the roadbed that had almost no discernible shape, crossed a dilapidated path, and saw an abandoned field full of weeds in front of them.
At the end of the field, you can still vaguely see collapsed walls and thatched houses that have become ruins. It is obvious that there are traces of human activity here, but it was later abandoned for unknown reasons.
Putting down the telescope in his hand, the 1st Battalion Commander looked at the squad leader who came to report the news: "Have you found any locals?"
The squad leader shook his head.
The 1st Battalion Commander rubbed the tip of his nose and thought for a while: "Let's go! Go back! We will wait until all the troops are ashore."
None of them are professional scouts, and they can't see any specific clues. It would be more effective to go back and wait for the follow-up troops to come up and let professionals take a look.
This time their trip was not in vain, because they confirmed at least one thing - there were traces of human activity near the landing site. If the other party discovered them, they would probably attract nearby enemy soldiers.
The time left for them... is running out.
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I'll just make up one update and continue tomorrow.
