The words of this Prussian cavalry caused an uproar among the defenders on the top of the Venetian city. In the eyes of the Venetians, the Prussians were simply speaking arrogantly.
Although the current Republic of Venice has fallen a lot compared to the glorious period in history, it has to be said that the current Republic of Venice can be regarded as a regional power, and after hundreds of years of construction, Venice's city defense facilities can also be said to be excellent.
It's perfect, not to mention the unique terrain.
In this case, although there were 30,000 Prussian troops outside Venice, in the eyes of the Venetians, it was simply a fantasy for 30,000 people to break through Venice, which is regarded as the first-class fortified city in Europe!
Not only the defenders of Venice thought so, but also the upper-class leaders of Venice thought so, and Venice's city defense and landforms were also a major asset for them to dare to face the Prussians.
After a while, while the Prussian cavalry was still chattering, under the order of a Venetian officer, a group of Venetian soldiers guarding the stone bridge immediately opened fire on the Prussian cavalry.
The distance between the cavalryman and this group of Venetian soldiers was only more than a hundred meters, which was just within the range of a rifle.
But what is surprising is that this Prussian cavalry remained unscathed under a round of fire from nearly thirty rifles. This not only made the Prussian cavalry feel that he had escaped from life and death, but also suddenly changed the Venetian soldiers.
They looked at each other in confusion.
But just when the Venetians became angry and prepared to let more troops shoot, the Prussian cavalry suddenly realized it and immediately turned his horse's head and started running towards the Prussian army's main line.
Seeing this scene, William and the others who were standing in front of the formation suddenly became dumbfounded and laughed.
"Prince Henry, this cavalryman is a talented person. When he comes back, he will be promoted to two ranks immediately!"
William smiled and said to Prince Henry beside him. Upon hearing William's words, Prince Henry immediately responded.
You must know that being able to survive unscathed under the aiming and shooting of more than 20 rifles can no longer be simply described as a lucky pair. This can simply be called a miracle of God!
And just after the Prussian cavalry galloped away, another burst of gunfire rang out from the Venetian army. These Venetian soldiers looked ferocious and wanted to shoot the Prussian cavalry off their horses.
However, the Venetian shooting did not achieve the expected effect. The bullets avoided the Prussian cavalry as if they had eyes. Seeing the Prussian cavalry escape out of the range of the rifle, the Venetian officers all gritted their teeth.
"Talent, this is definitely a talent! It seems that even God is on our side!"
William turned around and said to the imperial princes and Prussian senior officials surrounding him.
After William finished speaking, everyone around him immediately praised the Prussian cavalry in unison. Even later, everyone unanimously changed their words to praise William and the Prussian army.
Flattery sounds such as "This time the Prussian army will definitely win!" "This is God's will, Venice will be captured!" and so on were constantly heard.
After the cavalryman escaped unharmed and returned to his own formation, William received the cavalryman in front of the entire army. Then he solemnly hung an Iron Cross on the cavalryman's chest.
It’s no wonder that William was so solemn. You must know that any change on the battlefield will affect the soldiers of the army, and the Prussian cavalry’s narrow escape was obviously made more magical due to political needs.
And it is undeniable that the survival of this Prussian cavalry also weakened the soldiers of the Venetian army to a great extent. After all, under the gaze of tens of thousands of eyes present, this Prussian cavalry actually escaped from the Venetian gun.
To escape death is really a huge irony and humiliation.
Later that afternoon, under William's order, the artillery of the entire Prussian army was gathered on the front line. And the Venetian civilians who had been gathered before were also driven by the Prussian army to the front of the Prussian artillery.
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The reason why these Venetian civilians were gathered in front of the artillery array was, on the one hand, to frustrate the Venetian artillery, and on the other hand, it was also to confuse the Venetians.
After all, it is not that easy to find the location of the Prussian artillery hidden in the chaotic crowd.
Although the Venetian artillery had the help of sentries on the city walls, this move by the Prussians would undoubtedly reduce the hit rate of the Venetian artillery.
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Before Washington led his army to Dayton, 3,000 British troops had already assembled in Dayton. In addition to these 3,000 British troops, the British also recruited some mobilization troops and armed guards from some farms.
Under the circumstances, Dayton's garrison reached 4,000 men.
Looking at the Union Jack flag flying above the city of Dayton, Washington's brows showed a trace of distress.
Even though Washington had thought that he would encounter a fierce battle after entering Ohio, he did not expect that this fierce battle would come so early.
As mentioned before, Dayton is the only way to go from Richmond to Columbus, the capital of Ohio. If you want to bypass Dayton, it will undoubtedly take an extra week.
For the Continental Army led by Washington, time cannot be afforded, because the various materials consumed by the army every day are a huge pressure on the Continental Army's logistics. In addition to time, the Continental Army will also encounter
As for the road problem, there is only one decent road between Ohio and Indiana, and this road is right under Dayton.
The British army not only stayed in the city of Dayton, but also built two small forts on both sides of Dayton in just a few days. Together with Dayton, the British army built two small forts between Indiana and Ohio.
The only broad road in the area was blocked.
Faced with this situation, even Washington feels a little distressed.
Finally, after discussing with a group of military officers, Washington came up with an idea.
The two forts and the city of Dayton happened to be arranged in a triangular formation. Under this situation, no matter whether the Continental Army wanted to capture Dayton, it would inevitably pay heavy casualties, and the Continental Army was extremely short of large-caliber artillery.
, although the French had provided some support at the beginning, but even with the Continental Army's loot from all over Indiana, there were only less than twenty large-caliber artillery that could pose a threat to the city wall.
Contrary to the Continental Army, in Dayton, there were many artillery installations on the two forts hastily built by the British, including many large-caliber cannons. These artillery were enough to form cross firepower and create greater firepower for the Continental Army.
of casualties.
Therefore, Washington decided not to use a brutal attack for the time being, because once the Continental Army attacked by force, it would inevitably comply with the British wishes and suffer heavy casualties.
The countermeasure adopted by Washington is to dig tunnels, yes, dig tunnels!
As mentioned before, nearly 40% of the Continental Army was composed of black slaves. Although under the Continental Congress's Emancipation Act, the joining of many black slaves directly doubled the strength of the Continental Army, these
The black slaves who had just joined the Continental Army were more like farmers with a lot of strength than soldiers.
After all, due to the needs of marching and time constraints, these black slaves only received simple military training after joining the Continental Army, and many of them did not even master the marching drum beat.
Under such circumstances, it is very appropriate to describe it as "death" for these black slaves to fight against the well-equipped British.
Although Washington had previously had the idea of consuming these black slave soldiers, in Washington's view, the death of these black slaves would at least pay some price for the Continental Army, right?
Therefore, instead of letting these black slaves die under the firepower of the British, it is better to let them use their strengths to dig a tunnel for the Continental Army.
The soil in Dayton is not very hard, which provides a very good prerequisite for the success of digging tunnels. Moreover, there are many black slave soldiers in the Continental Army, which also provides enough manpower for digging tunnels.
Under Washington's order, four thousand black slaves were gathered together and began digging a tunnel about 400 meters away from Dayton.
In addition to these 4,000 black slaves, Washington also gathered 6,000 troops, 3,000 of which were also poorly armed slave soldiers.
The task of these 6,000 men was to carry out appropriate attacks on Dayton and the two British fortresses in the north and south directions, so that Washington and other senior Continental Army officials could understand the deployment of British troops and the strength of their firepower.
In addition to these 10,000 people, the remaining 8,000 people regarded by Washington as the main force are on temporary standby.
early may
At Washington's order, six thousand troops began to attack Dayton to cover the tunnel excavation construction in the rear.
"General, the rebels of the Continental Congress have launched an attack!"
After noticing the Continental Army's offensive formation, a British officer immediately ran to the British headquarters in Dayton and said to British Commander Monroe.
After hearing what the British officer said, Monroe immediately walked out of the room and walked up to a tower in Dayton surrounded by a group of staff officers.
Monroe held up his binoculars and looked at the Continental Army in the distance. He saw that the Continental Army's offensive formation was very chaotic, and the scene of black and white soldiers intermingling was even more chaotic.
"Those rebellious gangs deserve to be killed! They actually combined inferior blacks and whites together. Slaves are slaves and will always be slaves! Damn bastards!"
Monroe's face was very ugly. Although the people in the Continental Congress were rebellious, they were still white. But now, the Continental Army actually absorbed black people and allowed these black people to participate in the battle on a large scale.
, this is simply insulting to those who have always held white supremacist views.
Of course, in his opinion, although the guys in the Continental Congress were also white, and many of them were of British descent, since they chose to go against Britain, the term "mongrel" also applies.
"Order the artillery to fire and let those bastards understand that the honor of the Kingdom of Great Britain cannot be tarnished by anyone!"
In Monroe's slightly arrogant tone, the British artillery in Dayton immediately opened fire on the attacking Continental Army.
After the British artillery fire opened, although many officers in the attacking Continental Army tried their best to maintain the order of the army, for this wave of soldiers who could be described as a mob, in the face of the threat of death, the officers'
The order was completely ignored by them.
Even the army's offensive formation suddenly showed huge loopholes. Some soldiers continued to attack forward, but more soldiers chose to stop moving forward to avoid the British artillery shells. Many people even simply
He just started to run backwards for his life without any order.
This scene not only caused various expressions of ridicule and disdain on the faces of the British defenders at Dayton, but also caused a look of discord on the face of Washington, who was standing at the rear.
Even though Washington did not expect these untrained soldiers to be able to exert much combat effectiveness, the current performance of these soldiers was undoubtedly a discredit to the Continental Army.
"Come forward, the supervising team! Any soldiers who retreat without permission before the retreat order is issued will be shot!"
Washington had to dispatch a war team to maintain order. Otherwise, I'm afraid this attack would really become a joke.
After Washington's order was issued, a group of Continental Army veterans immediately stepped forward. The weapons in their hands were pointed forward steadily, without wavering at all because the weapons were pointed at their comrades.
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After a day of fighting, Washington couldn't help but feel a headache when looking at the army's battle damage report.
Of the 6,000 Continental Army troops that launched an attack on Dayton during the day, less than 2,000 people were left after the war. The remaining soldiers either died under British artillery fire or were killed by the guns of the Continental Army Supervisory Team.
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In fact, such heavy casualties were partly due to the sharpness of the British artillery fire, and partly because Washington intended to teach the Continental Army soldiers a harsh lesson.
Even though such heavy casualties may frighten many soldiers in the Continental Army, at the same time, the performance of the supervising team at least made those soldiers who have not received much combat training understand that war is not a child's play! The consequences for disobeying orders will be death.
In the hands of the enemy, he will die in the hands of his own people!
But the only thing that makes Washington feel lucky is that the tunnel excavation progress today is quite impressive. After investing 4,000 black slaves, the tunnel was dug for more than 100 meters in just one day. Depending on the situation, it will only take three more days to dig.
You can reach the city of Dayton.
In Washington's vision, after the tunnel was dug under the city of Dayton, it was immediately filled with a large amount of explosives, and then the city wall of Dayton was blown open at one go.
It is obviously unrealistic to dig into the city of Dayton, because when many cities were originally built, they considered that the enemy might use tunnel digging, so the foundations of the city walls were very deep and strong. In this case, it was not possible to dig into the city.
It is very difficult to dig through the city wall, and there is a high possibility of being discovered by the defending army.
Regarding the actions of the Continental Army in the rear, because there were many Continental Army soldiers covering in front of the formation, the British army did not notice it. However, the British army could clearly observe that the Continental Army was cutting down trees on a large scale. In this regard, Monroe believed that
, the Continental Army is preparing to build some siege equipment.
In the evening of that day, Washington held a special ceremony for the awarding and promotion of military ranks at the Continental Army station. The reason why it was special was that there were quite a few black people present at this promotion ceremony.
You must know that although the Continental Congress had previously enacted a plan to emancipate black slaves, black slaves who joined the army only gained freedom, which did not mean that they were freed from discrimination by other white people.
Under this circumstance, whether it was to boost the morale of the slave soldiers or to comfort the slave soldiers who had endured great pressure during the day, Washington held a grand medal ceremony in the camp.
Two hundred black slave soldiers and more than sixty white soldiers who survived the battle were selected by Washington. Each of these soldiers received a Medal of Independence from the Continental Congress.
In addition to medals, Washington also promoted the ranks of these soldiers in large numbers, and one of the black soldiers who performed well in the battle was awarded the rank of major. This was also the highest-ranked person at the medal ceremony that night.
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In addition to medals and military ranks, Washington also prepared a batch of gold, silver and jewelry as rewards for these soldiers.
After capturing Indiana, although the Continental Army lacked military uniforms, weapons and ammunition, a considerable amount of gold and silver jewelry was seized. Naturally, these gold and silver jewelry were hoarded by Washington to encourage the soldiers.
Work hard.
"Soldiers, the battle during the day proved your bravery! You are the pride of the Continental Army. Some of you are black and some are white. But no matter what color you are, today you are united under the flag of the Continental Army.
Fight hard!
Your actions of fighting for freedom and equality for the colonial people deserve respect from all! Your heroic deeds will always be passed down with the flag of the Continental Army!
I hope that in the future, all soldiers under the flag of the Continental Army will be able to unite without a doubt to drive away the British who have invaded our homeland! It has nothing to do with skin color or appearance. Our actions today are for our children and grandchildren.
Let’s fight for a place for future generations to survive!”
Washington's words helped the morale of the Continental Army to rise again after the battle. Even when the black soldiers saw that a black man was lucky enough to become a major officer, their eyes turned red with envy.
In this glorious moment, everyone ignores those who died in the war.
Yes, one general achieves great success and all bones wither away, just as people only see a small part of the winners and ignore the majority of miserable losers. (To be continued...)