The seat of the Holy See is located on the Vatican Heights in the northwest corner of the city of Rome. It is this small Vatican Heights. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is a holy land in the minds of Christians around the world.
It is this small Vatican Highlands. Many buildings on it can be said to represent the highest achievements of the entire Western religious architecture world. St. Peter's Square, St. Peter's Church, etc. are all the most precious crystallizations in human history.
St. Petersburg Square was built in 1626 AD. Although the history of the building is not very long, after it was built, the holy bones of successive popes were quickly moved into it and it became the most sacred church in the world. This is exactly what was planned.
The battle under the city of Dayton has lasted for four days. During these four days, the Continental Army suffered heavy losses. Before the war, the Continental Army had a strength of 18,000 people in four brigades. However, after
After four days of fighting, the Continental Army's strength was less than 10,000.
If Washington hadn't immediately assembled the entire army after each day's combat missions and then promoted officers and awarded them medals to improve morale, I'm afraid this ragtag Continental Army would have collapsed long ago.
"Report to your Excellency, Marshal, that the tunnel has been dug under the city of Dayton. Please give the order immediately!"
Early on the morning of the fifth day, after a night of final fighting, the black slaves finally dug a tunnel under the city of Dayton.
The four thousand black slaves who were ordered by Washington to dig tunnels also suffered certain casualties in these days. Of course, the casualties of these black slave soldiers were not caused by fighting, but because the tunnels were full of dangers.
It was a lack of oxygen that caused nearly three hundred black slave soldiers to die in the tunnel.
This tunnel leading to Dayton is neither long nor short. However, the distance of more than 500 meters still makes the oxygen in the tunnel extremely scarce. What's more, there are thousands of people in the tunnel who are consuming it.
Oxygen, coupled with the fact that these underground operations were not discovered by the British, the soldiers who dug the tunnels did not dare to dig upwards for ventilation holes due to the orders of their officers.
Under such circumstances, it is nothing new that 300 of the black slave soldiers who were divided into two shifts day and night died due to lack of oxygen.
"Okay, great! The tunnel is finally dug!"
After receiving the report from his subordinates, Washington's face, which had been tense for several days, finally showed a look of excitement.
The casualties in the past few days have been too great. Even a commander like Washington, who had a huge reputation in the Continental Army, faced criticism from his subordinates. The pressure he endured was beyond imagination.
Except for the black slaves who dug tunnels, there were only 5,000 soldiers left in the Continental Army who were originally regarded as the main force. This kind of battle loss ratio makes people feel heart palpitations just thinking about it.
But after a while, Washington calmed down and ordered:
"Order the entire army to assemble and launch a general attack on Dayton today! Let Nicholas, Horatio and Putnam gather their armies. Tell them that three of their brigades will go to attack Dayton for me today.
! And the British army must understand that their attack is our army's general attack! At the same time, he ordered to mobilize all the gunpowder in the army and transport it to the tunnel, and let the black soldiers bury all the gunpowder in the tunnel under Dayton City.
Hit! At twelve noon today, after lighting the gunpowder and blowing down the city wall, I will personally lead the fourth brigade to attack Dayton!"
After Washington's order was issued, the messengers in the military tent left the military tent one after another and went to various units to convey Washington's military order.
Just as Washington was planning a general attack on Dayton, a 2,000-man British army also arrived near Columbus, the capital of Ohio. This 2,000-man reinforcement force was personally led by Governor Stewart of Pittsburgh.
In Stewart's vision, the 3,000 British troops concentrated in Dayton could hold out until he arrived with reinforcements. In this case, the strength of the British troops could reach more than 4,000, plus the additional troops along the way.
There is no problem if the number of militias and troops in each region reaches 5,000.
For Stewart, leading five thousand people to fight against an army of more than ten thousand people was not worried at all. Although the British army was at a disadvantage in terms of strength, the British army was better than the Continental Army in terms of logistics and weapons and ammunition.
Too many. In this case, although the number of troops is smaller, in terms of combat effectiveness, the British army is still higher.
Although the original history books praised the founding father of the United States, Washington and the Continental Army, in fact, Washington and the Continental Army he led were no better than beggars without the help of the French.
According to official historical records:
This Continental Army was poorly equipped, lacked ammunition, had difficulty in supplies, and was in rags. When it was first formed, there were only 9 rounds of ammunition per person, 3 soldiers only had 1 musket and 1 quilt, and the artillery powder was only used for 1 day. Ticondero
There were only 900 pairs of shoes for the 12,000 soldiers in Fort Garrison. Washington once wrote: "The soldiers were naked, without blankets at night, without shoes on their feet, and marched barefoot. You can find them from the blood stains left on their feet.
Whereabouts, they are almost often without food..."
Twelve thousand soldiers only have 900 pairs of shoes. What is the concept? Can an army even be called an army if it cannot guarantee that everyone has a pair of shoes?
In fact, during the North American Revolutionary War, the strength of the Continental Army did not exceed that of the British Army. In this case, the Continental Army was at a disadvantage and was extremely poorly equipped. It was able to defeat the British Army. If there were no external factors, you would
Do you think it is possible?
Some people may attribute it to the power of spirit and the colonial people's pursuit of independence that enabled them to defeat the British army.
Let me go, if you talk like this, are you lying?
All this is due to the hero behind the scenes - the French.
At present, when France has lost the strength to compete with the British and cannot fully support the Continental Congress like it did in the last war. How can Stewart be afraid of the Continental Army!
Stewart did not participate in the last North American War of Independence, but Stewart also had an in-depth understanding of the last war after serving as the Governor of Pittsburgh. After understanding what the Continental Army was like, Stewart naturally also
He no longer regards the Continental Army as an opponent of the same level as himself.
In Stewart's opinion, if it were not for the complete annihilation of this rebellion, then he would be able to uproot the Continental Congress with only 8,000 men!
The reason why such maximum mobilization was carried out in the Governor's District of Pittsburgh was actually Stewart's fear of the Prussians! In other words, it was not the Continental Congress that Stewart ordered the Governor of Pittsburgh to mobilize to defend against the Prussians.
!
"Mr. Governor, according to our information, those rebels from the Continental Army are attacking Dayton day and night!"
"Oh, so does Dayton have any help information?"
A messenger hurriedly came to Stewart and said, but after hearing Stewart's question, the messenger said:
"Your Majesty the Governor, this is not the case. Moreover, it is said that General Monroe seemed very relaxed, and even joked with his officers, betting that all the rebels in the Continental Army would be dead in a few days!"
Hearing the messenger's answer, Stewart burst into laughter.
Then, Stewart ordered to a staff officer beside him:
"Let the army speed up. We will rest in Columbus today, and let Columbus prepare supplies in advance. We will rush to Dayton early tomorrow morning. After all, we cannot give all the credit this time to that boy Monroe!"
Washington took out the pocket watch in his arms. The hour hand on the pocket watch was about to point to twelve o'clock.
"The time is almost up. Let the Fourth Brigade get ready. After Dayton's city wall is blown down, the Fourth Brigade will act as the vanguard of the entire army and must take down the city wall for me in the shortest possible time!"
In order to be able to blow down Dayton's city wall this time, Washington mobilized 300 kilograms of gunpowder and a large number of artillery shells and piled them in the tunnel.
Originally, according to Washington's plan, he was going to fill the tunnel with 600 kilograms of gunpowder. However, it is a pity that although the Continental Army began to search for gunpowder a few days ago, the Continental Army still has not been able to collect it these days.
Six hundred kilograms of gunpowder.
Under this situation, Washington could only sacrifice artillery shells to replace gunpowder.
The tunnel dug by the Continental Army happens to be under the southwest city wall of Dayton. According to the Continental Army's previous calculations, this wall is located just above a blank spot in Dayton's fire defense. Of course, this blank spot does not refer to the city wall.
There were no British troops defending the city.
Rather, it means that when the Continental Army launched an attack into Dayton from this location on the city wall, the fortress crossfire point set up by the British commander could not take care of this location.
Washington had put on a brand new military uniform, and his eyes were fixed on the planned target city wall.
boom!!!
An earth-shaking loud noise suddenly sounded under the city of Dayton. This loud noise not only shocked the Continental Army soldiers who were struggling to fight against the British artillery fire, but also the British soldiers in Dayton were stunned by the loud noise.
Suddenly he stopped what he was doing.
"What's going on? Go and have a look!"
Monroe was also shocked after the loud noise, but his excellent psychological quality allowed him to react immediately, and then quickly issued an order to the staff officer beside him.
After hearing Monroe's order, a staff officer reacted and Sayazi ran outside.
Just a few seconds after the city of Dayton seemed to have stopped due to the loud noise, the entire city of Dayton came to life again. Not only that, but countless private houses were seen near the city wall in the southwest corner of Dayton City.
Because of the huge shaking, they became shaky, and some even collapsed.
And Dayton's city wall started to sway like a drunken man.
"Run! The wall is about to collapse!"
A shrill scream sounded on the Dayton city wall, and then the British soldiers guarding the city wall woke up one after another, and then ran towards the bottom of the city wall in a panic.
But because the explosion occurred right under their feet, some British soldiers injured their ankles due to the shock caused by the explosion. For a while, these soldiers were unable to walk.
"Quick, help me!"
"Jack, come and give me a hand and take me away!"
The city wall immediately turned into a doomsday-like scene.
Finally, the city wall could not hold up for two minutes. Two minutes after the explosion, the city wall ended its life and collapsed to the ground.
Suddenly, countless British soldiers followed the city wall into the tomb.
From the moment the explosion sounded, Washington had been looking at the city wall with his telescope. When he saw that the city wall was about to collapse as he had imagined, Washington's face turned red.
"Quickly, order the Fourth Brigade to attack! Also tell Nicholas and the others that the time for the decisive battle has arrived. If anyone delays at this time, don't blame the ruthless military law after the war!"
Upon hearing Washington's order, a messenger in the center of the Continental Army immediately raised the red flag in his hand.
Seeing this scene, the 4th Brigade of the Continental Army, which had been prepared for a long time, formed a neat square formation and rushed towards Dayton amidst the orders of the officers.
"The general is in trouble, the city wall collapsed!"
The staff officer who was ordered by Monroe to check the situation hurriedly returned to the British headquarters in less than ten minutes.
No wonder he was able to get this news in such a short period of time. After all, the goal of the city wall is very large. Basically, the low buildings on both sides of the street cannot block the city wall.
Monroe's heart jumped suddenly. If there was a city wall blocking it, Monroe would not be afraid even if the Continental Army outside the city increased its attack. But now the city wall collapsed, which meant that the British army lost
protected by city walls.
In this way, even though the British army had an advantage in weapons, their advantage in strength in street fighting was undoubtedly strengthened to a certain extent.
In addition, in order to allow the two forts around Dayton to form combat effectiveness, Monroe stationed 700 people in each of the two forts. As a result, there were only 1,600 British troops guarding Dayton.
people.
"General, the best way for us right now is to retreat. As long as we can temporarily evacuate to the fortress, even if the rebels of the Continental Army get Dayton, it will be of no use!"
At this moment, a British army staff officer hurriedly said to Dayton. Hearing this sentence, Dayton was stunned, and then he only thought for two seconds and said:
"That's it, order all the troops to withdraw to the northern fortress!" (To be continued...)