On April 10, 1892, Wang Yuze arrived at Mara, where artillery fire was pouring. At this time, the main force of the Eighth Brigade of the Western Sichuan Army had been fighting hard with more than 30,000 British and Indian troops here for more than a week. However, despite the attack of the British and Indian troops,
It was very violent, but Mara was still under the control of the 8th Brigade of the Western Sichuan Army. However, the losses of the 8th Brigade were relatively large. In addition to the 4th Battalion of the 8th Brigade, which had previously lost more than half, the 8th Brigade had already lost more than half of its troops.
Thousands of people. However, the British and Indian troops suffered even greater losses. They suffered at least five thousand casualties.
Mara is just a small village on the edge of the Carmen River. When the Kama River, which originates from the Himalayas, flows through here, its direction changes slightly, creating a small piece of flat land in the canyon with mountains on both sides.
The Fanba people who live on the plateau have been living here for generations. However, with the invasion of the British and Indian troops, this place has become a battlefield. The Fanba people living here have long since withdrawn, leaving behind
The only people in this small village were soldiers from the Western Sichuan Army.
"Young Marshal! The Eighth Brigade Commander (Chief of Staff) Su Hongguang (Liao Jinpeng) is reporting to you!" In a simple command post outside Mara Village, Wang Yuze met the Eighth Brigade Commander Su Hongguang and
Chief of Staff Liao Jinpeng.
"Thank you for your hard work!" Wang Yuze patted the shoulders of the two of them. The continuous high-intensity battle made both of them look tired and dissatisfied.
"You are humble and incompetent. You have lost your territory. You should be punished by the young commander!" Su Hongguang said with red eyes. Since the founding of Western Sichuan, every inch of land has been fought for and no territory has been lost. Unexpectedly, this precedent started with their eighth brigade.
.This is a great shame for the entire Eighth Brigade. As the brigade commander, Su Hongguang has an even greater responsibility. After he arrived with reinforcements, he tried to launch a counterattack several times, but the enemy was powerful and always
Didn't succeed.
"Commander Su, there is no need to blame yourself. Victory or defeat is a matter of military strategism. Besides, the 8th Brigade has performed very well. It is not easy for you to withstand the enemy's attack. On behalf of the entire Western Sichuan, I thank you.
! Now, the reinforcements are coming soon. As long as we persist a little longer, we can launch a counterattack!" Wang Yuze comforted.
Su Hongguang and Liao Jinpeng both nodded heavily. The main force of the Eighth Brigade was more than 7,000 people. During this period, it had been attacked by more than 30,000 British and Indian troops in turns. The pressure was very high. If Mara hadn't been in the canyon
If it is easy to defend but difficult to attack, their position may be broken through. Now that Wang Yuze has led the reinforcements, they can finally breathe a sigh of relief.
All the troops of the Eighth Brigade have now returned to their formation. Except for those who were killed and seriously injured, the remaining more than 7,000 people are still fighting. The other Ninth Brigade and Seventh Brigade are also in the process of arriving.
The Ninth Brigade will be able to arrive in two days, and the Seventh Brigade, which is a little further away, will arrive in five days. In other words, if the Western Sichuan Army wants to launch a counterattack, it will have to wait at least five days. Moreover, there will be another
Hold on for two days and wait for the arrival of reinforcements. During this period, you cannot relax. If the British and Indian troops seize a loophole and break through the defense line, it will be terrible.
Wang Yuze, who had just arrived in Mara, did not bother to rest. Taking advantage of the fact that the British and Indian troops did not launch an attack, he went directly to the front line to check the defenses. The eighth brigade's defense line was less than 500 meters long, extending from the village entrance of Mara to the Carmen River.
There are mountains on one side and rapid rivers on the other. If the British and Indian troops want to continue to penetrate into the plateau, they can only break through from the front. Or they can retreat and attack from other directions.
On a defense line of less than 500 meters, the Eighth Brigade mobilized half of the heavy machine guns and mortars in the brigade, forming a powerful firepower that caused the British and Indian troops to suffer a bloody blow. Behind the two lines of defense,
It is an artillery position consisting of a total of 34 Type 82 infantry guns from the artillery battalion of the 8th Brigade and other battalions. The British and Indian troops have more artillery, and they are howitzers with a longer range. However, their artillery cannot attack in the canyon.
If it is deployed, if it shoots too far, it will be blocked by the mountains. In this regard, Western Sichuan has a great advantage. They do not expect their own artillery to start an artillery battle with the British and Indian artillery. They only need to
When the opponent's infantry launches an attack, just destroy the opponent's effective forces as much as possible.
"Boom!" When Wang Yuze was checking the position, an explosion sounded. Wang Wei immediately pushed Wang Yuze to the ground.
"Young Marshal, leave the position quickly, the British and Indian troops have begun to attack!" Su Hongguang, the commander of the 8th Brigade, shouted hurriedly. Several guards even picked up Wang Yuze and ran back. He was soon safe.
Sent to the second line of defense.
At this moment, looking back, the first line of defense of the Eighth Brigade was already engulfed in smoke. The British and Indian troops mobilized at least hundreds of cannons and launched a crazy bombardment on the first line of defense of the Western Sichuan Army. However,
At this time, the road conditions in the foothills of the Himalayas were very poor, so the caliber of the British and Indian artillery was not large, the largest was only 105 mm, and most of them were 75 mm field guns.
"Can the soldiers hold on under such a fierce bombardment by the British and Indian troops?" Wang Yuze asked with a serious face. Seeing his soldiers being ravaged by other people's artillery fire, he felt as if his heart had been stung hard.
"At the beginning, the losses were relatively large. But now, we have built a solid defensive offensive. Except for a small number of observers, the rest of the soldiers have hid in the anti-gun holes, using heavy machine guns and mortars.
The positions have also been reinforced, so as long as they are not directly hit by artillery shells, there won't be much of a problem!" said Su Hongguang, commander of the 8th Brigade.
Wang Yuze nodded. However, the scene in front of him still made him clenched his fists. When fighting in the country, the Western Sichuan Army always relied on the advantage of artillery to ravage its opponents, but now when fighting against the armies of the great powers, it is still
The fight with the colonial army turned out to be the other way around. There was no way around it. The road conditions on the plateau were bad and it was very difficult to tow large-caliber artillery. Therefore, the troops on the plateau all used the lighter Type 82 infantry cannon. In this way
If so, it will inevitably be at a disadvantage when facing the British and Indian troops.
The artillery fire of the British and Indian troops raged for more than half an hour before it ended. After the artillery fire stopped, thousands of Indian Asans with their heads wrapped in white cloths holding rifles, hunched over and cautiously under the scolding of the British officers
They launched an attack on the Western Sichuan Army's position from a distance of two kilometers. However, these Indian Asans were not soldiers at all. If it were not for the British driving behind them, they would have escaped long ago. Even though
That's right, their attack speed is also very slow. It seems that the attack in the past few days has suffered a lot, and they have already become afraid of the Western Sichuan Army.
After half an hour, the British and Indian troops cautiously advanced to a place less than 700 meters away from the Western Sichuan Army's defense line. However, after arriving here, the Indian Asans seemed to be aware of the danger.
No matter how the police drove them away, they would not take another step forward. Although these Indian Asans were timid, they were not stupid. They knew that if they moved forward, they would be hit by the powerful firepower of the Western Sichuan Army.
"Boom!" There was an explosion, and the artillery of the Western Sichuan Army opened fire. An artillery shell exploded among the British and Indian troops. Several Indian Asan were blown away directly, and the white cloth strips wrapped on their heads were scattered.
As soon as the artillery fire of the Western Sichuan Army rang out, the Indian Asan immediately turned around and ran back. No matter how hard the British officers tried to stop them, it had no effect at all.
"Is this the combat effectiveness of the British and Indian troops? It seems not much better than the Manchu and Qing troops in China, right?" The performance of India's Asan left Wang Yuze dumbfounded.
"The Indians are good at fighting against the wind. At the beginning, they were quite brave. But after throwing thousands of corpses in front of our positions in the past few days, they were frightened. However, the British were
Very powerful. I always thought that the British were only powerful with their navy, but I didn’t expect to find out after the battle that their army is not bad either, but it is usually covered up under the light of the navy!" said Liao Jinpeng, chief of staff of the 8th Brigade.
.
Wang Yuze nodded. Judging from the known history, the British Army performed admirably in both World War I and World War II. The German Army was so powerful, although it was able to defeat the British Army in the early stage.
, but could not achieve the final victory. In the end, it failed due to the depletion of national power. It can be seen that the British Army still has a strong combat effectiveness, at least much stronger than the legendary Italian Army.
In the Sino-British border conflict that broke out this time, Wang Yuze did not want to expand the scale of the war. However, if he wanted to curb the ambitions of the British and force them back to the negotiating table, he could only defeat them completely on the battlefield and defeat them.
It hurts. Only in this way will the British surrender. If they cannot gain an advantage on the battlefield, it is simply impossible to get the British to give up their ambitions in the Shannan region.
Opposite the Western Sichuan Army, on the British-Indian Army position, a bearded British general saw the poor performance of the British-Indian Army and was so angry that he threw away the telescope in his hand.
"Damn, these Indian natives, these cowards, I'm going to shoot them for desertion!" His name is Henry Wellesley, grandson of the famous Duke of Wellington, and also a British Army Lieutenant General, the third
The Duke of Wellington was the commander of the British Indian Army. This time, he planned the march into Shannan together with the Vice-King of India, the Governor-General of India, Henry Petty Fitzmaurice, and the fifth Marquess of Lansdowne. Originally,
, they thought they could catch the Western Sichuan Army by surprise, but now it seems that things are far more troublesome than he imagined. His army was stopped after crossing the border less than five kilometers.
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