"Artillery battalion, counterattack! Ask the artillery brigade to give us support!" Major General Cao Chengen, commander of the 32nd Division, ordered. The artillery battalion of the 32nd Division has four companies and three artillery companies equipped with 105mm light howitzers.
And an artillery company equipped with 155mm heavy howitzers. The Chinese Army attaches great importance to the construction of artillery. All artillery units are large-scale!
Two minutes later, the artillery battalion of the 32nd Division began a counterattack. Thirty-six 105mm light howitzers and 12 155mm heavy howitzers, guided by observation balloons in the sky, attacked the artillery positions of the British and French coalition forces.
A counterattack was launched. The dense artillery shells landed on the artillery positions of the British and French forces, knocking the British artillerymen upside down.
Immediately afterwards, the artillery brigade affiliated to the Seventh Group Army also began the attack. The artillery brigade affiliated to the group army has five artillery battalions, including three 105 mm light howitzer artillery battalions, one 155 mm heavy howitzer artillery battalion and
1 artillery battalion with 155mm heavy cannons. The entire brigade has 144 105mm howitzers, 48 155mm heavy howitzers and 48 155mm heavy cannons.
After the artillery brigade of the Seventh Group Army opened fire, the artillery positions of the 11th Army of the British and French Allied Forces were immediately plunged into a sea of fire. Ten artillery positions were hit one after another. Especially the blows from the 155mm heavy artillery made these
The artillery positions suffered heavy losses.
"Boom!" A small mushroom cloud rose, and the ammunition piled up on a British artillery position was hit. The explosion of hundreds of artillery shells destroyed most of the artillery position. Thick barrels one by one.
It was blown to pieces, and the British artillery on the position suffered heavy losses.
Lieutenant General Hamilton, who was watching the battle from behind, became even more pale when he saw this situation.
"Damn it, how can those yellow-skinned monkeys have more than 300 heavy artillery? Even if the 200,000 British and French allied forces were added up, I'm afraid they would only have so many heavy artillery!" Lieutenant General Hamilton once served in India. Regarding the situation in China,
He also has some understanding. In his impression, China is simply a very
Where it lags behind. Even though China has achieved tremendous development in recent years, Lieutenant General Hamilton, who has not had any contact with China, is more skeptical about China's strength. However, in this confrontation, he
He finally knew how powerful China was, and it was much more powerful than he imagined.
"General, the artillery commander Brigadier General Robert requested the transfer of artillery." Major Matthew, Lieutenant General Hamilton's adjutant, reported.
"Have our losses been great?" Lieutenant General Hamilton frowned. Originally, he wanted to use artillery to break open the Chinese army's defense line. Now it seems that it is difficult for the artillery to complete this task.
"Brigadier General Robert reported that the artillery has lost 40% of its artillery. If the battle continues, I am afraid that all his artillery will be lost in less than an hour!" Major Matthew said.
"Hell! Let the naked brigadier general move the artillery immediately! Order the 1st Division to launch an attack and try to break through the Chinese defense line!" Lieutenant General Hamilton cursed secretly. In the Boer War, Lieutenant General Hamilton achieved great success. But
, now facing the Chinese, it seems that it is not so easy for him to win.
After receiving Lieutenant General Hamilton's order, Major General Antonio, commander of the 1st Division of the 11th Army of the British and French Allied Forces, immediately issued an order to attack. In this attack, Major General Antonio directly invested two regiments with nearly 4,000 troops.
.This is also the largest force that can be deployed on the current position!
Nearly four thousand British soldiers jumped out of their positions and launched an attack on the positions of the 321st Regiment of the Chinese Army. They lined up in a skirmish line, squatting, and rushed in quickly. There were many artillery units behind them.
, pushing mountain artillery or field artillery and Maxim heavy machine guns one after another, intending to provide fire support for these attacking infantry!
"Quickly, enter the position and prepare to resist the British attack! The regimental artillery company, aim at the artillery and heavy machine guns behind the enemy, and shoot them out!" the commander of the 321st Regiment ordered. The regimental artillery company of the 321st Regiment
The brigade is equipped with six Type 82 infantry guns and six 120mm heavy mortars! The range has reached three thousand meters, which is completely enough to attack the artillery and heavy machine guns behind the British army!
"Boom! Boom! Boom!" The artillery company of the 321st Regiment and the artillery platoons of the battalions below opened fire one after another. The dense artillery shells fell into the ranks of the attacking British troops. The power of the shell explosion directly hit the attacking troops.
The British soldiers were thrown into the air.
"Quick! Set up the cannons and counterattack!" The attacking British army hurriedly set up mountain artillery and field artillery, and fired at the Chinese army's artillery. The battle between the two sides was very fierce!
The fierce artillery battle did not have much impact on the attacking British soldiers. Thousands of British soldiers, squatting, quickly launched an assault on the Chinese army's position. Soon, they rushed to the Chinese army's position.
Less than 800 meters away.
"Heavy machine guns and mortars opened fire to let these British guys know how powerful we are!"
"Click! Boom! Boom! Boom!" The heavy machine guns, light and medium mortars on the position opened fire one after another. The dense heavy machine gun firepower swept past, and the British soldiers who were in the process of assault were like cutting wheat.
All the same, they fell to the ground row by row. The 60 on the front line
mm light howitzers and 80 mm medium howitzers also began to fire shells at the British soldiers at the maximum rate of fire. One shell after another exploded in the British offensive formation, knocking those British soldiers off their backs.
Shrapnel harvested their lives wantonly.
When the British army broke into less than 500 meters from the Chinese army's position, all the light machine guns and rifles began to fire. The powerful firepower blocked the direction of the British army's advance. One by one, the British soldiers were shot and fell.
It is impossible to break into the two hundred meters of the Chinese army's position!
"Damn it, why are those yellow-skinned monkeys equipped with so many machine guns?" Seeing at least hundreds of machine guns firing at the Chinese army's position, such intensive firepower made Major General Antonio look livid. A large number of British troops
The soldier fell on the path of attack. The hero who narrowly escaped death
The British soldiers did not dare to rush forward any more. They lay on the ground and started shooting at the Chinese army. However, with the Lee-Enfield rifles in their hands, they were no match for the Chinese army. All the British soldiers
, were tightly suppressed, and almost every second, someone was shot and died.
"Set up the heavy machine gun quickly!" A Maxim heavy machine gun was set up and fired wildly at the Chinese army's position. The Chinese army also discovered this firepower point and fired back one after another. The dense bullets hit the shield of the heavy machine gun.
, making a ping-ping-pong-pong sound.
"Boom!" At this time, a mortar shell fell from the sky and landed on the heavy machine gun. The shell exploded and directly destroyed the heavy machine gun. Several heavy machine gunners were also killed.
There is no doubt that the first attack launched by the British army suffered heavy losses. In the face of the intensive firepower of the Chinese army, the two regiments of British troops that entered the attack in the first wave were of no use at all. Less than half
Within an hour, we lost more than half of our time and had to withdraw.
"General, the firepower of the Chinese is too strong. It will be difficult for us to break through. If we don't count the casualties, we may have to pay huge casualties!" Major General Antonio stood in front of Lieutenant General Hamilton with a livid face.
"Order the artillery to fire and destroy the Chinese firepower and defense lines!" With no other choice, Lieutenant General Hamilton had no choice but to pin his hopes on the artillery.
However, as soon as the British artillery opened fire, it immediately encountered a fierce counterattack from the Chinese artillery. This not only prevented the British artillery from completing its mission, but also increased its losses.
The strength of the Chinese artillery was too strong, which put Lieutenant General Hamilton in a very difficult position. He had no choice but to ask for support from the coalition commander, Frederick Roberts.
That afternoon, the artillery of the 12th Army and the 13th Army was reinforced to Lieutenant General Hamilton. At this moment, Lieutenant General Hamilton already had more than 500 artillery pieces, including as many as three artillery pieces with a caliber of 105 mm or more.
More than a hundred doors.
Next, a large-scale artillery battle broke out between the two sides. Although the British army had a numerical advantage, the advantage was not obvious. The Chinese artillery had more 155mm heavy artillery, and the two sides were evenly matched. However, this made the front line
The position was severely hit by British artillery fire. Many trenches were blown down, the barbed wire fences were destroyed by the fierce artillery fire, and some exposed permanent firepower points were also destroyed!
In the afternoon attack, the British army once again launched a fierce attack. However, in the face of the powerful firepower of the Chinese army, the British army still suffered heavy losses, leaving a large number of corpses in front of the Chinese army's positions.
For the next three days, the 11th Army led by Lieutenant General Hamilton launched a fierce attack on the defense line of the 32nd Division of the Chinese Army. The three infantry regiments under the 32nd Division took turns to fight and resisted
resisted the British attack and gave the British
The army caused great casualties. According to statistics, in these three days of fighting, the British 11th Army lost at least more than 20,000 people. The losses of the 32nd Division of the Chinese Army were not large, with three infantry regiments
In total, the number of people seriously injured and killed did not exceed 600!
The British 11th Army's attack was unfavorable and suffered heavy losses. Marshal Frederick Roberts was very dissatisfied. On January 6, 1903, he withdrew the 11th Army and let the 12th Army composed of the French Army take over.
The 11th Army launched an attack. However,
Although the performance of these French people was good, they still had no choice in the face of the Chinese army's solid defense line and intensive firepower. Apart from leaving corpses on the ground, they did not achieve decent results! (To be continued. Please search Gone with the Wind