1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 356 tug of war

If the combat effectiveness of a team is simply measured by the level of amphibious landing warfare, then the Haihan Militia, which has been trained completely in accordance with the mature tactics of later generations, can be regarded as the best in the world in this era.The North Vietnamese New Army, whose officers all studied under Haihan, naturally also learned and inherited this glorious tradition, and their combat capabilities in this field are much stronger than their opponents.When the second batch of artillery was unloaded on the beach and pushed into the gun position by the soldiers, it had already indicated that the balance of victory in this battle had begun to tilt towards the North Vietnamese side.

Although the North Vietnamese court had to bear a heavy debt burden in order to arm the new army, the performance of the new army on the battlefield proved that the previous efforts were worthwhile.After all, you get what you pay for, equipped with a large number of Haihan weapons, and the new army who has received Haihan-style military training is obviously superior to its opponents in terms of combat effectiveness, and with a beachhead built by less than a thousand people, it has held up. The South Vietnamese army attacked with a scale of nearly [-] people.

Although some troops in the South Vietnamese Army were equipped with muskets and artillery, and also received training from Western-style troops, their weapons and equipment were indeed inferior to those in the north. After all, their backing Portuguese was in the field of military technology. There is still a big gap with the Haihan Group that opened Goldfinger. .Regardless of the amount of weapons held or the performance of the weapons themselves, the North Vietnamese army showed an overwhelming advantage, so that the officers of the South Vietnamese Army had to urge the infantry armed with cold weapons to launch a desperate charge to the beachhead, trying to use their strength to attack the beachhead. Advantages to make up for disadvantages in weapons.

However, this attempt was obviously not effective. In the face of the new artillery shells bought by the North Vietnamese Army at a large price, the infantry charge did not receive actual results other than using their lives to refresh the opponent's record in vain.Compared with the soldiers of the South Vietnamese Army who fell in pieces during the charge, the proportion of the North Vietnamese Army who were hit by sporadic shells and lead was much smaller, and the casualties were less than one-tenth of the opponent's.

After an hour of high-intensity attack, the South Vietnamese commander finally issued an order to suspend the attack. At this time, there were about 800 South Vietnamese troops killed by North Vietnamese guns in front of the formation. Few wounded soldiers who were unable to return to the camp due to serious injuries lay in the wilderness and groaned and screamed one after another, making both sides feel the cruelty of the war.

In contrast, the wounded soldiers on the North Vietnamese side were much luckier. At least they fell on their own positions and could receive timely treatment.Most of the wounded soldiers who lost their ability to move were carried onto the boats returning to the north bank of the Zhengjiang River. This was not entirely due to the officer's compassion or worry that the groans of the wounded soldiers would affect the combat effectiveness of the troops. A large part of the reason was because of the size of the beachhead. It is limited and cannot accommodate too large a place for the treatment of wounded soldiers.If the wounded were not transported away, there would not even be enough room for the newly landed troops to complete their rendezvous.

The North Vietnamese army prepared nearly a hundred ships for this landing across the river, and one ship could transport 6 soldiers back and forth to the south bank. Although the efficiency is still not very high, fortunately, the estuary where the Zhengjiang River enters the sea is not wide. When the soldiers got on and off the boat, it took less than half an hour for the boat to go back and forth on the river.When the South Vietnamese Army suspended its offensive, nearly [-] North Vietnamese troops had landed on the south bank by ship, including [-] new troops using Haihan matchlock guns, and [-] [-]-pound guns responsible for fire support. gun.

However, Zheng Ting, who commanded the landing operation on the front line, was not relieved because he repelled the offensive of the South Vietnamese Army. The resilience shown by the South Vietnamese Army in the battle exceeded his expectations. Give up the intention of fighting for the river defense line, but seize the time to mobilize more troops in the rear and plan the next offensive.

Zheng Ting was not very distressed about the dead and wounded soldiers, it was just a matter of spending some more time recruiting and training again, but after inspecting the artillery positions, Zheng Ting still had a headache unavoidably—the two hundred rounds of new artillery shells he bought were in the Two-thirds of them had already been defeated in the first round of battle, and it was difficult for the stock to sustain another more intense battle.

There is no Haihan military advisor on the beachhead, so Zheng Ting can only solve this embarrassing situation by himself.He does regret it now, he should have listened to Qian Tiandun's advice and spent money to buy more shells.Of course, it is not impossible to fight without the new type of shells. The old-fashioned solid shells are still sufficient, but the killing efficiency at close range is far inferior to the new type of shells.Moreover, there are more than a dozen 12-pound guns on the north bank of the river, whose range can completely cover the front of the beachhead, and can provide a certain amount of fire support across the Zhengjiang River if necessary.

It’s just that in this way, the efficiency of killing the enemy will be greatly reduced. At close range, the effect that can be achieved by one round of new-style shells may be enough to use ten rounds of old-fashioned solid shells. It seems to save some in the procurement process, but in actual combat Which requires more ammunition consumption.Zheng Ting was also a little dizzy, which kind of ammunition would be more cost-effective to use in future wars.

In fact, when Zheng Ting went to Yong'an Port to buy new ammunition, Qian Tiandun had already discovered that there was a misunderstanding in Zheng Ting's understanding, but from his point of view, he did not point it out to Zheng Ting.This misunderstanding is that Zheng Ting overestimated the combat effectiveness of the rogues who besieged Lijiazhuang, and directly equated it with the South Vietnamese army.But in fact, there is still a certain gap in the combat effectiveness between the two. After all, one is a regular army and the other is a bandit, and their endurance in the face of combat casualties is not at the same level.

The bandits who besieged Lijiazhuang were quickly defeated in the face of intensive artillery fire, which was directly related to their loose organization and combat experience.At any rate, the South Vietnamese army has undergone formal training and has participated in combat all year round. In addition, the troops deployed on the defense line of Zhengjiang are not weak. Naturally, they will not lose their fighting courage as easily as Zheng Ting expected.

At noon that day, the South Vietnamese Army organized another attack. Without hesitation, Zheng Ting ordered all the new artillery shells on hand to be fired.After an hour of fighting, the South Vietnamese army still failed to break through the fire defense line of the beachhead, and retreated again after paying the lives of nearly a thousand soldiers.The North Vietnamese Army inevitably suffered certain losses. Even two North Vietnamese officers who had gone to Victory Port with Zheng Ting for training were unfortunately hit by stray bullets fired by the South Vietnamese Army, and died of their injuries on the spot.

In the afternoon of the same day, the "South Vietnam Navy" who rushed from the upper reaches also participated in the chaotic battle after receiving the news.Because in the battle half a year ago, the surface troops deployed by the South Vietnamese court on the front line suffered a devastating blow from the Haihan warships, and then the South Vietnamese navy fell into a slump. So far, there are only six or seven ships. With nearly a hundred North Vietnamese troop transport ships shuttling on the river, what the South Vietnamese Navy can do seems a bit weak.

Regarding the possibility that the troops crossing the river would be harassed by the South Vietnamese navy on the river, the North Vietnamese military officers had already prepared a response plan when they formulated the combat plan before the war.After the operation of crossing the river began, several artillery pieces had been deployed on the north bank of the Zhengjiang River about one mile upstream from the crossing point of Beiyue.The purpose of these guns is very clear, which is to prevent South Vietnamese ships from coming down from upstream to join the battle.The center of the river here is less than a hundred feet away from the river bank, and it is completely covered by artillery fire, which is enough to cause a fatal blow to the ships on the river.In order to be sure, after the artillery was arranged in place, two rounds of calibration firing were even specially carried out to ensure the position of the impact point.

Sure enough, after the Nanyue navy appeared on this section of the river, they were greeted by artillery fire from the north bank.Under the concentrated fire, the two South Vietnamese warships at the forefront were pierced through their midships and began to flood, while some of the following ships were blocked by it, and some tried to approach the south bank to avoid the artillery fire on the north bank. , The surface of the river suddenly became chaotic.

In the chaos, two more ships were hit by shells one after another, and turned crookedly towards the south bank, seeing that they could not continue fighting.In the end, there was only one warship that was able to cross the fire blockade line without being injured, and the North Vietnamese army had already received an early warning and was ready. Seven or eight ships quickly leaned up to fight on board. Surrounding this enemy ship, there is basically no possibility of letting it escape.

After eliminating the threat on the water, it would be difficult for the South Vietnamese Army to have any practical means to prevent the opponent from expanding its position on the south bank of the Yangtze River.Before dark, the North Vietnamese Army had transported nearly 5000 combat troops across the river, basically completing the planned combat plan.

"The army after our training is still different!"

In the North Camp on the north bank of the Zhengjiang River, Mu Xiabai and Feng Annan were exchanging their experience of watching the battle today.Because the two of them had the most dealings with the North Vietnamese military, this time they also acted as military advisors, and they went to the front line to observe the battle across the river initiated by the North Vietnamese.

Feng Annan said: "As long as the North Vietnamese army learns our tactics and equips them with our weapons, they will be six or seven times as good as the militia. It should be enough to fight the peasant army in South Vietnam."

"Don't underestimate the peasant army in South Vietnam. They fought hard for a whole day. At least we can't handle this kind of battle with casualties." Mu Xiabo sighed.Although they didn't go to the beachhead on the south bank, they watched the battle through binoculars on the north bank, and they knew more or less the course of today's battles.The South Vietnamese army was able to withstand the casualties without retreating, which was a little bit beyond their expectations.

"It's still Qian Tiandun who is right. He said that Nanyue will not retreat until he fights in Zhengjiang for at least two to three days." Feng Annan recalled Qian Tiandun's prediction before they went south, and sighed: "However, if Nanyue is here If we retreat, it will be very difficult for them to organize a defensive line with natural dangers. Maybe the North Vietnamese will really have a chance to go straight to Hue Prefecture!"

"Difficult!" Mu Xiabo shook his head disapprovingly and said, "War is not just based on the victory or defeat of this battle. I said it to the extreme, even if South Vietnam adopts a non-resistance policy from now on, you let the North Vietnamese army go south directly. Try it? It’s nearly [-] miles from Zhengjiang to Hue, and it’s not easy to solve the problem of combat supplies for tens of thousands of people.”

"Didn't they borrow so many small boats from us? It's absolutely possible to use boats to transport food, grass and luggage from the sea, and go south with the army!" Feng Annan refuted Mu Xiabo's statement.

"It's not that easy!" Mu Xiabo shook his head and said, "If they can play amphibious warfare on land and sea so well, then they don't need to invite us to teach them how to fight. The crossing point on the Zhengjiang River is only more than 300 meters wide. Some amateur sailors are also capable of rowing across the river. But if you want to go by sea and keep the formation of the fleet from being too scattered, it is not a task that amateur players can complete. In my opinion, the next The biggest change in the battle situation is that the South Vietnamese army is gradually retreating, but it is also difficult for the North Vietnamese side to take advantage of the victory and pursue."

At dawn the next day, the two sides fought again.Perhaps because they realized the superiority of the North Vietnamese in artillery fire, the South Vietnamese army did not launch a brainless human charge again today, but changed its combat method, set up artillery at a distance of about one mile, and began to play long-range battles with the North Vietnamese army. Right bang.I don't know what method the South Vietnamese Army used, but they dispatched more than a dozen artillery pieces overnight, and the gap between their long-range firepower and their opponents has also narrowed a lot.

In the artillery sparring at this distance, the new artillery shells purchased by North Vietnam basically have no room for use-in fact, the two hundred rounds on hand have been fired in the previous day's battle, and now there is no need to play at all.The artillery exported by the Crossing Group to North Vietnam does not have a particularly large advantage in range compared to the artillery of the South Vietnamese Army. In terms of the current distance between the two sides, it can be said that the artillery of both sides is within the range of the other side.

In this way, it is a real skill, and it depends on who can remove the opponent's artillery position faster.The two sides unanimously adopted the method of concentrating fire, focusing on a certain artillery position on the opponent's position.Therefore, the artillerymen can almost see the shells fired by the opponent flying from the air from their artillery positions. The only thing they can do is to pray that the shells fired by their own side can smash the opponent as soon as possible.

At this time, the advantage of the Haihan artillery in shooting accuracy is revealed. The North Vietnam can only focus on the opponent's artillery positions, and it only takes two to three rounds of shooting to hit them. position, at least five more rounds of shooting are required.It wasn't until the fifth artillery piece of South Vietnam was destroyed that a battery on the North Vietnamese position was finally hit by three shells at the same time, causing six gunners and the artillery to be scrapped together.

The commander of the South Vietnamese Army obviously also realized that such a confrontation would not consume the enemy, so he could only order the artillery positions to retreat further.Naturally, the North Vietnamese Army, which had won the victory, would not wait for the opportunity to slip by, and immediately asked the engineers to dig and arrange new artillery positions in front of the defense line, allowing the artillery positions to continue to advance southward.

In the next few days, this step-by-step advancing operation was very difficult. North Vietnam spent a lot of manpower and material resources, and finally built a large camp on the south bank of the Zhengjiang Estuary, and deployed 8000 troops.However, a few miles to the south of the big camp is the military camp built by the South Vietnamese Army relying on the Hengshan mountain. According to the situation of reconnaissance, the strength of the army is at least three times that of the North Vietnamese camp. He intends to give up this line of defense easily.Although the North Vietnamese army had the upper hand, corresponding troubles also began to appear. Half a year ago, it was the turn of the North Vietnamese to transfer grain and grass supplies across the river.

Due to the lack of the decisive external assistance of the Haihan militia, the North Vietnamese Army's Southern Expedition started relatively smoothly, but after the real battle of Zhengjiang, it fell into a stagnation due to the lack of mobility of the army itself. situation.Going forward, we have to enter the Hengshan Mountains area, which runs from east to west and spans seven or eight miles from north to south. If the army wants to enter the mountainous area to fight, supplies are extremely troublesome.With the existing supply capabilities of the North Vietnamese Army, it is obvious that this shortcoming cannot be satisfactorily resolved.

As the supreme commander of the frontline troops, Zheng Bai has already realized this situation, but now that he has made a move, even if the battle situation is not going well, he can only continue to fight, because the North Vietnamese army cannot abandon the current position and retreat to the north bank of the Zhengjiang River again. , and it is impossible to maintain a costly outpost on the south bank of the Zhengjiang River for a long time.The minimum for this battle was to at least drive the South Vietnamese Army to the south of Hengshan, and the North Vietnamese Army should control the key pass in the Hengshan Mountains before the fighting could be stopped and rested.

On September [-]th, the North Vietnamese Army took the initiative to launch its first offensive after crossing the river to the south. It opened the way with artillery fire, supplemented by infantry phalanxes advancing slowly, and attacked the South Vietnamese Army barracks from the front.After paying nearly a thousand casualties, the North Vietnamese army finally broke through the Nanyue camp and captured the largest South Vietnamese stronghold in this area.

However, the battle did not end because of this. Nearly [-] South Vietnamese troops fled into the mountains south of the camp.Although most of these South Vietnamese troops lost their organization and turned into chaos, they still caused great trouble to the enemy who pursued them.It is difficult for infantry using muskets to form an effective firepower output formation in the mountains, and their combat effectiveness cannot be fully exerted due to the impact of the environment. Therefore, the progress of the suppression of the rebellious soldiers in the mountains is very slow.It was not until mid-September that fewer and fewer South Vietnamese troops appeared in groups at Hengshan, and the resistance gradually became sporadic.The camp of the North Vietnamese Army also moved from the north bank of the Zhengjiang River to the foot of Hengshan Mountain, and controlled most of the key points in the Hengshan area.

Since there was no danger to defend, the large troops of the South Vietnamese Army reluctantly withdrew to the south at this time. Their assembly point would be Donghai Port, forty miles south of Hengshan.And North Vietnam has fought so far, and basically has no spare power to continue fighting south.During the more than ten days of fighting, although the North Vietnamese army successfully pushed the front line southward for more than ten miles and broke through the defensive barrier of Hengshan and Jiangjiang, they also paid more than 2000 casualties for this.The most important thing is that the military rations and military expenses of the frontline troops are almost exhausted, and they have to stop to rest.

(End of this chapter)