1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 802 Attack on Freshwater
Veterans who have been in the special warfare battalion for more than three years are almost aware of what intensive special training arrangements mean.Even if the bigwigs above didn't announce any battle plans, the veterans could clearly tell the difference between daily training and preparation training.Of course, they are also very clear about the rules in the army. Before the chiefs come up with specific combat deployments, they can't inquire about these military secrets at will, and they can't discuss related matters in front of their subordinates.

Of course, there is no impenetrable wall in the world, and veterans will still spread news privately among themselves. A few days ago, Chen Yixin took a reconnaissance platoon to Taipei to carry out a secret operation. Many people already knew about it.The chief personally led the team to the front line for reconnaissance, and it is conceivable that he attaches great importance to it, and a series of follow-up preparation training has verified the veterans' guess that the next step will be to attack Danshui.

For the special warfare battalion that has been idle for a long time, this is of course a rare opportunity to make meritorious deeds, but the veterans are very clear that the most effective way to obtain military exploits in the next combat mission is not to rely on Instead of drilling camp, they are holding their subordinates to train well, so that they can be fully prepared and perform well on the battlefield.All the officers that Qian Tiandun personally selected were obtained by relying on their solid military exploits and outstanding battlefield performance. It is basically impossible to get ahead in the special warfare battalion by relying on crooked methods.

When the decision to attack Danshui was issued by the executive committee, Haihan, the most efficient war machine of this era, started up again, and all relevant departments immediately adjusted the resource arrangement at hand, giving priority to military use.

On February 2, the Haihan Fleet stationed on Hong Kong Island dispatched four warships, two supply ships, and two troop carriers in the name of an exercise, and two companies of the army coordinated operations.However, this fleet sailed all the way east after going out to sea. Their goal of action was not to conduct military exercises in the waters of the Pearl River Estuary, but to go to Penghu and Kaohsiung to replace the local special operations battalion garrisons in order to free up elite troops to participate in the future. military action.

And following this armed fleet to the local area is another cargo fleet belonging to the Ministry of Shipping. The cargo on board is a batch of combat materials originally stored in the Hong Kong Island Naval Base, including 48 kilograms of New explosives and four [-]-pound large-caliber siege guns.These are the materials and equipment required in Qian Tiandun's battle plan. If the attack on the Danshui stronghold goes wrong, these unconventional means may have to be used.

Beginning on February 2, the Penghu garrison carried out a relatively intensive defense change. Troops from Guangdong took over the garrison mission of the Special Operations Battalion in Kaohsiung, and the local defense of Penghu was gradually handed over to the Guangdong friendly army and the second batch of Penghu local recruits. recruits.

Sun Zhen and his group had already been assigned to various companies of the Special Operations Battalion because they joined the army more than a month earlier, so they didn't need to stay in Penghu like the recruits in the subsequent batches.As a member of the main combat force, Sun Zhen will also be honored to participate in this combat mission.

On February 2, Penghu again sent a reconnaissance ship to Danshui to conduct a second reconnaissance of the local area.And this time the leader of the team was replaced by Takahashi Minami, who needed to make final revisions to the battle plan through this on-site inspection.

On February 2, the Special Operations Battalion submitted a revised operational plan to the Military Commission.However, this battle plan did not take Jilong Port as the target, because Qian Tiandun believed that there was little chance of taking down the Danshui stronghold by using blitzkrieg, and the special warfare battalion would have difficulty attacking two places at the same time due to insufficient troops. continue.Therefore, Qian Tiandun only took the attack on Santo Domingo City in Danshui as the main goal of this operation, and whether to continue to attack Jilonggang would have to wait for the results of Danshui before making a decision.

On February 2, the Penghu base received an approval from the base camp, agreeing to implement the combat plan, and empowering the special warfare battalion to decide whether to take advantage of the victory to pursue and dispose of local prisoners and other spoils of war after conquering the local area.

On the evening of the next day, Qian Tiandun summoned Xu Jiaqi, the representative of the Fujian military stationed in Penghu, and informed him of the Haihan Executive Committee's decision to start the war.Although Xu Jiaqi was shocked by this, watching the excitement was not a big deal. Instead of raising any doubts, he asked Qian Tiandun if he would allow the Fujian military to send military observers to participate in this operation.However, this request was eventually rejected by Qian Tiandun. As the ace unit in the militia, the weapons and equipment and tactics used by the special warfare battalion were somewhat different from those of other militia troops, and this was one of the military secrets that the special warfare battalion needed to keep. one.

On the 26th, the Penghu base held a pre-war mobilization meeting, and Qian Tiandun personally delivered a mobilization speech.He did not try to find a high-sounding reason for this war, but simply and rudely attributed it to "the will of the executive committee", which was enough for the soldiers who were full of fighting spirit.

In the early morning of the 27th, the troops preparing for the expedition gathered at the military pier in Magong Port.Nearly 1200 participating sailboats will deliver more than [-] special operations battalion fighters, some heavy weapons and equipment, and supplies for them to complete at least five to seven days of combat missions to the target area at one time.The heavy equipment and supplies had already been loaded on the ship the day before. After the boarding of the personnel is completed today, the troops will immediately set off for the battlefield.

Although I was lucky enough to follow the veterans to Zhuoshui River in central Taiwan to perform a reconnaissance mission during the recruit training period, and I also saw how the veterans used their weapons to beat the local aborigines who were trying to use force, but speaking of it, this is still Sun Zhen It was the first time to participate in a real combat mission. After all, the recruits did not directly participate in the combat in the last mission, they were just bystanders.Sun Zhen was so excited the night before that he hardly fell asleep, and he was still in a state of excitement until now.

It was the end of winter and early spring, and the seaside was really cold in the morning, but there was a fire burning in Sun Zhen's heart.There was a small mobilization meeting in the squad before the lights were turned off yesterday, and the squad leader clearly told everyone that after the fresh water was pumped this time, another Spanish port stronghold in Taipei would soon be fought.As long as the two places can be successfully defeated, the possibility of collective military merit is very high.A newly enlisted soldier like Sun Zhen can only be truly recognized by his fellow veterans after passing the test of the battlefield.

The commander of this operation, Gao Qiaonan, gave an order, and the squad leaders began to count the number of people, check the equipment, and then report to each level, and finally the company commanders summarized the situation to Gao Qiaonan.

"Report to the chief, the troops have been assembled, please give instructions!" Gao Qiaonan saluted Qian Tiandun and asked for instructions.

Qian Tiandun raised his hand to return the gift, then took the military flag from the guard next to him, and handed it to Gao Qiaonan: "I wish the soldiers all the best!"

"Thank you, Chief!" Gao Qiaonan took the military flag with a serious face, and then waved it to the troops assembled on the pier to show, and there was a thunderous cheer on the pier.

Sun Zhen couldn't control the excitement in his heart, he raised the rifle above his head vigorously, and shouted loudly with the people around him.For the people in the special warfare battalion, setting foot on the battlefield does not mean a dangerous journey that may kill their lives, but it means a great opportunity to make contributions.They don't reject fighting, on the contrary, they are eager to have more opportunities to perform.

The Haihan Militia did not have any complicated rituals to worship heaven and earth when they set off. It was always just a simple handover of the military flag and it was over. This time the expedition to Tamsui was no exception.After completing the simple expedition ceremony, the troops began to board the ship and set off one after another.

Gao Qiaonan stood at the bow of the boat, taking advantage of the cool sea breeze to calm his emotions.Although he kept as calm as possible in front of Qian Tiandun, his blood was already surging in his heart.Being able to lead the troops alone this time, apart from Qian Tiandun's trust in him, also symbolized that his status in the army had reached a certain height.Although he has no second thoughts about Qian Tiandun, it is still a rare honor for a soldier to be able to obtain such a command.Takahashi Minami has devoted more than five years to this, but fortunately, this achievement did not disappoint him. Being able to become the No.1 naturalized officer with independent command at the battalion level is something that no one can compete for. Honor.

Of course, the greater the power, the greater the responsibility. Takahashi Nan has long understood this truth when he was promoted to the military rank.The success or failure of a battle, victory will become the honor of the commander, but if it fails, the responsibility will often have to be borne by the commander.Although the unit led by Qian Tiandun has never been defeated in previous battles and has always been able to crush opponents on the battlefield with a relatively obvious advantage, Gao Qiaonan still dare not be careless. If the history of the glorious war ends in his own hands, then there is really no redemption for a hundred deaths.

Gao Qiaonan came to the conclusion after going to Tamsui for reconnaissance a few days ago, which is similar to Chen Yixin's point of view last time. Due to the obvious geographical advantages of the local stronghold, it is difficult for the attackers to launch shelling directly from the Tamsui River. Instead, they landed on the nearby river bank. troops will be within range of the castle's artillery.In this way, the special warfare battalion's plan to directly bombard the city with gunboats simply by virtue of its equipment advantage will be impossible to realize, and it is necessary to carry out siege warfare on the ground.

The combat environment that the special warfare battalion is good at is mountains and jungles, and now there is an amphibious landing, but due to the limitation of equipment and tactics, the siege warfare on the normal battlefield is not the special warfare battalion director. In the siege battle, it is not the special warfare battalion that is really in charge of the frontal battlefield.This attack on the Spanish stronghold in Danshui can be regarded as the first time that the special warfare battalion has undertaken the task of siege operations alone.Of course, it may be a little exaggerated to say that the city of Santo Domingo is named after all. After all, the city of Santo Domingo is just a naming habit of the Spaniards. It is called a city.

It is not a difficult problem to take down this stronghold, the difficulty is to take it down quickly and steadily, and to avoid large casualties as much as possible.After reconnaissance on the spot, Gao Qiaonan had to admit that the degree of difficulty of this task was not as low as he originally expected.If you want to be fast, it seems that you can only be tough, and it will be difficult to control the number of casualties. If you want to be stable, it is a siege strategy, but no one can say for sure how long it will take.If there is enough food in the city, it may take a month or two or even longer, and this is obviously not the result that the chiefs want to see.

Therefore, for Gao Qiaonan, this independent command operation is both an opportunity and a test.And whether he can pass the test smoothly, he is actually not fully sure now.

Takahashi Minami set the landing time in the early morning in the combat plan, so the fleet did not advance at full speed to complete the voyage of more than 100 nautical miles, but slowed down the speed to about six knots, so that after a day of departure, it happened to be in the early morning. Arrive at the mouth of the Tamsui River.

The journey was safe and sound, and the fleet arrived at the waters of the Tamsui River estuary at 28:[-] am on the [-]th.Takahashi Minami ordered six "expedition-class" warships to be left here to block the estuary of the Tamsui River and prevent the enemy from escaping.Other ships sailed into the estuary and headed upstream to the upper reaches of the Tamsui River.

Gao Qiaonan's battle plan is to block the two ends first, to cut off the possibility of the people in the city fleeing or sending reinforcements from the outside, and then the army's siege operation.For this reason, he found another suitable place for landing about three or four miles upstream of the pier built by the Spaniards, which is roughly where the Tamsui MRT station in another time and space is located.

While the sky was still dark, the fleet quickly passed the river south of Santo Domingo. No one in the sleeping castle noticed that such a huge fleet sailed into the Danshui River.After arriving at the destination, a small group of soldiers rowed a small boat to dock first, then lit torches on the shore, made docking marks, and guided the fleet to dock.

Not all ships will stop here, and the two troop carriers carrying a company and combat supplies will continue to sail upstream under the escort of an "Explorer-class" warship.The destination of this team is the upper reaches of the Jilong River, a tributary of the Danshui River. Its purpose is to block the only land passage between the two places of Jilong Danshui.Whether it is the Spaniards fleeing from the Danshui stronghold, or the reinforcements sent by the chicken coop, the Haihan militia stationed here will repel them by virtue of their dangerous geographical advantages.

Back at the downstream landing point, the speed of personnel landing was very fast, but the entire landing process was inevitably slowed down by the unloading of equipment and supplies.In particular, if the heavy 48-pound cannon is to be unloaded from the ship to the shore, dozens of people must work together to complete it. Not only is there no hoisting equipment on the river bank here, but the soil on the river bank is also very soft due to years of erosion and deposition. This also greatly increased the difficulty of unloading and transporting the luggage.

The landing time of the combatants was only ten minutes, but it took more than two hours to hoist all kinds of materials on the ship to the shore, and it was basically completed. At this time, the sky had begun to gradually brighten.Takahashi Minan was worried, but he couldn't blame his subordinates for not being up to date. After all, this was an obstacle caused by the objective environment, not the fault of the soldiers.

(End of this chapter)