I want to be emperor

Chapter 875 Destroy the city
The second battalion of the army was very dissatisfied with the behavior of the navy, but they couldn't waste time talking about it when they landed. What should be done was still to be done. Immediately, people from the second battalion and the third artillery company began to attack the city gate.

It is too much to say that the attack is too much... After all, there are no Spaniards stationed in the city gate, and even the city gate was bombarded by naval artillery, and the city wall on one side collapsed.

The people of the second battalion approached gradually in skirmish formation with their guns in hand, and occupied a piece of the city gate without any resistance.

However, they were not in a hurry to continue entering the city. Instead, they let the second artillery post accompanying the team and an infantry artillery unit strengthened by the regiment headquarters carry out extended bombardment, continuing to attack the remaining enemies in the city.

Continued shelling is not to kill or injure many enemy troops, but to cover the attacking troops, prevent the enemy from massing up and counterattacking on a large scale, and at the same time force the remaining enemy troops to collapse or even flee.

After all, this is a siege, not a siege. The most important thing is to capture the city. As for whether the enemy escapes or not, it doesn't matter. It's even easier if the enemy runs away.

Although the artillery of the army is not as powerful as the naval artillery of the navy, the artillery company in the artillery regiment sent by the division is only equipped with four 75mm mountain guns, and the infantry artillery platoon sent by the regiment is only equipped with two [-]mm infantry guns.

However, these two types of artillery are very portable, and both have relatively large shooting elevation angles, which can raise the elevation angle and bypass many buildings to bombard targets in the city.

At the same time, when necessary, the elevation angle can also be lowered, and the target can be hit by a flat shot.

In particular, the two [-]mm infantry guns are very useful in such small-scale operations. A few artillerymen can push and pull forward, and then bombard when they encounter a visual target.

When shooting at an elevation angle of seventy or eighty degrees, the ballistic curve is very similar to that of a mortar or a mortar of later generations.

More importantly, this thing is still a rifled gun, so the shooting accuracy is very high.

Although there are only two [-]mm infantry guns, the efficiency of covering the attack is very high. After dozens of consecutive shellings, the infantry troops were successfully covered to advance deep into the city.

As for the 75mm mountain artillery, it has been used as a long-distance support artillery at this time, and the artillery is installed outside the city to conduct precise bombardment towards a target 2000 meters away.

It effectively replaced the naval guns of the navy and provided sufficient fire support for the infantry.

After all, as the infantry entered the city, in order to prevent accidental injury, although the navy did not stop the shelling, the shelling targets were also bombarded in deep areas, making it difficult to directly and effectively support the army in combat.

Following the continuous bombardment, the infantry of the second battalion took the company as the main tactical unit and divided into three companies. Each company was responsible for an attack direction, and advanced from the left, middle and right sides at the same time. Finally, there was an infantry company that served as a strategic reserve and protected the artillery in the rear.

After the infantry penetrated into the urban area, although shelling was important, infantry firepower began to become the protagonist on the battlefield.

After all, this is a siege operation. After entering the urban area, it can be regarded as street fighting to a certain extent. It is difficult for infantry firepower to provide effective cover. In many cases, small-scale infantry operations can only rely on the firepower of the infantry itself, that is, [-]-type rifles, Tian-[-] revolvers, and grenades.

Lieutenant An Xitong is now holding a Type 22 rifle. At the same time, as a platoon leader, he also has a [-]-year-style command knife and a Tian-[-]-type revolver pinned to his left thigh.

The command knife is a 22-year-style command knife produced by Hantian Arsenal, which is slightly improved from the traditional waist knife.

The traditional waist sword was born out of the Japanese sword. The locally improved waist sword has been the standard infantry one-handed saber in the Huaxia region from the middle and late Ming Dynasty until the 20s of the Great Chu Empire.

It was not until the 20s that the Great Chu Empire specially developed the new 22-year-style command sword, but the general style is not much different from the traditional waist sword.

After all, after the 20s, the saber was not used for combat, but as an individual self-defense weapon and ceremonial item. Compared with the so-called combat performance of the infantry saber, the Chu army tended to maintain the tradition, so even if it improved, it was not great.

The blade and the handle are all made of steel and machine-made... The quality is naturally not as good as those handcrafted high-quality sabers, but compared to a mass-produced saber that is generally equipped with officers at all levels, it is already very good.

It is characterized by the use of new steel materials, coupled with some special techniques, so that this knife has the characteristics of light weight, high strength and high toughness.

The disadvantages... are the same as most of the weapons and equipment of the Chu army: expensive!
After all, new materials and new processing techniques are often synonymous with high prices.

But even so, many officers, especially those with a lot of money in their hands, are more inclined to order handmade sabers.

The military's non-interference in this is the same as non-interference in the purchase of pistols by soldiers.

Anyway, the army distributes Tian-[-] revolvers, and only standard pistol ammunition is issued. You can buy other pistols yourself, and ammunition will be distributed to you if the ammunition is common, but if the ammunition is not universal, you have to find a way to solve it yourself.

Ordinary riflemen and other infantry are not issued with pistols...but they don't stop soldiers from buying pistols themselves.

In order to increase their chances of survival on the battlefield, many soldiers often buy their own pistols. After all, pistols in military stores are not expensive. They can buy one for self-defense on the battlefield for a small amount of money, and the ammunition can be collected from the military headquarters for free. Many soldiers are willing to do this.

This also led to a very high rate of pistol equipment in the three armies of the Great Chu Empire, and most of them were purchased by the soldiers themselves... However, in order to stabilize the logistics supply, although there are various pistols equipped in the three armies, they basically use standard 11mm pistols...Because other types of pistols are not provided by the military, you have to buy them yourself.

Although Lieutenant An Xitong said that as an officer, he led a platoon to fight, but he didn't wear burning buns like many officers in the indigenous army. He used a saber to command.

He is now leading the soldiers under his command to take down a church ahead.

According to reports from his subordinates, dozens of armed men hid in the church and fought back against the infantry under his command who arrived here first.

However, the other party used old-fashioned flintlock guns. Although they fired, the bullets flew to nowhere. Apart from shocking a few soldiers of the Chu army, they did not cause any casualties to the Chu army.

When the other party resisted and fired, the soldiers of the Chu army did not continue to rush forward foolishly. Instead, they found a cover and set up their guns, and then promptly notified the friendly troops behind.

After learning that there were dozens of armed men resisting in front, Lieutenant An Xitong immediately led the main force of the entire platoon and surrounded them from multiple directions.

After arriving, Lieutenant An Xitong poked his head out of the bunker and took a closer look... The people on the other side didn't know whether they were stupid or smart!
Call them stupid, but at least they found a church with a solid bunker. Because this kind of building is made of stone, it is very well protected against light fire such as bullets.

But if they are stupid, it is because the church is surrounded by open areas... Once the Chu army finds them and shoots them after hiding in, they will not be able to get out!
After thinking about it for a while, An Xitong immediately sent someone to call the nearby artillery unit. One of the [-]mm infantry artillery units, which accompanied their company in combat, happened to be nearby.

Call them over and shoot a few shots at the church opposite, and it's probably about the same.

As for directly commanding the infantry under his command to attack without artillery support...he is not so stupid,

Although the Spaniards on the opposite side were equipped with flintlock guns, flintlock guns can also kill people.

Not much to say, but An Xitong was not happy with the death or injury of a few subordinates.

Although fighting will kill people, it is still necessary to reduce casualties in order to reduce casualties.

After all, he is not commanding the Indian servant army, he can fight freely with his hands and feet, but he is commanding the local army... Every soldier is a serious Chu native.

If there are a few battle casualties in a battle, the superiors will scold him. If there are too many casualties, they may have to go to a military court.

Why?

The European Expeditionary Force went all the way north from South Africa, captured at least dozens of colonial coastal cities, and controlled almost the entire West African coast for several months.

How many were the total battle casualties?

42 people!

26 of them were accidentally injured by a dud bomb. When they attacked Ghana, the navy fired many large-caliber shells, and naturally there were some dud bombs. The infantry may have been too relaxed after landing.

A group of infantrymen were particularly interested in a 150mm dud bomb... and they surrounded it and turned it around. As a result, with a bang, a group of infantrymen were directly blown to pieces, and all of them were killed...

A dud bomb reimbursed half of the infantry platoon, 26 people, which was more than the regular casualties of the regular army of Chu army in the West African battle for several months!

This matter was directly reported to the Division Headquarters of the Third Division, leaving Major General Ding Zhengqing, the commander of the 53rd Division, speechless for a long time, and finally cursed the officers under his command bloody, and asked them to strengthen the battlefield safety training again.

Most importantly, don't rummage through the duds that didn't explode!

Clean up the duds after the war, try to let those prisoners of war do it, if you really can’t let the servants do it, don’t do it yourself stupidly...

At that time, Rear Admiral Ding Zhengqing hated iron but not steel: "Even my dog ​​knows that the navy is unreliable, and even went to clean up the navy's duds. This is fatal!"

Deducting these more than 20 unlucky ones, strictly speaking, in a series of battles in West Africa, Chu's regular army only had [-] battle deaths!

No more than one, no less, just sixteen.

On the other hand, the Indian Third Division of the servant army had more casualties, but in fact there were only a hundred people killed in battle...there were more injuries, probably a few hundred people.

The Chu army fought in West Africa, and the overall casualty rate was very low, while the casualties of the regular army were even lower, so far not more than a hundred.

Of course, this is only about combat casualties. In fact, there are also some non-combat attrition, such as unlucky eggs falling into the sea, being bitten by snakes, and getting sick.

This part is actually more. The non-combat attrition of the third division has hundreds of people, which is more than the combat casualties.

There is no way, to fight in places that are unfamiliar and have a very harsh natural environment, especially in Africa. Non-combat attrition has always been a problem that has seriously plagued the Chu army.

This is also the reason why the Chu army organized a large-scale Indian servant army and was transferred to Africa to fight.

What is feared is not combat casualties, but non-combat attrition.

The infantry platoon led by An Xitong has not lost a single member since its departure from South Africa. Although a few people fell ill during the process, they recovered and returned to the platoon one after another.

Lieutenant An Xitong didn't want his troops to be reduced in the small broken city of Tangier, so he was very cautious in commanding operations.

Especially in this kind of combat environment that is biased towards street fighting, he will never fight in waves... As the saying goes, if you can use artillery to deal with it, you will never use a rifle. If you can use a rifle to kill the enemy at a distance of 200 meters, you will never rush to fight the enemy.

Eliminating opponents as much as possible while ensuring their own safety is the pursuit of the contemporary Chu army, and it is also the action guide for many officers in the Chu army.

In the contemporary Chu army, if you are like Naimu Xidian and Haig, who treat soldiers directly as cannon fodder and force them to charge forward to die...the only thing waiting for you is the military court.

It's not that the Chu army is afraid of death in battle, but that they are clearly equipped with countless advanced guns and have an absolute lead. Why do you want soldiers to line up to die?

There is no need at all!

The same is true of Anxitong today. There are friendly [-]mm infantry guns here, and there is no need for the infantry under his command to attack.

Soon, an artillery crew came over with a [-]mm infantry gun. After carefully observing the battlefield, a sergeant commander of the artillery crew said to Anxi: "We have shot a lot of church buildings like this, and they look solid, but they are actually that way!"

Comrade Anxi said, "If that's the case, then I'll take care of the artillery brothers!"

The artillery crew did not procrastinate, and quickly completed a series of preparations for shelling.

As the [-]mm infantry gun fired flat-fired, the chapel in front suddenly burst into a cloud of fireworks. Before the smoke fell, the [-]mm infantry gun on the side fired again.

This kind of small and medium-caliber rear-loading rifled gun can fire much faster than the large-caliber naval guns of the navy, and can reach three or four rounds per minute.

The fast rate of fire is mainly due to the small caliber and light ammunition. At the same time, the rear loading is adopted, which is more convenient to load.

But more importantly, because this thing is a short-barreled artillery, and the propellant of the shell is relatively small, and the chamber pressure is relatively low, which also leads to a small recoil... Although this thing is still a rigidly connected recoil gun, because of the relatively small recoil and light weight, it is more convenient to reset and aim.

Sometimes if the terrain is suitable, the infantry artillery of the Chu army will simply put a large stone behind the gun mount to resist it, to forcefully offset the recoil, so that there is no need to reset it...the rate of fire can be faster.

For small and medium-caliber rear-loading rifled guns, the biggest factor affecting the rate of fire is not loading, but reset!

This is also the reason why the 55mm naval gun of the Great Chu Empire Navy has a very fast rate of fire. Because the recoil of this thing is relatively small, the artillery is directly installed on the hull, and the hull is directly used to resist the recoil.

Because of this, the Navy even wants to develop so-called rapid-fire guns with smaller calibers and faster rates of fire.

But this rapid-fire gun is not the same concept as a tube retreat gun!
The rate of fire of the [-]mm infantry gun was also quite fast. One round after another was fired, and soon the church in front was filled with smoke and dust.

A few minutes later, after enduring the continuous bombardment of more than a dozen shells, the stone-built, seemingly solid church at the front finally collapsed.

Amidst the billowing smoke and dust, sporadic people ran out.

At this time, An Xitong led the infantry under his hands to raise the 18-year rifle to shoot.

Lieutenant An Xitong's marksmanship was not bad. Although the first shot missed, the second shot hit a Spanish soldier who was fleeing in embarrassment.

The bullet exited from about 100 meters away at a muzzle velocity of 430 meters per second, crossed a distance of 100 meters in a slight curve that was barely visible to the naked eye, and finally hit the enemy's back.

The lead bullet enters from the enemy's back, then deforms and rolls, creating a huge wound in the enemy's body!

At a distance of 100 meters, it is almost impossible for the previous smoothbore guns to hit accurately, and it is still a moving target... Even if it is extended to 60 meters, it is enough.

This is also in the case of musket gun combat, where there is almost no single soldier shooting, because it is impossible to hit... The army using musket guns always uses multiple people to shoot at the same time, mainly attacking group targets.

This is also the reason why the line tactics finally appeared and became the core tactics of the era of sudden fire and even the fire cap musket. For nothing else, it is because this tactic can maximize the firepower of the flintlock/flame cap fire musket.

But in the era of breech-loading rifles, the shooting accuracy brought by the rifles has improved, which can completely allow a skilled shooter to accurately hit the enemy at a distance of 200 meters or even 300 meters.

If it is aimed at a group target, then the shooting distance can be increased to 600 meters or even 1000 meters. This is also the reason why many early rifled rifles can go up to 500 meters or even [-] meters.

Such a long-distance ruler is not for you to use for precision strikes, but for attacking group targets.

Dozens of Chu soldiers led by An Xitong almost completely blew up the Spaniards on the opposite side in terms of weapons and equipment and firepower, so that the dozens of Spanish soldiers in the church did not even resist effectively.

In less than 10 minutes, the Spanish soldiers declared the entire army destroyed. Most were killed on the spot, and a small number were injured and captured. Whether they can survive in the future depends on whether their lives are hard enough to survive.

At the same time, the Chu army entering the city was also continuing to clean up, and after spending most of the day, the entire city of Tangier was finally cleared away.

At this time, the city of Tangier has become a complete ruin... The previous naval bombardment was too fierce, and the subsequent army entered the city to fight. In order to reduce their own casualties, they also demolished buildings as soon as they saw them, so that there was not even a single intact building in Tangier after the fighting.

As for the casualties of the Spanish garrison in the city and other natives in the city... To be honest, I don't know, the Chu army didn't bother to count anyway.

Anyway, I learned from the prisoners of war that there were more than 1000 Spanish troops stationed in the city, and there were thousands of civilians in the city.

After the battle of the city, when all the remaining living people in the city, including those prisoners of war, deserters mixed into the civilian population, and ordinary civilians were all escorted out of the city, when the Chu army made an inventory, there were only more than 2000 people left.

That's pretty good!

Sometimes the Chu army attacks some coastal colonial cities. If the opponent's city is not large and at the same time unable to resist, it will often cause heavy casualties, and it is very common for the entire city to die.

The naval guns of the Great Chu Empire Navy are still very fierce!
Of course, this cannot be unilaterally blamed on the Chu army's artillery for being too fierce, but also because the cities of contemporary Europeans are too small...

If you put it in a place like the Songjiang City of the Great Chu Empire... Seriously, even if you don't resist, just let your navy blow it up, the navy can't finish it...

You can't even blow up most of the urban areas... People can drink coffee in the office building and yell: If you have the ability, you can blow me up!
Because the range of the naval gun is not enough.

The urban area of ​​Songjiang City is too large, with an urban area of ​​tens of kilometers at every turn. In the face of such a huge city, the range of the 250mm main gun of the new generation of Jinling-class battleships that the navy is still building is not enough!
I can't even hit it, and I'm talking a fart.

Even if it can be hit, with the firepower density and power of the naval guns of the contemporary Great Chu Empire Navy, it is actually not enough to deal with Songjiang City, a city full of concrete and steel buildings, with a dense network of underground drainage pipes, and even a city that is still building subways.

It is inevitable to cause huge losses, but it is impossible to kill everyone in the city with artillery!

It's a pity that Songjiang City is the Songjiang City of the Great Chu Empire, and has nothing to do with Europeans!

However, contemporary European cities, especially some non-capital cities, are generally small in scale, and the naval bombardment of the Great Chu Empire did not have any pressure at all.

Tangier is a very typical example.

After the fight, the city was completely destroyed, and thousands of people were killed or injured.

Even after the Chu army entered the city after landing, it was impossible to find a suitable building to serve as a camp. In the end, they had no choice but to go out of the city to build a field camp outside the city.

This can be regarded as lifting a rock and shooting yourself in the foot.

For this reason, several army officers from the second battalion of the army yelled at the navy again!
(End of this chapter)