I want to be emperor

Chapter 884 Terrible Consumption and Logistics
Landing in Cadiz was not a problem for the Chu army. The heavy naval shelling on the first day basically destroyed the Spanish resistance. Not even much of a firefight.

In the daytime battle on the first day, only an infantry battalion of the [-]rd Indian Division of the ground troops advanced in depth after landing, encountered the Spanish reinforcements about three kilometers away from the beachhead, and fought an anticlimactic battle. In the line battle, hundreds of people from both sides participated, and dozens of people were killed or injured.

That night, an infantry regiment of the [-]rd Indian Division advanced along the coastline to the port area of ​​Cadiz. There was no actual resistance in the process, only a few remaining Spanish soldiers and the servants of the [-]rd Indian Division. There were sporadic firefights.

After the troops of the Indian Third Division paid more than 20 casualties that night, they basically cleaned up the port area and effectively covered the subsequent direct landing of more troops in the port.

Among them is a main artillery battalion of the third division.

With the landing of eighteen 75mm mountain guns, the ground troops of the Chu Army who landed can be regarded as having their own artillery power, instead of relying only on naval gun fire support from naval warships.

During the landing phase, because there is no need to consider issues such as infantry coordination, and during the daytime, the hot air balloons of naval warships can also take off and conduct effective observation and guidance, so the navy's bombardment of military targets in coastal areas is very intensive.

But as the night entered, especially when the large-scale infantry units of the Chu army began to control the port area and advanced towards the urban area, the navy's naval guns could no longer provide direct fire support, and could only extend the artillery fire to the depth.

Because of the need to extend artillery fire, and the effective range of some naval guns is also limited, in order to better provide in-depth fire support, the Navy even allowed four frigates to approach the beachhead at the risk of being grounded to extend the artillery fire distance.

This night, there was still the rumble of gunfire, but in fact, the casualties on both sides were not that great.

After all, the main defenders of the Spaniards had already withdrawn from the urban area. It seems that there are many Spaniards in the urban area, but in fact there are only a few of them left in the city for various reasons. Basically civilians.

So the Chu army seemed to be shelling very hard that night, but in fact it did not pose any real threat to the Spanish defenders... They have already run away, and your shells are useless.

The violent bombardment destroyed a large number of buildings in the urban area, and the Chu army got another city in ruins!

After dawn the next day, at about eight o'clock in the morning, the Eighth Infantry Regiment and the Ninth Infantry Regiment of the Indian Third Division, which were in charge of combat missions in the city, had completely controlled the entire Cadiz city.

At 20 o'clock in the morning, the Great Chu Empire ordered the European Expeditionary Force to co-organize. Bo Jian'an, Lieutenant General of the Great Chu Empire Army and Commander of the No.[-] Seventh Army, landed at the port and set up a frontline headquarters.

Accompanying him on the landing was the absolute main force of the army in the European Expeditionary Force this time, Major General Ding Zhengqing, the commander of the Third Division, and a large number of other officers.

In a well-preserved large warehouse at the port, they set up the No.20 Seventh Army Command, and then Lieutenant General Bo Jian'an ordered the Indian Third Division to continue to clear the remnants of Cadiz and send battalion-level combat troops to the surrounding clean up.

As for the third division of the main force, it will continue to land!
In yesterday's daytime and nighttime landing operations, except that an infantry battalion of the third division was responsible for the main landing force for the sake of safety at the beginning of the landing, the subsequent landing and urban operations were undertaken by the third Indian division.

As of this morning, only one infantry battalion and one artillery battalion of the third division have completed the landing.

In addition to leaving a mixed battalion garrison in Tangier, all the other troops of the third division were sent to Cadiz to carry out the combat mission of landing in Spain.

In other words, there are still more than 1 Chu soldiers floating on the sea waiting to land.

In the morning of the same day, the infantry of the two infantry regiments of the third division landed one after another. Relatively speaking, the landing of the infantry was much simpler. After all, the infantry did not have any heavy equipment. After the ship docked, the soldiers disembarked directly with their rifles and bags. Just go ashore.

The [-]mm infantry artillery attached to the infantry regiment is also very light. Even if the dock is crowded, and the dock itself has no hoisting equipment, the infantry artillerymen belonging to the infantry regiment can also directly push these infantry artillery men off the ship.

On the contrary, the landing of cavalry units, artillery units and supply units is very troublesome!
The third division belongs to the cavalry regiment. Although it is only a light cavalry regiment in the standing second-class troop, the full establishment is only more than 800 cavalry, but the third division is different from ordinary second-class troops. The 53rd division is a second-class troop. In fact, because of its long-term commitment to combat missions in Africa, it was selected as the absolute main force in European operations.

According to the basic policy of maintaining the backbone and basic combat effectiveness of Class B troops in peacetime, Class B troops will be expanded and equipped according to the standards of Class A troops during wartime.

The first three divisions in Europe were configured according to the standards of first-class combat readiness troops, so they could be equipped with rear-loading rifled guns.

And the cavalry unit has also been supplemented according to the combat readiness standard... Of course, there are still so many cavalry personnel, but it has been upgraded from the standard of riding one horse and two horses to the standard of riding two horses alone, and an additional [-]mm infantry is deployed Cannon cavalry company.

Why are the cavalry equipped with infantry guns, because this thing is really easy to use... Besides, the replacement equipment for the 65mm infantry guns is the 115mm field guns and [-]mm light howitzers in the era of front-mounted smoothbore guns, and these two happen to be the same Cavalry artillery used on a large scale by cavalry units.

In addition to the cavalry artillery company, there is also a cavalry supply company.

The regiment has more than 1000 members, and the main horses used for riding, that is, there are more than 800 Liaohe horses; the auxiliary horses, that is, assisting the cavalry to carry weapons and ammunition, and there are Hexi horses that are occasionally used for riding when marching fast. More than 900 horses.

In addition, there are more than 200 draft horses or war horses and more than 60 four-wheeled or two-wheeled carriages in the cavalry supply company.

The entire cavalry regiment of the third division is said to be a light cavalry regiment, but in fact it has more than 2000 horses and draft horses, more than [-] personnel, and six infantry guns. At the same time, the combat and logistics personnel in the regiment, They are all equipped with the Type [-] Rifle Cavalry version with a shorter barrel, and each cavalry will also be assigned a Shaanxi Seventh Type [-]mm Cavalry Revolver.

This kind of pistol is a cavalry combat pistol specially developed for cavalry. It has a long range, high accuracy, and great power, but it has a relatively large recoil and weight... It’s just that many cavalry dislike it. It’s too heavy and has a lot of recoil, so Many cavalry would rather pay out of their own pockets to buy Tianwu revolvers on the battlefield.

Tianwu-style revolver, since its birth, this thing has been welcomed by the military, police and even the people of Chu State. The military uses it as a self-defense pistol for officers and artillery and other technical arms on a large scale, and it is also used by the army, navy, and guards. , Armed tax police are used uniformly by the four major military branches.

In addition to the military, a large number of local patrol agencies also purchase this type of Tianwu revolver in large quantities, or the patented products of this type of pistol, such as the so-called Liuzhou [-] pistol purchased by the Guangxi Local Patrol Department. They Liuzhou Arsenal boasted It is self-developed and so on, but it is actually a patented and reskinned version of the Tian-[-] revolver.

As for private purchases, especially in overseas territories and colonies, there are more people buying such pistols.

The Tianwu-style revolver and all kinds of messy patented and reskinned versions are currently the firearms with the highest production and sales in the Great Chu Empire... In the 35 years of Chengshun alone, various weapon companies have produced at least 50 pieces .

At present, the total output of Tianwu revolvers is at least 400 million and going up!

What type [-] rifles, type [-] rifles, compared to the output of these serious military rifles, that is a little brother...

By the way, the Tian-30 type revolver is quite expensive to buy. The latest improved civilian version costs more than [-] Chu Yuan. The military and police version is cheaper but the price is not much different. Anyway, it is more than ten Chu. A Type [-] rifle for [-] yuan is much more expensive.

Hebei Arms Company, relying on the self-production of this pistol and the authorization of patent fees, can live a very chic life.

The Cavalry Regiment of the Third Division is no exception. Many of the cavalry are equipped with the standard Shaanxi Seventh-style cavalry pistol, but there are also many cavalry who choose to use the self-purchased Tian-five-style pistol.

Plus a Type [-] Rifle Cavalry version for each person.

In terms of gun firepower alone, this cavalry regiment is fierce enough, not to mention that they also carry six 3000mm infantry guns, directly supporting the infantry regiment with more than [-] firepower.

Plus the exclusive supply chain!
The cavalry regiment of the third division, which is expanded and assigned according to the standard of the first-class combat readiness force, is not a concept at all with the traditional cavalry in ancient times, and the combat method is not a horse charge in the traditional sense... Although these cavalry also have sabers, daily training The cavalry charge is still a very important part.

But these days, when you can use artillery and firearms to kill the natives from a long distance, why would you be so stupid to line up and charge over the wall?

Therefore, the tactical positioning of cavalry units like the Third Division Cavalry Regiment in the main force of the Chu State has never been a formation charge, but reconnaissance, counter-reconnaissance, rapid assault interception or support operations.

In terms of specific combat, it is mainly the following horseback combat.

And it is not easy for such a cavalry regiment to get off the transport ship. It is okay to say that there are more than 800 cavalrymen alone, but it is not easy to handle the more than 2000 horses and a large number of carriages.

At the same time, because the port facilities in Cadiz are too backward, the deep-water berths are very limited, and the port itself has no hoisting facilities, and even the trestles at several deep-water berths are not good. These ordinary wooden trestles are old. The disrepair made it difficult for the Chu army to transport a large number of vehicles, artillery and war horses ashore through these trestles in a short period of time.

And some usable trestles also need to give priority to the landing of artillery units and supply units.

As a result, the landing of the cavalry regiment of the third division was very troublesome, and it took a long time to wait in line for a deep-water berth.

As a result, when they landed, they found that the wooden trestle bridge was not able to withstand too many people and horses at the same time, otherwise the trestle bridge would be crushed in minutes.

In the end, we had no choice but to slow down, and at the same time, we simply used small boats to transport people ashore.

But there is no good way for horses, artillery and vehicles, so we can only take it slowly.

Although the landing of the cavalry regiment of the 53rd division was slower, it was able to proceed normally, but the landing of the artillery regiment of the third division next door was a disaster.

When I landed in the 75mm mountain artillery battalion before, I didn’t find any major problems... Although this thing is a division artillery, it is actually mainly light. The weight of the whole artillery march is only more than 360 kilograms. Artillery already counts

As a result, when the 75mm field artillery battalion began to land, the artillery with a total weight of more than 600 kilograms was pulled across directly... Although the transport ship has hoisting equipment, the hoisting equipment driven by the steam engine on the ship can be used. A division-level suppressed artillery with a long barrel was hoisted onto the trestle...but the trestle built in Spain was too stretched.

And the Chu people overestimated the quality of the port facilities built by the Spaniards. As a result, the seemingly solid stone trestle bridge collapsed after being loaded with three 75mm field guns in a row... The three main artillery pieces Even the draft horse with the cannon fell directly into the sea.

Colonel Wei Chenglin, the head of the Artillery Regiment of the 53rd Division, was so angry that he cursed: "These Spanish natives are too irresponsible to build such a tofu project!"

It's okay to scold, but there is nothing you can do... You can't arrest Spain, who is responsible for building the pier, and hold them accountable.

The three cannons fell into the water, and they still fell into the sea several meters deep. The horse that pulled the cannons basically drowned on the spot, and even the cannons disappeared.

Although it is said that divers can be organized to salvage in the future, I don't know when I will go.

In the end, the engineers of the Chu Army carefully surveyed several other berths, and finally found that the berths of trestle bridges are basically unreliable. If you want to get these heavy artillery ashore, you can only venture close to the shore and directly lift them on the shore Homework... The pier on the shore is solid and can hold up.

It's just that the berths on the shore for large-tonnage ships are very limited. Those berths were originally used for landing and disembarking by the logistics troops...the cargo of the logistics troops is also very heavy, and the vehicles and their cargo are basically heavy. If it is a horse, it will basically run more than two tons.

But there is no way, the only way is to let the supply troops go to the back row and let the artillery go ashore first.

The entire landing scene was even more chaotic than yesterday, and accidents occurred frequently... This made the Chu army very resentful and deeply dissatisfied with the Spaniards' infrastructure projects.

At the same time, in order to meet the subsequent port hoisting and transportation operations, Chu Jun had to let a large number of Spanish young men in the city start to go to the dock for construction.

This time the landing operation also revealed that the main force of the Chu army carrying a large amount of artillery and supplies was extremely difficult to carry out the landing operation.

It's not even as good as a servant army like the Indian Third Division... The Indian Third Division's landing operation was not that troublesome. When they landed yesterday, they didn't even have a port, and they used small boats to land directly.

Because the Indian Third Division is a standard lightly armed force, all of them are uniform personnel. Although there is a so-called artillery battalion, the artillery attached to them are all old 65mm field artillery, and when they go ashore, they are disassembled and assembled with small boats. Transshipment landed.

The number of mules and horses is also very small. There are only a few officers with horses and the draft horses of the artillery unit. It is enough to use a ship to land on the beach.

However, for the Third Division, just all kinds of riding horses and artillery horses, and logistics horses add up to thousands of horses.

There are 54 divisional artillery pieces in the artillery regiment, and then there are dozens of [-]mm infantry artillery pieces.

Then there are hundreds of various four-wheeled heavy trains, two-wheeled carriages.

The various logistics materials carried by the third division alone amounted to more than 2000 tons, and this did not include the 27th Army's subordinates, which had a larger amount of various logistics materials.

The logistics materials of the entire No.20 Seventh Army, that is, food, feed, medical supplies, ammunition, supplementary artillery, firearms, military uniforms, tents and other military supplies, amounted to more than 1 tons.

Otherwise, there is no need for an entire transport fleet to transport various supplies!

The reason why the 27th Army carries so many combat materials is because they also know that they have to fight in the local area for at least a few months or even more than half a year. All kinds of combat materials are taken away directly, but they can’t wait while fighting in the front Rear Supplies...

With the shipping speed of these years, waiting for the continuous supply later, the ammunition on the front line has long been exhausted.

According to past experience, the third division is nominally a second-class, but in fact, when the troops with the first-class configuration perform tasks during the war, they consume a huge amount of supplies every day.

Don't say anything about the consumption of ammunition. Just because people eat horse chews, the daily consumption of food and feed is dozens of tons.

If a battle breaks out, the ammunition fired, mainly shells, is also massive... The amount of ammunition used in large-scale battles is not calculated in rounds, but in tons.

And once the troops leave the material storage point and need to move forward to perform mobile combat missions, the logistical supplies needed are huge!

That's why the third division brought hundreds of horse-drawn carriages... The lack of vehicles is not enough, and even supplies that are hoarded at the port cannot be transported to the front line.

As for these transportation forces, they are only used by the Third Division itself. In fact, the higher-level military headquarters, that is, the No. 20 Seventh Army, will fully use the local manpower and material resources in the future to organize larger-scale supplies. shipping channel.

So even if the Chu Army's third division seems to be powerful enough to fight to the Spanish capital Madrid in one go, it is actually impossible.

Because the distance is too far...resupply is too difficult.

The first-class troops with strong firepower and high mobility of the Third Division are 150 kilometers away from the supply station, so their own logistics and transportation forces alone cannot ensure sufficient logistics supplies...even food will become a problem.

Even if you can rely on eating from the enemy to solve part of the problem, you can't solve the problem of ammunition.

This is also the reason why Bo Jian'an of the army only allowed the Indian Third Division to move around to clear out the surrounding enemy forces after the army began to land, but did not let the large troops go directly into the hinterland.

The logistics work has not been done well yet, and a large amount of supplies are still on the ship. Going deep into the inland is equivalent to sending the population by yourself...

No matter how good a rear-loading rifled gun is, it must have ammunition. A rear-loading rifled gun without ammunition is better than a fire stick.

So, after the navy bombarded Cadiz for a whole day, the army's landing was quite lively at first, but after that, they didn't attack for a long time, and stayed in the port of Cadiz for several days.

It was not until the seventh day after the landing, after all the supplies were moved ashore, that the army, led by the third Indian division, began to go deep into the inland!
At this time, the Spaniard on the opposite side also became nervous.

When the Chu army first bombarded Cadiz, the Spanish army in Cadiz knew that it was invincible, and there was no difference between directly defending Cadiz and sending people directly to the Chu people.

This was also proved in the follow-up shelling by the Chu army. The overwhelming heavy shelling of large-caliber naval guns was not something human could resist. At least the Spaniards had not found a way to resist for the time being.

So the Spaniards began to retreat a long time ago, and the Spanish troops who came up with emergency reinforcements from the surrounding areas did not blindly go to Cadiz, but went to a place called Harkasburg to join the Cadiz retreat.

In the next few days, the Spaniards' troops and a large number of material resources were continuously gathered from the surrounding areas, and soon more than 3 troops were gathered in the Harkasburg area.

These 3 people are also very typical of Spain's new army.

That is to say, a new army equipped with flintlock guns, mainly new artillery, and adopting line tactics as the core tactics.

The infantry were all new-age line infantry, half of the flintlocks were imported from Chu, and half of them were Spanish-made flintlocks.

The artillery is equipped with more than 150 front-loading smoothbore guns, and the performance of these smoothbore guns is actually good.

They are not the kind of old antiques from the Thirty Years War. They are basically new field guns that have been popular in the past 30 years. The effective range of the 20-pounder cannon can reach thousands of meters, and it fires wooden disc fuze grenades with wooden bullets. The kind... It is either the export version of the Chu State artillery, or the export version of the Chu State artillery imitated by the Spaniards.

Chu State has never exported grenades.

But the technical content of this thing is not high, and European countries can also make it by hand, but because the shell casing technology is not good, the explosion power is small, and there are few fragments.In many cases, the so-called grenade produced by these European indigenous countries has a lot of duds. Even if it explodes, it is easy to explode directly in half, and cannot effectively form a large number of fragments.

To some extent, because of the emergence of the Great Chu Empire, the military level in Europe has improved by at least 50 years compared to the original time and space... and in the field of artillery, it has improved by at least hundreds of years.

In the original time and space, the wooden bomb holder and the wooden disc fuze were not used on a large scale until the middle of the nineteenth century... The technical content of this thing is actually very ordinary, mainly a problem of thinking.

Of course, because of poor basic technology, the Europeans seem to have produced a new type of grenade, but the actual power is not very good, and there is no way to compare with the grenade produced by other countries in the middle of the nineteenth century.

Just the manufacturing and processing technology of a bullet case has to stump them.

But for European countries, less power is better than nothing.

Today's Spain is in the area of ​​Harkasburg, about seven kilometers north of Cadiz. The [-] troops gathered can basically be regarded as the current mainstream army in the European region. It is highly representative in terms of weapons, equipment and tactics. .

And can such a Spanish army stop the Chu army?

In this regard, Captain Harrell, an Indian, expressed his pessimism...and even felt sad for the ignorant and fearless Spaniards opposite: These fools are really ignorant and fearless!

But anyone who has seen Chu's new regular army fighting with breech-loading rifled guns would not be able to face such a neat and dense infantry phalanx in front of the Chu army!

What's the use of this besides sending people?

(End of this chapter)