Wild North America 1846

Chapter 569 The Price of Arrogance

a little after 11 a.m.

This unknown troop appeared in the eastern outskirts of Saint-Malo town. A shadowy team approached, with dozens of cavalry in front, followed by a long queue carrying rifles, escorting about 70 horse-drawn carriages and Twelve field guns towed.

If the guess is correct, these carriages should be loaded with weapons and ammunition, spare guns, some tents, cooking utensils, etc. Of course, the carriages full of shells and gunpowder are indispensable, and the battle preparations are extremely sufficient.

On the eastern outskirts of the town of Saint-Malo, Major August von Bryan, who had been waiting here for a long time, led 173 soldiers under his command. After crossing the small stone bridge for about tens of meters in neat steps, they launched a horizontal formation. .

A total of two rows, more than 86 soldiers in each row.

In addition, Major August von Bryan of the German army and Lieutenant Hans, the company commander, stood side by side, waiting quietly for the opponent to come up.

The incoming French army stopped at a distance of less than [-] meters. After a few cavalry commanders whispered to each other and discussed with each other, some of them rushed back immediately, and vaguely heard the slogan "ready to fight" Voice.

Soon, the infantry formation of the French army was brought up and spread out against the German army.This is an infantry battalion of about 400 people. After deployment, each platoon has more than 140 people, a total of three platoons.

Under the command of the commander, these French soldiers put down the rifles on their shoulders and began to take out the paper shells and reload them, obviously in the rhythm of preparing for battle.

And this move

Major August von Bryan of the German army turned pale with anger. He bit his lips and ordered loudly: "All soldiers shoot their shoulders and check their guns. Load the bullets and prepare to fight."

At this time, it was too late to say regret or anything, and we had to bite the bullet and withstand this round of attacks from the French army before talking about retreating.

The guards hiding in the main position on the left side of the rear were already ready, loaded with bullets, and waited quietly for the enemy to step into the intertwined firepower net of machine guns and rifles.

The security officer Ma Wenyong was also on the front line. He stood at the window of a two-story building and carefully observed the enemy's formation with a binoculars.Finding that he had no intention of using artillery, he couldn't help being overjoyed.

he guessed
Perhaps the German soldiers who greeted them gave the enemy the illusion that the main defense force of the port of Saint-Malo was here.

How can a force of more than 170 people hold back an army of more than 2000?
The French commander was also very proud, and only sent a battalion of soldiers to fight, that is, a little more than twice the strength, to crush the Germans from the front.

As for the heavy firepower of artillery, it is completely unnecessary.

Ma Wenyong didn't believe that the French attacked this port, so he didn't know the strength of the Chinese escort of more than 600 people?

Could it be that he has also committed the problem of pride for being so big?

It seems that the great reputation of the Tang Empire for being brave and good at fighting has been weakened a lot after being separated by an Atlantic Ocean. How can it be so unbearable in the eyes of the French?
And this... might be a good opportunity?

Thought of here
Ma Wenyong immediately ordered in a serious tone; "Pass my order, all the guards are hidden for me, and they are not allowed to show their faces. If anyone exposes the target, I will kill him personally, including the right-wing position and the reserve team. Now, prepare to give these Frenchmen a big surprise."

"As ordered, sir."

The messenger quickly went to convey the order, and Ma Wenyong continued to pick up the binoculars and began to carefully observe the enemy's movements.

From afar
The French commander on horseback was also observing the town with a telescope, but he put it down after watching for a few minutes, talking and laughing with the officers around him, looking like he was winning.

Soon, the battle drums behind the French army sounded. This is a military band composed of 9 people, playing marching songs for the attacking French army.

The commander of the French army standing on the far right side of the line drew out his sharp command knife and gave a loud order "forward", and the long line of French troops began to move.

two to three minutes later

The French army's offensive formation has approached a distance of less than 500 meters, and still maintains a strict horizontal infantry formation. From this point of view, they are well-trained veterans.

It is impossible for the recruits to walk so neatly. After going down a few hundred meters, the fear and hesitation in the face of death will make the horizontal queue already look like a winding snake, and they will never be so calm and calm.

The German army is also a battle-hardened veteran. Under the command of Major August von Bryan, the German soldiers in the front row who had already loaded their ammunition squatted down, and the soldiers in the back row stood up. Tactics.

Seeing the attacking French soldiers getting closer and closer, from 500 meters to 400 meters, and from 400 meters to 350 meters, Major August von Bryan swung down the saber sharply. The order said; "First row, all fire!"

"Clap clap clap..."

The sound of dense volleys of guns sounded, and the thick gray-white gunpowder smoke rose slowly like a curved flying snake. The volleys of bullets fired by the German army rushed towards the French army like locusts, shooting down more than a dozen attacking soldiers in an instant, and their blood spattered. out.

The battered French army only hesitated for a moment, and then continued to advance firmly.

The vacancy in the front row, the French army in the back row silently moved forward to make up for it, enduring the casualties and continuing to move forward.

"Clap clap clap..."

After the second round of firing, more than 2 French soldiers fell down again. However, they did not stop advancing and shortened the distance to about 20 meters.

At this moment

The pre-emptive German soldiers had already reloaded their bullets and raised their rifles in unison. Then the French commander loudly ordered, "All stop advancing, raise the guns horizontally, and prepare to... launch!"

"Clap clap clap..."

"Clap clap clap..."

Soldiers on both sides fired at the same time almost regardless of the front and back. The dense bullets shuttled back and forth, making a creepy muffled sound of "puff puff puff" when they penetrated into the flesh. Soldiers on both sides fell limply to the ground and died.

Relatively speaking
Due to the wider platoon of the French army and the denser number of bullets fired at the same time, the damage caused to the German soldiers was also greater.

In the first round of shooting alone, nearly 30 German soldiers were hit, and a large part of the platoon of German soldiers collapsed.

Immediately afterwards... the second and third rounds of shooting followed.

After the heavy smoke

Nearly half of the German troops at the front had suffered casualties. At least seven or 80 people were shot and lay down, including the overconfident Major August von Bryan, who died under the heavy rain of bullets from the French army.

Lieutenant Hans, who was standing beside him, was injured in his shoulder. Seeing that the situation was overwhelming, he had to wave his hands and order, "Retreat, quickly retreat across the small stone bridge."

The remaining less than a hundred German soldiers retreated in embarrassment, and some soldiers were still supporting their wounded comrades, and ran towards the small stone bridge in a stumbling manner.

How proud I was when I walked over with my head held high, how embarrassed I am now.

"Clap clap clap..."

"Clap clap clap..."

"Clap clap clap..."

The experienced French soldiers would not give up this opportunity to beat the dog in the water. They stood still and continued to shoot three rounds of alternating fire. After knocking down about 50 German soldiers in retreat again, they took it easy. Continue to reload.

Under a series of orders from the commander, the attacking French soldiers raised their guns and continued to move forward with proud steps.

Defeating the old enemy, the Germans, made the French soldiers who had been depressed for a long time very excited, and there were bursts of cheers from afar.

The commanders of the French army standing behind watching the battle were all smiling, and with a big wave of their hands, they ordered the follow-up troops to move forward, followed closely behind the attacking French army, and swaggered over in marching ranks.

There were a total of 174 German officers and soldiers striding across the small stone bridge. Only 46 of them retreated in embarrassment.

The French soldiers were cruel and ruthless, and they would not be soft on their compatriots, and they would not be soft on the Germans.

Either don't do it, or do it if you want to do it.

Due to the limitation of the small stone bridge, the attacking French soldiers could not maintain the horizontal formation. When they were about 100 meters away from the small stone bridge, the French commander issued an order to "disband the horizontal formation".

The French soldiers rushed up in a swarm, and fiercely mended the German officers and soldiers who were lying on the ground on the other side of the small stone bridge, and then rushed up with sharp bayonets...

in their eyes
The retreating German soldiers had already crossed the small stone bridge and ran away. About forty German soldiers retreated into the town in embarrassment.

When most of the 350 French soldiers passed the small stone bridge, Ma Wenyong waved his hands fiercely and said, "Hit, hit me hard."

Hiding in the house, the guards behind the wall emerged one after another, and the rag felt covering the Colt heavy machine gun was also torn off, and the black muzzle was aimed at the swarming French soldiers.

The nearest one is only a dozen meters away, which can almost be said to be close combat.

In the terrified eyes of these French soldiers, three heavy machine guns fired first, "Da da da... da da da da da...", and then more than 100 rifles also fired intensively, submerging these French soldiers in the dense fire. in the net.

"Da da da... da da da da da..."

The three heavy machine guns in the town and the three heavy machine guns in the main position on the right were all firing crazily, and there were bursts of crisp rifle sounds in the middle. After the intensive firepower lasted for five or six minutes, Ma Wenyong loudly ordered "cease fire." , all stop shooting..."

The smoke clears
The French infantry battalion that rushed through the small stone bridge has been completely annihilated, and the corpses are lying all over the ground. The strong smell of blood makes people want to vomit. It is simply a bloody killing field.

The French commander in the rear was stunned. After seeing his attacking troops wiped out, his face twitched violently a few times, and he shouted heart-piercingly;
"God! Pull our guns out, go, go... I'm going to smash these vile enemies with fire and let them die in fire and fear, these bloody Germans..."

At this time, he still hasn't figured out who the real enemy he is facing is?
(End of this chapter)