African Nationhood

(Thanks to RIULKN~ Brother Hao for the tip, thank you puppet!)

In the north of Pretoria, the road leading from the East Route Barracks of the South Chinese Army to Pretoria no longer exists, replaced by a series of cross-cutting trenches.

The South China Army's intention in attacking Pretoria this time was an upright battle mode.

They did not pursue any guerrilla warfare, but consumed the British bit by bit, causing the British to continue to lose blood until they could not persist in suing for peace and surrender.

Although this is the most cost-effective, it is not time consuming.

The current immigration of Nanhua Company has completely stalled. The original plan to resettle immigrants in various overseas territories was also shelved due to the attack of the British Navy.

Shi Jintang planned to use the results of this battle to give the British a step down and force the British to negotiate peace as soon as possible.

Boss Shi will not make wedding dresses for others, but will work for Germans for free.

Now that the strategy is set, just use all your strength to win this battle.

The British brought a large number of artillery through the railway line and bombarded the South China Army's positions every day.

The best countermeasure against artillery bombardment is to engage in trench warfare with the enemy.

So all the soldiers of the South China Army turned into civil engineers and competed with each other in digging the soil.

Tens of thousands of people dug together, which turned the northern part of Pretoria into a transverse trench belt.

……

The trenches for large-scale battles are not as long and straight as possible, but they must be angled and dug into angled corners, preferably in a "Z" shape or a zigzag shape.

There are three advantages to doing this:

First, straight trenches lack strategic depth and cross firepower, while angled trenches will have protrusions, which can form cross firepower, similar to the role of horse faces on ancient city walls.

Second, in a straight trench, in a defensive battle, once a point is broken through by the enemy, the straight trench will be undefendable.

Enemies who break into the trenches can fire freely on both sides, while the defenders in the trenches are in no danger of defending.

And if it is a zigzag trench, there will be a defensive point at the corner, and the entire trench cannot be seen at a glance.

When all corners can be used as defensive positions, you can rely on them to attack incoming enemies.

The third is the shock wave that will be formed when long-distance artillery grenades fall into the trenches.

Straight or curved trenches not only do not hinder such shock waves, but also have a certain amplification effect, which will increase the lethality of enemy artillery shells.

The angled trenches can prevent this situation very well.

The Nanhua Army specially conducted comparative experiments during its large-scale military training, and gained practical and effective experience from the experiments.

Observers from various countries were very curious when they saw the angled trenches of the South China Army, but the South China Army had no time to explain to them.

Shi Jintang had no time to pay attention to them, and just let his soldiers continue to advance, seizing the position hundreds of meters away.

……

The trenches were dug, and the next step was a small-scale battle for position.

In such a battle, the British army had no chance of winning against the South China Army.

"Artillery washing the ground" only looks like a big battle, but it does limited damage to the South China Army huddled in the trenches.

The trenches were useless to the British soldiers. Just when they wanted to peek out and secretly fire a cold shot, they would be directly shot in the head by a sniper as soon as they showed their heads.

When the British army tried to lie down in the trench and shoot at the South China Army, they were easily defeated by grenades falling from the sky. After all, mortars were specifically designed to suppress trench warfare.

After the mortar grenades exploded, very few British soldiers in the trenches survived.

The South Chinese Army would take advantage of the situation to clear the battlefield, then take the British trenches as their own, and in turn continue to attack the British Army.

The grenades and submachine guns of the South China Army were very useful, but the British soldiers carrying the 1.2-meter Lee-Enfield rifle were often shot or killed before they could even pull the bolt. …

Five days after the battle began, the British army had lost more than 5 soldiers, while the Nanhua army had only suffered losses of more than 1000 people.

The battle turned into a unilateral massacre by the South China Army, and the British Army High Command could no longer sit still.

Lieutenant General Kitchener's face was pale and his eyes were bloodshot, and he stared at the map in silence.

Major General Ian Hamilton and General Buller are the only two generals with some qualifications in the British army besides Lieutenant General Kitchener.

“General Kitchener, what do we do next?

If you still adhere to the established plan of fighting a large-scale battle, then we should take action. We cannot sit back and watch the South China Army eat away our soldiers bit by bit.

Otherwise, the fate of failure will befall us sooner or later. "

Lieutenant General Kitchener took a deep breath and said in a low voice: "This battle must be fought. Before, I was to observe the opponent's weapons and equipment, but now I have almost enough observation.

Next, I need you two to help me unite the army. The cavalry is crucial. Which of you will act as the cavalry general? "

Major General Ian Hamilton asked directly, "I can command the cavalry. Admiral Buller has great experience in the use of artillery. Let him control the artillery positions."

Lieutenant General Kitchener shook his head, "General Buller, let's defend the South China Army in the northeast corner. The two of us will fight the South China Army in the northwest corner first."

When General Buller heard this, he immediately understood that he wanted to desperately defend the South China Army in the northeast corner. He could not let the enemy in the northeast corner leave until the battle in the northwest corner was over.

General Buller nodded solemnly, "I will try my best to hold off the enemy forces on the east route to buy time for you two."

Lieutenant General Kitchener nodded, "I will allocate 1.1 people to you, and the remaining 5 people will be put into the west battlefield. In addition, I will also give you half of the artillery force."

After hearing this, General Buller went through the combat configuration in his mind. The artillery force had a total of 105 80mm cannons and 75 118mm field guns.

(The 90mm caliber artillery seems to have only become popular during World War II. I added it as a matter of course before, but now I have removed it.)

If divided into half, this artillery fire is enough to suppress the opponent, but the number of shells may not be enough.

The attacks by the Boer guerrillas caused great damage to the British army's transportation lines. The transportation teams in the rear must be heavily escorted and the railway lines must be maintained frequently, otherwise supplies, weapons and ammunition cannot be transported smoothly.

News came from Cape Town that the Boer attack was approaching Cape Town. Governor Milner could only impose martial law on Cape Town, otherwise the Boers were likely to appear directly in his Governor's Palace.

If we fail to win this battle, all of South Africa will be lost, and the British Empire will suffer an extremely heavy blow!

……

Lieutenant General Kitchener began the pre-war layout based on the map. His intention was to place 4 infantry on the front to attract the enemy's attention. At that time, the artillery units would also follow the infantry on the front to advance in coordination.

And Ian Hamilton launched an attack from the side with 1 cavalry troops.

Major General Ian Hamilton and General Buller had no objections to this. After all, the battle had been going on so far, and they could only try their best, otherwise they would have no chance.

While the three were discussing, a deafening sharp whistle suddenly sounded outside, and the three generals had a vague premonition in their hearts.

"Rumble~~~~"

The continuous explosions brought about continuous explosions, mixed with faint human voices crying,

The ground also shook, and there seemed to be giant beasts rolling and crawling under their feet...

The shock wave of the violent explosion was like a strong wind, and the tent they were in was washed away.

There was still a pungent smell in the wind. When they walked out of the tent, they saw that the artillery position was covered in yellow smoke, and the coughs and groans of undead soldiers kept coming from the thick fog.

The yellow poisonous smoke was still driven by the wind, spreading in other directions of the military camp.

"Is this a rocket from the South China Army?"

There is no need to answer Major General Ian Hamilton's question. Their artillery position is finished.

Since the opponent has destroyed the artillery positions, the next step will be to encircle and suppress the infantry.

There was no need to answer their questions, the roar of cannons was the answer.

The Nanhua Army took the lead in launching a comprehensive general offensive! (End of chapter)