Kowloon wins

Chapter 1146 Taking Bratsk by Force ([-])

Bratsk Castle is a typical western-style castle. It faces the water in the east and the mountains in the west. There is no urn city, but there are two arc-shaped city walls, the front is short and the rear is high, but even the short one is about seven feet, and the tall one is about ten feet, all of which are made of huge boulders. It is made of bricks, each with a width of about three feet. There are many semi-protruding circular blockhouses on the city wall, which can be used as strategic passes for attack and defense. A moat about ten feet wide is built in front of the city wall. The city passes by, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it is the most dangerous strategic fortress in Eastern Siberia. Although the Qing army is overwhelming the city, it is not easy to defeat it in a single battle.

A surprise attack is obviously not possible anymore. After seeing and gaining wisdom, the Russian army has stepped up vigilance on all parts of the castle, not only on the front wall, but also on the difficult-to-climb places such as the back mountain. Teams of patrols were patrolling back and forth, even in the dead of night, they never slackened in the slightest. There is no doubt that there is only one way in front of the Qing army——Strong attack!
On the seventh day of the ninth month of the third year of Renhe, the official card was announced. Not long after the genius was born, the Qing army finally came out of the camp after a three-day rest. In less than half an hour, they had already lined up all over the city. The four infantry divisions lined up in front, the artillery division was in the middle, and Ke Luntai led the cavalry division and the fifth infantry division behind the formation, posing a posture of a frontal assault.

"Report to the commander, the artillery division is ready, please give instructions!"

At the end of the hour, the heavy artillery unit at the forefront had already completed all the preparations before firing. Yuan Shengan, the commander of the artillery division in charge of commanding the battle, did not dare to delay, and hurriedly sent a communication officer to the central army to report to the army. Ke Luntai made a report.

"Let's begin."

Ke Luntai glanced at the top of the city expressionlessly, and with a wave of his hand, he gave the order.

"Yes!"

After the general order was issued, the communication officer who came to report did not dare to delay a little bit, so he hurriedly and respectfully accepted the promise, hurried back to the front position, and conveyed the order to Yuan Sheng'an.

"All artillery positions are available, target: the enemy's first city wall, eight rapid-fire shots, open fire!"

As a veteran who participated in the Eastern and Western Expeditions, Yuan Sheng'an has reached the age to transfer to the second line. This expedition is his last chance to make meritorious deeds. Although he has participated in the battles a few days ago, he must When it comes to the results of the battle, it’s really not that much. They are basically cooperating with the infantry to rush across. Now, the real stage of the artillery division is just now. Yuan Sheng’an has been looking forward to this for a long time. After receiving the order to fire, even if he was refreshed, he didn't have much nonsense, but seeing him suddenly wave the small red flag in his hand, he gave the order with a high-pitched voice.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

Following Yuan Sheng'an's order, the artillery divisions and the artillery regiments of the infantry divisions placed at the forefront of the whole army all started to move, and the sound of the artillery immediately rumbled into one piece, among which were the movements of eight mortars. The biggest, every time it is fired, it will shake the ground for a while, nothing else, the power of this kind of super cannon is too huge - the mortar used by the Qing army is the latest siege gun developed by the Ministry of Industry A sharp weapon with a caliber of 480 mm, a short barrel, and a slow initial velocity, but each shell weighs [-] kilograms. The conical shell is filled with high explosives and blasting shrapnel, and its lethality is astonishing. Even if the walls of Bratsk Castle were built with huge stones, they are not much better than muddy ones in front of such huge bombs. As long as they hit the place, the walls will inevitably collapse, and the dust and In the midst of gunpowder smoke and splashing of rocks, the scene can be described as astonishing.

The Qing army has always attached great importance to the construction of artillery. In the group army, there are not only artillery divisions directly under the army, but also artillery regiments under the divisions of the infantry divisions. The brigades below also have artillery battalions. After careful calculation, there are as many as 32 heavy artillery pieces. , As for the battle defense artillery and light infantry artillery, there are more than [-] guns in total. Under such fierce firepower, the Russian officers and soldiers on duty on the first city wall will be out of luck. Only the first round of bombing When they came down, more than half of the casualties were already over half. How could the lucky survivors dare to stay where they were? Before the second round of shelling by the Qing army started, they all ran away cleanly.

After the eight rounds of bombardment, the Qing army did not launch another bombardment, but waited quietly for the smoke to clear. After an incense stick of time, the dilapidated city finally showed its true colors, and there were seven or eight completely destroyed cities. It collapsed, and as for the arc-shaped fortresses erected on the outer city wall, they were basically broken. There was no living Russian soldier on the city wall, and even the Russian army on the second city wall had withdrawn early, leaving only A small number of observation posts are still watching the movement of the Qing army from the top of the city in fear.

"There are mortars and heavy artillery, the target: the enemy's second city wall, ten rapid-fire shots, open fire!"

Seeing that there were not many enemy troops on the second city wall, Yuan Sheng'an naturally did not want to waste any more shells from the medium-sized anti-aircraft artillery and light infantry artillery that mainly killed soldiers, and only let the heavy artillery and mortars go again. Throw in the attack.

The heavy artillery and mortars of the Qing army did not fire fast, but their power was equally astonishing. They bombarded round after round in such a leisurely manner. Soon, the second city wall of Bratsk Castle also appeared. It collapsed, although the gaps were much smaller than the seven or eight places on the first city wall, and only three places collapsed, but for the Qing army preparing to attack the city, the road leading to the inner city was already closed. It was blasted away, and the seemingly impregnable Bratsk Castle was now like a young woman who had taken off her clothes, waiting for the Qing Army infantry division to come to visit.

"Order: The second division launches an attack immediately, and all artillery divisions and regiments cooperate to fight!"

After the gunpowder smoke cleared, there were gaps in the two city walls before and after seeing the enemy. Ke Luntai didn't intend to wait any longer, so he gave the order to charge the city with a wave of his hand, and dispatched a whole infantry division for the first attack The troops are obviously ready to rush into the city in one go.

As soon as the Qing infantry charged, the Russian observation post on the top of the city sent out a warning. Immediately, under the supervision of the officers, groups of Russian officers and soldiers rushed to the dilapidated top of the city and the gap, trying to give a rush. The Qing army in the city was baptized with blood. At the same time, the artillery positions hidden in the city also began to be busy, preparing for the battle.

"All the artillery positions are ready, shoot a round of coverage shooting, and fire!"

The actions of the Russian army had long been expected by Yuan Sheng'an, but he did not rush to order to fire, but waited for the vanguard of the second division to rush to a place less than a hundred meters away from the city wall, and then forcefully fired. Waving the small red flag in his hand, he gave the order to shell again.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

At Yuan Sheng'an's order, all the gunners of the Qing army who had been prepared for a long time pulled the cannon bolts almost at the same time, and more than [-] cannons roared at the same time. The front and back two city walls smashed past, and the sound of huge explosions rang out one after another. The poor Russian officers and soldiers who had just rushed to the top of the city were blown to death and wounded on the spot. They were all panicked, and they had no heart to resist the Qing army's rushing troops. Only the Russian artillery in the city fired a salvo, which was considered to have caused some casualties to the Qing army's soldiers rushing to the city.

Speed ​​up, speed up!The officers and soldiers of the Second Division of the Qing Army had already had such relevant drills of following the artillery fire. Even though the smoke and dust were everywhere in front of them, and there were sporadic shells exploding from time to time, the officers and soldiers didn't care about it. With a long ladder, he rushed into the gunpowder smoke, quickly built small bridges at the gaps between the moat and the city wall, and swarmed across the dilapidated first city wall, risking sporadic Russian gunfire. The artillery attack rushed towards the gap in the second city wall.

"Pay attention to the artillery, the first artillery brigade, the secret position: four turns three, four turns four..., the second artillery brigade, the secret position..., blast the enemy artillery positions for me!"

The artillery positions of the Russian army had just opened fire, and the artillery observation posts of the Qing army had quickly calculated the location of the enemy artillery positions, and the secret positions were quickly reported to Yuan Sheng'an. To the effect, after a series of orders were issued, the artillery positions of the Qing army quickly adjusted their muzzles according to the instructions, and bombarded them wildly. After a few rounds of shelling, the artillery positions of the Russian army were completely destroyed. The siege of the [-]nd Infantry Division.

The Russian army is far inferior to the Qing army in terms of strength, weaponry, and training. If they want to defend Bratsk Castle, they can only rely on the fortifications. Now, with the Qing army's second division rushing into the city However, the fate of the Russian army's failure is no longer possible to reverse, but at the end of the day, the Russian army still has not surrendered on a large scale. A bloody street battle, trying to rely on the advantages of the terrain to squeeze the Qing army out of the city, no doubt, this is just an extravagant hope, the Qing army with two close-combat weapons, grenades and revolvers, is beyond the capabilities of the Russian army It can be resisted-it doesn't matter if you are not familiar with the roads in the city, you just need to open the way with explosives, and directly blast all kinds of obstacles, whether they are residential houses or churches, blasting all the way, and there is no chance for the Russian army to defend against danger at all.

At the end of the day, when it was almost dusk, after nearly three hours of fierce fighting, the resistance of the Russian army had been completely flattened. With the surrender of the Governor of East Siberia, Admiral Balchowski, the people in Bratsk Castle The sound of guns and artillery gradually subsided. It was a battle. Nearly 5000 of the nearly [-] Russian troops guarding the city died in battle, and more than [-] were captured. Only a small number of officers and soldiers escaped from the city in the chaos. The general battle of the Qing Dynasty ended with the complete victory of the Qing army...

(End of this chapter)