Reborn South Africa as a police officer

Chapter 2092 What can you do, hold back No.1

By the time Colonel Ronald Kelson arrived in the ancient city of Toledo, the siege had entered its 70th day.

The area of ​​the small town of Toledo is not large. The castle is located at the commanding heights of the whole city. In the middle of the 16th century, it was the palace of King Charles V. The castle is square, with four square pointed towers at the four corners. Take a closer look.

In the previous phase of the battle, the artillery of the People's Guard had already destroyed the two spiers on the east side of the castle, and the ground buildings on the entire eastern half were also razed to the ground in the blasting a few days ago. Part of the building has also collapsed, leaving only the minaret in the northwest corner intact, and the two artillery pieces of the defenders are placed in this minaret.

Colonel Ronald Kelson also learned at this time that the defenders only had two artillery pieces and four old-fashioned Maxim heavy machine guns.

On the side of the People's Guard, more than 13000 troops have assembled in the ancient city of Toledo, with more than [-] artillery pieces and nearly [-] light and heavy machine guns.

Colonel Ronald Kelsen was really curious, with such a huge advantage, why after more than two months of fighting, he failed to take down even a castle defended by more than 1000 defenders.

And it was a masonry castle, not even reinforced concrete.

"In addition to more than 1000 defenders, there are more than 200 people's guard prisoners of war and more than 1000 civilians in the castle. Every time we attack, the defenders will push the prisoners of war and civilians out as cover. The terrain of Toledo Castle is dangerous. Our superior force cannot be launched, and each time the offensive force is at most one battalion, our troops have not received strict military training—” Vincent Rojo, chief of staff of the People’s Guard, had a painful expression, and there were some reasons why he did not Say.

I really have no face to say.

The Popular Front is not monolithic.

As mentioned earlier, the entire left-wing alliance has more than a dozen parties, large and small, with very complicated interest entanglements, and even the People's Guard is full of contradictions.

For example, among the troops involved in the siege of Toledo Castle, the commander of the artillery unit, Fares Polaro, was sent by the League of Nations, and he had a big difference with Vincent Rojo.

Vincent Rojo is a Spaniard, and the Popular Front was elected by the Spaniards to come to power. Naturally, the Popular Front must take into account the safety of the hostages in the old castle of Toledo.

Although Borrallo is also a Spaniard, he accepts the leadership of the Communist International. He believes that the "hostages" in the castle are all supporters of the rebels, and the prisoners of the People's Guard have already defected. Otherwise, the Toledo Castle would not be able to survive until now.

Therefore, Polaro's attitude was very firm, and more than 20 artillery pieces went all out, and the ancient castle of Toledo could be razed to the ground in half a day.

So far, the artillery has fired more than 13000 shells, and the effect is not good.

The situation at hand also confirmed the words of Vincent Rojo.

After more than two months of fierce fighting, most of the buildings in the small town of Toledo have been completely destroyed. The integrity of the square Toledo Castle is now less than 60.00%. Colonel Ronald Kelson feels that he only needs one Charge, you can completely take Toledo Castle.

It's not that easy, however.

The artillery position of the People's Guard is located in the east of the castle. It has been more than an hour since Colonel Ronald Kelsen arrived at the Fortress of Toledo. And only one explosion was heard, the other was presumed to be a dud.

When the artillery began to shell, the nearby hillside was full of soldiers of the People's Guard who had nothing to do.

And the nearby residents watching the excitement.

And other media reporters from various countries with big news.

There are so many people gathered that hawkers shuttle among them, selling all kinds of snacks, tobacco and alcohol, which are very popular.

The People's Guard has a wide variety of equipment, and some rifles are still pre-World War II versions, and I don't know if the rifling has been smoothed out.

There are also Lee Enfields purchased from Southern Africa, though not in large quantities.

This is very confusing. The Republican government purchased 20 rifles from southern Africa, at least half of which have been delivered. However, these rifles have not been issued to troops, and it is not even known where they are now.

After in-depth understanding, the situation became more serious. The People's Guard is now restricting the use of bullets.

Spain is not Brazil. It has certain industrial capabilities, at least bullets can be produced.

The crux of the matter lies in the reforms implemented after the republican government came to power.

The reform of the republican government was led by the Popular Front.

The situation of the "People's Front" here is complicated. Due to some well-known reasons, I can't go into too much detail. Please forgive me.

The entire left-wing coalition can be divided into two parts, one part is the Popular Front and the other part is the Anarchists.

Most of Spain's military-industrial enterprises are in the hands of anarchists.

In the reform of the People's Front, the military industrial enterprises controlled by anarchists were implemented as public ownership, and workers were mobilized to protect their rights and demand better treatment.

This was understandable.

However, in the context of the Spanish Civil War, doing so had a huge impact on the logistical supply of the People's Guard.

The workers are all on strike, who will organize production?

Even trying to organize is hard.

Enterprises need money to organize production and purchase raw materials, but the People's Front has no money.

Military industrial enterprises are all under public ownership, and the former business owners naturally will not pay.

The Republican government does not dare to kill the business owners, because they still need the votes of the business owners——

So this is a dead end.

"Clear the field, all irrelevant people leave, including the artillery, the artillery must stay—" Colonel Ronald Kelsen carefully observed the artillery of the People's Guard, and he was the famous "Miss Seventy-Five".

Yes, the Spaniards have a good relationship with the French as well.

The Germans and Italians hope that Franco will come to power and can form a front and back attack on France.

The French are not stupid, so it is normal for the People's Guard to have French-made 75mm field guns.

But "Miss Seventy-Five" is already a technology of the last century.

Fortunately, the defense of Toledo Castle is not strong, so "Miss Seventy-Five" is enough.

But when he saw the artillerymen of the People's Guard, Colonel Ronald Kelsen suddenly thought of a word: chickens peck each other.

What worried Vincent Rojo the most happened.

Artillery Commander Fares Polaro agreed that the umbrella mercenaries would take over the fighting, but he did not agree to hand over the artillery to the mercenaries.

Major General Arokas Weiss of the People's Guard also disagreed. His reason was simpler. If the People's Guard were all withdrawn, the enemies in the Toledo Castle might take the opportunity to escape.

"If the enemies in the castle escape, we can successfully capture the castle. Isn't that our goal?" Kelsen was speechless.

In fact, the Republican government also has outstanding generals.

It's a pity that they can't get the trust of the Republican government. After all, the Republican government has only been established for a few years. Many of the current military officers have experienced the imperial era, and some marginalized military officers have to take refuge in the Falange.

"We not only want to occupy the ancient castle of Toledo, but also need a complete victory to wipe out all the defenders!" Major General Weiss asked more. He hoped that the mercenaries of the umbrella company could attack the ancient castle in the name of the People's Guard. Attack.

As I said just now, there are melon-eating people on the nearby hillside, as well as media reporters from all over the world.

It is very simple to distinguish the mercenaries of the umbrella company from the soldiers of the People's Guard, and the difference is clear at a glance.

Now the mercenaries of the Umbrella Corporation are also resting.

Members of the People's Guard laughed, smoked and drank, sat and stood up and down, and even flirted with hawkers.

The mercenaries of the Umbrella Company were sitting on the ground. Some were resting, some were arranging equipment, some were checking weapons, and some were smoking and chatting. The equipment and clothing of the two sides were even similar, but it was easy to tell which side was the mob.

No, the mercenaries of the umbrella company are all Lee Enfield.

Clothes are actually different.

The civil war broke out so suddenly that the People's Guard didn't even have time to unify their uniforms, so they wore everything. Some members of the People's Guard were still wearing the uniforms of the imperial era.

The umbrella side is actually optional, there are no strict rules, but most mercenaries choose hunting jackets and pants with multiple pockets, and only the backpacks are uniformly provided by the umbrella company.

This involves a problem of identification between friend and foe.

The members of the umbrella company are complex, including whites, Chinese, and Africans. On a complex and changeable battlefield, how to distinguish between enemy and friend has become a serious problem.

The solution is also very simple. Umbrella Company specially customized some equipment, such as large backpacks and three-day backpacks, which completely solved this problem.

The big backpack is easy to understand. The three-day backpack is a medium-sized backpack. It is generally used to hold ammunition, food and personal items for three days. It is enough to deal with battles in most cases.

It is worth mentioning that all backpacks are uniform desert camouflage.

"If the enemy leaves the castle, we can annihilate them more easily." Colonel Kelsen doesn't care about honor, what honor does a war hyena want, as long as the enemy is afraid.

Major General Weiss was finally satisfied, and he was not in a hurry to leave, he wanted to see how the mercenaries of the Umbrella Company fought.

Colonel Kelsen doesn't care, just look at it casually, if you can train soldiers like the mercenaries of the Umbrella Company if you can look casually, then you are capable.

Colonel Kelsen did not pay much attention to the artillery led by Fares Polaro.

The Umbrella Company also has artillery. Although the mortars don't look as reliable as the "Miss Seventy-Five", they are more advanced in performance.

The gunners of the key umbrella company are all veterans, and they can all be instructors in the People's Guard.

Colonel Kelsen didn't talk nonsense. He found the only complete steeple on Toledo Castle more and more distasteful.

The gunners of the Umbrella Company are really powerful. They don't need a commander or a range finder. The telescopes used for observation are all monocular, but the effect is surprisingly good.

Four 60mm mortars took only two rounds to completely destroy the last minaret.

(End of this chapter)