Reborn South Africa as a police officer

Chapter 360 ​​Efficient

The camp of the Northern Division of Rhodesia is at the entrance of Nicholson Canyon. On October 1899, 10, the 30 British troops led by Lieutenant General George White encountered the main force of the cloth army commanded by Joubert in the Nicholson Canyon. , in that battle, the British lost 1272 people, and the rest retreated to Ladysmith, where they were immediately surrounded.

The Rhodesian Northern Division will not make the mistakes made by the expeditionary force. In addition to sending out all the scouts, every half hour, there will be a company of soldiers riding out of the camp to patrol around. There are still two companies in the camp that can be reinforced at any time.

Although it is a temporary camp, the Rhodesian Northern Division is also meticulous in the construction of the camp. Drains and toilets are essential. All tents are set up on high ground in the camp. There are watchtowers around the camp. Machine guns, although the weight of the 37mm Maxim rapid-fire gun has not been reduced, Anton and Martin still used a carriage to get a dozen of them, which will become a big killer against the Zulus. The North West Division is fighting head-on, and the 37mm Maxim rapid-fire guns will make the Zulu suffer.

In order to maintain morale, Anton and Martin came up with a lot of small games, and set up prizes for small confrontations at the team level. Horse shooting is the most commonly used method. The punishment is to serve the victor.

The prizes are not rich, but it has effectively maintained the morale of the troops, and the technical and tactical capabilities of the soldiers have also been strengthened in the game.

Rock also discovered at this time that many soldiers were equipped with grenades.

The grenade in this period is still a bit complicated. The grenade is actually a deformed grenade. The grenade is added with a grenade tail, inserted directly into the muzzle, and fired with an empty shell.

"Our individual firepower is still a bit weak. The arsenal was originally committed to miniaturizing the 37mm Maxim rapid-fire gun to strengthen the firepower of the troops. Unexpectedly, this goal was not achieved, but the grenade was tossed out. For ordinary soldiers, The operation of the grenade is more complicated and requires a lot of training, so many of our current training subjects are around the grenade, and the effect is quite good.” Martin loves the grenade, and to strengthen the firepower of individual soldiers, the grenade is the best way.

"Very good, keep going--" Of course Rock knew the power of the grenade. In another time and space, the grenade of the Japanese soldiers left a deep impression on Rock, and almost all the memoirs will mention the grenade of the Japanese army.

The weight of the lethal grenade is generally 200 to 600 grams, the killing radius is about 10 to 30 meters, and the maximum range is 300 to 600 meters. For skilled soldiers, the grenade is comparable to a small mortar.

On June 20th, the Zulu scouts who went out to investigate returned in batches, and more information was gathered here in Rock.

There are now more than 15 Zulus participating in the riots. Most of the Zulus participating in the riots gathered in Pietermaritzburg, surrounded Pietermaritzburg, and then sent troops to attack the colonial army supporting Pietermaritzburg.

This routine is very familiar at first glance. The Yao people in Portuguese East Africa used this kind of "surrounding the spot to fight for aid" tactics, which caused the Portuguese to suffer a lot.

Now it seems that the Zulu people have also fully absorbed the experience of the Yao people against the Portuguese. Maybe the Zulu people who participated in the Portuguese East African War are commanding the Zulu troops who besieged Pietermaritzburg.

"Very good. To find the main force of the Zulus, we can go directly to Pietermaritzburg." Rock is very familiar with this routine. Not a threat.

Even if there are traitors among the Zulu scouts, colluding with the rebellious Zulu people inside and outside, trying to lure the Rhodesian Northern Division into the encirclement of the Zulu rebels, Rock is not very worried.

The British used to be very defensive against the Zulus, and they had strict control over the Zulus in terms of weapons. The Zulu rebels also got part of it because they defeated the colonial army in Pietermaritzburg and Cape. Weapons, but those crude weapons certainly cannot compete with the well-equipped Rhodesian Northern Division.

Luo Keke has never equipped the Yao people with a 37mm Maxim rapid-fire gun.

On June 21, the Rhodesian Northern Division set off for Pietermaritzburg to find the main decisive battle of the Zulu rebels.

There are more than 3000 officers and soldiers of the Northern Rhodesian Division who came to Natal. In addition, there are more than 3000 members of the Nyasaland Militia. These Nyasaland Militia members are responsible for transporting the northern Rhodesian Division. For supplies, they have actually received strict training, and they can also take up arms to fight when needed. This is the beginning of Rock's insidiousness. In name, only 5000 people from the Rhodesian Northern Division came, but in fact the number exceeded [-]. Not only the Zulu people don't know this, even Ade and Philip don't know it.

With a force of 5000 troops, there are more than 300 carts accompanying the troops, so the speed of the troops cannot be too fast, which is about [-] kilometers per day. This is also thanks to the roads built by the British Expeditionary Force during the Boer War. Without these roads, it would be good to have a forward speed of more than ten kilometers per day.

Before the big troops set off, all the scouts were released as usual. This time the scouts were not limited to the Zulus. The teaching battalion also drew a company of cavalry to participate in the reconnaissance. The [-] kilometers the troops advanced every day were basically in the Within the range of the scouts, it was unlikely that the Zulus would ambush the northern Rhodesian division unless they had a way of evading the all-pervasive scouts.

Ladysmith is only more than 100 kilometers away from Pietermaritzburg. On June 23, the third day after leaving Ladysmith, the Rhodesian Northern Division came to the Mui River, which is less than [-] kilometers away from Pietermaritzburg. Here , The Rhodesian Northern Division finally encountered stubborn resistance from the Zulu rebels.

"They made a good plan, relying on the natural geographical advantages of the Mui River, they hope to stop us in the Mui River—" Anton regretted that the Zulu rebels were quite smart and did not choose to ambush Rhodes. Instead, they set up positions along the Mui River, which indeed created more difficulties for the Northern Rhodesian Division.

"The scouts went upstream and downstream to find shallows for crossing the river. The teaching battalion set up a position opposite the rebels' position, suppressed the rebels' firepower, and organized the troops to conduct a tentative attack to see if there was any possibility of a direct breakthrough." Rock. At this moment, the heart is as strong as iron, and there must be a price to be paid for forced crossing, but without going through the test of blood and fire, the northern division of Rhodesia will not be able to grow.

"Yes!" Anton and Martin didn't talk nonsense. There was nothing they could do about it. Since they were on the battlefield, they had to have the consciousness of sacrifice, and the officers would act together with the soldiers.

The preparations will begin immediately, the teaching battalion begins to set up positions, the selected company A is preparing to forcibly cross the Mui River, and the men of the militia are busy arranging the assault boats. There are more than ten airbags inside, even if one or two airbags are broken, it will not affect the normal use.

The Zulu rebels on the other side of the Mui River noticed that the training camp was setting up positions, so they used Maxim heavy machine guns to harass the training camp.

It's quite methodical, using burst shots.

There were casualties in the teaching camp immediately, and the prepared medical soldiers rushed to rescue them. Anton was furious and commanded the 37mm Maxim rapid-fire gun to suppress the Zulu rebels' positions.

Compared with the 37mm Maxim rapid-fire gun, the firepower of the Maxim heavy machine gun is not enough. With the bang bang cannon showing its power, the heavy machine guns of the Zulu rebels were completely suppressed.

"Keep an eye on the opposite side, as long as there is a heavy machine gun that dares to shoot, I will kill him!" Anton looked carefully through the binoculars, and dozens of snipers in auspicious suits also entered the front line.

During the American Civil War, some Confederate soldiers were equipped with British Weyworth rifles with a 3x scope, and set a record for the longest range of 800 yards.

During the Boer War, the sharpshooters in the Boer army posed a serious threat to the British Expeditionary Force, and the British began to formally train a large number of infantry or special mission personnel with sniper expertise.

The Rhodesian Northern Division, as a British army, is of course equipped with snipers. Because of Rock's emphasis, the Rhodesian Northern Division is equipped with a lot of snipers. The organized snipers are under the direct command of the division headquarters, and they are equipped with accurate shooters. Has reached class level.

In the current world, only the British army and the Russian army are equipped with snipers. The British army has suffered from the Boers, so they pay attention to snipers, and Russia has suffered from the Finnish army's sharpshooters. , so it was a painful experience.

It is worth mentioning that the accuracy that snipers pursue is not the pursuit of shooting speed, so the rifle used by the snipers of the Rhodesian Northern Division is not Lee Enfield, but the older Martini Henry, and Lee. Compared with Enfield, Martini Henry is more powerful, and his well-modulated rifle shooting is more accurate, and he is more popular with snipers.

The participation of 37mm Maxim rapid-fire guns and snipers effectively changed the course of the battle.

The Zulu rebels did not realize that the tactics of the northern Rhodesian division had developed to such an extent, because they had received some supplies from the colonial army before, so the Zulu rebels also had some telescopes on their side, and the Zulu rebels used telescopes to detect Operations of the Rhodesian Northern Division.

When the snipers did not participate in the battle, the rebel officers with binoculars could use the binoculars to observe the positions of the northern division unscrupulously. After the snipers participated in the exhibition, those officers who used binoculars were out of luck.

The soldiers of Rhodesia Northern Division have an excellent shooting rate of 90.00%. After being equipped with sniper rifles, with the help of the scope, the snipers can hit a hundred shots without fail.

Bah, bah, bah——

The gunfire is not intensive, but it is very efficient.

(End of this chapter)