Xinshun 1730

Chapter 1277
This is where James Wolfe's reputation is so famous, and the reason why Financial Street protects him-his refusal to carry out the Duke of Cumberland's request for him to replenish guns for the opposition nobles is a banner.

The more gentlemanly he was, the more brutal the Duke of Cumberland;

After all, when the Rochefort incident happened, the Duke of Cumberland was experiencing the lowest ebb in his life: in Hanover, he was defeated by the French, signed the "Zeven Agreement" with his head down, disbanded the Hanover army, abandoned Hanover, Although the British didn't admit it afterwards, his reputation was stinky, and he didn't dare to stand up in a short time.

This is why the Rochefort incident was so partisan: the Duke of Cumberland begged the Parliament to send a fleet to support him before Hanover was defeated by the French, but the Parliament ordered the navy to go to the Port of Rochefort.

However, before these factional struggles, the Duke of Cumberland still carried out a certain degree of standing army reform in Britain.For example, the head of the 20th Infantry Regiment stationed in Gibraltar at this time was not bought, but appointed, and the government paid for military equipment, food and grass.

Of course, the system of buying officials still exists, coexisting with the standing army of this appointment system, so there is a long-standing joke in the British army [Cheers to bloody battles, plagues, and epidemics! 】

For example, an officer who can't afford a regiment leader, one radish and one hole, and if the last regiment leader died, he can replace it without spending money.And he fills the position, for example, if he turns out to be the battalion commander, then the battalion commander's hole will be vacated... By analogy, the officers must of course toast to bloody battles, plagues and epidemics.

But even this limited reform laid the groundwork for Britain's participation in the war.

To a certain extent, it can be regarded as consistent with the strategic considerations of Dashun’s military reform thinking: after the Jenkins Ear War, a group of insightful people in the UK realized that for a long time to come, wars must be fought with numbers Wars based on the projected scale of thousands of people, and given the geographical environment of the United Kingdom, most of the wars that the Army participated in were in the colonies.

Therefore, a standing army is needed, a standing army that can be sent to distant places, has undergone long-term training, and is supported by the finance and the government, as a ready-to-board ship to participate in a decisive battle of 5000 men in various colonies.

As one of the results of this incomplete military reform, the 20th Infantry Regiment, because of the rigorous training of its previous commander James Wolfe, the training ideas of treating soldiers as scum and villains, and the artificial destruction of the queue The idea of ​​military discipline that should be shot directly makes it have a certain combat effectiveness.

After being besieged for two months, it still did not collapse, but could still obey the orders of the officers.It is possible to withdraw from the fort fortress in the direction of the bay at dusk, assemble in formation, rest and wait, and launch a counterattack in the early morning.

James Wolfe's training tactics during his tenure as regimental commander were strict discipline, neat formation, and thunderous volleys.

It can be said that his thinking has captured the correct understanding of the background of this era, the lack of delivery capabilities of various countries, and the decisive field battle of 5000 people in the colonial war.

According to this idea, if it happened in the colonial war, the tactical system would definitely destroy the same number of French troops in one wave.

Because the tactical system of the French army revolves around the Continental Army system, with Prussia and Austria as imaginary enemies and tens of thousands of people fighting in the field.

In short: artillery bombardment, infantry resistance, cavalry charge.France still had the best regular cavalry in Western Europe at this time.

Therefore, in this kind of battle with a scale of three to 5000 people, colonial characteristics, requiring infantry to carry the main beam and take the initiative to attack, and cavalry is scarce, the French lost, and it was not wronged at all.

However, for the British 20th Infantry Regiment stationed in Gibraltar at this time, they encountered a completely asymmetric tactic.

Dashun's idea of ​​military reform, or thinking about sending the elite across the ocean, was never thinking about fighting in the field.

India relied on infantry and cavalry to push it. The advantage of distance and Ceylon can pull the army over.

Landing in the UK, or getting involved in the European field, never thought about it.

In the Caribbean, North America, or South America, the navy can only go there if it has command of the sea, otherwise it will not go at all.Having won the command of the sea, it is not that France has no infantry. Dashun is still specialized in siege and siege training, and does not want to fight field battles at all.

The Caribbean is an island-hopping naval blockade and engineer siege; North America is forest harassing, stragglers have the advantage, naval blockade, straight into the harbor, or siege; South America is sparsely populated, field battles are all supported by strongholds .

Therefore, in this battle, even if the British army can gather and show their degree of organization, they are still at a huge disadvantage.

James Wolfe focused his talents on formation, volley, field battle, and queue.

Dashun's expeditionary force focused their talents on trenches, defense, explosives, digging pits, and slope warfare.

The place where the battle took place was inside the siege fortifications dug in advance by the Dashun engineers.

James Wolfe's tactical thinking is: formation, approach, volley, charge, one-shot deal, all in one go.

The siege defense system of Dashun Engineers is: a small number of troops and skirmishers on the first line, the main force on the second line, defensive counterattack, Tianke one-shot deal, full of resilience.

Therefore, at two o'clock in the morning on November 11, under the chilly moonlight, shortly after the British army launched a counterattack, it was obvious that something was wrong.

Not long after they walked out of the fortifications on their side, they were discovered by the sentries arranged by Dashun.

After the gunshot, the skirmishers deployed on the front line immediately began to fight back with rifled guns.

These skirmishers have long been familiar with this strange ballistic, which is completely different from that of muskets, and they are very accurate. They start to kill the British infantry who are marching forward one by one from a distance of two hundred paces.

The artillerymen, who were awakened by the gunfire and the officers' orders, also began to fight back.

A few grenades mixed with oil and rubber were thrown by front-line engineers into the middle of the approaching British infantry company. The wailing and screaming while burning were particularly horrific at night.

And those strange grenades, the flames produced after burning, are extraordinarily commanding and last for a long time, and provide lighting for the stragglers.

The British soldiers still carried forward their strong spiritual will, resisted the bursts of rifled skirmishers, advanced to a place very close to the trench, and launched a charge.

But they soon felt hopeless again.

The expected brutal trench warfare did not happen immediately.

In the first-line trenches, there were not many people at all.

When the British army rushed over, the front-line infantry and engineers withdrew to the second line of defense along the backward traffic trench.

And the intersection of the first trench and the rear traffic trench is the circular fortification deployed by Dashun.

Inside are two cannons, slightly above the ground, to control the trench and the first trench.

Dashun dug zigzag trenches to prevent the defenders' artillery from piercing the candied haws.

The cannons in this circular fortification are designed to pierce candied haws, so the deployment position is naturally very particular.

When the British charged, the skirmishers withdrew to the ring fortifications to accompany the artillery.

This kind of circular fortification, in the era of mortars, whoever digs like this will enter the military court.

But now, the British army has not yet entered the era of flower bombs, let alone the era of mortars.

The skirmishers squatting in the ring fortification leisurely continued to shoot and kill the British infantry who rushed over.

The cannons deployed in the circular fortifications also, depending on the situation, either pierced candied haws, or sprayed them at close range with shotgun shells.

The grenade, which was born for the slope battle of the siege, was the advantage of Dashun's side, and it was constantly thrown condescendingly at the British army rolling in the trench.

At the same time, the main force in the second ditch has also begun to gather, and according to the tactics already predetermined by the staff, they will concentrate on the two wings along the ditch, preparing for a counterattack.

The fire support companies of the combat engineers are equipped with variant tiger squatting guns, or small-caliber flowering mortars, or primitive grenade guns—the ones that Dashun chose at the beginning, synchronized with Europe, and similar in appearance The bowl-mouth gun of the Husi hand cannon is regarded as a primitive grenade, but obviously it is not easy to use in this era, but this kind of primitive mortar or grenade has a remarkable effect.

Indeed, you can't hit it right, and you can't hit it far.

But the problem is that the smoothbore gun at this time can't hit far.

These small portable mortars deployed on the second line began to shoot the grenades that ignited the fuses towards the trenches of the first line of defense, continuously blasting out flames.

If you shoot at each other in the plain field, this thing can be shot out by the cavalry, solid artillery or infantry on the opposite side at this time.

However, this is not a field battle on the plains, but a siege and trench warfare for this purpose.

The narrow terrain made Dashun's attack uncomfortable. It was impossible to deploy troops on the isthmus, and it had to guard against the British bombardment on the rocky mountain. It could only choose to use floating forts to make a large-scale attack in the direction of the bay.

But at the same time, the narrow terrain also prevented the British army from deploying too many troops.

Attack, but can't push in.

There were not many people on the first line of defense at all. After occupying the first line of defense, the main force of the second line of defense also woke up. The strange shells, burning, and strange high-throw ballistics made it impossible for the British army to continue to attack.

Keep it, but can't keep it.

A ring of fortifications, garrisoned by artillery and skirmishers, was jammed next to the troop-carriers on their way to the second line of defence.

If the cut terrain is used on a large scale, it will either be pierced by cannons or sprayed with shotguns at close range.

Relying on individual brave assaults, those skirmishers squatting in the ring fortifications continued to shoot and kill.There are also engineers inside throwing grenades outside.

Looking for your own Grenadier to throw grenades?
The trench is facing the direction of the circular fortification, and there are no broken lines and zigzag corners at all, so there is no way to hide.

Don't hide, stand outside to light a grenade, and throw it in. The grenade of this year is dead, and it can't be thrown very far, and standing there to ignite the stragglers will kill them.

Regardless of those circular fortifications, cross the trench and continue to rush forward on flat ground?

There is a second line of defense in front, and a ring barrier with artillery and skirmishers behind it, it still doesn't work.

Fortunately, the officers of the British army are not incompetent, and they understand that the most urgent task now is to attack one or two hateful circular forts first, so that they can truly break through Dashun's first line of defense.

At this point, they can only grit their teeth and direct their respective companies to charge towards the two ring-shaped forts with horns in the middle against lead bullets and shelling.

(End of this chapter)