America 1881: They Call Me Legend

Chapter 582
"Snapped!"

A piece of paper was slapped on the table.

The person who took the paper was Li Sifu, and he seemed a little excited at this time.

And Chen Jianqiu and Xu Ajiu sat on the chairs as if nothing had happened, puffing on a cigar each, while exchanging their experience of tasting authentic Cuban cigars.

"Do you want one?" Xu Ajiu took out one from the box on the table and asked Li Sifu.

But Li Sifu seemed not in the mood to accept Xu Ajiu's kindness.

Pointing to the piece of paper, he eagerly asked Chen Jianqiu beside him:
"Boss, what does Shaft mean? 'Abandon the attack on Guantanamo, and rush to support Santiago'?"

"Caimanera fell, thousands of Spanish troops were annihilated, Guantanamo opened its door wide, and we gnawed down the most difficult things, and we could come to the city in a few days."

"Let us support Santiago at this juncture, won't all our previous efforts be in vain?"

Li Sifu's eyes widened, his face was full of unwillingness.

"Someone wants to pick peaches." Xu Ajiu said lazily, half lying on the chair.

"Damn Yankee, damn Shaft!" Li Sifu scolded.

"It's called General Scheft." Chen Jianqiu tapped the table a few times with his fingertips, and looked at Li Sifu with a smile.

"Boss, why do you have such a good temper? They are trying to take credit from us!" Seeing Chen Jianqiu's disapproval, Li Sifu became more and more anxious.

"Eat pineapple, eat pineapple." Chen Jianqiu pushed the pot of pineapple to him, "It's such a hot day, why bother to get angry."

Li Sifu was not in the mood to eat pineapple.

Chen Jianqiu stood up.

"It's ours, so others can't take it away." Chen Jianqiu walked to the gate.

He picked up the cigar and took two more puffs.

"Sifu, you can just stay here with 2000 people and wait for the changes."

Rodgers and his 2000 people, he surrendered his weapons and released them back, without even intending to imprison them.

For one thing, he didn't want to waste food feeding these people, not even for a day.

Second, he doesn't intend to give these people to other American teams.

Li Sifu also complained in private that he let the tiger go back to the mountain.

Most of these people went straight back to Guantanamo.

One part has no fighting spirit and is waiting to return home, while the other part intends to continue to complete its mission and wash away its shame.

But these have nothing to do with him for the time being.

Because he was going to support San Diego.

In fact, regarding the order to mobilize the Second Cavalry Support Brigade to support Santiago, Li Sifu and the others misunderstood General Shaft.

The commander-in-chief really didn't mean to exchange the fruits of victory for his own people.

The main reason for issuing the transfer order is simple.

The U.S. troops attacking in the direction of San Diego were beaten all over their heads.

Except for Chen Jianqiu's team that landed first, the Fifth Army's subordinate troops were all deployed in this direction, including Roosevelt's Rough Cavalry.

Due to Chen Jianqiu's previous activities in southern Cuba, a large number of Spanish soldiers actively or passively gathered in the direction of Santiago.

The number of defenders here far exceeded Shaft's imagination (and also exceeded the actual number of soldiers in history).

To be honest, the performance of the U.S. Army in San Diego is not much better than their Marine Corps brothers in Guantanamo.

Spanish general Rubin and his men taught Wheeler and Roosevelt a good lesson in Las Guacima with two mountain cannons and jungle.

This excellent Spanish general retreated to the direction of San Juan Heights while fighting, and at the same time relied on shrubs, grape trellises and vines to block the US military in a layered manner during the retreat.

American casualties were heavy, while the Spanish army lost only 14 men.

By the time the U.S. military advanced close to Santiago, the camp was already full of wounded soldiers.

Under the local medical conditions, there is basically no difference between being injured and dying.

At the same time, yellow fever was also spreading in the U.S. military, causing shocking non-combat attrition, which greatly exceeded the number of deaths in combat.

Chen Jianqiu's rampage in southern Cuba also had a second consequence.

Even Chen Jianqiu himself did not think of this consequence.

Linares, the former commander of the Cuban Spanish army, was dismissed because of the disadvantage of the war and replaced by Brigadier General Torres.

Although changing generals in battle has always been a taboo on the battlefield.

But for the Spanish army, this turned out to be a good thing by accident.

The former is a rigid academic veteran.

He has always mistakenly believed that the Fifth Army attacking in the direction of San Diego was just a feint attack, and the real landing direction should be in San Diego Bay, so there are not many defensive troops set up in the east of the city.

Tens of thousands of Spanish troops shrank in the city of Santiago.

But after Brigadier General Torres went into battle, he quickly adjusted his deployment.

The general had exchanged studies in the United States, so he didn't take seriously the poor performance of the Fifth Army.

They don't play badly because they're feints!It's just that they pull their hips like this!

He moved most of his troops to the east of San Diego.

There are two strategic points on the east side.

One is El Canie in the northeast, and the other is San Juan Heights in the middle of the Royal Avenue in the southeast.

The former is the only place where the aqueduct that supplies water to San Diego must pass, while the latter is the commanding height of the entire San Diego and the gateway to the city of San Diego.

Brigadier General Torres substantially increased his numbers and equipment at both locations.

As the situation ebbs and flows, Scheft has no idea, so he urgently ordered Chen Jianqiu and his Second Volunteer Cavalry Brigade to rush in this direction for support.

By the time Chen Jianqiu and his men rushed to El Kanie, the battle to attack there had already begun.

El Kanie was originally a small village, famous for a local stone church.

According to legend, in the 16th century, on the night before sailing to Mexico and governing the Aztec kingdom, the conqueror Cortez once prayed in this church.

On a plateau less than a mile southwest of the village was a small plateau.

Above it stands a stone fortress called Fort El Viso.

The fort is not very big, and it doesn't even have a decent roof.

But this does not prevent it from being a veritable fortress.

The field of view is very good, the walls are thick, and there are machine guns and muzzles every few meters, facing all directions.

The Spanish army relied on this fortress for defense.

Originally, there were only a poor 200 Spanish soldiers and two mountain cannons for defense.

After Torres took office, he quickly increased the number of soldiers defending here to 500. At the same time, he also added six 75mm Knuber guns and corresponding heavy machine guns.

These people were not all concentrated in the fortress, but distributed in a circle of trenches around the fortress.

In charge of attacking here is the Second Division of the Fifth Army, led by Shaft's favorite general Lawton.

Chen Jianqiu, who had just arrived, led his troops to the southwest of them, and as a reserve team, the 600 people who were waiting for Lawton took the lead in attacking.

Chen Jianqiu took the binoculars, took Xu Ajiu, Danny and several other subordinates, and found a small high ground to observe the battlefield.

Danny and his wife Teresa set off from Roswell one after the other.

His wife led a medical team, while he led three hundred artillerymen.

However, because they still had [-] of the latest artillery pieces to board from Mexico, they arrived a bit late.

Danny also met Chen Jianqiu directly on the way to San Diego.

"Boss, look over there."

Xu Ajiu suddenly pointed to a piece of grass not far away.

There was a rumble of gunfire, and a huge cloud of smoke rose.

It was Lawton's artillery position.

They were bombarding the fort on the hilltop, smashing the strong walls with their shells.

Chen Jianqiu raised the binoculars in his hand and looked in the direction of the artillery positions.

He looked at it for a long time before he put down the telescope in his hand and handed it to Danny beside him.

"Look, I guess we should stay away from these hapless bastards."

Danny took the binoculars and looked at them too.

He shook his head while watching.

"Why are these guys still using black powder as propellant? Isn't this courting death?"

I don't know if it's because the army's artillery has not been in a formal battle for a long time, and those who don't know are fearless, or the new cannons just purchased by the Ministry of the Army are not in place.

These artillerymen are attacking the top of the mountain in a way that is close to suicide.

Every four or five of them gathered around the cannon, aiming at aiming, and carrying ammunition.

These people were unhurried, unhurried, and some even relaxed with their hips on their hips, smiling and chatting with the team members around them.

If you change it to decades ago, there is nothing wrong with their behavior.

But times have changed.

Now is the world of smokeless gunpowder.

In battle, using black powder to launch and emitting a lot of smoke is no different from collaborating with the enemy.

It is basically equivalent to painting a few words "Come and blow me up" with lime on the ground in front of you!
Danny gritted his teeth.

"These guys will be educated in no time, if the Spaniard on the opposite side has a little experience."

The Spaniards in the fort were obviously experienced.

Accompanied by another loud bang.

This time the loud noise came from the top of the opposite mountain.

A wave of explosive bombs hit the US artillery positions accurately.

For a while, it was shrouded in mud and gunpowder smoke.

By the time the dust and gunpowder smoke cleared away, people were already scattered on the battlefield.

The remaining artillerymen got up from the ground, ready to reload and counterattack again.

However, because their guns do not have a retracting device, they will move after firing, so the firing angle needs to be adjusted again.

Before the US artillerymen were ready to fight back, the second wave of shells from the opposite side hit again.

This time, two cannons were directly hit and fell apart.
And many of the unlucky ones surrounding the cannon also fell.

The American artillery was so suppressed that they couldn't lift their heads.

Both Chen Jianqiu and Danny couldn't stand it.

But they soon discovered that these were insignificant compared with what happened next.

The infantry attack has begun.

The [-]rd and [-]st Brigades, under the leadership of Ludlow and Joffre (not the French Joffre) respectively, began to outflank the village under the fort, while Miles was ordered to lead the [-]nd Brigade Attack the fort directly from the middle.

But the offensive coordination of the three lines can basically be described as poor.

The third brigade made the fastest progress, and they quickly reached their intended position, but were met with fierce counterattacks by the Spanish troops stationed in the village.

What's more, they are rushing to the front is the [-]nd Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment.

Most of these people are recruits.

The characteristic of recruits is that before they see death, they are extremely brave; but after seeing death, they are at a loss, and the little combat knowledge they have learned in the short training is quickly left behind, and then their technical and tactical actions change. , Eat a bullet or shell and become cannon fodder.

What's more, these people's equipment is not good, and they still use Springfield rifles that use black powder.

The corps was quickly stunned.

Soon, someone's brains were blown away, and the corpse fell to the ground, bloody and bloody.

When the recruits saw the blood, some yelled and ran back, while some hid in a corner and shivered.

For a while, the veterans who suppressed didn't know who to control, whether to comfort them, protect themselves, or just shoot the escaped people.

However, at this time, the first brigade was still on its way; the first brigade responsible for the frontal attack was not in a hurry, and was still slowly gathering.

It was almost noon when Miles and his [-]nd Brigade officially began their attack on the high ground.

In the front line is the 25th regiment.

This is a black group.

Although there are still debates at home about the ability of the black regiment to serve the country abroad, Colonel Miles has his own ideas.

Let the niggers go first.

If they sacrificed, they would exchange their lives for their reputation; if they escaped collectively, then the 1st and 17th Infantry Regiments in the second row behind, as the overseer, could also clean up these people.

While the Spanish artillery on the top of the mountain was confronting the American artillery, they still had time to "take care" of Miles's first brigade.

They had to choose a path through the jungle.

In this case, the blow may be less.

At that time, the battle line was advancing, and it was not like before, marching in line and playing military music.

But basically it is still a row of collective brains rushing forward.

After the blacks crossed the last jungle, the blacks finally saw the fort ahead.

At the same time as the high fortress, there are also several barbed wire fences and a large expanse of Baltic land.

From here to Fort Elviso on the top of the mountain, except for a small amount of bushes, there is nothing to hide, basically you can only charge.

The commander of the black troops gave the order to advance.

And the black people also followed the original plan, with guns in their hands, and moved forward step by step.

But they don't know that a disaster is waiting for them.

Because in addition to those powerful cannons, there are three heavy machine guns mounted on the front line.

These dark-looking heavy machine guns are sitting there quietly, waiting to take the lives of the black people on the opposite side.

(End of this chapter)