Chapter 287: Battle of Ladysmith II

The British artillery positions were deployed according to standards. Each position had 4 to 6 artillery pieces. The artillery was deployed at a width of about 100 meters in the front, and more than 80 meters behind was an ammunition car. An artillery position is about 8,000 square meters.

; Although the artillery of the two sides gathered more than 7000 meters at this time, this distance did not have a big impact on the attack effect of the Boer artillery, because the Boers pursued a covering attack, not aiming at a certain point target, but covering the whole with shells area! After Calypte’s calculations and exercise inferences, such a position can be solved with 80 to 100 150mm shells. If 12 150mm heavy guns are used for concentrated shooting, it will take no more than 5 minutes to destroy such a position!

In fact, this is true. The first British artillery position that was targeted has just completed deployment. Under the command of the company commander, the soldiers pushed the artillery to the position, and some gunners took out the artillery shells from the ammunition cart behind, and Not sent to the gun position in front, a red fireball slid down from the air with a harsh howling! After a loud noise, the shock wave generated by the nearly 9kg explosion engulfed a large amount of debris and swept over a radius of more than 20 meters. A gun that was only 3 meters away from the explosion point was instantly blown to pieces. After a shock wave passed, the entire company lost more than 20 people!

The 12 heavy artillery fired in the first round achieved good results. They fired almost at the same time, and the shells that landed at the same time were a disaster for the British who caught off guard. Great explosions sounded from time to time, and dense smoke and gunpowder covered the whole In the position, people could not see clearly what was going on inside, but from the violent explosion and the shaking from the ground, the British had no hope for those hapless colleagues. In just a few minutes, the entire artillery company was destroyed with all its artillery, more than 70% of vehicles and horses were lost, and more than half of the personnel were killed, and the rest were almost all injured!

The British lost a complete artillery company with little reaction. When the British discovered that the other side seemed to have a kind of long-range artillery, the other artillery positions had been destroyed, and the remaining two artillery companies immediately gave up the suppression task and prepared to evacuate backward. And at this time, the frontal firepower of the Boers finally came into force. Without the suppression of artillery, a large number of machine guns and mortars became the masters of the battlefield, and the hidden 75mm howitzers began to fire on the British follow-up troops. , Completely disrupted the opponent's offensive!

At this time, General Buhler found himself in a pre-designed trap. The firepower and fighters possessed by the Boers made him feel that he was not fighting against an African militia, but against a well-trained group. European powerhouses at war! The artillery as the backbone of firepower was mostly destroyed in a very short time, and the infantry attack was completely disrupted, and it was even difficult to escape.

; And at this moment, the cavalry on his two wings also issued an alarm to receive the enemy, and with 4 red signals bounced up into the sky, Buhler discovered that the Boers had already outflanked his two wings! If we say that with the advent of machine guns, magazine rifles, and rapid-fire guns, the infantry engagements of the two sides have undergone earth-shaking changes.

During the First World War, the two cavalry battles did not change much, especially the British cavalry, although they were equipped with riding rifles, but because the horses were too fast, unless they were riding infantry, the two sides still had to fight with sabers.

; Facing the outflanked Bull and American cavalry, the British naturally could not use the cavalry as horse-riding infantry, otherwise they would successfully cross the British flank defense line which was not wide. Under the leadership of the officer, the descendants of Anglo-Saxon mounted their horses and then controlled the speed of the horses to approach their opponents at a lower speed. Following the command to draw their swords, rows of cavalry drew out their sabers, and the slender and slightly curved sabers were shining in the sun. There was a dazzling white light. In the absence of heavy fire suppression, the outcome of cavalry engagement often depends on close combat.

A slightly harsh sound came from the air, and the black spots quickly expanded in the British field of vision. Then flowers of death bloomed around the formation, and the howitzer carried by the Burr cavalry was launched from 2000 meters away. In order to attack, although the less intensive shelling had little effect on the cavalry with higher moving speed, it still made the British officer give other orders to launch a charge. After all, this kind of light being beaten and unable to fight back is too much. tragedy.

The British cavalry began to accelerate gradually, and the saber stretched forward with a chilling light. The cavalry on the opposite side of the Boer opened a relatively large front, making their depth seem very thin, and the opponent seemed to have given up hand-to-hand combat. When the two sides approached more than 100 meters, the speed of the opponent's cavalry did not rise.

; The shot like a popping bean made the British cavalry suffer a huge loss for the first time on the battlefield in South Africa. In the last distance, every Boer cavalry almost matched the 20 rounds of the m1897 semi-automatic rifle in his hand. Empty the magazine! Hundreds of bars The semi-automatic rifle's explosive shooting in less than a minute caused a barrage almost as much as the firepower of a machine gun position!

; Accompanied by the wailing of horses and the sound of people rolling on the ground, the British cavalry almost went through this round of stormy blows on the blood of their colleagues~www.wuxiaspot.com~ But fortunately, they managed to use their sabers in the end. And courage tore open the opponent’s line of defense. The Boer’s not thick cavalry line had a very limited effect on the British cavalry group’s charge. Just after the British crossed the gunpowder and smoke screen, the British were surprised to find that there was one in their kilometer. U-shaped position, and they are right on this opening!

The British overdrafted their horsepower prematurely, and after breaking through the opponent's line that could almost be called a decoy, the restless cavalry plunged into this line of defense. The mobility of the Boers was really not a boast. Infantry with one man and two horses allowed them to easily choose to build temporary positions in a suitable place. In fact, the Boers did not intend to engage in a fundamentalist cavalry battle with the British. They gave up their firepower advantage and used cold weapons. Short hit long.

; The Americans on the other side are more "sincere". The price paid was relatively high, but with at least four times the strength of the troops, the Americans successfully crushed the opponent's resistance. The two cavalrymen began to close slowly like a pair of open pliers. Everything unfolded in accordance with the script, the infantry attack was frustrated, was firmly attracted to the ground, the artillery suffered heavy losses, the cavalry flanks were defeated, and the back road could be cut off...

; And at this moment, when Kruger thought that the overall situation was settled, the sound of cannons from a col on the periphery of the encirclement made the Boer’s plan fall short!

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