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Volume One: Fierce Battle in Changsha Chapter 733: Bloody Battle in Xintang

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    The battle continued until after the sun went down. The landing force of the British and French forces only advanced 500 meters. After dark, the British and French troops chose to stay where they were. They waited for dawn to launch another attack.  :.

    In the evening, the Taiping Army launched a night attack. This night attack and bayonet tactics reminded the British and French forces of the Russians in the Crimean War a few years ago. In the battle of Sestopol Fortress, the Russian army also often  Launching a night attack, they rushed into the coalition positions at night and used bayonets to kill unprepared coalition soldiers in the trench positions.  Now the Taiping Army did the same thing. Fortunately, the coalition forces were also prepared. After both sides handed over almost the same number of casualties, the Taiping Army finally retreated.

    As soon as it got light, Dundas and other coalition generals received the casualties of last night's night attack. There were more than a thousand casualties, which was almost the same as the casualties during the day. In just one day, nearly 3,000 coalition soldiers were killed or injured.  The coalition has 60,000 soldiers. If this continues, will the entire coalition force be wiped out in more than 20 days?

    The coalition generals looked at the map with sad faces, trying to find the Taiping Army's defensive weaknesses. However, before they could think of a new plan, the miserable coalition soldiers still attacked the two forts according to the previous plan.  more than.

    The Shajiao and Dajiao forts finally fell after three days. Both forts had a fatal weakness, that is, they were isolated. Once the logistics supply line was blocked by enemy artillery fire, food and ammunition could not be transported, and the two forts had a fatal weakness.  The fort has limited troops. During the three days of fighting, the fort soldiers suffered all casualties and ran out of ammunition.  When the last batch of more than a hundred Taiping troops launched a countercharge against the onslaught of the British and French forces, the two forts had actually fallen.

    British Corporal James was sitting on the ruins of the fort, gasping for air. Corpses were scattered all over the fort. Looking down the hill from the fort, he saw corpses strewn across the allied attack route.  James was very scared. He sat there and shivered. However, at this moment, the entire mountain shook violently.  James was shocked.  He stood up in panic, and saw flames spurting from the vents of several forts beside him. Captain Link exclaimed: "Damn it, these Taipings blew up all the cannons in the forts!  "

    The coalition forces fought hard for three days.  After more than 5,000 casualties, only two dilapidated forts were obtained. The number of enemy casualties was unclear. The coalition forces only cleared out more than 2,000 enemy corpses and did not capture any prisoners.  But judging from the size of the enemy's fort and fortress.  The two forts can be garrisoned by up to 3,000 men in total.  It was these 3,000 defenders who caused 5,000 casualties to the coalition forces, and this was only the first fort level in the attack on Guangzhou. Behind it, there were Humen Fort, Weiyuan Fort, Zhenyuan Fort, Jingyuan Fort, and Sifang Fort.  There are dozens of forts of different sizes.

    After conquering the two forts, the coalition forces temporarily withdrew their troops and stopped fighting. One day later, the coalition forces formulated a new combat plan. They gave up the plan of the army to cooperate with the navy to attack Guangzhou along the Pearl River. Instead, they changed the army's plan to attack Guangzhou from the Jinzhou area behind the Shajiao Fort.  After a large-scale landing, the army launched an attack on Guangzhou from land along Baishazhai, Dongguan, Xintang and other places, and at the same time detached an army to cooperate with the navy to contain the enemy from the Humen Fort on land.  If the side and rear defenses of Humen and other forts were as tight as those of Shajiao and Dajiao forts.  Then give up the attack for now.

    The difficulty before the coalition forces is this. Let's jointly attack the enemy's forts by sea and land. Then the casualties will be huge. The army should avoid the enemy's tightly defended forts and fortresses. That will lose the cover provided by the navy. But in the end, the coalition generals still chose  Take a risk, what if the army can successfully reach the city of Guangzhou?  Then the enemy's forts will become useless.

    So on the fifth day after the battles of Shajiao and Dajiao Forts, the coalition forces began to land on a large scale in the Jinzhou area. Fifty thousand coalition soldiers were sent ashore. Then the coalition forces quickly deployed their forces and began to attack Baishazhai, Dongguan and other places.

    It was just as the coalition generals expected.  It was impossible for the Taiping Army to deploy troops everywhere. Only a small number of local troops were stationed in Baishazhai, Dongguan and other places. Under the massive attack of the coalition forces, these places quickly fell.  The local troops did not organize effective resistance, but after they were broken into pieces, they often attacked lone coalition soldiers or heavy trains, making the British and French soldiers afraid to act alone.

    A few days later, the coalition forces set up a pontoon bridge on the Dongjiang River near Dongguan and began to move north to prepare to attack Xintang Town.  However, on the north bank of the Dongjiang River, they found traces of the enemy.  After the traces of the Taiping Army appeared, the coalition forces felt a little nervous. The situation on the north bank was not clear. Then Lord Seton sent several reconnaissance teams to the north bank of the Dongjiang River for investigation.

    Three of the five reconnaissance teams came back, and the information they brought back was that there were at least thousands of regular Taiping troops on the north bank. They were building positions around Xintang Town. It seemed that the Taiping Army had received news of the landing of the coalition army troops.Finally, the first army was sent to meet them.

    Xintang Town is located on the north bank of the lower reaches of the Dongjiang River in the Pearl River Delta, adjacent to Guangzhou to the west, Xiancun Town to the east, across the river from Dongguan City to the south, and Yongning Street to the north. It is located in the eastward traffic chokepoint of Guangzhou. It is impossible for the Taiping Army to sit back and watch the British and French forces occupy this place.  of.

    After the coalition army generals received the news, they immediately ordered the troops to speed up and cross the river. They did not want to watch the army launch an attack again after the enemy had reinforced complete fortifications.

    The day after the reconnaissance team returned, coalition troops began to cross the river on a large scale, and three pontoon bridges were erected on the Dongjiang River.  When the coalition forces were building a pontoon bridge, local troops of the Taiping Army also released dozens of floating mines down the river in the upper reaches of the Dongjiang River, intending to use the mines to destroy the coalition's pontoon bridge.  But this time the coalition forces also learned the lesson. They ordered soldiers to drive small boats and use fishing nets to connect a long interception net upstream of the pontoon to stop the mines flowing down the river.

    After this move of the coalition forces was discovered by the local Taiping troops, they no longer wasted energy and mines.  The coalition forces also discovered that local people often appeared around the military camp. It was later discovered that these civilians came to spy on the coalition's military situation. As a result, whenever local people wanted to get close to the coalition camp or position, they would be driven away by force from the coalition forces.

    The day after the coalition crossed the river, the coalition army, led by three French regiments, began to attack Xintang Town. The Taiping Army set up field fortifications here, mainly dense trenches and barbed wire.  Xintang Town is located in the Pearl River Delta plains. Although the terrain is not conducive to defense, the Taiping Army still put up a defensive posture here.

    But the Taiping Army, like all hot weapon troops, has a fatal flaw, that is, the supply problem. Once the army is besieged and the ammunition cannot keep up, the combat effectiveness of the army will plummet.  After the Taiping Army in Xintang Town repelled several battles by the coalition forces, the coalition forces began to surround this small town, planning to wait until the Taiping Army ran out of ammunition and food before taking over the place in one fell swoop.

    When besieging Xintang Town, the coalition generals were also wondering about a question. There were tens of thousands of regular Taiping troops stationed in Guangzhou. Where had their main force gone?  Could it be that he was afraid that Guangzhou would suffer losses, so he stood still?  Once Xintang Town is surrounded, it will be a place of death. Anyone with a little military knowledge understands this truth. So why did the Taiping Army send more than 5,000 people here to die?

    After the battle in Xintang Town began, the coalition generals had to start paying attention to one issue, and that was their own supply lines.  From Jinzhou, Dongguan and then to Xintang Town, the coalition's supply line has reached more than 80 kilometers, which also includes crossing two rivers and one river. Sometimes the supply convoys will be attacked by local troops of the Taiping Army.  attack, and although the troops surrounding Xintang Town were large in strength, they were already showing signs of fatigue.  Moreover, the coalition forces must always be on guard against the main force of the Taiping Army. In other words, the longer the siege lasts, the more disadvantageous it will be to the coalition forces.  Therefore, three days later, when enough ammunition was replenished, Baron Seton finally decided to attack Xintang Town. After quickly removing this obstacle, the coalition troops immediately attacked the outskirts of Guangzhou.

    The coalition forces that stormed Xintang Town began to prepare for artillery fire from the morning. Hundreds of coalition army artillery bombarded Xintang Town for several hours. Almost every piece of land was cleared with artillery fire. In this case,  The coalition commanders believed that there could no longer be any survivors in the town.  But when the coalition's charging soldiers were hit by enemy fire, the coalition commanders present were shocked. French Field Marshal Aimable, Duke of Malakoff, Jean-Jacques Pellissier, looked at the French soldiers.  When he kept falling under the enemy's precise shooting, he couldn't help but murmured: "The era of volleys of guns is over. We are facing new difficulties in attacking difficulties. When the range and accuracy of the enemy's rifled muskets are comparable to those of the attacking troops,  , what should we do? The enemy is hiding in the trenches, and the charging soldiers have to face dense barbed wire barriers. This kind of casualties is unacceptable."

    Field Marshal John Colburn, Baron Seton, felt very puzzled: "Why can the enemy survive under such fierce artillery fire? Do the Chinese have some magic?" He did not know that in later history,  There was also a coalition general who sighed like this at the Pine Bone Peak in North Korea. That mountain had also been attacked by fierce coalition artillery fire, but the heroic troops still violently attacked the coalition forces after the artillery fire.

    The battle began again with a bloody baptism. Whether it was the coalition forces or the Taiping Army, soldiers from both sides started fighting each other inside and outside this small town of less than ten square kilometers. The coalition forces relied on artillery fire and numerical superiority, while the Taiping Army relied on  What is more important is the will to fight to the death and the barbed wire of the trenches.  Many times when the coalition forces broke through a position, the Taiping Army would immediately organize a counterattack force to rush forward, trying to recapture the position even with bayonets.  From the beginning of the battle, it exceeded the imagination of the coalition generals. Attacking the enemy's tightly defended positions was a challenge for any unit.It is a very difficult task for everyone.

    But after all, the coalition forces had a huge numerical advantage. Several elite troops took turns attacking, while the Taiping Army only had one unit, and gradually their ammunition began to run out. In some places, the Taiping Army had no ammunition, and they could only wait for the enemy.  After rushing up, they fought with the enemy with bayonets.

    Just when Baron Seton said: "Tonight we can wipe out all the enemies." Just when he was satisfied, Cavalry Lieutenant General James Thomas Brudenell, Earl of Cardigan, quickly came to him.  Said: "The scouts reported that tens of thousands of enemy troops appeared in the north of Dongguan" (To be continued.)
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