Fox of France

After the French arrived in Cape Town, another operation was organized to try to raid the British prison and rescue the popular leaders. However, it is a great pity that traitors reappeared among the Boers - there was no such name at that time, and they were still called Dutchmen - and the operation failed. The French only rescued a popular leader named Babel, and they themselves paid a lot of sacrifice.

French intelligence killed seven people in the operation, and Treville, who was in charge of the operation, was shot in the shoulder. Four Dutchmen who followed them also died. Of course, they also killed more than 20 British policemen during the operation-after all, the Cape Town colony is isolated overseas, the police's equipment and training level are not very good, and even ambushes are not good enough.

This rescue operation shocked the British very much, especially the combat effectiveness displayed by the French commandos during the operation, which made the British even more worried. Because they were worried that the French would take similar actions, the British, with the same efficiency as the French Revolutionary Court, quickly sent other popular leaders who had not been rescued and were not killed in the rescue operation to the court for trial, and then All of them were hung up to dry on the charge of rebellion.

Babel, who narrowly escaped with his life, fled to the countryside with the French and hid in his friend's manor. Then he began to move around, contacting the Dutch people living in the countryside, wanting to organize an uprising and lay siege to Cape Town.

Mr. Babel, I don't think you have the ability to take Cape Town. Philip Treville, half shirtless—his companion is helping him change his dressing—said to Babel, It’s a bit old, but for you who don’t even have cannons, it’s still indestructible—it’s a bastion after all, and although the cannons on it are a bit older, there are still quite a few of them.”

Can your French navy support us? Babel asked.

Treville replied: Of course the French navy is willing to help you. But the French navy lacks nearby ports to support. And the sea conditions near Cape Town are very bad most of the time. This will make the navy's bombardment efficiency very low. The last time the British captured Cape Town, it was mainly thanks to the cooperation of the army. And your militias—I don’t doubt your courage, but attacking a fortification is different from a field battle, and requires very high requirements for weapons, equipment, and professional training. You see, you don’t even have the most basic cannons, how can you attack? Besides, France has not yet declared war on Britain. (At this time, Britain has already fought with the United States, but the French region has not officially joined the war)”

Treville wasn't looking for excuses. Cape Town's fortress is indeed very old. Even the old-fashioned iron guns decommissioned by the British Navy are still used on the fortress. In theory, if you drag an armored cruiser from the French Navy, you can use the new 100 guns to kite them to death outside the range of these cannons.

But this is only in theory. The widespread use of steam engines has greatly increased the speed of warships, but it has also greatly reduced the range of warships. In the age of sail, the range of the navy is almost unlimited. A sailing ship of about 1,000 tons can complete the circumnavigation as long as it can continuously replenish food. But in the age of steam, a steamship needs a lot of supplies. In addition to food for people to eat and fresh water for drinking, there is also coal for steam engines and fresh water for use. In addition, the maintenance of warships has become extremely complicated. In the age of sail, most of the maintenance work, even such as replacing the mast, can be done by the sailors on the ship by themselves, but in the age of steam, the difficulty of maintenance has also risen sharply, and many maintenance work even have to go back to the shipyard to complete. As a result, the range of activities of warships has decreased.

In the age of sail, if there is no storm or anything, a fleet can be blocked outside other people's ports for a few months without any problem. But in the age of steam, this is almost impossible. France has several ports in Africa, but the scale is limited, and the mineral resources in Africa are basically undeveloped. (At the current shipping price, shipping ore to Europe will definitely lose money.) If these ports want to support For fleet activities, coal needs to be transported from Europe in advance.

Even if it departs from a French port in West Africa and arrives in Cape Town, the time that French warships can stay is quite limited. And the waters around Cape Town, in the westerly belt, as part of the Horn of Africa, are deeply inserted into the most violent ocean current in the world-the westerly circulation. The sea conditions here are always very stable - there are big waves at all times.

Under such sea conditions, the warship shakes violently, and the shooting accuracy is naturally in a mess. Therefore, although theoretically, the range of the 100 guns on the French cruiser far exceeds those old-fashioned iron guns on the Cape Town Fort, but considering the sea conditions Unless it is close enough to kiss the turret directly, the naval gun will not hit the target at all.

Therefore, although the forts in Cape Town are old, it is still very difficult to deal with them by warships.

So, don't we have nothing to do with the British in Cape Town? Babel was very unwilling.

Of course not, my friend. Treville laughed. You have to know that the British also have weaknesses.

What weakness? Babel asked quickly.

Their food, Treville replied. Cape Town's food supplies are almost entirely dependent on the farmland outside the city-these farmlands are all cultivated by you. If you can organize and disrupt the British's collection of food, Do the British just stay in their city to eat? How much food can there be in the city? The British will come out to collect food. We just need to keep attacking the British food collection team. When they run out of food, they will return Can you hold it?

Babel expressed support for this idea.

But their plan was rejected in the gathering of the farmers. This is also normal. First, many people's relatives and friends are being hanged in Cape Town to dry, so these journalists want to break into Cape Town to take revenge. The second reason is that after the outbreak of wars, especially in North America, the prices of many agricultural products rose accordingly. If Cape Town can be taken, their agricultural products can make a fortune, but if Cape Town has been controlled by the British, isn't the money going to waste?

So they insisted, don't engage in those ink-stained things, just attack directly.

The reasons they put forward are not entirely unreasonable. Previously, in order to encourage their fighting spirit, the French told them that the training level of the British troops in the colonies was very poor.

Because of the traitor's betrayal, when we attacked the prison, the British had already arranged a trap in the prison, and then we stepped in, but rushed out from inside, although we sacrificed Several comrades in arms, but we killed more British people. So you see, the fighting power of the British is really poor. That's what the French said to the Dutchmen at that time.

Of course, what the French did not mention was that they were not ordinary people. They were all elites selected from the special operations team directly under the Ministry of Public Security, and their weapons and equipment were far more suitable for urban battles than those of the British.

In Europe, weapons and equipment have been greatly developed. For example, the European army, even the poorest and most backward Eastern Rome and Lulu, use rifled guns. But in remote Cape Town, the British are still using muskets in large numbers. As for revolvers and pump-action shotguns, well, if you are willing to pay for them, you can also buy them from arms dealers, but you have to wait for the British government to pay for the army and police in Cape Town. That really has to wait - the arms race with France and the security war in Ireland have exhausted the financial resources of the British, making them temporarily unable to care about changing the colonial army in Cape Town.

So, apart from the moment of being ambushed, the next thing is the most well-trained special forces, using advanced rifles, revolvers, pump-action shotguns, authentic Bonaparte melons, and muskets, single-shot Colonial army with pistols and sabers. Of course, the French did not mention these cases for some reason, and the Dutch did not ask.

Therefore, the Dutch made some misjudgments about the combat effectiveness of the British colonial army, which also made them more inclined to engage in quick-decision battles rather than protracted ones.

Treville naturally opposed this kind of military adventure. But he did not stop the Dutch adventure. Of course, some people said that they did not intend to stop all this at all. After all, the name of the plan for these actions in the Ministry of Public Security was called Cassandra. One of the characteristics of this Trojan princess and prophet is that she can see the future, but no one will believe her predictions.

So the manor owners organized a militia. As far as this militia is concerned, if you just look at the weapons, except that they don't have cannons, their weapons are even better than the British army.

This is also normal. The manor owners bought guns to deal with Uncle Zulu Hei. Anyone who has played Civilization knows how terrifying Uncle Zulu Black is. Some people even give up the game as soon as they find themselves next to their Zulu black uncle.

Uncle Zuluhei in reality is of course not so powerful, but that is definitely not something that can be dealt with casually. So when the manor owners buy guns, they buy them for the lives of themselves and their families. Naturally, they buy whatever is powerful. As for the colonial army in Cape Town, they have standard equipment provided by the country anyway, so they don't need to buy it themselves.

As a result, the manor owners all used rifled guns, pump-action shotguns, and revolvers, leading the colonial army in light weapons by almost an era.

However, these advances did not play a big role in the subsequent siege battles.