My Italian

Text Chapter 442 Russia-Italy Ship Purchase Agreement

The subsequent development of the Boer War was beyond the expectations of all countries. The combat performance of the Boer army surprised all countries, of course, the performance of the British army.

On October 12, the day after the declaration of war, the Boer coalition, consisting of the Transvaal Army and the Orange Armed Forces, marched east. General Piet Joubert, the commander-in-chief of the cloth army, led the main force, from East Orange, over the Drakensberg Mountains, into the Natal colony, and went straight to Lady Smith, the main seat of the British army in Natal.

In the early morning of October 20, the advancing cloth troops fought on Mount Tarana with a brigade of British troops stationed here to defend the outer line of Ladysmith. General Meir, the commander of the cloth army, took advantage of the favorable terrain and the cover of the morning fog to launch a surprise attack on the British army. The British lost 544 men and the Cloth lost 126 men.

Another cloth army, commanded by General Dela Rui, known as the "Lion of West Transvaal", entered the British Bechuanaland territory on October 11 and cut off the Western Cape railway line, thereby blocking the opening. link between the region and Rhodesia. De La Rue divided the army into two lines, one under the command of General Cronye, ​​surrounded Marvgin, and the other (mainly Orange) under the command of Louis Botha, surrounded the diamond town of Kimberley.

The third Boer army crossed the Orange River and absorbed a small group of Boer armed forces from the British Cape Colony. The British had to guard the Orange River Railway Bridge closely against the Boers' attempt to bomb the bridge.

Dear, the most important railway junction on the Western Cape railway line and a distribution center for military supplies, was also harassed by the Boers. In order to protect the normal passage of the East-West Cape Railway, the British had to install 4.7-inch naval guns on the train and slowly advance under cover, repairing the railway in small sections.

On October 30, 1899, Lady Smith's 4,000 British troops under the command of Lieutenant General George White launched a counter-offensive against the cloth army, and encountered the main force of the cloth army commanded by Joubert in Nicholson Canyon. The British lost 1,372 men in the defeat, and the rest returned to Ladysmith, and were immediately surrounded.

Due to the tight defense of Ladysmith, Joubert was unable to siege the city several times, so he sent a reconnaissance force deep into the hinterland of the British army, and went to the front line of Estcot, reconnaissance can be used to hold positions. The rest of the main force camped around Ladysmith, waiting for the arrival of the British Overseas Corps.

At the end of October, 20,000 British troops led by the commander-in-chief of the British Reinforcement Army (South African Expeditionary Force), General Redvers Buller, who had suppressed local uprisings in Ireland, finally arrived in Cape Town.

Beginning in mid-November, the British army commanded by Buhler launched a counter-offensive against the cloth army on the eastern, central and western fronts. Lieutenant General Methuen lifted the siege of Kimberley on the western front, Lieutenant General French attacked the Orange Free State on the central front, and General Buller led the main force to relieve the siege of Ladysmith on the eastern front.

In the early morning of December 15, Admiral Buhler launched an attack on the Clones at Colenso, a small station southwest of Ladyssmith, in an attempt to cross the Tugela River to Ladysmith.

Buhler's forces included the British 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 6th Brigades, totaling 16,000 men, in addition to four light cavalry regiments and three lancer squadrons composed of colonial cavalry. The artillery consisted of 5 batteries and 30 cannons, in addition to 16 Navy 12-pounder and 4.7-inch guns. Including cavalry and artillery, Buhler's total strength was 22,000 men.

The Boer troops involved in the Battle of Colenso included militia from eight regions including Johannesburg, Heidelberg, Krugersdorp, Freihead, and Utrecht, troops from the Orange Free State, as well as Johannesburg and Swaziland's white police force, totaling 3,500. In addition, there is a 120mm German Krupp howitzer, 1 75mm Krupp field gun, 2 75mm French Schneider-crusoe cannons, 1 37mm Maxim rapid-fire gun, 24 Marks Qin machine gun.

The British army suffered a heavy defeat in this battle, with 2,335 killed, 471 missing, and 15 artillery pieces lost due to the fact that the cloth army concealed the artillery positions first, and the command error of the British commander led to the dispersion of troops and rigid tactics. The Boer army lost only 12 killed and 30 wounded.

During the same period of the Battle of Ladysmith, the British also suffered defeats at Kimberley on the western front and Stromberg on the centre line, losing more than 3,500 men. In just one week, the British lost more than 6,300 troops, while the losses of the cloth troops were almost negligible.

The loss of the British Empire was so great that in addition to its poor command, the gap in weapons and equipment was not small. For example, in terms of artillery, although the Boers have fewer artillery pieces, they all purchase the latest artillery from various countries. Another factor is that the Boers purchased a lot of machine guns.

Compared with the original time and space, the reputation of the machine gun is even louder. Because Italy has used a large number of machine guns in several foreign wars, countries have purchased a lot of weapons that can continuously provide fire suppression. As for the two Boer countries, they purchased a lot of machine guns. According to the statistics of Beretta Arms Company, the manufacturer of the Maxim heavy machine guns, the two Boer countries purchased a total of 83 heavy machine guns. Of course, this is only a statistic on the surface, and it is not clear in practice. So compared to the casualties in history, the British Empire lost more this time.

Such a poor performance of the British army caused an uproar in all countries. As for the British side, for the incompetent Admiral Buhler, he took the blame and resigned as the commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Force.

Because of the defeat, the British people were even more enthusiastic. They could not accept that the world's largest country was defeated by two small Boer countries, and Prime Minister Salisbury also shouted the slogan of "go to the end of the war".

In this case, Prime Minister Salisbury first appointed Roberts as Commander-in-Chief of the South African Expeditionary Force. At the same time, troops were dispatched from all over the world in an attempt to further increase the force, expand the scale of the war, and overwhelm the little Boers with absolute superiority.

A difficult negotiation has finally come to an end at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in St. Petersburg ~www.wuxiaspot.com~ as the British Empire moves troops.

"Ambassador Gorek, you are an excellent diplomat, congratulations to our two countries for finally reaching a consensus."

Foreign Minister Ramzdorf, the Russian negotiator, sighed after shaking hands with the Italian ambassador.

"Congratulations, our two countries have reached a consensus."

Ambassador Golek also replied that he was tired from the negotiation in the past two months, but it was finally settled.

That's right, the contract for the procurement of battleships has finally come to an end. After two months of negotiations and wrangling, Italy and Russia have also reached a consensus on the procurement of battleships.

Italy sold two under-construction Genoa-class battleships to Russia. In addition, Italy will deliver a full set of construction drawings of the Genoa-class battleship at the same time, and also need to provide technology to Russia.

For this, the Russian government needs to pay 23.5 million rubles to the Italian side. Among them, the price of two Genoa-class battleships is 18 million rubles, and the price of the complete set of drawings and technologies is 5.5 million rubles. (This is all due to the French, which delayed the negotiation for a while)

And this ship purchase contract is very satisfactory to Russia. On the one hand, the performance of the purchased warships is very satisfactory, and on the other hand, the delivery time is also good.

Because the two warships are directly diverted from the Italian Navy, the delivery time will be very fast. After the contract was signed, the Russian Navy needed to send someone to Venice to get familiar with the battleship first.

Of course, this ship purchase contract will be dissatisfied for Japan. But Japan could not influence Italy's decision, and could only endure it silently.

As for the British Empire behind Japan, this Boer War is already disgraceful enough, and it is the key to solve the cunning Boers first, and the rest can't be taken care of.