New Shun 1730

This is why James Wolfe is famous and why the Financial Street protects him - he refused to carry out the Duke of Cumberland's request to shoot the opposition nobles, which was a banner.

The more gentlemanly he was, the more cruel and brutal the Duke of Cumberland was; the more military exploits he achieved, the more incompetent the Duke of Cumberland seemed.

After all, when the Rochefort Port incident occurred, the Duke of Cumberland was experiencing the lowest point in his life: in Hanover, he was defeated by the French, and he signed the "Zeven Agreement" with his head pressed, disbanded the Hanoverian army and abandoned Hanover. Although the British side did not admit it afterwards, his reputation was tarnished, and he dared not show up in a short time.

This is also the reason why the party struggle in the Rochefort Port incident was so fierce: before Hanover was defeated by the French, the Duke of Cumberland had been begging Parliament to send a fleet to support him, but Parliament ordered the navy to go to Rochefort Port.

However, before these party struggles, the Duke of Cumberland still carried out a certain degree of standing army reform in Britain. For example, the commander of the 20th Infantry Regiment stationed in Gibraltar at this time was not bought, but appointed, and the weapons and food were provided by the government.

Of course, the system of buying officials still exists, coexisting with this kind of appointed standing army, so there is a joke that has been circulating in the British army for a long time [Cheers to bloody wars, plagues, and epidemics! ]

For example, an officer who cannot afford to buy a regimental commander, one carrot one pit, if the previous regimental commander dies, he can fill the position without spending money. And he fills the position, for example, he was originally a battalion commander, then the battalion commander's pit is vacant... By analogy, officers must of course toast to bloody wars, plagues, and epidemics.

But even this limited reform still laid the foundation for Britain to participate in this war.

To some extent, it can be regarded as consistent with the strategic considerations of the military reform ideas of Dashun: After the Jenkins Ear War, a group of knowledgeable people in Britain realized that the war for a long time in the future must be based on the scale of thousands of people, and given the geographical environment of Britain, most of the wars participated in by the army were in colonies.

Therefore, a group of standing troops, a group of standing troops that can be deployed to distant places, have undergone long-term training, and are supported by the finance and government, are needed as standing troops that can board ships at any time to various colonies to participate in the kind of decisive battles of three to five thousand people.

As one of the results of this incomplete military reform, the 20th Infantry Regiment, due to the strict training of its previous commander James Wolfe, the training idea of ​​treating soldiers as scum and villains, and the military discipline idea that those who destroy the queue should be shot directly, has a certain combat effectiveness.

After being besieged for two months, it still did not collapse, but was still able to obey the orders of officers. It was able to withdraw from the artillery fortress in the direction of the bay at dusk, assemble in formation, repair and wait, and launch a counterattack in the early morning.

James Wolfe's training tactical ideas during his tenure as regiment commander were strict discipline, neat formations, and thunderous volleys.

It can be said that his ideas grasped the correct understanding of the insufficient delivery capabilities of various countries and the decisive battle of 5,000 people in the colonial war in this era.

According to this idea, if it happened in a colonial war, in a field battle, its tactical system could definitely defeat the French army of the same number in one wave.

Because the French army's tactical system is still based on the Continental Army system, with Prussia and Austria as imaginary enemies and the idea of ​​tens of thousands of people fighting in the field.

In short: artillery bombardment, infantry resistance, cavalry charge. France still has the best regular cavalry in Western Europe at this time.

So this kind of battle with a scale of three to five thousand people, colonial characteristics, infantry carrying the main beam and taking the initiative to attack, and cavalry is scarce, the French lost, it is not unfair at all.

However, for the British 20th Infantry Regiment stationed in Gibraltar at this time, they encountered a completely asymmetric tactic.

The military reform ideas of Dashun, or thinking about sending elite troops across the ocean, have never been thinking about fighting in the field.

India was pushed by infantry and cavalry, with distance advantages and Ceylon advantages, and could pull the army over.

Landing in Britain or intervening in European field battles has never been thought of.

The navy can only go to the Caribbean or North America or South America after gaining control of the sea, otherwise it cannot go at all. Even though they have control of the sea, France is not without infantry. Dashun is still specialized in siege and siege, and does not want to fight field battles at all.

The Caribbean is a naval blockade and engineer siege with island hopping; North America is a forest harassment, with the advantage of scattered soldiers, naval blockade, direct attack on the harbor, or siege; South America is vast and sparsely populated, and field battles are out of the question, relying entirely on strongholds for support.

Therefore, in this battle, even if the British army can gather and show their organization, they are actually at a great disadvantage.

James Wolfe put all his talent points on formation, volley, field battle, and queue.

The expeditionary force of Dashun put all their talent points on trenches, defense, explosives, digging pits, and slope warfare.

The battle took place in the siege fortifications dug in advance by the Dashun engineers.

James Wolfe's tactical thinking is: formation, approach, volley, charge, one-shot deal, one-shot.

The Dashun engineer siege defense system is: a small number of troops and scattered soldiers on the front line, the main force on the second line, defense and counterattack, natural resistance to one-shot deal, full of resilience.

Therefore, at 2 o'clock in the morning on November 17, under the chilly moonlight, the British army clearly felt that something was wrong shortly after launching a counterattack.

They had just walked out of their own fortifications when they were discovered by the sentries deployed by Dashun.

After the gunshot, the skirmishers deployed on the front line immediately began to fight back with rifled guns.

These skirmishers were already familiar with this strange trajectory that was completely different from the smoothbore guns. They shot very accurately and began to kill the British infantrymen who were marching forward one by one from 200 steps away.

The artillery, awakened by the gunshots and the officers' orders, also began to fight back.

Several grenades mixed with oil and rubber were thrown by the engineers on the front line into the middle of the approaching British infantry company. The screams when they burned were particularly shrill at night.

And the flames produced by those strange grenades after burning were particularly commanding and long-lasting, providing the skirmishers with shooting range illumination.

The British soldiers still carried forward their strong mental will, and despite the rifled skirmishers' bursts of fire, they advanced to a place very close to the trench and launched a charge.

But they soon felt despair again.

The expected brutal trench warfare did not happen immediately.

There were not many people in the trenches on the first line.

When the British army rushed over, the infantry and engineers on the first line retreated to the second line of defense along the communication trenches behind.

The place where the first trench and the communication trenches behind intersect is the circular fortification deployed by Dashun.

There are two cannons inside, slightly higher than the ground, which can control the trenches and the first trench.

Dashun dug a zigzag trench to prevent the defenders' artillery from piercing the candied haws.

The artillery in this kind of circular fortification is to penetrate the candied haws, so the deployment position is naturally very particular.

When the British army charged, those scattered soldiers retreated to the circular fortification to accompany the artillery.

In the mortar era, anyone who dug this kind of circular fortification would be sent to a military court.

But now, the British army has not yet entered the era of shrapnel shells, let alone the mortar era.

The scattered soldiers squatting in the circular fortification continued to shoot and kill the British infantry who rushed over leisurely.

The cannons deployed in the circular fortifications also used candied haws or shotgun shells at close range, depending on the situation.

The grenades created for the siege slope battle were the advantage of the Dashun side, and they were constantly thrown at the British troops rolling in the trenches from a high position.

At the same time, the main force in the second trench had begun to gather, and according to the tactics that the staff had already predetermined, they concentrated along the trenches to the two wings to prepare for a counterattack.

The fire support companies of the combat engineers were equipped with variant tiger squat guns, or small-caliber mortars, or primitive grenade launchers. The bowl-mouth guns that Dashun chose at the beginning, which were synchronized with Europe and looked like Hu Si hand cannons, were considered primitive rifle grenades, but they were obviously not easy to use in this era. On the contrary, this primitive mortar or grenade launcher was effective.

Indeed, it was not accurate and could not be shot far.

But the problem was that the smoothbore guns at that time could not be shot far either.

These light mortars deployed in the second line began to throw the grenades with ignited fuses towards the trenches of the first line of defense, and they continued to explode with flames.

If it was a plain field battle, this thing could be beaten to shit by the cavalry, solid cannon or infantry of the opposite side.

However, this was not a plain field battle, but a siege trench war for this purpose.

The narrow terrain made the attack on the Dashun side uncomfortable. It was impossible to deploy troops on the isthmus, and it was also necessary to guard against the British artillery fire on the stone mountain. It could only choose to use floating artillery to make a large-scale offensive in the direction of the bay.

But at the same time, the narrow terrain also prevented the British army from deploying too many troops.

Attack, and can't push in.

There were not many people in the first line of defense. After occupying the first line of defense, the main force of the second line of defense also woke up. The strange shells, burning, and weird high-throw trajectory made it impossible for the British army to continue the attack.

Defend, and can't defend.

The circular fortifications with artillery and skirmishers were stuck next to the troop transport structure leading to the second line of defense.

In the cut terrain, if a large number of troops were used, they would either be pierced by artillery or sprayed with shotguns at close range.

Relying on personal bravery to attack, the skirmishers squatting in the circular fortifications kept shooting and killing. There were also engineers inside throwing grenades out.

Find your own grenadiers to throw grenades?

The trenches facing the circular fortifications had no broken lines or zigzag angles at all, so there was no way to hide.

If you don't hide, stand outside and light the grenade and throw it inside. Grenades these days are very heavy and can't be thrown far, and the skirmishers will be killed if you stand there to light them.

Regardless of those circular fortifications, cross the trenches and continue to charge forward on flat ground?

There is a second line of defense in front and a circular fortress with artillery and skirmishers deployed behind, but it still doesn't work.

Fortunately, the British officers were not incompetent. They understood that the most urgent task was to capture one or two of the hateful circular forts first, so as to truly break through the first line of defense of the Dashun side.

At this point, they could only grit their teeth and command their respective companies to charge at the two circular forts in the middle that supported each other under the lead bullets and artillery fire.