Chapter 351 Cannon fodder

  May 24, 1883

  AM hour

On the 4th day of landing in Glory Bay, the engineer battalion of the Kalimantan 2nd Division overcame difficulties and opened up several roads leading to the port of Saimuda in the tropical jungle, allowing the passage of heavy horse carts and tractors, preparing for a large-scale attack. .

  When the battle started, the Dutch army in the port went crazy.

  They drove more indigenous people with cold weapons such as spears, sharp blades, axes and sickles into the tropical jungle, and launched a nearly suicidal charge on the officers and soldiers of the Second Division, which caused a lot of trouble.

  The thick smell of gunpowder still wafts in the jungle, and the corpses are full.

  In the extremely hot weather, the dead indigenous corpses quickly decomposed and swelled, emitting an unpleasant smell of corpses, which made people feel sick.

  Hu Dachuan and his soldiers each wrapped their faces with cloth, only their eyes were exposed, and the rifles in their hands were hot. They had just completed another meaningless massacre and were directing the surrendered natives to clean up their bodies.

  These corpses will be carried onto the cart, and then sent to the nearby river to be thrown into the river, allowing them to rush into the sea along the swift river.

   "Damn, it's bad luck." Three rows of feldspar dogs cursed, and walked over with their spears and asked; "The company commander, is there any smoke? This is the smell of corpses that hurts people's heads."

   "No way, this smell is everywhere in the jungle." Hu Dachuan put the riding rifle in his back on his back, took out a half pack of cigarettes from his jacket pocket, and ignited one of them, and took two greedy puffs.

  Let the strong tobacco smell dispel the smell of corpses in the jungle, and it feels much better.

This lingering smell of corpses is not the indigenous people who have just been killed, but the corpses killed a few days ago. They may be hidden under bushes, ditches, or other places. The smell became terrible.

Shi Gouzi took a couple of cigarettes and said, "This time we killed at least two to three hundred people. If we add the natives killed by the Brothers Company, the total will be at least a thousand. There are also those who fled and those who were captured. This time The number of indigenous people entering the jungle will not be less than 3,000. The Dutch are really crazy, driving so many people in at once to die."

"This is the final madness. These days, the number of natives driving into the jungle by the Dutch is almost no more than 20,000. How many people can fill in?" Hu Dachuan replied, seeing an aboriginal not far in front of him. Stirred by the corpses everywhere, he rushed out dancing and dancing.

  He immediately took the rifle without hesitation, took aim and shot it, hitting the native captive in the chest, and shot him to the ground.

  This little episode

   couldn't affect the numb soldiers and prisoners, they just turned their heads and took a look, and then continued to do their own things.

   "The Dutchman's move is also ruthless. The launch time of the total offense was forced to be postponed by one day, otherwise we would have already stepped out of the jungle."

"Almost..." Hu Dachuan looked at the mechanical watch in his hand and said at 8:50 in the morning. He took a puff of cigarette and then threw away the cigarette butt; There is only more than an hour left. Let’s clean up the battlefield and set off in a while."

   "Okay, then I'm going to do something." The platoon elder Stone Gouzi took a bite of his cigarette butt, dropped the cigarette butt, and picked up his rifle and walked towards the jungle battlefield.

The soldiers yelled for the indigenous captives to speed up, grouping the confiscated copper and iron weapons together, piled up like a hill, and the **** corpses were carried on the truck and transported out, dripping with blood all the way, staining the newly opened road red. Dark, pungent smell.

  More than an hour later

  Two green flare bombs rose high into the sky, and the guns hidden in the jungle roared and smashed the hot shells at the Dutch defenders' positions. As fireballs rose, earth and rocks splashed, and the remains of the corpses were blown into the sky.

  The preparations for a large-scale bombardment have begun, which will last a full fifteen minutes.

  The artillery shelling was dominated by two 95mm artillery battalions. The artillery shelled the enemy's position at a speed of 6-8 rounds per minute, blasting a large dog-biting gap in the earthen-wood breast wall, and bringing the Dutch defenders away from the disaster.

   around the periphery of the port

The Dutch army urgently repaired two civil and wooden breast walls as simple fortifications to resist the landing troops. Unfortunately, they were like paper in front of fierce artillery fire, and they broke with a light poke. The Dutch defenders behind the fortifications were unlucky and bombed. The casualties were heavy.

  After 15 minutes of shelling

  Tide-like offensive troops poured out of the jungle, and quickly occupied the improvised parapet fortification despite the Dutch's not strong resistance.

"The special Dutch ghost is so cunning. Over 80% of the first-line positions are indigenous servants. No wonder the resistance is so weak." Hu Dachuan and the offensive troops rushed to the enemy's position, watching the corpses and raising guns. The indigenous people who surrendered felt a sense of being deceived.

  The natives are also divided into different levels. The cannon fodder collected from the manor does not even have a gun, and rushes into the jungle with a spear and sickle. It is the lowest cannon fodder.

  The indigenous servant army is better equipped, with a total of about 5,000 people.

Some of them are equipped with the front-loading rifles that were eliminated by the Dutch. It is considered an elite firearms force, with a total of about 1,500 people. The rest is still equipped with spears, broadswords and cold weapons. A lot.

The Dutch defenders placed more than 3,000 troops on the front line. More than 90% of them were indigenous troops. They were restrained by more than 300 white militiamen. They were destroyed by a fierce shelling and a large-scale charge. Those who did not die knelt. When the land surrendered, a small part of them escaped.

  "Why are there so many indigenous people...what's the situation?" Battalion Commander Lei Xiaopeng led the follow-up troops into the position, frowned and looked around, obviously quite dissatisfied with the situation.

  According to the battlefield operation regulations, subordinates report that salutes are not allowed to avoid being discovered by the enemy.

  Hu Dachuan came over and said; “In the camp, the Dutch sang an empty city plan for us. The defensive line of this parapet is full of indigenous soldiers. The resistance will not be strong, and the position was easily succeeded by us.”

   "Grass, we wasted so many shells."

   "No way, the camp, during the pre-war reconnaissance, it was all white people hanging around. Who knows that most of the people hiding behind the breast wall are indigenous people. These Dutch ghosts are too cunning."

   "Order the troops to stop advancing, take an emergency break to check weapons and ammunition, and be ready to attack again at any time."

   "Yes, sir."

  Hu Dachuan immediately sent the order. In addition to killing and wounding the enemy, there were also a total of 1,700 or 800 prisoners on the ground. These prisoners must be properly evacuated, and they must not be able to attack with them.

  In this large-scale offensive, the Kalimantan Second Division invested a whole regiment plus a battalion with about 2,300 troops. As a result, more than 1,800 indigenous people were captured. They had to stop the attack and wait for the follow-up troops to come up.

  Not long after

Colonel Koch, the deputy commander of the 2nd Division, came up with the regiment head. He was also the commander of the 2nd regiment who was in charge of the main attack, so he had to be in front of him. When he saw this, his face became dark with anger, and he yelled at the Dutch ghost. cunning.

  Fifteen minutes of artillery fire prepared to hit more than 3,000 95mm shells, but only some cannon fodder was exploded, which is not worthwhile.

   Colonel Koch raised his binoculars and carefully observed the situation at Symuda Port.

  In the oval field of view of the telescope, the port of Symuda is unobstructed and presented clearly in front of you.

  The port is a small town that takes care of both agriculture and fishery. There are more than 200 houses scattered around, including dozens of solid stone houses, as well as warehouses and timber yards.

  It can be seen through the binoculars that a strong barricade has been raised in the town, and the figure of the white soldier behind is fascinating, it seems that they are preparing to fight a fierce battle against the town.

  Behind the town, in the high hilly area, you can see the concrete structure of the fort, and the thick muzzle points towards the sea.

  The current situation is simple and complex. The Dutch defenders have been unable to retreat, and they must be concentrated in the small town, ready to fight room by room with the offensive forces and fight a barricade offensive and defensive battle.

  There are also a few elite troops sticking to the fort of Saimudah Port. With the solidity of the concrete construction of the fort, the offensive will not be smooth sailing.

  Pre-war reconnaissance intelligence display;

This Dutch garrison has no artillery, but its strength is not weak. The total number of white soldiers and armed militias exceeds 1,700, plus the indigenous servants of no less than 2,000 (3 thousand have been eliminated). It is still more troublesome to resist. of.

  From the jungle where the attack was initiated to the Dutch parapet position, this section was rugged and roadless. The heavy 95mm Miss Australia artillery could not be dragged up and accompanied the infantry to carry out precise attacks.

  But Colonel Koch had the trump card in his hand. A 60mm light artillery battalion intercepted from the Shangri-La Division was assigned to the offensive troops. The so-called strong barricade seemed a joke in his eyes.

  "Pass my order;

  In front of the target, the Saimudha Port complex, two 95mm artillery battalions carried out an 8-minute coverage shot to destroy the enemy’s strong position. "

   "Yes, Master."

  The second division of Kalimantan carried only 12,000 rounds of artillery shells. It is very luxurious to use 5,000 rounds to hit a port, and it must be saved.

  The Dutch heavily defended the city of Semuda, the offensive troops had to knock open the enemy’s tortoise shells with shells, and the remaining shells would be used in more important battles.

  In a moment

Two shells were fired from the 95mm artillery position in the jungle, and they landed near the port complex one after the other. This is a school-fired shell fired by artillery. After the artillery observers corrected the shooting, the full-strength bombardment was started. Pattern.

Sporadic rounds of shells struck past, and after a few shells, one shell crashed in the middle of the port complex, exploding a large group of fire, and blasting a solid stone house halfway down, with black smoke. Wrapped in narrow smoke and dust rising high, it looks extremely conspicuous.

Using this as a standard to adjust shooting Zhuyuan, the artillery groups of the two battalions roared together after a few minutes. Dozens of artillery shells shot through the air almost at the same time, and slammed into the building complex of Saimuda Port. , The earth is shaking and the mountains are shaking.

  The Dutch defenders who were huddled in the small town and prepared to fight back were blown up and howling. The corpses and the rubble flew into the sky. The fire in the town was like a **** of death.

  (End of this chapter)