Fox of France

v1 Chapter 466: , An excuse to go to war

The British on the armored train had noticed that the track in front was damaged, so the train began to slow down, and the infantry on the train began to prepare to get off the train.

The wheels of the train creaked because of the friction with the rails, and the train trembled and decelerated sharply. The soldiers on the train grabbed other things around to maintain their balance.

The braking performance of the armored train was good, and it slowly stopped very close to the damaged section of the railway. The soldiers took their weapons and prepared to get off the train. Just then a string of cannons rang.

The two 40mm long barrel guns of the Independence Army fired first. Their target is the power car of the British armored train. Armored trains are different from ordinary trains. Power cars are generally in the middle position. In order to avoid damage to the most important power car due to the pressure on the mine.

But in front of the cannon, this arrangement is of no use. Two 40mm armor-piercing projectiles easily penetrated the thin layer of armor hung on the cylinder of the powered car to resist rifle bullets. In front of the 40mm-caliber armor-piercing projectile, it was as fragile as a layer of paper. .

After the cylinder was pierced by a shell, the cylinder burst open, and high-pressure steam spewed out immediately, including the cab of the train, was enveloped by white steam. Later, when cleaning the battlefield, the soldiers of the Independence Army discovered that the drivers and boiler workers in the cab had been directly steamed by steam.

After the 40mm gun fired, several other guns also fired violently at the armored train. When using a 60mm sprint tube, because the initial velocity is relatively low, the penetration of a 60mm shell is far less than that of a 40mm shell. But the 60mm armor-piercing anti-personnel bomb is still sufficient to penetrate the passenger compartment of an armored train, and can only withstand the armor of rifle bullets.

The French army has begun to equip high-explosive shells, but the high-explosive shells are still very expensive, so the Irish can still use high-explosive shells instead of high-explosive shells. As for the armor-piercing anti-personnel shells, because they mainly rely on the fragments of the shells after they penetrate the armor, they don't need fuses and explosives. By comparison, they are much cheaper.

The British armored train has a total of six cars, the middle two are power cars and coal water cars. At both ends of them is a passenger car, and at each end of the passenger car is a fire compartment equipped with two cannons.

According to the plan, an important task of the artillery of the Independence Army was to strike the passenger compartment before the British soldiers got off the vehicle. According to the results of the French experiment, if one or two rounds of armor-piercing anti-personnel bombs were used to shoot the passenger compartment before the British soldiers got out of the car, almost immediately the army in the compartment that had not had time to get out of the car could be completely Lose combat effectiveness.

The fact is just like the results of the French experiment. Several cannons fired a few volleys at the crew car, and then a few **** and devastated British soldiers ran down from above.

These British soldiers didn't even have guns, they just ran around, and they even forgot that there were minefields around them. Many British soldiers stepped on landmines themselves.

At this time, the British fire compartment reacted and started firing at the artillery of the Independence Army, but because of the rush of shooting, several shells failed to effectively hit. At this time, the infantrymen of the Independence Army brandished their guns and rushed towards the British armored train that was paralyzed there.

Just relying on a few guns on the firepower carriage can not stop the infantry's charge. Because they can't constitute continuous firepower. The combat effectiveness of armored trains largely lies in the infantry carried in the carriages. But now obviously those infantrymen couldn't count on it, so soon the soldiers of the Independence Army rushed to the front. I entered the blind spot of the guns on the fire compartment.

The soldiers were about to throw grenades at the stubborn enemy army. But suddenly they found that the enemy’s artillery stopped. A white shirt was picked out with a bayonet and swayed towards them. They also heard a voice yelling: "Don't shoot! Don't shoot! We surrender! !"

The British surrendered so simply, which surprised the soldiers. Generally speaking, the combat capability and fighting will of the authentic British army far exceeds that of the security army. They rarely surrender so readily.

But when the soldiers walked into the passenger compartment and saw the damage caused by the armor-piercing anti-personnel bomb there, everyone understood why the British surrendered so smoothly.

"That (occupant compartment) is really miserable inside. The shell pierced the iron armor on the outside, and when it penetrated, it shattered, like a bullet shot from a shotgun. Ah, no, this thing is better than a shotgun shot. The bullets are much more powerful. Each bullet fired by a shotgun is at most equivalent to a bullet fired by a revolver. But this is a cannonball. After penetrating the armor, it produces even small fragments that can still destroy a person. Break down, and then kill another person. And those larger fragments can penetrate several people, even after hitting three or four people, bounce back on the armor plate on the other side, and can kill one person.

The people inside the compartment were so dense that when it was shelled, there was no place for the people inside to hide. The continuous shelling also made it too late for them to get out of the car. Except for a limited number of people in one carriage, most of the British were killed or seriously injured in the shelling. It can be said that in those few rounds of shelling, at least three quarters of the more than 300 soldiers in the two carriages of Britain lost their combat effectiveness. It can be said that this round of rapid firing determines the success or failure of the battle.

The soldiers of the Independence Army left the dead or injured British people in place, then used explosives to completely destroy the armored train, and then left the railway line with the prisoners and the spoils.

In the following month, the Independence Army mobilized more than 100 battalions to launch raids on multiple railway lines throughout Ireland. Successfully pulled out hundreds of British strongholds, killed and injured more than 6,000 British soldiers, destroyed 13 armored trains, and seized a large number of weapons.

In this battle, there was also a situation that was rarely seen before, that is, in this battle, the number of casualties and captured, the British army greatly exceeded the security forces. Many security forces used the excuses of "the phone is broken and completely inaudible" to avoid the war. (It is said that some security forces cut the phone line by themselves, and then naturally the phone line was damaged by the Independence Army so that they could not accept it. It's time to order.) So apart from losing a lot of weapons, they didn't actually suffer much.

However, in the British battle report, their losses are still very staggering. Including Captain Jarvis, their team reported that they had been attacked by the Independence Army and suffered heavy casualties. Almost all of them died, and even only one-third were left. After all, the authentic British lords have suffered so many deaths and injuries. If the security forces are unscathed, how can they explain to the British? Isn't that plainly saying that he is in collusion with the Independence Army? Therefore, they must speak up about their losses. This proves that when the British princes were besieged by the rebels, they still rushed to help.

Of course, the dead Irish security forces are basically dead souls. In other words, they are people who only exist on the salary roster, and do not exist in reality. They all have a common name: "Eat free money."

The British suffered another setback and retreated to major cities. Athlone, who had suffered a big loss for the Independence Army not long ago, began to be isolated. Although they were not surrounded again, the railway line was constantly being destroyed, making the supply of supplies here more and more difficult.

"Damn it, where is our fleet? If we can't stop the French from supporting the rebels, we will drain our blood in the Irish marshes!" Facing the predicament, the Duke of Norfolk turned on the pan mode. Desperately hit the black pot on the head of the British Navy.

There is no way. The situation is almost out of control. If you don't shake the pot at this time, how will you get mixed up in the future? Just like the king of later generations, as long as the poll lags behind, he will yell at the rabbit. The more lagging behind, the more ill-fated white rabbits will be thrown away, and the more imagination is needed.

However, the Duke of Norfolk did not know that at this time, Nelson's fleet was facing great danger.

In order to grasp the intelligence of North America in time, the French Navy sent several cruisers with radio equipment to cruise in the Atlantic Ocean and act as temporary radio signal relay stations.

Using this system, the French quickly learned about the British fleet, especially the "Queen Elizabeth" situation.

"Joseph, look at the new information. The'Queen Elizabeth' is seriously damaged and cannot sail at high speed. Currently this squadron is on its way back. Do you want to..."

"You mean we should take advantage of others?" Joseph was telling a story to his daughter at this time, and when he heard Napoleon, he stopped to ask.

"Dad, what happened to Snow White?" Little Alice asked.

"Ah, didn't I tell you? Have the prince and princess lived happily ever after?" Joseph said.

"What happened after that?" The daughter asked again, but she didn't want to end like this.

"Later? Of course it is dead." Joseph said.

"How did you die? Another witch gave her a poisonous apple?"

"There is no witch, but people will always get old and die. Bai Xue is mainly immortal, so she must have become an old witch too!" Joseph smiled and touched Alice's head, then said: "Okay Alice, the story is over. Well, go and play for a while. I have something to discuss with your Uncle Napoleon."

Alice ran out the door, and closed the door intimately.

"I want to send our main fleet out, intercept them, and destroy them. As long as we can find them at sea and destroy them, we can gain a decisive advantage over the British navy. And force them to make further concessions to us."

"Who is the commander of the British fleet?" Joseph asked.

"General Nelson. He performed well in the previous series of military operations." Napoleon replied.

Upon hearing the name, Joseph hesitated again. Although according to Napoleon's ideas, the French fleet, regardless of tonnage or equipment level, is much higher than that of Nelson's fleet. But the name Nelson alone was enough to make Joseph hesitate.

But after thinking about it for a long time, Joseph finally absorbed his determination:

"We are relative to Nelson's fleet. We are larger and better equipped. We are in better condition. This is simply a flying dragon...Bah, bah, you can't talk nonsense about this kind of defeating character." Joseph thought this way, and said: "You can try, but don't suffer."

The two talked for a long time and determined the general principles. The next thing is the matter of Marshal Treville.

Seeing this plan, I was blessed by my eldest brother. Well, when Napoleon found out, he became more confident in this action.

"As everyone knows, Joseph is a bullshit, he will not talk nonsense about things that are uncertain." Napoleon thought.

Of course, France and Britain are still at peace. To do something with the British, although everyone can see that this is doing it at the risk of others, it is still necessary to find a reason and an excuse. If Britain and France border on it, then the French can find a group of death row prisoners and put on British team clothes...

But this question ~lightnovelpub.net~ also does not require Napoleon to use his brains, just let Lucien and Talleyrand discuss it.

After discussing with Talleyrand, Lucien and Talleyrand came back and said to Napoleon: "We should send a warship, preferably a relatively important warship, to visit Britain, um, the kind of bravado. Then, the British will definitely do it. There were protests against us. Then, we let the ship explode in the British port and sank as a result. Then we accused the British that it was the British who bombed our warship, and then we made a point. A lot of demands they could not agree to, and issued an ultimatum to them. Then they can go to war with the British reasonably and legally."

"What do you think is the appropriate level of warship?" Napoleon asked.

"It's better to be a super cruiser," Lucien replied.

"Bullshit, you really don't know how bad you are! Do you know how expensive a super cruiser is?" Napoleon said dissatisfied, "and super cruisers are also an important force in the battle, so it can't be wasted like this. Well, send an armored cruiser That’s it. Really, it’s just an excuse anyway. Who doesn’t know that it’s an excuse? Besides, as long as the British attacked our ship, even if only a patrol ship sank, that’s a sufficient excuse."