Chapter 329 Behind Current Version
The battle site between the East African Army and the Matabele Kingdom Army is east of Bulawayo. The East African side consists of the South Salzburg Provincial Border Force and the Second Brigade of the Southern Route Army. The army consists of more than 6,000 people. The total army of Matabele Kingdom is more than 16,000 people, including more than 10,000 Shona servants.
Sweite held a telescope and looked at the land acquisition army of the Kingdom of Matabele on the opposite side and said: "It seems that the Kingdom of Matabele is going to fight to the death, but they actually choose to fight us head-on. This is interesting. ! ”
< br>To say that the most troublesome tactic of the indigenous East African army is guerrilla warfare, the East African army has rich experience in anti-guerrilla warfare in Africa, but the East African Kingdom definitely hopes that the enemies of East Africa can fight with East Africa in an upright manner, rather than being the sixth enemy.
The reason why the Ndebele people chose to fight head-on is very straightforward. It is because they do not know much about the use of muskets. Especially for the command of such a large-scale musket unit, they can only rely on Boer instructors. .
The Boers have experience in large-scale command. They also practice guerrilla tactics, and are more flexible with the support of cavalry.
If you don’t have relevant experience, just copy what’s already available. The Boer instructors directly took the British lobster soldiers’ “line-up to kill tactics” and applied it to the Ndebele people.
The British still have a good reputation. After all, they are the most powerful country in the world. The British lobster soldiers rely on the "line-up and kill tactics" and have no single enemy in the colonies.
The formal name for line-to-kill tactics is line tactics. The emergence of line tactics was a last resort due to the level of firearms at that time. It was mainly to ensure lethality and to maximize the attack power of flintlock guns. , and also produced a three-stage shooting tactic. Just by listening to the name, you can know the development situation of this tactic.
However, the officers of the East African Kingdom Army opposite them, especially the border troops of South Salzburg Province, were students of the Hechingen Military Academy who had participated in the Franco-Prussian War.
In the Franco-Prussian War, the formation-to-kill tactic was already behind the times, so these students from Hechingen Military Academy mastered more advanced skirmisher line tactics. Skirmisher line tactics had already appeared in the Napoleonic era, but their large-scale application was still in the Franco-Prussian War. , the Prussian Dresser rifle was far inferior to the French army in performance and accuracy, and was a commonly used tactic in order to avoid French fire suppression.
When the East African Kingdom fights with the indigenous people, the indigenous people basically collapse at the first encounter. Therefore, the biggest headache for the East African Kingdom is often to capture these scattered troops after the war. In this way, the East African Army often has to disperse its troops. , so skirmish line tactics were further strengthened in East Africa.
Lobengula: "Your Majesty Wiggins, let's just charge straight at him! Don't we need to cover up?"
Wiggins: "Your Majesty the King, you have to believe me. You must know that this is a tactic used by the army of the United Kingdom, the most powerful country in the world. Don't think that standing in a row like this looks very dull, but if you think about it, these muskets fire at the same time. The shooting will form a dense wall of firepower, and any enemy in front of it will be destroyed like a torrent."
Lobengula felt relieved at this time. He had also heard of the Kingdom of Great Britain, or perhaps. It is said that any country in the world that is not very closed to foreign exchanges knows the reputation of the British Empire. It is a well-deserved world hegemon, and even the powerful Boers are not its opponents.
Wiggins: "Your Majesty, let the Shona servants rush to the front first, and we will consume the ammunition of the East Africans first."
"No problem!" Lobengula replied.
So more than 10,000 Shona servants were driven by the Ndebele supervisory team towards the direction of the East African Army.
These poor Shona people don’t even have decent weapons. Most of them only hold simply trimmed wooden sticks in their hands. Some of them don’t even have the green skin peeled off. You can tell at a glance that they were cut temporarily. Only the pitcher at the front was made of trees, equipped with spears that the Ndebele people had eliminated as long-range weapons.
After the Ndebele people were equipped with muskets, disposable primitive weapons such as spears were naturally eliminated. However, the Ndebele people did not completely trust the muskets. They dismantled the original weapons and took away all the iron tools. After coming to Rong, they remade it into a scimitar for melee combat and stuck it on their waist. At the same time, they did not eliminate the most important shield of the Zulu people and carried it behind their backs for emergencies.
The current equipment of the Ndebele people can be said to be quite good throughout Africa. In sharp contrast is the Shona servant army armed with sticks as weapons. "The enemy is moving, but is Lobengula kidding? He is planning to let these people die!" Sweet said when he saw the Shona servants armed with sticks and spears.
"Chief of General Staff, the Shona people are just consumables in the eyes of Lobengula. He is not worried about the life and death of the Shona people at all. Lobengula must want to use them first The Shona servant army consumed our wave of ammunition."
Sweite sneered: "Then it depends on whether they can withstand it. Come on, push the artillery forward and point it towards the enemy. "Indiscriminate bombardment"
Then, eighteen small-caliber artillery pieces were pushed forward, and the commander gave the order, "Boom...boom...boom..."
The artillery shells clearly fell into the phalanx formed by the Shona servants. Sure enough, the power of the artillery instantly shattered the will of the Shona servants. Artillery is very effective in dismantling the indigenous people's desire to fight. It is a practice that has been tried and tested in East Africa during the colonial development of Africa. No tricks, no matter how hard it is, can't offset the fear of artillery.
Today is a terrible day for the Shona servant army. They were driven by the Ndebele people. Psychologically, the Shona people must be reluctant, but the Ndebele people are very concerned about the number of people. For the numerous Shona people, they are invincible, and recently the Ndebele people have mastered a terrible weapon (musket) that can kill people invisible, so the Shona servant army is even more afraid to resist Nde. The rule and leadership of the Pele people was over.
However, the enemies on the opposite side were even more terrifying. They pushed a dozen hollowed-out round "tree stumps" and pointed the round holes of the "tree stumps" towards themselves from a distance, and then made a loud noise. The sound resounded throughout the sky, and the place where it was hit instantly turned into a river of blood. Even those dozens of meters away could feel a heat wave. This kind of "sky thunder" was the punishment of the gods. How could a mortal fight against the gods.
The Shona servant army immediately lost its mentality. Some of them fled in all directions, and some lay on the ground, muttering words, praying to God for forgiveness. Even if the Ndebele supervisory team opened fire, the Shona servant army would not Indifferent.
“These Shona people are really useless!” Lobengula from behind yelled angrily, “Sir Wiggins, the East Africans have artillery, what should we do?”
Lobengula still knows about artillery. Although this kind of thing is not common in Africa, it does not mean that Lobengula has seen it in the hands of the Boers.
Wiggins: "Don't worry, Your Majesty, the East Africans are coming in a hurry. They must not be carrying many artillery shells. We will compete with them when their shells are used up."
At this time, Wiggins actually didn't know what to do. He didn't know how many artillery shells the East Africans had prepared. If the situation went bad later, he might as well take advantage of it.
Sweite: "Okay, the Shona servant army has been destroyed. There is no need to waste artillery shells. Suspend shooting and the whole army will press forward."
Following Sweite's order, The bombardment in East Africa ceased, but the advance began.
Wiggins: "Your Majesty, the East Africans are attacking directly. Next, when the East Africans come within two hundred meters, we can shoot directly."
But Wiggins' calculation was wrong. The East African army pressed in as a whole, not as cannon fodder. The Dresser rifles equipped by the border troops in South Salzburg Province had a range twice that of the Ndebele rifles, and their accuracy was much higher.
Wiggins has been in South Africa all year round and has no understanding of the current military development in Europe. The equipment level of the border troops in South Salzburg Province is second only to the world powers such as Britain, France, Germany, Austria and Russia. army.
(End of this chapter)