Chapter 742 Great Victory
The Maxim machine gun had huge damage, but the Indian troops seemed to be "fearless" and launched a steady stream of offensives. This was completely different from the behavior of the Indian soldiers at the Tugela River.
"No one is allowed to retreat!" The British supervisory team in the rear played a big role.
In fact, in this case, the British and Indians were also anxious, but just like when a stampede occurred, the rear did not know the situation ahead and rushed forward, the mistake in command and coordination led to the Indians in the front The soldiers knew the situation, but the Indian soldiers behind them did not, and the British supervisory team behind the Indians had no way of knowing.
If it is a regular British division, the commander may soon discover the problem, but the top commander of the Indian division is British.
The plain terrain limited the British commanders' ability to respond to the frontline battles, and the backflow of Indian soldiers was actually a very common situation. After all, the British knew very well that the Indians were weak in fighting will. In other words, the Indians did not go to the front line. It is abnormal to flee from behind.
If you can look down from a high altitude at this time, you will find a very strange battlefield situation. East African machine gunners are massacring Indian soldiers in the front, while the British supervisory team is urging the Indian soldiers behind to continue to fill the front. .
After more than twenty minutes of development, the British commander finally discovered the changes in the battlefield situation, that is, the number of Indian troops decreased sharply, and with the increase in corpses, the battle ahead could be vaguely detected at the rear of the battlefield. Tragic.
It is not an exaggeration to say that corpses are everywhere. It is impossible for the Indian soldiers in the rear to move forward. The hill with piled up corpses blocks the way.
As the truth spread, the fear that the Indian soldiers had developed was close to the critical point, and then exploded.
This fear exceeded the fear of the British. They rushed to the rear desperately and tried to escape. Even under the deterrence of the bullets of the British army supervisors, they fled to the rear desperately.
The Indian troops were completely "crazy", causing the entire British front to collapse directly, and this was quickly transmitted to the main British troops in the rear.
No one knew what the Indians had experienced that made them so frightened, and Rost ordered the British army to intercept the Indian soldiers, but with little effect.
At this time, the East African artillery also began to exert force, shelling the rear of the British army, further deepening the fear of the Indian soldiers.
Now there is only one idea in their minds, that is to escape from this hell. Rost is very upset. The Indian soldiers who have withdrawn from the front line are like crazy, attacking the formation of the main force of the British army, and now they are doing Not sure why.
Could it be because there is more than one brigade in East Africa on the opposite side, but more troops are ambushed! This resulted in a major rout of the Indian troops.
Two Indian divisions are more than four times the strength of East Africa. Even if so many people cannot defeat an East African brigade, they should not be defeated so miserably.
At this time, Aridotus, commander of the 9th East African Brigade, after observing the chaotic situation of the British army, decisively ordered the troops to retreat.
“The whole brigade evacuated towards the port city of New Hamburg. The artillery and the wounded were evacuated first. The first battalion of the second regiment was responsible for staying along the road to continue blocking the enemy and slowing down the enemy’s march.”
This. There is no point in staying at this time. With this "squandering", most of the ammunition of the Ninth Brigade has been emptied. And if it is bitten by the British army, the Ninth Brigade will inevitably face the risk of annihilation. The enemy has already occupied the number. An absolute advantage.
Taking advantage of the chaos of the British army, the Ninth East African Brigade began to run away. At this time, the British commander, Commander Rossiter, was still in a state of distress.
The number of these defeated Indian soldiers was too large, and it would take a lot of time to suppress them. At the same time, they had to be wary of the East African attack, but he did not expect that the 9th East African Brigade was not willing to fight at all at this time. And it has already begun to run away.
As time passed, the British army finally "pacified" the defeated Indian troops under the command of Rost. At the same time, due to the "emergency" of the war, Rost had to order the British army to stay in place. After resting, reports on the battle between the two armies during the day were compiled. "According to the description of the Indian soldiers, the East Africans used a new type of machine gun. We did not capture the thing. However, based on the description of the Indians and the characteristics of the machine gun, it should be a new Maxim machine gun in Europe. I did not expect the East African army to Equipped with a large number of this new machine gun, this shows that the Maxim machine The gun is very mature and can be used on the battlefield. Its performance far exceeds that of Gatling."
Rost: "What about the results of the Maxim machine gun? The East Africans only relied on machine guns. Isn’t it a bit exaggerated to defeat several times our army’s strength?”
I have heard about the Maxim machine gun Rost, but this machine gun has not been widely promoted in Europe, or it has not been used in large-scale actual combat, and it has achieved amazing results with a small machine gun, which Rost dare not Mutually.
After all, the British army also had machine guns. Although it was not Maxim, Gatling had not achieved such a record, so Rost could not imagine that machine guns could bring such an effect.
"According to statistics from our army, more than 7,000 Indian soldiers were killed or injured today, of which more than 4,000 were killed and more than 3,000 were wounded." At this point, the subordinates were trembling.
And Rost's face turned dark. In one battle in the afternoon, half of the division's troops were directly scrapped. Although the dead were all Indian soldiers, this number far exceeded Rost's psychological expectations. .
At the same time, the great rout of the Indian troops is also explained. With such high casualties, it is unreasonable not to have a great rout.
Then Rost began to think about how to deal with the results of this war. More than 7,000 casualties were not a small number. Even if he was a British man, he could not shirk responsibility for the defeat of this war.
If there were three or four thousand casualties, Rost could have dealt with them vaguely through personal connections, but more than seven thousand was beyond his ability. And now Rost is most fortunate to have died this time. There are still mostly Indian soldiers. If his division faces this situation, he doesn't have to do anything and can go directly to the military court.
Rost walked back and forth restlessly in the division headquarters, thinking about how to "beautify" the situation of this war.
It is impossible to hide so many casualties, because the number is too large, so we can only find a solution from the enemy.
First of all, as before, the strength of the East African army must be exaggerated, and the calculation of the strength of East Africa must be based on the enemy's advantage and our army's disadvantage, so that such large casualties will not appear abrupt.
The second is the exaggeration of the weapons used by the enemy, especially the role of the Maxim machine gun. If the Maxim machine gun is not exaggerated, it will be difficult to explain this.
“Did any prisoners be captured this time?” Rost asked!
“We captured three East African soldiers alive, but they were all seriously injured and are still in coma.”
“Treat them quickly and send my personal doctor there. , we must understand the organization of the East African army on the opposite side," Rost said.
"Also, you should start organizing discussions now about the analysis of the Maxim machine gun. This 'horrible' killing weapon, which our army is not equipped with, is the main cause of war casualties. The Military Intelligence Department must take the responsibility. A big responsibility.”
"This fully shows that East Africans have increased investment in the military, and our army's insufficient military expenditure has led to a disadvantage in weapons and equipment, so the casualties of our army in this battle are reasonable."
(End of this chapter)