Chapter 790 The King’s Flag Falls
“This is our observation map of the entire Shaokwe terrain these days. Although Earl Roberts attempted to rely on the Limpopo River to resist stubbornly, yesterday’s battle dealt a fatal blow to the coalition forces. , and when the troops were not rich to begin with, the defense system planned by Earl Roberts also had huge loopholes, especially in the western region of Saukui. The river bend here was definitely something Earl Roberts wanted to take advantage of at first, but now We can only retreat to the narrow area in the east, so the west is now the weak point of the coalition. We should concentrate our artillery and troops on the attack and we should be able to completely annihilate Earl Roberts's department soon. "
Commander-in-Chief of the Western Military Region, Laideen said. Everyone said that as Merkel went to the south to command the combat missions in Cape Town and Natal, Lederne was now the top military commander in Mozambique in East Africa.
The Western Military Region is also the main force currently fighting against the Mozambican army, especially after the main force in western Mozambique was surrounded by the Western Military Region in the São Jorge area.
Now Mozambique has become the meat of East Africa, and the way to solve the Mozambique problem as soon as possible is to get rid of the coalition headquarters headed by Earl Roberts and the Mozambican government, and then recruit and surrender the main force of the western Mozambique coalition.
If this still fails to achieve the goal, then after wiping out Earl Roberts's department, the East African army will move westward and cooperate with the four divisions besieging the main force of the coalition to completely annihilate the enemy forces in Saint-Jorge.
Of course, the most important thing now is to conquer Shaokui. The terrain of Shaokui is very conducive to defense. The only pity is that the coalition forces have only been here for a short time, so there are very big loopholes, especially in the bend of the Limpopo River in the west. at.
Originally, according to the plan of the coalition forces, the natural river here would be used as part of Shaokui's city defense. However, unfortunately, due to the lack of manpower and materials, the construction of Shaokui was not completely completed.
As the war progresses, the grassroots order in Mozambique has long since collapsed, so it is impossible to recruit troops here. The Mozambique colony is originally sparsely populated, and there are many jungles, mountains, and canyons. After the war broke out, many natives went into hiding, so it was impossible for the Portuguese to penetrate these areas and find them.
The lack of labor ultimately led to the failure of Earl Roberts' plan. However, in this case, Earl Roberts could still rely on the old city of Saukui to deal with East Africa.
December 25, 1888.
With the General Staff's temporary authorization of Delane as the temporary commander-in-chief of the battlefield, various units of the East African National Defense Force, major military regions and Guards Divisions launched a massive counterattack against Shaokui.
The troops of the Eastern Military Region, the troops of the Western Military Region and the Guards Division acted as the main firepower output and concentrated thousands of artillery pieces of various types to bombard the Shaokui Ammunition Land for half a day.
The Eastern Military Region is only separated from Shaokui by a river. This is not a good place to attack Shaokui from land, but it can more calmly deploy artillery units to carry out corrective artillery bombardment of the core area of Shaokui on the other side of the river. .
The troops of Earl Roberts, who were shrinking in Saukwe, could not cross the Limpopo River to counterattack the East African troops in the east and north, so they could only be passively beaten. Moreover, at this time, in order to prevent the main East African forces from the west and south directions, attack.
Earl Roberts had to concentrate most of his only inventory of artillery to deal with the artillery of the Guards Divisions in the Western Military District. However, he could only let the East African troops in the east and north go their own way. He could only wait for the East African troops to show signs of crossing the river before attacking the East African troops. Launch a counterattack.
Prior to this, the Shaokui defenders could only hide under the fortifications to avoid artillery bombardments from the Eastern East African Military District and the Northern Military District.
The daily training of the East African artillery is very strict, so the artillery is very accurate and can basically accurately aim at large targets on the other side.
Under the bombardment of artillery fire, the temporary fortifications built in Shaokui on the other side of the Limpopo River were vulnerable. Due to the rush of time, some of the defenses in Shaokui were still mainly made of rammed earth. These became the wartime The reminder of death.
The British and Portuguese were hiding in the trenches, with dust flying around them. The roar of the artillery shells after they landed made the coalition soldiers very uncomfortable. Although the blood did not flow into rivers, the smell of gunpowder smoke and blood wafted from the position. , occasionally you can see broken limbs and complete corpses, the entire defense line is like a hell on earth.
At the same time, in the south and west of Shaokui, the coalition forces faced more difficult tests. The artillery fire of the Guards Division and the Western Military District was several times that of the Eastern Military District and the Northern Military District.
Under this intensive artillery attack, the Shaokui defenses were almost completely destroyed, leaving only a piece of scorched earth.
Eight p.m. Under the clarion call of the East African charge, the general attack on Shaokui City officially began. Under the cover of artillery and machine guns, the East African infantry advanced step by step toward the Shaokui position and the city head.
At this time, most of the area in Shaokui had been bombed into ruins. The East African infantry climbed onto these ruins and then fought with the enemy who came out of nowhere.
The enemy is very tenacious, but this is only a minority. Most of the enemies still surrender after seeing the East African flag. At this time, the opportunity has been completely lost.
The British and black troops were okay, but the Portuguese soldiers and Indians seemed to have met their biological parents, begging for mercy from the East African soldiers.
And this disharmonious situation has completely torn apart the resistance of the coalition forces. After all, no matter how hard you work, how can you fight this kind of battle without your pig teammates?
The "demonstration" given by the Portuguese and Indians was eventually transmitted to all coalition forces. The peripheral coalition forces basically surrendered, and the East African soldiers who tried to fight to the death also sent them into hell early.
At this time, Earl Roberts only had less than 3,000 reserve forces left under his command. Earl Roberts looked at the tide of East African troops, his face was as pale as water, his chapped lips were slightly open, and his eyes were dull. Glazed eyes.
"Vote!"
At this time, a voice came from behind Earl Roberts. It was Bougival, the governor of Mozambique. Bougival also looked very depressed. He looked at Roberts gloomily and said.
"Surrender?" Earl Roberts was mumbling at this time, but he was still in the same miserable situation as before, as if he hadn't come out yet.
"Your Majesty, please wake up! We have no chance. We can no longer let these young lives die in vain. If we continue to resist, we will only add cold numbers to the merit books of the East Africans. We have failed. A complete failure."
After saying this in an almost roaring voice, Bougival's whole body was drained of energy and energy, and he collapsed to the ground.
Earl Roberts clenched his fists, and the old skin formed wrinkles full of age on the back of his hands.
"Alas!"
......
At nine o'clock in the afternoon East African time, the sky is already gray, but you can still vaguely see some shadows and a few conspicuous white flags The city head rises slowly in Sauquene.
With the surrender of Earl Roberts and the Governor-General of the Mozambique Colony, the East officially captured Saukwe, and at the same time, another colonial flag of the Kingdom of Portugal in Africa quietly came to an end.
The glory of the Kingdom of Portugal was completely buried in the historical dust of the late 19th century by the Kingdom of East Africa. There were many such century wars in the 19th century, but for the Portuguese, this was their last chance.
Without the land and population as a foundation, it is basically impossible for Portugal to rise again in the future, unless their descendants stand in the wind and complete new feats like their ancestors, but that is basically impossible, just like in previous lives As far as Ernst knew, the two wasters of the Iberian Peninsula were in a state of constant decline.
(End of this chapter)