Chapter 340 Capture Dangan Island
In the early morning of May 28, the 2nd, 4th, and 5th companies of the Haihan Militia regiment boarded three "Exploration-class" warships at the Wanshan Port pier in full force. Watched by hundreds of temporary residents on the island, the fleet slowly sailed out of the harbor, skirted the cape to the south and then turned east, heading towards the Dangan Islands, which were more than thirty nautical miles away.
This battle is different in nature from the previous battles that the Haihan Militia participated in. The previous battles were all due to direct or indirect conflicts of interest between the opponents and the crossing group. The situation forced the Executive Committee and the military to had to make the choice of using force to resolve the situation. As for the pirate gangs on Dangan Islands, they have not posed a substantial threat to the Crossing Group so far. It is not even certain whether they have such an intention. The military and the Executive Committee decided to take the initiative to send troops. Eliminate this "potential" threat.
This combat operation can be said to mean that the Chuanchuan Group's foreign military expansion policy has begun to change from a cautious and passive response to a proactive attitude, and the scope of attack targets has also expanded from "direct threats" to "potential threats." Of course, only a few military officers with hundreds of years of experience are aware of this change. As for the grassroots militiamen and even naturalized civilian officers like Gao Qiaonan and Yu Tiezhu, they can temporarily It is not yet understood what this change in attitude means. For them, every battle means the accumulation of military merit and the opportunity for promotion. Therefore, although they have just retired from the battlefield in Panyu County and have not rested for a few days, the grassroots personnel are still full of desire to fight.
Three and a half hours later, the fleet arrived in the waters of Dangan Islands, and small fishing boats began to be observed near the coast. However, after the people on these boats discovered this strange fleet coming from the west, they immediately chose to row their boats and escape to the shore. However, Wang Tom was not afraid of exposing his whereabouts in advance. This plan set the battle time during the day, and he did not plan to hide his traces and carry out sneak attacks. Instead, he was prepared to rely on strong force to take down the Dangan Island bandits head-on. nest. Even if these pirates discover the attack of the Haihan Militia longer in advance, at most they will only have a little more chance of escaping, and it will not affect the overall situation.
According to the information obtained after interrogating the prisoners, the bandits' den on Dangan Island is located in the small bay of Dangantou on the east end of the island. When the fleet sailed along the island shore, they discovered that this so-called bay was actually just a concave V-shaped island shore, and its harbor conditions were not even comparable to Wanshan Port.
At this time, there was chaos on the harbor pier, and many people could be seen running non-stop. Many people were hurriedly unmooring and raising the sail on the deck, apparently planning to take the ship out to engage in a naval battle with the incoming uninvited guests. However, it was too difficult to complete this idea. Three Haihan warships filed into the harbor and aligned their sides with several sea-going ships docked at the dock. When the people on the shore were still confused by this move, they saw the gun windows on the side of the ship opened one by one, revealing the black muzzle of the gun.
"Aim at the outermost Guangzhou ship and fire, three rounds of rapid fire!" Wang Tom gave simultaneous firing orders to the artillerymen on the three warships through the walkie-talkie.
Although the No. 2 ship and the No. 3 ship each had only two broadside guns, the three ships' combined nine guns fired one after another with great force. Although these broadside guns are only 6-pound small guns, their power cannot be underestimated. The warship was less than a hundred meters away from the target. The shells almost penetrated the hull of the ship that had just left the dock pier at maximum speed. In an instant, many holes appeared in the hull of the ship.
For Chinese sailboats that have begun to use watertight cabins in this era, although the penetration effect of this solid cannonball looks dazzling, it does not have that great impact on the overall performance of the ship. After the wood chips fly across the hull, the hull will not immediately disintegrate or sink into the water. However, this group of pirates obviously had not withstood the bombardment of this kind of combat intensity. As soon as the first round of naval guns was fired, sailors on the deck of the ship began to dive to escape.
After the second salvo of naval guns, the corrected trajectory of the shells dropped, and five or six large holes were made in succession above and below the waterline of the hull. The impact was more obvious now, and the hull began to tilt to the left. Loss of forward momentum. As soon as the ship stopped, it blocked the exit route of several ships behind it, so there was chaos on the dock. Some people wanted to get on the ship and escape, and some crew members wanted to abandon the ship and escape to the camp on the island to hide, but it happened. There is no one organized to fight back against these large ships still floating on the sea - of course, this is most likely because they simply cannot come up with any effective counterattack means.
After the third salvo, the target ship began to capsize due to too much water entering the cabin. The sailors on the ship finally gave up their struggle and jumped into the sea and swam to the shore. As for the following ships that had not yet left the dock, they all gave up their desperate intentions. The sailors abandoned the ships and landed ashore, trying to rely on the forts on the shore to resist.
"Slowly go around to the shore and pay attention to the fire cover!" Wang Tom was very satisfied with the results of the first phase of the operation. The pirate ship capsized in the center of the harbor just blocked the main navigation route in and out of the dock. Now the pirates wanted to Escape by boat was probably hopeless. The Haihan militia, which has the advantage of mobility, can slowly use its firepower advantage to launch long-range attacks on the pirates who are still resisting on the shore.
The pirates' camp was built near the coast, with a radius of only a dozen acres. The perimeter was surrounded by a wall made of granite taken from the island. However, perhaps due to the limited labor force on the island, this wall The highest point is only five or six feet, and it can barely cover the people behind the wall. If the pirates expected that this wall would be able to block the attack of the Haihan militia, they would be totally wrong.
The warship slowly sailed into the port and did not bombard the other ships docked by the pier. Although these ships were a little worn out, they were towed back for repairs and could be used as fishing boats or short-distance offshore transportation vehicles. Not a big problem.
At this time, the pirates who had regained consciousness on the shore finally began to organize sporadic counterattacks, trying to use bows and arrows to confront the militia at long distances. Tom Wang was not worried about the lethality of the bamboo arrows used by these pirates, but after seeing the pirates starting to shoot arrows with ignited arrows, Wang Tom's face finally changed color, and he directed the musketeers to aim at a few of the few on the shore. The archer began to call names.
Whether it is in terms of range, accuracy or firepower density, the militia groups are far stronger than their opponents. Therefore, the few archers who dared to stand on the dock for sporadic resistance soon became living targets. After a few rounds of firing, there was no one left. Can stand up now. The officers did not put too much enthusiasm into this lackluster battle process, because the subsequent battle after landing was the highlight of this battle.
Regarding the tactical arrangements for amphibious operations, if the Haihan Militia ranks second, then it may be difficult to find another army in the world that can be called first during this period. As the military regards sea control as the main means of expanding its territory in the future, it has always attached great importance to the training of amphibious operations. Landing and anti-landing tactics are almost compulsory courses for every militia soldier after joining the army. Long-range fire cover and the construction of beachhead positions , whose tactics are strictly trained according to the standards of later generations. The results of this kind of training have been verified during the Battle of Annan. At that time, there were nearly 3,000 civilians in the armed forces plus logistical equipment. However, the current battle of this kind of company-level unit is obviously child's play.
After the three warships approached the trestle, they directly started bombarding the pirate stronghold on the shore with the 12-pound long-barreled naval gun on the second deck of the bow. Although the number of guns was reduced to three, they were more powerful than the previous 6-pounder. The ten-pound cast-iron cannon flew through the air after being ejected from the chamber, and hit the stone wall heavily. The first shot almost collapsed a section of the wall.
Under this terrifying power, no one dared to lean out from behind the wall to fight back. The infantry quickly landed on the dock trestle through the movable ramp on the side of the ship, and then surrounded the pirate fort on the shore in platoon units. past.
"Try to catch those alive, don't kill innocent people indiscriminately!" Wang Tom gave a concise and concise order to the military academy trainees, and at the same time distributed a batch of prepared special firearms to them one by one. This new gun is a modified model designed by the military industry department based on the existing flintlock gun based on Qian Tiandun's previous opinions. The main features of this gun are that it shortens the length of the barrel and body, increases the caliber, and uses a new type of paper-cased fixed-loading ammunition. To put it simply, this is a weapon similar to the short-barreled shotgun of later generations. This kind of gun intentionally makes the gun body short, and is very suitable for use in jungles or street fights where it is inconvenient to use the Type 27 flintlock gun. Since the range has been shortened a lot, the effective killing distance is less than fifty meters. In order to make up for this shortcoming, the design unit increased the lethality within the effective range by increasing the caliber. It's also a small shotgun instead of a single lead bullet used in a flintlock gun.
At a distance of ten to thirty meters, this kind of gun has a huge killing area, and it basically does not require particularly precise aiming to hit the opponent. If the opponent's formation happens to be very dense, it will be a lot of fun. Dozens of iron bullets will turn into a barrage the moment they are released. Such a shot shell is enough to kill a group of people at close range. . A gunman who is skilled in tactical movements can even fire five rounds in a minute using fixed paper shells. The shooting frequency has proved the usability of this gun in actual combat.
The purpose of developing this "Type 28 shotgun" by the military industry department is to provide special weapons for the Black Tugang Mountain Special Operations Force led by Qian Tiandun, but before that, it is of course also an excellent thing to use it on the battlefield. kind of arrangement. Wang Tom brought out more than 40 trial products this time, but they were of no use at all in Lijiazhuang. The bandits were all knocked down by artillery fire before they even entered the range of the shotgun. However, when we came to attack the pirate den on Dangan Island today, Wang Tom thought it was a good opportunity to try out this kind of gun. The trainees had already learned how to use this new rifle in Port Victory, so it was an appropriate choice to give it to them to try out on the actual battlefield.
Although Takahashi Nan didn't quite understand Wang Tom's order, he curled his lips and said nothing in the end. He saluted Wang Tom with a military salute and disembarked with his musket in hand. Of course, in addition to the gun, he also did not forget to carry his precious katana on his back.
Not to be outdone, Zheng Ting hurriedly followed. If he still lost to this Japanese dwarf today, then the position of the Annan soldiers in the Victory Port Military Academy would be greatly compromised in the future. Nowadays, there are more and more trainees at the Victory Port Military Academy. Not only are there students from Annan, but also the Lijia Militia group is no longer the only trainees from the mainland. Zheng Ting knew that there were several Fujianese who arrived in Victory Port before this departure. The students are said to be affiliated with the Ming Dynasty military.
Zheng Ting didn't know how the Haihan people got involved with the Ming Dynasty's military, and he didn't dare to inquire. After all, it was too sensitive to inquire about this fact from his perspective. But after the number of foreign trainees in the military academy increased, Zheng Ting also felt the pressure of competition. Here he not only represented himself, but in a sense he already symbolized his country.
After the fifth round of bow cannon bombardment, a section of the wall finally collapsed, revealing a gap two feet wide. Wang Tom, who was observing the battle on the ship, immediately ordered the bombardment to stop. The defense line had been torn open by artillery fire, and the rest would be left to the infantry.
Gao Qiaonan took the lead and rushed to the gap in the wall, and fired a shot at the crowd who were busy trying to repair the wall. His shot was only three to five meters away from the target, and it immediately knocked over a group of people. Zheng Ting followed closely and fired a shot. Then the group of pirates surrounding the gap immediately turned around and dispersed. No one looked at the pile of wounded wounds lying on the ground. The two of them just fired two shots, and it seemed that they actually closed the gap.
The ensuing battle was somewhat orderly. The infantry team swarmed in from the gap. After unhurriedly organizing the team, they launched a very smooth three-stage attack on the last group of pirates who tried to resist. After bringing down this group of people, the entire battle situation was basically stable. Seeing that the resistance was futile, some of the pirates knelt down and chose to surrender. The infantry entered the fortress in an orderly manner and began to count the prisoners and supplies.
"This is too fast!" The only person who was dissatisfied with the result was probably Minami Takahashi, who wanted to make some achievements. Since Wang Tom had explicitly prohibited indiscriminate killing before this, the battle was over before Takahashi Nan's sword even had time to be stained with blood. If we hadn't fired a shot and knocked down a few pirates when we captured the gap, we would have gained nothing today.
Zheng Ting let out a sigh of relief in his heart. If he really wanted to engage in a hand-to-hand combat, he would not be afraid. However, he knew that his ability to fight alone was indeed not as good as Gao Qiaonan. If they were separated and fought, he would inevitably be beaten again This dwarf stole the show.
The soldiers of the militia only suffered five minor injuries during the attack, which finally calmed down the officers who were a little anxious beforehand. If there are still many casualties when dealing with an opponent of this level, it will be difficult to explain to the Executive Committee and the Military Commission after returning. After all, when formulating the combat plan, they jointly promised to "win with zero casualties." Dangan Island".
The process of counting pirates took a long time - because some missing persons did not know whether they took advantage of the chaos to escape to other parts of the island, or whether they sank into the harbor with the unlucky ship during the first round of attacks. . Another part of the pirates who were killed during the battle also need to be checked again.
It seems that this group of pirates is unlucky. In the interception two days ago, the first and second masters of this group of pirates were killed by the guns of the Haihan militia. There is only one person left on the island who usually doesn't care. The third person in charge of things. The third master was very drunk the night before, but it was not until the Haihan militia began to land that he was awakened from his sleep by the sound of cannons coming from the seaside. The lack of command of the pirate gang barely put up any decent resistance, and the Haihan militia with strong ships and artillery broke into the stronghold. The third master also became a prisoner of the Haihan people in a daze. By this time, he hadn't even figured out what was going on.
Wang Tom ordered the nearly three hundred captured prisoners to be gathered together, and then shouted to them with a tin microphone: "We are the Haihan Militia from Victory Port on Qiongzhou Island. From now on, all of you who are over fourteen years old Everyone has become a prisoner under the name of the Haihan Executive Committee. If you want to regain your freedom, you must first complete at least one year of hard labor!”
Tom Wang looked around at the trembling captives kneeling on the ground, and continued: "Any resistance in words or actions will be treated as rebellion! If you want to live well until the day you regain your freedom, then Be careful with your words and actions from now on, and don’t make any mistakes! Don’t let your supervisor catch you! If anyone has doubts about this, I welcome him to try what I just said. ”
Compared to Xu Xinsu and Zheng Yiguan, a wealthy pirate leader, the pirates on Dangan Island had poor financial resources, including more than 5,000 kilograms of grain, more than 3,000 taels of silver of various colors, and a pile of rusty Knives, guns, and more than a dozen pieces of jewelry with rough craftsmanship were basically all the militiamen gained after ransacking the house. According to the account of the unlucky third master, the assets on the island were originally more than this. However, a few days ago, the first master and the second master went to Guangzhou to purchase goods and took away several thousand taels of silver. Of course, the goods that the silver was exchanged for, As well as the ships that transported the goods, they have become the spoils of war for the Haihan people.
However, a piece of information revealed by the third master inadvertently caught Wang Tom's attention.
(End of chapter)