Chapter 1640 Thunderous Power
When Simang first arrived in the Far East, he came to Manila twice with Portuguese merchant ships, and even briefly lived in Manila for a few days. Among the entire fleet in this expedition to the west, he is probably the most familiar with the Manila area. It is precisely because of this that the two ships sent by Portugal to participate in the war were placed under Simao's command.
However, whenever there is an opportunity, Ximang is still more willing to go to the flagship of the Haihan Fleet, communicate with the Haihan generals face to face, and also observe the operation of the Haihan Navy's combat command system. For Portugal, Haihan's strong strength in the military field is very worthy of study and imitation. Although there is no way to catch up with Haihan's level in weapons and equipment, at least at the strategic and tactical level, there is the possibility of narrowing the gap through learning.
This is not the first time that Simang has gone on an expedition with the Haihan Army. In the past few years, he has observed several wars launched by Haihan overseas as a military observer. However, Simang accidentally missed the two previous attempts by the Haihan Army to teach the Spaniards a lesson on the battlefield. As for this expedition to Manila, Simang naturally did not want to miss any more details. He hoped to learn from the Haihan people how to deal with the Spanish army, and then bring these combat experiences back to Europe and use them on the battlefield of the War of Independence to make the Spanish pay the price for their past extortionate expropriations against Portugal.
The Haihan military has no scruples about this enthusiastic Portuguese. The reason why it brings foreign officers with it every time it performs combat missions overseas is that in addition to showing its strength to act as a deterrent, it also has the ability to keep these The country's military followed the ideas of the Haihan Army. Especially for a country like Portugal, which has an irresolvable grudge with Spain, teaching them some tactics to deal with the Spanish can also be regarded as a disguised method of weakening Spain's strength.
The name Corregidor Island comes from Spanish, meaning "local judge". This tadpole-shaped island covers an area of about five square kilometers and is located exactly in the center of the access channel of Manila Bay. Its geographical location is very important. After the Spanish occupied Manila Bay, they built a signal lighthouse on the island to provide night navigation for ships heading to Manila from the outer sea. As for the nearby Carvalho Island, it has always been an uninhabited island because of its small area and lack of development value.
Although Corregidor Island does not have a natural harbor, the dock built on the island can provide some basic supply services for ships passing by. It can also provide temporary shelter from wind and waves as a last resort. Troops can even be deployed on the island to protect Manila Bay. the forward position. In the time and space before Haihan's senior officials traveled through time, the U.S. military deployed ten thousand troops on Corregidor Island during World War II and sniped at the Japanese here for six months.
Of course, it was impossible for the Spaniards in this era to carry out resistance to this level. They neither had so many troops, nor did they dare to send a large number of limited troops dozens of miles away from Manila without being able to occupy the maritime advantage. An isolated island in the sea. Otherwise, once the sea lanes are cut off by the Haihan Navy, the troops deployed on the island will immediately become a dead end.
But no matter how many manpower the Spaniards deploy on the island, the Haihan Army must clean up the place before they dare to enter Manila Bay with confidence. However, Corregidor Island only has a simple dock built in a small bay in the north of the island suitable for ships to dock. With the huge size of the Haihan Fleet, which consists of more than a hundred ships, it is obvious that they cannot all squeeze into that one place. Moreover, even if Corregidor Island is occupied, the existing dock conditions cannot accommodate even ten ships, and it is not suitable for use as an advance base.
In this regard, the Haihan military has prepared two sets of action plans. One is to use Mariveles Bay on the coast of the Bataan Peninsula northwest of Corregidor Island as an advance base. This bay is only five miles away from Corregidor Island. It is about a mile away from the sea and is a good natural harbor. The conditions are much better than the simple dock on Corregidor Island. The only trouble is that there is also a lack of large-scale port facilities. If there is no construction and transformation, it will only be like Subic Bay. Also used as a temporary anchorage. It's okay to use it for three to five days, but it's not suitable for use as a main base.
Another plan is to directly attack Cavite, which is twenty nautical miles west of Corregidor Island. The port facilities there are complete and can be used as a ready-made naval base. However, according to intelligence, the Spanish not only stationed a group of warships locally, but also had newly built fortifications near the coast. Fighting in such an unfamiliar area, even the Haihan Army was not sure that it could break through the opponent's defense line in one fell swoop. There will definitely be certain risks.
The Haihan Army carefully dispatched several ships to clean up the waters around Corregidor Island, and determined that there were no Spanish ships within a radius of ten nautical miles. Only then did Wang Tom order the Marine Corps to report to Corregidor Island. A landing operation was carried out on Rehidor Island. However, at this time, warning fireworks signals had already been set off on the island. Thick black smoke columns shot straight into the sky and could be seen dozens of nautical miles away. The Haihan Army was not surprised by this. The other party deployed manpower on the island, of course, to serve as an early warning. Unless special forces were sent to the island in the middle of the night to kill all the people, it would be impossible to prevent the other party from releasing them. warning signal.
Half an hour later, news from the front came from the island. The Spaniards did not deploy an organized army on the island, and the Marine Corps' cautious landing operations did not encounter decent resistance. The four warships that were moved to the shore to cover the landing of the infantry really became spectators. They watched the troop transport ship dock without firing a shot from beginning to end, and then the infantry successfully landed and completed the assembly.
This unhindered start made the generals a little surprised. They originally thought that they would encounter at least some symbolic resistance on Corregidor Island, and maybe encounter the Spanish fleet. But in fact nothing happened. Soon after the Marines landed, the residents of the island took the initiative to surrender. There are no Spaniards on the island, only more than 200 Filipino natives who were placed on the island by the Manila authorities. These people are usually responsible for managing the island's lighthouse and supplies, but no one cares about their life and death during the war. And their loyalty to the Spanish is limited to when their own safety is guaranteed.
The Spanish-speaking Portuguese immediately interrogated the prisoners on the island, but did not obtain any valuable information. It seemed that the Spaniards were also very aware of the virtues of these natives, so they did not tell them anything about the battle plan. revealed. After asking around, I only came across the mysterious disappearance of the Spanish sailing ship "Martin" in the waters near here a day or two ago. This in itself was the work of the Haihan Army, and of course there was no need to ask any more information from these prisoners. However, according to their confession, the news of the disappearance of the "Martin" had been sent to Cavite for reporting, and they thought they should be prepared there.
"Leave a platoon of the army on the island, the fleet continues to move forward, let's go to Cavite!"
Since Corregidor Island was solved effortlessly, Yan Chujie didn't want the army to stay nearby and immediately ordered the march to continue. For the Haihan Army with limited combat supplies, every minute is precious. The earlier they reach the city of Manila, the more time they will have for this operation. The Haihan Army only stayed on Corregidor Island for two hours before setting off again to march into Manila Bay.
Before the Haihan Army landed, Cavite had already seen the plume of smoke rising into the sky from the southwest. According to the agreed signal, Juan knew that this should be the signal for the arrival of the Haihan army. He did not expect Corregidor Island to delay Haihan for too long, so he immediately ordered his fleet to assemble and set off, and he himself boarded the flagship "San Diego" to personally command this important battle for Spain. fighting. Now that the Haihan fleet has arrived in Manila Bay, it doesn't matter where the missing "Martin" went. As for the personnel stationed on Corregidor Island, they are not Spanish anyway, let alone Juan is within the scope of consideration. If the Haihan people were to ruthlessly slaughter all the people on the island, they would be in bad luck.
However, Juan did not intend to have a head-on confrontation with the Haihan fleet at sea. Regardless of whether the opponent wanted to attack Cavite or go directly to the Port of Manila, he planned to sit back and wait until the opponent was ready to launch a landing before leading the fleet. Come around from behind and catch him off guard.
Of course, this unpreparedness is only relatively speaking. In terms of visibility at sea, the fleet will be observed by the opponent at a distance of about ten nautical miles, and this distance is enough for the dullest warship to prepare for the battle. But this is already the safest way that Juan can think of. After all, the Haihan fleet has traveled a long distance, and there must be many supply ships and troop carriers in the formation, and these auxiliary ships are the targets that Juan really wants to attack. As long as the Haihan Army's supplies can be destroyed and its army severely damaged, it will naturally force the opponent to retreat on its own.
Therefore, after leaving the port of Cavite, the fleet led by Juan did not go directly to the southwest to meet the opponent. Instead, it first made a large circle to the north to completely free up the waterway leading to Cavite and Manila. Of course, he did not forget to send a clipper to send the warning of the Haihan Fleet's incoming attack to Manila City.
Although the lineup of this Manila fleet is not a real navy, and there are even some improvised armed merchant ships in it, Spain in this era is still a maritime power with colonies all over the world. Even Juan’s motley army is operating at sea. During this period, they were able to maintain a good formation and looked presentable. Juan regretted that the time to prepare for the war was too short. If it had been more than half a year, no, even three more months, he could have transformed this miscellaneous fleet and made a qualitative leap in combat effectiveness.
Now, Juan can only hope that he can maintain the current neat formation when the fight breaks out. Regardless of the outcome of winning or losing, he can at least show calmness and calmness in front of his opponents to maintain the dignity of the Spanish Empire.
Three hours later, the Haihan navy had arrived at Cavite, and almost no sails were seen along the way, and there was no trace of the Spanish sailing ship at all. Because it was too calm, Qian Tiandun even went back to the cabin to take a nap. What his troops are best at is mountain warfare, and amphibious landing warfare has always been the strength of Wang Tom's Marine Corps. This combat mission in Cavite obviously has nothing to do with the special operations battalion.
But Tom Wang had something more on his mind at this time. The Haihan fleet had entered Manila Bay for more than three hours, but the Spanish fleet had never appeared. Where were they? What are they going to do? He would not naively think that the Spaniards were hiding because they were afraid of fighting. This must be some kind of arrangement by the opponent.
He had discussed this issue with Yan Chujie before and believed that the Spanish fleet should be waiting for a better opportunity to attack. As for what tricks the other side would come up with, Wang Tom already had some speculations. The opponent's fleet will definitely not stay away from Cavite and Manila City, and actively avoid the opportunity of head-on confrontation. Then it can only try to make small moves behind the scenes. There are many non-combat ships in the Haihan fleet formation, which are probably the most suitable ones to use to attack Haihan.
With the huge disparity in combat effectiveness between the two sides, any calculation would be futile for the weaker side. Haihan is now taking the path of using strength to overcome skill. No matter what plans or plots you have, I will go all the way with the army and occupy all the places that should be occupied. As for whether the Spanish fleet would suddenly jump out from behind, Wang Tom had to make corresponding arrangements before launching an offensive against Cavite.
On the afternoon of January 13, the Haihan Fleet entered Manila Bay without making any adjustments and pounced directly on the port of Cavite. The Haihan fleet, led by three majestic-class battleships, formed a long snake formation and used broadside naval guns to conduct a round of gunfire on the coastal defenses on the coastline. Although the Spaniards had expected the firepower of the Haihan fleet, the intensity of this round of artillery fire greatly exceeded their expectations. The defense line built with bricks and stones was bombarded to collapse in many places, and the fire from the shore gun emplacement Counterattacks were extremely limited, and they were often attacked by concentrated fire from the Haihan warships after firing one shot.
It was not until the sound of cannons spread on the sea that Juan in the distance dared to believe that the Haihan people did not seem to consider his fleet at all, but began to attack Cavite regardless. He knew that the few hundred people at the Cavite port could not hold out for long, so he quickly ordered the fleet to go south to outflank the Haihai Han people's retreat.
Unfortunately, the retreat is not so easy to find. Wang Tom deployed the Haihan Navy's new ace "Black Shark" in this direction, and there were four other exploration-class warships cooperating with the "Black Shark". Although there were only five warships, after seeing the Spanish fleet appear, this small team launched an attack without hesitation.
(End of chapter)