Chapter 1652 Attacking Manila (2)
The Spanish army had had head-on experience with the Haihan Army in 1633. Colonel Francis also knew very well that his side's biggest shortcoming was the inferior performance of its weapons. He did not rashly let the phalanx regiments under his command take the initiative to attack, but only gathered Establish a battle formation and wait on the position for the opponent to advance closer. In addition to the sixteen artillery pieces on the position, Francis relied on defensive bunkers that had been built in advance.
According to the original tactics of the Spanish phalanx, there is no such thing as a bunker. With muskets attacking far and spears defending close, the infantry phalanx should kill the enemy in the process of continuous advancement, rather than hiding behind a bunker and waiting for the opponent to take the initiative. Come and attack. However, Francis knew very well the power of the enemy's weapons. Pulling out the phalanx to shoot at each other was tantamount to suicide. It was still necessary to shorten the combat distance as much as possible to effectively reduce the combat effectiveness gap between the two armies.
But this was still just his wishful thinking. Of course, Takahashi Minami had already seen clearly the deployment methods of the Spanish phalanx in the telescope. He was not surprised by this. If the Spaniards really pulled out their troops to attack, then Takahashi Minami would wonder if the opponent's commander's brain was burned out.
To deal with this Spanish tactic, Takahashi Minami's method was also very simple and crude, that is, to let the artillery be responsible for the task of breaking the defense. The artillery company assigned by the headquarters to Gao Qiaonan is used for this kind of work. The fortifications built by the Spaniards were nothing more than chest-high low wall bunkers built with earthen bricks and stones. It was no problem to deal with musket fire, but it was a bit difficult to block the cannonballs. In particular, the howitzers that have been installed in small batches in the Haihan Army are even more comfortable in dealing with bunkers.
Under the cover of the infantry, the artillery company leisurely set up a gun emplacement about a mile away from the Spanish position. The artillerymen observed and calculated the shooting angle, and then conducted a round of calibration fire. Although none of the calibrated shells hit the Spanish position, the error was already within the adjustable range.
The Spanish officers took the lead in ruthlessly ridiculing the shells that the Haihan Army missed, even though many of them actually understood that this was just a test firing by the enemy, and the real bombardment might come later, but since it can start When it comes to boosting morale, officers will naturally try to make the most of this method.
After receiving the report that the school shooting was over, Takahashi Minami ordered the attack to begin immediately. When the real bombardment began, the Spaniards immediately felt great pressure. Since the ballistic trajectory of the Haihan howitzer was parabolic, the bunker they built was not high enough and could not provide complete shielding. Several rounds of shells hit the infantry square behind the bunker, blowing up the crowd.
Of course, the Spaniards did not just watch. Their artillery launched an artillery bombardment against Haihan's army at almost the same moment. However, the range and accuracy were too far apart, and the artillery shells could not hit Haihan's position at all. However, the roar of artillery fire from one's own position can bring some mental comfort to ordinary soldiers, allowing them to realize that they are not just passively being beaten, and the enemy is also bearing their own artillery fire.
The effects of the shelling on both sides were naturally different. When the Spanish formation was beaten to the point of being knocked upside down, Haihan's side was calm. In addition to the accurate judgment of commanders such as Gao Qiaonan, this also benefited from the military intelligence collected by intelligence personnel such as Ran Tianlu before the war. Regarding the weapons performance of the Spanish defenders, the Haihan army had already understood it, and had made sure to form a formation outside the effective range of its artillery. The Spanish artillery fired vigorously, but it did not harm the Haihan army at all. , Quan should have heard a noise.
But Francis cannot continue to deceive himself and others. If he allows Haihan to shell a few more rounds, he is afraid that the people on his side will disperse. But it would be even more unscientific to order the phalanx troops to leave the bunker and go out to fight the opponent. Francis had no choice but to order the phalanx to withdraw a certain distance and take the initiative to get out of Haihan's bombardment range.
Even though Francis usually drilled his troops diligently, this retreat under artillery fire inevitably caused some chaos. In particular, the performance of the spearmen, who are mainly local indigenous people, is particularly outstanding. These Southeast Asian indigenous people have not experienced many firearms wars, and they are very unfamiliar with the situation of being bombarded by the enemy. It is inevitable that they will feel panic. If it weren't for Francis's supervising team watching from behind, perhaps there would be a small group of deserters right now.
Fortunately, Francis had almost no hesitation. As soon as he realized that the battle situation was not going well, he immediately issued an order to retreat, which was considered a timely stop loss. However, the retreat of the artillery position cannot be done immediately. The artillery mount must be connected to the carriage first, and then these heavy iron lumps can be pulled away with animal power. In addition, there are also ammunition and various accessories for the artillery. Need to tidy up. However, the coordination and synchronization of the Spanish army's various arms was not ideal. The infantry immediately turned around and retreated after receiving the order, while the artillery was still busy cleaning up its stall.
As a result, the Spanish artillery positions were inevitably dragged behind. This change was immediately noticed by the Haihan Army, and then the Spanish artillery ushered in a wave of concentrated fire strikes from the sky.
Sixteen artillery pieces, but only half of the troops were able to successfully withdraw from the line of fire. Francis was about to cry, but it was okay to lose some infantry. After all, training was quick, and two or three months would be enough to train a group of people to supplement them. But artillery is much more troublesome, especially gunners who know how to calculate ballistic trajectories and charges. They need long-term live ammunition training and actual combat experience to slowly develop it. This is not something that can be done by just picking a few people and training for a few months. . The two sides had just started fighting, and Francis already felt that he couldn't afford to lose.
When the enemy retreated, Haihan's side naturally pressed forward unceremoniously. Gao Qiaonan has asked the reconnaissance cavalry to spread out to the left and right, as far as the coastline in the west and as far as the Haihan position five miles away in the east, to monitor whether the enemy has any other ambushes. But now it seems that this caution is somewhat unnecessary. The Spaniards obviously concentrated their main forces on the plain south of the city, counting on their own infantry phalanx to deal with the Haihan army.
As soon as the Spanish army stabilized its position, the Haihan army was already within the range of the artillery. Takahashi Nan was still not in a hurry to advance, but repeated the tactics just now and continued to bombard the Spanish army's positions with artillery. And Francis didn't find an effective way to deal with it, so he could only continue to retreat.
After advancing and retreating like this three times, the Spanish army had retreated to the edge of the residential area outside the city. If it retreated further, the infantry square would not be able to form a formation to fight. Francis had no choice but to send out his cavalry and take a detour from the flanks, hoping to use this method to slightly restrain the speed of the Haihan Army's advance.
Seeing the Spaniards sending out cavalry, Harugong, who had been darkened for a long time, finally reacted and quickly sent an order for his cavalry to attack, lest the Spaniards would be stupid enough to charge directly into the musket array of the special operations battalion. When the time comes, the fruit will be picked up by the special operations battalion again. When Takahashi Nan saw his own cavalry attacking, he did not issue any more unnecessary orders to the flanking troops. If the Spaniards really plan to try the cavalry charge, then they will have a taste of the power of the Haihan Musket Formation. However, Takahashi Nan also knew that when Harugong's cavalry battalion attacked, the effect was actually similar to that of the musketeer array. The Spaniards would soon know how far their combat effectiveness in the cavalry arm was compared to Haihan's.
At this time, the Spanish cavalry still used sabers, spears and light bows and arrows as their main weapons and equipment. Only officers could be equipped with single-shot flintlock muskets. The equipment of the Haihan Cavalry Battalion has long been fully weaponized. The seven-shot short-barreled cavalry rifle is extremely lethal in close combat. It was once defeated on the Liaodong battlefield and the Jin Cavalry could not hold its head up. It is a pity that The Spaniards did not know the performance of the Haihan cavalry, otherwise Francis would certainly not have sent his limited cavalry troops out to hit the wall.
Fortunately, the leading officer of the Spanish Cavalry was quite cautious. When he saw the Haihan Cavalry fighting, he did not launch a frontal charge. Instead, he still insisted on roundabout tactics and tried to circle the plains with the Haihan Cavalry while constantly moving. Looking for a fighter jet. However, the Haihan Cavalry obviously did not intend to deal with him slowly. They narrowed the distance between the two sides to within the effective shooting range and began target practice. Although it was basically impossible to achieve precise aiming on the bumpy horseback, at a distance of tens of meters, more than a hundred rifles were shooting at the Spanish cavalry. This kind of random shooting still had a very scary hit rate.
People or horses in the Spanish cavalry continued to be shot and fell, but the means of counterattack that could be launched were almost zero. Although some Spanish cavalrymen tried to rush over and cut down their opponents with their sabers due to their bloodiness, they were often hit by concentrated fire twenty or thirty meters away, and were knocked directly backwards by bullets from their horses' backs. Some Spanish cavalry also wear two-piece plate armor, but this thin iron sheet can protect against ordinary bows and arrows, but cannot protect against close-range musket fire. The protective effect it can play is extremely limited. Once shot, it will still be Will lose combat effectiveness immediately.
After losing more than twenty cavalry, the officer leading the team quickly realized the gap between the two sides and quickly signaled to evacuate the battlefield. The Haihan cavalry chased for a while without mercy, and after putting down several more cavalry, they calmly withdrew their troops.
"These damn Haihan people, don't they have any weaknesses!" Francis witnessed with his own eyes how his cavalry was ravaged, and couldn't help but get angry. It's a pity that this kind of curse will not help the Spanish army's passive situation, and it is just a quick talk.
What should we do next? Try our best to hold the current line of defense, or continue to retreat and withdraw our troops to defend the city? Or rely on the residential areas outside the city to fight a guerrilla street battle with the opponent?
Francis looked around. Most of the people living in the residential area in the south of the city were Ming and local natives. No matter how many casualties there were, he would not have any scruples. Logically speaking, street fighting should be the most beneficial option for the defenders. But the problem is that neither Francis nor his officers understand street fighting. What they are good at is infantry square and legion-style combat. If the troops are divided into small teams and dispersed to fight individually in the city, Francis knows this without thinking too much. It will only turn your troops into a disorganized mess.
Francis did not dare to take this risk, so the only solution for now was to withdraw his troops into the city and rely on city fortifications to resist Haihan's attack. As for how long it will take the Haihan people to clean up the residential area in the south of the city, Francis believes that at least they will not be able to finish it today - night is approaching, and the Haihan people will probably take the initiative to withdraw their troops and call a truce.
Sure enough, after the cavalry confrontation between the two sides ended, Haihan took the initiative to stop advancing, and then about a mile behind his position, engineers began to set up camp. It seemed that they would stop there today.
Francis secretly breathed a sigh of relief. If Haihan continued to advance, he would have no more effective means of resistance. Fortunately, the coming of night gave a whole night's buffer time, and Francis could discuss with his officers how to block the Haihan Army's offensive outside the city.
The atmosphere in the Haihan camp was relatively relaxed. Today's confrontation with the Spanish army on land went extremely smoothly, and there was basically no decent resistance - at least in Takahashi Minami's view. The number of casualties in Haihan was much smaller than that in the naval battle between them. This made the army generals at the headquarters feel that they were proud of themselves and had invisibly overwhelmed the navy.
"If the Spaniards start a street fight with us tomorrow, then I really have to teach them a lesson." Qian Tiandun pointed to the area in the south of the city on the map and explained to other generals: "This area covers an area of about two square meters. Kilometers, the planning of the city is somewhat organized, but apart from buildings, there are no other obstacles that can provide the defenders with conditions for building defenses. My troops have specialized in urban street fighting, so it is rare for them to have such a suitable environment. Play.”
"You should give up. The Spaniards will not fight in the streets with us." Yan Chujie shook his head and said, "They have retreated again and again today. They are obviously not used to our tactics. I don't think they will still have the confidence to fight outside the city tomorrow." Fight with us.”
"The Spaniards have been trying to distance themselves today. I wonder if they will find out that this is a wrong idea when they go back to review the game at night." Qian Tiandun did not immediately deny Yan Chujie's view, but first talked about his own Opinion: "The more they try to control the fighting distance, the more passive they become. Only by narrowing the fighting distance infinitely can they have a chance to struggle. When fighting on the plains, they will always suffer the loss. Only in the special environment of urban areas Only by fighting can we hope to bring the fighting distance to a relatively equal level. If the Spaniards think so, then they may choose street fighting as their next tactic."
(End of chapter)