Chapter 1664 Attacking Manila (14)
If Sun Zhen were asked to choose a favorite fighting method, he would still choose to shoot the enemy with a rifle at a relatively close distance. If the combat distance is too far, it will take more time to aim, which cannot fully reflect the shooting frequency advantage of the repeating rifle they are equipped with. If it is too close, it will be easily injured by the enemy's cold weapons, and if it is thirty to fifty meters away, it will be easily injured by the enemy's cold weapons. In terms of distance, this kind of rifle can basically hit wherever you point it, and it can reload and reload quickly. It is the combat distance that maximizes its performance.
Of course, the prerequisite for this kind of performance is to suppress the opponent in terms of firepower and prevent it from having the opportunity to calmly organize and counterattack. And the platoon led by Sun Zhen suddenly came out from nearby, which also had the effect of a surprise attack. The few Spanish guards who had not reacted at the gate of the official residence were shot and fell almost as soon as the gunfire rang out, without any time to take any measures to resist.
"Enemy attack!"
When Sun Zhen was less than ten meters away from the gate of the official residence, a Spaniard finally raised his voice and raised the alarm. But he only shouted once before Sun Zhen grabbed his hair and slammed his head on the stone pillar at the gate.
Then the first batch of Spanish soldiers who rushed out of the official residence were almost unprepared and encountered a round of rifle fire. Those who were lucky enough not to be shot quickly retreated to the official residence while yelling, and their companions who were shot did not even have time. Help away.
Haihan soldiers rushed into the gate and quickly took control of the courtyard outside the official residence. Sun Zhen left a squad at the door to guard the retreat, while the others continued to attack the official residence. Although this three-story building is not small in area, it only has two entrances and exits, one in front and one in the back. As long as the ground floor is controlled, the people in the building can be hunted in a jar.
The people in the building obviously have no intention of rushing out to confront the Haihan Army. To be precise, they may not understand what is happening outside at all. Why can the Haihan Army suddenly advance the battle line here? According to the current battle situation , the Haihan Army closest to here should still be a long way away.
Unless the Haihan Army successfully bypassed the fortified urban area without alerting anyone. This possibility that only exists in theory seems to have turned into this terrifying reality.
Francis had previously chosen this layer-by-layer interception tactic, relying on the geographical advantage that the defenders were familiar with the city's environment. However, because he had limited troops, the scope of the defense was limited to a few kilometers near the direction of the Haihan Army's advance. Just a street. However, Francis felt that this deployment was enough, because the defenders were more familiar with the environment and could make corresponding adjustments when the Haihan Army changed the direction of its attack. But he really could not have imagined that the Haihan Army already had a detailed map of the city. As long as they knew the defensive range of the defenders in this city, they could swagger around the almost deserted city and attack directly. The core organization responsible for commanding the defense of this urban area.
The people inside the building didn't know whether it was a surprise attack by a small group of troops outside or whether the main force of the Haihan Army had already arrived, but they took the initiative to shrink the defense line into the official residence, which slightly delayed the opponent's offensive. The door-breaking hammer has been hammered several times, and the door panel has cracked, but it still has not broken open the main entrance of the official residence. It seems that the Spaniards have set up obstacles indoors, and it is a bit difficult to break in through the main entrance.
However, this was not a problem for Sun Zhen. He immediately changed the direction of his attack and attacked the large French windows on both sides of the main entrance. This floor-to-ceiling window is made of wood, with a number of palm-sized glass pieces inlaid on it to provide lighting. This kind of window cannot be blocked tightly in a short time. Sun Zhen shouted, and the soldiers smashed the glass on several windows with their rifle butts, and then threw flaming grenades into the room. After a while, the house After several explosions and roars, Sun Zhen led the crowd to break in through the window. If he saw anyone who was still standing, he would shoot and kill them regardless.
At this time, the defenders deployed outside finally noticed the fire in the backyard and quickly sent some people back to rescue the siege. However, the Haihan Army had already set up a firepower point at the gate outside the official residence. Although there were only a dozen rifles, it made it difficult for the reinforcements of hundreds of people to move even a hundred meters away. After leaving behind a dozen corpses, the Spaniards decisively gave up their plan to advance towards the mansion from the front, and instead dispersed and took detours to surround the flanks. Although there is a wall around the official residence, it is much easier to climb over the wall than to break through the firepower network of the Haihan Army. At least it seems that it is not so easy to kill people.
Sun Zhen and his troops have basically completed the cleaning work on the first floor of the official residence. The few grenades thrown in earlier caused most of the armed personnel gathered in the hall on the first floor to resist to lose their combat effectiveness. When Sun Zhen and others entered, they did not encounter much resistance and successfully captured one. control of the building.
However, when the soldiers tried to reach the second floor through the stairs, they were fired from overhead. After several rounds of firefights, the Haihan Army finally cleared the two fire points upstairs. After rushing to the second floor, Sun Zhen found that his opponents had retreated into various rooms to continue resisting, and some people had gone up to the third floor. Obviously, the Spaniards did not intend to surrender, but to fight with their own side to the end.
"Move faster!"
After Sun Zhen finished speaking, he looked out the window on the second floor and saw that the Spanish troops outside had begun to look for a new breakthrough point outside the official residence, and the troops he deployed at the gate were also fighting and retreating. Otherwise, if the opponent came from both sides, If they climb over the wall and come in, they will be attacked from both sides.
Sun Zhen led this unit to go deep alone. If they could solve this headquarters, it would be a great achievement. However, being trapped in this official residence, it would be difficult to escape for a while. But Sun Zhen was not panicked. He firmly believed that he would be able to hold this place with the strengthened platoon until reinforcements arrived.
Of course, to achieve such an effect, he must first completely remove this so-called command center and cut off the enemy's command system before the opponent counterattacks. Now it's up to see who moves faster, whether the Haihan army will clear out the command structure in the mansion first, or whether the Spanish army outside will attack first and complete the counterattack.
Sun Zhen divided another squad to clean the rooms on the second floor one by one, and he led the remaining soldiers to start a firefight with the enemies on the third floor. There were also many people on the other side retreating to the third floor, and densely packed muskets stretched out from the middle of the railings, aiming at the only staircase leading upstairs. At such a close distance, even if the Spaniard's muskets were mediocre, they were enough to kill them with one shot. Anyone who dared to rush up would be beaten into a honeycomb.
Sun Zhen still adopted the previous cracking method, using the blind spot upstairs to throw grenades, and then used intensive firepower to hit the shooting position on the edge of the stairs on the third floor. This method was very difficult to prevent for the Spaniards who lacked indoor combat experience. The defense line they built was almost destroyed by the Haihan army downstairs in just a few seconds.
Once the firepower advantage was established, Sun Zhen took the lead and rushed straight to the third floor. A Spanish officer stood at the end of the stairs and slashed with a knife. Sun Zhen held up his gun with both hands to block the blow. He kicked hard with his feet and jumped up to the third floor. At the same time, he hit the man's head with the butt of his gun. He was immediately stunned. He fainted and fell to the ground. Sun Zhen spat. Seeing that there was no one else moving in the corridor on the third floor, he ordered the room to be searched immediately. At this time, Sun Zhen didn't care whether he was going to be captured alive or not. He shot twice through any closed door before breaking in, to prevent the Spaniards from hiding in the room for a sneak attack.
The Spaniards downstairs had regained control of the courtyard and forced the Haihan army back into the hall on the first floor of the official residence. However, they did not have weapons such as hand grenades to defeat defenses. Although they surrounded the official residence, they were unable to rush in immediately. Instead, because of the lack of hidden bunkers in the courtyard, the Haihan Army shot several more people through the doors and windows.
After Sun Zhen broke into three rooms on the third floor, he finally bumped into the real owner in the fourth room. Before the door of this room was broken down, the people inside had exchanged several rounds of fire with the Haihan army in the corridor, and the door was beaten with sawdust flying everywhere. After the counterattack in the house stopped, Sun Zhen didn't wait for the hammer to come up and kicked open the already crumbling door.
Except for the few people lying scattered on the floor in a pool of blood, there were still three men in the room who were still capable of fighting, but they only had a saber in their hands. It seemed that it was too late to reload the musket after they had fired. Sun Zhen shouted in the Spanish he learned before the war, asking them to surrender, but these people obviously had no intention of doing so. They yelled and tried to rush forward for the final fight. However, Sun Zhen did not intend to give them this opportunity. He fired first, and then the subordinates around him also opened fire, killing the three men on the spot.
Sun Zhen saw that one of them was obviously dressed as an officer, so he asked someone to bring over a prisoner, and also called the army translator.
The Portuguese translator who followed Sun Zhen's team was actually quite excited after experiencing this battle. He didn't seem to worry about how he would get out of this place later. After listening to Sun Zhen's instructions, he went to let the prisoner identify and kill him. officer status.
After identification by the prisoners, the Spanish officer who was shot dead by Sun Zhen himself was Lieutenant Gonzalo, the aide-de-camp to Manila City Defense Commander Francis, and also the supreme commander of this command post.
"You should be captured alive!" Sun Zhen secretly regretted after hearing this. An officer with such status could probably get another ransom payment after the war, and the credit would also be recorded on his head. But now that the person is dead, Sun Zhen only has the merit of killing the enemy officer, and there will be no commission bonus from the ransom fee.
At this time, someone came to report that the enemy troops had begun to close in and surround them. The first floor was almost undefendable, and the soldiers were fighting and retreating to the second floor.
Sun Zhen pointed to Gonzalo's body and said: "Throw his body out and let the Spaniards decide whether to continue fighting!"
Sun Zhen understood very well that one of the reasons why the Spaniards stormed the official residence was to rescue the people in the headquarters. Now that Commander Gonzalo had been killed, the other party's only purpose was to fight with Sun Zhen's troops. Fight to the death here. Without command, these Spanish soldiers may not have enough motivation to continue fighting.
Two soldiers held Gonzalo's hands and feet, carried his body to a balcony on the third floor, and then threw him out. Soon the Spanish soldiers outside discovered that the body that fell from the third floor was their commander, and the scene suddenly became a bit chaotic. At the moment, they suddenly had different opinions on whether they should continue to attack the official residence and destroy the Haihan Army entrenched in it at all costs, or whether they should focus on the southern front and continue to intercept the main force of the Haihan Army.
Sun Zhen divided his men into two groups, one group guarded the stairs on the second floor, and specially allocated all the remaining grenades to them. If necessary, they could blow up the stairs and delay the attack temporarily. The other group of people was personally commanded by him, and they deployed firepower points on the windows and balconies on the second and third floors to shoot down the Spanish troops outside the official residence.
However, after a series of fierce battles, Sun Zhen's army no longer carried too much ammunition, so he specifically asked the soldiers to save ammunition as much as possible, to have a certain degree of confidence when firing, and to strive to ensure that every bullet fired Can have a killing effect. Sun Zhen shot a red flare into the sky from the window to indicate the direction of attack for his reinforcements. In fact, most of his mission has been completed. Next, it depends on whether the main force of the Haihan Army can arrive in time to respond.
"This guy Sun Zhen is really daring!" Takahashi Minami was also a little surprised after receiving the report from the front, but he did appreciate this fighting style. Personally leading troops to break into enemy-occupied areas was something that Takahashi Minami often did before when leading troops, and now he has a successor. Takahashi Minami thought it was a good thing to have such an officer in the special operations camp, but he didn't know if this guy was as lucky as himself and could survive after completing the mission.
Gao Qiaonan has received an order from Qian Tiandun to invest another reinforced company in the battle zone in the southeastern city to speed up the advance to the east city gate. Now it seems that there is one more task, which is to reinforce Sun Zhen who is going to attack the enemy headquarters.
At noon, the defenders who were fighting endlessly with the Haihan Army suddenly became confused, and then began to actively evacuate. Soon the Haihan Army saw the red flares shot into the sky from the enemy-occupied area, and knew that Sun Yat-sen's troops had broken into the enemy's rear. The Shinbu had already succeeded, and they immediately stepped up their offensive and advanced in the direction of the signal flare.
About an hour later, the main force of the Haihan Army finally dispersed the enemy forces on the advance route and arrived at the devastated enemy command post. Shiro Amakusa, who was leading the team, looked up and saw a pair of red and blue flags planted on a balcony on the third floor. Although it was somewhat damaged, it was still dancing in the wind.
(End of chapter)