Chapter 2978
Although the Haihan Army had attacked Cebu several times before, the last time was seven or eight years ago, and it was difficult to follow previous experience in commanding this operation.
Among the troops participating in this battle, only some officers had participated in the last attack on Cebu. For most soldiers, this is a completely unfamiliar area with no experience at all.
Therefore, the frontline command was more cautious when formulating the operational plan. It did not directly launch a landing battle at Cebu Port. Instead, it patiently blocked the strait and occupied Mactan Island opposite Cebu Port. After completing the cleanup of this area, Then troop transport ships were dispatched to carry out landings on the north and south sides of the port area.
The mission of the Bangui Battalion was to occupy and clear Mactan Island, so it was not among the first batch of troops to land in Cebu. Zheng Agui's company also got valuable rest time and could watch the landing battle on the other side of the strait as a spectator.
According to information obtained before the war, the Spaniards had made many repairs to the port's coastal defense batteries in the past few years and secretly added an unknown number of artillery pieces.
The Spaniards obviously did this not just to scare people, but the navy did not dare to be careless. First, the warships approaching the port formed a combat formation, aimed their sides at the direction of the port fort, and then took the initiative to open fire.
Rumbling cannons rang out from the warship one after another, and the shells roared and hit the forts on the coast. The silent defenders finally began to take action, and the coastal defense artillery hidden in the fortifications also opened fire.
In terms of range alone, the Spanish coastal defense guns actually did not suffer, and even had a slight advantage due to their larger and longer barrels. It’s just that the cast iron shells fired by traditional muzzle-loading guns lack accuracy and can only hit targets with pre-calibrated firing range.
Although the Haihan warship's naval guns are slightly disadvantaged in terms of range, and the accuracy of bombardment while moving is not very good, the advantage is that they have more guns, and they know the location of the coastal defenses in advance, so they can use more intensive firepower to attack them. Coverage target.
After an artillery battle that lasted for more than an hour, three warships of the Haihan fleet were damaged, one of which was seriously damaged and had to voluntarily leave the battlefield.
The firepower output of the coastal defense turrets is becoming increasingly sparse. It is unknown whether they were damaged by shelling from the sea, or whether these coastal defense turrets were temporarily unusable because the firing frequency was too high and the barrels overheated.
The command headquarters noticed that the opponent's firepower output was weakening, and immediately ordered the troop transport ship to dock at the port for landing.
Of course, the Spaniards also discovered this trend and tried to concentrate the remaining firepower in the coastal defense batteries to attack the troop transport, but they quickly summoned a new wave of concentrated fire strikes.
In order to avoid previous mistakes during the landing process, the troops deployed in this landing were the most elite Manila Battalion and Guards Battalion in the Luzon Region. The Subic Battalion and Batangas Battalion, which were slightly less powerful, served as the second batch of landing troops, waiting for the first wave of landing troops to occupy the port area before landing.
Under the cover of fleet firepower, the two infantry battalions completed the landing relatively smoothly, but they still encountered relatively stubborn resistance during the process of clearing the shore defenses in the port area.
About two hundred militants hid in forts and various buildings in the port area, using muskets to resist the Haihan army's attack.
In the battle to clear the port area, despite the superior firepower and strength of the Haihan Army, sporadic casualties inevitably began to occur. In order to reduce their own casualties, the combat troops had to slow down the speed of clearing buildings, and at the same time applied to the headquarters to use more grenades to clear the numerous defenses in the port area.
Although the cost of grenades is high, it is nothing compared to the lives of soldiers. After receiving the news, the command headquarters immediately allocated a batch of grenades to the front line and ordered that those who resisted in the corner be killed without mercy. No matter what the identity of the opponent, there was no need to force the prisoners to live.
After adjusting the combat strategy, the speed of the clearing operations changed.
For those enemies who are hiding in fortifications and resisting, soldiers no longer need to physically open the way, but first throw in grenades to blast them, and then fight in. Since the prisoners were no longer required to live, the soldiers no longer had any scruples. Anyone who was unwilling to surrender would be killed on the spot, without risking injury to capture the enemy alive.
At noon, the vanguard completed the cleanup of the port area. Troop ships and supply ships docked one after another to transfer reinforcements and various combat materials ashore.
In the previous attacks on Cebu, after the Haihan Army captured the port area, the Spaniards basically gave up resistance and chose to abandon the city and flee to the nearby mountains and forests to avoid the fighting, waiting for the Haihan Army to evacuate on their own before returning to the city. .
So when the Haihan Army occupied the port area this time, most of the officers in the headquarters breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that the war should have come to an end. Even if there is still resistance in the city, the intensity should be low.
But the Spaniards obviously did not intend this, and the Haihan Army immediately fought with the defenders near Fort San Pedro on the edge of the port area.
Fort San Pedro is the oldest castle in Cebu City. It was organized and built in 1565 by Miguel Lopez Legazpi, the first Spanish ruler in Cebu. It was the oldest castle in Cebu for a long time. The official seat of the Spanish colonial administration.
Fort San Pedro is a triangular bastion, all made of stone, facing the sea on both sides. The city wall is two feet high, with a circumference of 120 feet. There are turrets and forts on three corners. The entire castle has a total of There are more than ten artillery pieces, large and small, deployed. There are wells and storage facilities in the fort, which can accommodate two to three hundred people for long-term garrison.
Although Fort San Pedro is small, it is extremely strong. Small-caliber artillery has no significant destructive effect on the nearly ten-foot-thick stone wall. Even for the Haihan Army, this triangular bastion was a tough nut to crack, so the Haihan Army did not regard this as the primary attack target during the landing process, but took the initiative to bypass the San Pedro Fort. area, first clean up the port area.
The command headquarters believed that as long as the port area was occupied, the defenders of Fort San Pedro would definitely evacuate on their own initiative in order not to be cut off from their retreat. But this judgment was obviously wrong. The Spaniards did not evacuate. Instead, they deployed many armed personnel in the nearby area with Fort San Pedro as the center.
When nearby troops arrived near the fighting area, they discovered that there was more than just Fort San Pedro. There were several buildings that looked like private houses, but there were actually a large number of armed personnel hiding in them, and they were also on the second and third floors of these buildings. Artillery was set up at the first floor window.
Without exception, these buildings are all shaped like a Chinese character. Once the entrance is blocked up, it looks like a fortress. It is obvious that there were major omissions in the pre-war intelligence collection. These buildings had military functions during the design and construction stage, and during the war they turned into fortresses that were easy to defend and difficult to attack.
(End of chapter)