Chapter 3476
Regarding the causes and consequences of the Dutch attack on Colombo, Conceicao had already explained to Takahashi Nan when he visited Hambantota.
The Dutch sent troops this time with the goal of seizing the city. Even if they could not attack for a long time, they had no intention of withdrawing their troops. The Portuguese people, who were struggling to support themselves, were about to reach the end of their strength.
At present, the defenders in the city have suffered heavy casualties. There are less than a thousand armed personnel who are still capable of fighting. Moreover, the defenders' ammunition reserves are about to be exhausted, and their guns and artillery are about to become decorations. As long as the Dutch rectify their troops and launch one or two more charges, the city defense will be lost.
In this case, whether he abandoned the city and fled or opened the city to surrender, Antonio, the governor of Ceylon in the city, would be blamed. Even if Conceicao moved Haihan's reinforcements, the governor did not know whether Haihan would really take action, so in order to save the lives of his family, he just secretly sent them to the Haihan camp outside the city in advance. side.
If the city's defenses were breached, the governor would have no choice but to fight desperately against the Dutch, so that he could at least gain the honor of sacrificing his life for his country and secure some benefits for his family after his death.
As for other dignitaries in the city, of course there are many who want to escape, and some have even tried to bribe the city gate guards to escape.
But the Governor of Ceylon would not let these people out of the city, because once the upper-class people began to flee in fear of fighting, the defenders' will to fight would quickly collapse. Only a handful of people with close personal connections to the governor were able to get a ride with their families out of the city.
Takahashi Nan asked the Portuguese cavalry responsible for delivering the message to go back and inform the Governor of Ceylon in the city that the Haihan Army would not sit back and watch the Dutch continue to attack the city, but the defenders in the city must continue to defend the city and contain part of the Dutch forces for the Haihan Army. .
The Haihan Army will use the beachhead to attack the Dutch military formation from the flank, preventing it from fully attacking the city of Colombo.
If the city of Colombo was lost, the Haihan Army would not launch a counterattack on behalf of the Portuguese to recapture the city. At most, they would shelter some people who had escaped near the coast.
Shortly after the departure of the Portuguese cavalry, the Dutch began a tentative offensive against the beachhead.
Multiple phalanxes composed of approximately four to five hundred auxiliary troops slowly approached the beachhead from north to south.
Takahashi Minami saw from the telescope that the weapons used by these auxiliary troops were mainly matchlocks and flintlocks, supplemented by a small number of archers and pikemen. The front row of the phalanx even had several large shields as cover, but it was not known whether they could withstand rifle fire.
However, there was no follow-up artillery in the field of vision, lack of long-range heavy fire cover, and no cavalry to launch a rapid offensive from the flanks to contain the firepower of the Haihan Army. If these infantry wanted to attack the beachhead deployed by the special operations division, then It's like hitting an egg against a stone.
Judging from the tactical arrangement, this is clearly a traditional tactic for dealing with European countries. It can be seen that General Van Hollen on the opposite side obviously has insufficient understanding of special operations divisions.
Obviously, this veteran should not be from Batavia City on Java Island, otherwise he would have a clearer understanding of the Haihan Army's tactics and would not adopt such backward tactics to deal with special warfare. division.
Since the other party took the lead, Takahashi Nan no longer had any thoughts of tolerance.
It is not enough to simply repel the opponent's offensive. Takahashi Minami must establish his authority through this battle, deter his opponents, and ensure that Haihan's interests in the Indian Ocean region will not be easily violated.
Of course, the targets of shock are not only the Dutch. The Portuguese squatting in Colombo are also potential targets set by Takahashi Minami. In view of this purpose, Takahashi Minami ordered the opponent to be closer before firing to ensure greater lethality during the engagement.
Thanks to the rapid iteration of Haihan weapons and equipment, the tactics used by special operations divisions using rifled rifles and fixed-load ammunition have also evolved, and the original line infantry tactics have been abandoned many years ago.
Sandbags were used as bunkers using local materials, and shooting holes were drilled in the bunkers to protect the soldiers to the greatest extent. They also took advantage of the weapons' speed of fire and range to build crossfire on the position. Although there are only more than two hundred rifles on the position, the firepower output of the defense line formed by this is enough to make opponents of this era despair.
In the suffocating silence, the Dutch infantry phalanx advanced smoothly to a distance of 100 meters, but not even a single shot was fired from the Haihan position.
Although this situation seemed a bit strange, the Dutch still followed their tactical arrangements and deployed their formation at this distance, and the musketeers began to fire at the Haihan position.
However, the ammunition fired by the musket either flew to nowhere or was blocked by the sandbag bunker on the position, and basically failed to cause effective damage.
The targets that the Dutch Musketeers could see were just rows of sandbags. With good eyesight, you might be able to see the muzzle of the gun protruding from the shooting hole, but you couldn't see your opponent at all, and you didn't take aim at all. object.
During each round of shooting, the infantry phalanx will advance about three meters to gradually shorten the combat distance until the final charge is launched.
But this advance did not last long. After only four rounds of shooting, the Haihan position opened fire to counterattack.
At a firefight distance of less than 100 meters, it is difficult for the soldiers of the special operations division to hit the enemy's infantry square without any cover.
As for the large shields in the front row of the phalanx, the bulletproof effect at this distance did not seem to be ideal. The shield soldiers were knocked down by bullets immediately, exposing the unprotected target in the rear.
The special operations division did not need to use the heavy machine guns and field artillery to suppress the formation. The rifles in the hands of the soldiers quickly caused a large number of casualties to the enemy.
Even if some people quickly turn around and run away after realizing that the situation is not good, it is difficult to completely avoid stray bullets fired from behind at this distance, and they will still be knocked down in the process of escaping from the battlefield.
After losing about half of the personnel, the remaining soldiers of the infantry phalanx finally left the battlefield. The actual exchange of fire between the two sides only lasted a few minutes.
However, Takahashi Minami believed that the opponent would not give up continuing the battle with the special operations division because of the failure of this trial attack. When the next round of fighting begins, the opponent will definitely put more troops into the attack than this round, and then will be the time to really use killing methods.
However, it was getting dark at this time, and Takahashi Minami believed that it would be difficult for the opponent to organize the next round of offensive before dark, and the battle between the two sides would probably have to wait until tomorrow.
Sure enough, until nightfall, the Dutch did not launch any more offensives, including the attack on Colombo City.