Chapter 1652
Attacking Manila
Chapter 1652 Attack on Manila ([-])
The Spanish army had experience in confrontation with the Haihan Army in 1633. Colonel Francis also knew very well that the biggest shortcoming of his own side was the inferiority of weapon performance. Set up a battle formation and wait on the position for the opponent to advance close.Besides the sixteen cannons on the position, Francis relied on the 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. The muskets attack far and the spears defend close. The infantry phalanx should kill the enemy in the process of continuous advancement, instead of hiding behind the bunker and waiting for the opponent to take the initiative. to attack.But Francis is very aware of the power of the enemy's weapons. Pulling the phalanx out to shoot at each other is tantamount to suicide. It is still necessary to shorten the combat distance as much as possible to effectively reduce the combat power gap between the two armies.
But this is still just his wishful thinking. Of course, Takahashi Minami has seen clearly the deployment method of the Spanish phalanx through the telescope.He was not surprised by this. If the Spaniards really pulled out the troops to attack, then Takahashi Minami would wonder if the opposing commander's brain was burned out.
To deal with this tactic of the Spaniards, Takahashi Minami's method is also very simple and rude, that is, let the artillery be responsible for the task of breaking the defense.The artillery company handed over by the headquarters to Takahashi South was used to do 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 shooting, but it was a bit difficult to block shells.In particular, the howitzers that have begun to be installed in small batches in the Haihan Army are even more handy in dealing with bunkers.
Under the cover of the infantry, the artillery company set up artillery positions about a mile away from the Spanish position without any haste.Although none of the few shells fired by the school hit the Spanish position, the error was already within the adjustable range.
The Spanish officers took the lead in mocking the Haihan army's missed shells, even though many of them knew that this was just a test firing by the enemy, and the real shelling might come later, but since they could When it comes to boosting morale, officers naturally have to try their best to use this method to the extreme.
After receiving the report of the end of the school shooting, Gao Qiaonan ordered the attack to start immediately.When the real shelling began, the Spaniards immediately felt great pressure.Since the trajectory of the Haihan howitzer is a parabola, the bunker they built was not high enough to provide a complete shield. Several shells hit the infantry phalanx behind the bunker, blowing up the crowd.
Of course, the Spaniards didn't watch. Their artillery launched an attack on Haihan's army almost at the same time, but the range and accuracy were too far away, and the shells couldn't hit Haihan's position at all.However, the roar of shelling from one's own position can somewhat bring some spiritual comfort to ordinary soldiers, allowing them to realize that they are not blindly being beaten passively, and that the enemy is also suffering from their own shelling.
Naturally, the bombardment effects on both sides were not the same. When the Spanish were beaten to pieces, 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 weapon performance of the Spanish garrison, the Haihan military has long been aware of it, and they were able to form an formation outside the effective range of their artillery. The Spanish artillery fought lively, but they did not hurt the Haihan army at all. , the right is to hear a sound.
But Francis can't keep deceiving himself and others, and let Haihand bombard him for a few more rounds, I'm afraid that the hearts of his side will be scattered, but it would be even more unscientific to order the phalanx troops to leave the bunker and fight the opponent. In desperation, Francis had no choice but to order the phalanx to retreat a section, taking the initiative to get out of Haihan's shelling range.
Even though Francis usually drilled diligently with his troops, this retreat under artillery fire inevitably caused some confusion.In particular, the performance of spearmen mainly composed of local aborigines is particularly prominent. These Nanyang aborigines have not experienced many firearm warfare, and they are very unfamiliar with the situation of being bombarded by the enemy, so they will inevitably feel panic.If it weren't for Francis's supervisory team watching from behind, perhaps there would be a small group of deserters right now.
Fortunately, Francis hardly hesitated. As soon as he realized that the situation of the battle was not going well, he immediately gave the order to retreat, which can be regarded as a timely stop loss.However, the retreat of the artillery position is not something that can be done right away. It is necessary to connect the artillery frame with the carriage first, and then use animal power to pull these heavy iron bumps away. In addition, there are ammunition and various accessories for the artillery. Need to tidy up.However, the coordination and synchronization of the various arms of the Spanish army were not ideal. The infantry immediately turned around and retreated after receiving the order, while the artillery was still scrambling to clean up the mess.
As a result, the Spanish artillery position was inevitably dragged to the back, and this change was immediately noticed by the Haihan Army, and then the Spanish artillery ushered in a wave of concentrated fire from the sky.
Of the sixteen cannons, only half of the troops were successfully withdrawn from the line of fire.Francis wanted to cry, but it was fine to lose some infantry. After all, the training was quick, and two or three months would be enough to train another batch of soldiers to supplement them.But artillery is much more troublesome, especially gunners who know how to calculate ballistics and charge, and need long-term live ammunition training and actual combat experience to gradually develop. This is not just a few people who can be competent after a few months of training .The two sides had just started fighting, and Francis already felt that he could not afford to lose.
When the enemy retreated, Haihan naturally pressed forward unceremoniously.Gao Qiaonan has already let the scouts spread out to the left and right, to the coastline in the west, and five miles away from Haihan's position in the east, to monitor whether there are other ambushes in the enemy's ambush.But now it seems that this caution is a bit redundant. The Spaniards obviously concentrated their main force on the plain south of the city, relying on their own infantry phalanx to deal with the Haihan army.
Just as the Spanish army stabilized their position, the Haihan army was already within the range of the artillery.Gao Qiaonan still did not rush forward, but repeated the tactics just now, and continued to bombard the Spanish army's position with artillery.And Francis did not find an effective way to deal with it, so he could only continue to retreat.
After advancing and retreating in this way, three times later, the Spanish army had already retreated to the edge of the residential area outside the city, and if they retreated further, the infantry phalanx would not be able to form a formation to fight.In desperation, Francis could only send out cavalry and turn around from the flanks, hoping to use this method to slightly restrain the speed of the Haihan army's advance.
Seeing the Spaniards dispatching cavalry, Harukon, whose face had been dark for a long time, finally reacted, and hurriedly sent an order to let his cavalry team meet, lest the Spaniards go straight to the musket formation of the Special War Battalion in a daze. At that time, the fruit will be picked up by the special warfare battalion again.
Gao Qiaonan saw his own cavalry attacking, so he didn't give extra orders to the flanking troops.If the Spaniards really plan to try the cavalry charge, they will have a taste of the power of the Haihan musketeers.However, Takahashi Minami also knew that Harugong's cavalry battalion attacked, and the effect was actually similar to that of the musketeer formation. The Spaniards would immediately know how much difference their combat effectiveness in cavalry 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, and only officers could be equipped with single-shot flintlocks.The equipment of the Haihan Cavalry Battalion has long been fully weaponized. The short-barreled cavalry rifle with seven bursts is extremely lethal in close combat. It was a pity that the Golden Cavalry could not lift their heads after fighting on the Liaodong battlefield. The Spaniards didn't know the record of Haihan's cavalry, otherwise Francis would not have sent his limited cavalry to hit the wall.
Fortunately, the leading officer of the Spanish cavalry was quite cautious. When he saw the Haihan cavalry in battle, he did not launch a frontal charge, but still insisted on a roundabout tactic, trying to go around in circles with the Haihan cavalry on the plain, while constantly moving. Seek opportunities.But the Haihan Cavalry obviously didn't intend to deal with him slowly, and brought the distance between the two sides closer to the effective range, so they started shooting practice.Although it is basically impossible to aim accurately on the bumpy horseback, over a hundred rifles fired at the Spanish cavalry at a distance of tens of meters. This kind of casual shooting still has a very scary hit rate.
People or horses in the Spanish cavalry were constantly shot and fell, but the means of counterattack that could be launched were almost zero.Although some Spanish cavalry wanted to rush over and chop down their opponents with their sabers, they were often hit by concentrated fire from 30 meters away, and were directly shot backwards by bullets from their horses.Some Spanish cavalry still wear two-piece plate armor, but this thin iron sheet can protect against ordinary bows and arrows, but it cannot prevent close-range musket shooting, and its protective effect is extremely limited. will immediately lose combat effectiveness.
After losing more than 20 riders, the officer leading the team quickly realized the gap between the two sides, and quickly signaled to leave the battlefield.The Haihan cavalry chased for a while, and after laying down a few more cavalry, they calmly withdrew.
"These damn Haihan people, don't they have any weaknesses!" Francis couldn't help being furious after witnessing how his own cavalry were brutally ravaged.It's a pity that this kind of cursing can't help the passive situation of the Spanish army, and it's just a quick talk.
What should I do next, do I try my best to hold the current line of defense, or continue to retreat and withdraw the troops to the city for defense?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 people and local aborigines. No matter how many casualties there were, he would not have any scruples. It stands to reason that street fighting should be the most beneficial choice for the defenders.But the problem is that Francis and his officers don't understand street fighting. What they are good at is infantry phalanx and legionary combat. If the troops are divided into small groups and scattered in the city to fight independently, Francis will know this without thinking too much. It will only turn your troops into a disorderly mess.
Francis didn't dare to take this risk, and the only plan for now was to withdraw his troops to the city and rely on the fortifications to resist Haihan's attack.As for how long it will take for the Haihan people to clean up the residential area in the south of the city, Francis thinks that at least today they will not be able to finish it—the night is coming soon, and the Haihan people will probably take the initiative to withdraw their troops for a truce.
Sure enough, after the cavalry confrontation between the two sides ended, Haihan stopped advancing on his own initiative, and then about a mile behind his position, some engineers began to set up camp, and it seemed that they stopped here 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 of buffer time, and Francis could discuss with his officers again how to block the Haihan army's offensive from outside the city.
The atmosphere in the Haihan camp was relatively more relaxed. Today's confrontation with the Spanish army on land went very smoothly, and there was basically no decent resistance - at least in Gao Qiaonan's view.The number of casualties on Haihan's side was also much smaller than that of the naval battle between them, which made the army generals in the headquarters feel that they had a bright face, and they had virtually overwhelmed the navy.
"If the Spaniards fight us tomorrow, then I really have to teach them a good lesson." Qian Tiandun pointed to the area south of the city on the map, and explained to the other generals: "This area is about two square meters. Kilometers, the planning of the urban area is a bit tricky, but apart from the buildings, there are no other obstacles that can provide the defenders with the conditions to build defenses. My troops have specially studied urban street fighting, but it is rare to have such a suitable environment for them play."
"Give up, the Spaniards won't fight us in the street." Yan Chujie shook his head and said, "They have retreated again and again today, obviously because they are not used to our tactics, I don't think they will have the confidence to fight outside the city tomorrow. Fight us."
"The Spaniards have been trying to increase the distance in the battle 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 opinion, but first talked about his own Opinion: "The more you want to control the combat distance, the more passive you will be. Only by infinitely shortening the combat distance can they have a chance to struggle. Fighting on the plains will always be the ones who suffer. Only those in the special environment of urban areas Only by fighting can we hope to narrow the combat distance to a relatively equal level. If the Spaniards think so, then they may choose street fighting as their next tactic."
(End of this chapter)
The Spanish army had experience in confrontation with the Haihan Army in 1633. Colonel Francis also knew very well that the biggest shortcoming of his own side was the inferiority of weapon performance. Set up a battle formation and wait on the position for the opponent to advance close.Besides the sixteen cannons on the position, Francis relied on the 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. The muskets attack far and the spears defend close. The infantry phalanx should kill the enemy in the process of continuous advancement, instead of hiding behind the bunker and waiting for the opponent to take the initiative. to attack.But Francis is very aware of the power of the enemy's weapons. Pulling the phalanx out to shoot at each other is tantamount to suicide. It is still necessary to shorten the combat distance as much as possible to effectively reduce the combat power gap between the two armies.
But this is still just his wishful thinking. Of course, Takahashi Minami has seen clearly the deployment method of the Spanish phalanx through the telescope.He was not surprised by this. If the Spaniards really pulled out the troops to attack, then Takahashi Minami would wonder if the opposing commander's brain was burned out.
To deal with this tactic of the Spaniards, Takahashi Minami's method is also very simple and rude, that is, let the artillery be responsible for the task of breaking the defense.The artillery company handed over by the headquarters to Takahashi South was used to do 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 shooting, but it was a bit difficult to block shells.In particular, the howitzers that have begun to be installed in small batches in the Haihan Army are even more handy in dealing with bunkers.
Under the cover of the infantry, the artillery company set up artillery positions about a mile away from the Spanish position without any haste.Although none of the few shells fired by the school hit the Spanish position, the error was already within the adjustable range.
The Spanish officers took the lead in mocking the Haihan army's missed shells, even though many of them knew that this was just a test firing by the enemy, and the real shelling might come later, but since they could When it comes to boosting morale, officers naturally have to try their best to use this method to the extreme.
After receiving the report of the end of the school shooting, Gao Qiaonan ordered the attack to start immediately.When the real shelling began, the Spaniards immediately felt great pressure.Since the trajectory of the Haihan howitzer is a parabola, the bunker they built was not high enough to provide a complete shield. Several shells hit the infantry phalanx behind the bunker, blowing up the crowd.
Of course, the Spaniards didn't watch. Their artillery launched an attack on Haihan's army almost at the same time, but the range and accuracy were too far away, and the shells couldn't hit Haihan's position at all.However, the roar of shelling from one's own position can somewhat bring some spiritual comfort to ordinary soldiers, allowing them to realize that they are not blindly being beaten passively, and that the enemy is also suffering from their own shelling.
Naturally, the bombardment effects on both sides were not the same. When the Spanish were beaten to pieces, 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 weapon performance of the Spanish garrison, the Haihan military has long been aware of it, and they were able to form an formation outside the effective range of their artillery. The Spanish artillery fought lively, but they did not hurt the Haihan army at all. , the right is to hear a sound.
But Francis can't keep deceiving himself and others, and let Haihand bombard him for a few more rounds, I'm afraid that the hearts of his side will be scattered, but it would be even more unscientific to order the phalanx troops to leave the bunker and fight the opponent. In desperation, Francis had no choice but to order the phalanx to retreat a section, taking the initiative to get out of Haihan's shelling range.
Even though Francis usually drilled diligently with his troops, this retreat under artillery fire inevitably caused some confusion.In particular, the performance of spearmen mainly composed of local aborigines is particularly prominent. These Nanyang aborigines have not experienced many firearm warfare, and they are very unfamiliar with the situation of being bombarded by the enemy, so they will inevitably feel panic.If it weren't for Francis's supervisory team watching from behind, perhaps there would be a small group of deserters right now.
Fortunately, Francis hardly hesitated. As soon as he realized that the situation of the battle was not going well, he immediately gave the order to retreat, which can be regarded as a timely stop loss.However, the retreat of the artillery position is not something that can be done right away. It is necessary to connect the artillery frame with the carriage first, and then use animal power to pull these heavy iron bumps away. In addition, there are ammunition and various accessories for the artillery. Need to tidy up.However, the coordination and synchronization of the various arms of the Spanish army were not ideal. The infantry immediately turned around and retreated after receiving the order, while the artillery was still scrambling to clean up the mess.
As a result, the Spanish artillery position was inevitably dragged to the back, and this change was immediately noticed by the Haihan Army, and then the Spanish artillery ushered in a wave of concentrated fire from the sky.
Of the sixteen cannons, only half of the troops were successfully withdrawn from the line of fire.Francis wanted to cry, but it was fine to lose some infantry. After all, the training was quick, and two or three months would be enough to train another batch of soldiers to supplement them.But artillery is much more troublesome, especially gunners who know how to calculate ballistics and charge, and need long-term live ammunition training and actual combat experience to gradually develop. This is not just a few people who can be competent after a few months of training .The two sides had just started fighting, and Francis already felt that he could not afford to lose.
When the enemy retreated, Haihan naturally pressed forward unceremoniously.Gao Qiaonan has already let the scouts spread out to the left and right, to the coastline in the west, and five miles away from Haihan's position in the east, to monitor whether there are other ambushes in the enemy's ambush.But now it seems that this caution is a bit redundant. The Spaniards obviously concentrated their main force on the plain south of the city, relying on their own infantry phalanx to deal with the Haihan army.
Just as the Spanish army stabilized their position, the Haihan army was already within the range of the artillery.Gao Qiaonan still did not rush forward, but repeated the tactics just now, and continued to bombard the Spanish army's position with artillery.And Francis did not find an effective way to deal with it, so he could only continue to retreat.
After advancing and retreating in this way, three times later, the Spanish army had already retreated to the edge of the residential area outside the city, and if they retreated further, the infantry phalanx would not be able to form a formation to fight.In desperation, Francis could only send out cavalry and turn around from the flanks, hoping to use this method to slightly restrain the speed of the Haihan army's advance.
Seeing the Spaniards dispatching cavalry, Harukon, whose face had been dark for a long time, finally reacted, and hurriedly sent an order to let his cavalry team meet, lest the Spaniards go straight to the musket formation of the Special War Battalion in a daze. At that time, the fruit will be picked up by the special warfare battalion again.
Gao Qiaonan saw his own cavalry attacking, so he didn't give extra orders to the flanking troops.If the Spaniards really plan to try the cavalry charge, they will have a taste of the power of the Haihan musketeers.However, Takahashi Minami also knew that Harugong's cavalry battalion attacked, and the effect was actually similar to that of the musketeer formation. The Spaniards would immediately know how much difference their combat effectiveness in cavalry 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, and only officers could be equipped with single-shot flintlocks.The equipment of the Haihan Cavalry Battalion has long been fully weaponized. The short-barreled cavalry rifle with seven bursts is extremely lethal in close combat. It was a pity that the Golden Cavalry could not lift their heads after fighting on the Liaodong battlefield. The Spaniards didn't know the record of Haihan's cavalry, otherwise Francis would not have sent his limited cavalry to hit the wall.
Fortunately, the leading officer of the Spanish cavalry was quite cautious. When he saw the Haihan cavalry in battle, he did not launch a frontal charge, but still insisted on a roundabout tactic, trying to go around in circles with the Haihan cavalry on the plain, while constantly moving. Seek opportunities.But the Haihan Cavalry obviously didn't intend to deal with him slowly, and brought the distance between the two sides closer to the effective range, so they started shooting practice.Although it is basically impossible to aim accurately on the bumpy horseback, over a hundred rifles fired at the Spanish cavalry at a distance of tens of meters. This kind of casual shooting still has a very scary hit rate.
People or horses in the Spanish cavalry were constantly shot and fell, but the means of counterattack that could be launched were almost zero.Although some Spanish cavalry wanted to rush over and chop down their opponents with their sabers, they were often hit by concentrated fire from 30 meters away, and were directly shot backwards by bullets from their horses.Some Spanish cavalry still wear two-piece plate armor, but this thin iron sheet can protect against ordinary bows and arrows, but it cannot prevent close-range musket shooting, and its protective effect is extremely limited. will immediately lose combat effectiveness.
After losing more than 20 riders, the officer leading the team quickly realized the gap between the two sides, and quickly signaled to leave the battlefield.The Haihan cavalry chased for a while, and after laying down a few more cavalry, they calmly withdrew.
"These damn Haihan people, don't they have any weaknesses!" Francis couldn't help being furious after witnessing how his own cavalry were brutally ravaged.It's a pity that this kind of cursing can't help the passive situation of the Spanish army, and it's just a quick talk.
What should I do next, do I try my best to hold the current line of defense, or continue to retreat and withdraw the troops to the city for defense?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 people and local aborigines. No matter how many casualties there were, he would not have any scruples. It stands to reason that street fighting should be the most beneficial choice for the defenders.But the problem is that Francis and his officers don't understand street fighting. What they are good at is infantry phalanx and legionary combat. If the troops are divided into small groups and scattered in the city to fight independently, Francis will know this without thinking too much. It will only turn your troops into a disorderly mess.
Francis didn't dare to take this risk, and the only plan for now was to withdraw his troops to the city and rely on the fortifications to resist Haihan's attack.As for how long it will take for the Haihan people to clean up the residential area in the south of the city, Francis thinks that at least today they will not be able to finish it—the night is coming soon, and the Haihan people will probably take the initiative to withdraw their troops for a truce.
Sure enough, after the cavalry confrontation between the two sides ended, Haihan stopped advancing on his own initiative, and then about a mile behind his position, some engineers began to set up camp, and it seemed that they stopped here 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 of buffer time, and Francis could discuss with his officers again how to block the Haihan army's offensive from outside the city.
The atmosphere in the Haihan camp was relatively more relaxed. Today's confrontation with the Spanish army on land went very smoothly, and there was basically no decent resistance - at least in Gao Qiaonan's view.The number of casualties on Haihan's side was also much smaller than that of the naval battle between them, which made the army generals in the headquarters feel that they had a bright face, and they had virtually overwhelmed the navy.
"If the Spaniards fight us tomorrow, then I really have to teach them a good lesson." Qian Tiandun pointed to the area south of the city on the map, and explained to the other generals: "This area is about two square meters. Kilometers, the planning of the urban area is a bit tricky, but apart from the buildings, there are no other obstacles that can provide the defenders with the conditions to build defenses. My troops have specially studied urban street fighting, but it is rare to have such a suitable environment for them play."
"Give up, the Spaniards won't fight us in the street." Yan Chujie shook his head and said, "They have retreated again and again today, obviously because they are not used to our tactics, I don't think they will have the confidence to fight outside the city tomorrow. Fight us."
"The Spaniards have been trying to increase the distance in the battle 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 opinion, but first talked about his own Opinion: "The more you want to control the combat distance, the more passive you will be. Only by infinitely shortening the combat distance can they have a chance to struggle. Fighting on the plains will always be the ones who suffer. Only those in the special environment of urban areas Only by fighting can we hope to narrow the combat distance to a relatively equal level. If the Spaniards think so, then they may choose street fighting as their next tactic."
(End of this chapter)