Chapter 1812
Attack and Defense of the Dock
Chapter 1812 Attack and Defense of the Dock
"The enemy is getting real!" Tom Wang put down his binoculars and muttered to himself.
Outside Jiulian City in the distance, the Qing army is using pack horses to slowly drag several cannons out of the city. This is the first time that the Qing army has used artillery in a field battle since Haihan arrived here, but this formation is by no means just a test.The size of the artillery seen through the telescope is by no means an ordinary weapon. Wang Tom deduced based on experience that almost all the artillery sent out of the city by the Qing army were above 24-pound guns, and there were even [-]-pound guns. There are not many calibers in the Han army.
Wang Tom immediately thought of one thing, maybe the Qing army had not fought behind closed doors a few days ago, just waiting for these heavy weapons to arrive at the front line.Although these old-style cannons are stupid and thick, and their range and accuracy are inferior to the few small cannons equipped by the Marine Corps, they are superior in their large number. Wang Tom roughly counted them, and the Qing army dispatched more than [-] cannons.It seems that they are going to open the way with artillery fire.
Although the Haihan Army still has many warships on the river bank that can use cross-shore shooting, the shooting idea of naval guns is to pursue power and accuracy, and there is no high requirement for range. Therefore, these naval guns provide fire cover for the Marine Corps. Yes, but there is not much advantage in a head-to-head confrontation with land-based artillery.The Qing army obviously noticed this, so they formulated this kind of combat plan and wanted to try to confront the Haihan army head-on.
The lack of heavy weapons of the Marine Corps is fully revealed at this moment. This shortcoming is not obvious in the daily combat methods of the Marine Corps, but when it enters the offense and defense of positional warfare, the lack of firepower of the Marine Corps will make the enemy The military has an opportunity to take advantage of it.
In fact, Haihan still lacks accurate information on how far the Qing army has developed its artillery techniques and tactics in the past few years.Although the confrontation with the Qing army on the Jinzhou Isthmus lasted for more than a year, in fact, the strength of the Qing army there was not enough to reveal its wealth, especially the musketeers and artillery, which were highly valued by Huang Taiji, were almost Never appeared on the battlefield.Of course, this may also be because Huang Taiji knew that the strength of the firearms army was not as good as that of the Haihan army, and that it was not easy to form an army, so he was unwilling to send these elites to confront the Haihan army, lest they be lost in vain.
Haihan has been stationed at the pier for many days this time, and it is estimated that the Qing army has already figured out the strength of the marine corps at the pier through repeated explorations and observations, so they made such a bold move.The field artillery equipped by the Marine Corps is all small-caliber artillery. It is very useful to bully the infantry, but if you want to fight against the enemy's large-caliber artillery, the result may not be satisfactory.
Of course, after more than ten days of non-stop construction, the fortifications of the dock position are not as simple as when the Haihan army first occupied them, except that the fortifications of the iron nets with a depth of tens of meters have been built on the periphery to resist Majia trenches. In addition, most of the buildings in the wharf area were also demolished, and the defensive circle was actively reduced, and bricks and stones were used to build more practical bunker fortifications. The army will inevitably try to attack this position with artillery, and it has been prepared in advance.
Or because they had suffered too much on the Liaodong battlefield in the past, the Qing army was extra careful when transporting these precious cannons to the front of the formation. Together, it will attract a concentrated fire attack on Haihan's position.
What Wang Tom considers is not whether the limited small-caliber guns on the position can destroy all the artillery of the Qing army after concentrated fire, but if the range of the Qing army artillery can really bombard the position, then this position can be destroyed in the Qing Dynasty. How long will it last under the army's offensive?
About an hour later, the battle kicked off with the sound of a cannon in the Qing army's formation. However, the shell used to calibrate the firing angle did not hit the Haihan position. After landing, it bounced several times and finally stopped. More than 20 meters away from the pier position.
"Fire back and let them know what artillery is!" Sun Bing gave instructions to the artillery.
The Haihan army had already delineated the shooting boundary on the plains outside the area these days, so it was naturally more accurate than the Qing army.However, the Qing army's offensive this time was organized extremely carefully. There were several modified carts on both sides of each artillery piece, filled with sacks of soil, as movable bunkers. Accurate shooting requires a bit of good luck.The few shells fired from the position failed to hit the Qing army's artillery accurately, but two shells were shot directly into the Qing army's formation, causing a little confusion.In the first round of mutual shooting, Hai Han had a slight advantage due to his adequate preparation.
But the Qing army was not discouraged by this. They quickly adjusted the firing angle of the artillery, and then launched a second round of shelling on the Haihan position.This time the shelling of the Qing army was a real threat. Two shells hit the bunkers outside the position, which drew cheers from the Qing army.
But the cheers of the Qing army did not last long, and the counterattack from Haihan's position started again. This time, Haihan also performed more accurately. The raised cannon body also knocked the nearby gunners into the air, and it seemed that they were dying.
Although one artillery piece was lost shortly after the start of the battle, the Qing army did not panic and continued to fire at the Haihan position from all angles. During this period, several artillery pieces were constantly adjusting their positions.Wang Tom quickly saw through the opponent's tricks. The Qing army was using actual combat to determine the firing angle of the artillery, and was trying to maintain a relatively safe engagement distance.After all, although Haihan's small-caliber cannons were quite accurate, their lethality would decrease as the combat distance became longer, and the Qing army wanted to keep the combat distance near the range limit of its own artillery, so as to reduce the risk.
However, the artillery of the Qing army are relatively primitive cast iron cannons. After firing two or three rounds, they have to stop to let the barrel cool first, so the firing frequency is relatively low, and the Haihan position can have more leisurely time to prepare countermeasures. .But Wang Tom was sure that the Qing army's tricks would not be just two tricks. If the opponent wanted to use artillery to drive away the Haihan troops stationed on the river bank, then the only way was to put more artillery on the position.
How many cannons are equipped in the Qing army's formation? A relatively exact number.However, this war with Huang Taiji's personal conquest and the goal of destroying the country will definitely not be limited to these cannons that have been released so far.
The Qing army was very cautious, and did not try to send other troops to approach the Haihan position during the artillery battle, and was always looking for a balance point.In fact, this is not difficult for experienced commanders. There are only a few guns in the Haihan position, and the gun positions are basically fixed.Although Haihan took the range of coverage into consideration as much as possible when deploying artillery positions to ensure that there are no dead spots in the front of Haihan's position, there will still be some areas with relatively weak artillery coverage, and these areas are suitable for The Qing army arranged the position of the artillery.The Qing army scattered more than 20 artillery pieces to fight Haihan, also trying to find these special points as soon as possible.
The gunners in the Qing army mainly came from the Ming army who defected from Dengzhou and Dongjiang Town, Shandong Province, but their real-time computing power on the battlefield still has a certain gap compared with the Haihan artillery. Haihan Artillery handles it, and it doesn't take too long to find out the weak link in the enemy's artillery field.
The shelling lasted two hours without pain, and then the Qing army retreated on its own initiative.During the battle, the Qing army paid three artillery pieces and dozens of people in battle, and the several artillery pieces on the Haihan position were all safe and sound, but several shells fired by the Qing army almost hit the artillery pieces on the position. If the fight continues, it may be a matter of time before the artillery is destroyed by the Qing army during the mutual shooting.
"How do you see the actions of the Qing army?"
As soon as Sun Bing finished commanding the battle, he was sent by Wang Tom to ask for his opinion.Sun Bing's mind is very clear: "The Qing army's offensive today is obviously testing the strength of our defense, looking for loopholes in our defense line, and the active truce should be to adjust the strategy. If they figured out something from it, I believe it will soon The next round of offensive will be launched."
Wang Tom was quite satisfied with his answer, and continued to ask: "Then if the Qing army continues to use shelling to attack the dock position, how do you think it needs to be dealt with?"
Sun Bing thought about it this time before answering: "If it is the level of bombardment today, we can definitely continue to hold our ground, and the Qing army will not want to attack easily. But if they increase their attack after completing the test, then It’s hard to say. We have too few heavy weapons, and if we want to stick to this position, we need to deploy more artillery.”
Sun Bing's answer was a very pragmatic battle plan. In the face of the enemy's shelling, he had to come up with stronger counterattacks to crush his plot.The Haihan Army also has artillery with larger caliber and longer range, but they are not deployed here.Sun Bing believes that as long as the firepower is strengthened, the current pressure will naturally be resolved smoothly.
Wang Tom nodded silently and asked Sun Bing to go back and rest for a while.Although what Sun Bing said is very reasonable, the Haihan Army probably won't take such countermeasures yet.The Military Intelligence Bureau and the Ministry of Security spent a lot of time cooperating to concoct a play, which was to create the illusion of voluntary withdrawal of troops, and wait for the Qing army to enter North Korea before returning to the carbine and cutting off the Yalu River.At this time, if we continue to strengthen the deployment of weapons and equipment on the position, the subsequent voluntary evacuation will appear very abrupt, and it may arouse the suspicion of the Qing army.
But these secrets cannot be disclosed to his subordinates for the time being, so as not to shake the morale of the army. Tom Wang intends to wait until the time is right before revealing the inside story to officers at the level of Sun Bing.
The Qing army took the initiative to attack again on the next day, and this time the number of artillery dropped on the battlefield was doubled compared to the first day. It seemed that the weakness of the Haihan position had been identified. It is planned to use this method to suppress Haihan's firepower output.
The artillery battle that day started in the morning. This time, the artillery on the Haihan position did not dare to take any action to hide their strength. They launched it with all their strength from the beginning, hoping to suppress the Qing army with efficient artillery strikes. offensive.However, the Qing army was obviously determined to break through Haihan's defense line through shelling, and deployed its own artillery to the edge of Haihan's artillery strike range in a very targeted manner.
Half an hour after the start of the battle, battle damage began to appear on the Haihan position. This is the second time that the Haihan position has suffered battle damage in the past few days. The previous time has to be traced back to the time when the Qing army launched a night attack when it first occupied this place. Confrontation.
The battle damage this time was not directly hit by the opponent's shells, but a section of the wall bunker that was knocked down fell down, burying all the soldiers hiding behind it.Although the people next to him hurriedly dug up the masonry for rescue, three soldiers died on the spot.Sun Bing had no choice but to order the soldiers not to hide behind the seemingly insecure bunkers, so as not to be accidentally injured during the shelling.
The artillery battle that day lasted until the afternoon. The Qing army fired at least 300 shells, and the number of shells fired from the Haihan position was almost half of that.However, comparing the bombardment effects of the two armies, Haihan still had a slight advantage, destroying five artillery pieces of the Qing army, and one of the artillery deployed by Haihan on the position was scrapped.Fortunately, the Marine Corps also brought an extra cannon as a spare, so it was quickly replenished, and there was no opportunity to take advantage of it.
The Qing army also took the initiative to cease fighting and withdraw troops this time. Referring to the situation of the previous day, it is reasonable to think that the Qing army should have summed up some experience and adjusted the current tactical arrangements before continuing to launch the offensive the next day.As Sun Bing said, if the Qing army continued to strengthen its offensive day after day, it would become more and more difficult for the marines to hold on to this position with the current weapons and equipment.
But Wang Tom thinks that the play is almost in place, and it's time to give up this place and let the Qing army cross the river.That night he summoned all Marine Corps officers above platoon rank and informed them of his decision to evacuate the area.However, in order to avoid the frustration of the army, Wang Tom also assured them that the evacuation was only temporary, and the purpose was to create an opportunity to attack halfway.After a part of the Qing army crossed the river and entered the court, the navy would attack again to cut off the shipping on the Yalu River.
Before leaving, Wang Tom also arranged a big gift for the Qing army. In addition to laying explosives on the dock to destroy the dock facilities, Wang Tom also ordered the engineers to plant more than 40 mines in the position, intending to When evacuating, blow up the pier trestle first, and then slowly enjoy the taste of winning the lottery when the Qing army clears the area.
"Commander, when shall we evacuate here?"
"Tonight, leave overnight." Wang Tom ordered: "Go back and gather your respective troops, and board the ship and leave here later."
(End of this chapter)
"The enemy is getting real!" Tom Wang put down his binoculars and muttered to himself.
Outside Jiulian City in the distance, the Qing army is using pack horses to slowly drag several cannons out of the city. This is the first time that the Qing army has used artillery in a field battle since Haihan arrived here, but this formation is by no means just a test.The size of the artillery seen through the telescope is by no means an ordinary weapon. Wang Tom deduced based on experience that almost all the artillery sent out of the city by the Qing army were above 24-pound guns, and there were even [-]-pound guns. There are not many calibers in the Han army.
Wang Tom immediately thought of one thing, maybe the Qing army had not fought behind closed doors a few days ago, just waiting for these heavy weapons to arrive at the front line.Although these old-style cannons are stupid and thick, and their range and accuracy are inferior to the few small cannons equipped by the Marine Corps, they are superior in their large number. Wang Tom roughly counted them, and the Qing army dispatched more than [-] cannons.It seems that they are going to open the way with artillery fire.
Although the Haihan Army still has many warships on the river bank that can use cross-shore shooting, the shooting idea of naval guns is to pursue power and accuracy, and there is no high requirement for range. Therefore, these naval guns provide fire cover for the Marine Corps. Yes, but there is not much advantage in a head-to-head confrontation with land-based artillery.The Qing army obviously noticed this, so they formulated this kind of combat plan and wanted to try to confront the Haihan army head-on.
The lack of heavy weapons of the Marine Corps is fully revealed at this moment. This shortcoming is not obvious in the daily combat methods of the Marine Corps, but when it enters the offense and defense of positional warfare, the lack of firepower of the Marine Corps will make the enemy The military has an opportunity to take advantage of it.
In fact, Haihan still lacks accurate information on how far the Qing army has developed its artillery techniques and tactics in the past few years.Although the confrontation with the Qing army on the Jinzhou Isthmus lasted for more than a year, in fact, the strength of the Qing army there was not enough to reveal its wealth, especially the musketeers and artillery, which were highly valued by Huang Taiji, were almost Never appeared on the battlefield.Of course, this may also be because Huang Taiji knew that the strength of the firearms army was not as good as that of the Haihan army, and that it was not easy to form an army, so he was unwilling to send these elites to confront the Haihan army, lest they be lost in vain.
Haihan has been stationed at the pier for many days this time, and it is estimated that the Qing army has already figured out the strength of the marine corps at the pier through repeated explorations and observations, so they made such a bold move.The field artillery equipped by the Marine Corps is all small-caliber artillery. It is very useful to bully the infantry, but if you want to fight against the enemy's large-caliber artillery, the result may not be satisfactory.
Of course, after more than ten days of non-stop construction, the fortifications of the dock position are not as simple as when the Haihan army first occupied them, except that the fortifications of the iron nets with a depth of tens of meters have been built on the periphery to resist Majia trenches. In addition, most of the buildings in the wharf area were also demolished, and the defensive circle was actively reduced, and bricks and stones were used to build more practical bunker fortifications. The army will inevitably try to attack this position with artillery, and it has been prepared in advance.
Or because they had suffered too much on the Liaodong battlefield in the past, the Qing army was extra careful when transporting these precious cannons to the front of the formation. Together, it will attract a concentrated fire attack on Haihan's position.
What Wang Tom considers is not whether the limited small-caliber guns on the position can destroy all the artillery of the Qing army after concentrated fire, but if the range of the Qing army artillery can really bombard the position, then this position can be destroyed in the Qing Dynasty. How long will it last under the army's offensive?
About an hour later, the battle kicked off with the sound of a cannon in the Qing army's formation. However, the shell used to calibrate the firing angle did not hit the Haihan position. After landing, it bounced several times and finally stopped. More than 20 meters away from the pier position.
"Fire back and let them know what artillery is!" Sun Bing gave instructions to the artillery.
The Haihan army had already delineated the shooting boundary on the plains outside the area these days, so it was naturally more accurate than the Qing army.However, the Qing army's offensive this time was organized extremely carefully. There were several modified carts on both sides of each artillery piece, filled with sacks of soil, as movable bunkers. Accurate shooting requires a bit of good luck.The few shells fired from the position failed to hit the Qing army's artillery accurately, but two shells were shot directly into the Qing army's formation, causing a little confusion.In the first round of mutual shooting, Hai Han had a slight advantage due to his adequate preparation.
But the Qing army was not discouraged by this. They quickly adjusted the firing angle of the artillery, and then launched a second round of shelling on the Haihan position.This time the shelling of the Qing army was a real threat. Two shells hit the bunkers outside the position, which drew cheers from the Qing army.
But the cheers of the Qing army did not last long, and the counterattack from Haihan's position started again. This time, Haihan also performed more accurately. The raised cannon body also knocked the nearby gunners into the air, and it seemed that they were dying.
Although one artillery piece was lost shortly after the start of the battle, the Qing army did not panic and continued to fire at the Haihan position from all angles. During this period, several artillery pieces were constantly adjusting their positions.Wang Tom quickly saw through the opponent's tricks. The Qing army was using actual combat to determine the firing angle of the artillery, and was trying to maintain a relatively safe engagement distance.After all, although Haihan's small-caliber cannons were quite accurate, their lethality would decrease as the combat distance became longer, and the Qing army wanted to keep the combat distance near the range limit of its own artillery, so as to reduce the risk.
However, the artillery of the Qing army are relatively primitive cast iron cannons. After firing two or three rounds, they have to stop to let the barrel cool first, so the firing frequency is relatively low, and the Haihan position can have more leisurely time to prepare countermeasures. .But Wang Tom was sure that the Qing army's tricks would not be just two tricks. If the opponent wanted to use artillery to drive away the Haihan troops stationed on the river bank, then the only way was to put more artillery on the position.
How many cannons are equipped in the Qing army's formation? A relatively exact number.However, this war with Huang Taiji's personal conquest and the goal of destroying the country will definitely not be limited to these cannons that have been released so far.
The Qing army was very cautious, and did not try to send other troops to approach the Haihan position during the artillery battle, and was always looking for a balance point.In fact, this is not difficult for experienced commanders. There are only a few guns in the Haihan position, and the gun positions are basically fixed.Although Haihan took the range of coverage into consideration as much as possible when deploying artillery positions to ensure that there are no dead spots in the front of Haihan's position, there will still be some areas with relatively weak artillery coverage, and these areas are suitable for The Qing army arranged the position of the artillery.The Qing army scattered more than 20 artillery pieces to fight Haihan, also trying to find these special points as soon as possible.
The gunners in the Qing army mainly came from the Ming army who defected from Dengzhou and Dongjiang Town, Shandong Province, but their real-time computing power on the battlefield still has a certain gap compared with the Haihan artillery. Haihan Artillery handles it, and it doesn't take too long to find out the weak link in the enemy's artillery field.
The shelling lasted two hours without pain, and then the Qing army retreated on its own initiative.During the battle, the Qing army paid three artillery pieces and dozens of people in battle, and the several artillery pieces on the Haihan position were all safe and sound, but several shells fired by the Qing army almost hit the artillery pieces on the position. If the fight continues, it may be a matter of time before the artillery is destroyed by the Qing army during the mutual shooting.
"How do you see the actions of the Qing army?"
As soon as Sun Bing finished commanding the battle, he was sent by Wang Tom to ask for his opinion.Sun Bing's mind is very clear: "The Qing army's offensive today is obviously testing the strength of our defense, looking for loopholes in our defense line, and the active truce should be to adjust the strategy. If they figured out something from it, I believe it will soon The next round of offensive will be launched."
Wang Tom was quite satisfied with his answer, and continued to ask: "Then if the Qing army continues to use shelling to attack the dock position, how do you think it needs to be dealt with?"
Sun Bing thought about it this time before answering: "If it is the level of bombardment today, we can definitely continue to hold our ground, and the Qing army will not want to attack easily. But if they increase their attack after completing the test, then It’s hard to say. We have too few heavy weapons, and if we want to stick to this position, we need to deploy more artillery.”
Sun Bing's answer was a very pragmatic battle plan. In the face of the enemy's shelling, he had to come up with stronger counterattacks to crush his plot.The Haihan Army also has artillery with larger caliber and longer range, but they are not deployed here.Sun Bing believes that as long as the firepower is strengthened, the current pressure will naturally be resolved smoothly.
Wang Tom nodded silently and asked Sun Bing to go back and rest for a while.Although what Sun Bing said is very reasonable, the Haihan Army probably won't take such countermeasures yet.The Military Intelligence Bureau and the Ministry of Security spent a lot of time cooperating to concoct a play, which was to create the illusion of voluntary withdrawal of troops, and wait for the Qing army to enter North Korea before returning to the carbine and cutting off the Yalu River.At this time, if we continue to strengthen the deployment of weapons and equipment on the position, the subsequent voluntary evacuation will appear very abrupt, and it may arouse the suspicion of the Qing army.
But these secrets cannot be disclosed to his subordinates for the time being, so as not to shake the morale of the army. Tom Wang intends to wait until the time is right before revealing the inside story to officers at the level of Sun Bing.
The Qing army took the initiative to attack again on the next day, and this time the number of artillery dropped on the battlefield was doubled compared to the first day. It seemed that the weakness of the Haihan position had been identified. It is planned to use this method to suppress Haihan's firepower output.
The artillery battle that day started in the morning. This time, the artillery on the Haihan position did not dare to take any action to hide their strength. They launched it with all their strength from the beginning, hoping to suppress the Qing army with efficient artillery strikes. offensive.However, the Qing army was obviously determined to break through Haihan's defense line through shelling, and deployed its own artillery to the edge of Haihan's artillery strike range in a very targeted manner.
Half an hour after the start of the battle, battle damage began to appear on the Haihan position. This is the second time that the Haihan position has suffered battle damage in the past few days. The previous time has to be traced back to the time when the Qing army launched a night attack when it first occupied this place. Confrontation.
The battle damage this time was not directly hit by the opponent's shells, but a section of the wall bunker that was knocked down fell down, burying all the soldiers hiding behind it.Although the people next to him hurriedly dug up the masonry for rescue, three soldiers died on the spot.Sun Bing had no choice but to order the soldiers not to hide behind the seemingly insecure bunkers, so as not to be accidentally injured during the shelling.
The artillery battle that day lasted until the afternoon. The Qing army fired at least 300 shells, and the number of shells fired from the Haihan position was almost half of that.However, comparing the bombardment effects of the two armies, Haihan still had a slight advantage, destroying five artillery pieces of the Qing army, and one of the artillery deployed by Haihan on the position was scrapped.Fortunately, the Marine Corps also brought an extra cannon as a spare, so it was quickly replenished, and there was no opportunity to take advantage of it.
The Qing army also took the initiative to cease fighting and withdraw troops this time. Referring to the situation of the previous day, it is reasonable to think that the Qing army should have summed up some experience and adjusted the current tactical arrangements before continuing to launch the offensive the next day.As Sun Bing said, if the Qing army continued to strengthen its offensive day after day, it would become more and more difficult for the marines to hold on to this position with the current weapons and equipment.
But Wang Tom thinks that the play is almost in place, and it's time to give up this place and let the Qing army cross the river.That night he summoned all Marine Corps officers above platoon rank and informed them of his decision to evacuate the area.However, in order to avoid the frustration of the army, Wang Tom also assured them that the evacuation was only temporary, and the purpose was to create an opportunity to attack halfway.After a part of the Qing army crossed the river and entered the court, the navy would attack again to cut off the shipping on the Yalu River.
Before leaving, Wang Tom also arranged a big gift for the Qing army. In addition to laying explosives on the dock to destroy the dock facilities, Wang Tom also ordered the engineers to plant more than 40 mines in the position, intending to When evacuating, blow up the pier trestle first, and then slowly enjoy the taste of winning the lottery when the Qing army clears the area.
"Commander, when shall we evacuate here?"
"Tonight, leave overnight." Wang Tom ordered: "Go back and gather your respective troops, and board the ship and leave here later."
(End of this chapter)