Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 287 Defeat the Enemy
In order to reduce casualties among local troops, the British commanders learned from the lessons of the street fighting in Buenos Aires and deployed the 2,700 white soldiers who landed by ship on the inner layer of the beachhead position, and the South African colonial army, which was composed of 3,000 black soldiers and white officers, on the two wings and periphery of the position to serve as the first line of defense against the Wehrmacht's attack.

At 12:40 midnight, the Wehrmacht launched the attack on time, and the British beachhead was suddenly filled with gunfire and artillery fire.

Before choosing to land in Tigray, the British Army had prior precautions against the Wehrmacht's night attack. Before nightfall, the British commander drove more than 3,000 South African colonial troops to dig a narrow trench and tunnel around the beachhead to hinder the Wehrmacht's attack. However, there was a key factor that the British troop commander did not expect. That was that the South African colonial troops, who served as cannon fodder, had low combat effectiveness and weak fighting will. When facing their black compatriots in South Africa, the sense of superiority brought by their identity as puppet troops made them despise the black indigenous armed forces and dared to kill their black compatriots in South Africa. However, when they encountered the Wehrmacht with tenacious combat effectiveness and complete weapons and equipment, the bloody lesson quickly broke down their psychological defenses.

The shells with long tails fell on the outskirts of the British positions. The violent explosions raised thick dust and smoke. All the South African colonial soldiers within the range of the shell explosions were either killed or injured, with bright red blood flowing from their wounds. Several incomplete corpses were scattered around the positions. The wounded soldiers who survived by chance held their wounds with both hands and wailed in pain. The black South African soldiers who were not affected by the explosion looked at the purgatory-like battlefield in fear. Their dark bodies merged into the night, and only the teeth exposed in their open mouths and their white, tense eyeballs expressed their emotions.

The Wehrmacht's revenge came too quickly, and the unfortunate South African colonial army replaced the British native troops and became the victim of the Wehrmacht's anger.

At 1:20 a.m., half an hour after the night battle of Tigray started, Liu Yongfu, who went to the front line to command the battle, observed that the outer defense line of the British position was about to collapse, so he ordered the withdrawal of two battalions of troops to strengthen the front-line troops and continue to attack the British beachhead troops.

At 1:25 am, the company where Lu Rongting, Wang Shizhen and Yang Guangzong were located received an order from Liu Yongfu to intensify the attack.

The three men discussed for two or three minutes and quickly assigned the combat tasks. Then, with the three companies of Lu Rongting, Wang Shizhen and Yang Guangzong as the vanguard, the attacking forces were divided into several offensive spearheads, concentrating their forces to advance towards the weak points of the British army's defense.

"Kill, kill, kill!"

Lu Rongting, who already had several combat experiences, overcame the initial tension and calmly dealt with the enemies on the battlefield!

"Brother Yang, watch out behind you!" After just killing a black soldier, Lu Rongting pulled out his bayonet and glanced to the right in front of him. He just saw a white officer raising his rifle and preparing to shoot in the direction of Yang Guangzong.

"Bang!" The gunshot rang out. Yang Guangzong was warned in advance and subconsciously bent down, luckily avoiding a fatal bullet.

"Damn sneak attack!" Sixteen or seventeen years old is the age when young and energetic. Yang Guangzong believes that it is a necessary strategic and tactical requirement for the National Defense Army to launch sneak attacks on others. However, it is a different feeling when being attacked by the enemy.

Reacting to the enemy's sneak attack, Yang Guangzong shouted loudly, then raised his gun and pointed it at the white officer. Regardless of the other party's gesture of putting down his rifle and raising his hands to express surrender, he pulled the trigger with a click, and the British white officer who was attacking was shot in the head and fell backwards on the position.

"Brother Yang, the British troops are retreating. Gather your troops. Several of our companies will work together to pursue the British!"

The battlefield was full of dangers and one could lose one's life if one was not careful. Lu Rongting did not care that Yang Guangzong had killed the British officer who had laid down his arms. He shouted loudly and quickly led his troops to charge forward.

"Brothers of the 5th Company of the 2nd Battalion, follow Captain Lu and continue the attack!"

Yang Guangzong nodded, then shouted loudly to the scattered soldiers around him. …

The battle outside the beachhead lasted for about an hour. At 1:40, the panicked South African colonial soldiers evacuated the outer defense line of the position and rushed to the core area of ​​the position.

The rapidly shaking Gatling machine gun fired rows of bullets, but they hit our own vassal troops.

"Stop! Roll back to your position!"

The angry roars of several British officers did not stop the defeated army. The black soldiers running in the front fell row by row under their master's machine guns. The black soldiers following behind could not see the situation in front at night and continued to rush towards the core defense line of the position.

Within ten minutes, hundreds of black soldiers fell under the guns of their own army. The dark bodies were piled up in a mess on the battlefield. Some tunnels dug in the evening were filled with the bodies of black soldiers, becoming the final resting place of the dead black soldiers.

Two or three hundred fleeing black soldiers crossed the machine gun fire line and retreated to the inner layer of their own positions, which caused gaps in the tightly defended British positions.

Following the gap in the defense line broken by the black army, the Wehrmacht soldiers following closely behind took advantage of the situation and advanced.

Rifles, machine guns, grenades, mortars. Company-level combat troops used the weapons they carried with them to fiercely greet the enemy. Caught off guard, the British native troops immediately suffered hundreds of casualties.

The enemy and our troops were mixed together. The British warships anchored at the river mouth opened their muzzle protections but did not dare to launch artillery fire on their own positions.

At 2:45 a.m., more than 6,000 National Defense Forces poured into the narrow beachhead. Liu Yongfu deployed most of his combat troops on the beachhead. At the same time, reserve troops were constantly joining the battle. The British army's will to resist was rapidly reduced as it lost the support of its own naval artillery.

At three o'clock in the morning, the commander of the British fleet issued an order to retreat. The British soldiers, who had long lost their patience in fighting, felt relieved and quickly broke off contact with the Wehrmacht and retreated to the rear of the river bank.

The comprehensive combat capability of the British Army's native forces far exceeded that of the South African vassal forces, and was also higher than that of the native forces of South American countries. After the retreat order was issued, more than 3,000 British troops were only panicked for a while, and soon retreated in batches under the orders of officers from various units, leaving no attack opportunities for the Wehrmacht.

The British landing troops retreated and boarded the ships. The Wehrmacht achieved its combat objectives, not only delaying the British fleet for a period of time, but also achieving results in the night attack that exceeded the expectations of Liu Yongfu and the other two.

The prisoners killed 2,300 South African puppet troops (400 of whom died at the hands of the British), 206 white British soldiers, and captured 257 people.

Most of the British whites killed were grassroots officers of the South African colonial army. During the night raid, because the South African colonial army was defeated too quickly, the white grassroots officers on the front line had no time to retreat and were killed by the National Defense Force soldiers as stubborn resistance elements. Therefore, the number of surviving white prisoners in the South African colonial army was the least.

After a night of fierce fighting, 2,800 British soldiers were killed or captured, and our side suffered 1,600 casualties. Taking into account the disadvantages of offensive operations and the comprehensive combat effectiveness of the British native forces, Liu Yongfu, He Yanliang and Shen Fushan thought that it was a great achievement to achieve such results in the first battle with the British. When the sky gradually brightened, the three of them completed the statistics of various combat data and immediately ordered the communications staff to report the results of the battle to Buenos Aires, and then arranged for the troops to retreat to the original defense line. On the one hand, they monitored the movements of the British fleet, and on the other hand, they patiently waited for the next combat order from the front-line headquarters.

Thanks to Dean Hanjiai and classmate Bishanyao for their support!
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(End of this chapter)