It's better to conquer them than to command the steel torrent

Chapter 265 | Whereabouts unknown?
Special measures? What special measures?
Colonel Lopez couldn't immediately figure out what had happened on the shore, and now was not the time to investigate the cause.

"Are they confident they can eliminate the threat of a second artillery position?"

The captain relayed his question and then replied, "Colonel, they've broken in. The enemy is wavering, and the artillery is no longer effective."

Lopez immediately ordered the fleet to follow, enter New York Harbor via the channel, and inquire about the damage to the other two destroyers.

As expected, the surface ships suffered losses during the recent exchange of fire with the coastal defense artillery, with both the USS Princeton and the USS Cassin sustaining varying degrees of damage.

The Cassin sustained some minor damage; it looked bad but was otherwise unharmed.

The Princeton was in a much worse situation. She was hit on the port side by a water-borne bullet, and within a short time, she took on more than 100 tons of water and began to list significantly.

A "waterborne shell" is a shell that lands in the water not far from the target warship, continues to travel underwater, and eventually hits the part of the target below the waterline.

Due to the (almost) incompressible physical property of water, shock waves are more difficult to attenuate, making underwater explosions extremely damaging to ships. Furthermore, many warships' main armor belts do not extend below the waterline, allowing underwater projectiles to easily penetrate and explode, causing even greater destruction. For this reason, the Japanese military historically meticulously developed the 'Type 91 underwater projectile,' specifically optimizing its underwater trajectory.

At 23:20 p.m., ground fighting continued on Staten Island, while the formidable 107mm cannons had been silent for a long time.

Four older destroyers lined up in a long, single file and quickly entered the bay, with the HMS Helena following closely behind, before heading towards one o'clock.

Soon, lights began to flash rhythmically on King Island; the garrison was sending out light signals.

The four destroyers slowed down and sailed slowly past the east side of King Island, finally stopping at a point near the coastline in Lower Manhattan, about three or four hundred meters from the land.

The Whitehall pier was packed with garrison officers and soldiers. Seeing is believing, and when they saw that there were indeed warships coming to meet them, many of them were moved to tears.

Inside the New York Stock Exchange building, the officers were beaming with delight, all eyes fixed on Colonel McAuliffe.

“It was an hour later than the notification time.” McAuliffe finally felt a huge weight lifted off his shoulders.

"Sir, if the Ivanros discovers we're preparing to evacuate, we'll be in trouble," someone said anxiously.

"Calm down, maintain order, Martin, begin the evacuation as planned. The rest of you, stay at your posts."

"understand!"

After holding out for many days, the defending troops were in dire straits, especially as food shortages caused many officers and soldiers to suffer from malnutrition, and various diseases, mainly typhus, were also showing signs of spreading.

According to the established evacuation plan, the wounded and sick are given priority. The more than 700 seriously wounded and sick soldiers must be transferred out first before the other officers and soldiers can be transferred out.

Another dilemma is whether or not to abandon the civilians.

When New York fell, some civilians retreated to Lower Manhattan with the remnants of the garrison, and together with the citizens who remained there, there were a total of 20,000 to 30,000 people.

To prevent any signs of the evacuation from being detected, the matter was not announced, and the public remains unaware of it to this day.

Since the number of ships that came to pick them up was very small, it was impossible to take everyone with them, and the evacuation operation was essentially just to transfer the valuable remnants of the garrison.

The decision-makers were fully aware of this, and had no choice but to make the decision to abandon the vast majority of ordinary people.

The dock was packed with people. Soldiers brought in a large number of wounded and sick soldiers, transferring them to kayaks and small boats before rowing them closer to the destroyer...

Meanwhile, on Staten Island, the commando unit, fueled by pent-up anger, had swept through the second artillery position. The Imperial Russian artillery was utterly unable to withstand the ferocious onslaught; after dozens of casualties, they scattered like birds and beasts, with many more being shot dead during their retreat.

The assault team loaded the cannons with thermite incendiary bombs, and in a burst of dazzling white light, cannon after cannon was completely destroyed.

"What a pity," Shang Ke said with regret.

These cannons were too cumbersome and were in a firing position, so there was no way to adjust their firing direction. Otherwise, he would have liked to turn the cannons around and fire a few shots at the enemy.

"Oh dear, losing more than a dozen army-level cannons at once, I feel sorry for the Russians. From now on, the Russians will have one more rule of war." He sighed with satisfaction, "Send more infantry and armored vehicles to the artillery positions, and if there is time and conditions, add some more obstacles."

Having taken control of the coastal artillery positions on Staten Island, the commando team had successfully completed its mission.

The commando team regrouped, and after taking a headcount, they found that a total of 36 people were wounded, 17 were killed, and 2 were missing. There was no time to search for them at the moment.

Interestingly, neither of the two brave men who volunteered to be suicide squad members died. The truck, fully loaded with shells, glided for more than 100 meters in neutral before exploding. The overpressure effect of the shock wave was largely attenuated in the air, and the two men were lucky to only suffer minor injuries, mainly significant hearing loss.

"Captain, Warrant Officer Garcia is missing. She was with Williams and a few others at the time. We only found Williams' body, not Garcia."

"What? Garcia? Perhaps she was hit by artillery fire."

"Captain, what should we do? Should we go search for her now?"

"No, we don't have time. The Ivanros could counterattack at any moment!"

Despite the fact that some people are still missing, the situation remains serious and there is no room for complacency.

Hundreds or even thousands of enemies are still stationed in the residential areas north of Staten Island, and they may have already assembled and come to reinforce us.

Strike and retreat swiftly, decisively and cleanly, without any hesitation or delay.

"Captain Miller, take your men south to the evacuation point and return to the submarine!"

Knowing that it was not a good place to stay, Shang Ke immediately ordered a retreat. Before leaving, he laid a few booby traps on the messy artillery position, justifying his despicable act.

The Bronx.

Imperial Russian besieging forces – New York occupation headquarters.

Telegrams and messages arrived like snowflakes, flooding into the headquarters.

Brigadier General Voronov had been awakened two hours earlier, but due to the complexity of the situation, some reports were contradictory.

For example, Staten Island initially claimed to have been attacked by a large number of armed civilians, then said that thousands of regular troops were attacking, then said that the enemy's night attack had been thwarted, then reported that enemy ships were trying to enter New York Bay, and finally suddenly reported that the coastal artillery positions had fallen.

After all that commotion, it's only now that everyone has a general idea of ​​what happened.

"Attack the artillery positions on Staten Island? The Americans are too arrogant! They must be wiped out!" Brigadier General Voronov was both shocked and furious.

(End of this chapter)