Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 315 Several Battlefields
The next morning, when it was still light,
General Maignan brought his officers to the front of the position, and what he saw almost made him angry to death.

The more than 40-meter-wide gap that was dug out with great effort yesterday was restored to its original state overnight.

It seems that all the huge price I paid yesterday was in vain.

Fortunately, General Maignan had foreseen this, and the British and French forces also took action today, obtaining a large number of wet branches and transporting them to the front of the position by horse-drawn carriages.

And it's not just one place, but piled up in more than ten places.

Many of them were freshly cut forest trees with dew on them, as well as a large number of shrubs and vines, yellow sulfur ore, black gunpowder powder, etc. This was the poisonous smoke strategy devised by the British and French forces.

This strategy was used in Singapore, where 2.6 British and French troops were burned to death. This strategy was extremely vicious.

Since the Chu army could be used, the Anglo-French coalition forces could naturally be used as well, so they were arranged in a hurry.

The Chu army's lookout, located high up in the bunker, had discovered the unusual movements of the British and French armies early on.

At the beginning, seeing the British and French soldiers dragging piles of firewood, the Chu army generals guessed that the enemy might use a smoke attack.

Whatever the enemy wants to do must be stopped.

The Chu army immediately arranged for the infantry to go up to the bunker and launched volleys of fire at the British and French troops who were piling up firewood from a distance, continuously killing and wounding the Indian soldiers.

The firewood piles set up earlier were mostly about 150 to 200 meters away from the defense line. After being subjected to organized volleys of gunfire from the Chu army, the firewood piles had to be set up at a farther distance.

Many of the firewood piles set up later were already 300 meters or even 400 meters away. This was mainly because these Indian soldiers were afraid of dying in vain and did not dare to move forward.

after awhile
After General Maignan discussed the attack strategy with his officers, he came to the front line again to observe and discovered this situation. He immediately became furious.

He called over the white officers of the British Indian Corps and gave them a merciless scolding.

And ordered
Move these piles of firewood forward immediately, no more than 150 meters away from the earth wall defense line, otherwise the effectiveness of the poisonous smoke will be greatly reduced, and human lives will be required to fill it.

So, despite the casualties from the volleys of gunfire, the British Indian soldiers risked their lives to move the piles of firewood forward, many of whom were knocked to the ground and died in the process.

After all this trouble, another half hour passed.

The sky was gradually getting brighter, and at this time, the British and French allied forces' carriages transporting sulfur and gunpowder were once again observed by the lookout on the bunker.

After this important situation was reported, all the officers, including the commander of the First Division, Major General Pan Tianshou, became nervous. They urgently mobilized the troops to the coal pile defense line and mobilized artillery to concentrate fire attacks.

Everyone knows their own business. The poisonous smoke plan helped the Chu army capture many strong fortresses and won a great victory in the Battle of the Singapore-Johor Strait, and it is well-known.

The entire army was extremely wary of this, so how could they allow the Anglo-French forces to fulfill their wish?
So

The artillery bombardment destroyed the piles of firewood, and the infantry behind the coal slag piles adopted the method of upward firing, extending the range of their rifles to 1300 yards. The British and French soldiers transporting sulfur and black powder suffered additional hail of bullets, resulting in many casualties.

The key point is that without even seeing the shadow of the enemy, he was knocked to the ground by the dense rain of bullets falling from the sky.

Because the soldiers were outside the maximum range, most of the injuries were caused by bullets falling from high altitudes. Many of them suffered head injuries and bleeding, but very few were killed.

The British and French forces could not remain indifferent to the defenders' artillery bombardment.

So the battle of the day began with artillery bombardment from both sides. The rumbling sound of artillery tore through the morning haze and started a new day of fighting.

In the battle of a new day
The British and French forces took the initiative to change their tactics. They continuously sent small groups of troops, each with a size of two or three hundred people, to attack the 13-kilometer-long earthen wall defense line of the Badayana Bay bunkers in an attempt to find the weak points in the defense.

at the same time
They kept piling up firewood and burning thick smoke, which was then allowed to drift towards the defense line. This greatly interfered with the defenders' vision and made the British and French forces' attacks almost successful several times.

Fortunately, the Chu army organized a counterattack in time and wiped out the British and French soldiers who had entered the earthen city one by one.

A total of 13 bunkers were built along the 21-kilometer-long Batangas Bay bunker earth wall defense line, with one every 600 meters or so, providing strong support for the entire defense line.

There are about 200 to 300 soldiers stationed in each bunker, which are the front-line troops.

There are still a large number of reserve troops that can be mobilized in the rear. For example, near the small fishing village, there are 4 regiments with nearly 7000 troops stockpiled for key defense.

No matter how the British and French forces were deployed, it was all under the eyes of the Chu army and there was no secrecy at all.

The intermittent fighting continued until after 4 p.m., and the British and French forces suffered more than 3100 casualties again, with the total casualties exceeding 7400. They were forced to stop at this strong line of defense.

After two days of bloody fighting, there was no progress.

General Maignan announced the withdrawal of troops early. Although he failed to break through the defense line, after two days of bloody fighting, he had a real understanding of the combat effectiveness of the Chu army officers and soldiers and the resilience of the defense line.

Therefore, there is a greater chance of breaking through this line of defense.

at the same time
On the battlefield of Corregidor
Vice Admiral Calvin Phillips, commander-in-chief of the Anglo-French Allied Forces, did not give up the plan to capture the fortress, but instead attacked from the tail of the tadpole.

For two consecutive days, a fire strike formation centered on seven ironclad sailing battleships approached the battery within 700 to 800 meters, bombarding the battery with 60-pound and 32-pound guns in turn, pouring down a large amount of artillery fire.

The Corregidor Fortress was also not ambiguous. Before the crisis came, the Chu State carried out large-scale construction and expansion of the fortress. Not only did it build a 2.1-kilometer-long main tunnel that runs through the entire island, but it also greatly strengthened the defense of the rear artillery position.

The high and thick city walls added later were connected to the tadpole tail, and a large bunker was built on the tadpole tail, which could accommodate four 4-inch anti-sea guns and more than ten secondary guns to implement a fire blockade on the northwest strait that had completely blocked the shipping route.

Two large bunker batteries were added to the 1.46-kilometer-long tadpole tail, each of which could house two powerful 15-inch anti-coastal guns.

From above

The tadpole fortress's tail seems to have three thick links, each of which is a large artillery fortress. When swung, it is enough to cause serious damage to any invading enemy.

The facts are also true
In the two consecutive days of sea and land firepower confrontation, the British Royal Navy's powerful naval gunfire almost blew up the tail of Fort Corregidor, leaving it charred everywhere.

Almost every rock had been repeatedly struck by naval gunfire, and the beaches and seaside cliffs were riddled with holes, revealing the scars of war they had suffered.

One and a half of the three artillery batteries were destroyed, and a total of three 15-inch Dahlgren long-barreled coastal guns were destroyed. 223 officers and soldiers of the Chu fortress were killed or wounded.

But the British Royal Navy fleet was not having a good time either. Three of the seven British ironclad sailing battleships that made up the fire strike formation were seriously damaged and one was scrapped. The sides of the remaining three were also dented and the decks were blown to pieces.

After two days of fierce fighting, the British and French fleets suffered 2 casualties. The mainmast and secondary mast of the armored battleship "Lexington" were broken, and the hull was badly damaged and scrapped.

The three remaining ships of the line were badly damaged, their sails mostly torn to shreds, their cables snapped into knots, and their sailors suffered heavy casualties, leaving them unable to fight again. Vice Admiral Calvin Phillips had no choice but to lead his fleet in a retreat.

It’s not that the tadpole tail of Fort Corregidor cannot be taken down, but that continuing to fight would come at a huge cost that the British sailing fleet cannot afford.

After the Anglo-French fleet retreated, Fort Corregidor once again erupted in uncontrollable cheers. It was the joy of victory. The officers and soldiers of the fortress jumped and danced with excitement, and tears could not stop flowing down.

in this world
There are only a few fortress batteries that can withstand the crazy firepower attacks of the British Royal Navy and still stand.

Singapore counts as one, Fort Corregidor counts as another.

On another battlefield

In East Malaya, the British and French forces stranded there were unable to capture the defense line of the earthen fort in Ksiri Begawan after four days of hard fighting, and suffered casualties of more than 4 men.

Later, they sent troops to sweep the nearby villages for a few days, and then continued to move inland, encountering resistance and the equally troublesome spit-bunker defense line.

There was really no other way. The British and French forces here withdrew completely one night, leaving only a large amount of abandoned supplies near the dock, which confirmed the traces that the British and French forces had arrived here.

These cunning British and French forces did not leave, but turned to Sarawak State in the southwest. After two days of fierce fighting, they broke through the bunker and earthen city defense line of Kuching City in one fell swoop.

The one defending this place is the newly formed 6th Royal Regiment. There are more than 1,600 soldiers and 500 reinforcements left in Kuching City, as well as more than 2,000 temporarily recruited militiamen.

However, with this small number of troops, they were unable to resist the fierce attacks of the British and French forces. After more than a day of bloody fighting, they were finally defeated.

After being wounded, Lieutenant Colonel Tang Yingyuan, commander of the Sixth Regiment, was escorted by his subordinates to lead the remaining 670 troops and less than a thousand militiamen to evacuate Kuching and head to the mountain pass earthen fortification defense line 11 kilometers away.

In this battle, the Chu army lost more than 2300 soldiers and killed or wounded more than 4270 British and French troops, reducing the number of the fierce British and French troops to 1.65 again, and suffering heavy losses again.

After the capture of Kuching

These British and French allied soldiers became extremely brutal and wielded their butcher knives against the Chinese immigrants in the city, starting a campaign of burning, killing and looting.

After nightfall
Major Yu Zhankui, commander of the second battalion of the sixth regiment, led more than 700 of his men, and together with nearly 1500 armed militiamen, once again rushed into the city, engaging in a close and bloody battle with the enemy to rescue the Chinese people in the city.

After a bloody night
To cover the evacuation of most residents of Kuching City, local young and strong Chinese people continued to join in the battle and bravely fought back against the British and French allied soldiers.

The bloody battle that night caused the Anglo-French coalition forces to lose more than 3,000 men, most of whom were killed in battle, leaving almost no survivors.

before dawn
Major Yu Zhankui, covered in blood, and the few remaining officers and soldiers broke out of the city in several groups and soon disappeared into the lush jungle.

The British and French forces could not catch up with them and were afraid of being ambushed, so they could only return in anger.

In this night raid, less than 260 officers and soldiers and more than 730 militiamen were able to evacuate successfully, while most of the others died in Kuching City.

After learning this profound lesson, the British and French forces did not dare to act recklessly.

They gathered all the soldiers from the original team and stationed them in Gujin City to rest, and sent out scouts to gather information about the Chu army.

The British and French forces remaining in Kuching City had experienced a series of bloody battles, and their total number had been drastically reduced from 3 to about 1.33. They were no longer able to fight and were in urgent need of replenishment and a long period of rest.

During our stay in Kuching, we had an unexpected gain.

In a manor
The British and French allied forces found more than a dozen members of the Brooke family detained there. They were the children and family members of the early famous British explorer James Brooke. The king himself was angered to death.

As early as 1839, British Captain James Brooke was commissioned by the British East India Company to go to the Kingdom of Brunei under the pretext of "helping fight pirates."

At that time, Malacca pirates and Spanish pirates were extremely rampant, posing a great threat to passing merchant ships. Combating pirates was a top priority.

Actually

James Brooke went there to explore for minerals, mainly to see if there was any gold.

Then, the Sultan of Brunei wanted him to serve as a mercenary to help fight the rebellious Sarawak princes.

Although Brooke had only one ship, 1 sailors and six cannons, he defeated the rebels of several thousand people. In the face of strong ships and powerful cannons, swords and spears had no chance of winning.

After defeating the Sarawak prince with great ease and occupying the beautiful city of Kuching, Captain James Brooke became tempted. He also wanted to see what it was like to be a prince of a local state.

I am so powerful, why should I listen to the orders of this crappy Sultan of Brunei? Isn't that going against Tiangang?

So in 1841, Captain James Brooke forced the Sultan of Brunei to recognize his status as "Rajah" (monarch), thus establishing the Kingdom of Sarawak.

A white British man who founded the Kingdom of Sarawak and became its king.

After that, Brooke continued to encroach on Brunei's land, so the Sultan of Brunei was left with only a small piece of land called Bandar Seri Begawan.

Originally, the Brooke family lived a very comfortable life, and his white sailors became nobles in the Sarawak Kingdom, living a life of luxury and debauchery.

However, all this changed completely after the arrival of the Chu army.

It is no exaggeration to say that families were destroyed and people died. Huge amounts of wealth were plundered, the upper class nobles of the kingdom were separated from their wives and children, and even King James Brooke of Liam was angered to death and did not have a good end before his death.

The Kingdom of Sarawak has been completely destroyed. The only hope of the Brooke family is that the British Empire can step in and seek justice from the evil Chu State.

But when they heard that all the high-ranking nobles of the Sultanate of Brunei were burned to death in the accidental manor fire, they fell silent instantly.

Fear once again occupied the hearts of these people, and at this moment they only wanted to stay away from the devilish State of Chu.

I dare not even think about restoring my country or taking revenge.

Just ask such a cruel and bloodthirsty neighbor, what will happen if the country is restored? Can we still sleep well?

Just took a few days off

This group of British and French allied forces received an order letter from the Commander-in-Chief, ordering the entire army to set off immediately and head to Batangas to join the main force of the allied forces, preparing to launch the Batangas Campaign to capture and occupy the Chu State heavy industrial zone in one fell swoop.

(End of this chapter)