Australian Storm 1876

  Chapter 592 Suppressing Riots

  Before the war

Duan Qirui turned to the herald under his opponent and said, "The thugs entrenched in Illawarra Town are stubborn and try to fight by force. The outbreak of the battle is inevitable. Now I am ordering you to return immediately and gather all the Reinforced troops and militias provide immediate support, and the most important thing is to bring more artillery shells."

   "Yes, sir." The messenger immediately turned on his horse and galloped away quickly.

Since the    Cavalry is a pioneer in the south, it is naturally impossible for the team to be placed in the rear. Instead, it has moved to the outskirts of Wollongong, which is more than 20 kilometers away. If it moves fast, it will take an hour to reinforce it.

Explaining the request for reinforcements, Duan Qirui beckoned in exchange for Sergeant Myers and a dozen of his subordinates, and commanded solemnly; "The town has launched an attack outrageously, which can be defined as a malicious riot, but I believe that there are still many innocent people in the town being held hostage, so please tell the police that as long as you avoid the main road out of the town, the residents of the town who are not willing to be involved in the war can leave safely, including thugs who are willing to lay down their weapons. They have half an hour to leave. After this time we will launch an attack. By then, the jade and the stone will be burned.

   "Okay, the police will do their best to cooperate."

   "Then go and shout, and pay attention to concealment to prevent being injured by the mob's bullets."

   "Thank you sir."

Sergeant Myers led his hand to hide behind the rock not far from the entrance of the town. Holding a copper horn in his hand, he began to persuade with all his heart. Their words evoked a fierce shot. The hot bullet hit the rock and exploded countless stone chips. , And the arrogant curses of the thugs in the town.

Persuasion can't be said to be ineffective. Many women and children came out from several other intersections in the town one after another. They carried packages on their backs and heavy bags in their hands. They took their children to help the old man and left the town in a panic expression.

  About half an hour

  Six hundred or seven hundred old and weak women and children came out of the town one after another, but there are very few young men. This is a very unusual thing for a town with a population of more than 3,000 people.

This means that almost all the mature men stayed in the town. Only a few diehards were ready to fight to the end. Most of them stayed for reasons of this and other reasons. Some are not able to wipe the bottom, some are pure and silly and want to watch the excitement.

  Facts have proved that these Irish people are quite huddled in the face of external aggression.

  Sadly they did not realize that from this moment on, everyone who stayed in the town would be the target of severe crackdowns, without exception.

   "Order the heavy machine gun group to block all the roads out of the town, and the third team is responsible for strangling the remaining fleeing enemies, so as not to arrest one person."

   Duan Qirui gave the order with a stern expression. This time, he brought a total of 4 heavy machine guns, enough to block all the exits of the small town, and the rest was to catch turtles in the urn.

  In addition, there are 3 60mm field artillery guns, all gathered on the gun positions near the main road into the town, only 800 meters away from the barricade at the entrance of the town. The muzzles are all flattened and ready to fire directly, giving the opponent a ruthless one.

   "Now I order the offensive operations to begin, and the artillery fires!"

   give an order

  The three 60-mm field guns that had already been prepared, "Tom Tom Tom..." fired three shells, one of which exploded on a dirt road not far from the barricade, blowing up large swaths of dust.

   hit the row house next to the barricade, and the blasted stone fragments flew, sweeping down a large area of ​​the mob hiding behind the barricade, and screamed loudly.

  There was also a barricade in the middle. Amid the fire and violent explosions, the barricade blasted a half-person-high gap, and seven or eight gangsters fell in the back.

Needless to say the following battle, the two field guns that were missed slightly adjusted the firing of Zhu Yuan, and then roared one after another, forming a chorus with the other gun, and pouring in less than a minute. With more than two dozen shells, the barricade was completely turned into a flesh-and-blood mill.

  The sixty-odd thugs gathered here were either dead or injured. The corpses were everywhere among the broken bricks and shredded tiles. The smoke and dust exuded a strong smell of blood, and there were stumps and broken arms everywhere.

   "The first team is attacking, the second team is on guard."

Under Duan Qirui's order, the first team of more than 80 dragoons cautiously advanced with their rifles, and the field artillery group behind them also attacked, slowly approaching the entrance of the town about 150 meters away, and then the dragon The cavalry stopped under the command of the officer and squatted halfway on both sides of the road with their spears in their hands, waiting for the artillery group to continue to show off.

The artillery unit also approached to about 200 meters from the entrance of the town, re-adjusted the artillery, and then aimed at the window on the second floor of the row house. "Boom..." was a shot. Such a close distance was simply a bayonet on the cannon. There was no reason at all. Able to miss.

  I saw the cannonball hit the solid wall of the row house directly, exploded a big hole in the violent explosion, smoke and fire were diffused, and the debris of limbs was exploded everywhere.

  Several mobs with unpredictable hearts were killed by the shelling, and they didn’t understand what was going on until they died?

The 60mm field artillery bombarded the second floor of this row house almost all over again. The mob hiding in it was killed and injured in the gravel shot everywhere, and the sturdy row houses were bombarded everywhere. Leaking the wind has become a **** killing field.

  The long-awaited first team of dragoons quickly entered the town to occupy this townhouse, and then sporadic gunshots sounded. This was to replenish the severely wounded mobs and consolidate the existing position.

  At this time, fierce gunfire sounded in several places in the town. This was the stubborn resistance of thugs hiding in the dark. As expected, they were all diehards, and there were no coffins or tears.

  Although these bullets are playing lively, the effect is actually not good.

The dragoons occupied the sturdy row houses as a backing against the mobs, and soon they pushed the field artillery in the town to assist in the battle. One by one, the mobs hiding in the dark were blown up, and the debris of their limbs was scattered all over the place. The casualties were heavy.

Duan Qirui looked at the time calmly. It has been more than half an hour since the start of the battle. About one hundred and seventy thugs were wiped out. The first team and the second team have all entered the row house area one after another, relying on the platoon. The house penetrated slowly and firmly into the town.

  It is about 2:00 pm now, and reinforcements should arrive soon.

  Now there are about 20 casualties, of which less than six were killed. Three soldiers were shot dead by mobs at the entrance of the town, which is still within an acceptable range.

  Facts have proved that the previously deployed offensive strategy is very effective.

  Led by the grass-roots officers, first wash it with artillery fire, and then the infantry follow up to remove these cockroaches hiding in the dark one by one. It looks good, but it costs a lot of cannonballs.

  After half an hour of fighting, more than 70 shells have been fired, so it's time to stabilize.

  This is still saving time and time again. If you really let it go, adding a 0 after 70 shells is not enough.

  The cavalry squadron led by him carried a total of 120 shells. Seeing that the reinforcements were about to arrive, they had to stay a little side by side.

  When studying at the Huangpu Military Academy, the instructor repeatedly emphasized that some reserve teams and back players should be left at all times to deal with the most difficult emergencies.

This cautious combat is very much in line with Duan Qirui’s cautious style. Today, the first team of soldiers occupy several row houses on the left side of the front, and the soldiers of the second team occupy several row houses on the right side of the front, forming a parallel move. Pattern.

Duan Qirui's headquarters has moved forward to the row houses on the edge of the town. In addition to the guards and the messengers, there are more than a dozen policemen and more than a dozen people from the Hongshan Iron and Steel Consortium, all of which add up to more than 30 people. It looks like it can be used as the final reserve team to enter when necessary.

  There are still more than 80 third cavalrymen remaining outside the town. They cooperated with four heavy machine guns to block all the roads out of the town.

  As the brutal fighting progressed, some people in the town tried to rush out of the blockade to escape, and now they all turned into corpses lying on the road, warning all the lucky mobs; the only way out was to lay down their weapons and surrender.

  Facts proved;

  Fighting is not only useful when there are a large number of people, nor is it able to defeat the enemy by bragging, no matter how large the amount of scattered sand is still scattered sand, it will never become reinforced concrete.

  The offense is temporarily suspended

  This gave the battered thugs a rare opportunity to breathe. Another barricade in front blocked the way forward. An unknown number of thugs hid in the streets behind the barricade, as if there were still a lot of them.

  Duan Qirui was not eager to attack. He calmly watched the soldiers at the rear convey ammunition forward, and then raised his binoculars to look in the direction of Wollongong, implying a look of expectation.

  The situation is now under control. As long as reinforcements arrive and then give the opponent a ruthless one, the collapse of these mobs is inevitable.

  According to the information obtained before;

  There will be no more than 20% of the diehard whites in the town of Illawarra, which is between five and six hundred people. Now nearly 200 thugs have been eliminated, and the rest will not last long under the blow of the thunder.

  Even if there are mobs coming down from a few coal mines, the number will not be large.

  The advantage of time is on his own side, so Duan Qirui is not in a hurry. He fights steadily and step by step is the king.

   "Send the first team to the second team, order them to repair their positions, stand on the spot, and wait for reinforcements to arrive."

"Yes, sir."

The messenger straightened up his waist and saluted, then turned and ran out quickly. When passing through the empty street, there was a sudden sound of heavy machine guns, like a Vulcan whip, hitting the dirt on the surrounding roads. Splashing around, the messenger convulsed a few times in the rain of bullets, and then fell to the street like a rag doll, with blood flowing long.

  The sudden sound of a heavy machine gun made Duan Qirui change color. He didn't expect the enemy to hide such a big killer, and it was only used now.

  "DaDaDa...DaDaDa..."

Two heavy machine guns fired frantically, and the dense bullets hit countless shallow pits in the row houses, leaving one after another shockingly large white spots. The hitting stone chips were flying, the soldiers could not lift their heads, and the artillery did not dare to show their heads. Face it.

at this time

  A large group of thugs rushed out from behind the barricade with guns in their hands, looking at the black and overwhelming, ready to rely on a strong counterattack to make dumplings for all the cavalry soldiers who attacked the town, and then kill them one by one by virtue of their number.

  The situation on the battlefield is changing extremely fast. Seeing the side that holds the victory, instantly faces an extremely dangerous situation. If it fails, the entire army will be wiped out. This is a long-planned counterattack with extremely vicious intentions.

  (End of this chapter)