Chapter 340 French rifle, brand new, never used, only thrown to the ground once

Chapter 340 French rifle, brand new, never used, only thrown to the ground once

Chapter 340 French rifle, brand new, never used, only thrown to the ground once

"Report, the flagship Woerda is on standby!"

French soldiers still have blood.

"it is good!"

The Commander was very satisfied with his subordinates' quick response.

"I order - raise the white flag as quickly as possible to avoid casualties among the imperial soldiers."

Um, Commander, you have been entrusted by Governor-General Di Pere to guard the rear. There are still 17,000 soldiers fighting in the front. How about we just surrender?
A large number of sailors quickly disembarked from five overstaffed 1,300-ton ironclad ships to take over the Saigon Squadron of the French Far East Fleet.

Transport ships kept docking at the port, and a large number of Anhui new troops disembarked.

Before the Huai Army soldiers entered Saigon, French Vice Admiral Courrès saluted the Huai Army Deputy Commander-in-Chief, Army General Shao Hengzhong, at the port and surrendered by handing over his sword.

Paris is a city that will never fall. Our great France guarantees that the French government will surrender before Paris is captured.

Same thing with Saigon….
My goodness, the Huai Army has personally taken action. Even with the Governor and 17,000 troops here, I'm afraid they can't win. By the way, aren't you in a hurry to go to Europe? My few broken ships can't beat you. You want to annihilate 17,000 troops? It will take only a few months, right?
Lieutenant General Kurris stood beside Shao Hengzhong and watched the Anhui New Army line up in formation after getting off the transport ship. The engineering battalion, artillery battalion, and logistics soldiers continued to enter Saigon City to maintain public order.

The cavalry battalion was divided into two routes, with two companies in each route, and headed straight towards Phnom Penh and Da Nang, apparently as scout outposts.

The last to disembark were the infantry. The strange thing was that although the Lieutenant General saw so many Gatling machine guns on the ship, he did not move any of them downboard. Instead, each soldier pushed a bicycle off the ship.

The soldiers who had been operating the Gatling guns were now carrying carbines, and the infantry of the two regiments split up and followed the cavalry on bicycles.

Um, is this how the army fights? Have I been at sea for so long that my ideas are outdated?

Our French army is equipped with Gatling machine guns. Aren’t you afraid of suffering casualties by chasing us lightly on bicycles?

Ahem, this is how the army fights, it depends on the terrain. The two commanders of the French Cochinchina Governorate fighting on the east and west fronts were both colonial officials, not serious soldiers, and they didn't know how to survey the terrain, so they immediately suffered a loss.

The four cavalry companies of the Anhui New Army Cavalry Battalion did not need any follow-up infantry support. They captured dozens of French artillery pieces and more than a dozen Gatling machine guns before they had chased far.

In the unimproved muddy ground in Saigon, this thing was so heavy that it would take a long time to reach the front line, so the two commanders had to give up and leave it behind to let the logistics troops watch over it as it slowly moved.

The logistics soldiers didn't even have a chance to set up the heavy machine guns before they were captured by the cavalry.

The four cavalry companies looked at the captured food, supplies and machine guns, and each sent only one platoon of scouts to conduct reconnaissance. As the food and supplies of the two French armies were cut off, they could not hold out for long.

However, Shao Hengzhong was worried that the feint attack troops led by Liu Yongfu and Feng Zicai could not withstand the French attack, so he ordered the bicycle troops to pursue the French along the main road and prepare to attack the French together with the feint attack troops according to the combat plan formulated by the General Staff.

Then, an embarrassing situation occurred. On the muddy tropical road, the follow-up infantry on bicycles overtook the cavalry scouts... The cavalry scouts were pulling their horses in the mud and rescuing horses that were stuck in the mud. They watched the infantry carrying bicycles pass them, get on the hard road, and then drive away.

When they were training in Fengyang military camp, they laughed at the silly way the infantrymen trained on bicycles, but now they were slapped in the face.

Although the Anhui New Army is called the New Army, the soldiers are all veterans of the Western Expedition and have experienced the long march in Yili Province. The Huai Army is well treated and has no shortage of troops, so their endurance and physical strength have long been developed.

Riding bicycles at a speed of 100 kilometers a day was faster than a cavalry raid, and the Western Route Army arrived behind the French army in Phnom Penh in two days.

Just as they were preparing to dig trenches, put up barbed wire, set up camp and engage in battle with the enemy, they suddenly saw more than 10,000 enemy troops swarming in from the front with no formation at all.

No, could it be that the enemy was so brave that they had to rely on human wave tactics to swallow up our regiment of more than 3,000 regular troops?

The soldiers treated the enemy as a formidable force. Those holding bolt-action rifles immediately lay down and fired. Those holding shotguns touched the engineer shovels on their backs, ready to fire five shots in a row with their shotguns, and then engage in hand-to-hand combat after using up all the bullets.

Then, before the brave hand-to-hand combat soldiers could take action, the French troops swarming over them waved their white shirts and surrendered, surrendered...

Hey, don't be so disrespectful. We have been practicing cycling skills for a year and finally we can use it. We are ready for a tough battle. How can you surrender?

You have three times as many people as we do, and the guns you hold are advanced bolt-action rifles, the Chassepeau M1866. Although they are a bit behind our Mauser bolt-action rifles, they also have bolts, right?
But the French army surrendered. The First Regiment of the Anhui New Army seized a mountain of French rifles. French rifles were of little use to the Huai Army, which used Mauser bolt-action rifles casually. These weapons were later sold to the Japanese shogunate army equipped with French rifles.

When promoting these rifles, the arms dealers of the Wen's Chamber of Commerce quoted the description of these rifles by the Anhui New Army Staff: "French rifles, brand new, never used, only thrown to the ground once..."

The Anhui New Army was unsophisticated. After they arrived at the battlefield in France, they realized that their achievements were insignificant.

Prussia seized 60 "brand new" Chassepoul M1866 rifles from the French army...

After interrogating Governor Dupere who took the lead in surrendering, Shao Hengzhong, who was at the front line in person, learned that when this group of French troops went to attack Phnom Penh, their artillery and machine guns were left behind due to the muddy roads.

Then, in Phnom Penh, they encountered Feng Zicai's 10,000-strong army equipped with Armstrong four-pound light field guns, Gatling manual machine guns, Williams rapid-fire guns, and a Mauser bolt-action rifle for each soldier.

Despite being poorly equipped, Feng Zicai was able to win a great victory at Zhennan Pass against the French.

Now our equipment crushes the enemy. Although the enemy has 11,000 people, they have 8,000 newly conscripted men. No matter how good the bolt-action rifle is, it is just a firewood stick in the hands of a man.

As a result, the French army, which was hit by artillery bombardment and machine gun and rapid-fire artillery fire, collapsed at the first touch, was beaten back, and was surrounded by the enemy. They found that their food and supplies had been cut off, and their morale was immediately lost, so they had no choice but to surrender.

Shao Hengzhong and Feng Zicai met up victoriously, and felt a little regretful that he had followed them all the way.

The 6,000 enemy troops led by Huo Daosheng in Da Nang are all veterans. The Black Flag Army and his right wing infantry regiment also have 6,000 troops in total. The battle is more difficult than here...
(End of this chapter)