Chapter 206: Like a Wolf or a Tiger
Chapter 207: Like a Wolf and a Tiger
The first shot of the artillery is usually a calibration shot, especially for the mortar with indirect fire. It is a necessary step to adjust the muzzle angle according to the landing point of the calibration shell.
However, there was still a shell that happened to fall into the pirates' defensive position.
Although the explosion power of the black gunpowder was not great, it only knocked down the two pirates closest to it, but the flying shrapnel was embedded in the chest and abdomen of the two, and blood splattered all over the pirates next to them.
Before the pirates could react, the Guards Corps had launched another round of artillery fire.
The gunners made adjustments based on the error of the last time. This time, more than half of the shells fell accurately into the pirate group, and more blood was immediately blown out.
After several rounds of artillery fire, a major officer also boarded the beach in a small boat.
He frowned and looked at the port turret in front of him that was constantly spewing artillery fire. Fortunately, the pirates' gunners were not very skilled and had not yet directly hit the Guards Corps, but if this continued, they would be fooled once or twice.
The major immediately pointed to the hundreds of pirates defending on the beach and said to the messenger:
"Launch the assault immediately."
"Yes, sir!"
As the command flag rose and fell continuously, the drummer of the Guards Corps came to the front of the team, lined up with the commanders of each company, beat the military drum and walked forward.
The soldiers behind him moved forward at the same pace, completely ignoring the chaotic musket shooting of the pirates.
Until the first 7 companies that landed on the beach walked 70 steps away from the pirates, no one was shot.
"Stand still--"
The officers issued orders in succession according to the command flag:
"Raise your guns!"
"Aim!"
"Shoot!"
The Guards Corps' front line immediately burst into dense bullets. The pirates screamed and more than a dozen people fell on the beach.
The pirates who were in chaos because of the bombardment just now were even more confused at this time. The gunshots that were originally one after another became sparse.
The second row of soldiers of the Guards Corps took three steps forward and fired again at the commander's command.
After shooting in turns, the distance between them and the pirates soon became less than 40 steps.
The number of the Guards Corps was originally larger than that of the pirates, and they used faster-loading and more powerful percussion guns, and their training level was much higher than that of the pirates. Therefore, under the continuous shooting of both sides, more than a hundred pirates were killed, and the rest had already deserted.
On the side of the Guards Corps, only four or five unlucky soldiers were hit.
Finally, the psychological defense of the pirates was completely defeated by the neat and stern and oppressive momentum of the opposite side.
After another round of volleys of hundreds of August percussion guns, four or five hundred pirates wearing white turbans and half-robes of different colors shouted: "It's over! It's all over! Run!" They dropped their weapons and turned around to flee to the town behind the port.
The Guards Corps quickly dismantled the spiked roadblocks. At the same time, more soldiers boarded the beach in speedboats, and then three four-pound guns were also transported to the shore.
After a simple formation, two infantry battalions and an artillery company quickly bypassed the slope behind the port fort and surrounded the fort from a distance.
At this time, the pirates around the fort had already run away. Berthier had also landed on the coast, looking at the fort on the high ground with a relaxed look, thinking about how to attack with the least loss - the fort without infantry cover is actually not terrible. Using the method of skirmisher assault, supplemented by artillery containment, it is easy to break it.
At this time, several young and energetic police officers ran over and saluted excitedly:
"Sir, please let us take the fort!"
"We will definitely not let you down!"
Berthier looked at the pirates on the fort who were firing randomly without any rules through a telescope, and nodded:
"Okay, go and win your honor, boys!"
"Yes! Sir!" The two young officers looked at each other excitedly and quickly returned to their company. Then the military drums sounded, and the soldiers quickly formed more than a dozen charge columns.
At the same time, three cannons also began to fire in cover.
Not far away, Davout learned that the police academy students were going to launch a strong attack, and he was immediately aroused by his competitive spirit. He also applied to Berthier to participate in the capture of the artillery.
If Joseph saw this scene, he would definitely shout that it was a waste of natural resources-this is Marshal Davout, one of the three great war gods under the Emperor, and he was actually used in such an extremely dangerous task as attacking the artillery!
However, any famous general has his immature time. If he is not tempered in the rain of bullets, how can he have rich battlefield experience? Even the young Davout is no exception.
This is also one of the important purposes of Joseph sending them to North Africa.
In fact, in comparison, the intensity of the battlefield in North Africa is much lower than that in Europe, and it is the safest to accumulate practical experience here.
Berthier thought for a while and agreed to the request of the newly graduated officer, asking him and another company to be responsible for covering behind the police academy students. If the police academy students failed to attack the artillery, then they would launch a second wave of attacks.
Dawu rushed back to his company as quickly as possible, led his soldiers to join the police cadets responsible for the assault, and arranged them in a skirmish formation to follow them from the side and rear.
Soon, the column led by the police cadets of the two companies rushed up the slope and went straight to the pirate artillery at the top of the slope.
The pirates also discovered the movement of the Guards Corps, and hurriedly mobilized more than 150 people to rush out of the fort, and lined up on the slope in a panic. This is all the troops in the fort.
It is completely different from what is played in movies and TV dramas. If the defenders keep huddling in the fort, the attackers will soon enter the blind spot of the cannons and eventually knock down the firepower points of the fort bit by bit.
The most reasonable defense method is to use infantry to hold the enemy, use the firepower of the fort to kill and wound, and finally repel the enemy.
However, the pirates had just lined up in such a messy formation, and 200 police cadets had already rushed to them 70 or 80 steps away. Although the gunfire on the fort has not stopped, the pirates' poor aiming skills have resulted in few shots actually hitting them.
The pirates under the fort fired only two rounds of bullets, and then they heard the police cadets shouting "In the name of the prince" and rushing over with the bayonets on their muskets.
Davout ordered the soldiers to fire a round of covering volleys.
The Tunisian Navy could bully the sailors on the merchant ships, but facing such an elite force with overwhelming momentum and fearlessness, they could not even think of resisting.
The defensive line collapsed instantly. The pirates howled and fled back to the fort, but most of them did not have time to run, so they had to throw away their weapons and kneel down to surrender.
This kind of coastal defense fort is usually built in a very high place, but the fort itself is not too high, usually only two stories high.
Dawu watched the police academy students climb up the fort like hungry wolves, and from time to time they left a few pirate corpses, and his eyes were red with envy - that was the supreme honor of being the first to break through the enemy's fort, and he was just not going to get it...