Chapter 523: Battle of Escondido Village (Part 1)

St. Louis City.

In the temporary presidential palace of Mexico, Joaquin de Herrera was checking the list of property handed in by his men, and he couldn't help frowning.

The amount of property looted was far less than he expected. Joaquin de Herrera thought he could become rich overnight, and then flee to Europe to apply for political exile, so that he could live a life of extravagance for the rest of his life.

In fact, it was not that he misjudged the wealth of the city, but that his men and the rich people in the city were either related or secretly connected.

Joaquin de Herrera's plan to make money was known to others early on, so he didn't get much money after looting for several weeks, but he was very angry.

In fact, Joaquin de Herrera gradually realized the problem, but he didn't have much time left.

Jose Apte led his "Tiger and Wolf Division" on the way, and a bloody massacre seemed inevitable.

However, the bloody feast had already begun on the other side of the North American continent.

Robert Stockton's fleet had just arrived in San Diego, and John Fremont had not even had time to exchange a few words with his old friend, when the latter's men sent a message that about 10,000 Austrian troops were approaching San Diego.

This was exciting news for the former, and he was also worried that if the Austrians retreated in the fortress, the war would last for a long time, which would make him lose face.

But now the problem is solved! The Austrians chose to take the initiative. As long as they could wipe out this detachment, they would no longer be able to organize a counterattack. Robert Stockton's Marines would be able to take the initiative, and the U.S. military would take California in no time.

So Lieutenant General Robert Stockton made a bold decision. He decided to use the 25,000 Marines he brought with him to directly surround the Austrian army that was advancing recklessly.

But what he didn't know was that the other commander also had a risky plan.

Of course, this behavior of the Austrian side was not completely reckless, but a rigorous judgment made by Archduke Karl Ferdinand after receiving "accurate" intelligence from Washington.

In the end, the most brutal encounter in the Mexican-American War officially started. The Austrian army coming from the direction of San Francisco suddenly stopped in the village of Escondido (northeast of San Diego) and began to build fortifications.

This was exactly what Robert Stockton wanted. He was afraid that the other side would choose to turn around and escape.

So, the US Marines who had been drifting on the sea for several months did not rest much, but chose to attack directly.

Although there were some buildings and simple walls in the village of Escondido, they could not be called defensive facilities.

Faced with a large number of US troops, the Austrian army did not choose to retreat. The two sides started a fierce artillery battle.

The latter's artillery was obviously of higher quality and more experienced, but the former's bronze cannon was indeed superior in power and rate of fire.

However, this bitter victory was obviously not what Robert Stockton wanted, and he ordered the entire army to begin encirclement.

The battle was extremely fierce. This unit was worthy of being the elite of the US Army. With superior firepower and three times the number of enemies, it suppressed the Austrian counterattack.

Of course, the casualties were also exaggerated, but they were still within Robert Stockton's tolerance.

Due to the comprehensive suppression of firepower and manpower, the Austrian army had to retreat to the village for defense, using ditches and houses as cover to continue to deal with the US Army.

In fact, the Austrian side did not expect that its firepower would be suppressed, because Archduke Karl Ferdinand had prepared a large number of infantry artillery and rockets for this bait unit in advance.

As a result, the rockets that had been invincible before could not change the battlefield situation when the artillery was suppressed. Although they caused a lot of casualties to the US line infantry, they could not stop the opponent from advancing.

Although the Austrian army was small in number, it was far superior to the US army in morale and technical and tactical qualities. However, it was still in an unexpected passive situation, which highlighted the importance of artillery on the battlefield at this time.

Fortunately, the reinforcements of Archduke Karl Ferdinand rushed out from the rear in time, so that the morale of the Austrian army in Escondido Village did not collapse.

Robert Stockton was originally supervising the battle on the front line. The situation on the battlefield was not optimistic. Although the US military was advancing steadily, he knew that this victory was won with human lives.

Such a heavy loss was unexpected by Robert Stockton, but he could not give up now, because giving up the attack now was equivalent to giving up his career, so he had to grit his teeth and persist

"Report! Commander, a large number of Austrian troops appeared behind our army!"

"What!?" Robert Stockton's reaction was both shocked and angry, and his adjutant looked completely unbelievable.

Because according to common sense, even if the Austrian army had reinforcements, they should come from the direction of San Francisco or the direction of Fort San Gabriel.

"The enemy's vanguard is a large number of cavalry, and there are also a large number of infantry behind them. Brigadier General Carna is blocking the enemy, and our casualties are heavy."

Since the US military concentrated all artillery on the front battlefield to suppress the Austrian army in Escondido Village, there were no artillery in the rear.

This was a tactical feature at the time, concentrating artillery on one point to attack until the enemy line collapsed.

Of course, the Austrian cavalry would not be so stupid as to directly attack the opponent's infantry line. They brought a large number of cavalry guns and rockets, which was their familiar field.

They used their absolute superior firepower to carry out inhumane attacks on the enemy, and then sent cavalry to attack and follow after the opponent's formation collapsed to expand the results.

Brigadier General Karna's brigade was the reserve of the US military. It was originally intended to be deployed to the battlefield at the most critical moment, but due to the sudden appearance of the Austrian cavalry, he led his army to take the initiative to meet the attack.

After all, if these cavalry were ignored, if they rushed to the rear of Robert Stockton and were beheaded by the Austrian army, it would be a lot of fun.

It must be said that this Brigadier General Karna of the US Navy is really worthy of being a top student who graduated from the West Point Military Academy, and his soldiers are also worthy of the word elite. They quickly formed a classic infantry-cavalry confrontation formation-hollow square.

However, the Austrian cavalry did not plunge into the array of bayonets and volleys like the French Marshal of Underwear back then.

Instead, they stopped about 500 meters away from the infantry square, and then began to unload the artillery and set up the rocket launcher.

Just as Brigadier General Karna was puzzled, the inhumane firepower attack began. Although cavalry artillery is usually light artillery such as three-pound guns and four-pound guns, it is very lethal at a distance of about 500 meters.

Solid shells flew into the US military ranks like bowling balls, and for a while, broken limbs and arms flew all over the sky, and wailing sounds came one after another.