Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 431 Faru's Encounter

As the Iberian Party and the Spanish army continued their southward advance from Beja, intending to occupy large swathes of Portuguese territory to the south in one fell swoop, a massive force of over 5,000 British volunteers, followed by tens of thousands of Portuguese Republican troops, also set out from the vicinity of Lisbon, preparing to march south and block the retreat of the Iberian Party and the Spanish army.

The Spanish had anticipated the British's possible actions.

Because the Diana River blocked the Spanish army's retreat route back home, the Spanish army had no choice but to continue north or south.

Going west would be too close to the Lisbon region, and Portugal's territory is rectangular, with its longest north-south distance being less than 600 kilometers and its widest east-west distance less than 200 kilometers, so it has virtually no strategic depth.

The reason why Spain was on guard was simple: this terrain was like a large pocket, and once the pocket was sealed, the Spanish army would be like a turtle in a jar.

The line from Beja to Évora was not only the retreat route for the Iberian Party army and the Spanish army, but also an important logistical supply line for both armies.

If their supply lines were cut off by the Republican and British forces, even if they weren't trapped in an encirclement, it would still be a heavy blow to morale.

To prevent this vital supply line from being cut off, Spain maintained varying numbers of troops along the Alvito, Cuba, and Porte line to ensure the pocket was not secured by Republican and British forces.

To avoid detection by the Spanish, the Portuguese Republicans and British troops took the route from Setúbal to Salzburg, completely bypassing the Évora to Beja line.

Besides avoiding detection by the Spanish and Iberian forces, taking this route also had the advantage of allowing the British and Republican forces to easily obtain supplies via the road. Even if a more urgent situation arose at the front, Portugal could send more troops to provide support.

While the Portuguese Republican Army and the British Army advanced south, the Spanish Army made rapid progress and quickly reached Védiburg, south of Beja.

Not far south of this city is Mount Carderán, and beyond Mount Carderán lies Faro, an important city in southern Portugal.

Unlike the larger city of Beyar, Fort Wedy was a small city with no garrison.

There are only a few hundred city police officers here, and they are no match for the Iberian Party's army.

More importantly, because the Republican Party had lost popular support, the Iberian Party's army immediately abandoned resistance upon arriving in Wedyborg, and even organized a ceremony to welcome the Iberian Party's army.

This relieved the soldiers, and after a brief rest in Fort Védl, they immediately headed south, preparing to capture the cities of Almodóvar and Kassop in succession.

Because the Portuguese capital Lisbon is relatively far from the southern region, the Republican and British troops only reached the vicinity of Grandula when the Spanish army had already advanced to the vicinity of Mount Calderán. The city of Beja, located in the central and southern part of the country, was only a few dozen kilometers to the east.

It was clear that the Portuguese Republicans underestimated the speed of the Iberian Party's advance. The Iberian Party's forces and the Spanish army made almost no delays and it did not take long to capture those small cities along the way.

This led to a rather awkward situation: Britain's original plan to encircle the Iberian Party and the Spanish army in a pocket formed by the Carderon Mountains and the Diana River had essentially failed, as it was impossible for the British army to reach the Almodóvar line before the Spanish army passed through the Carderon Mountains.

Unable to form an encirclement at the angle between the Carderon Mountains and the Diana River, the British army quickly changed its strategy and decided to re-encircle the area south of the Carderon Mountains, determined to annihilate the more than 5,000 volunteers sent by Spain at all costs.

South of Mount Calderán lies Portugal's southern coastal city, meaning that the Iberian Party and Spanish troops could no longer advance south.

Furthermore, the Carderon Mountains provide a significant obstacle, effectively limiting the retreat routes to either the west or the east. If British and Republican forces were to deploy in advance to the southeast and southwest of the Carderon Mountains, blocking the retreat routes of the Iberian Party and Spanish troops, this area would remain a relatively perfect encirclement.

Compared to the previous encirclement formed by the angle, this new encirclement is easier to execute.

Because many cities in the south are quite large, the Republican Party has also deployed a significant number of troops there.

No matter how powerful the Spanish army was, it would take them a long time to capture these cities. This period would be the best time for the Republican and British armies to deploy their forces. If they could deploy a large number of troops along the Odletti-Marienburg line in advance, they could drive the enemy northwest.

The northwest direction is getting further and further away from Spain. If we can force the Iberian Party and the Spanish army to withdraw to the northwest, it will not be so easy for these troops to break through the encirclement jointly formed by the Republican Party and the British army.

The Republican Party and British troops rushed to Portimão, arriving just days later, just as the Iberian Party's forces had captured Faro.

Meanwhile, the Portuguese navy also transported thousands of army troops to the Marienburg-Odletti line in an attempt to block the eastern route of the Iberian Party and the Spanish army.

On August 27, 1904, British troops began to tighten the encirclement and soon reached Bolicame, not far west of Faro.

Meanwhile, the Portuguese Republican forces along the Marienburg-Odletti line in the east also began constructing fortifications and perfecting their defensive formation.

The two armies met formally on the morning of August 28. On their way to Boliqueme, the Spanish army encountered a British army that was waiting in full force.

Enemies meeting are bound to be hostile, and the soldiers on both sides naturally had nothing to say to each other, and immediately began a fierce battle.

Because the British army had already built simple fortifications, the British had the upper hand in the initial skirmishes.

The Spanish volunteers suffered hundreds of casualties in just a few hours of fighting, while the Iberian Party forces suffered over a thousand casualties.

Although the Republican Party and the British army also suffered considerable casualties, overall the Iberian Party and the Spanish army were the ones who suffered the most.

The main reason the British troops managed to win the skirmish was that they occupied advantageous terrain, and the Republicans, with British support, were not at a disadvantage in terms of weaponry.

However, a minor setback did not discourage the Spanish army.

After their initial defeat in the skirmish, the Spanish army quickly realized the British plan. However, this situation was not fatal for the Spanish army, since the British volunteers numbered only a little over 5,000, and the rest of the Portuguese Republican army consisted of greenhorns. To think that they could defeat the Spanish army with them was clearly wishful thinking.

Now that the British plan has been discovered, we cannot allow them to gradually tighten the encirclement. We must at least firmly control the lands surrounding Faro, so that we can continuously obtain supplies from Spain through the port of Faro.

Even if the British successfully encircled the Spanish army with sufficient supplies, they would not be able to annihilate the entire Spanish army within the encirclement.

After retreating from Bolicame, the Spanish army immediately set its sights on Lolei, north of Faro.

Lolei is located northwest of Faro, roughly east of Bolicame. If the British army were to advance southeast towards Faro, Lolei would be a crucial point, potentially enabling a counter-encirclement of the British forces attacking Faro.

If British troops were to attack Lloris first, the Spanish troops stationed in Faro could immediately provide support. The two cities would form a strategic defensive position, maximizing Faro's security.

Besides Lolei in the northwest, Orléans to the east of Faro is also an extremely important strategic location. If the Portuguese Republican forces in the east choose to attack westward, Orléans can serve as a bridgehead to resist their offensive and ensure that Faro is not completely surrounded by the enemy.

If the Republican forces in the east do not choose to advance westward, then the coastline between Faro and Orléans will become a safe zone, where they can easily receive various supplies from Spain.

The good news is that although the British army reached Bolicame, they were unable to continue eastward to occupy Lorrae due to their encounter with the Spanish army.

The Spanish army quickly occupied the town and left a garrison of 2,000 men. The main force of more than 5,000 Spanish volunteers remained in Faro, preparing for a decisive battle with the British volunteers.

On August 29, after a brief rest, the British army, along with a portion of the Republican forces, continued their eastward advance, strictly adhering to their original plan and gradually tightening their encirclement.

The combined forces of Republican and British troops marched south along the road and soon arrived in the vicinity of Faro.

They also saw a defensive line built by the Spanish army around Faro. Because it was built in less than a day, the defensive line looked very rudimentary and could be easily destroyed after a few rounds of artillery fire.

However, the British army was not careless at all. The commander first ordered the artillery to bombard the Spanish positions, destroying the Spanish fortifications and killing enemy personnel as much as possible, before attempting to launch another attack.

Spain also had a considerable number of artillerymen, who began aiming at the enemy as soon as they spotted the British troops.

Because the Spanish artillery positions were already in place, and the time for the artillery to aim and fire was shorter than that of the British artillery.

This resulted in the Spanish artillery having already opened fire while the British artillery was still loading shells.

Boom! Bang bang!

Artillery shells rained down on the British troops, each explosion claiming the lives of several British soldiers.

This scene enraged the British army commander, who immediately ordered his soldiers to break formation and disperse to find cover.

Portugal has vast plains, which is good for national development, but not so good for warfare.

The vast plain stretched as far as the eye could see, and most of the British troops could not find effective cover. They had no choice but to lie down to minimize the damage from shrapnel from exploding shells.

Seeing that the first round of bombing was effective, the second batch of Iberian Party artillery began shelling again.

Although most of the artillery was concentrated in Faro, it was divided into two parts, or rather, two batches, within the defensive positions.

Once the first batch of artillery has finished firing and is ready to reload, the second batch of artillery will immediately fill the firepower gap and suppress enemy artillery as much as possible, giving the second batch of artillery more time to reload.

Once the second batch of artillery has been fired, the first batch of artillery will be almost finished loading, which will give the second batch of artillery more time to load.

This cycle repeats itself to ensure that the artillery's firepower does not suffer from significant gaps, while also guaranteeing that enemy artillery can be suppressed most of the time.

Under the relentless bombardment, the enemy artillery struggled to mount an effective counterattack. Once the British artillery began to retaliate, the Spanish artillery would immediately concentrate its fire on those artillery pieces.

The consequence of this was that as soon as the British artillery fired a shell, Spanish artillery shells would fall one after another near the British cannons.

Although artillery wasn't very accurate, if you were unlucky enough to get hit, or even if you were hit by a nearby ammunition box, you'd be meeting your maker immediately.

Especially after being hit by an ammunition box, the violent explosion could not only destroy the artillery position, but could also affect nearby British soldiers.

In the last encounter, the British had the upper hand, but this time the situation was completely reversed. Because the Spanish army was on the defensive, they could huddle in fortifications and use firepower to inflict widespread casualties on the British troops.

For the British army to capture the Spanish defensive positions, it had to brave various forms of Spanish firepower and continuously advance towards the Spanish positions.

Although the British army also carried a large number of artillery pieces and machine guns, they were suppressed by Spanish artillery from the beginning, and it was difficult for the British artillery to exert enough power.

It's worth noting that Spain possessed the blueprints for the French M1897 75mm rapid-fire gun, which was widely deployed in the Spanish artillery forces as one of the main artillery pieces of the infantry divisions.

The advantage of this artillery was its extremely high rate of fire. Once it suppressed the British artillery from the start, it would be very difficult for the British artillery to retaliate.

After all, for every one shell fired by British artillery, Spanish artillery could easily fire 1.5 or even 2 shells.

Such a rate of fire also meant that there was a significant gap in firepower between the two armies. Moreover, the fact that the Spanish army was on the defensive further widened this gap.

(End of this chapter)