Master Yuan, start!

On the contrary, if a decisive victory is achieved, these generals can still share some of the credit.

But if these tasks were handed over to the Eastern Legion, then if they won, it would have nothing to do with them.

Besides, the Chinese have never fought against the Boers. If they fail, the situation that was originally turning for the better will collapse again!

Looking at Feng Guozhang and Jin Weidong in front of him, Kitchener, the chief of staff of the South African Expeditionary Force, thought that his concerns were very justified.

However, the British disagreement does not mean that the Chinese will acquiesce.

Since the British army had never actually fought against Chinese soldiers, they did not understand that the National Revolutionary Army, which mainly fought with light infantry, was actually naturally able to restrain the Boer army, which preferred guerrilla warfare.

Amidst everyone's astonishment, Feng Guozhang slowly stood up and saluted. "Your Excellency, Chief of Staff, I'd like to know if, as a member of the reserve, I have the right to enter the battlefield at critical moments without reporting to the enemy?"

Chapter 533: Barbecue Lobster Soldiers

It’s time to launch a general attack!

When the news reached the front, the British Expeditionary Force, which had long suffered from Boer invasions, began to mobilize.

The weather became drier, but teams of soldiers, holding their rifles, waited for orders to attack.

The expeditionary force, with its obvious numerical advantage, had a theoretical advantage, so Kitchener firmly believed that the Boer defense line in front of him was just a window paper, so he decisively ended the test and ordered a full-scale attack on the Orange Republic.

At the same time, the British troops supporting the attack also landed in Natal as planned and attacked the Transvaal Republic in the east to tie them down and prevent them from supporting the friendly forces nearby.

There were two Boer republics, one in the northeast and one in the southwest, of which the eastern Transvaal was stronger than the western Orange.

The main attack direction of the British army in the previous few times was Transvaal, not because they did not know how to pick on the weak, but because Transvaal was closer to the east coast of South Africa, making it easier for the Royal Navy to transport army troops and weapons.

But after several early failures, the newly appointed Chief of Staff Kitchener decided to adjust the strategy and change the main attack direction to the Orange Republic deep in the interior to the west.

The British Expeditionary Force advanced along the Western Cape Railway. Under the personal command of Kitchener, they used cannons to clear the way. Hundreds of cannons roared and smashed all the man-made structures that stood in their way.

The dry weather provided the British gunners with an excellent view. Explosions and flames were continuous, and the rain of bullets was dense and layered. One Boer building after another was blown away, and the dust raised by the heavy shells was even tens of meters high.

If the war had ended here, it would have been an outstanding mopping-up campaign.

Because under the attack of the British army, almost all small strongholds outside the Orange Republic were eliminated one by one.

If we continue in this way, we only need to move north along the railway and relieve Kimberley, which has been under siege for several months, to completely reverse the passive situation on the western battlefield.

But Kitchener, who was personally in charge of De Aar, obviously did not learn his lesson. He disdainfully believed that after the British army was replenished and repaired, it could sweep away the Boers and even capture important towns with ease.

He believed that with three local legions and three eastern legions totaling 3 people, he would never face a failure like the last time.

Therefore, while he ordered the Eastern Corps to repair the Western Cape Railway that was destroyed by the Boers, he could not wait for the railway to open, so he sent a British advance force to cross the Orange River Gorge and give the Boers who were besieging near Kimberley a warning.

However, Kitchener forgot that his opponent was not an ordinary person, but the most ferocious "Black General" Piet Crone among the Boers.

Faced with the powerful attack of the British army, Boer General Pietcrone immediately ordered the front-line troops to retreat, which gave the British army small victories in eliminating one outer stronghold after another.

Because he knew that the real decisive battle was not there.

At this time, the British army, which had been winning battles all the way, was unaware that danger was about to come.

"Enemy attack! Three o'clock!"

Forrest, the battalion commander of the advance force, roared with a Newfoundland accent.

The gunners in front hurriedly fell to the ground, and the sparks from the bullets hitting the rocks announced the arrival of the Boer army.

In the canyon, Forrest's telescope lens was suddenly covered with spider-web cracks, and warm liquid flowed down his right ear. Looking up, he found that the brains of an unlucky messenger were dripping down the brim of his hat.

"Cunning Boers!" Forrest cursed angrily.

But this did not affect the Boer guerrillas from flanking on their unsaddled Basotho horses, their hooves wrapped in felt making almost no sound on the hard soil.

The bullet belts they carried across their shoulders gleamed coldly in the sunlight, and the whips at their waists slapped the horses' bellies as they jolted.

At this moment, the bearded man in the lead suddenly blew the antelope horn, and the riders rolled off their horses at the same time, using inertia to slide into the blind spot of the British left wing.

"Maxim machine gun! Set it up quickly!" Forrest stretched out his right arm and pointed in the direction of the Boer movement.

But the Boers had obviously studied the weaknesses of the British equipment, just as the machine gun team was struggling to pull the Maxim off the mule cart.

Ci? Ji Extract 8226?98516

The mule dragging the ammunition box was hit first, and the wooden box filled with black powder exploded, causing a scarlet sandstorm.

The South African colonial British soldier who temporarily served as a machine gunner was knocked over by the air wave, and his overalls were instantly soaked with his own blood.

Just then, Forrest noticed that the sky to the southeast was a strange bluish-gray color.

"That is?"

With his nose twitching, Forrest looked intently and felt the sting of his nostrils by the smell of burnt grassland mixed with gunpowder smoke.

"Fire, a big fire!"

In the distance came the shrill cries of the British Expeditionary Force soldiers.

"Boers, Boers have set the dry season bush on fire!"

As soon as he finished speaking, thick smoke came quickly under the blowing of the southeast trade wind, blocking the shooting line of sight like a devil's curtain, and the squeaking sound of the Boer carriage axles could be heard in the air distorted by the heat wave.

Those damn Boer militiamen had actually converted an old-fashioned horse-drawn carriage into a mobile shelter, with the iron-clad wooden wheels leaving charred tracks on the burning grass.

"Retreat! Retreat to the outskirts of the canyon!" The battalion commander's order was drowned out by the continuous coughing.

The British gunners armed with Lee-Enfield rifles stumbled back towards the narrow pass, and the grass dust stuck to the soles of their boots left messy bloody footprints on the ground.

They thought that by escaping from the canyon and into a wider area, they would be free from the choking smoke.

However, they did not know that this was exactly what the Boers wanted. On the sandstone cliffs on both sides of the canyon, more than 500 Mauser Gewehr 98 rifles had already been calibrated.

William II did not instruct the German government to provide armed support to the Boers, but this did not affect the Mauser rifles that were popular in Europe. They were delivered to the Boers through various channels.

After all, sometimes it is easier for the Dutch and Belgians to purchase rifles from the Ruhr area than from Berlin!

"Snapped!"

"Clap!"

The first volley came from above, like the organ of death.

The 7.92mm fully jacketed bullet penetrated the British army's thin canvas equipment belts, creating a terrifying echo between the granite cliffs.

Lobster soldiers in red uniforms kept falling to the ground, their blood mixed with their clothes, making it difficult to tell the difference between life and death.

"Oh!"

A British soldier's aluminum canteen was pierced, and the canteen filled with low-alcohol wine was poured on the wound, causing him to wail miserably.

Forrest threw himself over the body of his dead warhorse and watched helplessly as the medic's bandage box was ignited by bullets, and the gauze soaked in carbolic acid curled into gray butterflies in the flames.

The Boer snipers used modified ammunition in which they filed cross grooves into the bullets, so that when the lead core hit the human body, it would cause a terrible wound in the body.

Another British soldier was hit in the shin by such a bullet, and the flying bone fragments were embedded in the eye socket of his comrade behind him.

Ambush, another ambush.

Even though they had a huge advantage, the British army's first reckless attack after regrouping still led to them being caught in a pincer attack by the Boers.

Forrest knew that the reinforcements that would arrive later would most likely be able to encircle these ambushing Boers.

But this does not help the current situation at all, because the expeditionary forces in the canyon are losing their lives one by one.

The artillery's situation was even more miserable. The artillery crew that tried to turn the muzzle was smashed into pieces by the huge rocks rolling down from the top of the mountain, and the explosives placed by the Boers on high ground exploded on time.

The barrel of a field gun was blown into a strange twisted shape, and the scorching breech block pierced the artillery sergeant's chest, pinning him to the smoking gun carriage. The surviving ammunition handler huddled behind the wheel, shivering. At his feet, the Yue Mt: 5!4+股车厣仙沃病毒炎淮寤塔鹚荷慕鹚闽劬懒

The streams of blood seeping from the cracks in the rocks quickly solidified under the scorching sun. The battle was still going on, but swarms of African green-headed flies began to flutter back and forth over the fallen corpses.

"Oh my God, how could this happen?"

The British soldiers clinging to the canyon wall looked at the tragic scene before them and couldn't help but pray.

"Australian Cavalry, West African Honor Brigade, Eastern Legion

Anyone, please come and save us!"

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