Chapter 491: Attack Failed

In this way, while the East African Army in the Songo military stronghold watched the Portuguese busy outside the city, the Mozambique army itself was restrained by the blacks, because the French might have taught them how to make siege equipment when they trained them!

It's not that Africans are unable to make ladders, but the craft depends on the region. For example, indigenous people in tropical rainforests build their nests on trees, and wooden ladders are indispensable tools. Some indigenous kingdoms with higher levels of development also have similar needs and can make some simple wooden ladders.

Moreover, these wooden ladders are usually made of a single log with a concave surface dug out, or tied together with straw ropes. There are almost no wooden ladders with mortise and tenon structures or fixed with iron nails. Therefore, the ladders made by Africans are not suitable for siege. If such wooden ladders are used in violent siege operations, their own people will probably fall down first, and the East African Army will probably laugh their heads off.

The situation is even worse for the indigenous people of East Africa. Most of them live in savannah areas and build their homes with plant fibers, woven strips or mud. Their homes are often round huts or square earthen houses less than two meters high. They have no need to climb up and down, so the simplest climbing tool, ladders, has no application scenarios.

Kerry could only curse and lead his people to personally guide the production, which wasted a lot of effort. It took half a day to produce more than 20 planes.

Looking at the darkening sky, Rhodes suggested, "Lieutenant Kerry, why don't we do it tomorrow? We may have to spend the night here today."

Kerry said dissatisfiedly: "No matter what, we must get the ladder ready tonight and launch the attack tomorrow morning!"

As for the East African Army, they were just watching the fun and did not bother the Portuguese at all. Because of intelligence, the Songo military stronghold had long known that this might become the front line of the war.

After the reconnaissance cavalry obtained intelligence from outside Tete, it took them only two days to deliver the intelligence to the Songo stronghold. Although the Songo stronghold was not large in size, it had a telegraph installed and then sent the message to Harare, the capital of Matabele Province.

The defense of Matabele Province was mainly under the jurisdiction of the 512th Division, so the 512th Division headquarters immediately ordered a company of troops to support the Songo stronghold that day. And just one day before the Portuguese finally arrived in Songo, the first batch of reinforcements from Songo arrived.

Therefore, the current number of troops in Songo Stronghold has actually reached more than 500 people, not more than

The commander of the 512th Division said: "First, hold the enemy back and use all your weapons and ammunition. The main force will arrive in three days. Don't take the initiative to attack. It's best to hold the Portuguese back."

The order given by the 512th Division to the defenders of Songo was to delay the Portuguese. Even though the East African Army was fully capable of destroying the Portuguese vanguard outside the city, the East African Army remained on hold.

As for the so-called large force, it is being transferred from the South Salzburg Province to the Zambezi Railway Bridge via the Central Railway, and is expected to arrive at the Songo stronghold in three or four days. This is the opponent carefully selected by East Africa for the Portuguese army.

The black army formed in East Africa can be put to use, but the direction of Mozambique's attack was uncertain before, so the black army has been staying in the South Salzburg Province. If the war breaks out suddenly, East Africa can also use the central railway to quickly deliver to various sections.

So more than 30,000 black uncles were stuffed like pigs by the East African Army into train carriages supporting inland areas, sent to the Zambezi River Central Railway Bridge, and then advanced along the Zambezi River all the way to the Songo area downstream.

The rest of the black troops waited on the shore of Lake Malawi, waiting for the Mozambican soldiers to fall into their trap.

The Songo defenders looked at the Portuguese who were still busy and taunted: "It's almost dark, why don't the Portuguese attack?"

"Is this the character of the so-called Portuguese Kingdom Army? They are planning to attack Songo Stronghold without any preparation, relying on their thoughts?"

It was really that the Mozambique vanguard was too shabby. Apart from the lack of heavy weapons, they did not even have siege equipment prepared. They had to wait until they arrived in Songgo to start making them. This made the Songgo defenders, who had been preparing for several days, feel very surprised. Did they really think they came here for a picnic?

"Captain, why don't we open the door and charge out now? The black Portuguese soldiers seem to have no experience at all. What kind of combat effectiveness can such an army have? And there are too few of them."

"I would like to deal with these Portuguese in front of me immediately, but the problem is that our superiors have issued orders that only allow us to defend and not attack."

"Then we will just wait for the Portuguese to attack, which is too passive."

"Passive? We have bunkers and fortifications now. As long as Songo Fort is not lost, we will have the initiative in the war. Are you afraid that such a small Portuguese army will cause a big upheaval?"

"Captain, our four machine guns can give the Portuguese a head-on blow and let them know that times have changed," said the machine gunner.

There were originally two machine guns at the Songo stronghold, and with the arrival of a company from the 512th Division, two more machine guns were added.

"Put away all the machine guns and don't let the Portuguese see them! What if they scare them? Don't use them unless it's absolutely necessary."

Machine guns in East Africa were popularized to lower-level troops before heavy artillery, so much so that even the companies of the 512th Division used machine guns. If these four machine guns combined their power, the small vanguard of Mozambique would not be able to sustain them.

So in order to prevent the Portuguese from being scared and not daring to increase the stakes, the Songo stronghold had already removed the machine guns from the top of the city wall before the Portuguese arrived.

"This stage is prepared for the black people in the back. If the Portuguese are scared away, there will be no battle."

Using machine guns against infantry, especially infantry without countermeasures, is almost the same as cutting leeks, so the Portuguese had to be given the illusion that the East African Army's equipment was similar to theirs.

In fact, there is still a big gap between the two. First of all, East Africa adopts a defensive counterattack strategy, so it has an advantage in geographical location. Secondly, the East African Army is equipped with Mauser and Dreiser rifles. For the Mozambique colonial army, even if East Africa does not use heavy weapons and the colonial army, it is still a dimensionality reduction attack.

After waiting for a night, the Portuguese finally began to attack the Songo stronghold. As the defenders expected, the weapons equipped by the Portuguese army were relatively backward, so they could barely match the Dreyse rifle with a 4:6 ratio and were completely suppressed by the Mauser rifle.

With the help of the Songo stronghold, the high ground and the advantage of shooting range, the Songo defenders completely suppressed the Portuguese army that attempted to charge.

Kerry: "Three companies continue to charge and move towards Songo's stronghold."

However, because of the lessons learned from the previous experience, the blacks who were driven forward, carrying ladders, lay on the ground motionless as soon as they set out. In addition, the continuous gunfire from East Africa made Kerry think that they were dead. As a result, the gunfire from East Africa weakened slightly, and these blacks lying on the ground jumped up again, which really allowed them to move forward a lot.

So much so that the East African commander ordered: "When you see an enemy lying down, don't hesitate, give him two or three more shots."

These tactics of pretending to be dead are only effective the first time, as the bodies lying on the ground afterwards may be shot again, which will make the black men of the Portuguese army try to retreat.

Kerry, holding a rifle, supervised the battle from the rear and said, "Don't stop, charge forward, anyone who retreats will die!"

As he said this, he picked up his rifle and shot directly at the black man who was trying to escape. For a stronghold like Songo, we must make a concerted effort to succeed, so we must not let the fear of war spread.

But the black soldiers did not give Kerry face. Their rhythm was disrupted and they became timid. Several exploratory attacks were ineffective and they lost nearly a hundred men.

Kerry had to order a halt to the attack. He said to Rhodes, "We need heavy firepower, or the East Africans will take the initiative to fight outside the city. Otherwise, there is no chance of breaking through Songo. Even if we can break through by chance, I am afraid that our people will be wiped out."

(End of this chapter)