Chapter 741 Killing Machine "Maxim"
Except for the students of the Hechingen Military Academy who participated in the Franco-Prussian War, East Africa's past opponents had basically never encountered the line-up and kill tactics.
The Portuguese do have this ability, but in the last Portuguese-Eastern War, Portugal wished it could use two soldiers for one, as the colonial forces were too few, and the black vassal army did not have this ability.
Not every army can use the line-up and kill tactic. First of all, the army must have strong coordination, and secondly, it must have extraordinary courage.
However, these two features were not possessed by the black vassal army hastily organized by Portugal. On the contrary, when East Africa was fighting with the Ndebele Kingdom, the Ndebele people had used a "semi-finished" line-up and kill tactic.
Although the Ndebele people have become history, it is undeniable that their organizational ability was still relatively strong. It is a pity that the Ndebele people had only been exposed to muskets for too short a time, otherwise they should have been able to reproduce the tactic of lining up and killing.
…
Faced with this "novel" tactic that the East African Defense Force had basically never seen before, some soldiers of the 9th Brigade were indeed a little confused, especially the new recruits who were immigrants from the Far East Empire, who found it very difficult to understand.
"Why are these 'British' lined up so neatly? Are they ready to die?"
"Stupid, those are not British, but Indians from the British colonies. Look at their black skin, which is only slightly whiter than the East African blacks. Those white-skinned commanders are British."
"As for why they lined up in neat rows, that's because you haven't seen much. This tactic is actually very common in Europe. If you had participated in foreign wars in the Far East Empire, you might have had the opportunity to see the British and French use this tactic. But that was decades ago, and you definitely haven't experienced it at your age."
The last time Britain and France jointly invaded the Far Eastern Empire was in 1856. At that time, even East Africa did not exist, and it was more than 30 years ago. Therefore, except for a few early immigrants to East Africa, later immigrants to East Africa have never seen it.
"If that's the case, why didn't the Wehrmacht use this tactic? Isn't this a mainstream tactic in Europe?"
"The Wehrmacht used it before, but it was not called the Wehrmacht at that time, but the colonial army. We also have a colonial history. After the establishment of the kingdom, coupled with the upgrade of firearms, this tactic was eliminated. As for the British, they have never been good at the army. Countries like Germany and France may have eliminated the line tactics. However, we generally call this tactic the line-up and kill tactic, so it is no problem for you to say that this tactic is suicide."
The official name of the line-up and killing tactics is "line infantry tactics", but even the Germans like to call it the line-up and killing tactics, because in the eyes of traditional German civilians, war is a way to die.
If Prussia had not carried out army reforms, it would probably still be the army with the most deserters in Europe and would have found it difficult to achieve the great achievement of unifying the Lesser German region.
The desertion rate of the Prussian army before the military reform also shows the fear of war that the line-up and shooting tactics had on Prussian civilians. After all, using this tactic, either the enemy would fall or you would fall. It was more like "exchanging pieces". Whoever exchanged all their pieces first would lose the war. Those officers did not take human lives seriously, but ordinary soldiers were very careful about their lives.
Therefore, the line-up and shoot-to-kill tactic is the biggest test of the "human heart" of the lower-level soldiers. Many soldiers were forcibly conscripted into the army, so they are naturally more likely to be defeated at one blow.
The Indian soldiers in front of me seem to be doing quite well, but I don’t know how much of the British lobster soldiers’ skills they have learned. You know, “lobster soldiers” is just a mocking term, and the British army’s courage in facing the battle is commendable, otherwise Britain would not have been able to conquer such a large territory.
At this time, Indian soldiers were actually even stranger than East Africans. In their eyes, Britain’s enemies were also "Europeans", but why were they so different from the British?
Some East African soldiers did not understand, but there were veterans and knowledgeable soldiers to answer their questions. However, Indian soldiers did not have such an opportunity. After all, it was impossible for them to ask white officers! Not only would they not get an answer, but they would also be beaten. They just had to obey the orders of the white men.
Just like now, this line-up and shooting tactic is what the British masters asked them to do, line up in neat rows, and then shoot at the enemy. This tactic has been trained in India for a long time, so the Indian troops performed very well.
Rossiter was very satisfied with the performance of the Indian soldiers and said: "It seems that we have wronged the Indians before. The Tugela River has indeed hindered the army's attack. It is still more suitable for us to fight on land."
"Yes, Commander. When we were in India, we trained these Indians very strictly, in full accordance with our military standards. The incident at the Tugela River was just an accident."
On the Tugela River line, because of the existence of the Tugela River, the tactic of lining up and killing naturally could not be implemented. After all, it was impossible to "line up" in the water. However, when they came to land, the British army could finally use their ancestral secret recipe.
"Attack!" Rost ordered with increased confidence.
The strength of the East Africans has been figured out. No matter whether it is a brigade or not, even with the reinforcements, it is impossible for it to be more than their own troops. After all, this time the British army, the Portuguese army and the Transvaal people are attacking from multiple fronts. The East Africans will definitely not be able to transfer too many troops to support the East African army in front of them.
Even if East Africa had surplus troops, it would be too late. Rossiter knew this after the British army crossed the river. After all, even if East Africa had surplus troops, it would not easily give up the advantageous terrain of the Tugela River.
To the sound of the majestic music of the military band, the Indian troops marched in strong and powerful steps and began to attack the "simple" positions in East Africa.
At this time, the East African machine gunners were already prepared.
Because the British army was "late", the 9th East African Brigade was able to successfully assemble, so the number of machine guns was also fully replenished. The 9th Brigade had a total of 63 machine guns.
The British army's late arrival was a "habitual" mistake made by East Africa. East Africa's estimated British marching speed was calculated according to East Africa's marching speed, which led to the 9th Brigade estimating that the British army would arrive "four hours" earlier.
In fact, the British army has not yet completed its assembly. For example, the heavy artillery unit is far away on the other side of the Tugela River. Those big guys are not easy to move, especially the temporary pontoon bridge on the Tugela River cannot bear it at all.
Therefore, the British Army only carried light artillery, and the number was not large. At this time, the British firepower was actually far inferior to that of East Africa.
The light artillery of East Africa had long been hiding on the so-called "high ground". At the same time, Aristotle gathered all the machine guns of the brigade and prepared to verify the power of the machine guns.
"Fire!" Aristotle ordered.
East African machine gunners began firing at the British Indian troops' array in a line.
Bullets flew towards the British army like rain, and soon a large amount of white water vapor was evaporating from the exhaust port in front of the Maxim machine gun. This was the water-cooling structure cooling the gun body.
The Indians on the opposite side fell down in large numbers like corn stalks under a harvester. Panic quickly spread among the Indians, but the East African machine guns were like "devils", constantly reaping their lives.
In the past, the Maxim machine gun was used for the first time in large-scale combat by the British in 1893 against the Ndebele people. The British killed more than 1,500 natives at the cost of only four deaths, and the British army had only five Maxim machine guns at the time.
The British who are now fighting the East Africans are also equipped with machine guns, but they are Gatling guns. Even according to the original history, the British did not equip the first batch of Maxim machine guns until October 1888.
Therefore, this time the British Army has actually fallen behind East Africa in machine gun weapons, and this is the situation of the British Army. A vassal army like the Indians probably isn't even equipped with the "temporarily backward" Gatling machine guns.
(End of this chapter)
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