The desolate Alem Village has become even more desolate due to the lack of people. The crops are left unattended and half-dead and half-shattered with their heads lowered. This is all the result of no one watering it yet.
Suddenly a team came to this small village, a team of Italian troops. They vigilantly observed each house in the village and carefully inspected it inside and out.
At the same time, the outside of the village was not spared. They checked the ravines, streams, small valleys and other places. After seeing no one, they climbed up the mountain and waved the flags in their hands vigorously.
"There is no danger in this basin, let's go."
Pascal, who was waiting outside, put down the telescope in his hand and opened his mouth to give orders.
And following his order, the team set off again.
The previous attack by the cattle in the valley made Pascal more cautious, which also led to his failure to arrive here last night. However, he did not take it to heart because the plan was not static and every commander needed to use it flexibly.
But when the team started moving again, the two soldiers started chatting. "Dole, why are there no Abyssinian cavalry today? These guys are inseparable from us."
"Boer, shut up, do you like to see them passing in front of you waving their sabers?"
The two soldiers did not know that on the mountain further away, in front of a camouflaged dead tree, dozens of Abyssinian soldiers were hiding here, observing the Italian army in the distance. One of the leaders was
In the officer's hand, a telescope that was rare among his troops was placed in front of his eye socket to observe every move of the Italian army in the distance.
When most of the troops arrived and entered the valley, he immediately gave orders to the soldiers around him. "Send a message immediately, the enemy has entered."
Following his order, the soldiers quickly pushed down the dead tree. As the tree fell to the ground, strange things happened. On other hills, trees fell to the ground one after another.
That’s right, things like message trees are universal.
Such a situation was not observed by the marching Italian army.
The Italian army that entered the basin with great swagger would soon know the consequences of not observing carefully.
"Dong dong dong~"
The earth was shaking slightly, and the Italian troops in the basin felt it.
"What's going on?"
"Why is the ground shaking?"
While the other soldiers were still confused, an experienced veteran's face changed drastically. "No, there is a large group of cavalry coming. The number may exceed 10,000."
In fact, there is some discrepancy in the veteran's estimate, because there are more than 10,000, and 20,000 Abyssinian cavalry are rushing towards this direction in an overwhelming force.
The officers and soldiers of the two battalions in charge of security on the mountain were staring dumbfoundedly at the sudden appearance of the enemy. They could not figure out where the enemy suddenly appeared from.
In fact, these cavalry were hiding in a nearby mountain col. The low terrain here just blocked the visits of people on the mountain. This was the location chosen by Johannes IV after repeated experiments.
Because this battle was related to his success or failure, there was no room for failure, so he needed to use all his strength from the beginning. To this end, he mobilized all the cavalry and organized this assault with the cavalry taking the lead.
In addition to the cavalry, larger infantrymen emerged from all around. These infantrymen armed with various weapons rushed towards the basin from all directions.
"Enemy attack!"
The sentry's roar sent the news of the enemy's attack. In fact, the army already knew it without him saying anything. Such a massive attack could be felt by anyone who was not dead.
As the commander of the force, Major General Pascal responded immediately.
"Gather the machine gun carriages to the front and prioritize the enemy's cavalry. The mountain brigade immediately prepares to go up the mountain to block the enemy's incoming infantry. The artillery unit immediately goes to the rear. The fourth regiment quickly builds a position to prepare for the impact of the enemy's cavalry. Also, immediately
Let the rear guard send someone to inform General Simeone that our army is besieged by the enemy's main force and request support."
After issuing a series of orders, Major General Pascal finally calmed down. He was not afraid of large-scale enemy attacks. On the contrary, small-scale harassment was a headache, because such small-scale attacks were very troublesome.
The attack not only caused the troops to stop and go and wasted time, but also kept the soldiers on high alert, which would increase the psychological pressure on the soldiers.
Now, even though they are being raided, they can still use their own firepower advantage. So who has the upper hand needs to look at the performance on the battlefield.
Following Major General Pascal's order, the machine gun carriage disguised as food and grass removed its shield, revealing the cold murder weapon. The soldier operating it hid behind a shield made of steel plates, with only his head exposed.
These machine gun carriages immediately gathered forward, and the firepower network composed of more than forty Maxim machine guns was bound to impress the enemy.
They were not asked to wait any longer. Just as they were setting up their positions, the Abyssinian cavalry appeared in front of them.
Although the two battalions on the mountain fired desperately at it, it was not that easy to defeat the fast-moving enemy, let alone that they were so far away. Except for more than twenty unlucky men, no one else was lost.
When these Abyssinian cavalry saw the Italian army appearing in front of them, they shouted and planned to attack with the most lethal cavalry.
From here we can see the advanced nature of Simeone's use of carriages to mount machine guns. If it weren't for these machine guns mounted on carriages and those machine guns that used wheels to maneuver, a disaster would have been just around the corner.
"Fire!"
The commander responsible for directing the battle immediately gave the order to fire after seeing the enemy cavalry approaching.
"Da da da da~"
Following the commander's order, the Maxim machine guns deployed in a semicircle burst out with unparalleled power. More than forty tongues of fire made the incoming cavalry know what hell is on earth.
Countless tongues of fire engulfed these brave Abyssinian cavalry, and they were mopped down in pieces by the ferocious firepower.
In front of the cold killing machine, the group charge of the Abyssinian cavalry was completely defeated.
Facing his own cavalry being suppressed by the enemy's powerful firepower, the Abyssinian cavalry commander leading the team shouted with red eyes. "Charge, keep charging, don't stop, you mustn't stop!"
In fact, he doesn’t need to say it. Every cavalryman knows that as long as the speed of a large-scale charge increases, no one dares to slow down. Because the enemy’s bullets may not necessarily kill you, but as long as you slow down, the people charging behind you will
Comrade-in-arms, I will definitely kill you without leaving any body intact. With thousands of horses galloping, everyone must ensure this speed.
From a certain perspective, it is no wonder that the Abyssinians were able to dominate East Africa with more than 20,000 well-trained cavalry.
It's just that today was a disaster for this cavalry. The warriors who came one after another had no chance to rush in front of the enemy. They fell on the charging road one after another.
However, their sacrifices were not without effect.
In front of a machine gun with empty ammunition emitting white steam, the main shooter shouted to the assistant shooter next to him, "Quick, change the ammunition."
The deputy shooter quickly removed the empty ammunition box and threw it aside. Next to it was an empty ammunition box on the ground. Then he quickly picked up an iron box full of ammunition and loaded it up. The main shooter picked up the canvas bullets.
The chain was put on with a snap.
Then machine gunfire rang out again.
On the battlefield, such situations can be seen everywhere. After all, Maxim is a big consumer of bullets. The 150-round bullet chain he used can only last for twenty seconds. And fortunately, the Maxim machine gun is water-cooled. If it were air-cooled,
Machine guns, faced with such a situation, were simply unable to withstand the oncoming cavalry assault.
But even so, there were still calls from the battlefield.
"Quick, I don't have much ammunition here, I need ammunition supplies."
"Where's the cooling water? Get it quickly."
Even busier than the main and auxiliary shooters are the logistics troops, who need to meet all their requirements.
Now these more than forty machine guns are what the Italians rely on. If the Abyssinian cavalry wants to rush into the Italian army and cause killing, they need to get past the machine gun position.
It's like going to the bull's head, it depends on who can't hold on first. Whether the Abyssinians will use their lives to build a way and fight to the front of the position, or whether the Italian machine guns will defeat the enemy, it depends on both sides.
Performance.
As the fighting became more and more intense, the casualties of the Abyssinians skyrocketed, and the Italian machine guns on the position were not unscathed.
There was a "click!" sound, and a machine gun misfired due to damage to its parts due to excessive use.
This made the main and secondary shooters jump in panic. They tried several times against the hot machine gun, but the machine gun just stopped responding.
"what to do?"
"Quick fix."
However, if you want to repair weapons on the battlefield, you need a big heart. Facing the overwhelming cavalry in front of them, the two of them fiddled with it for a long time to no avail to get it back to work.
This is not a special case. As time goes by, problems arise one after another with machine guns that keep firing.
Ultimately, this is because the early Maxim machine guns were not stable enough, but this problem is really fatal for current Italian officers and soldiers.
However, compared with the Italian officers and soldiers, the Abyssinian cavalry was even more miserable. The constant charging caused them to fall in pieces in front of the position, and the corpses of their men and horses became new roadblocks, making it impossible for the cavalry behind them to charge up.
Such tragic scenes also greatly damaged their morale, and their indomitable momentum was also weakened. Many cavalry were already very hesitant when charging.
"Boom boom boom!"
At this time, the Italian artillery was finally set up, and this became the last straw. The Abyssinian cavalry could no longer maintain their morale, and they retreated to the rear.
When the commander of his team saw such a scene, he had no choice but to order, "Retreat."
In this short-lived battle between cavalry and machine guns, the Abyssinians understood with their own flesh and blood that the cavalry could not charge against the machine gun positions.
However, the price of this truth is too staggering. In order to understand this truth, the Abyssinian cavalry lost nearly 6,000 people.
After seeing the machine gun repulse the enemy cavalry, the commander, Major General Pascal, did not have time to rejoice and immediately ordered. "Move the machine gun that can still be used up the mountain immediately. The enemy over there is coming soon."
