An artillery shell fell behind the position and made a deafening explosion. At the same time, the explosion was accompanied by flying soil and pieces of wood. These debris were raised high by the explosion shock wave, and finally fell everywhere.
Many of them fell on the heads of the Ottoman officers and soldiers who were hiding from the shelling in the trenches.
Scenes like this can be seen everywhere on the Walla position. The artillery unit from the 8th Division is constantly shelling the position with artillery.
They continued to hit the defenders' positions with artillery shells one after another, putting heavy pressure on the 1st Brigade of the 16th Division defending the area.
Of course, the defensive Ottoman army was not a vegetarian. The constant counterattacks from its artillery positions also prevented the Eighth Division's artillery from bombarding the defenders' positions with all their strength.
It seemed that the two sides were evenly matched, with back and forth, but Colonel Abuliz had different opinions on this.
On a position in Wola, Colonel Abriz, the commander of the position, had just used a high-power telescope to observe the opponent's situation. The situation seemed to be favorable to him, but in fact it was very bad, because
He discovered from the number and rate of fire of his opponents' artillery that their opponents were basically light artillery.
"Order the artillery troops to pay attention to possible artillery suppression by the opponent."
As soon as Abulizi gave the order to the messenger, he immediately heard the screams of different artillery shells. "No, the enemy's large-caliber artillery is still a howitzer."
As a qualified commander, he immediately judged the type of shell from the sound.
Before he could finish speaking, he immediately felt an explosion behind the position, and judged from the position that it was one of his own artillery positions. "Immediately order the artillery to move."
Although this sentence came late, Abulizi still wanted to say that he hoped it would have some effect.
After the defender's artillery position was suppressed by the opponent's artillery, the position became even more chaotic. A large number of Ottoman officers and soldiers were busy loading artillery onto carriages and leaving.
However, some people were afraid of the shelling from Italy and chose to give up their beloved artillery and choose to protect themselves.
"Go back, everyone go back and bring out the artillery."
On one side of the position, the artillery commander was holding a pistol and leading his men to stop his men's embarrassing behavior and ordered them to go back and push out the artillery.
Facing the majesty of the artillery commander? Also considering the power of the weapons in his hands? Those who failed to resist the fear in their hearts could only be driven back again.
Facts have proved that the artillery commander's judgment is correct. Because the current artillery guns are all retracted, so they need to be reset after firing a shell, so the current artillery firing speed is very slow. As a large-caliber heavy artillery, its firing speed is even slower.
Currently working on
The 105 and 150mm howitzers that fired at the Ottoman artillery position? Can only achieve a firing rate of 1-2 rounds per minute? In addition, the number of these artillery is not large, only more than 20, so the losses suffered by the artillery position are acceptable
.
So through the efforts of the Ottoman artillery, 5 of the 9 artillery pieces in this position were rescued, and the loss was not too great.
However, after knowing that the caliber and range of the opponent's artillery are higher than their own, the artillerymen have to be more careful. Not every time they are caught, they are so lucky.
Of course, this also resulted in the defenders' artillery not being able to support the position at any time. After all, the enemy's heavy artillery was watching, which is understandable.
Talking about this? Someone may ask, then the Ottoman defenders did not have large-caliber heavy artillery?
Can I say it responsibly here? There is really no Wola position here, not even in Tirana. Because although the heavy artillery has a strong range and power, its shortcomings of being inconvenient to move are not suitable for those who are not currently planning to defend the position.
For the 1st Brigade of the 16th Division? It will be a huge trouble.
Will this cause the officers and soldiers of the 1st Brigade to take away these heavy artillery when they retreat? Can't the expensive heavy artillery be taken away? Then it will become a disposable consumable. What family can be so prodigal? Even the British Empire's army with strong financial resources cannot
To be so arrogant.
Therefore, when the quantity and quality of artillery are inferior to those of the opponent, it is impossible to fight head-on with the enemy. The 1st Brigade has little resources and cannot be used in this way, so the artillery harassment tactic is a very suitable choice.
The following battle also reflected this, but it also gave Italian artillery the advantage on the battlefield.
After the artillery has the advantage, the infantry naturally goes into battle, which is also the consistent practice of all countries. In current European battles, the artillery battle basically starts at the beginning, and after the battle is over, the dominant side launches an infantry attack.
Until there is a lack of new weapons that change tactics, the Italian army is no exception. So a regiment of infantry launched an attack on the enemy's position under the cover of artillery.
Facing the offensive launched by the Italian army, the Ottoman army, which was on the defensive side, certainly would not let the enemy succeed like this. So a large number of officers and soldiers rushed to the position. Under the leadership of their officers, they had rifles in their hands to shoot at the incoming Italian army.
.
"Crack!"
An Ottoman soldier held up his rifle in the trench, aimed at an Italian soldier and pulled the trigger.
After only a second or two, the Italian soldier was still rushing towards the position. Knowing that he had not been hit, the soldier immediately loaded the bullet and aimed at the opponent again.
"Pa!" Another shot, this time with a result, the soldier's hat was blown away, causing him to immediately lie on the ground in fear. Faced with such a result, the Ottoman soldier shook his head and planned to choose a new target.
.But at this moment, a bullet passed through his head. With an expression of surprise and a hint of unwillingness, the Ottoman soldier fell in the trench.
Of course, his encounter was not the only one. This time, the M88 Carcano rifle in the hands of Italian soldiers showed amazing performance.
Its good accuracy at 300-600 meters caused heavy casualties to the Ottoman army, which still adopted Preven tactics. When a large number of Ottoman soldiers used single-shot rifles for long-distance shooting, they were attacked by the more excellent M88 Kalka.
Although the Ottoman army was on the defensive side, the Italian army relied on the superiority of their weapons to faintly suppress the firepower of the defenders' positions.
One more thing needs to be said here. In the Pleven Defense War, which made the current Ottoman Minister of War, Field Marshal Osman Nouri Pasha, famous, the Ottoman army used a long-distance single-shot rifle shooting method and a close-range shooting method of repeating rifles.
The Russian Allied Forces got rid of the trouble in Pleven. With the strength of one army, they blocked the enemy's 300,000-strong army for five months.
However, this was a tactic more than ten years ago. At that time, repeating rifles equipped with magazines were indeed inferior to single-shot rifles in terms of accuracy. However, times are progressing, and the Ottoman army still uses old-fashioned tactics, so it will naturally face hardships. What's more,
, this is Vola, not Pleven Fortress.
Therefore, under the fierce offensive of the Italian army, Colonel Abriz, who saw signs of instability in his position, could only let the artillery fire in an attempt to suppress the arrogance of the attacking troops.
Therefore, under the bombardment of Ottoman artillery, the attacking Italian officers and soldiers had no choice but to retreat first. In the open space, they encountered enemy shelling. No one could bear the casualties, so retreating was the best choice.
Of course, the Italian soldiers retreated, but this does not mean that the Italian army had nothing to do with them. The counterattack from the artillery caused considerable losses to the defenders' artillery.
When the final inventory was taken, Colonel Abuliz had a constipated expression on his face because the loss was too great, especially for his own artillery.
"This battle cannot continue like this. Immediately send someone to report to Major General Hashem in Tirana that we need reinforcements."
