In the battle of Shah'al, the 15th Infantry Division defeated two divisions of the French colonial army stationed in Shah'al with a strength of 14,000. Among them, the 15th Division killed and wounded 13,000 people in total, and seized various firearms.
More than 5,000 pieces, 27 artillery pieces, and 27 tons of various ammunition.
For this victory, the officers and soldiers of the 15th Infantry Division also suffered more than 600 casualties. After weighing the quality of the French army in the Tunisian colony, they left a regiment to clean the battlefield and guard the prisoners, and immediately marched non-stop towards Sfax.
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The actions of the 15th Division caused the defeated Shaal army to collapse. They were originally preparing to retreat to Sfax, but under the constant pursuit of the 15th Division, the retreating colonial army collapsed. These defeated colonial armies either
The leading troops of the pursued 15th Division captured prisoners and either took advantage of the opportunity to flee. By the time they retreated to Sfax, there were only more than a thousand people left. This was because there were too many French officers, so some people were unable to fight.
To find a way to escape.
This gave Colonel Brogg, as the commander of the Sfax garrison and commander of the Tunisian First Division, a huge headache.
Now he has more than 8,000 people in his hands, and the defeated Shah'al defenders only have more than 9,000 soldiers. Moreover, these defeated troops have almost lost all their weapons.
In addition, after listening to the battle report from the Shaal garrison, I had doubts about how long I could hold Sfax.
However, despite his doubts, Sfax must defend himself, otherwise the military court would never spare him.
However, although the place needs to be defended, how to defend it is a problem.
Because Sfax is the second largest city in Tunisia, it currently has a population of 40,000 people and an urban area of 4.3 square kilometers. In addition, it is also the main olive producing area in Tunisia. It has tens of thousands of the world's largest olive trees and is also the largest olive tree in Tunisia.
The center of the oil industry. There are various handicraft workshops in the city, and the smell of olive oil is in the air.
The 9,000 men in Colonel Brogg's hands can barely defend it, but it will make the retreat difficult.
However, Colonel Brogg was still capable. After some consideration, he decided to abandon the peripheral defense, gather his troops inside the city, and send another regiment to defend in the north outside the city to retain his own retreat.
As for the local residents in Sfax City, after seeing that this place was about to become a battlefield, they quickly fled this land of right and wrong with their families. They did not dare to come back until the battle was over.
The next day, after most of the 15th Infantry Division arrived, Division Commander Kasapa smiled after seeing the enemy's defensive deployment. This was a hit-and-run formation, and he knew what to do.
"Order the artillery to fire at the enemy's troops outside the city with all their strength, and hit three bases first. In addition, order the Second Regiment to deploy two battalions to prepare for the attack on the enemy's troops in the northern suburbs."
Under Casapa's order, 72 75 and 105 mm artillery pieces (36 75 and 36 105) from the 15th Division Artillery Reinforcement Regiment opened fire on the French positions on the northern outskirts of Sfax.
The civil fortifications could not withstand the blows of 105mm artillery shells, and the number of 72 artillery pieces made the officers and soldiers of the Tunisian Division in the northern suburbs of the city complain. In front of them, thousands of Italian officers and soldiers were making preparations for the attack.
Looking at the enemy positions covered by artillery fire, Kasapa looked at the bombed enemy positions with satisfaction. Now that he had taken action, it was up to him to see if the army commander could defend his retreat.
At the northern suburbs position, facing the eagerly watching Italian army, and thinking of the performance in Shah'al since yesterday, the garrison commander immediately sent a message for help.
As the commander of Sfax, Brog discovered the choice given to him by the Italians at the beginning of the bombardment. Should he save the first regiment that was guaranteed to retreat outside the city?
How to save?
In fact, the best way is to counterattack with artillery and engage in an artillery battle. However, this method is useless against the Tunisian First Infantry Division, because this division only has one artillery battalion, and the 18 artillery pieces it is equipped with are simply impossible to match.
An enemy artillery battle is completely suicidal. Although the artillery battalion is composed of elite local officers and soldiers, there are too few artillery, and it can only be used at key points.
Looking at the airship suspended in the sky, Blog did not even dare to bring up the idea of an artillery battle.
So now there is only one way, and that is to increase troops so that the position can maintain sufficient telegraph strength. Then he ordered to deploy a battalion from the 3rd Regiment and the 4th Regiment to form reinforcements, and immediately reinforce the 1st Regiment in the northern suburbs.
One more thing to say here is that the French colonial troops were also organized into one division, two brigades, four regiments and twelve battalions, but the number was much smaller.
Every move of the defenders was clearly observed by the airship in the sky. It only took three minutes before the reinforcements set off before Kasapa knew about it.
"I want to take the city today."
After finding out the temperament and weaknesses of his opponent, Major General Casapa boldly stated that he would win Sfax today, quite like an old man talking about being a teenager.
However, even though he dares to make such remarks, he must have some ability. If it is said that for excellent commanders, Kasapa is definitely afraid of doing any tricks, but this person's level is a bit reluctant for him as a division commander.
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At this time, I saw him giving an order. "Order all the 105mm artillery in the artillery regiment to be ready, wait until the enemy reinforcements arrive in the northern suburbs, and then fire at Sfax. After the artillery ceasefire, the first regiment will be responsible for launching the main attack from the south, and the second regiment will be responsible for launching the main attack from the south."
The regiment is to contain the enemy from the west, and our army in the northern suburbs also needs to launch a containment attack. All units must move fiercely and do not give the enemy time to react."
Major General Kasapa's order was quickly conveyed to all departments, and just after the enemy reinforcements arrived in the northern suburbs, suddenly all the 105mm artillery of the artillery regiment fired rapidly in the direction reported by the airship.
Then a burst of dense explosions came from all over the city, and the shells seemed to have eyes, exploding specifically at the places where the French troops were stationed. Considering the helpless airships above their heads, the morale of these French troops was further reduced.
"All attacks!"
Under the orders of Captain Bogado, the officers and soldiers of the main attacking regiment roared and attacked the city of Sfax.
At the same time, the Second Regiment also launched an attack from the west, and in the northern suburbs, two battalions of Italian troops were also eager to try.
For a time, the 15th Division launched an attack across the entire line of Sfax.
Facing the attack of the Italian army, Brogg, as the commander of the garrison, was a little confused. There was only a little more than one regiment in the city. At this time, it became a problem for him whether he should bring back the reinforcements. But in the end, he was concerned about the future.
With the road in danger, he could only choose not to bring back the reinforcements.
Blogg's Difficulty: As your opponent, the officers and soldiers of the 15th Division do not understand the opponent. At this time, the officers and soldiers of the 15th Division are storming the opponent's position.
"Enemy reinforcements are coming from the right, and machine guns are suppressing them. Take out smoke grenades and shoot down the smoke."
Following the officer's order, the company's two machine guns immediately opened fire, and their intensive firepower suppressed the Tunisian soldiers on the right who could not raise their heads.
Then several smoke bombs were thrown into the street, and the smoke filled the street. Then the smoke spread and the whole street was filled with smoke, making it impossible to see people ten meters away. This made the Tunisian soldiers hiding behind the sandbags panic.
The face is blank.
The French officer leading the team was dumbfounded when he saw this scene. There are also smoke grenades?
This is all the work of a certain time-traveler. The Italian Army successfully developed smoke grenades, a weapon for urban warfare, in 1909, but due to confidentiality reasons, it did not equip its troops on a large scale until the start of the war.
Although the garrison officer didn't understand why there were still smoking grenades, he knew that his position was dangerous.
"Fire, fire immediately."
Under the officer's order, the soldiers on the garrison position could only fire randomly into the smoke. However, no matter how they fired, the smoke continued to expand and was approaching them step by step.
Just as the French officer was thinking about what to do next, a whistle suddenly sounded, and a bunch of grenades flew towards the position in the smoke.
"No, be careful with grenades."
As soon as he finished speaking, a dense explosion sounded from the position. In an instant, a large piece of the position fell, which made the remaining soldiers die. At this time, a large number of enemies suddenly rushed out of the smoke, holding rifles with bayonets.
They rushed into the position. A killing spree was inevitable.
Battles like this can be seen everywhere in Sfax. Smoke grenades, grenades, machine guns, and mortars have become the weapons of Italian soldiers in street fighting. This also caused the French army to retreat steadily in the city of Sfax, allowing the commander to deploy
Colonel Logue was helpless and finally waited until the sun set. Taking advantage of the darkness, he led the defenders to escape towards Luctai.
Although he failed to annihilate the Tunisian First Division, he captured Sfax in just one day, which made Major General Kasapa very energetic. He led the 15th Division to defeat three enemy divisions in a row. Although they were all colonial divisions, they were all defeated.
It took one day to conquer it, enough for him and the officers and soldiers of the 15th Division to show up.
"Send a telegram to the group army commander and tell them that our division has captured Sfax ahead of schedule."
With this telegram, the pace of the Tunisian campaign accelerated.
