In order to reduce the casualties of the local troops, the British commander learned from the lessons of the street fighting in Buenos Aires and deployed the 2,700 white soldiers who landed with the ship on the inner beachhead, while the 3,000 black soldiers mixed with the white officers.
The South African colonial troops were deployed on the flanks and periphery of the position to serve as the first line of defense against the attack of the National Defense Forces.
At 12:40 midnight, the National Defense Force launched the attack on time, and the British beachhead was suddenly filled with gunshots and cannon fire.
Before choosing to land in Tigray, the British army had prepared advance warning for the night attack on the National Defense Forces. Before nightfall, the British commander drove more than 3,000 South African colonial troops to dig a narrow trench and tunnel around the beachhead.
It was used to hinder the attack of the National Defense Force, but there was one key factor that the British army commander did not expect, that is, the South African colonial troops who were used as cannon fodder had low combat effectiveness and weak fighting will. When facing the black South African compatriots, the two Japs were puppet soldiers.
The sense of superiority brought about caused them to despise the black indigenous armed forces and dare to kill their black South African compatriots. When they encountered the tenacious fighting force and well-equipped National Defense Forces, the bloody lessons quickly broke their psychological defenses.
The artillery shells with a long tail sound fell on the outside of the British position, and the violent explosion stirred up thick dust and smoke. All the South African colonial troops within the range of the artillery explosion were either dead or wounded, and bright red blood flowed from the wounds.
Several mutilated corpses were scattered around the position. The wounded soldiers who survived were holding their wounds with their hands, wailing in pain. The black South African soldiers who were not affected by the explosion looked at the purgatory-like battlefield in fear, their dark bodies blending into the night.
As one body, only the teeth exposed in the open mouth and the white, tense eyeballs express their emotions.
The retaliation of the Wehrmacht came too quickly. The unfortunate South African colonial army replaced the British native troops and became the victim of the Wehrmacht's anger.
At 1:20, the night battle in Tigray started for half an hour. Liu Yongfu, who went to the front line to command the battle, observed signs that the outer defense line of the British army position was about to collapse, so he ordered the deployment of two battalions to strengthen the front line troops and continue to attack the British beachhead.
The troops launched an attack.
At 1:25, the company of Lu Rongting, Wang Shizhen, and Yang Guangzong received Liu Yongfu's order to increase the intensity of the attack.
The three of them discussed together for two or three minutes and quickly assigned combat tasks. Then, with the three companies of Lu Rongting, Wang Shizhen, and Yang Guangzong as the forerunners, the attacking force was divided into several offensive spearheads and concentrated their forces to attack the weak points of the British defense.
go ahead.
"Kill, kill, kill!"
Lu Rongting, who had already had several combat experiences, overcame the initial nervousness and calmly dealt with the enemies on the battlefield!
"Brother Yang, watch your back!" Lu Rongting had just finished dealing with a black soldier. He pulled out his bayonet and glanced ahead to the right. He happened to see a white officer raising his rifle and preparing to shoot in the direction of Yang Guangzong.
"Peng" gunfire rang out, and Yang Guangzong was warned in advance. His body subconsciously bent downwards, and he luckily escaped a fatal bullet.
"A sneak attack like a dog's day!" Sixteen or seventeen years old is the age of youth and vigour. Yang Guangzong of the National Defense Forces believes that sneak attacks on others are necessary strategic and tactical requirements, but when attacked by the enemy, it is a different feeling.
Reacting from the enemy's sneak attack, Yang Guangzong shouted violently, then raised his gun and pointed it at the white officer. Regardless of the other person's action of putting down the rifle and raising his hands to express surrender, he pulled the trigger with a click, and the white British officer who was attacked by the sneak attack was shot in the head.
, and his body fell to the ground.
"Brother Yang, the British troops are retreating. Gather your troops. Several of our companies will pursue the British troops together!"
The battlefield was full of dangers, and one could lose his life if he was not careful. Lu Rongting did not care that Yang Guangzong shot and killed the British officer who put down his weapon. He shouted loudly and quickly led his troops to attack.
"Brothers from the 2nd Battalion and the 5th Company, follow Company Commander Lu, and the entire company will continue to attack!"
Yang Guangzong nodded, and then shouted loudly to the soldiers scattered around...
The battle on the outer edge of the beachhead lasted for about an hour. At 1:40, the panic-stricken South African colonial soldiers withdrew from the outer defense line of the position and poured into the core area of the position.
"Da da da"
The rapidly shaking Gatling gun fired rows of bullets, but those it hit were its own servants.
"stop!Roll back to your position!"
Several British officers roared angrily but did not support the defeated army. The black soldiers running at the front fell in rows under the machine guns of their masters. The black soldiers following behind could not see the situation ahead clearly at night and continued to advance.
The core defense line of the position surged in.
Within more than ten minutes, hundreds of black soldiers fell under the guns of our own army. Their dark corpses were stacked in confusion on the battlefield. Some tunnels dug in the evening were filled with the corpses of black soldiers, becoming dead blacks.
The soldier's final resting place.
Two to three hundred black troops broke through the line of fire composed of machine guns and retreated to the inner layer of their own position. As a result, gaps appeared one after another in the tightly defended British positions.
Along the gap in the defense line where the black army collapsed, the Wehrmacht soldiers closely behind took advantage of the situation and advanced.
Rifles, machine guns, grenades, and mortars. Company-level combat troops used the weapons they carried with them to attack their opponents. Unprepared, the British local troops suddenly suffered hundreds of casualties.
The enemy and our troops were mixed together. The British warships anchored at the mouth of the river opened their muzzle protection, but they did not dare to launch artillery attacks on their own positions.
At 2:45 midnight, more than 6,000 National Defense Forces poured into the narrow beachhead position. Liu Yongfu used more than half of his combat troops on the beachhead position. At the same time, reserve troops were constantly joining the battle, and the British army
The will to resist quickly decreased without the support of its own naval guns.
At three o'clock in the morning, the British fleet commander issued a retreat order. The British soldiers, who had long lost their patience in fighting, quickly broke away from contact with the Wehrmacht and retreated to the rear of the river bank.
The comprehensive combat capability of the British local troops far exceeded that of the South African servants, and was also higher than that of the local troops of South American countries. After the retreat order was issued, the more than 3,000 British troops only panicked for a while, and soon separated under the orders of the officers of each department.
The group retreated under cover, leaving no opportunity for the National Defense Forces to exploit.
The British landing force retreated onto the ship, and the National Defense Forces achieved their operational objectives. Not only did they delay the British fleet for a period of time, but the results of the night attack exceeded Liu Yongfu and his trio's expectations.
The prisoners killed 2,300 South African servants (of whom 400 were killed by British guns), killed 206 white British soldiers, and captured 257 people.
Most of the white British killed were junior officers affiliated with the South African Colonial Army. During the night raid, because the South African Colonial Army was defeated so quickly, the white junior officers on the front line had no time to retreat and were killed by the National Defense Forces soldiers.
They were shot to death as die-hard resisters, so the number of surviving white prisoners among the South African colonial army was the smallest.
After a night of fierce fighting, 2,800 British troops were killed and captured, and 1,600 of our own suffered casualties. Taking into account factors such as the disadvantages of offensive operations and the comprehensive combat effectiveness of the British local forces, Liu Yongfu, He Yanliang, and Shen Fushan thought of themselves and the British troops. It was no small achievement to achieve such a result in the first battle. When the sky gradually brightened, the three of them completed the statistics of various battle data collected, and then ordered the communications staff to report the battle results to Buenos Airi. On the Sri Lankan side, they then arranged for the troops to return to the original defense line. On the one hand, they monitored the movements of the British fleet, and on the other hand, they patiently waited for the next operational instructions from the frontline headquarters.