At noon, the hot sunlight shines directly on the Juba River, evaporating clouds of hazy water vapor.
Standing on the bow of the ship, Captain Zhao could already see the tall Western-style church not far away.
"Captain, the Italians have discovered us."
The adjutant saw a group of Italian soldiers wearing light blue military uniforms pouring out from the west of the church and warned them.
"The Italians have a lot of troops, more than a hundred regular troops."
The Italian soldiers gradually entered the blocking position by the river bank, and their weapons and equipment and the number of troops were openly displayed in front of the garrison.
"Since the fleet set off from Kismayo, there has been no trace of the Italians. The situation must be tense. The Italians are worried about being attacked by us, so they have reduced the colonial armed forces in the inland areas to a few strongholds.
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"It is very possible that the Italians fought with us once and learned a lesson when they attacked Kismayo last time. It seems that they have gained a lot of experience now."
Officer surnamed Zhao kept his eyes focused on the Italian troops on the shore, carefully observing the opponent's defense deployment.
"You see, the Italians have built a line of defense in the area directly opposite the river bank, and all their regular troops are deployed on this line of defense."
"At least three mountain cannons and one machine gun are deployed on the front line of defense. It seems that the Italians are preparing to rely on the river bank defense line to severely damage our attacking troops, and then take advantage of our army's setback on the front line of defense to cooperate with the colonization in the east and west directions of the church.
Armed and annihilated our attacking troops on the shore."
"The Italians still treat us like those stupid African natives, thinking that we will directly attack their positions in a swarm and fall into their trap. The Italians are not very smart!"
The officer surnamed Zhao chuckled and continued, "The Italians have set up their formation, and we have to react a little bit. We order the first and second defense teams to land four hundred meters ahead and pretend to attack the Italian defense line.
Yellow Fish No. 1 and No. 3 gunboats carried the 7th Company of the Field Army across the water pass in front, chose a suitable place to land, and waited for an opportunity to attack the Italian flank defense line."
Combat orders were issued to all ships, and the guerrilla fleet of seven ships in total reorganized into formation. A small detachment with two gunboats as the main force adjusted the muzzles to bombard the wooden stack building in the center of the river bank. After two rounds of shelling, the fragile wood
The building collapsed amid the flames, and the seven or eight Italian soldiers on top of the wooden building sank to the bottom of the water.
The water obstacles were cleared, and the two gunboats carried a group of soldiers while marching forward while chasing several escaping steam merchant ships. The remaining ships, under the unified command of the officer surnamed Zhao, continued to bombard the shore defense line.
The landing force feints to provide cover...
In the Dujuma Church, the three people who had just been separated gathered together again and loudly discussed how to deal with the attack by the guerrilla fleet.
"There are only three to four hundred Easterners in the Juba River. Captain, I don't understand why you don't order the Kingdom's army to attack them directly?"
"Your Excellency, Affairs Officer, the Orientals are different from the Somali natives. Their troops have received systematic military training, and the weapons their troops are equipped with are only slightly worse than those of the Kingdom's army. You cannot compare the Orientals with those stupid black natives.
Mixed up."
"Orientals? Those yellow-skinned monkeys with greasy braids who smoke opium all day long?"
With a contemptuous smile on his lips, Salvatore said, "Captain, don't think of me as a Naples country bumpkin who has never seen the world. When it comes to understanding Eastern people, I can guarantee that there is no European on the coast of Africa better than me."
I know their nature well, they are just a bunch of numb and cowardly cowards. I once had the honor to follow Lieutenant Grant and participate in the French army's war of conquest of the Annan Kingdom. At that time, I only had 16 Europeans and 20 Malayan mercenaries.
As a result, in a siege battle, two thousand Annan troops were defeated by my men.
Captain, the last battle in Kismayo was just an accident. The Easterners just won a trivial victory by luck. You cannot doubt the strength of the kingdom's army just because of a defeat. There is no need to worry about you.
As for the Orientals, the army of the Kingdom of Italy is not weaker than the English and French."
Salvatore has a typical Italian trait, he loves propaganda and exaggeration. Once it comes to the colonial war in Africa or the attack on Annan's army that he personally participated in, his mouth will keep talking like water.
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Captain Hunter did not have the patience to listen to a gangster leader telling his glorious past. In line with the duties of an officer, he decisively rejected Salvatore's suggestion. However, in order to avoid being labeled as cowardly and cowardly, he also wanted to teach him a lesson.
An arrogant old Neapolitan gangster, Captain Hunter tacitly allowed Salvatore to lead his security police to launch a small counterattack against the Chinese attacking troops.
At about three o'clock in the afternoon, after a feint attack, Salvatore stood behind more than a hundred of his men, holding a breech-loading rifle high and shouting, "Young men, look, show your courage and let the soldiers from the country attack
Look how the brave Neapolitan boys taught the cowardly Orientals a lesson!"
"Ho ho ho..." The desperadoes in different costumes responded to their leader with high spirits.
"Forward! Boys, kill the cowardly Orientals!"
Salvatore pulled the trigger and fired a blank shot. The subordinates gathered around him got the signal and rushed forward with shouts.
The colonial troops under Salvatore attacked without any structure. When a group of people approached the guerrilla defense line, they did not cooperate with each other and charged forward in groups. However, as mercenaries fleeing overseas, the Italian colonial soldiers saved their lives.
However, his experience was very rich. When fighting close to the guerrilla defense lines, almost no one foolishly bumped into the defensive fulcrum where mountain artillery and heavy machine guns were deployed.
The chaotic attack lasted for half an hour. The guerrilla troops were worried about hurting the opponent, which led the Italians to increase their vigilance and deliberately hide their true strength. The Italian colonial soldiers who were the counterattackers regained one after paying seven or eight casualties.
The captured strongholds everywhere also stopped.
In the evening, the intensity of the battle gradually weakened. The Italian commander Captain Hunter was worried that the outflanking troops of the guerrilla fleet would sneak attack the flank of the church, so he transferred twenty regular soldiers from the shore defense line to support Salvatore's troops, while he himself stayed at the river bank defense line.
Personally command the Italian army to deal with the main force of guerrilla forces.
While waiting for a full-scale attack by the guerrilla forces, the Italian troops sent soldiers back to coastal strongholds to request reinforcements. Two days passed slowly, and the roundabout troops did not launch an attack after arriving at the scheduled location. On the third day, two transport ships arrived from earlier
A batch of food, ammunition and supplies were transported back to the hidden supply point established. Captain Zhao distributed the supplies, especially the ammunition for two 75mm artillery, to various troops. After repairing for half a day, that night, the Italian army stationed in Dujuma was attacked
Attack violently.
"Captain, the Easterners' attack was too fierce. The river bank defense line was lost. Lord Salvatore and Father Amor also retreated from the church with their people!"
In the night sky illuminated by artillery fire, an Italian soldier brought the news that Captain Hunter least wanted to hear.
"Send someone to contact Salvatore and order them to return to their positions to stop the Orientals!"
"It's too late. Mr. Salvatore left a message saying that thousands of reinforcements have arrived from the East and that staying in Dujuma will lead to death. He also advised you to evacuate immediately."
"Idiot, where did the reinforcements come from from the East? Salvatore is clearly cowardly!"
"Captain, the Easterners are dividing the defense line surrounding us. Give the order to retreat as soon as possible. It will be too late if it is later!"
"What a good thing that coward, Salvatore, has done!"
Captain Hunter threw off his hat angrily, unceremoniously blamed all the responsibility for the town's loss on Salvatore, and immediately issued a retreat order.
