Chapter 232 Lien Zhan Lian Ji
The defensive positions built by Portugal can block some artillery bombardments, but this kind of defensive positions did not consider the threat from above at all.
This also resulted in the Portuguese army being bombarded from above. Not only were the vast majority of the Portuguese soldiers unprepared, but the defensive positions that had previously provided them with a large amount of protection did not play any role.
Although the number of artillery shells in this bombing was much smaller than before, the artillery shells carried by the bombers were all large-caliber bombs that were ready to explode when they hit the ground. They were filled with a large number of broken iron and steel balls, as well as glass slag and other sharp objects. The purpose is to cause as much damage as possible.
As luck would have it, one of the bombs happened to fall next to Kafe Filho, the commander of the Portuguese Timor garrison. The violent explosion directly swept away Kafe Filho, his adjutant and the messenger. .
After dropping all the bombs, the bomber immediately returned without looking back, leaving only the buzz of the Portuguese in the sky.
Of course, it would be impossible to kill all the Portuguese and indigenous soldiers with more than a hundred bombs.
The accuracy of throwing down from a high altitude is not high. It is considered good if half of a hundred bombs fall next to Portuguese soldiers.
But despite this, the fear brought by such a large number of shells falling from the sky cannot be easily alleviated.
Especially those who witnessed the cannonball getting bigger and bigger before their eyes, and finally exploded next to them. Even if they were lucky enough to survive, they were already frightened to death.
This is true for the Portuguese, not to mention the inherently loose indigenous army.
The indigenous army suffered even more heavy casualties in this bombing. Some of the terrified indigenous people could no longer suppress their inner fear and ran away from the position in a crawling manner.
Under normal circumstances, as soon as these natives crawled out of their positions, they would be greeted by bullets and scoldings from the supervising team.
But now, the garrison commander Kafe Filho, his adjutant, and the messenger were all killed in the bombing. The Portuguese soldiers who were supervising the battle team were also immersed in the fear of the bombing that just fell from the sky. They did not find the indigenous army at first. Collapse.
By the time the soldiers in the supervising team reacted, many indigenous soldiers had already left their positions and were running wildly into the jungle.
"Damn it, stop those yellow-skinned monkeys!" Some Portuguese soldiers reacted quickly and shouted anxiously.
As a member of the Supervisory Team, it is their task to supervise all indigenous soldiers. If these natives are allowed to successfully disperse, they will be severely held accountable regardless of whether the war is won or not.
Seeing that scolding had no effect, several soldiers supervising the team quickly took out their rifles and opened fire at the indigenous soldiers who were running farther and farther away.
Although a few scattered gunshots did knock down a few natives, after more natives heard the gunshots, they fled even faster. Even if they accidentally fell down, they still groped forward while rolling and crawling.
The Portuguese soldiers were a little angry, but the natives who fled at the beginning had already gone hundreds of meters away, and it was not easy to chase them back.
Helpless, the team could only focus on the remaining indigenous soldiers in the position, carefully prevent other indigenous soldiers from escaping, and immediately report to the garrison commander Kafe Filho.
However, these soldiers supervising the battle team could not have imagined that the garrison commander they were loyal to had been dead in the previous bombing, which also determined that their report was destined to fall into the sea.
On the other side, after the bombing, General Silvio Lonnie Rodlin naturally would not let go of this good opportunity.
After three consecutive rounds of bombing, the Portuguese military morale had collapsed, and the indigenous troops had even begun to flee.
This is the best opportunity for the first division to attack. If it goes well, it can even capture the enemy's position in one go.
Of course, in order to implement the requirement of minimum casualties, General Silvio Ronny Rodlin deliberately ordered the artillery to conduct another round of fire bombardment on the enemy's position before the infantry launched the charge.
This bombing, like the first, was large-scale and high-frequency.
This was to prevent the Portuguese from counterattacking the soldiers of the First Division and causing unnecessary casualties.
This is the current logistical advantage of Australasia. Facing a Portuguese army of only 1,000 men and an indigenous army of 2,000 men, the First Division had expended hundreds of artillery shells and even dispatched bombers for this purpose.
Of course, the effect of doing so is also very obvious. The First Division has not yet suffered any casualties, but the Portuguese have suffered heavy casualties, and most of the survivors have lost their fighting spirit.
Under the cover of artillery fire, the soldiers of the First Division quickly approached the Portuguese position.
At this time, there were not many Portuguese soldiers who still had fighting spirit, and they were all suppressed by artillery fire and could not even raise their heads.
After the soldiers of the First Division were only more than a hundred meters away from the Portuguese battlefield, the artillery coverage quietly moved to the rear of the position to avoid harming the soldiers of the First Division.
At this time, the surviving Portuguese soldiers, because their commander had been killed and frightened by previous bombings and air raids, had been hiding in the cement facilities and did not dare to come out. Naturally, they could not attack the slowly approaching Australian soldiers. The Lascian soldiers form any counterattack.
At around 11 o'clock at noon, the soldiers of the First Division successfully occupied the Portuguese position and captured more than 300 Portuguese soldiers and more than 400 indigenous soldiers.
For these Portuguese soldiers, General Silvio Ronny Rodlin waved his hand and asked a group of soldiers to strictly guard them.
Those indigenous soldiers naturally have no profit value, so the only outcome waiting for them is death.
After a brief rest in the position, General Silvio Ronny Rodlin left a platoon to take care of the captured Portuguese soldiers, and the large army continued north, thinking about Dili, the capital of Portuguese Timor. Go.
The Portuguese soldiers and indigenous troops on the position can be said to be all the troops in Portuguese Timor.
At present, the only protective force in Dili may be the few police officers in the city.
But relying on the police to resist the First Division's attack may be even more absurd than an idiot's dream.
At three o'clock in the afternoon, the Australasian army successfully entered the city of Dili and fully occupied the Governor's Palace and garrison headquarters in Dili.
At the same time, General Silvio Ronny Rodrin ordered his soldiers to move captured Portuguese soldiers into the city and sent a telegram home.
It was already past four o'clock in the afternoon when Arthur received the telegram from General Silvio Ronny Rodrin.
Arthur immediately sent a call back to General Silvio Lonnie Rodlin, asking General Silvio Lonnie Rodlin to properly handle everything in Timor and try to control the order of Timor.
At the same time, some defensive positions were built on the coast and western border of Portuguese Timor to prevent possible Portuguese landings in the future.
At six o'clock in the evening, following an order from the Australasian Ministry of Defense, the Second Division divided into two groups and went to the two remaining Portuguese colonies in Asia to capture and occupy them.
Although these two colonies are too far away for Australasia, and whether they are Portuguese colonies in India or Portuguese colonies in East Asia, Australasia is not eligible to occupy.
After the occupation, the attitudes of the neighboring British India and the Qing Dynasty had to be considered, so these two colonies were not within Arthur's target range. Of course, now during the war, it is still very necessary to capture these two colonies.
These two colonies are also Portugal's bridgehead in Asia. Without these two colonies, Portugal's closest area to Australasia would be the Portuguese colony of Mozambique, which is separated from Australasia by a full Indian Ocean.
August 10, 1907, six o'clock in the morning.
After more than a day of sailing, part of the army of the Second Division finally arrived at the Portuguese colonies in East Asia and quickly captured the colonies.
The land area of this colony is much smaller than that of Portuguese Timor, and the population living there is not large.
If we only count the Portuguese, the Portuguese population in this colony does not even exceed 10,000, and the garrison is even more patchwork. Relying on the population of the local indigenous people in the colony, the number of garrison can barely reach 1,000.
This has also made the training level of the garrison here even more worrying, and the equipment of some local indigenous soldiers is even more backward.
After several rounds of shelling, these Portuguese troops completely lost their fighting spirit, most of them were captured, and the rest were corpses that had been sacrificed in the artillery fire.
Like Portuguese Timor, after the complete victory was achieved on the battlefield here, the deputy commander of the Second Division quickly sent a telegram to the country, briefly describing the course and results of the war, and obtaining Arthur's latest instructions.
In addition to maintaining order and consolidating defenses, which are similar to Portuguese Timor, there is also the need to relocate Portuguese property as much as possible.
Although the Portuguese could not be blatantly executed, there was no problem in disposing of their property.
The factories and properties that the Portuguese worked hard to build in this area have all made Australasia a wedding dress.
Portuguese Timor did not experience such barbaric demolition, because Portuguese Timor was Arthur's target and was already within Australasia's sphere of influence.
As long as the war goes well, Portuguese Timor should be renamed Australian Timor after the war. Naturally, there will be no need to go to great lengths to relocate the Portuguese properties. They won't be able to escape when the land is handed over anyway.
A few days later, on August 12, the army led by the commander of the Second Division, Fritz Lehner, finally crossed the Indian Ocean and arrived in Portuguese India.
Although when it comes to the suzerainty of India, everyone will immediately think of the British Empire.
But in fact, the British Empire was not the only country that colonized India. Portugal and France were also among the countries that colonized India.
However, the British have ruled most of India for a long time, while Portugal and France only occupy small areas of land on both sides of India, which are completely insignificant compared to the entire India.
This is why Portugal and France are generally not mentioned when mentioning Indian colonies.
Portuguese India was a colony occupied by Portugal on the west coast of India, with Goa as its capital.
India has a huge land area and population. Even French India and Portuguese India, which only occupy a small area, have a population of 300,000 and 450,000 respectively.
Portugal has a garrison of 2,000 men in Portuguese India, of which 1,000 are Portuguese and 1,000 are Indian.
Although Portuguese India had a larger population and better land than Portuguese Timor, the garrison in Portuguese India was one thousand fewer than that in Portuguese Timor.
This is because the neighbor of Portuguese India is the powerful British India. Portugal cannot be an opponent of the British Empire. Therefore, the defensive strength of Portuguese India is not that important.
If the British Empire wanted to annex Portuguese India, even if it had a garrison of five to six thousand people, it would not be a match for British India.
But if the British Empire had no idea about Portuguese India, then even if Portuguese India had no troops stationed and only had police forces to maintain public order, security issues could still be initially guaranteed.
Portuguese Timor is different. Its neighbor is the Netherlands, a country about the same size as Portugal.
In addition, Portuguese Timor has lost nearly half of its land due to Dutch occupation, and it is naturally impossible to reduce its defense against the Netherlands.
With only a thousand Portuguese soldiers, Portuguese India naturally could not be an opponent of the second division.
Although Indian soldiers were more loyal than the natives of Southeast Asia, their combat effectiveness was not even comparable to that of Portuguese soldiers, let alone Australasian soldiers.
After spending hundreds of artillery shells and dozens of casualties, the Second Division also successfully conquered Portuguese India and occupied Goa, the capital of Portuguese India.
Like the colonies in East Asia, General Fritz Lehner quickly sent a telegram to Australasia on the day of occupation, and received the same response from Arthur: maintain urban order and strengthen border guards.
At the same time, a small army began to look for various factories and assets in Goa, preparing to relocate them all to Australasia.
After fully occupying Portugal's three colonies in Asia, Arthur breathed a complete sigh of relief.
Although the first and second divisions combined suffered hundreds of casualties, compared with the results achieved, this small number of casualties was acceptable.
Moreover, all injured Australasian soldiers will be quickly transported to Australasia for treatment.
The government will not only provide him with free treatment, but also provide him with all his salary during the period of injury.
After the preliminary implementation of the combat plan was completed, Arthur dared to announce the news with confidence.
The results of the battle had been hidden before, just for fear that the enemy would react and make the operations of the second division more difficult.
Now that all preliminary combat missions are over, it is time to announce this good news to the whole country and even the world.
Of course, some of the details cannot be told truthfully, but have been transformed into other rhetoric.
For example, the bombers that were dispatched in Portuguese Timor were officially replaced by airships by Australasian officials.
Anyway, airships can now fly in the sky and throw cannonballs downwards.
Europeans have never seen the war with their own eyes, so naturally no one will doubt it.
There are just over 4,000 words today, I came back late, and I didn’t get a good rest yesterday.
There will be 6,000 words tomorrow. Please vote for me, brothers.
(End of this chapter)