1855 United States Tycoon

After several months of preparation, at the end of September 1898, Lord Roberts' forces finally launched an all-out attack on the Boers. At this time, Lord Roberts not only had an army of 250,000 people, but also tens of thousands of war horses and thousands of artillery. At the same time, after spending several months in preparation, Lord Roberts has also repaired the railway damaged by the Boers, and is ready for a full-scale attack.

The fighting first broke out in Kimberley, a town occupied by the Boers. Kimberley is a plateau city, famous for producing high-quality diamonds. The city is located on the road from Cape Town to Johannesburg, and its strategic location is also very important. So when the Boers forced the British defending Kimberley to surrender, they began to build the fortifications of Kimberley. Time is always fair. He gave the British time to strengthen the army in South Africa, and naturally gave the Boers time to build the fortifications of Kimberley.

Under the guidance of Blackwater’s consultants and using Kimberley’s original mine system, the Boers established a defensive system with both offensive and defensive capabilities. This defense system includes 5 8-inch guns and 10 6-inch guns that can move freely on steel rails, often in caves, and under the guidance of Heishui’s consultants, the Boers told the United States before the war broke out. States ordered a batch of trains and some accessories. After these civilian materials were delivered to the Boers, they were immediately modified and eventually converted into four armored trains.

One of these armored trains was deployed in Kimberley. Surrounding the Kimberley defensive positions, the Boers built two circular railways for use by armored trains. This armored train is equipped with more than ten heavy machine guns plus four 4-inch caliber artillery. It can flexibly reinforce those key positions at any time.

In addition, there are various barbed wire fences, trenches, light and dark bunkers, and more than six thousand defenders.

The British certainly made a lot of preparations. First of all, based on the experience of the US military in Cuba, artillery fire support was extremely important for attacking fortified positions, so the British prepared much more artillery than the Boers for this battle. For the offensive, the British prepared nearly two hundred artillery pieces of more than 3 inches, including twenty 6-inch guns, ten 8-inch guns, and an 11-inch cannon that was dismantled from a navy warship. .

Although the British have made a lot of preparations, the battle is still very difficult. The first problem they encountered was the Boer fire. Owing to occupying a favorable high ground, the range of the 8-inch and 6-inch guns in the hands of the Boers surpassed the various artillery carried by the British army. In addition, the Boers were equipped with the latest detection weapon-powered airships, which led to the fact that any action by the British to concentrate their forces within the range of these artillery pieces could be hit by the Boers' artillery fire. The Boers have already measured and tested the location near the defensive area, so their artillery fire has always come quickly and accurately. The British did not think about counterattacking and directly killed these targets through artillery fire, but to do so, they had to let the artillery in their hands go very close to the forward positions of the Boers, which was too unsafe. Moreover, the Boers usually hide these artillery in the cave, and only drag them out when they attack. They usually push back into the cave quickly after firing a few more shots, but the next time they fire the artillery. It emerged from another hole through the cave. This also makes it very difficult to hit them with artillery fire.

But if you do not capture Kimberley, you will not be able to advance to the ultimate goal-Johannesburg. Some keyboard military strategists with thighs made of materials with strong interaction force that are constantly shooting always like to play around the enemy's stronghold and directly attack the enemy's rear with the seemingly tall "blitzkrieg" method. But in fact, there are many prerequisites for bypassing the opponent's stronghold. One of the most important ones is that the army in the opponent's stronghold has low mobility and is unable to threaten its own logistics supplies. For example, my Da Ming’s military strategist who eroded hundreds of miles in one shot was guarded, and even the city strongholds where the city gates were blocked with stone bars, can completely go around, anyway, they can’t get out a few people, so they can stay. There is little danger in the back. But if you bypass the strongholds of troops that have no less mobility than Own and have a high desire to fight, wouldn't it be the same as selling all Own logistics supplies to the enemy? So in World War II, the Germans could easily bypass the Maginot Line, but they were afraid to bypass Stalingrad and Kursk. Kimberley is also unable to bypass the stronghold that must be hacked.

...

The war was stuck in Kimberley for more than a month. The British offensive troops suffered heavy casualties, even according to the British own battle report, the number of casualties they paid has exceeded the total number of the Kimberley defenders. With several times the number advantage and more than twice the firepower advantage, such a record makes the whole of Europe laugh out loud. Some German newspapers even mocked the British army for being inferior to the police. Some newspapers even started to YY, what would be the result if the British Army and the German Army had a friendly match. At the same time, the Germans also began to move around the world, taking advantage of the opportunity of the British to fight in North Africa as a crap.

But in the end, after spending more than a month and with as many as 25,000 casualties, the British army finally took the city called a mill of flesh and blood.

...

"Your Excellency, Kimberley's defenders can no longer support the battle. They have too many casualties and can no longer maintain the defense line. The enemy has already invaded the core area, so I sent an airship to General Meir and agreed. The Kimberley defenders surrendered to the British." General Piet Joubert said to President Kruger.

"This is what we expected, isn't it? It's enough as long as General Meir returns safely. With a mere 6,000 people causing more than 20,000 casualties to the British army, our young man has performed quite well. "President Kruger said.

"It's just that after Kimberley's fall, the British were not far from here." General Piet Joubert said, "Mr. President, according to the plan, the government and parliament and the national treasury must be evacuated."

"Yes, Piet, do you think I have a chance to come back here again?" President Kruger asked suddenly.

"Definitely, President! The defense of Johannesburg is not comparable to that of Kimberley. Even if the British fill in their 200,000 troops, they will not be able to attack Johannesburg!" General Piet Joubert said firmly. " When they are exhausted, it is time for us to win."

"Well, everything is up to you." President Kruger said, "Now, we are going to start the evacuation work."

...

According to the plan, after the evacuation work begins, President Kruger will go to Europe to win more support. And some other important officials also have their own tasks. In addition to the evacuation of personnel, there is also the evacuation of materials, the most important of which is the gold in the treasury. In the future, the government will have many places where money is needed. If the gold continues to stay in Johannesburg, it can be predicted that it will be unusable for a long time. Therefore, the gold must be transferred to a place that is safe and easy to use. Before the war, the Kruger government had discussed this issue, and it seemed that there was only one removal, and that was Portugal, the colony bordering them.

But after the war, the attitude of the Portuguese, who were still friendly to the Boers, changed drastically under the pressure of the United Kingdom, which greatly increased the risk of the plan to ship gold out of Portugal. Fortunately, at this time, Heishui's consultants came to sell them weapons. When the coast was completely blocked by the British navy, the United States people vowed to say that they could safely and on time bring the weapons in, but the cost would be a little higher, because they have transport submarines that can perform this task. .

This naturally made the Boers take heart. Since weapons can be brought in, they can naturally also be transported gold. Of course, it is not the time yet, but contact with people from United States can start. Moreover, as far as the interaction between the Boers and the United States is concerned, although the United States people love money, they still have some integrity, especially the McDonald family, which has always been full of integrity and trustworthy.

...

Conquering Kimberley won a lot of cheers in the UK, but those who know the situation are not optimistic about the development of the war. Because they all know that compared to the defenses of Johannesburg, the strength of Kimberley's fortifications is very different. Johannesburg has ample supplies, many defenders, and strong fortifications. To overcome it, the casualties that need to be paid may be ten times that of Kimberley. In other words, it is not necessarily enough to kill all the troops in South Africa at one time. However, if the siege is adopted, because Johannesburg has ample supplies and peaceful residents have been evacuated, there are only soldiers in the entire city, and the consumption is relatively low. If the siege is effective, I am afraid it will take several years. The current situation in the UK absolutely cannot allow itself to be dragged on by a small city for several years. If this happens, not only will the British Empire be ruined by it, but God knows what the Germans and United States guys will spend in this world during this time. Compared to the Boers in South Africa, these guys are the greatest threat to the British Empire.

"Do our military experts have any suggestions?" Lord Salisbury, the British Prime Minister, asked the own cabinet members.

"Prime Minister, someone suggested that we can use that terrible new weapon in South Africa." A cabinet member replied.

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