Fox of France

"The British's first major raid brought us great losses, mainly because we underestimated the brutality of the struggle and were dazzled by previous victories. For this defeat, everyone including me Leadership has an inescapable responsibility.

In fact, we have not seen this set of British people before. In the Toulon training camp, when Comrade Joseph was playing the role of the British army during the combat training of the operation on the map, he used similar means to cause us great losses.

After having such an experience, many people, including me, still take this approach lightly, so that in the first major sweep of the enemy army, the people and the revolutionary team suffered huge losses. If you don't say it, it's a crime..." - Russell, "Memoirs of the Revolutionary War"

After the Duke of Norfolk's army made a big move, the Irish Federation was indeed somewhat underprepared at the beginning. The terrain of central Ireland is dominated by plains with very few hills. Because of long-term development, there are no large areas of forest in these places. This makes it extremely difficult to move people around.

Back in Toulon, Joseph had proposed some solutions for them, such as digging tunnels and the like. However, the plan to dig tunnels has not been well implemented. This is because Ireland is very rainy, the verticality of the soil layer is not very good, and the groundwater level is high. In many places, let alone digging a tunnel, even if digging a trench, groundwater will seep out. And only on those slightly higher hills. Barely able to dig a less complicated hiding hole.

But the masses don't really have nowhere to hide. Also because of the heavy rainfall, the plains of Ireland are full of large and small swamps. These swamps are quite dangerous, and there are bottomless quagmire everywhere. People who are not familiar with these places can basically say goodbye to this beautiful world if they step on the wrong place.

But if careful preparations have been made in advance, it is not impossible to enter the swamp to hide. Of course, this requires the preparers to take great risks, and requires very serious preparations from personnel to materials.

Therefore, after the battle training on the map of Toulon, when reviewing the problem, Joseph also proposed to use the swamp to resettle the refugees. And after discussion, everyone agreed that this approach is quite feasible. But before this big sweep, almost no one had seriously prepared for it.

So when the noose of the sweep began to tighten, the Irish began to suffer heavy losses.

Captain Taffington once again saw the Irish village that made him flee in embarrassment last time and left him with nightmare memories. Only this time, he didn't bring a troop of cavalry here anymore. By his side, there was an army of thousands of people, including cavalry, infantry, and artillery.

"The artillery is aiming at the target, ready to shoot with arson bombs!" Such an order came from the ear of Company Commander Taverton. Yes, arson shots. Having learned the relevant lesson, the British did not intend to enter the village at all. First, use arson bombs to burn the entire village. In the fire, most of the various arrangements in the village will fail.

In this era, there are no such things as white phosphorus incendiary bombs, napalm bombs, or thermite incendiary bombs—except, of course, for a certain research institute. The so-called arson bomb is actually to burn an iron ball red first, and then shoot it at the target with a cannon, causing a fire.

Of course, the effect of this kind of arson bomb is far inferior to those of the later generations. If the building of the other party is not mainly a wooden building, but a masonry structure, or even a rammed earth structure, this kind of arson bomb will hardly be affected. what effect. So this thing has always been used by the navy, (the opposite ship must be of wooden structure) almost no one in the army will use such a thing to fight. But the houses of Irish farmers are really wooden structures, so these arson bombs are quite suitable here.

With the shelling, the village over there began to smoke. Soon, orange-red flames came out. The distance between the houses in this type of village is very small, and the flames can easily burn from one house to another, and the whole village is on fire in no time.

There were no people or other animals running out of the burning village, and it seemed that the villagers had already moved.

Near the village, there is a forest that is not particularly large. This is also the source of the firewood that the farmers in the village burn every day. If the people in the village ran somewhere to hide, then this forest should be the most likely hiding place. The last time Company Commander Taverton came here, he had only a cavalry team by his side, and there was nothing he could do about this forest. If he had dared to enter the woods that time, he would have died more.

But this time the situation is different. In front of an army of thousands of people, such a forest is really small. What's more, the woods in Ireland are different from some woods in the south. They are relatively more open, and it is not easy to hide.

Captain Taffington received orders, and his cavalry was in charge of guarding the woods, ready to attack the Irish who had escaped from the woods, while other infantry entered the woods in skirmish formation.

Soon, there were shouts, gunshots, and the sound of small melons exploding in the woods. Obviously, there was a firefight in the woods. Soon Captain Taverton noticed a group of people running out of the woods. Fleeing aimlessly in all directions.

"It's the Irish rebels! Go after them and kill them all, leaving no one behind!" Commander Taverton ordered. At the same time, he urged the horse under his crotch, pulled out the revolver at his waist, and chased after them.

Many of those who escaped from the forest were women and children, but the British cavalry didn't care about these. They chased them directly, shot them with revolvers, hit them with horses, and hacked with sabers, and soon killed hundreds of them. The "rebels" were wiped out.

At this time, the battle in the woods was over. British troops fought fiercely in the woods with "well-trained Irish rebels." It paid considerable casualties, but also killed many rebels. Among them, there were nearly twenty "elite rebels" equipped with revolvers and rifles. As for the "well-trained male rebels" armed with dangerous weapons such as dung forks, there are more than a hundred people.

After the end of this battle, everything that could be burned in the village was basically burned out, and the fire gradually went out. At the command of the commander, the soldiers cut off the heads of all the rebels—whether they were male or female, whether they were young or old—and then cut them off with sharpened branches. Inserted on the ruins of the village to deter rebels who dared to rebel against the rule of the British Empire.

The village actually retreated and hid. Because of the speed of the British army's actions, when Company Commander Taffington and the others arrived at the second village, the villagers there hadn't even had time to escape from the village.

Taffington's cavalry company intercepted the villagers who had not had time to escape and prevented their escape. The British troops who arrived later left the Irish women and children behind, and tied up the men and locked them up in the only larger building in the village—a Catholic church.

These women and children will be used to find the way when entering the next village. If they don't die from something like this, then deal with them last when you've completed the campaign objective and retreated. And those men who were imprisoned in the church, when the British army left, poured kerosene on all sides of the church, and then lit a fire.

This scene is happening in many other Irish villages. According to the subsequent statistics of the Irish Federation, a total of 171 villages were burned and more than 10,000 people were killed in the British noose operation. , and the Irish Independence Army fought back against the British and protected the villagers, and more than a thousand people died. The founder and chairman of the Federation, Tone, also died honorably because of the betrayal of the traitors. It can be said that in this battle, the Irish suffered a very heavy blow. Even if it were not for the timely support of Big Brother France, the beacon of freedom and democracy in Europe, the Irish would have to go to war again in history. One more tragic song for a hero.

Taking advantage of the serious weakening of the Irish Federation, the Duke of Norfolk quickly implemented his system with a wrist of steel. In cities, a new certificate system has been implemented, and anyone who goes out without a "good citizen certificate" will be severely punished. The first whipping, the second hard labor, and if there is a third, the gallows calls.

The new Baojia system was also implemented. Because the revolution was frustrated, some less firm speculators also began to join the enemy. Many people who were inclined to the Federation, or were simply agents of the Federation, were sent to the gallows, and the rest were basically cut off. In the words of the succeeding chairman, Mr. Russell: "Nearly all of our jobs in the city have been lost."

"How long can the flag of Irish independence last?" This question has weighed heavily on the hearts of every fighter in the federation.

At this most critical juncture, the remaining senior executives of the Federation held an emergency meeting on a brand new French high-speed communication ship named "Independence". An unidentified French friend is said to have also attended the meeting. At the meeting, the French friend made some suggestions to these Irish warriors who persisted in fighting, and told them that they had not failed, and that the French people would support them more than they had now. Not only weapons, but also military advisers.

It was also on this ship that the United Irish Federation re-elected a new leadership and laid out plans for the next phase.

"During this sweep, we have suffered huge losses. The comrades of the Federation are bleeding rivers, and the corpses of the Irish people are piled up like mountains. However, the revolutionaries can't be killed! Cut off a head, and you can grow again." Out of two heads." - Russell, "Revolutionary War Memoirs"