The Fox of France

Chapter 434: The Thick Fog

But at this moment, the British military dogs were deployed effectively. They began barking wildly.

"All units, be on alert! All units, be on alert! Anti-infantry directional mines ready! Cannons loaded with buckshot ready!" Captain Richard heard the chorus of barking from the military dogs and immediately picked up a microphone to shout commands. Colonel Edward Stanford, who had been prepared to leave, also halted in his tracks.

"They're coming!" Colonel Edward Stanford exclaimed, his eyes widening as he tried to peer through the thick fog to assess the situation ahead. However, the fog had not dissipated enough, and he could only vaguely make out a distance of twenty to thirty meters ahead.

After the barking of the dogs, the Irishmen naturally knew that the British were now on guard. However, they still advanced in loose formation, carrying explosives and wielding bazookas.

With visibility only about twenty to thirty meters, a sudden charge could easily reach them. In this era, there were no machine guns yet; the only alternatives were cannons firing buckshot and anti-infantry directional mines.

While these two weapons had sufficient firepower density, their sustained firepower was lacking. If the enemy surged forward in large numbers after one round, the effectiveness of these weapons would be comparable to that of machine guns. However, if the first wave of attackers was not substantial, and a second wave immediately followed after the first round, then the sustained firepower of this configuration would be problematic.

Moreover, the barbed wire was set about forty to fifty meters away from the fortress. Under normal circumstances, this was an appropriate distance, where rifles, directional mines, and cannons loaded with buckshot all had a fairly good accuracy.

But at this moment, the barbed wire was obscured by the fog, completely invisible.

The British had hung many bells on the barbed wire; as soon as the bells rang, it indicated that someone was tampering with the wire. However, this design was intended for nighttime situations. At night, upon hearing any movement, searchlights would illuminate the area, and then rifles, cannons loaded with buckshot, and directional mines could open fire as needed. But at this moment, with thick fog enveloping them, the searchlights were useless.

The Irishmen quickly reached the barbed wire. They carefully removed the bells from the wire and then used wire cutters to destroy the barbed wire, creating gaps in it.

Of course, some bells were still rung during this process.

"Captain? What should we do?" Captain Richard asked.

"Fire! Have the soldiers fire towards the direction where the bells rang! But hold off on using the directional mines and cannons for now!" Colonel Edward Stanford said.

So, the British began firing rapidly. However, since they couldn't see their targets, these indiscriminate shots didn't hinder the Irish Independent Army soldiers much.

"Jerry, don't worry, the British are just bolstering their courage," Captain Metternich, who followed behind, whispered to the soldier next to him, who was holding a rifle with a bayonet attached.

"I know, I'm not nervous," the soldier replied, his hand gripping the rifle tightly, causing his knuckles to turn white from the pressure.

Metternich chuckled softly and said no more, turning his gaze back to the expanding gap in the barbed wire.

"Have the soldiers fix bayonets," Colonel Edward Stanford said. "Prepare for a counter-charge! Artillery, provide covering fire for target area number two!"

The order was relayed, and British soldiers began fixing bayonets, readying to charge out of the trenches and engage in bayonet combat with the Irish rebels.

"Our bayonet combat skills are unmatched by the rebels. We will surely win through bayonet combat," Colonel Edward Stanford encouraged his subordinates. However, at the same time, he cursed the damn weather in his heart. Because he knew that while training was important in bayonet combat, morale was even more crucial. Based on his experience dealing with the Irish, their training levels mostly didn't match up to the British army, even their so-called "main forces"; however, their morale was surprisingly high, even among the local rebels.

A unit with sufficiently high morale could withstand greater casualties in hand-to-hand combat. And in hand-to-hand combat, as long as one side's morale didn't collapse, the exchange wouldn't be much different. Colonel Edward Stanford was confident that his troops would have the upper hand in a hand-to-hand combat situation with similar numbers. But here, his troops were outnumbered by the rebels! If they suffered heavy losses in hand-to-hand combat, General Wilson, the commander of the city defenses, would surely give him trouble...

At this point, some faint figures had already appeared in the British soldiers' sight. These scattered figures charged toward the British positions, simultaneously throwing grenades at them.

The British soldiers fired at these individuals, or threw grenades back at them. Many Irishmen were brought down, but because the distance between the two sides was too close, some Irishmen still charged forward with explosives and bazookas. Then, with each explosion, some bunkers, along with the British soldiers inside them, were sent flying into the air.

More figures emerged from the mist at this moment!

"Fire! Fire! Use directional mines!" Captain Richard shouted.

The cannons positioned further back began firing, knocking down some Irishmen, and directional mines were detonated as well. However, because the first wave of Irishmen had already damaged many of the directional mines with their explosives and bazookas, this round of simultaneous firing, although causing significant losses to the Irish, failed to stop them from continuing their advance. At this point, the British artillery and directional mines were too late to fire a second round.

In fact, even the second wave of Irish attackers wasn't particularly large. It was just because of the fog's obstruction and the tense atmosphere that the British mistakenly perceived this wave to be much larger than it actually was. However, despite this round of bombardment and directional mine attacks, the number of Irish casualties wasn't as high as the British had imagined.

"Fix bayonets! Counter-charge! Artillery, cover target area number two!" Seeing the Irishmen charging up again, Colonel Edward Stanford ordered.

If the Irishmen were allowed to charge again, and with more explosives, the losses would be too great. So, Colonel Edward Stanford decided to immediately counter-charge with bayonets to push back the Irishmen.

Now influenced by the corrupt French, the martial virtue of European armies had gradually declined. Even the act of bayonet fighting, which used to be filled with martial virtue, had become rather pathetic.

In the days when "bullets are for fools, bayonets are for heroes," everyone used bayonets honestly. That was true manliness, real bravery! But nowadays, rules had been spoiled by the French; they invented tactics where bayonets were combined with shotguns during bayonet combat, controlling the distance with bayonets, and then using shotguns to spray opponents in the face—a despicable tactic. In reality, bayonet fighting, while still nominally called bayonet fighting, had essentially become spraying contests. It was truly pathetic!

Nowadays, the whole of Europe, including Britain and Ireland, had been influenced by the French's despicable tactics. So, their bayonet fighting formations were similar, mostly consisting of two rifles with bayonets paired with a pump-action shotgun. Thus,

the battlefield was filled with the sounds of shotguns.

At the same time, British artillery continued to shell the possible avenues where Irish reinforcements might come from with shrapnel shells. While such blind artillery fire was not very effective, it still caused some difficulties for the subsequent Irish forces' attacks. Therefore, the British soldiers managed to push back the Irish rebels through bayonet combat and held the first line of defense.

After repelling the first wave of Irish attacks, Colonel Edward Stanford saw that the fog was gradually dispersing and returned to his headquarters. Just as he entered the headquarters, someone informed him, "Colonel, General Wilson wants you to report to headquarters immediately."

Colonel Edward Stanford immediately hurried to General Wilson's headquarters.

By this time, several other battalion commanders had also arrived. Seeing Colonel Edward Stanford, General Wilson said, "Now that everyone is here, let's all discuss the situation on our respective defense lines."

So, except for the Graves battalion, which served as the reserve, all the other battalions began reporting on the attacks they had faced and their current losses. Generally speaking, either there had been huge ammunition consumption or significant personnel losses. Some units had even lost their positions.

"You've all noticed that due to the weather conditions, some unexpected situations have arisen. It's hard to say whether such heavy fog will continue tomorrow. If this ghostly weather persists for the next few days, given today's casualties and ammunition consumption rate, our situation will be very dangerous. Does anyone have any suggestions?" General Wilson said.

"I suggest that we immediately send reports to Dublin and Galway, requesting reinforcements. Otherwise, if the heavy fog continues, our defense will likely encounter serious problems," Colonel Edward Stanford immediately spoke up.

"But our mission from above is to hold this position for at least a month, until reinforcements from the mainland arrive, and then..." another battalion commander said.

"Today, my battalion hasn't lost its position, and we've killed quite a few rebels. However, just my battalion alone has lost nearly seventy men this morning, and with the wounded who have temporarily lost their combat capabilities, there are nearly a hundred men. If we have several more days of such heavy fog, my entire battalion will be rendered combat ineffective. I've just heard the results reported by everyone else, and the losses are no less than mine. Based on my experience in Ireland over the years, heavy fog at this time of year is common. So, continuous heavy fog for several days is entirely possible. Once such a situation occurs, collapse is not impossible. Do we need to take such a gamble?"