The Fox of France

Chapter 436: The Unsuccessful Endeavor

In truth, it wasn't just the English who were caught off guard; even the Irish hadn't expected such favorable weather from Providence in the past two days, making their assault seem remarkably smooth. Thus, at least the fellows from the Second Division, even began to entertain the idea of genuinely capturing Aslon. This thought even crossed the mind of Division Commander O'Hara, akin to a Jerry switcheroo—entertaining the notion of taking on Tom.

However, as much as they entertained the notion of taking on Tom, doing so wasn't going to be easy. Not to mention, they weren't provided with sufficient ammunition from above. Especially significant was the depletion of one-third of the "Gustav recoilless gun" munitions overnight. So, if they truly wanted to take on Tom, they first needed to persuade the military committee to allocate more munitions.

"This won't do, the military committee has already made a decision; it's a strategic choice that cannot be altered lightly. Moreover, our progress so far has been due to particularly favorable weather. But look, there's no fog today, so the British counterattack was easily repelled by you... Hmm, speaking of which, our luck has indeed been good, but we can't rely solely on luck in war, can we?" Thus, Commander O'Hara's suggestion was vetoed by President Russell.

However, Commander O'Hara still managed to acquire some munitions, as they needed to execute a feint to force the British to dispatch troops to relieve Aslon before their reinforcements were fully in place. They indeed needed to apply more pressure on the British in Aslon.

The weather ceased to aid the Irish; the fog did not reappear. Yet, relying on new weapons and high morale, the Irish still made unexpected progress against the British.

But the British did not immediately dispatch troops from Dublin and Galway to relieve Aslon, indicating they believed they could hold out longer. Consequently, even President Russell had to tilt resources towards O'Hara to increase pressure on the British.

The British adapted quickly to the Irish's use of "recoilless guns." Though powerful, these weapons had limited range. The French claimed a direct firing range of four hundred meters, but to ensure accuracy, gunners often risked approaching within two hundred meters before firing. To conserve precious munitions, gunners would often risk closing to within one hundred meters to fire. At such distances, British volley fire posed a significant threat to the gunners.

The British concentrated soldiers with excellent marksmanship specifically to counter the Irish "recoilless gunners." This resulted in the Irish losing gunners even faster than munitions. Without fog, laying mines became more challenging. The French provided the Irish with rocket-delivered mines, but constrained by financial issues, they had few of these expensive devices (far costlier than mine detectors) and using mine detectors to clear mines was slow. Even at night, due to British searchlights, clearing mines in front of British positions was extremely difficult.

This made subsequent attacks even more difficult, and the British, still unhurried, awaited reinforcements from home. According to intelligence from the confederation's agents in Dublin regarding the daily arrival of British ships, reinforcements from Britain were continuously arriving, possibly exceeding twenty thousand men, with more still being dispatched to Dublin. It was estimated that in a few days, the total number of new British troops would rise to fifty thousand. Adding the original forces, just from Dublin, the British could dispatch seventy to eighty thousand troops. Such a force was beyond the Irish independence army's blockading troops. The British didn't send reinforcements to Galway, indicating they didn't plan to relieve Aslon from there. Thus, the plan to block reinforcements from Dublin on the east and consume Galway's reinforcements in a timely manner on the west was no longer feasible.

Consequently, the Irish changed their plan, incorporating the First Division into the siege of Aslon. However, this didn't have the decisive effect hoped for, as the limited area of the Aslon fortress couldn't accommodate so many attacking troops. Therefore, the attacks over the following days made limited progress, but casualties increased significantly.

The Duke of Norfolk's requested fifty thousand reinforcements were essentially in place. He even had the luxury of allowing them some rest before dispatching a seventy thousand strong force to relieve Aslon.

Although the Duke of Norfolk was in no hurry when dispatching the troops, once they were on the move, he continuously urged them to accelerate. He knew that once the rebels received news of the relief force, they would quickly flee. If they couldn't catch them beneath the walls of Aslon, the subsequent war would become mired again.

However, after departure, the British forces didn't move as swiftly as the Duke of Norfolk had hoped because the train hauling the troops was ambushed shortly after setting out.

The ambush didn't cause significant damage to the British, who repelled the rebels without much effort. The real trouble was caused mainly by the

rebels' destruction of the railway. Although the British were somewhat prepared for railway sabotage, carrying various tools for railway repair on the military train, this still slowed them down. Even so, the Irish had to act immediately.

Upon receiving news of the British relief force's departure, the First Division was dispatched to conduct a delaying action, ensuring other units, especially the county and district squads, could retreat smoothly. Before this, the First Division had utilized some captured British outposts between Dublin and Aslon, transforming them into a makeshift defensive line. Now, relying on this line, they resisted the British reinforcements.

This defensive line was constructed hastily, and the British reinforcements had ample manpower and far superior firepower to the Irish. To cover the retreat of other forces, the First Division had to withstand the British forces. Although the First Division was well-trained and high-spirited, they managed to hold the British for only two days at the cost of significant casualties before the defense line was breached.

By this time, the majority of the participating Irish forces had completed their retreat, but the First Division's delaying troops found it extremely difficult to withdraw, with the British persistently pursuing them. Finally, when the First Division managed to use their familiarity with the terrain to shake off the pursuit, their delaying forces had nearly halved in number.