Chapter 896: Winter Offensive and Guerrillas
Chapter 878 Winter Offensive and Guerrillas
It was a cold winter in Afghanistan, but the bitter cold didn’t stop the war. I don’t know if the British were too incompetent or the Russians were too good.
The last month of 1889 the Russian army, like a hanged man, has taken Mazar-e-Sharif, Kunduz, Chahcharan, one-fifth of the territory of the Afghan region changed hands.
Even the Wakhan Corridor and Herat, where the British army was heavily concentrated, were shaky and could be conquered at any time.
Opening the window, the cold wind whistled past. Looking at the flying snowflakes, Lieutenant General Patrick shivered.
The ghostly weather of ten degrees below zero was too unfriendly to the British army, and Britain had never had such a cold day.
Not to mention going out to fight, even staying in the command headquarters with a burning fireplace, Lieutenant General Patrick felt the cold wind piercing his bones.
The domestic bureaucrats had misjudged the situation, and the pre-cold cotton clothes prepared were configured according to the domestic temperature, which was not useful at all.
Fortunately, the bureaucrats in the logistics department had carried on the fine tradition of preparing cotton clothes according to the previous number of people.
Soldiers who were killed in action or missing in action were naturally not needed, and those who went out on missions were able to put on two layers of cotton clothing.
Even so, winter has come to the British army non-combat attrition personnel or a sharp increase. In some areas, the number of non-combat casualties exceeded the number of casualties in the battle with the Russian army.
The loss of the front line, rather than the Russian army is too powerful, but also is the Afghan winter is too abrasive.
Especially for some Indian soldiers living in the tropics, the Afghan winter was hell on earth.
Hands, feet, ears, face …… whole body as long as it is exposed to the outside, there is no place that is good.
In contrast, the opposite side of the Russian army is much better, although there are also non-combat attrition, but that is only a very small number.
Except for a few areas, the winter in Afghanistan can be completely called warm compared to the Russian Empire.
Needless to say, the Russian soldiers were a fish out of water here, and the British army spent their days like years.
The roar of artillery fire continues, the Herat offensive and defense has begun once again, and Lieutenant General Patrick, who personally sits in command of the front line, has panicked at this moment.
He finally understood why the Russians dared to start the war before winter fell.
“When will the reinforcements from home arrive?”
Indian reinforcements could not be counted on; three months into the war, the Governor General of India had already sent him 150,000 reinforcements in succession.
The number seems to be quite a lot, but unfortunately the combat power is really too touching. Relying on fortification defense is still okay, participate in the field battle is to send people’s head.
Especially after the winter, many Indian soldiers living in the tropics for many years suffered frostbite, and nearly one-tenth of them lost their fighting ability.
In contrast, Britain’s native soldiers are much better, not only stronger, even frost resistance is much stronger.
The British Isles also have winter, although not as cold, but a few degrees below zero weather is still there.
In this context, the general adaptability of the British soldiers is much stronger than the Indian soldiers who have never seen snowflakes.
The middle-aged officer behind him replied, “If there are no surprises, the first batch of reinforcements from the country, will arrive in a month and a half.”
From the outbreak of the battle to the arrival of reinforcements, it only took four and a half months, which was a qualitative improvement for the British Empire.
According to past practice, if reinforcements could be sent over within half a year, it was because the domestic bureaucrats were brave enough to do their job.
Of course, this time the high efficiency was also forced. The enemy was the unstoppable Russians, and it was coming towards India, it was hard for the British government not to be nervous.
Although this efficiency was not low enough, Lieutenant General Patrick was still not satisfied. The situation at the front was urgent, and the longer it dragged on, the harder the battle behind would be.
“Send another person to urge, in addition to informing them to prepare warm items, the winter in Afghanistan can not be easy.”
Even though it might be a bit late to say this now, Lt. General Patrick still chose to remind.
The commander of the expeditionary force was not a good job, the casualties of the Indian colonial army did not matter, but once the main force of the British army suffered heavy casualties, Lieutenant General Patrick was going to be in bad luck.
The country can not be counted on in a short period of time. Although the situation encountered by the expeditionary force was reported, but when the group of lords in the country made a decision, and then organized production and transported over, the winter is estimated to be almost over.
Letting the reinforcements make preparations for the cold is actually letting the officers and soldiers think for themselves.
The British army will pass through a lot of areas along the way, theoretically it is able to purchase some of the winter supplies.
Anyway, life is one’s own, whether or not to smash money in order to increase the chances of survival on the battlefield – feel free.
……
Against the cold wind, a transportation caravan slowly drove out of Jieman City. Judging from the direction of the convoy’s advance, it could be roughly determined that it was leading to the Afghan region.
“All cheer up, we’re about to enter the Afghanistan region. It’s not peaceful over there, if you’re not careful, you’ll have to meet God early.”
The middle-aged officer’s loud voice spread throughout the transportation convoy, and all of them looked serious.
Afghanistan is not a peaceful region, outside the Russian army detained customs, inside the guerrillas wantonly looting, even look honest old farmers, may at any time rise up to attack the transportation team.
In less than a year, the British army transportation convoy was attacked four hundred and seventy-six times, of which forty-six times heavy losses, more five times the total destruction.
A total of 1,371 officers and soldiers were killed in action, 3,476 civilians were killed in action, and the loss of supplies was even more incalculable.
High risk also means high reward, although escorting supplies is a threat, but the harvest is also rich.
Generally speaking, the transportation of supplies is allowed to occur loss. This is the source of everyone’s wealth, as long as it does not exceed the prescribed limit, the top will not ask questions.
If they encountered a guerrilla attack, they could also report their losses to the top and make a profit.
As long as you don’t go too far, the top will turn a blind eye and forget about it. Of course, the share that should be given out must be given.
If the guerrillas in Afghanistan were not so rampant, the transportation of supplies would actually be a beautiful job.
There is a lot of oil and water, little danger, the front line won the battle, the transportation fleet’s credit is not small; losing the war, and they have nothing to do with them at all, is usually the first choice of gold-plated officers.
Unfortunately, the exception is Afghanistan, where the casualty rate of convoys is no less than that of the troops on the front line, based purely on casualty ratios.
Expeditionary forces with a relationship background, are responsible for the transportation of supplies within India, sent to the Afghan region to carry out transportation tasks, are not deep enough relationship background of the Lord.
A young officer answered, “Don’t worry, Lieutenant Colonel. We’ve traveled this section of the road a dozen times and have only encountered one attack by the rebels, the truly dangerous section of the road is up ahead.”
It was a fact that the deeper one went into Afghanistan, the more dangerous it became, and this was already the consensus of the British army. Most of the attacks took place in the interior, especially the mountainous and forested areas were the most dangerous.
After a long struggle between attacks and counter-attacks, the British army has also summarized a set of schemes for dealing with guerrillas.
For example: in the event of an accidental attack, retaliate on the neighboring aborigines and force them to stand against the guerrillas.
In order to establish prestige, the slaughter of villages and towns, the British army did not do less. While inspiring hatred in the natives, they also brought fear.
Human nature is the most complex, not all Afghans are able to look death in the eye, there are also for their own interests, sell out the guerrillas to defect to the British army of the second five.
The more densely populated the area, the more unfavorable to the guerrillas’ infiltration. It is also not convenient to run away after an attack, so most of the attacks were moved to the outskirts of the city.
“Shut up, Weir! Your experience is all shit, the most important thing to live long on the battlefield is to be cautious ……”
Before the middle-aged officer could finish his words, a bullet whizzed by and hit his right arm.
Immediately followed by the chaotic sound of gunfire, everyone knew that the guerrillas were coming. The folk escorting the supplies in the panic were already in disarray, and some of the wagons had already run away.
The escorting officers and soldiers rushed to counterattack with their guns, and the wounded middle-aged officer forced himself to endure the pain and continued to direct the battle.
Seems to realize that the transport team is not easy to mess with, about a quarter of an hour’s work later, the guerrillas gave up the preparation to continue to attack, leaving a few corpses on the long way.
Similar attacks take place almost every day in Afghanistan. As a matter of routine, the guerrillas went out to ambush them from time to time.
Do not care about the strength gap between the two sides, encountered the British army on the attack. Immediately after the attack, they retreated without the slightest delay.
Seeing the guerrillas retreating, the injured middle-aged officer breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly shouted to his men, “Don’t chase, quickly count the casualties and continue on your way.”
Their mission was to deliver supplies, not to pursue the guerrillas. Eliminating the guerrillas was just an accidental military honor, but if they lost the supplies because of the guerrillas, they would be court-martialed.
In this regard, there are a lot of negative materials, some people in the tiger away from the mountain of the plan, the front foot just went out to pursue, the back foot was the guerrillas end of the transportation fleet; more people to pursue the guerrillas into the mountains, directly pushed back by the others, the end of the tragic ……
Transportation caravan number is not much, in addition to more than eight hundred folk, there is only a battalion of guards, counting the casualties of the speed is very fast.
A few moments later, Weir’s young officer came forward to report: “Lieutenant Colonel, this time we have heavy losses.
Personnel casualties totaled 184, of which the escorting officers and soldiers were injured 27 and killed 11, the civilians were injured 127 and killed 19, and 7 carts of supplies were lost ……”
The middle-aged officer waved his hand, probably because of the wounds he touched, his face paled all of a sudden, forcing himself to endure the discomfort and commanded, “Pass the order to continue on the road.
Before dark, we must arrive at the next stronghold, or it will be dangerous by nightfall.”
This was the experience summarized by Lieutenant Colonel Jack, but any convoy targeted by the guerrillas would not be attacked only once.
Many times even if they knew that the attack was unlikely to succeed, the guerrillas would still launch the attack. It was like cowhide candy, as long as it stuck it couldn’t be shaken off.
Not to mention this kind of dozens of guerrillas, even if he met a lone attacker, Jack did not dare to stay longer.
Discovering that Lieutenant Colonel Jack’s right arm was injured, Weir asked with concern, “Lieutenant Colonel, let’s take care of your injury first, it’s easy to get inflamed if you drag it on.”
Gunshot wounds are also fatal injuries these days. Even if it only hits the arm, if it is not treated in time, once the wound becomes inflamed, it is equally possible to lose one’s life.
Many of the soldiers who had their limbs amputated didn’t mean that the shrapnel had blown the limb away, it was likely that the skin was only grazed by the bullet. Because the body did not resist, the wound became inflamed and had to be amputated.
Lieutenant Colonel Jack shook his head, “Treat what? It’s not like there’s a medic here, and besides, we don’t have time to delay.
Don’t worry, I’ve already bandaged it. It’s winter now, it’s not that easy to get inflamed.
Take the wounded and set off immediately. Leave the fallen officers and soldiers for now, and collect their corpses when we return.”
Reality is so cruel, even for mid-level officers, safety is equally not guaranteed on the battlefield.
The medical hospitals in the British army were very limited and had not yet had the luxury of equipping the transports with medics.
Even if there were medics, Lt. Col. Jack did not dare to receive treatment at this time.
As the commander of this transport convoy, Jack knew very well what kind of goods his men were.
Don’t look at the fact that they had just repelled a guerrilla attack, if the guerrillas attacked again, it was unknown if they could hold them back.
It wasn’t that the troops didn’t have the strength to fight, it was mainly because their morale had been tossed out.
Originally, when they were transporting supplies in the freezing weather, everyone had a bellyful of grievances in their hearts. If there was no more morale, the soldiers would have to run away.
There have been real cases where the soldiers and officers escorting the supplies couldn’t bear the pressure and ran away because the transportation team was repeatedly attacked by guerrillas.
In order to reduce the risk of another attack, Lt. Col. Jack had to hurry up. So much so that there was no effort to dispose of the bodies of the fallen officers and soldiers.
Anyone with discerning eyes knew that coming back to dispose of them was just a delaying word. By the time everyone had escorted the supplies over and turned back, the bodies would have long since been fed to some unknown animal.
However, people are selfish, not to mention the problem of the mission, just in the middle of nowhere camping things, everyone rejected from the heart. It’s not that they can’t suffer, it’s mainly because it’s really dangerous.
As the caravan left, the earth once again returned to calm, only the messy corpses on the ground proved that there had been a battle here.
Nightfall, the British transport convoy finally arrived in the town of Tarkar, the dangerous journey temporarily ended.
In the middle of the wilderness, several young men were talking to each other beside a bonfire.
A bearded middle-aged man said sternly: “I don’t agree with your plan, it’s not time to fight with the British, attacking Takal town will only bring us unnecessary losses.
The Russians are only our temporary allies, you guys can’t be naive enough to think that they are the ones who are really here to help us expel the British, right?”
Take the hand and eat it.
After taking the Russians’ weapons aid, the Afghan guerrillas’ combat power has increased by a large margin, as evidenced by the success rate of their recent screw-ups.
Any more improvement, to rely on a guerrilla force numbering a few hundred to run and forcefully attack British-controlled towns, there is still a lot of pressure.
……
Note: The Wakhan Corridor and the Pamir Plateau belonged to the Qing dynasty in the 19th century, and was designated as a British-Russian buffer zone in 1895, then given to Afghanistan.
Can’t write about the content, we all know.
(End of chapter)