Chapter 502 Buried Alive
On the morning of October 10, the 1st Division of the French Marine Corps launched another attack on the St. Paul Fortress. Although the forts of the St. Paul Fortress have been destroyed, the main body is still there, and it happened to be used by the US Marine Corps to resist the attack of the French army.
Before the attack, the French fleet shelled St. Paul's Fortress again for an hour, but the effect was not great. For the American soldiers hiding in the fortress, the shelling of the French army did not pose a great threat to them. Unless the hiding fortress is bombed, then all the American soldiers hiding in it may be buried alive in it. However, it is not difficult to destroy the forts of St. Paul's Fortress, but it is somewhat difficult to destroy the entire fortress. Therefore, it was up to the French Marines to capture Fort St. Paul and wipe out the American Marines.
For this attack, Kirkbride is also very important. Because this afternoon, the 1st Infantry Division of the 2nd Iberian Army will arrive at Sao Paulo, and at that time, it is time to launch an attack on Sao Paulo. If before this, the 1st Division of the French Marine Corps can also defeat the US Marine Corps, advance the front line to the city of Sao Paulo, and attack Sao Paulo together with the 1st Infantry Division of the Iberian Second Corps, then the chances of the French army conquering Sao Paulo are very high. Much bigger.
In the first wave of attack, the French army invested two full regiments of troops, which can also reflect the determination of the 1st Division of the French Marine Corps to capture the Sao Paulo Fortress as soon as possible. The two regiments, with more than 5,000 people, launched an attack on St. Paul's Fortress under the cover of fleet artillery fire. Since all the fortresses of St. Paul's Fortress were destroyed, the attacking troops only had to guard against the US Marine Corps. Except for the cannon, there is no need to worry too much about other threats.
More than 5,000 French marines lined up in three skirmish lines and launched an attack on the St. Paul Fortress. During this period, the French warships never stopped firing. Although this was a waste of shells, it was able to kill the US troops. Being firmly suppressed in the fortress, they couldn't stop the French army from attacking. Even though some shells were wasted, in Kirkbride's view, it was totally worth it.
Soon, in less than half an hour, the French army rushed under the St. Paul Fortress. At this time, the artillery fire of the French army has stopped, because at this distance, if you are a little careless, you will accidentally injure your own people. At this time, the U.S. military just emerged from the fortress and started a counterattack.
In the St. Paul's Fortress, George deployed a total of 3 regiments, and the other troops were deployed a little behind the St. Paul's Fortress as a reserve team. The St. Paul Fort of the US military is connected one by one with the fort. Although the fort was destroyed by the French fleet, the substructure is still there, and the U.S. military used these substructures to build a solid line of defense. If the French fleet bombarded them, they hid inside the fortress. Generally speaking, it was difficult to hurt them this way. If the French fleet stopped shelling, the U.S. troops would be able to emerge from the fortress and continue fighting.
In this case, the only way to occupy the St. Paul Fortress is to eliminate the American army. For the French Marine Corps, this is tantamount to a very difficult bone. In the competition for each fort, the French army will definitely pay a lot of casualties. This was not what Kirkbride wanted to see, but it was also completely unavoidable. Everyone can only try their best to reduce casualties. It is worth mentioning that such a battle is very suitable for combat engineers. However, as far as the 1st Division of the French Marine Corps is concerned, the entire division has only one combat engineer battalion. Usually, this battalion is regarded as a baby bump. But now they have to be put into battle. It's just that due to the limitation of the number of people, their role in the battle is very limited.
After arriving under the St. Paul Fortress, the French army quickly set up all the mortars and light and heavy machine guns, and fired at the US army. In terms of firepower, the US military is obviously unable to compare with the French army, so it was quickly suppressed. The Combat Engineer Battalion used this time to send a blasting team to blast the St. Paul Fortress in order to clear the way for the Marines to advance.
At the beginning of the battle, the U.S. military didn’t realize what these soldiers were going to do. They just instinctively shot at these soldiers. Although some people were killed, most of the French combat engineers still passed through. Overcome the blockade of the US military, and successfully placed the high explosives under the fort, and quickly withdrew it back.
After that, a fierce battle ensued. The U.S. military who came back to their senses tried every means to drive the French army out, but it seemed easy, but it was very difficult to do. There were more than hundreds of French troops rushing in, and these people held on to the gap without retreating a step. Especially when the machine gunner also erected the machine gun, the US military completely lost hope. After about half an hour of scrambling, the U.S. military was completely desperate. More and more French troops entered the fortress, and in such a small place in the fortress, often a grenade thrown by the French army would kill everyone. The U.S. military, and the U.S. military has no countermeasures at all, has been in a state of being beaten, and finally, it finally collapsed.
Although officers at all levels of the US military desperately wanted to block the line of defense again, it seemed so difficult in this case. Eventually, even they themselves started running for their lives.
After defeating the U.S. counterattack, the French army began to eliminate the U.S. troops in the fortress. Except for a small number of American troops who escaped from the exit of the fortress, they were all trapped in the fortress after the French army occupied the exit of the fortress. The underground part of the entire fortress is quite large, and it is quite difficult for the French army to wipe out all the American troops. It will take a lot of time, not to mention, I am afraid that there will be huge casualties.
When this situation was reported to Kirkbride, Kirkbride lowered his eyebrows and remained silent. Of course he is unwilling to face such a situation, but if the American soldiers in the St. Paul Fortress are not cleared, there are thousands of people in there. If the army takes one bite, the situation will be serious, and the rear of the French army will be seriously threatened by them. Therefore, no matter which aspect is considered, the American soldiers in the St. Paul Fortress must be eliminated.
However, to eliminate the U.S. troops in the fortress, there is not the only way to eliminate them one by one. This is undoubtedly the most stupid way. There are many other methods, such as burning with fire and flooding with water, all of which can kill all the U.S. troops inside, but this is also a bit cruel and a waste of time. The easiest way is to install a large amount of explosives inside the fort, and then blow up the entire fort. At that time, even if the American soldiers inside are not killed by the explosion, they will all be buried alive in it.
"Come on, prepare enough explosives for me immediately, enough to blow up the entire St. Paul Fortress. Then put all the explosives in the fortress, and I will destroy the entire fortress. Since the Americans like to hide in it so much, then I will Just fulfill them and let them stay inside forever." Kirkbride said with a grim expression.
When Kirkbride uttered this order, everyone including Vitry was shocked. Burying thousands of U.S. troops alive is really cruel. However, as people who have experienced so much life and death on the battlefield, they have already taken death very lightly, but they just felt a little unacceptable for Kirkbride to issue such an order. However, then they were relieved. After all, it is better to be cruel to the enemy than to have your own soldiers killed by the enemy~www.mtlnovel.com~ Who calls this war?
After Kirkbride's order was issued, the French army quickly prepared. A large amount of high-explosives were moved to the fortress, but it was too much explosives to completely destroy such a strong and large fortress as the St. Transported to the fortress, this filled the required vacancy.
After everything was ready, the French army all evacuated to a safe area. Of course, all of this was done in secret, and the American soldiers hiding in the fortress did not know that they were still waiting for the French army to withdraw from the fortress. However, what they don't know is that they will never have another chance.
The time was fixed at two o'clock in the afternoon on October 10. At this time, it was the time when everything was ready for the French army. Following Kirkbride's order, the soldiers responsible for the blasting ignited the fuse. To protect your own safety, the fuse was left very long, and it took 20 minutes for the explosives to detonate.
At that time, a loud explosion sounded on St. Paul Beach, and a violent explosion occurred in the former St. Paul Fortress of the US military. A large amount of earth and rock rushed into the sky, and smoke and dust filled the surrounding area. About half an hour later, the smoke and dust dissipated, and the St. Paul Fortress had been destroyed, and all the thousands of American soldiers inside were buried alive.