My Italian Chapter 665

In the battle of Shaal, the 15th Infantry Division, with 14,000 troops, defeated the two divisions of the French colonial army stationed in Shaal. Among them, the 15th Division killed and wounded 13,000 people, and seized more than 5,000 guns, 27 artillery pieces, and 27 tons of ammunition.

For this victory, the officers and soldiers of the 15th Infantry Division also suffered more than 600 casualties. After weighing the fineness of the French army in the Tunisian colony, leaving a regiment to clean the battlefield and guard the prisoners, they immediately marched towards Sfax without stopping.

The actions of the 15th Division collapsed the defeated former Shaal army. They were originally going to retreat to Sfax, but under the constant pursuit of the 15th Division, the retreating colonial army collapsed. These retreating colonial troops were either captured and captured by the vanguard of the 15th Division that was pursuing them, or they took advantage of the retreat and slipped away. By the time they retreated to Sfax, there were only a thousand people left. This is also because the number of French officers is too large, making it impossible for some people to escape.

And this made Colonel Blog, the commander of the Sfax garrison and the commander of the Tunisian First Division, a big headache.

Now he has more than 8,000 people in his hands, and the defeated Sha'al defenders are only more than 9,000, and these defeated troops have almost lost all their weapons when they come back.

In addition, after listening to the battle report of the defenders of Shaal, I have doubts about how long Sfax can be defended.

But even though he was skeptical, Sfax had to guard, otherwise the court-martial would never spare him.

However, although the place needs to be defended, how to defend it is a problem.

Because Sfax is the second largest city in Tunisia, the city currently has a population of 40,000 and an urban area of ​​4.3 square kilometers. In addition, it is also the main olive producing area in Tunisia. There are tens of thousands of the world's largest olive trees locally, and it is also the center of Tunisia's oil extraction industry. There are various handicraft workshops in the city, and the smell of olive oil is in the air.

The 9,000 men in the hands of Colonel Brogg can barely defend, but it will make it difficult to retreat.

However, this Colonel Blog is still capable. After some consideration, he decided to abandon the perimeter defense, gather troops into the city, and send another regiment to defend in the north outside the city to keep his rear.

As for the local residents in Sfax City, after seeing that this place was about to become a battlefield, they hurriedly fled this right and wrong place with their families. They did not dare to come back before the battle was over.

The next day, after most of the 15th Infantry Division arrived, Commander Cazapa smiled at the enemy's defensive deployment. It was a fight-and-run formation, and he knew what to do.

"Order the artillery to open fire on the enemy's troops outside the city with all their strength, and first hit three bases. In addition, order the second regiment to deploy two battalions to prepare for the attack on the enemy's troops in the northern suburbs."

Under the order of Kazapa, 72 75 and 105 mm artillery pieces (36 75 and 36 105) of the 15th Division Artillery Reinforcement Regiment opened fire on the French positions in the northern suburbs of Sfax.

The earthworks could not withstand the blow of 105mm artillery shells, and the number of 72 artillery pieces made the officers and soldiers of the Tunisian First Division in the northern suburbs of the city complain endlessly. In front of them, thousands of Italian officers and soldiers were preparing for the attack.

Looking at the enemy positions covered by artillery fire, Kazapa looked at the bombed enemy positions with satisfaction. Now that he has made a move, it depends on whether the commander of the garrison guards his retreat.

On the northern suburbs side, facing the eyeing Italian army, the commander of the defending army immediately sent a message for help after thinking about his performance in Sha'alh since yesterday.

As the commander of Sfax, Blog discovered the Italians' options for him from the very beginning of the bombardment. The first regiment outside the city is guaranteed to retreat, should it be rescued?

How to save?

In fact, the best way is to counterattack with artillery and fight an artillery battle. It's just that this method is useless for the 1st Infantry Division in Tunisia, because this division has only one artillery battalion, and it is equipped with 18 artillery pieces. It is impossible to fight with the enemy several times. This is completely suicide. Although the artillery battalion is all elite local officers and soldiers, it is determined that there are too few artillery pieces, and they can only be used at key points.

Looking at the airship suspended in the sky, Blogger was even more afraid to bring up the idea of ​​artillery battle.

So now there is only one way, and that is to increase troops so that the position can maintain enough telegraph troops. Then he ordered a battalion to be drawn from the 3rd and 4th regiments to form reinforcements, and immediately reinforce the 1st regiment in the northern suburbs.

Let me add one more thing here, the French colonial army is also organized with one division, two brigades, four regiments and twelve battalions, but the number is much smaller.

And every move of the defenders was clearly observed by the airship in the sky, and it took only three minutes for Kazapa to know about the reinforcements before they even set off.

"I will take the city today."

After figuring out his opponent's temperament and weaknesses, Major General Kazapa said proudly that he would take down Sfax today, as if an old man was talking about being a teenager.

But even if you dare to make such remarks, you must have some skills. If it is said that for an excellent commander, Kazapa is definitely afraid to play a little tricks, but this level, in his opinion, is a bit reluctant as a teacher.

At this time, I saw him giving orders. "Order all the 105mm artillery of the artillery regiment to be ready, wait until the enemy reinforcements arrive in the northern suburbs, and open fire on Sfax. After the artillery ceases fire, the first regiment will be responsible for launching the main attack from the south, and the second regiment will contain it from the west. Our army also needs to launch a diversionary attack, and the movements of each department must be fierce, so as not to give the enemy time to react."

Major General Kazapa's order was quickly conveyed to all ministries, and just after the enemy's reinforcements arrived in the northern suburbs, suddenly all the 105mm artillery of the Artillery Regiment fired rapidly at the position notified by the airship.

Then a burst of intensive explosions came from all over the city. The shells seemed to have eyes, and they exploded specifically at the place where the French army was stationed. Considering the helpless airship overhead, the morale of these French troops was further reduced.

"All attack!"

Under the command of Commander Bogado, a regiment of officers and soldiers as the main attacker roared and attacked the city of Sfax.

At the same time, the Second Regiment also launched an attack from the west, and in the northern suburbs, two battalions of Italian troops were also eager to try.

For a while, the 15th Division launched an attack on Sfax across the board.

Facing the attack of the Italian army, Brogge, as the commander of the defenders, was a little bit blind. There was only a little more than one regiment in the city. At this time, it became a difficult problem for him to call reinforcements back. But in the end, he was concerned about the safety of the rear, so he could only choose not to bring back the reinforcements.

Blog's difficulty As your opponent, the officers and soldiers of the 15th Division did not understand each other. At this time, the officers and soldiers of the 15th Division were storming the opponent's position.

"Enemy reinforcements are coming from the right, and the machine guns suppress them. Take out the smoke bombs and hit the smoke."

Following the officer's order, the two machine guns in the company opened fire immediately, and their intensive firepower suppressed the Tunisian soldiers on the right, unable to raise their heads.

Then a few smoke bombs were thrown onto the street, emitting thick smoke, and then the smoke filled the whole street, making it impossible to see people ten meters away, which made the Tunisian soldiers hiding behind the sandbags panic The face is blank.

The French officer who led the team was dumbfounded seeing this scene, and there are also grenades that can release smoke?

This is all thanks to a certain traveler. The smoke bomb, a weapon for urban warfare, was successfully developed by the Italian Army in 1909, but it waited to equip troops on a large scale before the war due to confidentiality.

Although the defending officer didn't understand why there were smoking grenades, he knew that his position was in danger.

"Fire, UU reading www.uukanshu.com, fire immediately."

Under the order of the officer, the soldiers on the defensive position could only fire randomly at the smoke, but no matter how they fired, the smoke continued to expand and was approaching them step by step.

Just as the French officer was thinking about what to do next, a whistle sounded suddenly, and a bunch of grenades flew towards the position in the smoke.

"No, watch out for the grenade."

As soon as the voice fell, a burst of dense explosions sounded from the position, and a large area fell on the position in an instant, which made the remaining soldiers die. At this time, a large number of enemies suddenly rushed out of the smoke, and they rushed into the position holding rifles with bayonets. The next killing was inevitable.

Battles like this can be seen everywhere in Sfax. Smoke bombs, grenades, machine guns, and mortars have become sharp weapons for Italian officers and soldiers in street fighting. This also led to the retreat of the French army in the city of Sfax, leaving the commander Colonel Brogue at a loss what to do. After finally setting the sun, he took advantage of the night and fled to Luketai with the defenders.

Although he failed to completely annihilate the Tunisian First Division, taking Sfax in just one day also made Major General Kazapa feel very high-spirited. He led the 15th Division to defeat three enemy divisions in a row. Although they were all colonial divisions, they were conquered in one day, which was enough for him and the officers and soldiers of the 15th Division to show up.

"Telegram to the army commanders that our division has captured Sfax ahead of schedule."

With this telegram, the pace of the Tunisian campaign picked up.

Chapter end