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Piaotian Literature of the Fourth Empire of China www.piaotia.com Chapter 717 The Attack and Defense of Port Said

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    Port Said, an important city in northeastern Egypt, originally was just a small fishing village.  But after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1859, it prospered rapidly and became the world's largest coal filling station at the end of the 19th century.  At the beginning of the 20th century, this small town already had a population of 50,000 and became Egypt's second largest port.

    After the squadron captured the Suez Canal, Port Said has become the headquarters of the squadron in Egypt.  The Egyptian government has no opinion on this, as if it doesn't even know about it!  This is the tragedy of small countries. Whether it is China or Britain and France, they are world powers, and they cannot be provoked by small countries like Egypt.  The two sides were fighting on Egyptian soil. In order to avoid being implicated, Egypt could only close its doors and act like a tortoise, as if nothing happened.

    Because of the war, the Suez Canal has been temporarily blocked, and the once bustling Port Said has become deserted.  Many Egyptians who relied on the port to survive also fled to the countryside.  The squadron's headquarters is located in the port area of ??Port Said, where the commanders of the Army's Seventh Army, the Second Marine Division, and the Navy's Indian Ocean Fleet are all gathered here.

    With the failure of diplomatic contact, the squadron stationed in Egypt also received domestic warnings.  After the failure of diplomacy, Britain and France are likely to restart the war.  The squadron must crush the attack of the British and French forces so that China can gain full control of the initiative and completely clarify the benefits gained in this war.

    "Everyone, according to the latest news we have received, the British and French forces have assembled 200,000 troops in Alexandria. They are all elite troops mobilized from Britain and France. Their next step is likely to launch an attack on Port Said!  We must be best prepared for a war!" General Du Qizheng, commander of the Seventh Army, said seriously.  Because he has the highest military rank, he has been officially appointed as the Egyptian theater commander in the country, with full authority to command the Seventh Army, the Second Marine Division and the Navy's Indian Ocean Fleet.  However, he also knew that he was not good at naval battles, so all the command related to naval battles was left to the Indian Ocean Fleet itself.

    "Commander! If this is the case, I suggest that our troops immediately begin to shrink, leaving only a small number of troops in Suez City and Ismailia, and gather all the main forces to Port Said!" Chief of Staff of the Seventh Army  Lieutenant General Niu Fakui suggested.

    "But what if the British and French coalition forces attack Suez City and Ismailia while attacking Port Said?" asked Major General Peng Jiantong, commander of the Second Marine Division.

    "Now that the Suez Canal is under our control, we can use the canal to quickly mobilize our troops. Therefore, we only need to leave one regiment of troops in Ismailia and Suez City. The main force is all assembled.  Go to Port Said and fight the British and French forces! As long as we crush their attack, we will win this battle!" Lieutenant General Niu Fakui said with great certainty.

    ? ?Everyone agrees with this.  Although.  The British and French coalition forces have a total of 200,000 people. However, the combat effectiveness of the British and French coalition forces cannot be compared with the Chinese army.  With the strength of the Seventh Army, it was not a big problem to defeat 200,000 British and French troops.

    "Okay! Order the troops stationed in Ismailia and Suez to immediately take ships to assemble in Port Said. Prepare to fight the British and French forces in Port Said. However, in terms of the navy, the American fleet has also arrived. The opponent is coming.  It's so fierce! General Li, is the navy confident of winning?" Lieutenant General Du Qizheng asked.  At present, although the Indian Ocean Fleet has been strengthened, the battle cruiser "Bai Qi" and the battle cruiser "Meng Tian" of the Turkish Fleet have arrived.  However, the Indian Ocean Fleet only has four battleships and three battlecruisers.  The opponent has ten battleships.  The gap between the two sides is too big, and the armor of the battlecruiser is too weak. If they engage in a bombardment with the battleship, they will suffer a lot.  Therefore, everyone is a little worried about the naval battle!

    "From the current point of view, the navy does not have an advantage. However, it is not easy for the British and American navies to defeat us. Once a naval battle breaks out, we will not fight them head-on. We will use our speed advantage to pull away from the British and American navies.  Open a distance and fight them at a long distance. Our ejaculation accuracy is much higher than theirs. We will not suffer any loss if we fight at a distance of more than 12,000 meters. In addition, the Navy's submarine force will also ambush in the sea, waiting  Opportunity. Our chances of winning this battle may be low, but it is impossible for the British and American navies to defeat us!" said Vice Admiral Li Haitao, commander of the Indian Ocean Fleet.

    "In this way, the key is still the war on land. As long as we can crush the attack of the British and French coalition forces, then there is no need for the British and American navies to continue the fight!" said Admiral Du Qizhengroad.

    Everyone nodded one after another. No matter how powerful the navy is, it can¡¯t just drive to the shore!  As long as the British and French coalition forces are defeated, the Suez Canal can be ensured to be in the hands of the squadron and the logistical supply lines of the British and French expeditionary forces can be completely cut off.  The hundreds of thousands of British and French expeditionary forces trapped in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will become turtles in the urn!

    "So, everyone, prepare for war immediately from now on! We must win this battle!" General Du Qizheng said firmly.

    The squadron stationed in Port Said immediately entered into preparations for war.  All the soldiers participated in the construction of fortifications.  There are not many residents left in Port Said. Otherwise, China is preparing to recruit a group of Egyptians to help the squadron build fortifications.  The terrain of Port Said is easy to defend but difficult to attack.  To the west of Port Said is the rippling Lake Manzaile. If the British and French forces want to attack Port Said, they must either follow the narrow strip of only two kilometers wide between the Mediterranean Sea and Lake Manzalay, or only south of Port Said.  It faces the narrow strip of land less than three kilometers wide between Lake Manzarai and the Suez Canal.  As long as the squadron deploys heavy troops in these two directions, it can easily withstand the attack of the British and French forces.  The only thing that needed to be guarded against was shelling from the sea by the British and American navies.  In order to avoid the British and American navies from interfering with the land war, the Chinese Navy's Indian Ocean Fleet also had to leave port for a decisive battle with the British and American navies!

    On December 27, British Field Marshal Frederick Roberts issued an order to attack Port Said in Alexandria. Two hundred thousand British and French troops were organized into four armies, with the 11th Army composed of the British Army as the forward.  Attack along the Mediterranean Sea towards Port Said.  At the same time, the combined fleet composed of the British and American navies also began to move towards Port Said, preparing to attack the Chinese Navy.  In order for the American fleet to willingly cooperate with the British navy, the British paid a high price and reluctantly provided the United States with a number of advanced technologies, including the large-scale oil-fired boilers and real steam turbine technologies that the United States had always coveted.  This will undoubtedly greatly improve the United States' shipbuilding capabilities.

    Five days later, on January 1, 1903, the British and French forces arrived in Damietta, which was less than fifty kilometers away from Port Said.  Marshal Frederick Roberts set up his headquarters here, and then ordered the British and French forces to launch a fierce attack on Port Said!

    On January 3, 1903, the attack and defense of Port Said officially began.

    In the narrow strip between Lake Manzailai and the Mediterranean Sea, ten kilometers away from Port Said, the 32nd Division of the Chinese Army's Seventh Group Army has built a solid defense line here.  The defense line, which is less than two kilometers long, extends from Lake Manzaile to the shore of the Mediterranean Sea.  The squadron built a solid defense line here consisting of trenches, barbed wire fences and permanent firepower points.  Moreover, the artillery brigade affiliated to the group army will provide them with fire support.

    The commander of the 11th Army of the British and French Allied Forces was Lieutenant General Hamilton, who had just made a splash in the Boer War in South Africa. His headquarters was located ten kilometers away from the squadron's defense line.  However, the future field marshal was frowning at this moment.  The isthmus is less than two kilometers wide, making it impossible for the huge troops in his hands to deploy. The Chinese have already built a solid position. If they attack by force, they will definitely be beaten to death in front of the squadron's solid position.  .

    However, the geographical location of Port Said is such that whether you attack from the west or attack from the south by bypassing Lake Manzaile, you will inevitably encounter such problems.  If things go wrong, the British and French forces will have to use human lives to fill the gap!

    At nine o'clock in the morning, the British and French forces began artillery preparations.  All units of the 11th Army came to Britain and were the elite of the British Army.  The entire 11th Army has more than 200 artillery pieces, more than half of which are artillery pieces with a caliber of 105 mm or above, including 12 155 mm heavy howitzers.  In order to strengthen the firepower of the British and French coalition forces, the British government and the French government both used their old tricks this time!

    "Fire!" With the artillery commander's cry of zero, the artillery position of the 11th Army of the British and French Allied Forces immediately began a violent shelling.  More than two hundred artillery pieces were scattered in ten artillery positions, violently pouring artillery shells on the positions of the 32nd Division of the Chinese Army.  With his troops unable to deploy, Hamilton placed his hope on the artillery, hoping that he could use fierce artillery fire to smash the squadron's defensive position, and then the infantry would launch an attack and advance to Port Said at the minimum cost.

    Moments before the bombardment started, the soldiers of the 321st Regiment of the Chinese Army who were guarding the position immediately got into the shell-proof holes that had been constructed.  Although the entire position was shrouded in gunpowder smoke, in fact, the casualties caused to the squadron were very limited!
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