Steel Dynasty - Chapter 1152

[Chapter 1140 Landing Craft]

“Fire!”

Looking at the red shirt troops waiting in Cape Town, Liu Chen roared and issued the order.

“Boom, boom, boom…”

Forty-two warships opened fire at the same time. In an instant, the warships lined up in a straight line on the sea made circles of ripples in the sea water.

Smoke and huge flames erupted from the muzzle of the cannon. Along with the sound of the shells breaking through the air, clouds of flame flowers rose from the southernmost coast of Africa.

“It’s really a place that is easy to attack but difficult to defend.” Liu Chen raised his eyebrows slightly. He had thought this way the last time he passed by Cape Town.

Now clearly visible directly in front of the fleet is the mountain range known as Table Mountain.

This is also the most prominent symbol of Cape Town. This mountain range that stretches for more than ten kilometers is called God’s Table by Europeans. It looks like a smooth tabletop from a distance.

Under the mountains is Cape Town, which is on the seaside. All the buildings in the colony seem to be crowded on the beach.

For such a place, the north side is difficult to break, but only a strong navy can guarantee that the south side will not be attacked from the sea.

In the past, British warships were unmatched, but now this era has passed.

“Boom, boom, boom…”

The shells kept flying towards Cape Town one after another, as if there was no end. A total of more than 600 artillery pieces on the 42 warships plowed the entire Cape Town like plowed fields.

Tens of thousands of artillery shells were fired in a row, and Liu Chen ordered the bombardment to stop this time.

It was not that he wanted to waste cannonballs, but as the southernmost British colony in Africa, Cape Town’s location was very important.

It can be said that as long as it controls Cape Town, it controls the African routes. Because of this, the British stationed more than 8,000 people in the small Cape Town to control it and the surrounding colonies.

In order to defend against the empire, Cape Town has obviously been transformed in the past two years, which can only be seen from the fortresses made of volcanic ash on the coast.

“Landing!”

After the bombardment, Liu Chen continued to issue orders, and the marines immediately got down to the landing craft that had just been built by the empire.

This kind of landing craft is not big in size and is generally rectangular. However, this kind of landing craft is specially prepared for landing and focuses on defense and offense.

Therefore, in addition to the landing craft having a steel hull, there is also a dedicated machine gun shooting position in front of the landing craft. The most important thing is that the landing craft is the first small vessel driven by an internal combustion engine.

Now, it has been four or five years since automobiles emerged in the empire, and the research on various internal combustion engines has become more and more sophisticated. Of course, some technologies have also been applied to ship construction.

This diesel engine-driven landing craft was the shipyard’s attempt. After the technology matured, it was applied to the construction of small ships in the empire.

As for the empire’s large warships, they will abandon coal and adopt a power structure of oil-fired boilers and steam turbines.

“Buzz buzz…”

All one hundred and twenty soldiers entered the landing craft. With the buzz of the diesel engine, the landing craft headed towards the beach faster and faster.

All the soldiers in the landing craft huddled behind the steel hull to prevent being shot from the shore. On the raised shooting platform on the right side of the ship, the machine gunner stared at the coast intently through the gaps in the machine gun protective armor.

“Ugh…”

Even though he had been on the landing craft many times, Lu Han was still not used to the bumps of the landing craft’s high-speed course. Not long after boarding the boat, he lay on the boat and vomited.

The soldiers in the landing craft were wiping their rifles and couldn’t help laughing when they saw this. One soldier said: “Lu Han, next time let the company commander prepare a boat for you to row. You can’t ride on an advanced boat like the landing craft.” “

Then he’s gone far away. When he gets to the shore, we’ll all finish fighting and have dinner.” Someone started a joke again.

There was a burst of laughter in the landing craft.

Lu Han vomited for a while and felt much better. He cursed: “Fuck you, even if I row a boat to land, I can kill more enemies than you.”

As soon as he finished speaking, there was a clear sound of metal hitting each other on the ship. The soldier immediately stopped smiling.

Lu Han also squatted down, “These British guys have all turned into rats. Now they specialize in burrowing into the ground. Such fierce artillery fire didn’t kill them all.”

“Nonsense, all the artillery has been dealt with, why do you still need us? Get ready to work.” The company commander on the landing craft reminded: “Check the equipment and ammunition, and prepare to fight.”

The landing craft continued to speed through the sea, getting closer and closer to the coast, but more bullets hit the hull.

At this time, the machine gun made a “click, click, click…” sound, and bullets flew like strings of beads towards the British soldiers who were resisting on the shore.

on the beach.

Governor Chapman of Cape Town poked his head out of the ditch in disgrace, covered in dust and blood, panicked.

The trenches were filled with corpses of British soldiers, many of which were incomplete. The soldiers’ wailings and the strong smell of blood continued to fill the air.

Staggering onto a bench, Chapman stuck his head out and looked at the sea. He saw nearly a hundred small boats galloping on the sea like horses galloping on the grassland.

Hundreds of meters of sea are just a blink of an eye for these strange boats.

The British soldiers who were still alive were shooting at these ships, but from the density of the gunfire, he could hear how heavy the losses this round of shelling had caused them.

“Don’t back down, fight to the last man!” Chapman shouted profoundly, which was the Queen’s request to the army after the Battle of India.

Anyone who retreats will be killed without mercy, whether a soldier or an officer.

It is under this high pressure that even if they live in fear, they still have to fight to the end, but at this time his roar seems too pale and weak on the battlefield.

“Ta-ta-ta…”

The intensive shooting swept across, and Chapman’s body seemed to be frozen, and then blood emerged from his chest. His eyes gradually lost color and he slowly fell down.

In his last sight, the enemy ship came to a halt on the shoal, its head opening and Imperial soldiers filing out.

“Quick, quick, quick!”

The moment the landing craft stopped, Lu Han and other soldiers were driven off the boat. The machine gun team and mortar team quickly established a fire position under the protection of skirmishers.

Intense firepower suppressed the British soldiers in the trenches, and the soldiers rushed towards the trenches under the cover of machine guns.

Thousands of soldiers landed, and the British troops, which had already suffered heavy losses from artillery fire, were quickly annihilated after weak resistance.

Soon, the dragon flag of the Cape Town Empire began to fly.

On the battleship, Liu Chen had a smile on his face. The battle was going extremely smoothly, but he understood that a large part of this was due to Cape Town’s status and location.

Because this place is really undefendable, but at the same time the empire’s growing military strength is also very important.

(End of chapter)