Railway Sabotage Raid
About three hundred Independence Army swaggered past McGeady's outpost. Everyone inside the outpost came out, their hands empty, and gave the Independence Army soldiers who passed by them harmless, honest smiles.
The soldiers didn't even glance at the group of black-skinned dogs; they continued walking past them silently. They knew that these dogs, now appearing harmless, had once been more ruthless than the Britain devils, terrorizing ordinary people. Their current docile appearance was only because the revolutionary people now held guns.
"If the people don't have hunting rifles, they are vicious jackals; once we pick up hunting rifles, they are all lapdogs. Therefore, without the people's army, the people have nothing!" Looking at the Security Army who were wagging their tails and begging for mercy, many soldiers couldn't help but recall this sentence they had learned during their political studies.
But this isn't the time for sentimentality; there are still combat missions ahead.
The Independence Army soldiers walked past the "Security Army" outpost without stopping. Only a few people left the ranks and walked towards the "Security Army" standing there.
Upon seeing him, the outpost commander, Roy, recognized him as Edward, the local squad leader.
"Captain! What brings you here today?" Outpost Commander Roy quickly came forward, bowing and scraping.
"You saw it all?" Edward asked, pointing to the passing troops.
"Yes, yes." Roy didn't understand Edward's meaning, but based on his experience dealing with the Britain, whether he understood or not, saying "yes" was the right thing to do.
"What is it? Yes, yes, yes," Edward said. "Do you know what it's all about?"
"I don't know, I don't want to know, I dare not know," Roy quickly said. How could he possibly know something like this so easily? What if he knew too much? Wouldn't that cause trouble?
"I won't hide it from you, we have an important military operation. We're worried that as soon as we leave, you'll immediately inform the Britain ..." Edward said.
"Captain, how could we? Brother, I'm Ireland too. Don't let my black fur coat fool you; I'm Ireland at heart. We can't do something so heartless. Don't you all agree?"
The other "Security Army" soldiers quickly joined in, declaring that they were all true Ireland people who supported Ireland independence.
"Captain, you see, this isn't the first or second time you've dealt with us. How could you not trust me? When have I ever lied to you?"
"Don't give me that, I just don't trust you guys. That batch of gunpowder you gave me last time was completely wrong! So, today, my brother and I are here watching you. Don't go anywhere, just stay here. Once the fighting starts over there, I'll release you," Edward said.
"That's it? This is nothing. Everyone, just sit here, we won't cause any trouble," Roy said to his soldiers. Then he turned to Edward and said, "Captain, about the gunpowder, it really wasn't me who tricked you. How could I dare? It's just that those Britain gave us it, and it was damn defective. It's really not my fault. But Captain, I can't just watch you guys suffer. Next month, I'll give you two more guns, and that'll even things out, okay?"
The Independence Army troops continued their advance, and soon the railway line came into view. Along the railway line, there was a barbed wire fence every hundred meters or so on both sides, and inside the barbed wire fence were minefields. At intervals, there was a bunker. These bunkers were relatively simple, and their main purpose was to delay the Independence Army's advance and buy time for reinforcements to arrive.
As for reinforcements, the fastest to respond were naturally the armored trains. Generally, as long as the British Army in the fortress could hold off the Ireland for half an hour, the Britain armored trains would arrive. Each armored train had four cannons and could carry more than three hundred infantrymen. In most cases, this was enough to turn the tide of battle.
At this moment, the Britain in the bunker discovered the Independence Army and quickly dialed the nearest station, requesting that they immediately send an armored train to provide support.
The Independence Army immediately deployed to prepare for the assault. They first used grenade launchers to fire smoke grenades towards the Britain fortress to obstruct the Britain's view. At the same time, combat engineers used the smoke grenades as cover to quickly destroy the barbed wire with demolition charges.
At this moment, the Britain grenade launchers also opened fire. Although the smoke grenades affected their aim, the Britain had already marked out positions and conducted test firings in this area. In addition to this fortress, the Britain also had one or two concealed observation posts further away from the railway. Through these observation posts, they could report the location of the Independence Army, and then the Britain grenade launchers could fire blindly. Therefore, although the smoke grenades caused some interference with the British Army firepower, the British Army firepower was still quite effective.
So this barrage of grenade launchers took down eight or nine Independence Army soldiers. However, the grenade launchers had limited power, so they were still unable to suppress the Independence Army.
After the barbed wire was destroyed, the Independence Army fired mine-clearing rockets, quickly clearing a path through the minefield—ever since the France forced their way through with bumper boats, the Independence Army's weaponry and equipment had clearly improved dramatically.
At this moment, the five cannons were ready to fire. These cannons had a significantly longer range than grenade launchers, and their penetration and destructive power against bunkers and similar structures were significantly greater than that of recoilless rifles. Therefore, as soon as they began firing, the British Army bunkers were immediately suppressed.
The Independence Army seized the opportunity to rush up, and then the Britain inside the bunker used a stick to tie a white shirt to and held it up.
After capturing the bunker, everyone started dismantling the railway tracks—these things would have many uses later. On the other side, the artillerymen began replacing the barrels of the two cannons and pulling them back a bit, while some people used leaves and other things to camouflage the cannons. At this moment, a black column of smoke rose in the distance—the Britain armored train was approaching.
"Comrades, don't worry. That thing is just for show; it can't withstand our artillery at all. If we don't teach them a lesson, they'll really think they're so tough. Um, I'll emphasize again: once the train slows down, artillery pieces 1 and 2 will fire at the power car, and the other artillery will use armor-piercing rounds to fire at the troop carriers."