Siege (3)

However, the Britain were not comparable to those colonial barbarians. The Britain of this era were still quite militant, even the Britain army. Although they had been dealt a heavy blow in the counterinsurgency campaign in Ireland in recent years, and their morale was much lower than normal, they were not easily intimidated by a few shells. It was just that the wealthy people had fled first, which was indeed heartbreaking. But despite the heartbreak, the Britain defenses did not suffer any significant damage.

So, all that's left is to take it one step at a time. At least, that's the case until the orders from the Turkey and Russia are fulfilled.

The France advisory group and the leaders of the Independence Army held a military conference. They summarized the military intelligence they had gathered in recent days and studied the operational plan for the offensive.

According to the plan, the Irish Independence Army will first approach the main British Army positions through tunnel operations, and then use the night to destroy the British Army barbed wire and minefields.

As for offensive operations, they will mainly consist of short, sharp attacks. French Army artillery will provide them with short but intense artillery preparations, while French Army heavy artillery will be responsible for counter-battery operations under the command of hot air balloons.

"The Britain defenses are quite strong; after all, Britain have been building this line for many years. Therefore, we must overcome our impatience and not fantasize about breaking through their defenses quickly. We can only proceed little by little, like peeling an onion, layer by layer. Any hasty actions will only cause us huge and completely unnecessary losses..." General Soult, the France commander-in-chief, spoke first. Because the last war ended too quickly and the subsequent peace was too long, Soult was still a general and had not yet been promoted to marshal.

However, Napoleon greatly admired his talent, and he repeatedly told others that if Soult had followed him in Italy, he would surely be a marshal by now.

"He is one of the best tacticians in Europe, better than many of those who have already achieved the rank of field marshal. I think that if there is another war in which the army is needed, he will definitely become a field marshal."

Before going to the battlefield, General Soult had served as the superintendent of the Saint-Cyr Military Academy, and many of the generals in the Irish Independence Army were his students. So Soult's words were quite effective.

Following Soult's command, the Ireland began to advance on the British Army positions using tunnels. Tunnels were difficult to attack with ordinary weapons, but the Britain had a number of grenade launchers, as well as larger versions of the grenade launchers—mortars.

The grenade launcher, initially developed by the France, was, in a sense, a guerrilla warfare marvel. Naturally, they supplied a considerable number to the Irish Independence Army. During the fighting, it was inevitable that the Britain would capture such a widely deployed weapon. After using it, the Britain exclaimed, "Hmm, it's really effective, very powerful! France stuff is just good! We want some too!"

Then Britain began equipping its army with knock-off grenade launchers. These shameless Britain even sold them to other countries at low prices, forcing the France to lower their prices to maintain their market share. However, the profits from this weapon were significantly lower than expected. So, shouldn't they teach the Britain a lesson?

Besides copying the grenade launcher, the Britain also enlarged it, which led to the mortar.

Mortars and grenade launchers have very curved trajectories, allowing them to penetrate directly into trenches and kill the enemy inside. So when the Ireland tunnels began to approach the Britain defensive positions, the Britain mortars and grenade launchers rained down, immediately causing considerable losses to the Ireland who were digging.

Of course, the Ireland weren't without grenade launchers and mortars, and the France troops following behind them had even more. Naturally, they returned fire in kind. After a chaotic barrage, both sides suffered casualties. Overall, in terms of manpower losses, the Ireland suffered greater losses; however, in terms of weaponry, especially the number of damaged grenade launchers and mortars, the Britain suffered more. The reason is simple: the Britain fired first, and they controlled the high ground, providing better target designation, thus increasing their firing efficiency, resulting in more Ireland deaths.

As for why the Britain lost more grenade launchers and mortars, that's quite normal, because they used different propellants. The France had begun to widely use nitrocellulose-based propellants, although by today's standards, these propellants were not good enough in terms of energy and performance. However, compared to the brown powder still widely used by the British Army, they were far superior.

Because of their superior propellant technology, the France grenade launchers and mortars now have a significantly longer range than their Britain imitations. When the France began to retaliate based on the location of the black smoke billowing from the Britain grenade launchers and mortars, the Britain found that their mortars and grenade launchers couldn't reach their targets. Therefore, the Britain naturally suffered greater losses in this regard.

Under the cover of the France, the Ireland continued digging despite casualties, advancing the tunnel until it reached the vicinity of the minefield.

At night, the Ireland would emerge from their tunnels to attempt to clear the mines. The Britain, on the other hand, mounted searchlights on a hand-operated railcar. They would periodically turn them on, sweeping the minefield with the beams of light, then immediately turn them off and move to avoid potential bullets and shells. If their beams happened to illuminate the Ireland who had emerged to clear the mines, British Army bullets would rain down upon them.

In this confrontation, the Franco-Irish forces spent three nights clearing the first minefield, which was just ahead of the first line of Britain barbed wire.

Meanwhile, news of France's declaration of war against Britain, as well as the outcome of the Battle of the North Atlantic, had reached North America. This news came at just the right time, because the United States had just suffered another setback in the Northern theater. General Arthur Wellesley's army had once again defeated the United States Army near New York State and was advancing directly towards the outskirts of New York City.

Within the United States, some had already expressed the need to restore peace as soon as possible. Of course, these calls were immediately refuted by the angry United States people, especially the Southerners who had suffered repeated fires along the Britain coastline. They declared they would deal with the American collaborators "in the manner of patriots and warriors," to "shut their disgusting mouths forever." For a time, these voices fell silent. However, after a series of setbacks, these voices began to resurface. Even the president showed some wavering. But once this news was confirmed, the entire situation changed immediately.