Chapter 69: The Hague Convention
As the base camp of the British Army on the Eastern Front, Dordrecht has become a military town. The small town is packed with soldiers. In addition to the 6th and 10th Divisions from the mainland, there are also carbine infantry regiments from Australia and a cavalry detachment from India.
By the way, there is also a servant division formed by the Cape Colonial Government, but they are not trusted and can only undertake some simple logistical tasks.
It is conceivable how conspicuous a police force would be among tens of thousands of regular troops. Moreover, most of the members of this police force are Chinese.
Don't expect the white people to have high quality at this time. Rock was mentally prepared for this, but when faced with the unscrupulous insults of those white pigs, Rock still felt furious.
"Officer, are you here to arrest those Boers?"
"I hope you have enough handcuffs."
"The battlefield is not the place for you policemen. Go back to Cape Town and catch thieves."
These are still relatively civilized, the more disgusting ones are yet to come.
"Damn it, how can Cape Town allow yellow people to be police officers!"
"You'll be beaten to a pulp by the Boers!"
"Yellow monkey, go back to your mother's belly!"
…
Not to mention Rock, even Henry couldn't stand it anymore. Phyllis was more direct. She unladylikely gave each of those who spoke rudely a middle finger, which attracted all kinds of obscene words that were unbearable to the ears.
"Mr. Major, shouldn't these actions be stopped?" As a member of the commando team, Henry could no longer hold back. If there had not been a higher-level officer present, Henry would have retaliated.
"Captain Henry, they are all uneducated, please forgive their rudeness." The major didn't care and even seemed a little indulgent.
"Mr. Major, this is not an acceptable reason." Henry gritted his teeth and secretly wrote down the major's number and name, and he would settle the score later.
The major turned a deaf ear and took the commandos out of the town to change to a carriage. About half an hour later, the carriage arrived at a British artillery position.
This artillery position has more than 20 artillery pieces. The target of the artillery attack is a small hill opposite. Although the hill is not high, it is steep. This is the new mission of the commando: "Your new mission is to capture the Boer position before sunset. I believe you can do it. Look, you have defeated a Boer guerrilla before. Now, continue your good luck."
"Mr. Major, we are police officers and do not have the ability to undertake military missions." Henry could not believe his eyes. Sending a police force to attack the Boer position was obviously sending the commandos to their deaths.
It is hard to say whether they are dead or not, but there are many corpses in khaki uniforms on the hillside. They were left behind by the British troops who attacked before. It seems that the battle has been going on for a long time.
Although there was still some time before the offensive deadline set by the expeditionary force commander Lord Roberts, the fighting between the British and Boer forces did not stop during this period. Although it did not reach the battle level, small-scale battles continued.
Even a small-scale battle is not something the commandos can handle. Don't forget that the commandos are police officers, not regular troops.
"During the war, all armed forces in the Cape Colony must obey the command of the expeditionary headquarters , including you police officers in Cape Town." The major had a tough attitude, his hand already on the butt of the gun at his waist. It seemed that as long as Henry dared to disobey orders, the major would not mind using a gun to force Henry to go to the battlefield.
"Mr. Major , we can execute the order, but we need some intelligence, such as how many Boers are defending that mountain, what weapons they have, and how their training is going?" Rock did not allow Henry to continue arguing with the major. Such an argument was meaningless. The major obviously wanted the commandos to die. If Henry refused to execute the order, Rock suspected that the major would really use this as an excuse to shoot Henry.
Sounds incredible, right?
In fact, there were many incredible things on the battlefield. In the Second Boer War, 1,072 British officers and 20,870 soldiers were killed. Among them were many children of nobles, and some of them were much more noble than Henry.
When it comes to the casualty rate of aristocrats in wars, many people may not believe it. In the First World War, six million British men of working age participated in the war, and 12.5% of them died. How many aristocratic children died in the same period?
The answer is a staggering fifty percent!
"There is no intelligence. If there was intelligence, the war would have ended long ago." The major's expression softened a little, but his eyes were still cold: "You have half an hour to prepare."
Half an hour later, Rock ordered the commandos to take the time to rest, replenish their food, and organize their equipment. They should only carry supplies related to the battle and travel as lightly as possible.
"Fuck, this guy did it on purpose. He wants us to die." Henry and Rock whispered to each other, hoping that Rock could come up with a better idea.
"So what? If we all die in the battle, no one will know about this." Rock stuffed the bullet bag on his chest with bullets, and then took out the magazine partition from the Lee Enfield magazine. He could not hold back in this battle and had to go all out.
The magazine separator is a magical design that is used to isolate the magazine or magazine to prevent the bullets in the magazine from coming up.
This design came from the concerns of various countries' armies about soldiers wasting bullets. They believed that the rate of fire of bolt-action rifles using magazines or fixed magazines was too fast. For example, the Lee Enfield equipped by Rock and his men could fire 15 rounds per minute by a skilled shooter. With the magazine isolator, after the soldiers had used up the bullets in the chamber, they could not get replenishment from the magazine and had to take out a new bullet from the ammunition pouch to load.
It can be said that with the addition of a magazine divider, the Lee Enfield, which originally had a ten-round magazine design, became a single-shot rifle like the Henry Martini.
Rock doesn't like this device, not at all. He didn't care about it before, but now that it's time to fight to the death, he has to do it without reservation.
After throwing away the magazine partition, Rock thought for a moment and went to the major again: "Mr. Major, we need some dum-dum bullets."
"Dum bullet? No, no, no, we can't use dum bullets. This is clearly stipulated in the Hague Convention." The major was looking at his pocket watch without even raising his head.
No?
Believe in your ghost!
Rock didn't insist. If there was no grenades, then there was no grenades. Rock originally wanted to ask the major for some grenades, but it seemed that there would be no grenades.
I hope these artillery pieces are more reliable.
