Volume 4: Hot! The whole world is a warring state Chapter 788: End of the Bangladesh Campaign
"Boom~" A series of huge explosions continued to sound, completely shattering and powdering the Allied soldiers who entered the center of the explosion. At the same time, it also made the Allied commander Durrenyi, who was witnessing all this not far behind, completely lose the spirit in his eyes.
It was December 4, 1647, and three full days had passed since the Ming Dynasty launched its all-out attack.
During these three days, the entire battlefield situation changed dramatically.
In the northeast of the subcontinent, the Boris Group, which originally had 20 divisions and 300,000 troops, had the smoothest retreat: in the months-long offensive and defensive battle with Cao Wenzhao, because it was the defending party, the Boris Group caused about 50,000 casualties to Cao Wenzhao, while its own losses were only more than 20,000. After receiving the telegram , Boris made a prompt decision and left three divisions behind to cover the rear. The order he gave to the commanders of these three divisions was that as long as you rely on the defense line and resist for 48 hours, you can surrender. As long as I can return to Istanbul, I will definitely protect your families.
Such a determined effort to survive enabled him to lead more than 200,000 Ottoman troops to retreat smoothly in an organized manner.
In Dhaka and Calcutta, Frederick and Cristiano did not want to cut off their rear to survive, but the key point was: although there were many Arabs and Slavs in the army commanded by Boris, the Ottomans were the majority. However, the armies of these two people were not dominated by any ethnic group! At this time, knowing that they would be annihilated if they stayed behind, no one was willing to obey the order to stay behind - it was different from the past when everyone knew that the Patna group was behind them, and even if they were temporarily surrounded, there would definitely be reinforcements to rescue them. Now everyone knows that there are absolutely no reinforcements! Staying behind would definitely mean death!
In short, it is not impossible to cover the rear and defend the city. But it is not possible to cover the rear and defend the city without any hope!
Therefore, after receiving Durrenyi's order, the two generals could only let all the troops hold together and retreat collectively - there was no point leaving the rear guard troops to defend the city. Unlike Boris's defense line which was a single line, the two isolated cities of Dhaka and Kolkata were just two points, and the Ming army could completely surround them without attacking.
However, although it was called a collective retreat, not long after leaving the city, everyone started the track and field competition, and then the entire formation was in chaos.
Of course, the two groups of coalition forces completely withdrew from the city defense fortifications, which did save the Ming army the manpower to surround and guard. However, the enemy's running around so much also forced Huang Degong and Luo Xiong to separate their troops and pursue them separately. Then, the two groups of the Ming army also became chaotic.
Fortunately, at this time, the Ming soldiers were the ones who were chasing, so seeing the enemy often meant military merit. For the allied soldiers, they were the ones who were fleeing, and what they hoped most was that their allies would fight to the death with the enemy while they could escape safely. Therefore, when countless small encounters occurred, the morale of the soldiers on both sides was very different.
The Ganges Delta is not only a place with numerous rivers and ponds, but also has dense vegetation. During these three days, the two sides, one chasing the other, were often in dense jungles, and both sides only discovered each other after they were within a distance of 100 to 200 meters. Therefore, in addition to the roar of submachine guns, hand-to-hand combat between the two sides has also occurred frequently in recent days.
At this time, the Luo Xiong group, which had a separate division of Jurchen soldiers, clearly had the upper hand. In three days, this Jurchen division defeated several European coalition forces and had reached the forefront of all Ming troops and even the entire coalition's Dhaka group. The division commander, Chu Yinghan's eldest son Du Du, took his time to find a forest and set up an ambush...
However, during these three days, the greatest results were achieved not on the fiercely fought northern front, but on the southern front where no one invested too many troops.
On the 1st, after receiving Turenne's telegram, Condé was shocked and quickly led his troops to retreat. Since he was French and had six French divisions under his command, he cruelly let two French divisions from the Grand Duchy of Paris to cover the rear. As a result, the two French divisions, which were authorized by Louis XIII, voluntarily gave up their defense line shortly after he led the main force to retreat.
Then, on the night of December 2, Toyotomi Munhide led the coalition forces of five countries and directly caught up with the main force of Condé, which was almost completely unprepared because it had not received any news of the defeat of the rearguard troops... A large number of the coalition's southern troops were annihilated, and Condé could only take his guard regiment, abandon all the baggage, and rush westward, hoping to catch up with the troops that had originally come from the north to support him, but had now retreated westward in advance and were preparing to board the ship to return north.
On the morning of the 3rd, Zhu Youdong led 20 divisions of fresh troops from Yangon to land in Calcutta. The reinforcements from Kaiyang covered the entire Ganges Delta with millions of Ming troops. The morale of the Ming soldiers was high, and they ran . The Calcutta cluster of the coalition forces was also gradually divided and surrounded by the Ming army, which had an absolute advantage in numbers.
By the 4th, the only one who could still control the troops and unite the hundreds of thousands of people under his command into a whole was Durren.
However, although Durenne also made a move to cut off his tail and survive, leaving a full six divisions out of the twenty divisions to block the two mountain passes of Gujaiburi and Laurkra. But when he led the fourteen divisions to the north, he was surprised to find that their retreat was also cut off by the Ming army.
Of course, although Zuo Menggeng had a special forces division, it only had 20,000 people. Facing the enemy's huge group of 210,000 people, a frontal interception was absolutely impossible: in fact, after Durenni's troops arrived here on the 2nd, Zuo Menggeng's division was forced to retreat before even holding out for 24 hours.
However, after Zuo Menggeng gave up the front line of defense, the special forces division of the Ming Dynasty began to show its real power in the densely forested mountains. They fired cold guns in the east and dropped bombs in the west, making the coalition soldiers who were eager to retreat miserable. On December 4, they ran to the troops in the north and robbed a supply team that was originally scheduled to transport supplies to Gujaipuri and Laurkra in the south from Patna.
Then Zuo Menggeng unceremoniously buried hundreds of shells that he had seized, enough for a division's artillery regiment to conduct three rounds of bombardment, on the main traffic artery. When the enemy soldiers passed by, he set off a huge firework...
"Sir, our soldiers have entered the nearby forest and I believe we will soon find the enemy who killed our soldiers."
"Hey, Churchill, do you believe this? These cunning, despicable, shameless and brutal Orientals have become the nightmare of our soldiers in the past three days. In three days, our army has only advanced less than 60 kilometers northward from two mountain passes. If this continues, we will be surrounded by the enemy troops coming from the lower reaches of the Ganges."
"Sir, Generals Frederis and Christiano are still leading their troops in the fight. I don't think the enemy will reach Patna before us."
"I hope so. Alas, the southern front is finished, and the northern front is also more than half finished. Our only hope for this battle is Patna." At this point, Durenne pulled his hair anxiously and said, "Damn Li Yangeng, he actually made His Majesty and I misjudge and transferred the last strategic reserve, a full 20 divisions, to the south. Now, when we, Calcutta, Dhaka and even Dongge Pass need a troop to support us from behind, we can't transfer even a single troop! God, how I wish there were troops coming from Patna at this time, even an Indian division would be fine! Bastard, bastard, bastard, if I can go back to Agra, I will definitely kill Li Yongfang's entire family!"
"Your Excellency!" Before Churchill, who had just been promoted to adjutant, could respond, a communications officer came running over in a hurry: "Major General Tiago of Gujaiburi Pass sent a telegram."
"Lieutenant Colonel, please read it to me directly."
"Yes, the Gujaipuri defense line has been breached by the enemy's fierce attack regardless of casualties. Our army will fight to the last moment. Long live the alliance!"
"Putain!"
Unfortunately, before the French curse word was finished, another communications officer came running in. Durenni, who had already given up, waved his hand and said, "Read it!"
"His Majesty Philip has sent a telegram to Henry. The enemy's Khyber Group has moved south with all its divisions, and Lahore has already fallen. Since 20 of our divisions have been transferred to the southern part of the peninsula, and Wallenstein's ten Indian divisions and ten Ottoman divisions on the west side of the Hindu Kush Mountains cannot arrive in time, the Delhi Group, which only has 20 divisions (including five Indian divisions), is facing a huge crisis. I will have a decisive battle with the enemy near Delhi, but I estimate that I can only buy you about ten days at most. If you cannot lead your troops to Delhi within ten days, I will be forced to retreat alone!"
"It's over." After hearing Philip's telegram, Durenny stood there in a daze for a while, and then his whole body completely "dissolved".
"Your Mightiness!"
"Sir, we have more than 200,000 people in our group and we still need your command. Please hold on."
"It's no use." When he spoke again, Durreni's voice was already tearful: "I was wrong, so wrong. I shouldn't have sent the Patna Group's troops into Orissa, and I shouldn't have allowed His Majesty to withdraw 20 elite divisions to the south. Now, facing the siege of more than 1.5 million enemy troops, we don't have any mobility at all.
Now, the Delhi Group, which has lost half of its strength, will definitely not be able to stop Sun Chuanting, who annihilated the Ottoman heavy army in Central Asia. Ladies and Gentlemen, now we have lost Dhaka and Calcutta, which means we have lost the lower reaches of the Ganges. And if your Majesty's Delhi Group is defeated, we will lose the upper reaches of the Ganges. If we lose both the upper and lower reaches, and we have suffered heavy losses in our forces, what is the point of going to Patna in the middle reaches? "
"Sir, why don't we go directly across the middle of the peninsula to Bombay instead of Patna?"
"Hmm?" After hearing Churchill's idea, Durreny thought about it for a while and quickly recovered his spirits: "John, your idea is good. Although many people will die if we cross the middle of the peninsula without any supplies, it is better than being wiped out. But in this way, the Dhaka Cluster, Calcutta Cluster, and even the Ottoman Boris Cluster will be completely finished."
“Your Excellency, I suggest that we do not notify these three clusters, at least for the time being.”
"That's... okay." After nodding heavily, Durreny waved his hand and said, "Bring me and His Majesty Philip's special code book, and tell His Majesty our plan. His army is less than half of ours, even if we include the Indians. He must not take the risk of defending Delhi for us. Retreat, and let's talk about the rest after we all retreat to Mumbai."
"yes!"
Glancing at the many adjutants and staff officers around him who were clearly looking much more relaxed, Durrenyi gave a bitter smile and said, "Everyone, our battle in India is almost over."
