Chapter 33: The Battle of Card City (2)

  The Australian troops took more than a dozen hours to arrive at the blocking position ten kilometers away from Kalgoorlie, perhaps because they were worried about the strong firepower of the Type 59 tanks, and got off the train sixty kilometers away from the city, choosing to advance on foot. This gave Jiang Yunzhi enough time to organize the guard team's 102nd regiment to dig trenches and build positions. Because within a ten-kilometer controllable range of the division base, Zhong Yi also ordered the Heavenly Birds to build a machine gun bunker every twenty meters on the position, greatly strengthening the firepower of the local troops.

  The 102 battalion was equipped with portable 60mm mortars and 100mm towed mortars, which were not much inferior in heavy firepower. Moreover, Zhong Yi utilized the dozen or so hours to urgently produce four Type 59 tanks from the factory. Although the division had already built four tank factories, the production cycle of the Type 59 tank was still over three hours. Jiang Yunzhi planned to use these few precious vehicles as a counterattack force.

  What can be done has been done, the rest of the time is to do one's duty and listen to fate! But Zhong Yi had no intention of staying in the control room of the base to worry about the holographic screen, he chose to drink instead! It sounds a bit ridiculous, the frontline soldiers are about to shed blood and sacrifice, but the highest commander goes drinking?

  Yes, Zhong Yi was indeed drinking wine, grasping a large red wine bottle, gulping down the red wine like beer, and the wine friend sitting opposite him was... He Bal.

  The two men looked somewhat disheveled, Hebral had already taken off the outer jacket of his military uniform and was only wearing a light green shirt with two buttons undone, revealing a patch of dark chest hair. His hand also held an empty red wine bottle, "Commander, going from prisoner to brother is the craziest thing I've experienced in my life! I know you won't trust me again, but..."

  "Bullshit, who told you I don't trust you anymore? If there's one white person in all of Australia that can make me believe again, it's gotta be you!" As he spoke, Zhong Yi seemed a bit drunk, without even opening his eyes.

  Hebal, who had already stood up, heard Zhong Yi's words and his tall figure swayed slightly. "Commander, I'm leaving!"

  Upon hearing this, Zhong Yi finally managed to open his eyes with great effort and stared at Hebal, "Button up your shirt!"

  Suddenly, a seemingly irrelevant sentence popped out, but Hebal was very serious about tying the two buttons, and then gave a military salute! Picked up the coat on the chair, turned his head and left! Zhong Yi didn't move, holding that big wine bottle, leaning against the table.

  Hebal, who had walked a long way, suddenly stopped and shouted loudly: "Zhong, are we still brothers?"

  "Cut the crap, remember to come back alive!" He muttered under his breath, not knowing if Hebal had heard him. Zhong Yi raised the wine bottle and took a big swig!

  ……

  The battle outside the city had already begun, and an Australian military officer was shocked to see the faces of indigenous people under the dark green helmets through his monocular telescope. When did the Aboriginal Australians become brave enough to block the advance of the Federal Army? However, his surprised expression didn't last long, as he became a living target in the eyes of dozens of soldiers from the guard company. Without an order, others simply placed the Australian officer's head at the center of their 10x scope. Only Qian Zhihao, as the company commander responsible for this position, pulled the trigger, and a beautiful blood-red flower bloomed in the scopes of all the snipers.

  Qian Zhihao spat out the grass root in his mouth with a "plop" sound, and loudly said in front of the local soldiers who were gazing at him with admiration, "Looking for death! Everyone listen up, whoever dares to come out and pretend to be a hero again will not be tolerated. Pretending to be a hero is selling old goods, and we will put an end to it. This is our responsibility as a blocking hand."

  The sound of the shot seemed to be the signal for the Australian troops to launch an attack, at least one battalion of infantry appeared in sight, crouching and holding Lee-Enfield rifles, many native soldiers were ready to start firing, but the Red Guards beside them shouted loudly: "Take cover!"

  As soon as the words fell, a "chirp——chirp——" sound came from the sky, and some native soldiers were still unclear, but the intense explosion immediately made all the soldiers in the trench feel the earth shaking. In the late stages of World War I, the British army often launched a second artillery attack when troops were preparing to charge, which had high requirements for artillerymen, but the effect was quite good. The German army thought the artillery attack was over and quickly ran back to their positions to prepare for counterattacks, only to suffer heavy casualties under the second artillery attack, while also inadvertently covering up the infantry's charge. This time, the Australian army attacking Karguly City was indeed elite, but they were not skilled enough, changing the British tactic of a second artillery attack during a charge to simultaneous artillery fire, although the timing of the artillery fire became even more sudden, but because there were no parameters for the first artillery fire, only direct aiming could be used, resulting in a significant decrease in accuracy.

  Jiang Yunzhi organized the soldiers to dig curved trenches, which provided good protection for the soldiers during the bombardment. Unless the shells fell directly into the trench, they would only cover the soldiers' bodies with a thick layer of sand. However, due to the local soldiers' lack of experience, some casualties still occurred during this bombardment. All the wounded were Red Guards who failed to take cover after being shouted at.

  "Prepare to fire!" The trenches rang out with another shout! This sudden bombardment could only last for one or two rounds, and when the soldiers on their own side approached the position, it was easy to cause friendly fire. So, in the moment when the cannon fire stopped, it was the real moment of close combat between the infantry of both sides. More than a hundred Guardsmen were scattered all over, each responsible for directing the native soldiers to follow them and make corresponding tactical movements. The automatic rifles were all set to "1" position, as continuous firing would only waste bullets in this kind of defensive battle.

  The Australian troops soon entered the two hundred meter range, and the wide-brimmed Brodie helmets showed that it was a traditional British army. The native soldiers who had never fired a shot in actual combat were even more tense, with the federal soldiers wearing round steel helmets, they had killed thousands of their own people, killing their tribes and driving them out of their homes. How many tribal warriors rose up to resist, only to lie under their rifles? Now could they fight back against them? Some timid ones found that their legs were trembling uncontrollably, unable to even think about running away.

  The Red Guards were shouting non-stop, "Don't rush, wait for the order to fire, aim carefully!" But the fear of over a hundred years cannot be forgotten with just a few days of training and a gun in hand. The snipers had already started firing on their own, with ten optical scopes, point-blank shots within 200 meters were not difficult at all for these marksmen, headshots were their favorite target, at this distance the bullets from the Type 56 assault rifle could penetrate 6mm steel plates, Brodie helmets couldn't stop the blossoming of death's flowers.