Fox of France

In response to the war with the Irish, just before the war began, the British Parliament temporarily recalled the Governor, the Duke of Norfolk, to consult him about the current situation in Ireland.

"Gentlemen, first of all, please dispel the delusion of completely solving the Irish problem within a few months. Unless you are willing to give me more than half a million troops! Otherwise, don't think about solving the Irish problem in a few months!" Facing Those members of the House of Commons, the Duke of Norfolk replied bluntly.

"Mr. Governor, are the rebels in Ireland already this strong?" asked a member of Parliament.

"Now their so-called Irish Independence Army has at least more than 100,000 people, and the level of equipment is no less than that of our army, and the level of training is also quite high. With the current strength of our troops in Ireland, let alone go out to suppress the rebels, it is to guard The existing areas are very difficult. If I can’t give me some reinforcements immediately, I may have to give up some lesser strongholds to ensure the safety of several important cities.” The Duke of Norfolk replied.

"My lord, I should like to know why, under your administration, the strength of the Irish rebels has grown to such a dangerous extent?" asked a Whig fellow. The meaning of the accusation contained in this interrogation is very obvious.

"I am bound by the armistice agreement that you Whigs have always maintained." The Duke of Norfolk shot back angrily. "In the past few years, I have given warning more than once. In the armistice agreement When it was just completed, I warned you that a ceasefire would give the Irish rebels a precious rest and strength. Since then I have been reminding you almost every two months that if the French attack on the Irish cannot be stopped Smuggling, the Irish rebels will become stronger and stronger. But what about you? For a little order, for money, you dare not seriously block the passage of the Irish to obtain weapons. Everyone knows that the French go to Ireland every year What the hell is all that agricultural stuff being exported! Rifles called bird repellers, directional mines called herd boar repellers, and all sorts of other nonsense that fell to Irish rebels with your connivance on hand.

The current situation in Ireland is out of control. As the governor of Ireland, I am certainly willing to take some responsibility, but the main responsibility is not with me, but with you! As I said earlier, Ireland is already an active volcano that is about to erupt, but you won't even allow me to pour a glass of water into the crater. I ask you to relax your plundering of Ireland, and if necessary, to be gentle, but what about you? You are in Ireland, and you will have to collect taxes for the next century! You tied my hands and feet. Do you think you can put me on the crater and rely on my weight to suppress the surging magma below? I have also asked to resign more than once, but who of you is willing to take my place?

Now, you still have the nerve to ask me how the Irish rebels came to this point, isn't it all your fault? You actually have the face to ask me what's going on! "

The Duke of Norfolk seized the opportunity and scolded the entire government and the parliament, but in summary, it can basically be boiled down to the following points:

First, the situation in Ireland is very bad, very bad. Now it is no longer necessary to discuss how to suppress the rebels, but to consider how not to be wiped out by the rebels. To maintain the situation, you have to give me money and people, if you have nothing, just wait for Ireland to collapse!

Second, the deterioration of the situation in Ireland is entirely your responsibility. If it weren't for me, Ireland would have been finished. I only have credit, and the pot is all yours. If you don't take this pot, I won't do it! You please ask another wise man!

Third, the baby has been suffering all these years and has nothing to say. The baby is going to vent now, so listen up!

In short, after a slobbering consultation, the Duke of Norfolk got some of what he wanted.

Of course, only partly. Congress certainly couldn't give him half a million troops, because that would cost too much money. At this time, the United Kingdom is facing the threat of the French shipbuilding competition. How can it spend so much money on this aspect?

So the Duke of Norfolk got only a tenth of half a million—fifty thousand. But most of them are relatively elite troops. Congress also downgraded its goal in Ireland to maintaining the situation rather than eliminating the rebels.

In addition, Congress passed the blockade of the Irish coast and the destruction of Irish-controlled ports. While this is unlikely to completely block Irish support from the French, it does make the French less effective in supporting the Irish.

In fact, when the British and Irish rebels reached a temporary truce a few years ago, the Duke of Norfolk knew that the situation in Ireland would be difficult to say in the future. Since then, he has been preparing for this situation.

The Duke of Norfolk mainly carried out these efforts. First of all, he has been trying hard to lose the position of Governor of Ireland to anyone else, however, this effort has not been successful. Because others are not fools, who can't see that Ireland is not easy to do? So this effort by the Duke of Norfolk failed ignominiously.

So the Duke of Norfolk could only find a way to strengthen the defense.

At this time, the emergence of the railway provided a lot of help to the Duke of Norfolk. With the support of the Duke of Norfolk, railways were established between several important cities in Ireland. One of the most important is the railway between Dublin on the east coast and Galway on the west coast. This railway divides the whole of Ireland into two halves, the north and the south. Strategic position is very important.

Relying on this railway, the British can quickly mobilize troops, but the mobilization of the Irish Independence Army will be subject to various restrictions on this railway. Of course, in order to protect this railway, the Duke of Norfolk also tried his best.

Athlone, located in the center of this railway, has become the most important military stronghold in the whole of Ireland. After carefully studying the defense of the French army in Verdun, the Duke of Norfolk used similar methods to build it into the strongest stronghold. More than 6,000 regular British troops were stationed here.

At the same time, along the railway line, at intervals, there is a small stronghold with tight defense. A little farther away, there is a support point that can station a regiment of troops. Relying on the railroads, they could quickly support each other.

In addition, the Duke of Norfolk also prepared four special armored trains for this railway. These armored trains are battleships on the railway line. As long as more troops can be quickly filled in the UK, the Duke of Norfolk feels that he can still hold on for a while. Of course, the premise is that the French will not come up with any bad tricks again.

In addition to this railway, railways were also built between Dublin and some strongholds around it to improve the rapid response capabilities of the British army. So since then, the ground battles in Ireland have basically revolved around the railway.

The Irish Independence Army dared to issue an ultimatum to the British at this time, and naturally they had certain confidence in attacking the British railway line. A long-standing weakness of the Irish Army has been the lack of heavy firepower. Therefore, it is very weak when attacking tough times.

Although the Irish introduced explosive kits, blasting tubes, and even flying mine cannons and projectiles from the French, these things are actually not easy to use when attacking fortifications. Explosive packs and blasting tubes have to be close to the face to be used, and to rush up, many times have to pay a very large sacrifice.

As for the flying thunder cannon, the range is quite limited, the accuracy is also very problematic, and the preparation time is too long, especially after the French developed the electric light, the British imported a lot of high-power searchlights from France, which made the Irish use At night, it becomes very difficult to deploy the Thunder Cannon at close range.

As for the grenade, that thing is too weak and basically has no penetrating power. It is almost useless against bunkers and the like. As for conventional artillery, the weight is too large, and mobility is a problem, and it is also inconvenient to use in anti-mopping operations that require frequent movements. Coupled with the high price, the French are not very affordable. So until the start of the war, there were still very few serious cannons in the hands of the Independent Army.

But that doesn't mean the Independence Army doesn't have artillery. The French always like to experiment with some new concept weapons for the Irish. This time is no exception. Not so long ago, a brand new "infantry cannon" was delivered to the Irish.

This is a metal tube with a relatively slender tripod, which looks very simple in structure. The French gave it a name, called "Gustav infantry gun".

Mr. Noadier de Villefort, the military adviser, introduced this "cannon" to the fighters of the Independent Army in this way:

"The 'Gustav infantry gun' was the world's first recoilless cannon, and the world's first true infantry gun, because it could be carried around by a few infantrymen. It could be mounted on a tripod It can be shot directly on the shoulder to ensure shooting accuracy, but it can even be carried directly on the shoulder to launch in an emergency.

The 84mm shells it fires are very effective against various fortresses. Of course, the shooting range of this thing is relatively short, and the direct shooting distance is only about 400 meters. So when using it, you have also entered the range of the enemy's rifle. "

"Four hundred meters, even if an elephant is placed there, the British can't hit it." A soldier said disapprovingly.

"This cannon has no recoil? How is that possible? Doesn't it conform to Newton's third law of motion?" asked Captain Bob.

"It's not completely without recoil, it's just relatively small." Noadier replied, "There is a nozzle at the rear of this gun. When the shell is fired, a part of the gunpowder gas will be ejected from the rear, thus producing a reverse force. The recoil force offsets the main recoil force when firing the shell, so there is no recoil force. Of course, this also means that when the gun is fired, no one can be behind, otherwise, the people behind will become roast goose In addition, this cannon cannot be fired in a closed space. When firing, there must be no walls or steep slopes behind it, otherwise the rebounding flames will turn the gunner into a roast goose."

Compared with the authentic Gustav recoilless guns of later generations, the legal recoilless guns of this era are much worse in performance. Later generations of Gustav recoilless guns used titanium alloy barrels and carbon fiber winding technology, making the empty weight of this gun only 6.6 kg.

But in this era, there are no such things, so the barrel of the French "Gustav" is a solid steel pipe, and because the quality of the steel cannot be compared with that of later generations, it has to be slightly thicker. Then, the gap between the processing technology level of the tail nozzle and the later generations is also obvious, so the tail nozzle is also a lot heavier. Finally, the whole gun weighs more than 30 kilograms only for the gun body. So although theoretically this gun can be fired on the shoulder, if you are not a strong man, you really can't carry it. Whenever possible, it is best to use a tripod.

Therefore, this gun needs a lot of personnel, two people who take turns carrying the barrel, one person carrying a tripod, and three people carrying shells, plus four people responsible for protection, exactly one squad. It can be regarded as redefining the squad weapon.

However, in the eyes of people in this era, this is not a shortcoming at all—such a light cannon, even if it can only hit 400 meters directly, it is still a weapon like a dream. As for the people who say that one gun is equipped with one squad, isn't that the norm?

What really troubles the Irish is that the shells of this cannon are too expensive. Although considering that the Irish have no money, and considering the strategic significance of supporting the liberation of the Irish people, when the Irish Independence Army orders weapons from the French, the price they can get is even higher than when the French army buys these things themselves The price you can get is lower. But the price of this kind of shell with trigger fuze is still too expensive. So much so that when President Russell learned of the price of the shells of this cannon, he still sighed like this:

"This cannonball is really, really more expensive than a carriage with four horses attached. Just think about it, once the cannonball goes down, the carriage of the same type will fly away. If it misses, it will really make people feel distressed .”

Russell even sighed like this, let alone the combat troops. They even stipulated that if the gunner misses the target and misses the target during combat, the gunner will be punished with demerits. It is said that some commanders even sighed after learning the price of this thing: "This thing is so precious, when you can use explosives to blast the barrel, try to use the explosives and the blasting barrel."