My Italy - Chapter 667 Battle of Tunisia (4)

In the battle of Shah’al, the 15th Infantry Division defeated two divisions of the French colonial army stationed in Shah’al with a strength of 14,000 troops. Among them, the 15th Division killed and wounded 13,000 people in total, and seized more than 5,000 guns of various types, 27 artillery pieces, and 27 tons of various ammunition.

For this victory, the officers and soldiers of the 15th Infantry Division also suffered more than 600 casualties. After weighing the quality of the French army in the Tunisian colony, leaving a regiment to clean the battlefield and guard the prisoners, they immediately marched towards Sfax non-stop.

The actions of the 15th Division caused the defeated army of Shaal to collapse. They were originally preparing to retreat to Sfax, but under the constant pursuit of the 15th Division, the retreating colonial army collapsed. These defeated colonial troops were either captured by the leading troops of the pursuing 15th Division, or they took advantage of the opportunity to flee. By the time they retreated to Sfax, only more than a thousand people remained. This is because there are too many French officers, which makes it impossible for some people to escape.

This gave Colonel Brogg, as the commander of the Sfax garrison and commander of the Tunisian First Division, a huge headache.

Now he has more than 8,000 people in his hands, and the defeated Shah’al defenders only have more than 9,000 soldiers. Moreover, these defeated troops have almost lost all their weapons.

In addition, after listening to the battle report from the Shaal garrison, I had doubts about how long Sfax could be defended.

However, despite his doubts, Sfax must guard, otherwise the military court will never spare him.

However, although the place needs to be defended, how to defend it is a problem.

Because Sfax is the second largest city in Tunisia, the city currently has a population of 40,000 people and an urban area of ​​4.3 square kilometers. In addition, it is also the main olive producing area in Tunisia. It has tens of thousands of the world’s largest olive trees and is also the center of Tunisia’s oil industry. There are various handicraft workshops in the city, and the smell of olive oil is in the air.

The 9,000 men in the hands of Colonel Brogg can barely defend it, but it will make retreat difficult.

However, Colonel Brogg was still capable. After some consideration, he decided to abandon the peripheral defense, gather his troops inside the city, and send another regiment to defend in the north outside the city to retain his own retreat.

The local residents in Sfax City, after seeing that this place was about to become a battlefield, quickly fled this land of right and wrong with their families. They did not dare to come back until the battle was over.

The next day, after most of the 15th Infantry Division arrived, Division Commander Kasapa smiled after seeing the enemy’s defensive deployment. This is a hit-and-run formation, and he knows what to do.

“Order the artillery to fire at the enemy’s troops outside the city with all their strength, and hit three bases first. In addition, order the Second Regiment to deploy two battalions to prepare for the attack on the enemy’s troops in the northern suburbs.”

Under Casapa’s order, 72 75 and 105 mm artillery pieces (36 75 and 36 105) of the 15th Division Artillery Reinforcement Regiment opened fire on the French positions on the northern outskirts of Sfax.

The civil fortifications could not withstand the blows of 105mm artillery shells, and the number of 72 artillery pieces made the officers and soldiers of the Tunisian Division in the northern suburbs of the city complain endlessly. In front of them, thousands of Italian officers and soldiers were making preparations for the attack.

Looking at the enemy positions covered by artillery fire, Kasapa looked at the bombed enemy positions with satisfaction. Now that he has made his move, it depends on whether the commander of the guard army can defend his retreat.

At the northern suburbs position, facing the eagerly watching Italian army, and thinking of the performance in Shah’al since yesterday, the garrison commander immediately sent a message for help.

As the commander of Sfax, Brog discovered the options given to him by the Italians at the beginning of the bombardment. The first group guaranteed to retreat outside the city should be saved?

How to save?

In fact, the best way is to counterattack with artillery and engage in an artillery battle. It’s just that this method is useless for the Tunisian First Infantry Division, because this division only has one artillery battalion, and it is equipped with 18 artillery pieces. It is impossible to engage in an artillery battle with several times the number of enemies. This is completely suicidal. Although the artillery battalion is composed of elite local officers and soldiers, there are too few artillery, which can only be used at key points.

Looking at the airship suspended in the sky, Blog did not even dare to mention the idea of ​​an artillery battle.

So now there is only one way, and that is to increase troops so that the position can maintain sufficient telegraph strength. Then he ordered a battalion from each of the 3rd and 4th regiments to form reinforcements, and immediately reinforced the 1st regiment in the northern suburbs.

One more thing to say here is that the French colonial troops were also organized into one division, two brigades, four regiments and twelve battalions, but the number was much smaller.

Every move of the defenders was clearly observed by the airship in the sky. It only took three minutes for Kasapa to know about it before even the reinforcements set off.

“I want to take the city today.”

After figuring out the temperament and weaknesses of his opponent, Major General Kasapa proudly stated that he would win Sfax today, quite like an old man talking about being a teenager.

But even if you dare to make such remarks, you must have some ability. If it comes to excellent commanders, Kasapa is definitely afraid to do any tricks, but this person’s level seems to him to be a bit reluctant as a division commander.

At this time, I saw him giving orders. “Order all the 105mm artillery in the artillery regiment to be ready, and wait until enemy reinforcements arrive in the northern suburbs to fire at Sfax. After the artillery ceases fire, the first regiment will be responsible for launching the main attack from the south, and the second regiment will conduct containment from the west, and the northern suburbs Our army also needs to launch a diversionary attack, and all units must move fiercely without giving the enemy time to react. “

Major General Kasapa’s order was quickly conveyed to all ministries, and just after the enemy reinforcements arrived in the northern suburbs, suddenly all the 105mm artillery of the artillery regiment fired rapidly in the direction reported by the airship.

Then a burst of dense explosions came from everywhere in the city, and the shells seemed to have eyes, exploding specifically at the place where the French troops were stationed. Considering the helpless airships overhead, the morale of these French troops was further reduced.

“All attacks!”

Under the orders of Captain Bogado, the officers and soldiers of the main attacking regiment roared and attacked the city of Sfax.

At the same time, the Second Regiment also launched an attack from the west, and in the northern suburbs, two battalions of Italian troops were also eager to try.

For a time, the 15th Division launched an attack across the entire line of Sfax.

Facing the attack of the Italian army, Brogg, as the commander of the garrison, was a little confused. There was only a little more than one regiment in the city. At this time, it became a problem for him whether to call back the reinforcements. However, in the end, he was concerned about the safety of his retreat and had no choice but to not bring back the reinforcements.

Blog’s Difficulty: The officers and soldiers of the 15th Division as your opponent do not understand each other. At this time, the officers and soldiers of the 15th Division are storming the opponent’s position.

“Enemy reinforcements are coming from the right, machine guns are suppressing them. Take out the smoke grenades and hit the smoke.”

Following the officer’s order, the two machine guns in the company opened fire immediately. Their intensive firepower suppressed the Tunisian soldiers on the right and could not raise their heads.

Then several smoke bombs were thrown into the street, and the smoke filled the street. Then the smoke spread and the whole street was filled with smoke. It was impossible to see people ten meters away. This made the Tunisian soldiers hiding behind the sandbags panic. Face blank.

The French officer leading the team was dumbfounded when he saw this scene. There are also smoke grenades?

This is all the credit of a certain time traveler. The Italian Army successfully developed smoke bombs, a weapon for urban warfare, in 1909, but due to confidentiality reasons, it did not equip the troops on a large scale until the war started.

Although the garrison officer didn’t understand why there were still smoking grenades, he knew that his position was dangerous.

“Fire, fire now.”

Under the officer’s order, the soldiers on the garrison position could only fire randomly at the smoke. However, no matter how they fired, the smoke continued to expand and was approaching them step by step.

Just as the French officer was thinking about what to do next, a whistle suddenly sounded, and a bunch of grenades flew towards the position in the smoke.

“No, be careful with grenades.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a burst of dense explosions sounded from the position, and a large piece fell on the position in an instant, causing the remaining soldiers to die. At this time, a large number of enemies suddenly rushed out of the smoke. They rushed into the position holding rifles with bayonets. A killing is inevitable next.

Battles like this can be seen everywhere in Sfax. Smoke grenades, grenades, machine guns, and mortars have become the weapons used by Italian soldiers in street fighting. This also caused the French army to retreat steadily in the city of Sfax, leaving the commander Colonel Brogg at a loss. Finally, he waited until the sun set, and took advantage of the night to escape to Luctay with the defenders.

Although he failed to annihilate the Tunisian First Division, he captured Sfax in just one day, which made Major General Kasapa very high-spirited. He led the 15th Division to defeat three enemy divisions in a row. Although they were all colonial divisions, they were all conquered in one day, which was enough for him and the officers and soldiers of the 15th Division to show up.

“Send a telegram to the army commander and tell them that our division has captured Sfax ahead of schedule.”

With this telegram, the pace of the Tunisian campaign accelerated.