Chapter 428: The Bombing

Governor Alexander and Ambassador Reynaud soon realized how the European powers fought and how cruel the war in Europe was.

Before the Australasian army attacked Batavia, the Australasian navy and air force bombed Batavia and nearby areas for several hours, forcing the Dutch army to hide in their defensive positions, and no one dared to show their heads to fight back.

When the enemy's bombing calmed down, Governor Alexander and the Dutch army were surprised to find that the Australasian army was not far from Batavia. They had successfully landed during the bombing and were close to Batavia.

Just as Governor Alexander planned to order his soldiers to attack and repel the Australasians, the enemy soon taught Governor Alexander a lesson.

Compared with the firepower of the navy and air force, the number of artillery equipped by the Australasian army was not weak at all, and they could even use a large number of rapid-fire guns to cause more intensive bombing on the defenders of Batavia.

In order to cope with such engineering conditions, the First Division carried a total of thousands of artillery pieces, including hundreds of large-caliber artillery pieces and numerous small and medium-caliber artillery pieces.

The previous naval and air force bombings had already dealt a heavy blow to Batavia's city defenses, and the army's dense small and medium-caliber artillery became the death warrant of the Dutch army.

The solid Liege Fortress could not hold out for long under the German bombardment, let alone Batavia, which had insufficient city defense.

Although Batavia had a total population of millions, it was the largest city in the entire Dutch East Indies.

But most of the residents here were indigenous people, and there were only hundreds of thousands of real Dutch immigrants and mixed-race people, less than one-tenth of the total population.

The Australasian army quickly approached Batavia, and of course, the indigenous army took the lead.

This was a test of the Australasian army for the Dutch army, testing the firepower configuration of the Dutch defenders, and looking for areas with weaker defenses in Batavia.

Under the cover of a large number of artillery, 20,000 natives launched an attack on the defense line of Batavia.

There are two lines of defense outside the city of Batavia. The first line of defense has more than 30,000 native defenders, and the second line of defense has more than 10,000 Dutch troops and more than 10,000 native defenders.

In order to build these two lines of defense, Governor Alexander mobilized almost all the troops near Batavia, which also means that in addition to these two lines of defense, the Dutch East Indies has no means of resistance in the Batavia area.

In the previous two rounds of bombing, a large number of casualties were caused to the native army and regular army of the Dutch East Indies.

In particular, weapons such as airplanes that can accurately drop bombs have caused huge casualties to the Dutch side, whose defensive positions were not very strong.

Soon, 20,000 colonial troops collided with the first line of defense in Batavia. Although the Dutch army has an advantage in numbers, the firearms equipped by the Dutch natives are obviously not comparable to the colonial troops in Australasia, not to mention that these colonial troops have sufficient firepower support.

Some natives were often covered by firepower from the rear as soon as they showed their heads, and some even huddled in their positions and dared not show their heads at all, fearing the bombing of Australasia.

In fact, this is understandable. After all, the Netherlands has not participated in large-scale wars for a long time. The combat effectiveness of the Dutch East Indies Army is a problem, not to mention these colonial armies composed of natives.

These colonial armies still have a certain combat effectiveness when facing unarmed natives, but if they are faced with the better-equipped Australasian colonial army, how much combat effectiveness they can exert is also a problem.

You know, although the colonial forces of both sides are composed of natives, there are still obvious differences in the treatment of these natives by both sides.

On the Australasia side, Arthur has publicly promised that after the war, all the native soldiers and their families who participated in the war will be gently repatriated, and they will be given enough travel expenses.

This also means that they do not have to continue to be free labor in Australasia, and they can regain their freedom in other regions.

But the Dutch colonial army is different. Although the Netherlands is a weaker country, the Dutch attitude towards the natives is still relatively cruel.

Even though the Dutch ruled this area for hundreds of years and a large number of Dutch and indigenous mixed-race people were born, it certainly did not prevent the Dutch from being indifferent and discriminating against these indigenous people.

Even if these indigenous troops fought desperately for the Netherlands, they could only get a little reward at most, and it was impossible to regain their freedom.

The best outcome for the Dutch colonial troops was to become an ordinary indigenous after the end of their service, enduring the exploitation of the Dutch, but barely able to make a living.

Comparing the two, it goes without saying who can work harder. At least the discipline of the Australasian colonial troops was still very good, and with the command of Australasian officers, they could also exert a certain combat effectiveness.

However, after facing the bombardment of Australasia, some indigenous soldiers of the Dutch colonial army seemed a little nervous, and some even dared not show their heads.

This resulted in only a very small part of the 30,000 troops, even less than 10,000, fighting the Australasian army under fire.

Of the remaining 20,000 people, some did not even dare to show their heads, while others occasionally showed their heads and fired a few shots randomly. How could they guarantee accuracy in such a situation?

Soon, the Australasian colonial troops rushed to the Dutch positions, and the Dutch colonial troops started a hand-to-hand fight.

How can I describe the physical fights between the natives? It was a bit eye-catching. Some of the natives even used dirty tricks such as digging their eyes and kicking their crotch legs, completely forgetting that the bayonets on their rifles would be more deadly.

However, this is not bad news for Australasia. If we only look at the physical fitness of the natives, the physical fitness of the natives in Australasia is actually better.

This is not nonsense. There is not much difference between the natives in Australasia and the natives in the Netherlands, but the difference between the colonial forces of both sides is quite huge.

Arthur has always been very generous to the army. Even if the colonial forces are only composed of natives, they can get a meal of meat and fruit every day, so that these native soldiers can recover their physical strength and strengthen their physique.

After all, the Australian and New Zealand regions of Australasia are famous livestock areas. Under the premise that there is no shortage of beef and mutton, it is nothing to give some to these native soldiers.

This also led to the fact that these native soldiers have become much stronger after reasonable training, and look stronger than the native soldiers in the Netherlands.

As for the Dutch soldiers, although the treatment of the native soldiers was better than that of the ordinary natives, it was not so good that they could eat meat and fruit every day.

Most of the income of the Dutch East Indies was transported to the Netherlands. The colonial government had little available funds, and would not spend money to improve the lives of these native soldiers.

In addition, the soldiers on both sides had different intentions to participate in the war, which also led to the 20,000 Australasian native soldiers maintaining a greater advantage against more than 20,000 Dutch native soldiers. Soon, the first line of defense in Batavia was already in danger.

"Damn it, let the Third Colonial Division go up and try to defend the first line of defense." Seeing that the first line of defense was about to be lost, Governor Alexander, who was commanding in the rear, hurriedly ordered the remaining Third Colonial Division to go up and block the attack of the Australasian army.

"Let the army retreat and request the Air Force to carry out a second bombing." On the other side, Silvio, the commander of the First Division of Australasian, also ordered the colonial army to stop the attack and continue to use artillery and aircraft to open up the situation.

Division Commander Silvio did not intend to take down the first line of defense in Batavia immediately. For Division Commander Silvio, it was undoubtedly more cost-effective to exchange the least casualties for greater results.

Although the casualties were those natives, the Western Front had few troops to begin with, so they had to save as much as possible.

With the orders of the commanders of both sides, the Netherlands sent the Third Colonial Division for support, and Australasia also withdrew its colonial troops, and the first line of defense returned to temporary peace.

"Mr. Governor, has the enemy been repelled?" Ambassador Renault asked excitedly in the command post in the rear of the Netherlands.

If the attack of Australasia can be successfully repelled, even if it is only a small-scale battle, it will be a credit to everyone present.

Faced with such a credit that was almost earned for nothing, even Renault, who was once a diplomatic ambassador, was a little moved at this time.

"I'm afraid not, Ambassador Renault. The enemy has only sent out the colonial army, and the casualties are not heavy at present. I'm afraid that the enemy's retreat is brewing a bigger attack. Send an order, let the front-line troops rest on the spot, and be careful of possible bombing and sneak attacks by the enemy." Governor Alexander shook his head and answered slightly cautiously.

Sure enough, not long after the messenger conveyed Governor Alexander's order, a deafening roar sounded again in the rear of Australasia.

After more than ten minutes of rest, thousands of artillery pieces continued to bombard Batavia's defensive positions, forcing Governor Alexander and Ambassador Renault to hide in the fortifications and dare not show their heads.

The enemy's bombing lasted for more than an hour. Seeing that the bombing and vibration outside the air-raid shelter had stopped, Governor Alexander thought that the enemy had run out of shells. After all, such bombing had lasted for most of the day, and the number of shells consumed was countless.

But soon, Governor Alexander could no longer laugh. A few minutes after the bombing stopped, Governor Alexander followed the soldiers out of the fortifications, and he immediately heard a buzzing sound from the sky.

Governor Alexander was familiar with this sound. It was this flying thing called an airplane that brought heavy casualties to the Dutch army.

First update of 3,000 words, please vote for me, please support me!