Chapter 48 The Battle of the New Alamo (Part 2)
The result of the cavalry's charge into the city was, of course, similar to that of the Qing army's Battle of Bali River.
The Mexican cavalry bravely rushed to the wall of the Alamo, and then had to dismount and shoot at the defenders on the city. After 20 minutes of fighting, 114 Mexicans were killed and had to flee in panic.
Counting the previous 11 couriers and the 25 soldiers killed yesterday, the Mexican army's casualties are as high as 150.
The casualties of the Alamo garrison were almost negligible. There are many folklores about the casualties in this battle in history, including such fantastic exchange ratios as 1:30 and 1:40. Even the history written by Americans The book also says that each Alamo man killed at least ten Mexicans before the battle was over.
Although Franz felt that the Mexican army was unlikely to pay such a heavy price, he still made two preparations, experienced military observers (military advisors) and a heavy siege gun.
But Tasan Anna's operation exceeded Franz's imagination, and the two Austrian army observers were also stunned.
"General Tasan Anna, cavalry is not suitable for siege warfare." Stadion reminded.
Tasan Anna also realized that he was wrong, but for the sake of his own face, he chose to ignore Stadion's words.
"Mr. Stadion, look at the courage of our Mexican army! The infantry advances!"
Then another tragedy happened. With the rhythmic beating of drums, Mexican soldiers wearing green shirts and white breeches were walking towards the Alamo in neat formation.
A cannonball flew into the queue, first blowing off the head of the first person, and then bringing out a bunch of blood flowers in the queue.
The second shell hit the ground and bounced up. The soldier tried to resist with his arms, but then both arms broke off and flew high into the sky.
Although the Alamo defenders only had three artillery pieces, this was not enough to offset the Mexican army's disadvantage. When the Mexican soldiers came within 300 yards, the defenders began shooting, and people continued to fall.
Although the Kentucky rifle used by the Texans was also designed in the last century, it was a rifle, that is, a rifled gun.
The range of the Kentucky rifle was far greater than that of the muskets of the same era, and its accuracy was so high that I don't know where it is.
Just when Stadion and Gablenz were about to dissuade Tasan Anna, the Mexican queue collapsed.
After all, no one wants to die, and there are a large number of Indians and native whites in the Mexican army. Their treatment is not good. If the war goes well, they can still fight in the autumn wind. If the war goes wrong, these people will want to run away.
Once the first deserter appears, the number of deserters will increase exponentially.
In the end, Tasan Anna had to use the cavalry to stop the fleeing infantry regiment. After a brief chaos, after counting, the Mexican army lost more than 200 soldiers.
This made Tasan Anna feel a little embarrassed. He ordered the commander of the first infantry regiment to be executed, so the unlucky commander went to see God.
On the other hand, the Alamo defenders, Bowie and David Crockett, were already preparing to throw away Tasan Anna's celebration party.
Many people felt that these Mexicans were not as difficult to deal with as the Indians, and the entire fortress was filled with a joyful atmosphere.
But Travis was not happy anyway, because before the siege began, a team of sentries reported the discovery of a giant artillery that was 4-5 meters long and required ten horses to pull.
If what the sentries said is true, it is most likely a 16-pounder heavy artillery, or a 24-pounder gun.
This kind of artillery is not even in the arsenal of the U.S. Continental Army. It is only available in Europe. In fact, the U.S. Navy also has this kind of artillery, but they are all installed on gunboats.
Although Tasang Anna is very proud, he does not want to continue to let his men sacrifice in vain. After all, these people are the basis of his rule, and this is only the first battle.
"Mr. Gablenz, Mr. Stadion, do you have any good suggestions? You know, we Mexicans are all warriors, and we rarely encounter such opponents hiding in turtle shells."
Through the battle just now, the two have analyzed the combat power of both sides.
The Alamo defenders had better weapons. Even if the Mexican army was equipped with flintlock muskets shipped from Austria, the shooting accuracy of the two sides could not be compared.
Although the Mexican army was numerically superior, it lacked both training and courage.
In the battle just now, if the European army had been approaching the city wall, the Alamo could be captured with the loss of a few hundred more people.
However, the Mexican army collapsed when it approached the city wall. You must know that after a hundred and a half miles, the attack just now not only failed to achieve any effect, but actually boosted the opponent's morale.
"I propose that the siege force be divided into two parts to continue harassing the enemy, wait for the arrival of the siege guns, and then attack." Gablenz said.
"Yes, the enemy's morale is at a high level. Attacking now will definitely cause huge casualties to our army. But our army must win a battle to boost our army's morale," Stadion said.
Tasang Anna felt that it made sense, and at the same time he was also very curious. Where did this victory come from, even though he was obviously waiting for the artillery.
"How can our army fight a victorious battle?"
"General, there is still a rebel team here." Stadion said, pointing to a small town more than ten kilometers away from the Alamo on the map.
"But Mr. Stadion, there are six hundred people here." Tasang Anna found it incredible. Now he can't even eat 200 people. Wouldn't 600 people be enough to kill him?
"But they have no walls, General," Stadion replied.
Tasang Anna was a little hesitant as to whether to follow this suggestion. Although there were no city walls in that town, there were houses. If street fighting broke out, the losses of his troops would not be small.
Garblenz recognized Tasan Anna's concern.
"Your Excellency General, according to your sentry report, most of the residents in the town have fled, and the rest are a group of desperadoes. We can burn the town. Once these desperadoes escape into the plains, your cavalry will You can crush them easily."
Tasang Anna knew what Gablenz meant, and he admired the young man in front of him more and more. He was so ruthless!
Gablenz was indeed a ruthless man. During the Italian War, his team was ambushed, and he himself lost an eye by the attackers.
Gablenz killed the attacker on the spot, then led his troops to break through, and only fainted when they reached safety.
So Tasan Anna left half of his troops and continued to besiege the Alamo, while he took the main cavalry to cut the wheat.
The Mexican military is very familiar with murder and arson, because they do it all the time on their own land.
Ma Ning, who was still sleeping, was woken up by his subordinates. He didn't even have time to put on his boots.
The fire lit up the dark night, and there were chaotic crowds everywhere, with wailing and women's cries from time to time.
"How is this going!"
"I don't know. Someone started a fire. The fire was too big and the well was blocked. We had to evacuate the town first."
Firefighting measures in this era were very backward, and the Texas area was very dry, so large fires were common.
"Damn it!"
Ma Ning led some of his men to escape from the town. As day broke, a large group of cavalry appeared on the horizon in the distance.
Manin and his men thought that Houston's main force had arrived, and they all waved their arms excitedly until they saw the Mexican flag.
A massacre begins