Chapter 523 Battle of Escondido Village (Part 1)

Chapter 523 Battle of Escondido Village (Part 1)

St. Louis City.

In the Mexican Provisional Presidential Palace, Joaquin de Herrera was looking at the list of properties handed over by his men, and he couldn't help frowning.

The amount of property seized was far less than he expected. Joaquín de Herrera thought he would become rich overnight and then flee to Europe to apply for political exile, so that he could live a life of spending money like water for the rest of his life.

In fact, it was not that he had misjudged the city's wealth, but that his subordinates were either related to the wealthy people in the city, or were in cahoots with each other.

Joaquín de Herrera's plan to make money was known to others early on, so he searched for it for several weeks without finding much money. On the contrary, he made himself very angry.

In fact, Joaquín de Herrera gradually became aware of the problem, but there was not much time left for him.

Jose Apte is leading his "tiger and wolf army" on the way, and a bloody massacre seems inevitable.

However, on the other side of the North American continent, the bloody feast has begun

Robert Stockton's fleet had just arrived in San Diego, and before John Fremont could even exchange a few words with his old friend, the latter's men sent word that an Austrian army of about 10,000 people was approaching. Approaching San Diego.

This is exciting news for the former. He is also worried that if the Austrians huddle in the fortress, the war will last for a long time, which will make him lose "face".

But now the problem is solved! The Austrians chose to take the initiative. As long as this detachment could be wiped out, they would no longer be able to organize a counterattack. Robert Stockton's Marine Corps would be able to fully take the initiative, and the US military would be able to take California just around the corner.

So Lieutenant General Robert Stockton made a bold decision. He decided to use the 25,000 Marines he brought to directly surround the advancing Austrian army.

But what he didn't know was that the other party's commander also had an adventurous plan.

Of course, Austria's behavior was not completely unintentional, but a rigorous judgment made by Archduke Carl Ferdinand after receiving "accurate" intelligence from Washington.

In the end, the most tragic encounter in the U.S.-Mexican War officially started. The Austrian army coming from the direction of San Francisco suddenly stopped in the village of Escondido (northeast of San Diego) and began to build fortifications.

This was exactly what Robert Stockton wanted. He was afraid that the other party would simply turn around and run away.

As a result, the U.S. Marines who had been drifting at sea for several months did not take much rest, but chose to attack directly.

Although Escondido Village has some buildings and simple walls, it cannot be called a defensive facility.

Facing the larger number of American troops, the Austrian army did not choose to retreat. The two sides engaged in a fierce artillery battle as soon as they came up.

The latter's artillerymen were obviously of higher quality and more experienced, but the former's bronze cannons were indeed superior in terms of power and rate of fire.

However, this tragic victory was obviously not what Robert Stockton wanted, and he ordered the entire army to begin an encirclement.

The battle was extremely fierce. This unit was worthy of being the elite of the US military. With its superior firepower and three times the number of enemies, it suppressed the Austrian counterattack.

Of course, the casualties were exaggerated, but they were still within the tolerance of Robert Stockton.

Due to the complete suppression of firepower and troops, the Austrian army had to retreat to the village for defense, using ditches and houses as bunkers to continue to deal with the US military.

In fact, the Austrian side did not expect that its own firepower would be suppressed, because Archduke Karl Ferdinand had prepared a large number of infantry artillery and rockets for this decoy force in advance.

As a result, the previously invincible rockets could not change the battlefield situation when the artillery was suppressed. Although they caused a lot of damage to the US military's line infantry, they could not stop the opponent's advancement.

Although the Austrian army was small in number, it was far superior to the US military in terms of morale and technical and tactical qualities. However, even so, it still fell into an unimaginable passive situation, which highlighted the importance of artillery on the battlefield at this time.

Fortunately, Archduke Carl Ferdinand's reinforcements came out from behind in time to prevent the morale of the Austrian troops in the village of Escondido from collapsing.

Robert Stockton was originally supervising the battle on the front line. The situation on the battlefield was not optimistic. Although the U.S. military was advancing steadily, he knew that this victory was achieved with human lives.

Such a heavy loss was unexpected by Robert Stockton, but he cannot give up now, because giving up the offense now is equivalent to giving up his official career, so he must grit his teeth and persevere

"Report! Your Excellency, Commander, a large number of Austrian troops have appeared behind our army!"

"What!?" Robert Stockton's reaction was both shocked and angry, while his adjutant looked completely incredulous.

Because according to common sense, even if the Austrian army has reinforcements, they should come from the direction of San Francisco or the San Gabriel Fortress.

"The enemy's vanguard is a large number of cavalry, followed by a large number of infantry. Brigadier General Karna is blocking the enemy, and we have suffered heavy casualties."

Since the US military concentrated its artillery on the frontal battlefield to suppress the Austrian troops in the village of Escondido, there were no artillery at all in the rear.

This was a characteristic of tactics at the time, concentrating artillery on one point to strike until the enemy's line collapsed.

Of course, the Austrian cavalry would not be so stupid and directly attack the opponent's infantry line. They brought a large number of cavalry artillery and rockets, which was an area they were familiar with.

Use absolutely superior firepower to deliver a brutal blow to the enemy, and then send cavalry to attack and follow up after the opponent's formation collapses to expand the results.

Brigadier General Karner's brigade was the reserve force of the US Army. It was originally planned to enter the battlefield at the most critical time. However, due to the sudden appearance of the Austrian cavalry, he led his army to actively attack.

After all, if you ignore these cavalry, it would be great fun if they rush to the rear of Robert Stockton and are decapitated by the Austrian army.

Commodore Karner of the U.S. Navy is indeed worthy of being a top student who graduated from West Point Military Academy, and his soldiers are worthy of being elite. They quickly formed a classic infantry and cavalry confrontation formation-the hollow square formation.

However, the Austrian cavalry did not plunge into an array of bayonets and muskets like the French underwear marshal did.

Instead, they stopped about five hundred meters away from the infantry square, and then began to unload the artillery and set up the rocket launcher.

While Brigadier General Karna was puzzled, the inhumane fire attack began. Although cavalry artillery is usually light artillery such as three-pounders and four-pounders, they are very lethal at a distance of about five hundred meters.

Solid artillery shells flew into the U.S. military formation like bowling balls. For a while, broken limbs and broken arms were flying in the sky, and wailing sounds came one after another.