The Rise Of Australasia - Chapter 255

Chapter 255: Chapter 234: The Battle of Attack and Defense in Goa

After a brief period of adaptive training, the five airships currently owned by the Aerospace Laboratory were dispatched to Portuguese Timor and Portuguese India, serving as the trump cards for the defense of both regions.

Since the airplanes needed to be kept confidential, they could not be used in the upcoming war. However, the airships could play a similar role to airplanes, with good performance in reconnaissance, bombing and other aspects, and could also be used for transportation of supplies.

If there was no war, the five airships would act as transportation tools, each being able to transport more than ten tons of supplies and taking much less time than transport ships.

Fortunately, the three occupied colonies had large indigenous populations, so there was no shortage of labor when building the defenses, and the construction speed was fast.

After ensuring that the cement and steel bars needed for fortification construction were available domestically in Australasia, defense fortifications were quickly established in the three colonies, with those in Portuguese India and Portuguese Timor being more complete.

As time moved into September, all three regions began preparing for war, and even within Australasia itself, a large number of fleets were deployed for patrols.

What Arthur didn’t expect, however, was that September was drawing to a close, and there were still no signs of the Portuguese.

If it weren’t for the Portuguese soldiers still working in the Australasian minefields, Arthur would have nearly thought that Australasia had entered a peaceful state with Portugal.

Finally, in late September, a small-scale fleet patrolling near the Indian Ocean finally discovered the traces of the Portuguese fleet.

After layers of reports, the news reached Arthur and the authorities in the three colonies.

Australasian soldiers showed no nervousness in anticipation of the approaching war. Instead, they had only expectation for the merit they were about to establish.

Although Arthur did not personally go to Portuguese India, his speech in Portuguese Timor still reached the ears of the soldiers of the Second Division, in various ways.

With various concerns resolved, the soldiers naturally looked forward to the merits of victory in the war. After all, who wouldn’t want to become a noble?

Even Major Fritz Leiner, the Brigadier General of the Second Division, was eagerly rubbing his hands and waiting quietly for the Portuguese to arrive.

Of course, expectations aside, various preparations and response measures were also essential. Brigadier General Fritz wisely abandoned coastal defenses and instead built two strong lines of defense outside the urban city.

This was because if the battle was conducted on the coastline, the Portuguese fleet could cause massive casualties to the Australasian soldiers, which Brigadier General Fritz did not want to see.

According to Arthur’s character, even if Brigadier General Fritz successfully repelled all the Portuguese attacks, the merits would be offset if there were heavy casualties in the army, not only greatly reducing the accolades but also causing Arthur’s discontent.

Therefore, Fritz’s defensive plan was simple: to abandon the outer coast, and even the city if necessary, with the goal of reducing the number of available Portuguese forces.

As long as all Portuguese reinforcements could be eliminated, the war would be dictated by Australasia.

Using a small Portuguese India to exchange for a massive loss in Portuguese reinforcements was sure to be profitable for Major Fritz Leiner.

To prevent the Portuguese fleet from using ship guns to support the Portuguese soldiers, Brigadier General Fritz deliberately built the defense fortifications close to the city, and even had some of the Portuguese people as labor during the war.

As long as the Portuguese dared to use the ship guns for bombing, Australasia would immediately release on-site photos and the terrible scenes of Portuguese people being bombed.

The spectacle of a country’s own cannons bombing its own people would surely cause a sensation domestically in Portugal.

On September 28, 1907, at the coast of Portuguese India.

After nearly two months of preparation, the Portuguese fleet finally brought the first batch of troops to the vicinity of Portuguese India.

This was a reinforcement force of 11,000 Portuguese soldiers and 9,000 native soldiers, urgently dispatched by Portugal from its mainland and African colonies.

Of course, this was only the first batch of Portuguese reinforcements. To ease the tension and panic within the country, King Carlos I ordered the establishment of an eighty-thousand-strong army by drawing forty-thousand troops from the colonies, on top of the existing forty-thousand. The goal was not only to take back the three occupied colonies but also to teach Australasia a lesson.

However, transporting such a massive army was also an issue that would take at least three or four journeys.

The first target of the army, after lengthy discussions within the Portuguese military, was set as Portuguese India.

It was, in fact, easy to understand why. Portuguese Timor was too close to Australasia, and reinforcements from Australasia could quickly arrive. Moreover, there was a concern that the Australasian reinforcements from Portuguese India could encircle the Portuguese army.

The situation was similar in East Asia’s colonies, with smaller land areas and fewer inhabitants; even if conquered, it wouldn’t restore much morale for the people or the military.

In contrast, Portuguese India had the largest land area and the most populous of Portugal’s Asian colonies, and its indigenous people were more obedient than those of other colonies.

If Portuguese India could be reclaimed, it could be used as a springboard to recapture the other two colonies.

Arthur and the Australasian military had long anticipated this, providing Portuguese India with the most resources, and even reallocating more than 3,000 troops from Portuguese Timor.

This led to Portuguese India having a total of nearly 10,000 troops, plus three airships and a large number of firearms and weapons reserves.

On the afternoon of September 28, the Portuguese fleet officially approached the coast of Portuguese India and launched the so-called landing assault.

Surprisingly, the 9,000 indigenous soldiers heading the charge found no Australasian soldiers on the coast, nor did they find any defensive positions or structures.

Not entirely reassured, the Portuguese had the natives expand a kilometer outwards, and only after still not finding a trace of Australasians did the Portuguese soldiers confidently disembark. The commander of the reinforcements even laughed and said, “Learning of our arrival, the Australasians have already lost their nerve! You will all be heroes in recapturing Goa City!”

The Australasians offered no resistance and were seemingly absent, causing the Portuguese to completely relax their guard.

Before this, the Australasians had taken three Portuguese colonies in just a few days, causing no small amount of panic among the Portuguese public and government.

Now it appeared that the Australasians were not as formidable as previously thought, and perhaps the conquest of the three colonies had already left them badly weakened, now filled with regret.

Under the command of the Portuguese general, 9,000 native soldiers led the charge, followed by over 10,000 Portuguese soldiers as they slowly advanced towards Goa.

The lack of any Australasians in sight motivated the military to quicken their pace, with many Portuguese soldiers already gleefully discussing where to drink in Goa after their arrival.

Only upon nearing Goa did the lead native troops discover the Australasian positions.

At the same time, Major Fritz came across these Portuguese forces.

The discipline of the native soldiers heading the charge was loose, and they looked relaxed, showing no awareness that they were cannon fodder.

The Portuguese soldiers behind them were similarly carefree; were it not for the situation, one might have thought they were on a leisure trip.

Seeing this scene, Major Fritz ordered the messenger to silently notify the reserve forces behind to flank the Portuguese soldiers’ rear.

He divided the 10,000-strong force into three parts: 4,000 at the first line of defense, 1,500 at the second, while the remaining 4,500 reserve troops were on standby to support the first and second lines.

With the Portuguese forces so scattered, Major Fritz was confident that the defense could be maintained with just over 5,000 troops across the two positions and had the 4,000-strong reserve troops flank the enemy’s rear, hoping to encircle and eliminate all Portuguese soldiers as the final plan.

The reserve forces were over a kilometer away from the defensive frontline near Goa.

With vegetation and buildings obstructing their view, the Portuguese military failed to detect the decrease in numbers at the frontline, nor did they notice the disappearance of a group of soldiers outside the defensive positions.

After several reports, the Portuguese general learned of the situation at the Australasian positions.

However, the Portuguese military was well prepared; the 9,000 native troops were perfect cannon fodder for this kind of trench warfare, while the large number of artillery pieces gathered from Portugal gave the Portuguese army the confidence to not fear such warfare.

After ordering the artillery to target the Australasian positions, the Portuguese general gave a slight smile and ordered “Charge!”

At his command, the 9,000 native soldiers quickly rushed towards the Australasian positions. It was not that they were extremely brave, but rather, they were driven by the supervising team and Portuguese soldiers with guns aimed at them; if they didn’t charge forward, they would surely die at the hands of the Portuguese soldiers.

Don’t doubt the ruthlessness of Europeans towards these natives at the time; there were very few Europeans who regarded natives as human beings, so it wouldn’t be excessive to describe them as one in ten thousand or one in a hundred thousand.

For the vast majority of Europeans, these colonial populations were like livestock; when they were useful, they were exploited to the utmost, but when they weren’t, their lives and deaths mattered little.

To avoid causing panic in the Portuguese forces, leading them to hastily flee before the reserve forces could successfully encircle them, Major Fritz ordered a small-scale defense to hold the enemy about 100-200 meters in front of the defensive positions, providing the attackers with the hope of victory in capturing the trenches and keeping them temporarily stuck there.