xymnovel 94. The Battle of Cux 1
94. The Battle of Cux 1
Dugan and Fulton thus drafted the contract proportionally, but Dugan declined the invitation to go see the Fulton steamship's trial run on the Thames the next day.
He needs to return to Bexhill immediately.
It was nearly midnight when Dugan's carriage returned to Bakershill.
The sentries on night duty outside the military camp quickly opened the gate to let Dugan's carriage in.
Without even taking a break, Dugan immediately convened a meeting of all officers of the German Legion.
"German warriors of the King of England, I have good news for you." Dugan held up documents and a stack of intelligence files he had brought back from the War Office. "We are about to depart for Hanover to teach those Frenchmen a lesson!"
The officers, who were initially sleepy, were taken aback for a moment, and then cheered loudly.
"Long live the King!"
Long live Britain!
"Long live Hanova!"
Dugan pressed his hands down and said, "However, this is top secret at the moment, and no one is allowed to disclose it."
"Sir, if anyone leaks information, I'll be the first to shoot him," Colonel Decken said excitedly.
"Alright, gentlemen, I need you to gather the troops and necessary supplies in Portsmouth as soon as possible, especially the cavalry," Dugan said to cavalry commanders von Bock and Victor von Altyn.
"Yes, sir!"
Colonel von Bock saluted and said, "I guarantee that every horse will be brought safely from Dorset Weymouth."
From that day on, the Baker Heathl barracks entered a state of intense activity.
Two days later, the Navy also sent a colonel to meet with Dugan.
The colonel, named Charles Mikló, gave his preliminary conclusions after checking the list of supplies and personnel of the German Army with Colonel Decken.
Eight thousand German troops, along with all their artillery, mules, and supplies, will set sail from Portsmouth in two echelons.
Based on the wind direction and ship speed in June, the two groups of people departed seven days apart, and all personnel and supplies could be landed in Cuxhaven within seventeen days.
After each of the two transport fleets completed its delivery and returned, a total of two round trips were completed, and all ships were able to return to port and stand by 21 days later.
"So that means the first landing force was only 4000 men?" Dugan said.
"That's about right," Colonel Charles said.
Colonel Decken took out the documents, flipped through a few pages, and said to Dugan, "General, according to intelligence, most of the French troops in Hanover have been transferred to Bougnard. Now there are only about 4000 French troops and 4000 Hanoverian guerrillas in Hanover. These guerrillas are all newly recruited and have little combat capability."
"Where is the commander?" Dugan asked.
"Yes... it's Jean-Baptiste Bernardot," Decken said.
"Jean-Baptiste Bernardo Thür?" Dugan murmured to himself, referring to the guy who later became King of Sweden.
Decken continued, "The French army is mainly concentrated in the Hammern fortress, Nimburg fortress, Stade, and Bremen area. The forces are very dispersed."
"Very well, Colonel Charles, go back and tell General Nelson that our army will arrive at the port of embarkation as planned immediately," Dugan said.
"Okay, then I'll wait for you in Portsmouth." Charles saluted Dugan.
In the afternoon, Gris and Ken, having made an excuse to say goodbye to their families, also returned from London.
Since breaking up with Betty, Gris has indeed become much more chaste and hasn't gone out fooling around for a month or so.
Ken, on the other hand, smuggled a batch of weapons back from the London Ordnance Office.
"Dugan, look at this!" Ken pulled out a flintlock pistol with a very thick barrel and presented it to Dugan as a treasure.
"What is this?" Dugan asked, noticing that the large weapon in Ken's hand appeared to consist of seven smoothbore barrels, one in the center and six surrounding it. The grip was made of walnut wood, and the entire gun was thicker than a person's arm.
Ken said smugly, "You didn't know, did you? This is a Navy gadget. It's called the Knok Seven-Barreled Split Gun, or the Navy's common name for it, the Sea Sweeper."
This gun was designed by Navy Captain James Wilson in 1779 and manufactured by the Henry Knock Arsenal in London.
The British Navy purchased the rifles in two batches: an initial order of 500 and an additional 106, for a total of 606 rifles. The unit price was £13 at the time.
There are a total of 7 gun barrels, with 1 main barrel in the center and 6 surrounding barrels that are tied and welded together.
The flintlock ignites only the central barrel, while the propellant gases ignite the other six barrels through small holes in the barrel wall, firing all seven bullets simultaneously with a single trigger pull.
It fires .46 lead bullets, the same type used in British rifles. The rifle is 97 cm long, with a barrel length of 51 cm and a net weight of 5.9 kg.
Each barrel is independently loaded with black powder and lead bullets from the muzzle, and it takes 2 to 3 minutes to fully load all 7 barrels.
This gun was originally designed for sailors to engage in close-quarters combat at sea, but it has long been phased out by the navy.
The main reason is that this type of musket, which fires from seven barrels simultaneously, has extremely strong recoil, which can easily injure the shooter's shoulder bone, making it difficult to fire continuously while standing. In actual combat, it was mostly used fortifications.
Moreover, the guns produced huge flashes when fired, and could set their own warships' sails on fire before even hitting the enemy, so the navy did not like them.
Most importantly, its range is also quite poor, with an effective and practical range of only 20 to 30 meters.
Dugan took the Knox seven-barreled gun from Ken, looked at it, and then handed it back to Ken.
"Why are you bringing something useless?"
Ken grinned and said, "Who said it was just one? There were seven in the warehouse, and I brought them all."
Dugan was speechless.
*****
December 1804, 6
Children's Day didn't exist back then.
On this day, the surface of the North Sea, off the Elbe River, was completely swallowed by a thick, stagnant fog.
A grayish-white fog enveloped the entire Elbe River estuary, turning even the rising sun into a murky, pale halo.
The massive British fleet lay dormant deep within the thick fog, its sails billowing over forty warships, their countless masts resembling a sea forest.
This fleet, which sailed from Portsmouth, carried 4000 officers and soldiers of the King's German Army, and they were the first to land.
Surrounding the transport ship was a fleet of more than a dozen Royal Navy Class VI frigates and small battleships.
Taking advantage of the gentle westerly winds, they quietly approached the waters off Cuxhaven.
At this time, Cuxhaven belonged to Hanover, which was occupied by the French army. The port was not fortified with strong bastions, but only a temporary earthen and wooden coastal defense battery was built on the left bank of the port entrance.
The fort was surrounded by rammed earth breastworks, and inside were six old-fashioned bronze coastal defense guns. The French troops stationed in Cuxhaven consisted of only a little over one hundred infantrymen and a few dozen artillerymen, who were subordinate to Bernadotte's coastal guard force.
Since capturing Hanoi from France, this tranquil estuary had never faced a large-scale maritime threat, and the garrison had become complacent.
The French soldier on lookout yawned, then raised his binoculars and looked into the distance.
"Damn it, it's all gloomy everywhere. I can't see anything," the lookout complained.
Suddenly, he saw something flicker a few times in the gray haze in the distance.
"What's that?" The lookout was puzzled when he heard a loud bang.
A shell pierced through the thick fog and struck the lookout post directly, instantly obliterating it.
Immediately afterwards, more than a dozen shells hit the fort, sending up countless pieces of rubble and debris, overturning the French fort's guards who were caught off guard.
"Enemy!" shouted a French soldier.
clang clang
French soldiers also sounded the alarm.
The hastily assembled French artillerymen roared and rushed to their positions, tearing off their gun covers and pushing the heavy solid iron bullets into the breech.
Just minutes later, the French troops at the coastal fort also opened fire.
Six 24-pound coastal artillery shells hurtled through the air with a sharp whistling sound as they hurtled toward the unknown enemy shrouded in fog.
The firing was completely inaccurate; all the shells fell into the sea, creating white splashes several meters high.
The British counterattack came swiftly and fiercely. A large number of ships turned around and aimed their broadsides at the coastal defense batteries. A series of gun flashes appeared simultaneously in the white mist as more than a dozen Class VI warships fired their broadside guns in unison.
Boom boom boom
Hundreds of solid cannonballs pierced the sea and slammed into the simple earthen and wooden fortress.
Although less than half of the bullets hit the embankment, it was enough to cause the fragile rammed earth breastwork to collapse instantly.
Instantly, gravel and mud flew everywhere from the coastal defense platform. Two coastal defense guns were overturned by shells, and several French artillerymen were crushed to death on the spot by the cannons before they could dodge.
However, the remaining French troops did not give up and continued to fight back, relying on the dilapidated fortifications.
While the naval guns relentlessly suppressed the coastal defense batteries, the transport fleet gradually retreated to shallow waters where the gunfire was safe. The davits on both sides of the ships slowly rotated, and hundreds of wooden landing craft were placed on the sea.
"Paddle harder, lads, we're going home!" the officer shouted energetically. The boatman rowed with all his might, and the infantrymen also paddled with all their might using the butts of their rifles.
The densely packed landing craft, like a swarm of bees, sped toward the undefended shallows north of Cookes Harbor.
After two more rounds of naval gunfire, the French at the coastal fortifications fell completely silent.
By this time, dozens of small boats had already docked.
"Brave soldiers, follow your commander and charge!" The first to rush ashore were actually Ken's company.