Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology - Chapter 1162

Chapter 1162: WW1: Cape Town (8)
As soon as the order was given, five bicycle battalions composed of 800 soldiers each, like a horse taken off its restraints, rushed into the city. They galloped the streets like they owned it from five different directions of the harbour, at speeds enough to leave a strong breeze behind.

“Bang!” “Bang!”

As they advanced, like cavalry galloping in the enemy formation, leaving behind blood in their wake, they shot down any European soldier they saw in their sight with a rifle in their hand.

Some soldiers were smart enough not to confront the bicycle battalions racing down the streets. They vanished into houses and narrow hiding places, anywhere that offered even a sliver of safety. With their lives on the line, pride was the first thing they abandoned. Uniforms were stripped off without a second thought and thrown away, discarded like cursed objects, as if the fabric itself were a magnet drawing the god of death straight to them.

But was it really that simple?

“Knock, knock!”

“Open the door within ten seconds, or we will blow it open.”

“Ten… nine… eight… seven…”

“Creak!”

“We are going to search your house.”

“Ah… no!”

“This is not a request. You would do well to cooperate, if you know what is good for you.”

Just as the bicycle battalions had spearheaded the assault along the streets, the infantry moved methodically behind them, targeting houses closest to the roads. These buildings were prime suspects, the most likely places to harbour European soldiers. Doors were forced, rooms were swept, and homes were searched one after another, swiftly and without pause.

“Captain, we found one!”

“No, no, I surrender, I surrender. Please let me go, sir, kind sir, I surrender, do not shoot me.”

“Cuff him and have him squat with the rest.”

The number of Europeans being captured steadily grew, and within minutes, more than thirty of them were squatting on the ground under guard.

“Escort them to the harbour.”

A clean-shaven, high-ranking officer stepped forward, his gaze cold and assessing. Addressing the prisoners in fluent French, he said, “Do not try to escape, or rather, do try, if you wish to learn what it feels like to have your brains blown out.”

The Europeans shuddered, they shook their heads frantically like a bobble head on a dashboard, and swore that they would attempt nothing of the sort.

In this manner, the army advanced from one street to the next, systematically sweeping the area and eliminating any remaining guerrillas along the way.

—

“General, the possibility of guerrillas entrenched in deeper parts of the city, away from the main streets, is extremely high. Should we search all the houses and spots away from the main street as well?” First Lieutenant Hari Prakash Sena asked.

Lieutenant General Mugund Padmanabam pondered the possibility, and in a split second he came up with a decision, “No!”

“The bicycle battalion is only sufficient to stall the enemy, not to defeat them. By the time the Europeans attempt to escape, I want the main army to catch up and provide reinforcements. Searching every house and hiding spot would take far too long, delaying support. Even if we isolate and occupy the areas we have already searched, once the main European force disperses, it will not take long for guerrilla-style attacks to intensify, opening the possibility that we could lose the territory we have secured.

“And that’s not even mentioning the fact that most of the houses and buildings in this town are owned by Europeans. I have no doubt they will help their own.”

“So, sticking to his majesty’s plan is still the correct choice, wipe out the main force and issue bounties throughout the city”

—

Sumit Chatur was sulking once again. His face did not betray it, but everyone in the squad could sense it simply by being near him. He was usually talkative, yet now he had fallen uncharacteristically silent, and if that was not sulking, then what was? Even so, no one paid him much attention. From the very first day, his mind had worked differently from the rest of theirs.

What truly unsettled the 15th squadron, however, was that even their vice-captain, Vajra Katta, was behaving strangely. His brows had been tightly furrowed since the moment he entered the city, and his expression was unnervingly complex, as though anger, fear, and gratitude were all tangled together within him at the same time.

The 15th squadron stood before a two-storey building, and Chatur, along with three others that included Vice Captain Vajra Khatta, entered the building.

“Captain, what do you think is up with those two?”

The remaining squad mates who were on standby outside could not help but ask their captain, Ramoji Venkatappalli.

Ramoji shrugged and explained, “The matter with Sumit is not complicated; the brat simply wants to participate in the war instead of doing what he is currently doing, as per Vajra, well.”

“You all do know that he is a native of Suvarna Dwipa, right?”

“Maybe he sees himself in those slaves.”

The squad mates were suddenly enlightened, “So that’s how it is, no wonder Vice Captain, who was always so expressionless, became like this.” Thinking about something, the soldier let out a sigh of relief, “Thankfully, he is not a native American, or he would simply go on a killing spree and kill all the Europeans without even giving them a chance to surrender.”

It suddenly hit Ramoji that he learned about a few native American soldiers in Suvarna Dwipa actually doing such a thing when he came across other squads. Well, he felt like they deserved to die, so he did not have any bad opinions on those native brothers for disobeying the order. After all, even if he knew about the way the Europeans operated slavery, where they treated humans as animals, seeing it with his own eyes, even he was angry, much less the people who were affected or almost affected.

“The house is clear,” Sumit Chatur said in an ice-cold voice, and moved towards the next house. Right behind him was the Vice Captain Vajra Khatta, and the other squadmates. Ramoji, looking at them, felt exasperated, but in the end, he shrugged and moved forward. Next, it was their turn to search the house.

—

The bicycle battalions all reached the locations marked by the captains of the parachute brigade. As soon as they did, they jumped off their bicycles and immediately started firing at the Europeans who were about to flee.

“Bang!” “Bang!” “Bang!” “Bang!”

The exchange of gunshots was intense, with the smell of gunpowder spreading throughout the whole street. The Europeans fell one by one, and their numbers dwindled quickly.

Hearing the screams and gunshots coming from within the city, both the people and the guerrillas who had escaped were extremely scared. They did not squeak, let alone come outside and retaliate. But ultimately, the Europeans had an advantage in numbers, so even though the bicycle battalion had better firearms, they could only hold the Europeans in place for a short while and could not completely cripple them.

Thankfully, though, the time they bought was enough for the infantry of the regular army to catch up.

“Oh no, their reinforcements are here, run!” But it was already too late.

“brrrrrrr!”

The machine gun tore through their flimsy defences, like a hot knife through butter. Facing the barrage of gunfire, Europeans turned into mist, blood gushing out as if there was no end to it.

The battlefield, which was previously bloody, was now gruesome and harrowing.

Under targeted attacks like a surgical instrument cutting out a tumour, the groups of Europeans quickly fell. In the nearly 40,000 European troops formed by the coalition of eight nations, apart from the losses they suffered initially and the losses suffered at the perimeter, they still had at least 20 to 30 thousand men. If their location was not exposed and they succeeded in creating a gorilla network throughout the city, they could go against even 50,000 soldiers and could have had some sort of battle effectiveness. Unfortunately, life does not value if’s and but’s. With their locations exposed, they were being slaughtered without a chance to resist. Nearly 30,000 Europeans could not put up a fight equivalent to even 5,000 men.

After the army cleared out most of the locations mentioned in the map, orders arrived pointing to what seemed to be the headquarters of the European resistance.

These were the coordinates and location brought by Prateek, captain of the parachute brigade 4th squadron, but since his intelligence reached the command slower than that of other hot air balloon operators, the soldiers did not have the coordinates he brought until now.

The Bharatiya Empire’s army quickly converged and moved towards the new location they had received.

Hendrick van Nassau’s eyes were bloodshot. He did not know what was happening in the city, but he could guess by the fact that none of the soldiers he sent to connect with the other bases returned, and he did not receive any distress signal or a message from the other bases as well, so he concluded that the Bharatiyas had gotten to them and they were all neutralised.

Hendrick was desperate, but he calmed down. He knew he could not lose his composure at this critical moment. “Leave the supplies, take what you can carry, and burn the rest.”

“General?”

“Just do as I say, we do not have much time.”

Right as the bicycle battalions arrived at the place, they were surprised to discover that it was actually up in flames.

Nearly half an hour later, Mugund got an update, “General, the Europeans seem to have rushed into the forest to the north.”

“Damn it!”

The worst possible outcome had come to pass. There were originally two possibilities if the Europeans could not be completely eliminated: either the remaining Europeans would scatter throughout the city, prepared to fight to the bitter end, or they would retreat northward toward the Kingdom of Lynden.

The second possibility had long been dismissed as mere theory. The Kingdom of Lynden had always kept to itself, cut off and isolated from the outside world. Yet now, it appeared that it was indeed in cahoots with the Europeans.

Without hesitation, Mugund dispatched the rangers and waited.

An hour later, reports from the frontline arrived, shedding light on the situation. The rangers and the bicycle battalions had encountered a new group of soldiers, clearly distinct from the Europeans. These troops were well armed, equipped with rifles and even light artillery.

Mugund reacted at once. He ordered the rangers and the bicycle battalions to pull back a few hundred metres and establish a perimeter. Three divisions were sent to reinforce them at that position, while the remaining forces were tasked with conducting a carpet search across the city, hunting down isolated European guerrillas and simultaneously spreading word of the bounty.

Once these orders were in motion, Mugund compiled a clear explanation of the new situation and transmitted it to the emperor through the Arkha Drishti communication network.