Chapter 237: Battle Results
Although the army that had been successfully gathered by the Portuguese general only numbered a little over 3,000, he was left with no choice but to act.
Seeing the Australasia army charging out from the front lines and realizing that there were still numerous Australasians surrounding and blocking them from behind, staying put and trying to gather the scattered soldiers was tantamount to waiting for death. The smart Portuguese general chose the most reasonable course of action—leading the troops he had gathered in a breakout attempt.
The soldiers gathered by the Portuguese general were mostly Portuguese, but about a quarter of them were indigenous soldiers.
The Portuguese general wasn't foolish; knowing that the route for breaking out would be tough, he wisely decided to use the indigenous soldiers to scout the path and lead the breakout.
After randomly choosing a direction close to the coast, the Portuguese general led the remaining soldiers in an attempt to break through towards the coast.
Before the encirclement maneuver began, General Fritz Lainer had already anticipated possible retreat routes of the enemy.
The coast was the most likely retreat destination for the Portuguese army, as inland led to British India, and the relationship between the British and the Portuguese was far from friendly.
Because of this, the encircling forces along the coastline were the largest, and they were equipped with two heavy machine guns and many grenades.
The Portuguese general thought he had found a way out, but he unknowingly became the Australasia army's biggest target for military glory.
After more than ten minutes of fierce fighting, the Portuguese general's gathered troops suffered heavy casualties, and the remaining soldiers could no longer hold on. They quickly dropped their weapons and shouted for surrender.
Unfortunately, the Australasia soldiers could not understand Portuguese, and even though the Portuguese soldiers appeared to be surrendering, they followed their commander's orders to leave no prisoners.
Meanwhile, General Fritz Lainer, personally commanding the frontline, had already pushed forward and was surrounding the now-dispersed Portuguese forces.
Allowing these scattered soldiers to escape was not ideal, as they could still cause casualties to the Australasia army in the shadows.
Even if they didn't dare to attack the Australasia forces, these scattered troops were still an uncontrollable force.
The previous battles had already caused the Portuguese army to suffer at least 8,000 casualties, 70% of which were indigenous soldiers.
After deducting the more than 3,000 soldiers the Portuguese general had gathered, there were still around 8,000 to 9,000 scattered Portuguese soldiers fleeing across the battlefield, which was General Fritz's primary target for encirclement.
Fortunately, the airships in the sky provided fire support and were able to scout the exact retreat routes of the fleeing soldiers.
By observing the areas bombarded by the airships, General Fritz could easily locate the fleeing soldiers and then lead his troops to encircle them.
The battle raged on from the afternoon into the evening, and the sounds of artillery and fighting gradually faded.
As night approached, General Fritz decisively ordered the troops to pull back and continue the search the next morning.
The long hours of battle had left the soldiers exhausted. General Fritz said nothing, except for ordering over 1,000 soldiers from the second-line positions to stand guard and patrol. The remaining soldiers were allowed to count their numbers, assess casualties and ammunition consumption, and then rest.
Although General Fritz returned to his command post, he did not rest but patiently waited for the report on casualties from the units.
Half an hour later, the various units gradually reported their casualties to General Fritz.
This defensive battle was likely the most costly in terms of casualties for Australasia since its establishment, but it was also the one with the largest gains.
From the Australasia side, nearly 10,000 soldiers had suffered over 700 casualties, including more than 100 dead, over 200 severely wounded, and the rest lightly to moderately wounded.
With the Portuguese fleet stationed offshore, it was impossible to send the wounded back to the homeland for treatment via transport ships.
Fortunately, General Fritz still had three airships, and they were more than capable of accommodating the nearly 400 moderately and severely wounded soldiers.
The treatment of severely wounded soldiers was urgent, so General Fritz ordered the airship soldiers to carry all the wounded onto the airships and set off immediately to transport them back for medical treatment.
When the airships returned, they could also bring back supplies and deliver any messages from the homeland.
As for the remaining 200 or so lightly wounded soldiers, most of them were injured by shrapnel or stray bullets and had not lost much combat effectiveness. Simple bandaging was sufficient.
In terms of ammunition consumption, this battle didn't actually result in significant losses. At least compared to the earlier defense and offense in Portuguese East Timor, the ammunition expenditure was relatively low.
Most of the time during the battle, the Australasia army had been holding back, so it was only natural that the ammunition consumption was not high.
Luckily, a large amount of weapons, ammunition, food, and medical supplies had been stockpiled in Portuguese India, so the losses from this battle were not significant. Based on the current stockpiles, several more such battles could be fought without a problem.
Although the exact casualties of the Portuguese side were unclear, the majority of the Portuguese army had been wiped out in this battle, and the number of fleeing Portuguese soldiers was less than a tenth of the total army.
The fleeing Portuguese soldiers no longer posed a significant threat to Australasia, and after one final mop-up operation, they would have little to no resistance left.
For General Fritz, the real trouble now lay with the Portuguese fleet off the coast.
Although Portugal's navy was not significant on the world stage, it was still stronger than the current Australasia navy.
If the Portuguese navy didn't leave, the ports in Portuguese India wouldn't be able to recover normal traffic, and General Fritz would be left with airships as the only option to supply his troops.
However, he believed that some of the fleeing Portuguese soldiers would make it back to the coast. Once they relayed the news of their army's complete defeat, the Portuguese fleet would likely not stay much longer at the coast of Portuguese India.
Thinking of this, General Fritz sent a telegram to the homeland, detailing the entire course of the battle and requesting further instructions from Arthur.
After waiting a little while longer without receiving a reply from the homeland, General Fritz decided to rest, knowing that the following day would bring even more strenuous work.
Arthur received the telegram the next morning.
It wasn't that the telegram had been delayed, in fact, it had already been received late at night.
However, since it was good news and not urgent, Minister Kent had decided not to disturb Arthur's rest and instead went to report to him the following morning.
(End of Chapter)
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