Over the occupied fortress in the direction of Philadelphia, a mushroom cloud billowed, and the wounded soldiers crying outside the base fell like wheat swept by a strong wind, all at once.
General Sullivan, standing in Philadelphia and observing, retracted his telescope and touched his forehead, wiping away the cold sweat that had appeared from the shock of the explosion.
"What a powerful explosion! Is this the power of the new type of explosive? I think at least several hundred people were killed."
Charles forcefully retracted his telescope, but still said with regret, "Unfortunately, most of the British army's senior commanders did not enter the fortress."
"Do you mean you buried so many explosives mainly to blow up General Howe?" General Sullivan was astonished.
"Of course not!" Charles immediately denied it.
Then he smiled calmly, "Hehe, actually, this battle result is not bad. At least nearly a thousand British army soldiers were killed or injured by the shock. Initially, we thought the British army would send at most a thousand people to attack the fortress, and killing two or three hundred would be good. Who knew they would send two thousand people in this battle? I'm even a little regretful why I buried those unreliable landmines on the ground behind the fortress. Otherwise, now that so many British army soldiers are in a panic, we could have rushed out and surely driven the British army back several miles. It's even possible we could have defeated General Howe in this battle!"
"Haha!" General Sullivan let out a light laugh and comforted Charles, saying, "That's not necessarily true. The British army's quality is very high.
Although so many of them were killed by the several hundred pounds of safety explosives we pre-buried in the fortress, their main force has always been personally led and assembled by General Howe from the rear, ready to engage in battle at any time. Even if we attacked while they were surprised, we might not succeed.
The current results are already very good. At least, after suffering this loss from our pre-buried bombs, the British army will have to be extra careful if they want to attack Philadelphia."
"Alas! It's a pity that the current landmines are inconvenient to make and unreliable. Otherwise, just the landmines buried on the British army's path could block them outside the city.
Now, the sealing issue can't be solved, these landmines are troublesome to manufacture, and they basically become ineffective after being buried for a few days. I don't even know if they can be used before the British army's next attack. If it weren't for the fact that using them doesn't require professional personnel, I really wouldn't have planned to use them," Charles said with some worry.
These were the secret methods arranged by Charles and General Sullivan.
The first method was to have the Continental army, sent to rescue the fortress, carry several hundred pounds of safety explosives to be buried underground in the fortress. These explosives, which were not very convenient to detonate, could not yet be directly used in firearms and could basically only be used for demolition. After Lieutenant Colonel Saint-Neje led the British army into the fortress, the hidden suicide squad and landmines in the fortress would detonate simultaneously.
The second method was the minefield a certain distance in front of the simple fortifications in the rear. This area was basically outside the range of both sides' artillery fire, yet it was precisely the only way for infantry to attack Philadelphia. Charles had long thought of landmines. If high reliability was not pursued for the ignition device, flint could also solve the problem. It was just impossible to make landmines that would remain effective for a long time. However, to kill and injure as many British army soldiers as possible in a short time, he still used all the mysterious weapons he could.
Charles and General Sullivan both believed that only through this series of continuous blows would the Continental army be able to fight General Howe's troops. For the inevitable final decisive battle, they had tried every possible method.
However, after learning that Cornwallis' troops had already arrived at the river mouth, they felt that the hope for a decisive battle had diminished significantly. And if Benedict's army moved south, then they would still only be able to run away obediently.
Therefore, the battle against General Howe could only be resolved before the two forces arrived. To achieve this, Charles and his men actively abandoned the fortress after inflicting a certain amount of casualties on the British army.
The British army, who had easily taken the fortress, hadn't even had time to enter it when half of their men were killed or injured by the fragments of the explosion.
As for after the fortress explosion, it was fortunate that Charles did not send troops to attack. The British army suffered from the fortress explosion, but quickly, under the reorganization of General Howe and other senior commanders, they resumed their normal formation. They even set up a Vigilance formation, preparing to respond to a possible surprise attack by the Continental army from within Philadelphia.
Only when he noticed no movement from Philadelphia did General Howe hastily call for people to rescue the wounded soldiers in the fortress.
As a result, the subsequent attack naturally did not need to proceed.
General Howe saw the casualty report in his hand and almost wanted to immediately order an attack on Philadelphia.
The casualties from the fortress explosion alone caused over three hundred immediate deaths and more than a thousand seriously and lightly wounded. Two thousand men attacked, and ultimately, a thousand men were directly incapacitated. What pained General Howe the most was that one of his most excellent officers, Lieutenant Colonel Saint-Neje, was also blown to smithereens in this explosion, leaving no remains.
It can be said that Lieutenant Colonel Saint-Neje's brigade, which had with great difficulty recovered after a period of rest, had completely lost its combat capability this time.
This could almost be considered the British army's single battle with the most deaths since they began attacking the American army, and the enemy barely even lifted a finger, merely burying a large amount of gunpowder under the fortress.
Actually, if it were black powder, it would not have caused such extensive casualties. Lieutenant Colonel Saint-Neje of the British army was still very cautious in his actions. When he detected no one in the fortress, he had already anticipated other possible ambushes. However, since safety explosives had never appeared on the battlefield before, he could not estimate the power of such an explosion, not knowing that its explosiveness was several times that of black powder. So, when the explosion occurred, Lieutenant Colonel Saint-Neje, who believed he was standing at a safe distance, was also blown to smithereens.
General Howe said nothing more, only ordering his subordinates to send the wounded to the rear as much as possible, and then issued an order to break up the surviving personnel of Lieutenant Colonel Saint-Neje's brigade and incorporate them into other brigades, to continue attacking the last simple fortification before Philadelphia tomorrow.
When the British army began digging trenches, Charles and General Sullivan knew that the loss of this fortress was inevitable. After preparing to ambush people with explosives, they immediately built a simple fortification closer to Philadelphia. This was already Philadelphia's last line of defense; once breached, only street fighting would be possible.
The next day's sunlight soon illuminated the land of Philadelphia.
General Howe assembled his troops.
"Soldiers of king George! Citizens of Great Britain! Just yesterday, those despicable American rebels, with cunning and explosives, killed hundreds of our compatriots. Brave soldiers, we are not afraid to die on the battlefield, we are not afraid to die gloriously, but we hate those despicable and underhanded tricks the most.
Such tactics are not glorious combat. Soldiers of king George, take up your weapons! Let us teach those American farmers a good lesson and avenge our fallen soldiers! May God bless you!"
"Long live king George!"
—
"God save king George!"
The soldiers cheered, and British army morale soared.
General Howe waved his hat to these brave soldiers, allowing the new commander to begin leading the army forward.
Seeing the simple wooden fortifications at the foot of Philadelphia, General Howe no longer intended to use trench warfare. He directly ordered the fortress artillery to prepare, and then, under the cover fire of the artillery, began to order the infantry to advance.
Two thousand soldiers, divided into several columns, advanced with muskets on their backs, marching to the beat of drums.
"Boom!" A soldier was blown into the sky, and several people nearby were also injured by the explosion.
But the people around and the generals observing from the rear felt no strangeness whatsoever, continuing their normal advance. The only victim who noticed the unusual explosion had already been blown into the sky.
Amidst the continuous shelling from both sides, most of the British army believed that it was caused by cannonballs, only thinking that the nouveau riche colonials actually had money to use explosive shells.
At this time, explosive shells had already appeared on the battlefield, but because they were difficult and expensive to produce, most armies did not equip them in large quantities.
The British army sweeping America this time only had explosive shells on naval warships; the army artillery was basically not equipped with them. So, seeing the blown-off arms and legs, those generals and soldiers instinctively thought the Continental army was using explosive shells.
By the time the generals around General Howe reminded him that the frequency of soldiers being blown up far exceeded the firing rate of the Continental army's artillery, the British army had already marched to the drumbeat, entered firing range, and began shooting at the simple fortifications.
Fortunately, Charles had only laid about two hundred landmines. Even if almost every landmine was stepped on during the British army's linear advance, only about a hundred successfully exploded, killing or injuring no more than two hundred British army soldiers.
General Howe, upon being reminded by those around him, also recalled the previous anomaly. However, the minefield was already crossed, and he could no longer see the sight of legs flying everywhere from before.
"Another new weapon!" General Howe immediately realized.
He then started to bluster, "These damned American farmers only use these underhanded methods. After I enter Philadelphia, I must find that executioner who killed so many of our excellent soldiers. If he teaches us those weapons, let him work for us. If he dares to refuse even once, I will immediately send him to the gallows!"
The adjutants and deputy generals beside him dared not respond.
This attack on America, on Philadelphia, everyone originally thought it would be an easy task, but who would have thought that ever since the New York campaign, nothing had gone smoothly. First, they were tricked by Washington several times, and now they were repeatedly suffering losses at the foot of Philadelphia. They completely understood the general's pent-up frustration.
The close-quarters combat in front of the simple fortifications was far more difficult than General Howe had anticipated.
The British army, having cleared the minefield with the bodies of their soldiers, had already suffered significant casualties by the time they reached the fortifications. Defending behind the simple fortifications, however, were five thousand defensive troops specially arranged by Charles and General Sullivan.
Two thousand of these were regular Continental army soldiers who had always followed Washington, and the other three thousand were the bravest militiamen selected. This force, led by the future president Monroe, who had just been promoted to major, stubbornly resisted the British army.
For the needs of a long-term battle, Charles issued an order that General Sullivan and others considered most insane: to have a large number of ordinary militiamen continuously replace other militiamen in combat, hoping that they would quickly grow through experiencing real warfare.
Although these simple fortifications could not compare to a fortress, with the advantage in numbers, the Continental army still successfully repelled the British army's first attack after suffering some casualties. Even the militiamen, due to having many combatants on their side, basically did not flee.
General Howe was annoyed that two thousand British army soldiers attacking such a simple fortification were still repelled, but he still withdrew his soldiers, deciding to fight again the next day.
In the following days, the Battle of Philadelphia entered a true war of attrition, with large numbers of soldiers from both sides falling beneath that simple fortification.
The earth was stained red, the battle flags were blackened, and the entire battlefield was desolate.
The Continental army, after paying the price of nearly half their casualties, still held their ground, stubbornly defending their positions.
As the defending side, the Continental army suffered enormous losses by continuously replacing troops with ordinary militiamen, paying the price of over three thousand casualties.
The attacking British army was not doing well either. When General Howe once again greeted the retreating soldiers, he found that of the ten thousand men he had brought from New York, less than half now retained full combat capability.
Nearly two thousand men were lost in the first few battles, another thousand or more in the fortress explosion battle, and the recent days of bloody fighting also cost the British army nearly two thousand men. General Howe now had fewer than five thousand men left who could fight.
When a unit loses 30% of its strength, its combat effectiveness is bound to be greatly reduced. Previously, it was always individual units being depleted, which did not leave General Howe without troops to deploy.
But now, with a total reduction of half, it was no longer just a matter of individual units. The large number of casualties had already affected the overall morale. At this time, many in the British army had lost their offensive spirit, their morale was exhausted, and everyone wanted to retreat.
"Cunning farmers, I'm afraid we're in trouble!" General Howe muttered in a low voice, looking at the dispirited soldiers.
At the same same, Charles and General Sullivan also uttered a sentence: "It's time for us to fight back!"
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"The sun never set on the British Empire because even God wouldn't trust the British in the dark."