"Remember, don't act alone at any time, and don't easily leave 300 meters away from the stronghold. Maybe behind a sand dune, behind a dilapidated house, behind a wooded wood, there is a Turkish gunman, and of course it is also possible that it is a German gunman. They will use a rifle with a telescope to kill anyone who is alone." When Tony first came to Sirte, a fellow villager introduced his combat experience to him.

Although the successful breakthrough of the Prince Albert armored cruiser caused heavy losses in both face and in terms of internal affairs, the Italians still rely on their strong naval forces to complete the blockade of the west side of the Dardanelles! The entire six main battleships formed a fleet to ensure that Scher did not have the idea of ​​breaking through. Under the cover of the main fleet, the Italian mine-bending ship began to attack and mine-bending, and several thick minefields completely blocked the entrance to the western side of the Dardanelles! In a short period of time, it would probably take some effort to get out.

Not long after the Italian Navy launched its operations, the Italian Army began to try to dispatch from several isolated landing sites and expand its control area to the entire coastal area. However, no matter how small Libya is, it has a thousand kilometers of coastline, which is a considerable pressure on the more than 30,000 Italian Army personnel who came here in the first wave. However, what is unexpected is that in the eyes of various countries, an "armed march" march turned into an absolute disaster in the hands of the Italians.

The first disaster occurred in August 1901. The Italian Army, which occupied Sirte, decided to send two battalions of about 1,200 troops to Mir in the south. This is an important outpost to enter the Jufra Oasis. With the support of about 2 cavalry companies, a total of 1,500 Italian officers and soldiers led 4 artillery pieces toward this place.

According to their intelligence, there were only a few hundred Arab tribal cavalry here, half of which did not even have guns, only scimitars and spears. However, this careless Italian cavalry encountered a force that had never appeared in history - the carriage unit!

"We set out and everything was carried out according to the pre-developed plan. In addition to the various supplies such as weapons and equipment, tents, etc., we also brought Tamsui three times the daily consumption. The cavalry opened the way in front, and the infantry of the two battalions advanced on both sides of the road, with artillery and supply teams in the middle."

"But we still underestimated the difficulty of operating in the rocky desert area. The hot climate made us very slow. The short ten kilometers of road exhausted us. However, this was just a small problem compared to what we encountered later. After we left Sirte City 30 kilometers, the local cavalry began to appear in our careers. They rode horses or camels on the edge of our vision. Our cavalry rushed up to try to solve them, but they were easily avoided by the other party."

"As time passed, we became more and more uneasy. More and more cavalrymen appeared beside us. They were even closer to a place only more than 400 meters away from us. We tried to shoot with rifles, but naturally we couldn't hit it. When we were about to use artillery and machine guns, they ran away from a distance."

"These annoying guys wandered around us like wild wolves smelling fishy smell, and even used a small curved weapon to launch an attack like us. Of course, at a distance of more than 400 meters, this weapon had almost no accuracy, but it annoyed us. Our cavalry successfully grabbed a wave, but the opponent equipped a rifle that could be fired continuously easily wiped out all the cavalry of our team. It was not until this time that we found that the situation was a bit unexpected!"

"Soon, a large number of cavalry appeared on our wings. Their movement speed was slower than that of ordinary cavalry, so that we could deploy defenses calmly. We began to unfold, and two sparse scattered lines were formed very well. All infantry companies formed a circular fortification with machine guns as the core. We had considered the possible situation of facing the opponent's cavalry and formulated plans, but soon we found that our plan had no effect when facing the opponent's attack!"

"A lot of carriages! I've never seen so many four-wheeled carriages, and they're on the battlefield! If this kind of scene occurs elsewhere, I definitely think it's a joke, but when the other party shows his hideous fangs, we're in a disaster!"

"At least 40 four-wheeled carriages appeared in our field of view, and several of them were parked far away in the area 2 kilometers away. They should have been carrying some kind of cannons that can be fired. It took them a short time to deploy these cannons. Then we heard bursts of rapid shelling sounds coming from a distance! One round of shells can even be caught with our eyes. They drew fatal arcs from the air! Even before the first round of shells landed, their artillery had fired several times!"

"The dense rain of bullets fell on our positions, which was the projection of at least 4 artillery companies! We were trapped in a fire. Then, the remaining four-wheeled carriages arrived less than 800 meters away from our front line. Through the smoke, we suddenly found that the back of the four-wheeled carriages were carrying a thrust machine gun, and at least 30 machine guns fired at us at a distance of 800 meters! God, our two battalions had only 12 machine guns!"

"Our artillery was suppressed or destroyed at the first time. Two of the four 75mm cannons were destroyed, and the other two were suppressed. The vitality of the Turks, or the Germans, quickly shattered our defense line. However, even so, we still tried hard to resist the opponent's attack and killed at least 2,000 people from the opponent. In the end, our troops failed to block the Turks' waves of cavalry charges. I was lucky and ran out by luck. And sent this crucial intelligence!" An Italian cavalry officer who escaped after the war wrote in the report.

Overall, the officer's narrative generally conforms to the basic facts. However, he described the German-Turkish fighting style in this battle in detail, surveillance cavalry continuous suppression and reconnaissance, and then used the mortar and machine gun carried by the carriage to suppress the battle at a distance and near. Finally, he used a large number of cavalry carrying sabers and pistols to charge and end the battle.

However, the so-called resistance of the Italians was not true. The entire battle lasted 15 minutes from the initiation to the end... Then, after the Italian troops of the two battalions paid the price of 300 casualties, the remaining more than 1,000 surrendered! Only a small number of cavalry were left.

"Italy sent 30,000 people, but in North Africa, there was not even a splash of water!" The British newspapers described the Italians' actions in this way!
Chapter completed!