Wearing British clothes as a second-generation aristocrat

35. Encirclement and annihilation of the guerrilla force 3

Around noon, when the guerrilla leader, Rijraj, arrived outside the town of Omarachi with his last makeshift guerrilla force of over a thousand farmers, they heard the devastating news.

Many people fell to the ground, pounding their chests and wailing. These country bumpkins vowed to kill all the British executioners and tear out the hearts of the Indians who served as their lackeys to lay the foundation for their own kin.

Unlike those who lost their minds in grief, Raj, as a professional soldier, had realized that the British were probably fully prepared for defense, and the thorough purge of the unfriendly residents of the town was just a way of telling the guerrilla leaders not to think about coordinating with them from the inside.

The only option left is a direct, head-on attack.

Raj hesitated, knowing the true state of his soldiers.

This army, composed of farmers, cattle herders, hunters, and woodcutters, was almost completely untrained, severely lacked equipment, and had no artillery.

There are indeed about 800 firearms, many of which are old-fashioned matchlock guns left behind by the French 20 years ago.

Despite having an overwhelming numerical advantage and high morale, they could only fight when the tide was on, resorting to surprise attacks or ambushes.

However, once they engaged in direct combat with the British regular army, these soldiers, most of whom had just been transformed from farmers, had no chance of winning.

But Raj was now in a difficult position and could not retreat.

Therefore, the team must carry out the established objective, even if it means all of these people die, Raj must do it.

The order was given to speed up the march and reach the battlefield before dusk.

In addition, the guerrilla leader ordered his men to expand the search area to a 30-kilometer radius around the town of Omarachi in order to prevent the presence of British reinforcements.

Raj felt that even if the attack failed, he could quickly retreat into the mountains and continue to harass the British forces.

At 5 p.m., the last group of men arrived on the outskirts of Omarachi. By this time, the total number of guerrillas surrounding Omarachi had reached nearly 5000, far exceeding the 3000 that Dugan and Raj knew.

After only half an hour of rest, Raj and Gupta split up and launched a fierce attack on the British troops stationed in the town from the west and north sides.

"Kill all the British!"

"Kill all the British!"

Before the siege ladders were even ready, two thousand guerrillas armed with rifles, sabers, wooden clubs, homemade guns, and various farm tools swarmed in, shouting "Kill the British!" as they charged toward the British soldiers on the city walls.

"Raise your guns and fire!"

When it was the British's turn to fire from the city wall, the Indians, who had looked fierce and menacing, were quickly swatted dead like flies and fell to the ground.

Even if you're lucky enough not to be killed in the first round, you'll die in the second round from a volley of fire, or fall into a trench full of spikes.

In many areas, the ditch, which was more than 2 meters deep, was quickly filled with a large number of corpses.

Twenty minutes later, the rebels, unable to hold out any longer, were allowed to retreat. The first attack ended in failure, leaving more than 400 corpses behind in front of the British army.

"Second platoon, move up."

Due to continuous firing, the barrels of the British guns used in the first round of defense began to smoke, and they could explode at any moment.

So Horn led his men down the city wall and replaced them with Lieutenant Joffrey's men on horseback.

Before sunset, the guerrillas launched another attack, but 20 minutes later, they withdrew from the battlefield at an even faster pace than when they attacked. This time, only about 100 people were killed.

Standing at the highest point of the town, Dugan, atop the Elephant Temple Tower, slowly put away his monocular telescope, as the sky was dark and visibility was less than 200 meters.

During the guerrillas' first two attacks, Dugan observed carefully that the enemy was extremely undisciplined, lacked formation, and was disorganized.

Moreover, the guerrillas had very few rifles, usually only one in 20 men, and the vast majority of them were outdated matchlock guns.

In both attacks, they inflicted only one death and three wounded on the British soldiers.

"That poor bastard." Dugan decided to give the unfortunate guy double compensation.

Otherwise, even God would have pity on him.

In addition, Dugan has noticed that the number of attacking guerrillas on the northwest flanks has been greatly reduced, and there should be less than 2000 left.

Subtracting the dead and wounded from the two attacks, there were about 800 casualties, so the guerrillas still had at least 4 men.

As for the 2 people who disappeared, they may be the real main force behind the loss of the machine.

Dugan guessed that they must have taken advantage of the darkness to secretly move their positions and were now outmaneuvering the British forces to the east, in the low but dense thicket outside the town.

"It seems that this Raj is no ordinary person." Dugan is now certain that this guerrilla leader named Raj is not just some roughneck; he can actually use a feint attack tactic against him.

By 10 p.m., it was so dark that it was almost impossible to see.

So the British carefully lit a bonfire under the city wall.

Raj, who was hiding outside the town, laughed when he saw the British lighting the bonfire again.

"Chief, what are you laughing at?" Gupta asked.

Raj laughed, "The British lit campfires for light to prevent us from sneaking closer. But now, with our army pressing in, we don't need to be stealthy at all. They're just illuminating the way for our attack!"

"Ha, stupid Englishman." Gupta didn't understand, but he still chimed in.

After resting for several hours, the guerrillas launched another feint attack on the northwest flanks.

After suffering two failed attacks, the rebels' morale was clearly low, and they advanced at a snail's pace.

"Isn't this feint a bit too obvious?" Even Megawa, standing next to Dugan, felt that the act was far too obvious.

Dugan smiled slightly and said, "You figured it out? That means the enemy commander is out of options. So, my friend, what are you afraid of when dealing with such a rabble?"

No sooner had Dugan finished speaking than a burst of gunfire erupted from the other side of the town, and countless shouts in Hindi drifted closer and closer to Megawa's ears.

"It's to the east..." Megava tensed up, ran to another window at the top of the tower, and looked toward the east side of the city wall.

At the same time, the guerrillas, who had been advancing slowly from the front, suddenly launched their fourth attack. This attack was much larger and more intense than the previous three, and each guerrilla was rushing towards the city wall at full speed, a stark contrast to their previous tortoise-like advance.

"The enemy commander is quite capable," Dugan said coldly. "His goal is clear: to hold us back and prevent them from reinforcing the eastern city wall."

Raj chose the eastern side of the town as his entry point because of his familiarity with the terrain of Omarazi.

Although he didn't have a lover in town like Kamal, Raj was still very familiar with the town of Omarachi.

Because the eastern edge of the town is close to the nearby Chilagos River, the terrain is low-lying and damp, resulting in no moat in front of that section of the city wall for cover.

Although Dugan later forced the townspeople to repair this section of the city wall, it was clearly a shoddy and perfunctory effort.

According to Gupta's reconnaissance over several days, the crumbling city wall could collapse with a single kick.

Having moved from the main battlefield to the enemy's flank, Raj's guerrillas had been hiding in the bushes along the riverbank for over an hour.

The high temperature and humidity made the area teeming with mosquitoes, causing considerable hardship for the guerrilla fighters who were lying in ambush.

The guerrillas in charge of reconnaissance reported to Gupta that the British were not patrolling the city walls, but had only placed a few sentries on a makeshift watchtower, along with a group of Indians armed with scimitars.

The guerrillas on reconnaissance assured Gupta, "There will be no one within 200 meters of the city walls except for a few British sentries and a few Indians."

"We can attack now." After hearing his subordinate's report, Gupta couldn't wait to rush into the town, kill more British people, avenge his dead men, and vent the frustration he had been feeling these past few days.

The other officers in the guerrilla force also expressed their agreement. If it weren't for the fact that this place was so close to the lookout post, only about 500 meters away, the officers might have already started shouting.

"Listen," one of the subordinates said.

Gupta listened intently and realized that the shouts of the feinting troops and the gunfire of the British army to the west and north could perfectly mask the sounds made by the main guerrilla force as they crossed the river.

"Walk!"

Gupta, a hunter by trade, quickly shot and killed two British soldiers patrolling with guns. The other guerrillas rushed forward, but the Indian militia dared not engage and immediately turned tail and ran, shouting, "The guerrillas are in town! The guerrillas are in town!"