IBTCPOTME Novel - Chapter 131
**Chapter 131**
The Mexican-American War (4)
Bang!
Another ship capsized.
Waves crashed violently, creating foam around the overturned ship. The sea, as if enraged, was showing off its power to the fleet.
“We must retreat! The fleet’s losses are becoming too great!”
Signal flags from the monitors’ captains converged on the flagship carrying Admiral David Conner.
“Never retreat! Retreating means certain defeat! Respond with a barrage!”
The admiral’s order made the already tense atmosphere on the flagship even heavier.
Admiral David Conner couldn’t accept the situation where his meticulously planned operation was crumbling under a single attack by ironclad ships.
‘Those stupid, oversized brats…’
David Conner’s eyes were filled with resentment and contempt. Deep down, he knew this battle was not merely a clash of power but a fight of experience and strategy.
The Mexican Empire Navy, despite having poured money into building a massive fleet, lacked experience.
As expected, they fell into the trap of the American strategy. Just when they felt the thrill of catching a big fish, the enemy commander outmaneuvered them, turning everything upside down.
The monitors retreating meant certain defeat, and defeat in this battle meant the fall of New Orleans, a major southern city, to the flames of war. Furthermore, it was almost certain that they would lose control of the Mississippi River.
‘If we lose the Mississippi River…’
David Conner shook off the thought.
“Tell everyone, never retreat.”
The monitors, mass-produced by the United States, were built solely for the purpose of inflicting damage on enemy ironclads, minimizing construction costs.
Naturally, they were inferior to the Mexican monitors, but the US Navy had no choice but to make do with limited resources to hold back the enemy.
‘We can lose the monitors, but we cannot lose the battle.’
However, the tide of the battle flowed against David Conner’s wishes.
“Fire at the signal!”
“Fire!”
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Rat-a-tat-tat!
Five or six monitors simultaneously struck the Cuauhtémoc, but the Cuauhtémoc only swayed slightly under the impact, continuing to move and capsizing nearby monitors.
That wasn’t all.
“Aim the main guns at the nearest monitor!”
“Yes!”
Boom!
The Cuauhtémoc’s main gun roared.
The destructive power of a cannon fired from hundreds of meters away was different from one fired from less than 30 meters.
Boom!
“Penetration! Pen…”
Whoosh!
The monitor, unlucky enough to be hit in the magazine, exploded.
Monitors that had only swayed violently when fired upon from afar, couldn’t withstand the impact of close-range fire and began to be penetrated or capsized.
With the US Navy monitors’ support fire cut off, the situation on the fort side rapidly worsened.
“The armored frigates, approach the enemy fort and attack!”
The vice admiral, commanding the main fleet in place of Admiral Castillo, who had moved east to contain the American monitors, gave the order.
They had successfully suppressed most of the large-caliber coastal guns. While the ironclads and monitors were firing their main guns, the armored frigates, which had been watching from the center, approached the fort.
“Sequential firing!”
“Yes!”
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Although relatively small-caliber, the 42 cannons firing in succession created a barrage that was overwhelming in a different way than the main guns of the ironclads and monitors.
Dozens of cannonballs swept across a wide area of the ground in an instant, turning many soldiers into bloody messes.
It showed a killing power on a different level than the main guns, which were powerful but took a long time to reload and had fewer cannons.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
No matter how strong the fort was, they couldn’t hold out indefinitely without means of resistance.
“Retreat! Retreat! Fall back and regroup!”
It was essentially a surrender of the fort. The fort was important, but the lives of the soldiers were also important.
“Survivors, gather equipment and wounded and prepare to move to New Orleans!”
As the northern Fort Saint Philip, which had suffered heavier losses, retreated, Fort Jackson issued the same order.
“There’s no point in holding on with almost no naval support fire! We must retreat and preserve our forces.”
“Understood. Let’s retreat after recovering as much supplies as possible.”
The northern Fort Saint Philip had already decided to retreat. Fort Jackson, without hesitation, made a quick decision to withdraw.
“It’s over.”
Seeing the soldiers retreating from the fort, Admiral David Conner, who had stubbornly held on, had no choice but to admit defeat.
“Let’s retreat.”
The aide, who had been waiting for those words, immediately shouted loudly.
“Retreat! Preserve the fleet as much as possible!”
The Cuauhtémoc and the Mexican fleet did not pursue the retreating American fleet.
They had also suffered considerable losses, and they had no time to chase them. They were not headed towards the sea but up the Mississippi River.
“Victory!”
“Wooo!”
The soldiers cheered when the battle formation was disbanded, but Admiral Castillo felt a sense of unease.
‘Despite having overwhelming power, we almost suffered terrible losses.’
Fortunately, they found a breakthrough in the middle, but if they had continued with the original strategy of simply overwhelming the enemy with their superior fleet power, they would have experienced a Pyrrhic victory.
“This battle was dangerous.”
A junior officer, who had briefly come up to the flagship, also said. He was a vice admiral, and only in this informal setting after the meeting did he speak his mind.
Admiral Castillo looked out at the calm sea for a moment. The traces of the battle seemed to be slowly dissolving into the deep blue of the sea.
“Yes, it was dangerous. The fact that Mexico is currently considered a naval power is not something we achieved, but I became arrogant without realizing it.”
Admiral Castillo readily admitted it.
“Well, I’m the same. But we realized it in time and managed to pull through, didn’t we?”
“That’s fortunate, but we must not forget the lessons learned this time.”
The two were the most senior members of the Mexican Navy. They had become part of the navy during a time when Mexico didn’t even have a single warship after independence.
They knew very well that Mexico’s reputation as the second-strongest navy in the world was not due to years of accumulated tradition and experience like other countries. It was all thanks to the enormous investment of the imperial government.
Admiral Castillo engraved the lessons learned this time in his heart.
***
“What justification do we have to get involved in a war that’s none of our business!”
“That’s right! The war is absurd. Isn’t there a non-aggression pact?”
Arthur Wellesley’s desperate pleas were blocked by the recently rising Liberal Party members.
Recently rapidly growing Mexico was an important trading partner for Britain, just as important as the United States, and the British people perceived Mexico as a friendly nation. Therefore, there was no way a proposal to suddenly join the war on the side of the United States would pass.
The reason for its impossibility was clear from the start.
The non-aggression pact.
It was a pact with a 10-year term, but it was renewed unless one side expressed their intention to not renew it.
The British Empire and the Mexican Empire first signed a non-aggression pact in the winter of 1828, and neither side expressed their intention to not renew it in 1838. In other words, the non-aggression pact would continue until 1848.
Seeing the public sentiment, young Conservative Party members also diligently persuaded their leader and elder, Arthur Wellesley.
“I agree that Herónimo Iturbide is dangerous. But isn’t this war itself a boon for us, Britain?”
“That’s right. This war is not one that will end easily. The United States has an advantage in population and economic power, while Mexico has an advantage in military power. We can watch the two countries fight fiercely and continue to ‘manage the world.’”
The United States has an advantage in population and economic power, while Mexico has an advantage in military power. However, the United States’ vast territory and stamina are not something that can be easily conquered by military power. Hadn’t Britain experienced the tenacity and stamina of the United States in the past?
No matter who wins, both countries will ultimately suffer tremendous losses. That was the common ‘truth’ among British politicians and intellectuals.
As even fellow Conservative Party members persuaded him like that, Arthur Wellesley couldn’t continue to stubbornly insist on joining the war on the side of the United States.
Wellesley looked out the window at the peaceful streets of London, but his heart was like a stormy sea.
“…Fine. Let’s give up on joining the war for now. But if this war ends too unilaterally, too quickly, that wouldn’t be in the interest of our British Empire either. Do you agree?”
The young Conservative Party members nodded.
“Yes, the balance between the two countries must be maintained so that they can check each other.”
“How about we keep a close eye on the progress of the war and help if one side becomes too disadvantaged? If the non-aggression pact is a problem, there are many ways to help without directly joining the war.”
It was a proposal he could make because he thought that the war between the two countries could never be evenly matched.
“I agree. We’ll have to see how it goes, but with that condition, even the Liberal Party will understand.”
It was a much more reasonable argument than before, and within the Conservative Party, there was an awareness of the danger of Mexico, so they agreed to this proposal.
It was the moment when Wellesley’s plan to intervene in the war in some way was laid out.
***
The armies of the two countries were marching side by side along the river.
“Haha, this is a funny situation.”
“In many ways, it will go down in world war history. Not only did they declare war first and get attacked first, losing over 300 kilometers of territory, but now the two armies are marching side by side, dozens of kilometers south along the river.”
Although it was a bit funny, it was all according to the plan. Why should they rush across the Mississippi River and fight when the US army was waiting for them to come over?
The Mississippi River is not an easy river to cross, and it’s almost a kilometer wide. If the defenders were few, they planned to just charge in, but the enemy seemed to have deployed all the troops they could, so it was a daunting number to cross.
Lieutenant General Antonio, after confirming the enemy’s presence, began to march south along the river for a joint operation with the navy after a day of rest.
The target was New Orleans, a major southern city.
While they were marching south, they saw someone riding a horse towards them from afar.
“It’s a messenger.”
“I hope they bring good news.”
The messenger brought news that the Mexican Navy had broken through the first line of defense on the way to New Orleans.
“Faster than I thought. Tell them to arrive by February 17th, even if they have to push themselves a little.”
“Yes!”
As the Mexican army sped up to meet the navy’s operation schedule, the US army across the river also sped up.
They didn’t know what was going on, but they couldn’t fall behind.
February 16, 1846.
They could see New Orleans, a major southern city, in the distance.
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