The British navy was defeated in the naval battles one after another, and the British army entered the quagmire on the Western Front. Britain's economy and industry were severely damaged by Germany's maritime blockade, and Britain's international reputation plummeted. However, the sick lion was more than enough to deal with a sheep. Because Britain's military power in Ireland was still very strong, Xia Shu and his Irish allies decided to adopt a wise roundabout strategy, and all the new German troops and combat equipment arrived in Ireland landed on the Port of Galway. Immediately afterwards, Xia Shu sent a secret letter to General William Grientz, the commander of the German Expeditionary Force in Ireland, asking him to withdraw German combat troops from all over Ireland as soon as possible on the grounds of gathering troops to capture Limerick.

In history, battles that cost several months are common. The Battle of Limerick began in late November 1914. During this period, the German-Iraq coalition once surrounded the port of Limerick. With the arrival of the newly formed 4th Division of the British Army and the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division, the coalition was forced to retreat and blocked the counterattack of the Commonwealth troops south of Limerick. After December, the German Marine Forces devoted themselves to the Battle of the Faroe Islands and sent troops to Ireland.

There was only a slight increase, and without sea control, the Irish independent armed forces were unwilling to assemble heavy troops in Limerick, and the two sides entered a tug-of-war. According to the original plan of the German Navy, the group of German troops accompanied by Xia Shu would land on the south bank of Shannon Bay, more than 100 kilometers away from Galway. To cooperate with the coalition forces fighting here to launch an offensive, the combat ships of the German Expeditionary Fleet would also go upstream and support the coalition forces to attack the port of Limerick again.

Now, the situation has changed a lot. More than 8,000 German Marines landed in Galway were not in a hurry to go to the front line, but set up camp and rest and standby. The Irish Unity Association and the Irish Free Army who were holding Xia Chu's thighs were immediately rewarded and piled up military supplies were loaded on their trucks. The Unity Association and the Free Army armed personnel "get rich overnight". The troops of less than 10,000 were issued 200 revolvers, 100 Maderson light machine guns and 20 Maxim heavy machine guns, and they were sufficient ammunition and fully equipped. The inconspicuous miscellaneous army transformed and immediately became an elite army armed to the teeth.

After obtaining the coveted weapons, ammunition, and food and wages, the passionate Unity Association and the Free Army soldiers were not sent to the battlefield, but were trained day after day under the guidance of German officers and soldiers. Some Irish soldiers who had received cultural education were also selected to learn artillery operations. The Unity Association and the Free Army's artillery corps were quickly formed...

In the actual controlled area of ​​the Irish armed forces, all German marines carried out General Grienz's orders without hesitation. Although the Irish soldiers were told that the German evacuation was to concentrate their efforts to attack Limerick, news about the truth about the German evacuation soon spread among the soldiers: the condition for the Germans to support Irish independence was to allow their little prince Joachim to the throne of Ireland!

Since the German team did not evacuate the front line with great fanfare, the British team did not make any major moves until the end of the month. According to information spying by intelligence personnel from the British-controlled area, many British troops boarded ships and left Ireland during this period, and seemed to be returning to the island of Britain to strengthen their defense. It seems that the rumors that the German team would land in southern England and northern Scotland have already made the British and people panic.

Faced with the German team's actions of cutting off the fire from the cauldron, the heads of the Irish Republic, who were instructing the country in Cork Port, were both annoyed and afraid. Now, although they cut off the shortcut to the Germans' victory in the Irish War of Independence, they pushed themselves into a dilemma. Without the German artillery and assault vanguards, the Irish independent armed forces were weakened by half, but at this point, the leaders of the Republican Brotherhood who ascended the throne of power had no way out. They gathered the main forces of the southern counties of Ireland, intending to retake Dublin, which had fallen into the hands of the British army earlier.

Since the Middle Ages, Dublin has been the capital of Ireland and is also the largest and most dynamic city on Ireland. Since the Irish War of Independence, the armies of both sides have fought many times around Dublin, and there were two large-scale battles. The German and Irish coalition forces briefly occupied Dublin, but because the waters near Dublin were completely under the control of the British Navy, the coalition forces were quickly repelled by the Commonwealth army, and this defeat also made all the Irish people who supported independence feel frustrated. In the minds of the Irish people, ten Corks are not as good as one Dublin.

In early February, the third Battle of Dublin began. Without the support of the German army, most of the Irish soldiers who were invading the attack felt lack of confidence. Fortunately, the main force of the British navy had been wiped out, and the remaining combat ships were fighting against the enemy on the eastern and southeastern coasts. The artillery fire from the sea was much less than 10,000 British troops stationed in Dublin, and the Irish independent armed forces almost had a 10-to-1 advantage.

At the beginning of the battle, the elite troops of the Irish Volunteer Army were divided into three groups, and after a short shelling, they launched an attack on the British defense base on the periphery of Dublin. In the past, the Irish armed forces had learned the infantry assault tactics that the German team was good at, which allowed them to capture the British army with weak defense. In just one day, the Irish armed forces cut off the land connection between Dublin and the outside world, and broke through the British defense line, and approached the city of Dublin.

That night, some Dublin people set fires in many places, harassing the British army. The Irish armed forces outside the city thought the time was ripe, so they launched a siege from the west and south. The ancient city walls of Dublin had long lost their military significance, but on that night, the broken walls standing in the city witnessed a shocking bloody battle.

On the Western Front battlefield in 1914, the German machine gun troops set a horrific record of shooting more than 20,000 French soldiers in one morning. The officials, who were deeply poisoned by offensiveism, saw that the troops in front could not attack but were unresolvable, and forced batches of infantry to rush forward with the German machine gun fire. In Dublin, across the sea, a similar scene was recorded in the history of human war: the British army deployed more than 60 machine guns at the forks, highlands and solid buildings. Each machine gun was equipped with a machine gun team of ten to twelve people, and stored a large amount of ammunition, and there were well-trained rifles near the machine gun positions. That night's moonlight also became the "accomplice" of the Commonwealth Army. While illuminating the road ahead for the Irish soldiers, it quietly led them into the arms of the god of death.

That night, the Irish siege lasted for 4 hours, from around 11 pm to around 3 pm. Almost every Irish soldier who was involved in the attack was confident that he would welcome the sunrise of the new day at the Dublin port, but their dreams were smashed by the British, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and even some Irish people.

How can flesh and blood be able to fight against dense bomb rains?

After paying the heavy price of more than 6,000 people killed and more than 8,000 injured, the crazy attack of the Irish armed forces finally came to an abrupt end at dawn, spreading all over the fields, roads, and rivers and canals shocked everyone unprecedentedly. The Irish ambulance team and corpse collection team almost stopped for a moment. The Commonwealth army defending Dublin also suffered considerable losses in the night battle, but their casualties were much lighter than those of the Irish. Whether it was the machine gunner who pulled the trigger to numbness or the rifleman who repeatedly loaded the state of forgetfulness, they did not shoot another shot during the day, but watched the opponent transport the dying wounded and the stiff corpse away with extremely complicated mood.

In the next few days, the independent Irish army adjusted its tactics to steadily attack, and the position infiltration gradually compressed, disintegrating the British defense line. The elite troops of the Irish Volunteers' army were almost the same as those of the Commonwealth army, and their combat experience was richer than the latter. Once they put aside their impetuous mentality and put down their psychological burden, they could often cooperate beautifully. The hills, castles, houses, and woodlands that once allowed countless Irish soldiers to corpse in front of them gradually became the burial place for Commonwealth soldiers. The battlefield situation was quietly changing. If this trend continues, it will not take long for the Irish people to reach the victory they long for.

At this moment, two old British battleships sailed into Dublin Harbor surrounded by several destroyers and torpedo boats. They were like white-haired, hunched old men, waving their rusty iron swords with difficulty. They looked ridiculous, but they left the Irish independent armed forces who lacked artillery and did not know how to use artillery.

Immediately afterwards, a large number of British Marines crossed the sea surface only 100 kilometers wide between the Lein Peninsula in Wales and Dublin. The gang-joining operations had long since withdrawn from the stage of history. These marines were no longer sea dragons, but on the coastal land, they were as powerful as tigers and were unstoppable. Under the counterattack of this new force, the Irish independent armed forces retreated step by step, and thousands of soldiers sent to the north of Dublin to block the land were surrounded by the British army...

Just the day after the British Royal Marines arrived in Dublin, the German-Irish coalition launched a massive attack on Limerick. It is the capital of the province of Munster, the largest city on the west coast of Ireland, and an important hub on the Shannon River. If this nail can be removed, the British military force will be completely expelled from western Ireland, and the largest land boundary to divide the Irish independent armed forces will no longer exist, and the UK's strategic situation in Ireland will become even more unfavorable.
Chapter completed!