As the Dreadnought signaled, the twelve Dreadnought boats were like twelve sharp arrows, drawing a "V" formation on the wide Paraná River, which seemed to be a sign of victory.
Like a pair of scissors, it pressed up from both wings of the Brazilian fleet.
The blade of this sharp scissor is the 20mm shell whizzing out from the muzzle.
The gunners on the gun emplacement kept shouting loudly, and they didn't even pay attention to the service caps that were blown off by the wind. The gunners were completely caught up in some kind of madness. They shook the handles like crazy, regardless of fatigue. Whenever the shells were empty,
Sometimes, they would howl and shout "cannonballs".
In their shouts, the ammunition hand immediately inserted the magazine into the well. The 20mm shell entered the chamber under the action of gravity, and rotated into the firing position as the handle rotated...
"Dong...dong..."
The dull sound of artillery sounds continuous, about three or four rounds per second. Although a magazine only has 20 rounds of artillery shells, it can only last for a few seconds of shooting. But those shells are very important to the Brazilian fleet.
For a wooden-hulled boat, it is extremely deadly.
The four Gatling cannons on the twelve dreadnought boats that were facing the enemy in a 'V' formation were pointed at them from both sides of the Brazilians. The rain of bullets from the forty-eight Gatling cannons hit the Brazilians.
Clouds of smoke shot out from the side of the warship. In the continuous explosions, their ship's plank was blasted with thousands of holes as big as a bowl. The small holes turned into big holes, and the big holes shattered into pieces.
In an instant, the originally menacing Brazilian fleet, under attack from both sides, was like a prey caught in a spider's web, completely unable to fight back.
The Brazilians did not stop resisting. They used cannons to violently bombard the speedboats on the water. Four Brazilian small gunboats even rushed the two wings of the "Amazon" desperately. They tried to use their hulls to protect the flagship, while on the ship
The Brazilian sailors were also desperately shooting at the "dreadnought boat" with rifles. The machine gunners also operated Gatling guns to try to suppress the South China Army's artillery fire.
"Knock out their machine guns!"
Without the captain's order, Li Tao pressed down the stern of the gun, aimed at the smoke at the top of the mast, and shook the handle. In a burst of rapid gunfire, 20mm shells roared towards the top of the Brazilian warship's mast, although there were many shells.
They all missed, but in the dense rain of bullets, the machine gun on the top of the mast was still wiped out.
During the shelling from both sides, the water in the river seemed to boil. Thousands of shotgun shells and rifle bullets hit the river, causing whitecaps to rise.
In the roaring rain of bullets, the sailors on the "dreadnought boat" were killed and injured. Facing the Brazilian sailors standing on the side of the ship who kept shooting, Li Tao directly adjusted his target and fired a burst of fire at the side of the ship.
"ah……"
In the hoarse roar, a hail of bullets passed over the side of the "Amazon", and suddenly there was a bloody storm. The Brazilian sailors who were hit by the shells were directly broken into pieces like broken porcelain.
, if hit in the abdomen or chest, the waist will be broken. If hit in the head, the head will be blown into pieces like an egg.
"my Lord!"
Admiral Inacio simply couldn't believe the tragic scene he saw. The deck had completely turned into a slaughterhouse, with mutilated corpses everywhere. He had never seen this before in his military career.
Such a tragic scene.
At this moment, he seemed to understand the despair of the Paraguayans in these waters five years ago. At that time, he used the strength of the ship and the power of the gun to ram and sink the Paraguayan warships in the river one after another with the strong hull.
And now?
In the "boom, boom" explosion, the ship's planks were blown to pieces. In the fierce battle, the distance between the enemy and ourselves was unconsciously shortened to less than two hundred steps, and the accuracy of the cannonballs became even greater.
The four gunboats trying to protect the flagship with their flesh and blood could not withstand the dense rain of bullets. The roaring shells interrupted the Brazilian sailors on the deck in pieces. As flesh and blood flew everywhere,
The shells hitting the hull tore holes as big as plates in the thin ship plank. In the clouds of explosion smoke, the small holes were blown into big holes. The raging river water immediately poured into the cabin, and even more
The lethal armor-piercing projectile penetrated the ship's plate. Although the solid steel armor-piercing projectile did not have explosives, it easily penetrated the wrought iron boiler of the steam engine after penetrating the ship's plate. The leaked high-pressure steam instantly enveloped the entire bottom tank.
, those Brazilian sailors who were desperately shoveling coal or blocking the gap with canvas to rescue the warship did not even come to shout, but their skin was directly burned by the high-temperature steam. The injured sailors were all trying desperately to escape from the bottom cabin.
After the bottom tank was swallowed by high-temperature steam, the small gunboat lost its damage control and could only be beaten passively. The turbid river water poured into the bottom tank from the hole without any hindrance.
But in just a moment, the gunboat tipped toward the side, and the deck rose high to one side. While the shells hit the deck like raindrops, the Brazilian sailors on the ship fell into the water one by one like dumplings.
Immediately afterwards, the Brazilian gunboat was torn apart by the shelling and sank to the bottom of the river.
The smoke from the roaring guns and the smoke coming out of the chimneys obscured the entire river, making it difficult for people to even see clearly what was happening on the river. But amidst the smoke and the sound of cannons and gunshots, cries for help were heard everywhere on the river, even though
Brazil's gunboats only have a few hundred tons, but each gunboat is equipped with nearly two hundred people. Since they have sailors and riflemen, during their fierce battle with the Paraguayan fleet, these riflemen even carried long knives.
, the axes joined forces to fight, and now when four gunboats sank one after another, the scene on the river was simply terrible.
Hundreds of people struggled desperately in the water, shouting for help.
Some people were swept up by the whirlpool of the sunken ship and directly into the cold river bottom.
Many people were hit by cannonballs that fell into the water, and the sailors who were cut off at the waist were turned into pieces of meat floating on the water.
The red blood spread rapidly on the river, and in the blink of an eye, the patches of red dyed the entire river red.
On the red river, the fierce battle continued, and explosions of flames rose one after another from the side of the Brazilian warship.
Under the clouds of explosive flames, hundreds of mutilated corpses floated on the water.
On the surface of this Styx-like river, more struggling sailors were floating. They grabbed the broken wood floating on the water and tried to swim to the shore. Despair was written on every face.
On the River Styx, which is like a hell, the battle is still going on...
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
I got dizzy yesterday when I was typing, and the chapters were reversed.