The Paraguay River has a wide channel and high water depth. However, compared with the vast sea, the movement space of the ironclads is extremely limited. The width of the river channel of more than 100 meters is not enough to provide the Brazilian ironclads with roundabout cover space.
The guns of Chaoyang and Dawn turned and fired a salvo of artillery shells when the Brazilian ironclad was blocked by chaotic friendly ships.
The unexpected surprise attack and preemptive strike gave the Chinese Independence Army the upper hand. At a distance of only more than 100 meters, the Brazilian ironclad became a living target for the Chinese Independence Army's navy novices to test. It approached and fired two shells.
Hitting the target, the Brazilian navy soldiers who were still operating warships on the river heard two explosions in succession, and then fell to the ground under the impact of fragments stirred up by the shells. The two shells hit the turret and deck of the ironclad ship respectively, and one gun was destroyed.
The cannonballs overturned it and lost its combat effectiveness, while the watchtower was pierced with a big hole by the cannonballs.
The Brazilian ironclad was in a mess. More than 20 soldiers were affected by the shells, and most of them were seriously injured and fell to the ground.
The Brazilian ironclad appears to be in a miserable state, but in fact the core power system of the warship has not been hit, and the entire warship still maintains most of its combat capabilities.
The early combat advantage was hard-won. While Chaoyang and Dawn fired salvos against Brazil's main ironclads, seven gunboats and hundreds of sail warships took advantage of the situation to attack. The Chinese Independence Army soldiers on board stood on the bow, holding hooks and ropes.
Always be prepared for a boarding battle.
Boarding fighting is a typical fighting method in the age of sails. Many veterans of the Taiping Army who fought with the Qing army along the Yangtze River had experience in boarding fighting. Originally, this fighting method has been eliminated from the battlefield in the West, but on the Paraguay River
, the eliminated method of war has found its place of use again.
The Paraguay River connected to the Atlantic Ocean gave the Brazilian Navy the opportunity to enter the interior of Paraguay, and also restricted the ironclads fighting in the vast sea to the inland river.
The Brazilian ironclad knew that the enemy was coming towards it but was unable to effectively avoid it. In less than a minute, seven gunboats powered by steam arrived at the battlefield first.
"Bang" a gunboat collided with the Brazilian ironclad. The Chinese soldiers on the gunboat shook for a while, then threw up the hook rope and climbed towards the ship along the rope.
"Quick, get to the bow of the ship quickly, we can't let them board the ironclad ship."
The Brazilian navy soldiers who escaped the shell attack quickly ran from the deck to the bow of the ship. The soldiers below the ship's cabin also rushed to the deck hill under the leadership of the officers to resist the attack of the Chinese Independence Army.
Seven gunboats arrived at the Brazilian ironclad at about the same time, and more than 210 Chinese soldiers landed from all sides of the warship. A fierce battle took place at close range between the soldiers from the two sides.
The bow of the Brazilian ironclad was less than four meters away from the surface of the gunboat. Chinese soldiers and the Brazilian navy came close to shoot. In just a few minutes, the number of casualties on both sides exceeded 200.
In order to seize the last ironclad ship of the Brazilian Navy, the first wave of Chinese soldiers who attacked on gunboats suffered more than half of their casualties. At the same time, they caused no less casualties to the Brazilian navy soldiers than our own. The Brazilian ironclad ship was full of 300 people. Two of them were hit by artillery shells.
More than a dozen people lost their combat effectiveness, and the battle on the side cost more than 100 casualties. There were less than 150 soldiers on the entire warship who could still take up arms to fight.
The heavy casualty ratio quickly swallowed up the fighting will of the Brazilian soldiers on the ironclad ship. Gunboats surrounded the ironclad ship and attacked. The warships that relied on traditional wind power arrived at the battlefield a few minutes later. Three sail warships with a displacement of more than 2,000 tons came into contact with the Brazilian ironclad ship.
The decks of the two warships were basically at the same level. The Chinese soldiers who had been prepared for a long time crossed the gap between the warships and swarmed towards the Brazilian ironclad.
The disparity in strength between the enemy and ourselves was too great. Of the more than 100 remaining soldiers on the Brazilian warship, only more than 30 were killed, and all the remaining soldiers surrendered.
The only ironclad ship was the temporary flagship of the Brazilian Navy. The command ship was captured. The other Brazilian ships were not as lucky. The Chaoyang and the Dawn occupied the central position on the Paraguay River bank, attacking Brazilian warships with the ability to fight back, and nearly
One hundred modified warships approached to attack, and the transport ships behind them spread out along the river bank to block the breakthrough of the Brazilian ships. One hundred modified warships formed the first circle of encirclement, and the transport fleet blocked the escape route of the fish that slipped through the net. Two
The ironclad ship serves as a patrol and is responsible for dealing with warships that have escaped the first layer of encirclement and suppression.
With two layers of encirclement and coordinated attacks from three sides, the Brazilian navy, which was blocked at the river base, struggled less and less. An hour and a half later, the battle on the river ended. More than 120 Brazilian ships and seven or eight gunboats took advantage of the situation.
When the encirclement was not tight at first, they escaped, sank and damaged more than 30 Brazilian ships, and captured more than 70 Brazilian naval ships, including ironclads.
In two water battles, the Chinese Independence Army captured three ironclads, fifteen sailing warships with a displacement of more than 2,000 tons, and thirty warships with a displacement of between 1,000 and 2,000 tons.
Twenty large transport ships and seventeen gunboats.
As for the small ships with a displacement of less than 1,000 tons, there are more than 300. These ships are simple to manufacture and small in size. They are only suitable for transporting materials and personnel in inland river areas and have weak combat capabilities. After the war, except for wooden ships of less than 1,000 tons,
Some of the ones with good performance will be retained to join the navy's offshore patrol fleet, while the others will be sold to meritorious soldiers at low prices for use as fishing boats and merchant ships.
The battle on the river ended, and the Chinese Independence Army defeated the Brazilian defenders on the river bank and occupied the base at the mouth of the river.
The river bank base is the Brazilian army's logistical supply base and the river channel leading to the sea. Occupying the river bank base is equivalent to pinching the neck of the Brazilian army and isolating the main force of the Brazilian army from its rear troops.
The riverbank base is very important to the Brazilian army. Garcia will not sit back and watch the base be lost. It will not take long before Garcia will send troops to counterattack. There is not much preparation time left for the Chinese Independence Army. Li Mingyuan got off the boat and personally commanded the troops.
Build fortifications.
The artillery placed by the Brazilian army in the camp was pulled out by the Chinese soldiers. Under the command of Li Mingyuan, the artillery was placed on both sides of the defense line. As the artillery brigade commander, Luo Dapao could only follow Li Mingyuan and listened to Li Mingyuan.
Explain the use of artillery tactics.
"Artillery is mainly used for city defense operations in the mainland. As for field operations, artillery plays only a supporting role most of the time. However, as artillery technology becomes more perfect, siege heavy artillery, easy-to-carry field howitzers, etc. have more specific functions.
Artillery appeared on the battlefield, and the significance of artillery on the battlefield became more and more important.
Artillery, remember, artillery is not just an auxiliary weapon on the battlefield. When used properly, artillery can play a decisive role on the battlefield."
Normally, Li Mingyuan also introduced to Luo Dapao the importance of artillery on the battlefield, but he rarely gave artillery such a high evaluation as he did today.
Artillery played a dominant role in subsequent large-scale wars. Due to the insufficient performance of artillery in the hands of the Chinese Independence Army, the artillery brigade has never reached the position envisioned by Li Mingyuan. By conquering the shore base of the Brazilian Navy, the Chinese Independence Army not only captured a large number of warships
A batch of artillery pieces with superior performance were also obtained.
The artillery that the Chinese soldiers are transporting is produced in France
The M1857 12-pound (5.44 kg) field gun, also known as the "Napoleonic gun". This is an artillery named after the French Emperor Napoleon III.
The Napoleon Cannon has strong maneuverability, fierce firepower, and a maximum attack range of 1,500 meters. It can effectively kill the enemy at a distance of 1,000 meters. And due to the use of explosive bombs, more than ten rounds of artillery shells can destroy an enemy battalion's offensive force.
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The Qing army suffered heavy losses from Napoleon's artillery during the Second Opium War. Napoleon's artillery also showed great power during the North American and South American Wars. Now a row of twelve unused Napoleon's artillery has fallen into the hands of the Chinese Independence Army. Li Mingyuan
There is reason to believe that the power of the artillery purchased by the Brazilians will surprise themselves.
It will take a certain amount of time for the 40,000 Chinese troops to land. Before the landing of the troops is completed, a mixed position composed of artillery and machine guns will serve as the main force to block the enemy's counterattack.