The First and Second Divisions of the Brazilian Army have experienced years of fighting, and the number of troops has dropped to less than 10,000 people per division. The two divisions plus a part of the army responsible for the guard headquarters, nearly 20,000 people, are the maximum number of troops that Garcia can mobilize.
.
The defense line surrounding the Humeta Fortress stretches for more than 30 kilometers. The remaining 30,000 troops face the more than 20,000 Paraguayan defenders in the fortress. The comparative advantage in strength is small and the defensive pressure is great. In order to maintain the defense line surrounding the fortress from collapsing,
Garcia must defeat the enemy forces on the river bank before the Paraguayan defenders can launch a full-scale counterattack, and then return to defend the fortress defense line.
Half an hour after the cavalry troops set off, the assembled 20,000 Brazilian troops then set off. On the march, Garcia kept urging the troops to speed up their march.
Traveling quickly, 20,000 Brazilian troops arrived at the edge of the river base. The Chinese soldiers on patrol and the leading Brazilian reinforcements exchanged fire. The two sides each suffered more than a dozen casualties before breaking away from contact and returning to their respective armies to report the enemy's situation.
It was impossible for the troops to rush into battle immediately. After arranging the troops responsible for security, Garcia and a group of senior generals walked into the temporary headquarters to study the combat deployment.
The sound of gunfire from the Brazilian naval base on the river bank in front disappeared, and the bodies of horses and cavalry were everywhere in front of the enemy's position. All the circumstances showed that the Brazilian naval force had been completely wiped out, and the two thousand cavalry reinforcements had also shed their last drop of blood under the opponent's defense.
Who are the enemy troops coming along the river? They just met the Brazilian army and killed the latter's expeditionary navy and two thousand cavalry. The number of the opponent's troops, weapons and equipment, and their origins are unknown.
In a decisive battle with an army that you don't understand at all, how sure are you of victory?
After seeing the tragic situation of the cavalry troops at the front, Garcia's determination to fight the enemy was slightly shaken.
It was difficult to decide whether to fight or retreat in a short period of time, and Garcia's change of mind also affected other senior officers in the temporary command headquarters. Some of the senior officers who originally advocated fighting have changed their attitudes and tended to retreat to the camp and hold on.
, waiting for Brazil to send troops for reinforcements.
The commander of the Second Division was the main officer who held this idea. The reasons he gave were quite sufficient. The enemy army annihilated the navy and the two thousand cavalry reinforcements in half a day. The rapid and decisive fighting method was enough to prove the strength of the enemy army.
Forty thousand Chinese independent troops have basically landed ashore. The gradually improved defensive positions and sufficient artillery and machine guns will deal a huge blow to the Brazilian army's offensive.
Forty thousand troops are deployed in a small river bank base. The number of troops of the Chinese Independence Army is approximated by the senior generals of the Brazilian Army. Even the number of soldiers deployed by the Chinese Independence Army in frontline positions is no less than 20,000.
What's more, there are troops repairing behind them?
The opinions of the commander of the Second Division were conservative and prudent, but no matter how good his opinions were, they could not convince other officers before there was a real collision with the Chinese Independence Army.
The troops were on their way at a high speed, and retreating without engaging the enemy would have a great impact on the morale of the troops. Moreover, it would be difficult to explain to the superiors if the shore supply base was lost for no reason.
War is a continuation of politics. As a group of people who hold the highest power in the Brazilian Empire, Garcia not only has to consider individual war factors, various political factors are still inevitable and important reasons. In the original history, Garcia besieged Humeta
The success of the fortress forced Lopez Jr. to abandon his main force and escape. Not long after occupying Asunción, the capital of Paraguay, due to the intensification of domestic conflicts in the Brazilian Empire, Garcia did not bother to hunt down and suppress Lopez Jr. and left Paraguay in a hurry, giving Lopez Jr. a chance to breathe.
, re-recruited tens of thousands of troops and delayed the Paraguay War until two years later.
The Fortress of Humeita is still in the hands of Lopez Jr., and the war in Paraguay shows no sign of ending, but Garcia has to face a major choice in advance.
The Brazilian Emperor Pedro II was an accomplished emperor. During his tenure as emperor, he promoted Brazil's political and economic reforms, abolished the black slavery system, and promoted Brazil's economic development. Now Brazil's powerful Pedro II
He has made great contributions, but not every Brazilian hopes to have a wise emperor. Pedro II's reforms are beneficial to the country, but they hurt the interests of the native white people and large landowners who hold the power in Brazil. Faced with the conflict between interests,
Fight, they don't care whether you are the emperor or not, they will still oppose you and force you to step down.
Because there has been no major progress in the Paraguay War, Pedro II's domestic situation has become increasingly difficult. Brazilian republican figures have even publicly advocated the abolition of the imperial system and the implementation of a federal republican system.
As a well-known royalist leader general, Garcia had to consider the status of Pedro II. If he did not fight a war and watched the river base being occupied by the Chinese Independence Army without doing anything, the news would be spread back to Brazil, and he would smell the fishy smell.
Unscrupulous republicans will surface like sharks, criticizing Garcia's commanding ability and even pouring dirty water on Pedro II's head. This result is unacceptable to Garcia.
For his own honor and power, and at the same time to maintain the status of Brazilian Emperor Pedro II, it is imperative to attack the Chinese Independence Army.
The Brazilian army repaired in front of the river bank position for more than two hours. Just when the Chinese soldiers on the front line thought they were going to continue repairing, rows of soldiers and carriages pulling artillery behind them approached the Chinese Independence Army position.
When the Brazilian army advanced one mile away from the Chinese Independence Army position, it stopped. The artillery behind the army was pushed by soldiers on a horse-drawn carriage to a nearby mound. An engineer company affiliated with the artillery carried shovels and other tools to dig out the soil.
,level the land,
A thousand light cavalry on guard duty surrounded the mound, alerting the enemy ahead to attack the artillery positions.
The Chinese Independence Army did not launch an attack on the Brazilian army. The Chinese soldiers in the frontline positions were carrying ammunition, inspecting firearms, and making final preparations before the battle under the command of officers.
It is not easy to tow large artillery. The Brazilian army only carries small and medium-sized field artillery. After preparations are completed, the Brazilian artillery adjusts the angle of the artillery and then launches artillery fire first.
The sound of artillery boomed, and a machine gun on the position was hit by a shell. The shattered machine gun frame flew into the sky and finally landed five meters in front of the position. The Brazilian artillery showed off its power, and the raging artillery fire enveloped the front position. Chen Guozhu was commanding the battle.
Crouching in the trench to avoid artillery fire.
"You son of a bitch, let me hide in a pit and eat dirt, and you will look after me!"
Chen Guozhu cursed Li Lie, pulled over a messenger, and said loudly, "Soldiers from all departments are not allowed to act without authorization. After the bombardment is over, return to the position and beat the white-skinned guy hard."
"Yes" the messenger took an iron plate to cover his head and ran towards the other troops in the trench.
The bombardment ended and Brazilian Army troops began to attack.
The Brazilian Army was originally not large in size. After the Paraguay War broke out, no one expected that the war would last for three years and still not end. When frontline troops continued to suffer casualties and the original size of the army could not meet the requirements of the war, Brazil continued to expand the number of the Army.
In the continuous expansion of the army, the First Division and the Second Division have gradually expanded from a regiment-level unit with a size of 2,000 to a division-level unit with a full strength of 13,000. The increasing number of troops has reduced the number of front-line troops sieging Humei Pagoda.
The pressure on the fortress also reduced the combat effectiveness of the troops to a certain extent.
Sirebate was a native white man who was recruited into the army, and he was accompanied by a black man named Gorante, who was originally a black slave. After the Paraguay War entered a stalemate, the Brazilian government, in order to end the war as soon as possible, in addition to recruiting young white men into the army
, also used freedom as a reward to encourage black slaves to fight. After hearing the news in the small town, Gorante secretly ran to the recruitment site to sign up. For this, Gorante was also beaten by his master.
After a severe beating, the wounds on his back have not healed yet.
Sirebatt looked down upon the black-skinned Gallant, believing that fighting with him would insult his reputation and make him look down upon by other white people.
The Brazilian army quickly approached the defense line of the Chinese Independence Army. The machine guns on the position fired at the intensively attacking Brazilian soldiers. The Brazilian soldiers in the front row advanced less than ten meters and fell under the fierce fire of the machine guns. Modern war is different from cold weapons.
In traditional wars based on traditional warfare, in battles for positions, a few hundred meters away from the front line often means casualties of hundreds, thousands or even tens of thousands of troops. This form of war, where the firepower and weapons and equipment of both sides are compared, is more bloody, cruel, and more direct.
Traditional offensive and defensive warfare relies on the fortifications of city walls, and the war may last for several months or more than a year, while in firearm-based positional warfare, the outcome of the war may be determined in a few days or hours.
The one-hour charge broke through the outer defense line of the Chinese Independence Army, at the cost of more than 3,000 Brazilian soldiers being injured and killed.
Sirebatt and Gorante were among the few lucky ones. Their company of more than 150 people was at the forefront of the attacking force. An hour of intermittent attacks resulted in heavy casualties for the entire company, including the death of the company commander and four platoon commanders.
In front of the enemy's position, they were the only ones alive and well.
After stopping the attack to rest, Sirebatt took out the cross he wore around his neck and prayed devoutly for God's blessing, while Gorante was lying on the ground alone, holding his rifle and shivering.
After Sirebat finished praying, when he saw Gorante's frightened expression and his disdainful curse of "nigger", he immediately felt that the courage in his chest had increased a lot, and he looked down upon Gorante's cowardice even more.
After a short period of repairs, some soldiers were recruited from the rear, and the attack resumed.
This time, Garcia moved the artillery unit forward and placed it on the outer defense line occupied by the Army. It fired artillery shells at close range to assist the Army's attack.
The outermost line of defense is a bait prepared by the Chinese Independence Army for the Brazilian army. The specific position parameters of this line of defense have been measured, and the artillery unit has set the shooting angle according to the parameters, just waiting for the Brazilian army to take the bait.
After breaking through the outer positions, the Brazilian army's attack became more fierce. Ten thousand soldiers launched an attack together, raining artillery shells and machine gun bullets on the positions of the Chinese Independence Army.
The entire Brazilian army was mobilized, and the Chinese artillery unit that had not shown up until now began to fight back. The twelve captured Napoleon field guns once again showed their power. The shells fell on the Brazilian artillery position one after another. The huge explosion shock wave gradually covered the entire peripheral position.
Artillery, soldiers and accumulated shells. After the bombardment, only broken weapons and corpses were left everywhere.
The Brazilian artillery position was destroyed. Napoleon field guns and other types of artillery extended their fire, targeting the rear of the attacking Brazilian army. Hundreds of artillery fired successively. After the artillery shells exploded, a tight blockade was formed. The Brazilian soldiers in front of the artillery shells were isolated.
came, and what greeted them was more intense machine gun fire.
When defending the outer position, in order to prevent the Brazilian army from being scared away, the machine gun configuration on the position was reduced by half. But when it comes to counterattack, there is no need to hide and tuck all the machine guns and the few remaining grenades to attack and harvest quickly.
The lives of Brazilian soldiers.
The situation on the battlefield reversed, and most of the Brazilian soldiers who were separated by artillery fire were killed or injured. The remaining soldiers lost the courage to continue the attack and turned around and retreated.
The entire artillery unit was wiped out and the attacking soldiers suffered heavy losses. The Chinese soldiers with high morale would not miss this opportunity and jumped out of their positions to chase the retreating Brazilian soldiers.
Xirebat's face turned pale, and he ran to the rear with all his strength. The Chinese soldiers behind him were shouting kills and getting closer and closer. Xirebat wanted to spread his legs and run quickly, but he couldn't speed up no matter what he did. Whoosh!
The sound of bullets passing through the air reached Xirebat's ears. The two Brazilian soldiers running in front of him were shot dead and fell to the ground. Xirebat's feet refused to obey him and he stared blankly at the dead people in front of him.
Comrade-in-arms, one of them was the black man Gorante who he despised.
He was dazed for a moment, and when he woke up, five or six Chinese soldiers had arrived not far from him. They subconsciously raised their hands. Xirebat saved his life and became an independent prisoner of the Chinese. There was no hope of escape and the Brazilian soldiers surrendered.
More and more, Garcia put down the telescope in his hand and said absentmindedly, "Failed, completely defeated."
The main force of 20,000 was defeated by the enemy. How many soldiers could successfully escape? After losing 20,000 soldiers, could the remaining 30,000 hold the camp? Garcia shook his head in pain, took out the short gun from his waist and pointed it at his head.
commit suicide.
"Commander, there are still 30,000 soldiers in the rear, and they still expect you to take them home safely. You can't just let them go!"
The surrounding officers noticed Garcia's behavior and immediately took his hand and persuaded him.
"Go home? Yes, they are the best troops in the empire. I can't let them die here in vain."
Garcia said to himself, regaining some sense, "Retreat immediately and try to bring the soldiers back to the camp."
Garcia reluctantly gave the order to retreat and, escorted by surrounding soldiers, fled to the rear camp.
The Brazilian Army suffered a blow from the fighting on the river bank. Only 3,000 Brazilian soldiers finally escaped back to the camp. The Chinese Independence Army killed 5,000 enemy soldiers and captured 10,000 prisoners. The other 2,000 Brazilian soldiers fled to safety in the mountains and forests surrounding the battlefield.
Not more than half the people returned to the Brazilian camp.