On December 18, as the troops marched to Passo Fundo, 2,000 men of the 2nd Mixed Brigade and half of the artillery unit turned and headed west, while the remaining soldiers continued toward San Pedro.
The two sides in Misiones officially fought on December 6. After twelve days of fighting, the Paraguayan army captured many towns controlled by the Argentine army. The leading troops once conducted reconnaissance activities in Posadas, the capital of Misiones Province.
The Paraguayan army has been in battle for a long time and has rich combat experience. However, the troops suffered too many casualties in the war and the number of the main force was limited. The initial fierce offensive lasted for five or six days and faced the dilemma of dividing the troops to occupy the disputed towns. The number of front-line troops was reduced, resulting in insufficient stamina of the offensive troops.
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Argentina then concentrated its frontline forces to launch a counterattack, recaptured four towns along the Paraná River, and forced the Paraguayans back to the west of San Pedro outside the Engineer Port of Morandi. The two sides began to launch a continuous battle over the city of Morandi.
"Boom," more than twenty artillery pieces fired at the city gate. The shells hit the city wall, leaving small craters. A little stone dust mixed with gunpowder debris arose and filled the city tower. The pungent smell of gunpowder entered.
A cough rang out from the mouths of the Argentinian soldiers defending behind the city wall, and the sound was muffled by artillery fire.
After three rounds of scattering, the artillery fire ceased, and the battlefield became quiet for an instant. The guarding soldiers rang the bronze bell in the center of the tower, and the brief calm was immediately broken.
"Quick, quick, get back to the combat position. The Paraguayans are coming up!" Hearing the alarm bell, more than a dozen Argentine junior officers were the first to stand up and loudly issued orders to the defending soldiers.
Thousands of soldiers left their hiding places and quickly returned to their defensive positions.
Under the city wall, Paraguayan soldiers rushed toward the city gate one after another with rifles in hand. "Click, click, click," five or six machine guns fired at the crowded area, and rows of soldiers fell down like harvested wheat.
The soldiers in the front fell down, and the Paraguay behind stepped over the corpses of their comrades and continued to charge. The machine guns on the top of the city stopped one after another after a few minutes of shooting. Among the six machine guns, two were damaged due to excessive use, and the remaining four machine guns were exhausted.
The auxiliary machine gunner was busy reloading bullets.
The machine gun used on the South American battlefield is a new thing in this era. The machine gun that just appeared on the battlefield has various shortcomings. The service life is limited, the machine gun is heavy, it needs to be transported by a pack horse, the shooting speed is slow, and the ammunition is easy to jam.
Various shortcomings have hindered the large-scale popularization of machine guns. The newly organized National Defense Forces only purchased some machine guns and formed special machine gun teams. They did not distribute machine guns to squad and platoon-level combat units as in later generations.
The machine guns in the positions outside the city gate were silenced, and the obstacles in front of the attacking soldiers were greatly reduced.
"The follow-up troops will follow up, the artillery will provide cover, and we will capture the position outside the city this morning!"
Colonel Istigali stood in the forward command post, saw the battle ahead through his telescope, and gave a decisive order.
"yes."
"The second echelon reinforces the first echelon and attack immediately."
The deputy commander of Istigalibi ordered the adjutant.
The adjutant picked up a rifle and was stopped before he could leave.
"No need to pass orders. I will personally go to the front line to take command."
Istigali saw through his telescope that the Argentine machine gun position outside the city had been breached. More than a hundred Paraguayan soldiers entered the first line of Argentinian positions outside the city. The defeated Argentine soldiers were retreating to the rear positions.
"The Argentinian peripheral troops retreated, and the enemy was in a panic and had no time to deploy a defensive line. Our army followed behind the enemy's defeated soldiers and attacked, disrupting the Argentinian deployment and taking advantage of the situation to attack the city!"
Istigali was keenly aware of the favorable fighter opportunity and made the immediate decision to attack all the soldiers and break the Argentine army's defense.
In the frontline headquarters built in a wooden shed, the staff officers and guard soldiers followed Istiga to the front line 500 meters away. The Paraguayan soldiers who were repairing the trenches lined up and set off under strict orders to engage in offensive operations.
The Paraguayan army was mixed with the surrounding Argentinian troops, and the artillery on the city wall stopped firing at the positions below the city to prevent accidental injuries to our own soldiers.
Istigali took the risk and charged among the frontline soldiers. The adjutant beside him tried to stop him but was pulled away.
"The soldiers attacked the city with their lives. I should be an example to the whole army and fight with them!"
Captain! Pick up your gun and destroy the Argentines. The shame of the Paraguayan soldiers needs to be washed away with victory. Execute the order immediately!"
"Yes, sir." The adjutant was frightened by Istiga's cannibalistic eyes. He pulled out the pistol on his belt, gritted his teeth and rushed forward.
Colonel Istigali is the general under Lopez Jr.
During the Paraguay War in May 1865, Lopez divided his small army into two parts. He personally led the main force into Corrientes, and the remaining soldiers were led by Colonel Isti Galibi as a partial division to attack Misio.
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The Istiga force was short of troops, and when it attacked Misiones, it was besieged by the superior armies of Brazil and Argentina, and had no choice but to surrender.
After the victory in the Paraguay War, Lopez Jr. did not blame Istigali. After redeeming him from the hands of the Argentines, he continued to give him important responsibilities.
When the Misiones conflict broke out, Istigali received the news and took the initiative to go to the front line to command the battle, defeating the Argentine army and washing away his previous humiliation.
Generals have been used. During the Zhenguan period of the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Taizong Li Shimin appointed Li Jing, who had made mistakes, to send troops to attack the Turks. Li Jing made a surprise attack on a snowy night and killed Hu Shiwan.
Little Lopez may not have heard of the Chinese allusions, but he was able to flexibly apply the core ideas in the allusions. After the Paraguay War, he still trusted Istigali and was given important responsibilities again.
In return, Istijiali completely returned to his original mission and commanded hard on the battlefield to prove his ability.
Senior generals of the Western army rarely go to the front line, but Istigali was either eager to perform meritorious service or was influenced by some officers of the Chinese army. He ordered his guards to carry the military flag symbolizing the identity of the commander and charge with ordinary soldiers.
The high-flying military flag and the figure of Istigali standing some distance away from the military flag fell into the eyes of the nearby soldiers, and the morale of the troops increased rapidly.
The inspired second echelon and reserve soldiers charged with all their strength, and after a few minutes they would join forces with the first echelon soldiers. The two soldiers worked together to eliminate the defeated Argentine troops outside the city and control the eastern gate of Morandi.
Ignoring the urgently closed city gate and the dense crowd of soldier corpses outside the city gate, more than 300 Paraguayan soldiers escorted more than a dozen trucks of explosives and rushed to the east city gate under gunfire.
More than a dozen three-wheeled heavy-duty vehicles loaded with gunpowder lined up in a parallel row. During the march, the heavy-duty vehicles were continuously hit by artillery shells, and the explosives detonated. Dozens of Paraguayan soldiers around them were all killed. However, due to the distance between each heavy-duty vehicle,
There was enough distance between them so that the explosives did not affect nearby vehicles.
Facing the artillery and the intensive bullets fired from the city walls, four of the more than ten heavy-duty vehicles finally arrived at the city gate.
After hastily lighting the fuse, the remaining fifty or so Paraguayan soldiers quickly left the tower and ran outside.
"Boom, boom, boom, boom!" Four loud bangs rang out all around the battlefield. Following the big explosion, the east wall could no longer withstand the damage. It collapsed before the loud noise ended, leaving a gap of more than 30 meters long.
, and all the Argentine soldiers on the collapsed city wall were buried under the rubble.
The Morandi city wall collapsed, and the battle was quickly decided. Most of the Argentine troops in the city surrendered, and only more than a hundred soldiers successfully escaped with Morandi's generals who defended the city.
After solving the Argentine garrison, Istigali immediately detached some soldiers to occupy the riverside port outside the city. In less than a day, the Paraguayan troops advanced thirty miles, and the area around Morandi fell into the hands of the Paraguayan troops.
Shortly after the battle, Istigali immediately sent people to report the victory to Lopez Jr. and requested additional troops for support. At the same time, he recruited Argentine prisoners and young men in the city to repair the city wall to guard against the attack of Argentine reinforcements.
