Hui and the Chinese troops under Liu Pu's command, the Chinese Independence Army repaired for one day and launched a tentative attack on La Paz the next day.
The city of La Paz is located on a highland of 3,640 meters above sea level. El Alto, not far from La Paz in the north of the city, is a satellite city of La Paz. From El Alto, you can have a bird's eye view of the entire city of La Paz.
El Alto is an important stronghold guarding La Paz. After Melgarejo issued the order, Balivian sent additional troops to strengthen the defense of El Alto. Before the Chinese Independence Army began to attack, El Alto
The number of soldiers who defended the city reached 5,000, which was only 3,000 less than the defenders of La Paz.
Under the city of El Alto, the Bolivian defenders set up three lines of defense on the mountainside, preparing to use the steep terrain of the Real Mountains to block the attack of the Chinese Independence Army.
The first line of defense was 400 meters away from the front of the Chinese position at the foot of the mountain. The Bolivians placed about 500 soldiers on this line of defense.
The Real Mountains are steep and long, and the high elevation angle is not conducive to attacking positions on the mountains with heavy artillery. If the Chinese Independence Army wants to capture the enemy's defense line, it can only order soldiers to climb and attack.
At the foot of the mountain, a row of more than 700 Chinese soldiers were ready. Under the leadership of the leading officer, they spread out and launched an attack on the mountain.
When the Chinese soldiers holding shields approached a hundred meters away from the first line of defense, the Bolivian defenders began to use small artillery to attack, firing from top to bottom. The roaring shells kept ringing around the Chinese soldiers. Five or six Chinese soldiers were unfortunate.
He was hit by a cannonball and died in the first round of attack.
The leader hid behind a rock and ordered his soldiers to find cover. After the round of shelling was over, the Chinese soldiers continued to climb up.
The attacking Chinese soldiers were equipped with Dresser rifles with a range of 600 meters. However, at a distance of 100 meters, the shooting accuracy was very poor. Therefore, when faced with the artillery attack from Bolivian soldiers, the Chinese soldiers did not use their hand rifles to fight back.
The overall quality of the Bolivian soldiers was not as good as that of the Peruvian army, let alone the soldiers of the Chinese Independence Army. After a round of shelling, the Bolivian soldiers saw that they had not repelled the attacking Chinese soldiers, so they continued the shelling.
It takes a certain time interval for the artillery to fire ammunition. The continuous shelling caused the gun body to overheat. Four artillery bombs exploded one after another, injuring more than a dozen Bolivian soldiers next to the artillery.
Four artillery pieces exploded one after another, and the barrels overheated, forcing the Bolivian defense forces to stop shelling. At this time, the Chinese troops advanced nearly fifty meters, and were still more than fifty meters away from the Bolivian position.
The attacking Chinese soldiers encountered a problem at this time. The mountain road in front suddenly cut off, and a steep hillside of nearly two meters stood between the Chinese soldiers and the Bolivian troops.
There was no way to go on both sides, so the leader gritted his teeth and sent a dozen soldiers to climb up. As a result, the Chinese soldiers were fired upon intensively by Bolivian soldiers as soon as they climbed up the steep slope. Eight of the thirteen soldiers who climbed up were killed and injured in an instant. Others
The five soldiers saw something was wrong and jumped down in time to avoid the same fate as them.
"Captain, the ground above is flat and there is no cover. As soon as the brothers show their heads, they become living targets for the Bolivians." The Chinese soldier who jumped down reported.
After listening to the soldier's report, the Chinese regiment leader observed the terrain above from the side and said: "Brothers, the terrain above is open. As long as we cross this steep slope, we can kill the enemy. Everyone, work harder. Wait until we capture the enemy's position.
Please give me some credit again for my brothers."
The enemy's defense line was right in front of us. The officer leading the team did not want to give up the opportunity gained by killing and wounding more than 30 Chinese soldiers, so he encouraged us.
Li Mingyuan and a group of high-level officials of the Chinese Independence Army were watching the battle below. The attacking Chinese soldiers did not want to embarrass the troops and continued to attack with courage.
The steep slope was difficult to climb, and climbing up one soldier at a time like before would not only easily cause huge casualties, but also make it difficult to capture the enemy's position. So, on the advice of the staff, the leading officer cut down the small trees on the mountain to build a simple slope.
Plank, then step on the inclined plank and attack forward.
With the help of the inclined wooden board, the Chinese soldiers quickly climbed up the steep slope. Despite the shooting of the Bolivian soldiers, the Chinese soldiers continued to climb the steep slope. Within a few minutes, the number of Chinese soldiers on the steep slope reached more than 100. The machine gun platoon was purchased and built on the spot.
position to cover the soldiers' attack.
The officer leading the team stepped onto the steep slope and gave instructions loudly.
Five machine guns were quickly set up on the ground. Two soldiers placed ammunition next to each machine gun, and a machine gunner took aim and prepared to fire.
"Click, click, click," five Gatling guns fired five lines of fire, and the ammunition casings fell to the ground, making a clanking sound.
Five machine guns limited the Bolivian firepower,
The advancing Chinese soldiers advanced to within 20 meters of the Bolivian position. A Chinese soldier threw away the grenade on his waist and killed the three Bolivian soldiers in front of him.
In close combat, the advantages of the Chinese Independence Army soldiers emerged. Hand grenades and bayonets continued to kill Bolivian soldiers. Finally, the Bolivian defense line was broken, and many Bolivian soldiers ran out of their positions and ran towards the mountains.
The Chinese officer who led the team divided half of his soldiers to besiege the Bolivian soldiers in the defense line, and personally led more than 300 Chinese soldiers to pursue the fleeing Bolivian soldiers, hoping to break through the Bolivian second line of defense in one fell swoop.
There were more than a hundred Bolivian soldiers who escaped. Pursued by Chinese soldiers, they ran desperately towards the second line of defense set up by their side.
After pursuing for a distance of 200 meters, most of the fleeing Bolivian soldiers were killed, leaving only about thirty soldiers still running forward desperately.
The Chinese officer leading the pursuit was too fast and had already reached the front of the pursuing soldiers, only thirty meters away from the Bolivian deserters.
The officer leading the team shot a Bolivian soldier. At this moment, the chirping sound of artillery shells was heard in his ears. Without thinking about it, the Chinese officer leading the team quickly fell to the ground, and then a cannonball landed not far away from him.
Five meters away.
As the first artillery shell hit the ground, dozens of artillery shells fell on the chasing Chinese soldiers within a minute, and more than 500 muskets were fired from behind the huge stone bunker.
Shell smoke shrouded the surroundings of the pursuing Chinese soldiers. Unexpectedly, the pursuing Chinese soldiers suffered heavy casualties. Many Chinese soldiers who were pursuing quickly were directly hit in the vital points by ammunition and fell to the ground.
"Back off, everyone back off."
Realizing that he had been ambushed by the Bolivians, the Chinese officer leading the team stood up and shouted loudly regardless of his own safety.
The Chinese officer leading the team was at the forefront of the Bolivian shooting. His standing up and shouting attracted a large number of bullets from the Bolivians. As a result, he was hit by more than a dozen bullets, becoming the highest officer to die since the Chinese Independence Army uprising.
Seeing the death of their supreme commander, many Chinese soldiers moved forward to snatch the commander's body back. As a result, they not only failed to snatch the body back, but also lost their own lives.
The situation was grim. After the Chinese regiment leader was killed, a battalion commander of the pursuing force took over the command of the force and reluctantly issued the order to retreat.
In the ambush in front of the second line of defense, more than 300 Chinese soldiers withdrew only more than 80 people. Including the company commander, more than 240 Chinese soldiers stayed in front of the position. Except for a small number of prisoners,
The vast majority of Chinese soldiers died on the spot, and this battle became the first disastrous defeat suffered by the Chinese Independence Army.