Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 268: San Fei Part

Defending each city one by one and using city defenses and fortresses to gradually consume the enemy's manpower, this combat plan was very effective on the Paraguayan battlefield more than ten years ago. However, when Mitre applied this defense mode to the war with the Han Dynasty, he inevitably suffered a major setback.

On the morning of March 50, after a day of rest, Luo Linshan commanded the troops of the First Division and took the lead in launching an attack on the Corenst position under the cover of more than artillery pieces.

Corinth was the key defensive position of the Santa Fe defenders. Facing the Wehrmacht's reckless attack, Delgado on the one hand dispatched troops to reinforce, and on the other hand ordered the artillery units on the city wall to fully support his own defenders and concentrate firepower to attack the attacking Han troops.

"Da da da da", several old-fashioned Gatling machine guns fired bullets rapidly, knocking down more than a dozen Wehrmacht soldiers who were charging rapidly.

"Mortars ready, shields forward!"

A mid-level officer leading the attack hid himself behind a tempered shield and issued orders to the mortar gunners in the rear.

"Group one, group two, group three, take turns to cover each other and move forward. Shoot out the machine gun in front!"

"Yes, sir!"

After receiving the order, the three mortar groups lowered their bodies and crawled behind the soldiers holding shields, and then under the cover of the shields, they approached the Argentine machine gun positions step by step.

"Da da da..." Noticing the actions of the Wehrmacht, a row of bullets fired towards the mortar team.

"Bang, bang, bang..." The bullets made dull sounds when they hit the shield. However, after the shooting, the bullets did not penetrate the shield, but only left shallow craters on it.

Early Gatling machine guns had limited penetration capabilities and could still pose a certain degree of threat to ordinary iron shields. However, the shields equipped by the Wehrmacht's offensive forces were forged with the latest special steel and had much higher impact resistance than ordinary shields. Therefore, when the Gatling machine guns used by the Argentines to defend their positions faced the new shields, they could not cause effective damage to the soldiers behind the shields.

After dodging a round of Gatling gun fire, the stopped mortar team slowly moved forward again, gradually shortening the distance to the enemy's position.

"Idiot, shoot at the right front, don't let them get close to the position!"

The Argentine officer in charge of the battle kicked the machine gunner beside him and said angrily.

"Sir, the enemy's shields are too strong. Our machine guns can't penetrate their shields."

The gunner half-sat on the ground and answered carefully.

"If the machine guns can't penetrate it, use the cannons. Go! Report to General Delgado and request artillery support!"

"As you command, sir!"

The gunner stood up, not even bothering to pick up his military cap that had fallen on the ground, and quickly ran to the rear.

"You, you, you, the three of you take his place and block the right front of the position. Don't let the enemy advance even one step further!"

The Argentine officer casually pointed out three soldiers and was about to further direct the troops to defend when a mortar shell fell in an arc outside the Gatling gun position. "Boom!" The mud and water stirred up by the shell explosion splashed on the Argentine officer, but did not cause him fatal harm.

The first shell was a test firing before the official launch. After observing the landing position of the shell from behind the shield, the three mortar teams, under the command of their respective team leaders, carried out another round of firing. "Swish, swish, swish," the unique sound of mortar firing accompanied by the sound of the shell contacting the air reached the ears of the Argentine officer. Looking up at the three shells shot down at an angle, the Argentine officer had no time to dodge and became scrap along with a Gatling machine gun beside him.

The cost of producing manganese steel is high. After the outbreak of the Argentine War, the National Defense Forces only purchased a total of seventy tempered shields. However, these seventy tempered shields played an important role in the process of conquering the Correnste position.

Relying on the strong defensive performance of the tempered shield, the assault troops successfully captured the Gatling machine gun position. Then at 11 o'clock in the morning, the troops of the First Division followed the gap left by the captured machine gun position and broke through the two defense lines hastily set up by Argentina. Then they followed the route of the Argentine troops' defeat and pursued them all the way to the river bank behind the Correnste position.

In a battle on the morning of the 16th, the Corinthian position was completely lost. Except for more than 600 Argentine troops who escaped back to the city, most of the remaining more than 2,000 soldiers were taken prisoner.
After losing the Corinthian position, the only obstacle separating the city of Santa Fe was the Paraná River.

At around 155 p.m., taking advantage of the morale accumulated from the morning's victory, six gunboats of the inland fleet entered the Santa Fe section of the Paraná River, and then used the mm heavy artillery carried on the gunboats to bombard the city of Santa Fe along the river.

The Corinthian position changed hands, and the Defense Forces' inland fleet entered the Santa Fe section of the Paraná River. Delgado panicked and ordered the defenders in the city to go out of the city to block the attack, and attempted to regain control of the Corinthian position and the Santa Fe section of the river from the Defense Forces.

However, the water force of the city of Santa Fe was no match for the inland fleet. More than seven or eight old and dilapidated gunboats sank into the water under the fierce bombardment of the inland fleet as soon as they left the port of Santa Fe.

The naval forces of Santa Fe were completely destroyed, and the fate of the Argentine troops that attacked to fight for the Corrientes position was not much better.

Delgar personally led nearly half of the military forces in the city to attack the Corinthian position. As a result, under the tenacious counterattack of the First Division, after two hours of fierce fighting, only more than 4,000 Argentine troops retreated into the city, and about 1,700 soldiers were again consumed in the Corinthian position.

The failure of all the counterattacks on water and land meant that Delgar had lost the last possibility of holding the city of Santa Fe. At six o'clock that evening, as soon as he realized that the situation in Santa Fe was irreversible, Argentine President Mitre immediately sent a telegram to Delgar, ordering him to lead the remaining troops to quickly withdraw from Santa Fe. However, it was too late when Mitre issued this order. From the time when Delgar failed to seize the Corinthian position, the National Defense Forces launched a full-scale attack around the city of Santa Fe. The battle lasted until five o'clock in the afternoon. The watergate of Santa Fe was breached, and the inland fleet carried a team of soldiers into the city of Santa Fe through the watergate. By six o'clock, all three gates of Santa Fe were lost, and Delgar and the remaining soldiers could only hide in the small fortress in the city to deal with the National Defense Forces.

After reading the telegram translated by the communications officer, Delgar sat in the chair in despair, his right hand trembling as he touched the pistol at his waist.

"Guzman, order the troops to surrender. The Han army has surrounded this place. It is impossible for us to break out."

"General, hold on a little longer. In a few minutes we will be able to open a gap and cover your escape!"

Guzman couldn't bear to see the other person's desperate expression, so he comforted him.

"Forget it. Forcing ourselves to defend will only increase casualties. I don't want other soldiers to die because of my mistake. Guzman, I order you for the last time in the name of your superior. Give up resistance and surrender to the Han army!"

"Yes, General!"

Guzman gritted his teeth and turned to walk out of the fortress. Just as he reached the outside of the fortress and was about to hand over his weapons and surrender, he suddenly heard a gunshot from inside the fortress.

"General..."

Guzman turned his head to look in the direction of the fortress, tears flowing uncontrollably from his eyes.

Thanks to Nantian Youhuo, Renzhewu123456, Older than the Mountain, Book Friends 2017...2363, and Suifengsuixinsuiyue for their rewards and support!
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(End of this chapter)