Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 87 Combat
ps: Thanks to Nanyang Empire and Yunmeng for their support.

The smoke from the battlefield has not yet dissipated, and another battle is about to begin.

The first line of defense of the Bolivian troops was now filled with soldiers in black uniforms. They were soldiers from the 1st Regiment of the 1st Mixed Brigade, who were replacing the Chinese troops in the first round of attack.

In the first exploratory attack, the Chinese Independence Army suffered a total of 325 casualties and wiped out 478 Bolivian soldiers.
This battle was the one with the largest casualties to the enemy since the Chinese Independence Army uprising, and a regimental commander was killed in the battle. The deceased regimental commander was an officer under Wang Dashan. After the first battle, Wang Dashan came to Li Mingyuan and took the initiative to assume responsibility for the heavy casualties of the attacking troops.

However, Li Mingyuan did not blame Wang Dashan for the death of a regiment commander. Although Li Mingyuan felt sorry for the death of a regiment commander, everyone could be killed on the battlefield, and he could not blame his subordinates for the casualties of the troops.

A kind soldier is not fit to be a commander. Having personally been on the battlefield for nearly half a year, Li Mingyuan has experienced more than a dozen battles, large and small, and has seen tens of thousands of enemy and friendly soldiers killed. His original discomfort with the bloody battlefield has gradually disappeared.

Li Mingyuan slowly got rid of his previous role as a small mercenary and gradually adapted to looking at the success or failure of the battle as a decision-maker with 100,000 Chinese troops under his command.

The key to determining the success or failure of a battle is whether the battle results achieve the expected goal.

The first attack of the Chinese Independence Army discovered the deployment of Bolivian troops on the mountain and successfully occupied the first line of defense. From this point of view, the first attack was successful. However, before this battle, the Chinese Independence Army adopted mobile warfare and always had the initiative on the battlefield, so there were no huge casualties.

Faced with the Peruvians' repeated victories, the top leaders of the Chinese Independence Army formed a fixed perception that when Chinese troops fought against the enemy, they could only be considered victorious if they destroyed the enemy at the cost of a small number of casualties. If the casualty ratio between the two sides was 1:2, or the casualty rates were similar, it would be considered a failure.

This kind of thinking of the top leaders of the Chinese Independence Army cannot be said to be wrong, because the idea instilled in them by Li Mingyuan was to annihilate the enemy at the lowest cost. Under the influence of Li Mingyuan, they also took it for granted that the Chinese Independence Army could defeat the opponent at a small cost, so it was inevitable that they were confused when they suddenly suffered losses.

El Alto controls the strategic location of La Paz. Once El Alto is captured by other troops, they can transport artillery to the walls of El Alto and bombard La Paz from a high position, which is very disadvantageous for the defenders of La Paz.

The city of La Paz has been built for hundreds of years. Not only did the Spanish regard La Paz as a strategic point and increase its construction, but after Bolivia's independence, the new rulers also increased the construction of La Paz. As El Alto is located at the throat of La Paz, the Bolivians have made great efforts to maintain and reinforce it.

The Bolivian soldiers used the terrain to fight off the attacking Chinese Independence Army soldiers, and the regiment commander who led the team charged forward recklessly. These two factors combined led to a large increase in casualties among the Chinese Independence Army.

If the leader of the team had been more steady, perhaps there wouldn't have been the loss of more than 200 people.

The Chinese Independence Army was, after all, still a feudal army and had not entered the ranks of modern armies. Most officers still believed that leading soldiers to charge forward was a manifestation of bravery.

This mentality of theirs also led to the death of the Chinese team leader.

"The Bolivian troops had the advantage of geographical location, so although the attacking troops suffered more casualties, it was understandable."

Thoughts came back to his mind, Li Mingyuan said to Wang Xiaoshan.

"I am guilty of the loss of soldiers and generals in the first battle. I hope that the prince will allow me to lead the troops in person to avenge my brothers who were killed and wounded."

Li Mingyuan did not blame him, but Wang Dashan himself could not get over this hurdle in his heart. The death of his regiment commander was the first among the 100,000 soldiers of the Chinese Independence Army. If he could not capture the positions of the Bolivian soldiers, Wang Dashan felt that he would not be able to face his soldiers.

Wang Dashan has a calm personality and acts cautiously, so Li Mingyuan is not worried that he will do something impulsive.

"I agree to your request, but you should not lead the troops into a charge. Sitting in the center of the army and commanding everything is what a senior commander should do."

Li Mingyuan instructed.

"I understand."

"There are two more lines of defense outside El Alto. How many troops do you plan to use to take them down?"

Li Mingyuan asked.

"According to the report from the frontline soldiers, the enemy's second line of defense is 400 meters away from the first line of defense. Including the defeated Bolivian soldiers, the total number of soldiers is about 600. Therefore, I plan to lead the 1,000 soldiers of the first regiment of the mixed brigade to attack the enemy's second line of defense."

"The Real Mountains are high and dangerous, and too many soldiers will not be able to attack." Li Mingyuan observed the mountains ahead through a telescope and said, "Reduce the number of attackers by 200. I will assign you 30 snipers, and the machine gun company at the headquarters will also cooperate with you. Take down the second line of defense before noon."

"I obey your command." Although the number of soldiers from the First Mixed Brigade was reduced by two hundred, with the addition of thirty snipers and the cooperation of the machine gun company, the total number of attackers was nearly one thousand.

With the addition of machine gun companies and snipers, the firepower and overall combat effectiveness of the attacking forces became stronger, and Wang Dashan was more confident in taking down the Bolivian positions.

……

With military flags waving, the Chinese people arranged on the first line of defense began to advance towards the Bolivian second line of defense.

Nearly one thousand Chinese soldiers were divided into three parts, with the first two hundred Chinese soldiers taking the lead and searching forward in small groups.

Behind the two hundred Chinese soldiers were three hundred soldiers, and thirty snipers were scattered among the three hundred soldiers, using the cover of the surrounding soldiers to snipe the Bolivian officers.

The machine gun company and the remaining soldiers of the 1st Brigade formed the last offensive group. Once the front troops occupied advantageous terrain, the machine gun company would follow up and provide fire support for the front soldiers.

The attacking Chinese soldiers worked in groups of three, cooperating with each other, crouching and moving forward carefully.

Three hundred meters, two hundred meters, one hundred meters,... the Chinese soldiers were getting closer and closer to the Bolivian defense line.

"Boom!" After entering the distance of 100 meters, the Bolivian soldiers in the second line of defense began to use artillery to attack the Chinese soldiers in the front line.
The sound of artillery roared, and the 200 Chinese soldiers lay down on the ground and stopped advancing. Learning from the lessons of the first attack, the offensive formation this time was more dispersed, and the Chinese soldiers at the front were replaced by soldiers from the 1st Regiment of the 1st Mixed Brigade who had more combat experience. Before approaching the second position 100 meters away, the 200 Chinese soldiers advanced along a route with rocks, pits and other shelters.

The artillery fire lasted for three minutes, but the more intense artillery fire than the first line of defense did not cause more casualties. After the smoke cleared, the two hundred Chinese soldiers continued to crawl forward, closing the distance with the Bolivian position.

The enemy's artillery position was exposed, and thirty snipers hidden in the middle troops walked out of the troops and rushed to the middle of the two hundred Chinese soldiers at the front.

With a "bang" of a gunshot, a Bolivian gunner eighty meters away was shot dead and fell straight on the gun.

The body pressed on the gun, causing the muzzle to shift downward.
"Boom"

The shell exploded directly on the Bolivian position. More than a dozen Bolivian soldiers were knocked to the ground by the huge waves caused by the shell. They rolled on the ground, covering the injured parts of their bodies and howling in pain.

After the first Chinese sniper counterattacked, the other twenty or so snipers also aimed at their own targets.
"Bang, bang, bang," the gunshots were not dense, but each gunshot was accompanied by the fall of a Bolivian officer or the temporary shutoff of a cannon.

Snipers officially appeared on the battlefield during World War I, and the Soviet-German War during World War II made sniper operations shine. However, the development of rifles is still in the improvement stage, and specialized sniper rifles will not be available for about half a century. Therefore, Chinese snipers who have received less than half a year of training cannot, like their counterparts in World War II, rely on advanced sniper rifles and aiming systems to snipe the enemy from hundreds of meters away.

You can only rely on your naked eyes and experience to aim and shoot at a distance of eighty or ninety meters.

The role of the thirty snipers was undoubtedly huge. Under the snipers' targeted attacks, the Bolivian officers on the second line of defense suffered heavy losses, and most of the artillery pieces were silenced due to the casualties of the gunners.

At this time, the machine gun company under the cover of the troops also followed to the front of the attacking troops. "Da da da", eighteen Gatling machine guns fired dense bullets, reaping the lives of Bolivian soldiers exposed outside the fortifications.

The situation was favorable for the Chinese Independence Army. Wang Dashan, who was in command at the center, immediately issued an order for a general attack. With the fire support of the machine gun company, the Chinese soldiers crawling on the ground suddenly leaped up like an erupting cheetah and pounced on the prey in front.

As fast as the wind, the Chinese soldier who was charging in the front put down his musket and pierced a Bolivian soldier in front of him with his bayonet. He kicked away the Bolivian soldier who was stuck on the bayonet, and then the Chinese soldier aimed at another enemy.

The tiger was out of the cage. The Chinese soldiers who rushed to the defense line continued to charge forward and broke the defense line organized by the Bolivian soldiers.

The situation on the battlefield changed too quickly. The Bolivian soldiers were divided and surrounded by Chinese soldiers before they had time to escape, and finally surrendered.

(End of this chapter)