Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 288: Unification of Argentina

The South African colonial army was defeated in both battles, with more than a thousand white soldiers killed and almost annihilated, with only 14,000 available land forces left. The 30,000 reinforcements promised by Brazil would take another week to arrive in Argentina and join the British army.

Due to insufficient troops, Gordon could only urge the Brazilian side to speed up and send 30,000 reinforcements on board to the coastal port of Buenos Aires as soon as possible, while ordering the British fleet that was stranded in Tigre to give up entanglement with the Wehrmacht, bypass the defense line of the waters around Tigre, and sail inland along the confluence of the Paraná River and the La Plata River, so as to blockade and seize the important town of Rosario as soon as possible, thereby cutting off the water supply route between the Han mainland and the front-line Wehrmacht.

At noon on May 5, more than 18 frigates and small battleships were divided into two groups, escorting more than transport ships and supply ships towards Rosario.

At 5:20 in the evening, when the British fleet arrived at the sea about 30 kilometers away from Rosario, a series of deafening explosions made the British fleet commander Colonel Beard's face change drastically.

Along with a huge explosion, the calm water surface instantly rolled up waves seven or eight meters high. The waves that hit high into the air stagnated for a few seconds, and then the heavy potential energy carrying tens of tons of water hit the warship that was attacked by the explosion.

Damaged by mines and waves, the two consecutive strikes caused the two small warships sailing in the waters ahead to lose their balance instantly. More than 40 British naval soldiers were thrown off the deck of the warship by the explosion and the waves caused by the explosion, and fell heavily into the rolling water.

The first wave of mine explosions resulted in two sinkings and one damage. Two British frigates with a displacement of about 1,500 tons struggled on the water for only more than 30 seconds. The British soldiers in the control room and weapons room of the warships had not yet recovered from the aftermath of the explosion before they were swallowed up by the surging river water and slowly sank into the cool river along with the warships.

The two frigates were silenced, and more than 200 naval soldiers on the two ships were buried in the water. Although the other frigate that struck a mine was not silenced, its hull suffered serious damage and it could not continue sailing with the fleet.

The tragic condition of the three mine-struck frigates was clearly displayed in Beard's eyes. Before engaging in battle with the Rosario defenders, his fleet had suffered the loss of three warships. Beard could guess what kind of expression Gordon would have if he received his battle damage report.

The sudden landmine explosion made Beard, who had just suffered a defeat in the Tigray battle, even more angry and depressed.

After ordering two medium-sized frigates to salvage and rescue the naval soldiers who fell into the water, Beard immediately issued a pre-war order, ordering the dispatch of four warships to carry out mine clearance tasks. All other warships, including transport ships, logistics supply ships and other ships were to stop moving forward. The fleet would continue sailing after the four warships in front eliminated the threat of mines.

At 5:47 in the evening, more than six or seven British ships temporarily anchored on the wide water, anxiously waiting for news from the minesweeper ahead.

"Colonel, Sir Gordon's telegram!"

The communications officer ran to the deck and handed a telegram to Colonel Beard, saying, "Argentina's interim president Urquiza was attacked by Han troops during his retreat. Sir Gordon ordered the fleet to arrive in Rosario before 7pm and land at ports around Rosario within two days at the latest to assist the remaining Argentine troops in retreating!"

"Where are the Argen forces currently located, and how many troops do they have left?"

"Alvarez, about 160 kilometers from Rosario."

The communications officer recalled the contents of the telegram and quickly replied, "Yesterday evening, the Argentine troops were attacked by the Han troops, and lost more than 20,000 troops. The troops that escaped temporarily are less than 30,000."

"Alvarez, Rosario, Cordoba," Beard took out the marching map, roughly glanced at the geographical conditions of the three places, and shook his head and said, "The road that Urquiza used to send troops to Buenos Aires has been occupied. The only road from Alvarez to Cordoba is through Rosario. Without occupying Rosario, which is defended by the Han army, Urquiza will not be able to return to Cordoba safely."

"The main force of the Argentine army was damaged. Sir Gordon ordered the colonel to give up the mission of covering the Argentine army's return to Cordoba in due course according to the changes in the battlefield situation on the front line."

"The waters of Rosario on the Paraná River are full of mines. The fleet has lost the best opportunity to capture Rosario."

Beard looked down at the map for a moment, then raised his head and ordered, "Send two more warships to carry out the minesweeping mission. The combat target is changed to Alviar. All ships are ready for combat. Leave on time in half an hour!" Accepting the new combat mission, the British fleet that was waiting at anchor quickly took action. The six minesweepers in front also accelerated the speed of clearing mines.

At 6:17, the sun had just set over the mountain when another warship on a minesweeping mission struck a mine and sank on the vast Paraná River. A total of four warships were lost. The British fleet opened up a safe passage more than ten kilometers long. Subsequent warships, guided by five minesweepers, accelerated along a narrow water path.

Urquiza was a cunning and experienced man who had been involved in Argentine politics for decades. He outlasted his old rival Mitre, but in the end he still could not escape the attack by the National Defense Forces.

When the news that Buenos Aires was captured by the National Defense Forces reached Urquiza, he realized that the situation was not good. He first concealed the news of the destruction of the main force of the Argentine Federation, then quietly withdrew the troops under his command and replaced them with Argentine troops from other provinces to continue attacking the National Defense Forces, creating the illusion that everything was normal. Then that night, Urquiza, who had hurriedly prepared, led more than 20,000 troops to retreat towards Cordoba. The next morning, more than 50,000 National Defense Forces rushed to the battle positions of both sides from the direction of Buenos Aires and immediately joined the attack on the Argentine troops.

The fall of Buenos Aires, the death of Mitre, and the escape of friendly forces, one bad news after another overwhelmed the independent Argentine troops. The battle lasted less than a morning. At around noon, of the more than 36,000 Argentine local troops abandoned by Urquiza, except for 2,000 who were killed in battle, the remaining 34,000 were all captured, and less than 600 escaped in the chaos.

Urquiza's troops were quite powerful. Considering the political influence of the other party who announced during his escape that he would temporarily take over as the President of Argentina and called on Argentine civilians to take up arms against the rule of the National Defense Forces, Li Mingyuan quickly ordered the westward-bound troops to dispatch troops to pursue Urquiza and absolutely not let him escape back to Cordoba Province.

With morale low and logistics and supplies mostly abandoned in the rush to escape, the Argentine troops' marching speed slowed down significantly. On the night of May 5, Urquiza's troops discovered during their retreat that the road back to the army had been captured by the National Defense Forces. Furious, Urquiza ordered his troops to launch three rounds of attacks, which all failed. At this time, news came that a large force of the National Defense Forces in the rear was less than 17 kilometers away. Shocked and frightened, worried that he would follow Mitre's path, Urquiza had to order his troops to abandon the attack and take the Rosario line instead, hoping to open a passage back to Cordoba with the support of the British fleet.

At 5 p.m. on May 18, the British fleet suddenly launched an attack on the small riverside town of Alvear, 8 kilometers away from Rosario.

The naval guns bombarded, and the infantry followed. More than a thousand Wehrmacht third-line militia troops were defeated by the British offensive. After suffering more than 400 casualties, they fought and retreated to cover the wounded and evacuate the battlefield, leaving Alviar to the British landing troops.

On the morning of May 5, 20 British reinforcements advanced to Alviar and attacked all the way, but were blocked at every step by the Wehrmacht troops and were unable to join up with Urquiza's troops.

At 5 p.m. on May 20, the Argentine troops who were fleeing in a panic were surrounded by the Wehrmacht. Two hours later, with Urquiza raising his hands in surrender, the remaining Argentine troops gave up resistance one after another. The British troops who had lost their rescue target were worried about being besieged by the Wehrmacht if they were far away from the fleet. After the last rescue attempt failed, they withdrew and broke contact with the Wehrmacht.

Urquiza surrendered, all Argentine armed forces were wiped out, and the National Defense Forces quickly launched operations to occupy various parts of Argentina.

On May 5, the President of Uruguay fled to the British expeditionary fleet. On the 20st, the Uruguayan capital of Montevideo fell. Five days later, Mercedes, which had held out for months, was defeated and the entire territory of Uruguay was occupied by the National Defense Forces.

On May 5, after a day of fighting, the National Defense Army wiped out more than 27 Argentine troops and occupied Cordoba, the capital of Cordoba Province. Then the westward column attacked in all directions and successively occupied
Southwestern provinces such as San Luis, Mendoza and La Rioja.

On June 6, the Southward Column occupied Tren Laouquen, Santa Rosa, Neuquen and other places, and joined Ye Chenglin's troops on June 20.

On July 7, after Li Dawei and Ye Chenglin's troops successively occupied the Patagonian Plateau on the east side of the Andes Mountains, they divided their forces and crossed the Andes Mountains, landed on Chiloe Island, quickly swept away the weakly-strength Chilean Patagonian garrison, and occupied the entire area south of Patagonia, including Puerto Montt.

On July 7, the Chilean government, citing threats to its homeland security, forcibly terminated its joint combat plan with the British expeditionary fleet and recalled more than a dozen warships, including two ironclad ships, to support homeland operations.

On July 7, the National Defense Army took a short rest and replenishment, and then headed straight for Valdivia. It occupied Valdivia two days before the Chilean support fleet returned, completing the combat objectives assigned by Li Mingyuan.

(End of this chapter)