Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 467 Asuncion

On September 9, the British side sent a diplomatic note to the United States, asking the United States to explain why the United States dispatched the main force of the Atlantic Fleet and held a secret meeting with the Republic of Brazil.

The next day, the United States reiterated its Monroe Doctrine position and refused to reveal to the British the true purpose of dispatching the Atlantic Fleet and holding secret talks with the Republic of Brazil.

On September 9, following the United States, the Republic of Brazil also made a statement, emphasizing that the secret talks between the Republic of Brazil and the United States were normal business cooperation and would not endanger the economic interests of the United Kingdom in the Republic of Brazil.

The Americans' self-willed attitude and the ambiguous answer of the Republic of Brazil did not satisfy Britain and the Han Dynasty. However, just as the top leaders of Britain and the Han Dynasty contacted and discussed with each other and prepared to take further countermeasures, the situation on the Paraguayan battlefield changed dramatically due to the sudden fall of Asuncion.

Let's go back to six days ago. At noon on September 1889, 9, the reconnaissance troops sent out by the Republic of Brazil discovered the traces of the 14st Division of the Paraguayan Army. On the afternoon of the next day, a Brazilian army with a total of about 1.4 people bypassed the front line of defense and moved to a forest about miles away from the city of Asuncion. They lay in ambush and waited for the arrival of the st Division of the Paraguayan Army.

At 6 p.m., two hours after the Brazilian Republic's army moved to the eastern suburbs of Asuncion, the Paraguayan Army's 1st Division, which had been on a long march, arrived at the enemy's preset ambush site.

The 7000st Division of the Paraguayan Army had a total of about 5000 people, of which nearly were combat soldiers. The total number of soldiers was only half of the number of soldiers on the Brazilian side. In addition, the long-distance march led to a decrease in the combat effectiveness of the soldiers. Therefore, when the battle just started, the st Division of the Paraguayan Army was completely in a passive state of being beaten.

At 600:2000 in the evening, more than minutes into the battle, the number of casualties in the Paraguayan Army's st Division quickly climbed to more than . About Paraguayan soldiers were suddenly attacked by Brazilian troops and were divided into several parts, losing contact with the main force of the st Division.

At 7:03 in the evening, after the initial blow of the battle, General Engelhard, commander of the 1st Division of the Paraguayan Army, urgently organized the troops under his command, established defensive positions on the spot, and tried to gather and rescue the divided and surrounded troops.

The 1st Division of the Paraguayan Army was the most elite military force in the Lopez Jr. era. In order to guard against possible threats from the Han State, Lopez Jr. had always deployed the 1st Division in the border area close to the Han State. However, after the death of Lopez Jr., the 1st Division lost its strong military and spiritual leader. Although it was able to perform at a normal level under the leadership of the division commander General Engelhardt, it no longer had the spirit of fighting tenaciously with a small number of troops in the Lopez Jr. era.

At 2000:400 in the evening, General Engelódes' rescue operation completely failed. Not only were the more than soldiers who were separated and besieged not rescued, but in the process of organizing a temporary counterattack, the casualties of the Paraguayan Army's First Division increased by more than .

At 7:52, the consequences of the lack of ammunition and heavy weapons of the Paraguayan Army's 1st Division gradually became apparent. Under the steady offensive of the Brazilian Republic's Army, the Paraguayan Army's 1st Division quickly faced the danger of being surrounded.

At 8:01 in the evening, seeing that the operation to rescue the separated troops had failed, in order to avoid greater losses, General Engrodes had no choice but to make the decision to abandon the separated troops and chose to lead the remaining troops to break out.

At 3400:3000 in the evening, Engelhard led about Paraguayan soldiers to break through the blockade of the Brazilian Republic's army and successfully broke out, while the remaining more than soldiers were completely trapped in the encirclement of the Brazilian Republic.

At twelve o'clock in the morning, the fighting in the forest valley in the eastern suburbs of Asuncion gradually subsided. In the evening battle, the Brazilian Republic won the battle with twice the strength of the Paraguayan army, killing and capturing more than 3200 soldiers of the First Division of the Paraguayan Army (some of the surrounded soldiers fled to the forest to hide), and the casualties on the Brazilian side exceeded 2600.

On the Paraguayan side, although the Paraguayan Army's 1st Division escaped the fate of being annihilated, it lost more than half of its main force, and the remaining troops lost the ability to reinforce the Asuncion defenders. From this respect, in the Battle of Forest Valley, the Brazilian Republic not only achieved a tactical victory, but also a victory in the overall strategy.

The Battle of the Forest Valley ended. After the Brazilian Republic Army cleaned up the battlefield, it set out to return to the Asuncion front at 8 o'clock the next morning.

At noon on September 9, the Brazilian Republic's army, which had ambushed the Paraguayan Army's 16st Division, arrived at the Asuncion front, and returned to Asuncion with nearly 3000 prisoners of war from the Paraguayan Army's st Division.

When the captured soldiers appeared in the open space outside the city wall, the Paraguayan defenders in Asuncion were instantly panicked.

The First Division of the Paraguayan Army was the most combat-capable and the last regular army under the command of the Paraguayan high-ranking officials, except for the Han army. However, the Han reinforcements had not yet arrived, and the First Division of the Paraguayan Army, which they had high hopes for, was "annihilated" by the Brazilian Republic. When hearing such bad news, it is conceivable how much of a blow it would cause to the defenders. At 9:16 p.m. on September , the Brazilian Republic army chose to launch an attack on Asuncion City at night, contrary to its usual practice.

At 2: in the evening, the Brazilian Army gradually strengthened its front-line offensive forces, and the number of soldiers directly used to attack the Asuncion fortifications exceeded .

At 70:500 in the evening, the last high ground defense line outside the city of Asuncion was lost. Except for more than Paraguayan soldiers stationed on the high ground defense line who were killed in battle, the remaining nearly soldiers all chose to surrender to the attacking forces to end the battle.

At 10:47 in the evening, using the captured high ground and the artillery deployed on the high ground, the Army of the Republic of Brazil, with the support of artillery, launched the third large-scale attack on the Asuncion defenders.

Artillery fire roared and ammunition rained down. Under the all-out attack of the Brazilian Republic's Army, the Asuncion city wall defense line, which had been ravaged by months of war, was crumbling like a rotten old tree.

At 11:02 in the evening, the first large-scale conflict broke out between the four-member regency committee and the anti-rebel coalition forces in the residential city. The top leaders of the two sides fought fiercely over the disagreement on whether to hold on to Asuncion, and even fired guns.

At 9:17 am on September , the Brazilian Republican Army concentrated its heavy weapons and continued to attack the Asuncion defense line.
At 3000 pm, after nearly a day of fierce fighting, the Brazilian Army pushed the front line forward 290 meters at the cost of more than 700 casualties, and the artillery front line advanced to within meters of the Asuncion city wall.

On September 9, the battle situation continued to develop in a direction unfavorable to the Asuncion defenders. The Brazilian Republic Army suppressed the counterattack of the Paraguayan soldiers with artillery fire and inflicted continuous heavy blows on the Asuncion defenders.

At 9 a.m. on September 19, the Brazilian army advanced to within 300 meters of the city's defense fortifications.

At noon, under the bombardment of Brazilian artillery, several gaps of more than 50 meters wide appeared in the defenses of Asuncion. At 600 p.m., a Brazilian army of about people crossed the gaps and rushed into Asuncion.

Under the management of two generations of Lopez father and son, the city of Asuncion has complete fortifications. Therefore, when the army of the Republic of Brazil entered the city, the retreating Paraguayan army quickly used the fortifications in the city to form new defensive positions.

At the same time, the Han troops that arrived in Villarrica also launched an attack on the Brazilian army in an attempt to defeat the enemy in front of them and quickly march to Asuncion to reinforce.

However, in the face of a situation in Asunción that was still salvageable, in order to preserve the manpower and prevent the troops from suffering a devastating blow in the battle with the Brazilian Republic Army,
The troops of the four-member regency committee, who were always wary of the anti-rebel coalition, were the first to evacuate the city's defense line without notifying friendly forces. They took advantage of the cover of night and fled to the east of Asuncion, holding Lopez Jr.'s son Carlos hostage.

The soldiers of the four-member Regency Committee withdrew without authorization, causing loopholes in the defense line of the city of Asuncion. After realizing the actual situation that the opposing defense line was undermanned, the Brazilian army quickly adjusted its military deployment and advanced along the various empty defense lines.

At 11 o'clock in the evening, the defense line in Asuncion completely collapsed. Nearly 10,000 Paraguayan soldiers, who learned of the evacuation of friendly forces, were terrified and angry. They also fled along the evacuation route of the four-member Regency Committee and fled towards the eastern part of Asuncion, the only direction not controlled by the Brazilian army.

Without the command of officers at all levels, nearly 10,000 Paraguayan soldiers swarmed towards the eastern suburbs of Asuncion, but fell into a death trap due to the superior force deployment of the Brazilian Republic's Army.

At 2 a.m., also in the forest valley east of Asuncion, the miserable Paraguayan fleeing soldiers encountered a pre-emptive ambush by the Brazilian army. Unlike the last ambush of the Paraguayan Army's 1st Division, they lost the protection of the fortifications in the city of Asuncion and faced ambushes and pursuits from superior enemy forces in Asuncion and the forest valley. The Paraguayan fleeing soldiers, who had been in a state of warfare and were mentally and physically exhausted for months, completely lost the fight and held out for less than two hours before quickly laying down their weapons and choosing to surrender to the Brazilian army in a humiliating manner.

(End of this chapter)