Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 479 The war resumes
In the early morning, a layer of white mist covered the low rolling hills, obscuring the appearance of the earth.

Not far from the hills, on a raised high ground, soldiers squatted in the trenches dutifully, looking carefully in the other direction obscured by the fog.

"Sir, the fog is about to dissipate. If we wait a little longer, we will be able to see the Brazilian positions across the way."

Northeast of Villarrica, at the junction of Mbokayadi and Mauricio, a group of officers wearing black and gray standard field uniforms without any rank insignia walked along the curved and tortuous trenches, observing the surrounding situation.

The wide-brimmed hat that Pang Zhenyun, commander of the 1st Mixed Brigade, often wore was replaced with a gray field cap, and his long military boots were replaced with waterproof rubber-soled shoes.

"After a long period of rain and fog, the sun will eventually come out. After a week of rain, the sun will finally come out."

Pang Zhenyun stopped, turned sideways, and observed the combat readiness of his own trenches in all directions. He said, "The rainy season has a great impact on the war. Due to the continuous rainfall, the troops in the Asuncion direction stopped the large-scale attack. The front line is deadlocked at the Humeta Fortress. The supply of materials and ammunition from the country to the Humeta front line also relies entirely on water transportation. The difficulty of transferring materials from water to land has also increased a lot."

"The rainy season also has a great impact on the Brazilians. The transportation routes from Brazil to the Paraguayan front are mainly land transportation. Even though the Brazilians have built material supply transfer stations in the ports along the Paraguay River and the Parana River in advance and stockpiled a certain amount of combat supplies, their land transportation supply routes have been almost completely interrupted in the past week due to the rainy season. The intelligence sent back by the multiple reconnaissance forces that infiltrated the rear of Paraguay also confirmed this."

"According to the frontline, the Brazilians' recent small-scale attacks have reduced the intensity of their firepower compared to before the rain. Their willingness to fight is also low. They advanced a short distance, suffered a counterattack from our army, and then retreated."

Zhang Wenlian, commander of the 1st Regiment of the 1st Mixed Brigade, agreed.

"The combat mode in the southern jungle is very different from that in the central region of the mainland. In particular, the rainfall in Paraguay in the past week is at least equivalent to that in the surrounding areas of Chang'an for a month."

"So the troops stationed in the northern part of the country were mainly deployed for the battle in Paraguay."

Pang Zhenyun reminded: "Jungle warfare will be the focus of future operations. Paraguay, Brazil and other countries have subtropical and tropical monsoon climates, with alternating rainy and dry seasons. It is okay to fight in the dry season, but if it is a rainy season, it will have a great impact on the logistics supply and transportation of the troops, medical support, and the soldiers' fighting will."

"The battle lines in Paraguay have been stagnant and interrupted due to the rainy season. Both sides are in a stalemate, waiting for the rain to end and the weather to improve. Compared with friendly forces, our army relies on the Villarrica railway branch line. The rain lasted for a week, and the impact on the railway trunk line was relatively small. The logistics supply route is normal. At present, our army camp has stockpiled enough ammunition and supplies for the troops to continue fighting for two months. We can launch a full-scale counterattack and eliminate the Brazilians around Villarrica."

"There's no need to keep wasting time with the Brazilians."

Pang Zhenyun looked up at the sky. The fog had begun to dissipate, and the Brazilian frontline positions in the east appeared within his field of vision.

"Let's go and observe the Brazilians' frontline positions and test their strengths and weaknesses."

A group of four or five people raised their feet and continued walking forward along the trench.

The few of them walked forward for a distance and stopped. Pang Zhenyun picked up the monocular telescope hanging around his neck and carefully observed the situation on the opposite front line.

Three jagged simple trenches extended obliquely along the high ground. Each trench was connected by several vertical curved traffic trenches. The front trench was about 300 meters away from the high ground. Seven low sheds built with wood and four bunkers surrounded by sandbags could be vaguely seen. Occasionally, a few figures appeared in the trenches, shuttling back and forth.

Extending the line of sight backwards, the second trench is about 100 meters away from the front trench. Only a few sheds can be vaguely seen, and the bunkers are mixed with the trenches and are difficult to distinguish.

Further back, there was the third trench, and behind the trench, there was an undulating highland that stretched for miles. The enemy had set up an observation post on the highland, but because of the distance, the specific situation of the post could not be seen.

"Major Shen, take out the map."

Pang Zhenzuo put down the telescope, took a quick look, found a relatively flat place, and walked over. Several people followed closely behind him, stepping into the trench with their waterproof rubber shoes, stirring up clumps of mud.

No one paid attention to the mud under their feet. After the combat staff officer Shen Dehui unfolded the marching map, everyone gathered around.

"It is estimated that the Brazilians have deployed 7 small artillery pieces and 4 heavy machine guns in the front-line positions, distributed in the southwest of our army's positions. Compared with the intelligence obtained two days ago, the enemy's front-line positions have 2 fewer artillery pieces and 3 fewer heavy machine guns. It is speculated that they were destroyed or overused by our army in previous operations, and the artillery and heavy machine guns have malfunctioned and cannot be used normally."

"Could there be another situation? For example, the enemy is worried that the frontline positions are vulnerable to our attack, so they move part of the supporting firepower to the rear and move the artillery and machine guns to the second or third trenches." "It is also possible that the enemy's ammunition supply is insufficient. In order to maintain the necessary firepower density and stable firepower output, they have to abandon some exposed firepower points to save ammunition."

“These possibilities exist.”

After listening to everyone's analysis, Pang Zhenyun nodded and continued: "In addition to the firepower support points of the frontline positions, we need to pay special attention to the enemy's artillery. Combining the recent combat and intelligence analysis of the frontline positions, the enemy's support artillery is deployed on a high ground about 3 kilometers away from our frontline positions. There are about 10 to 20 artillery pieces. The specific location of the artillery position is unknown, and the artillery model is unknown, but one thing that can be confirmed is that the enemy on the Villarrica front line does not have heavy artillery, and the caliber of the artillery on the high ground will not exceed 100 mm."

Different countries have different standards for judging heavy artillery. Initially, the Han Dynasty classified artillery with a caliber greater than 75 mm as heavy artillery. As the country was able to independently produce 75 mm field artillery and more and more 75 mm field artillery were equipped to serve as standard support firepower at the division and brigade levels, the evaluation standard for heavy artillery rose to a caliber of more than 100 mm.

"The enemy marched quickly to compete with our army for control of the Villarrica railway fulcrum, and after the failure, the logistics supply transportation was interrupted due to the rainy season, and it was impossible to obtain heavy artillery supply support."

"Even if the Brazilians conjure up a few heavy artillery pieces out of thin air, we are not afraid. Our army has the support of a 105mm heavy howitzer regiment. If we encounter the Brazilians' heavy artillery, we can knock them down."

"Strategically despise the enemy, tactically underestimate the enemy. Although our army has the advantage, we cannot underestimate the enemy."

Pang Zhenzuo looked at the men who were full of fighting spirit, gave them a warning, and then made a decision: "From the enemy's recent performance, they have given up the initiative to attack Villarrica, and have withdrawn their forces to defend, intending to delay time. However, we can't let them do what they want. Since they have withdrawn, we will launch a counterattack and drive them out of the trenches!

Major Shen, record the combat orders.

1 At 8 o'clock tomorrow morning, the entire army will have breakfast and rest for half an hour. At 8:30 in the morning, the 75mm artillery battalion stationed in the southwest of Villarrica will launch a fire attack on the three front trenches of the enemy opposite Mbokayadi to cover the front-line troops' charge.

2 After the enemy's supporting artillery position counterattack was exposed, the 105mm artillery regiment was ordered to carry out a suppression attack with the goal of destroying the enemy's supporting artillery.

3 After the enemy's front-line positions and supporting artillery were suppressed and destroyed, the st Regiment of the st Mixed Brigade launched an attack from the center of the Mbokayadi position and broke through the enemy's front-line trenches head-on.

The 1st Battalion of the 2nd Regiment of the 1st Mixed Brigade and the 4th Regiment of the 4th Security Brigade launched attacks from the left and right wings of the Mbokayadi position respectively, supporting the attack of the 1st Regiment of the 1st Mixed Brigade.

The cavalry battalion of the 1st mixed brigade moved to the southern front, at the junction of Twikwari and Mbokayadi positions, responsible for breaking through the enemy's defense line and going straight to the back of Mbokayadi's position. After the cavalry battalion broke through, the 3rd Battalion of the 2nd Regiment of the 1st mixed brigade and the 2nd Regiment of the 4th Security Brigade followed along the breakthrough point at the junction of the two enemy forces, cooperating with the frontal troops to form a pincer attack on the main enemy forces on the Mbokayadi front line. "

"Yes, sir."

Everyone responded in unison.

"Brigade Commander Pang, the rain has just stopped and the roads are muddy. Should we wait for two more days until the road conditions improve before launching the attack?"

Hu Kunshan, commander of the 4th Security Brigade, hesitated for a moment and raised a question.

"We can't wait any longer. We have already wasted a lot of time due to the rain. The opportunity is fleeting. If we delay the attack any further and let the enemy escape, we will be in trouble."

Pang Zhenyun explained: "The muddy road also has an impact on the enemy. Major Shen, notify the entire army. After overcoming the difficulties, destroying the enemy in front of us, and opening up the route to Asuncion, I will personally report to His Majesty for the brothers!"

"Yes, sir." Shen Dehui raised his hand and saluted, saying seriously.

After Pang Zhenzuo finished the battle deployment and was about to continue to inspect the trenches ahead, he was stopped by Shen Dehui.

"Sir, the trench ahead is within the enemy's fire range. It's too dangerous. We can't go any further."

"Okay, today's inspection ends here. Everyone return to your respective units and communicate tomorrow's combat mission."...

(End of this chapter)