Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 491: Humei Tower Fortress

About 15 kilometers south of the Hume Tower Fortress, dull artillery sounds and explosions were heard from afar from time to time, indicating that the war was continuing.

Naval officers including Yang Guangzong, He Linshu and Wu Yingke, followed the reinforcements from the army including Liu Yongfu, Major General and Commander of the Third Division, and Zhu Bingqing, Colonel and Commander of the First Guard Brigade, as they disembarked from the warship.

"General Liu, Brigade Commander Zhu, Captain Yang
, Captain He, Captain Wu, we have finally met you."

Chen Zongbai, commander-in-chief of the Asuncion front and commander of the First Division, led a group of officers to personally welcome the reinforcements of the army and navy fleet.

"With you here, I can relieve a lot of pressure. To be honest, the defense of Humeta Fortress is strong and it is too difficult to attack head-on. I can understand it now. At that time, the 10 Brazilian and Argentine coalition forces besieged Humeta Fortress for ten months and failed to capture the Humeta Fortress defended by more than people. Without heavy artillery support, it would be extremely difficult to capture Humeta Fortress."

Chen Zongbai first exchanged a few pleasantries with Liu Yongfu, then shook Yang Guangzong's hand and asked with a smile, "Captain Yang, did you have a smooth journey here? Is everything going well with the Yangwu-class cruiser?"

"Report to the commander, everything is going well. The Yangwu-class cruiser is performing normally and can be put into combat."

Yang Guangzong answered in a serious tone.

"Okay, okay, the troops have been stuck in the Hume Tower Fortress for nearly half a month. Heavy artillery is difficult to transport by land. If you don't arrive in time, if you want to capture the fortress, you can either choose to attack head-on or continue to wait for the road conditions to improve and transport heavy artillery from the rear before launching an attack.

Choosing a frontal assault will result in heavy casualties. Waiting for the heavy artillery to be transported by land to attack will delay the development of the entire war. Therefore, we still need your navy to play a decisive role and eliminate the most threatening bunkers in the Hume Tower Fortress. Only then can the war proceed smoothly as planned."

"Commander Chen, you are too polite. According to the combat order, the Yangwu-class light cruisers, Yongxing-class light cruisers, and all naval vessels in the Paraguay River Basin must obey the general's orders. If there are any combat missions, you can directly issue the tasks, and the navy will fully cooperate."

"Haha, we are all working for the revival of the empire, regardless of the army or navy. Captain Yang, Captain He, Captain Wu, let's go back to the camp first. After you have rested, I will introduce you to the situation of the Hume Tower Fortress."

"Please, Commander Chen."….
"The Humeta Fortress was built along the river fork. The protruding hills on the south side of the river fork are the Marshan Fortress Group, and the hilly highlands on the north side are the Ulami Fortress Group. The two fortress groups rely on the hilly highlands, with steep terrain, easy to defend and difficult to attack. In addition, both fortress groups have built heavy artillery turrets, each equipped with 3 150mm fortress guns with a maximum range of 12km, overlooking the entire Paraguay River, posing the greatest threat to our watercraft."

Chen Zongbai stood in front of the table, pointed at a map hanging on the wall with his pointer and introduced it to everyone personally.

"South of the Malshan Fortress Group, about 400 meters away is the Libona Hill Fortress Group, which is a subsidiary fortress of the Malshan Fortress Group. Standing on the commanding heights of the Libona Hill Fortress Group, you can observe the heavy artillery positions of the Malshan Fortress Group Fortress, which is one of the key defense lines for the Malshan Fortress Group Fortress. The fortress group is equipped with three 120mm heavy artillery with a maximum range of 10 kilometers.

Going eastward along the Malshan Fortress Group and entering through the river fork, you will reach the Taksa Fortress Group, the main position of the Humeita Fortress. The fortress group consists of 13 fortresses of various sizes, equipped with two 120mm fortress guns, six 105mm howitzers, 6 75mm field guns, and eight heavy machine guns.

To the east of the Taxa fortress complex are Tierraca and Lencia.
The specific number of weapons and equipment is unknown. Among them, Carapegua is a key land point connecting Humeta Fortress and Asuncion, and is one of the key defense directions of the Brazilian defenders. According to the analysis of previous attacks and exploration intelligence, the number of various types of artillery deployed by the Brazilian defenders at Humeta Fortress is between 120 and 180, the number of medium and heavy artillery with a caliber of more than 75 mm is about 40 to 50, and the total number of heavy machine guns is about 20 to 30. There are 6 gunboats, 5 gunboats, 4 torpedo boats, and two mine-laying boats docked at the port in the river fork.

The garrison troops are the 2nd Division of the Brazilian Army, led by Major General Davis, and the 5th Division of the Brazilian Army, led by Major General Miller.
, with a total garrison force of about 2.5.”

"General Chen, have you tried to bypass the frontal defense fortress, detour the troops from the north and south sides to the east of Humeta, and launch an attack on the three fortresses of Tierraca, Lencia, and Carapegua from behind?"

After listening to Chen Zongbai's introduction, Liu Yongfu made suggestions by imitating the tactics he used to attack French strongholds when he served in the Annan Nanyang Corps.

"I have tried the method proposed by Brother Yuanting. Ten days ago, we once drew one regiment from each of the Second Mixed Brigade, the Fifth Division, and the Third Mixed Brigade to launch an attack on the three fortress groups, but they were repelled by the firepower of the defenders. The current tactic adopted by our army is to dig tunnels and approach step by step, taking advantage of the tunnels to shorten the attack distance on the enemy fortresses, and then when the tunnels are dug under the enemy fortresses, we will bury explosives to blow up the enemy fortresses. The tunnel excavation work in the three directions of Tielaka, Lencia, and Carapegua is progressing smoothly. We have advanced 10 meters to the enemy fortresses. It is estimated that it will take another 1 to 200 days to dig under the enemy fortresses. However, the Malshan Fortress Group, the Ulami Fortress Group, and the Libona Mountain Fortress Group are mountain structures, which are not suitable for tunnel excavation operations. The main position of the Hume Tower Fortress, the Taksa Fortress Group, is located in the middle of the fortress groups in the front and back directions. If we do not break through one direction, we cannot launch an effective attack on it."

"We can solve the three fortresses in the east by tunneling and burying explosives, and then launch an attack on the main position of Humeta Fortress from the rear. This is much easier than a frontal attack. However, the main Setaxa Fortress Group of Humeta is no more than 7 kilometers away from the Malshan Fortress Group and the Ulami Fortress Group. When the troops advance to the Setaxa Fortress Group and launch an attack from the rear, they will also be attacked by artillery fire from the Malshan Fortress Group and the Ulami Fortress Group. At the same time, the Malshan Fortress Group and the Ulami Fortress Group guard the Paraguay River. From a strategic point of view, the threat to our army's occupation of Paraguay is higher than that of the Setaxa Fortress Group."

Yang Guangzong made the analysis from the perspective of gaining control over the waters of the Paraguay River and maintaining the stability of the water offensive and transportation routes in Asuncion.

"Yes, from the perspective of the entire Paraguayan strategy, our army should give priority to occupying the Marshan Fortress Group and the Ulami Fortress Group. The Marshan Fortress Group is on the south side of the river fork, blocking our water attack route. If we want to take down the Marshan Fortress Group, the first step is to occupy the Libona Mountain Fortress Group. After occupying the Libona Mountain Fortress Group, we will map the position of the Marshan Fortress Group's heavy artillery positions from the commanding heights of the area, and then Captain Yang and Captain He's Yangwu-class cruisers will serve as the main offensive force and launch precision strikes on the Marshan Fortress Group's heavy artillery positions to destroy the enemy's defenses."

"After occupying the Libona Mountain Fortress Group and the Mal Mountain Fortress Group, the Ulami Fortress Group will no longer be protected by the highlands south of the river fork. Our warships can directly launch artillery bombardments on it and destroy the last threat set up by the enemy on the river bank."

Lieutenant Commander He Shulin, a member of the Yangwu-class cruiser class, echoed Chen Zongbai's thoughts.

"In order to prevent alerting the enemy and exposing our fleet's strength too early, I suggest first using two Yongxing-class light cruisers, using the 120mm naval guns on board, to cooperate with the army to launch an attack on the Libona Mountain fortress group. After occupying the Libona Mountain fortress group, we will use the Yangwu-class cruisers to launch a general attack on the enemy's 150mm heavy artillery positions."

Yang Guangzong added.

"Captain He and Captain Yang's suggestions are good. The attack on the Libona Mountain Fortress Group, the Mal Mountain Fortress Group, and the Ulami Fortress Group can be carried out according to this plan, with the navy leading and the army cooperating."

Chen Zongbai decided on the main battle plan and said with a smile: "The situation is better than we expected. Although the defenders of Humeta Fortress have a large number of artillery and heavy machine guns, about 60 to 70 of them are old-fashioned muzzle-loading guns, and the ammunition uses black powder as raw material. More than half of the heavy machine guns are old-fashioned Gatling hand-cranked machine guns. The firing rate and power of machine guns are not as good as the Jianye 5000-year heavy machine guns equipped by our army. In addition, the defenders have fewer troops than previously estimated. Now with the assistance of the navy, it will not be long before we can capture Humeta Fortress, march into Asuncion, and complete the entire Paraguayan strategy."

Chen Zongbai paused for a moment, cleared his throat, and continued: "The navy will lead the attack on the three fortresses along the river, and the army will be responsible for the attack on Tielaka, Lencia, and Carapegua. After the navy has eliminated the three fortresses along the river, the army will launch a tunnel blasting operation to surround the main fortress of Humeta from the front and back and force them to surrender."

"If the fortresses along the river and in the rear are breached, even if the Brazilian defenders put up a desperate resistance, it will not affect the overall situation. At that time, one troop will be left to continue the siege, and the remaining troops can attack Asuncion by water to the north. Anyway, by then, the remaining defenders of Humeta Fortress will be like a cooked duck, unable to escape even if they want to."
(End of this chapter)