When the artillery fire gradually subsided, the cavalry division on the other side launched a charge.
"Cavalry company, charge!" Konka, commander of the third company of the first regiment of the 2nd Royal Cavalry Division, took the lead and led the cavalry to charge!
"rush!"
"rush!"
"Charge!"... In order to quickly break through the blockade, more than 6,000 men of the Second Cavalry Division were dispatched, just to quickly penetrate the enemy when they woke up from the artillery fire.
This is indeed the case. When the 2nd Royal Cavalry Division broke through four lines of defense in one breath, the enemy slowly responded.
"Snapped!"
"Snapped!"
"Pa!"... The Uruguayans who reacted immediately counterattacked, firing various bullets at the cavalry division, and many of the charging cavalry or horses were hit by bullets and fell to the ground.
"boom!"
"boom!"
"Boom!"... The charging cavalry, faced with bullet attacks, moved forward without hesitation. They just took out grenades from time to time, pulled out the fuses of smoke bombs and threw them into the trenches.
The Royal 2nd Cavalry Division lost more than 400 cavalrymen and broke through for about ten miles while ignoring the line of fire.
After breaking into about 5,000 meters of Shili, the cavalry divisions dismounted one after another. The signal soldier fired a red signal flare, and 4/5 cavalrymen rushed into the nearest trench with pp pistols, Mauser 1897 pistols, m1907 fast pistols, and m1907 carbines. The remaining cavalrymen set up Type 09 grenades. barrel, Type 09 90mm light mortar, Type 09 150mm medium mortar, and Lewis machine gun to provide fire support.
After the red signal flare was sent out, the Portuguese position artillery on the right bank exceeded 6500m. The French m1897 75mm rapid-fire cannon, the German lfh1909 105mm light howitzer, and the German sfh1902 105 heavy howitzer opened fire again at the maximum range, forming a cannon. line, blocking the source of Uruguayan reinforcements.
In order to better protect the cavalry wearing earplugs, the 150mm, 155mm, 240mm, and 305mm heavy howitzers did not participate in this shelling.
The cavalry who rushed into the trenches were simply invincible. Under the firepower of pp pistols, Mauser 1897 pistols, m1907 fast pistols, and m1907 carbines, the Uruguayan soldiers were defeated and could not stop them.
In the close trench warfare, the Mauser rifles and Lao Lee rifles in the hands of the Uruguayans were of course overwhelmingly defeated by the Portuguese's fast-fire automatic pistols and carbines. Even if they launched hand-to-hand combat, it would be of no avail.
"Snapped!"
"Bang!" Conca, the commander of the third company, held a Mauser pistol in one hand and a saber in the other. The Mauser gun knocked the two Uruguayans who rushed up with bayonets to the ground, and the saber followed suit.
The Uruguayans in the trenches desperately launched a counterattack, hoping to drive the enemy back, but too many Portuguese entered the trenches and they were quickly annihilated.
Originally, for the purpose of training troops, the artillery advantage was not used much, allowing Uruguay to fight back and forth, but the superiors really couldn't stand the boring meat grinder battle on the narrow battlefield, and directly attacked with all their strength.
The cavalry was not suitable for attacking the infantry with trench defense lines, but Portugal was wealthy and had the ability to deploy a set of very effective tactics for the cavalry.
With artillery isolating reinforcements, the cavalry rushing into the trenches, and with the support of a large number of light automated weapons, the infantry in the trenches had no effective way to counterattack.
In principle, in the trenches, even in hand-to-hand combat, the cavalry will not necessarily lose. If pistols and carbines are added, it will be a one-sided crushing.
In less than ten minutes, the cavalry took the nearest trench. The cavalry outside relied on their horses as a bunker to provide cover and entered the trench one by one.
When the cavalry launched their attack, the infantry who followed them ashore were also in action, but their advancement speed was obviously unable to keep up with the cavalry.
The Portuguese infantrymen holding B1908 rifles, after taking advantage of the time difference between artillery fire to capture the first line of defense, had to chew every step below.
Most of the Uruguayans, who were besieged from two sides, did not lose their fighting spirit at first and fought hard to hold the front.
However, when surrounded, the Argentine and Chilean volunteers who came to assist Uruguay, as well as a small number of Uruguayan soldiers, lost their will to fight very quickly and surrendered, throwing their guns and holding their heads.
After nearly three hours of offensive, all the defense lines within 5,000 meters of Hanoi, Uruguay's border, were breached.
In this offensive and defensive battle, the attacker's 6,000-strong Portuguese Royal Second Cavalry lost 576 people, and the attacking 6,000-person infantry lost 1,009 people; as the defender, the Uruguayan troops of more than 10,000 people lost 3,062 people, and the rest were killed in the battle. In the cruel reality, I chose to surrender.
With the breakthrough of the boundary river front, the connection between Uruguay's Negro River and the Rio Grande Mountain Defense Line was interrupted, and the Portuguese officially entered the Durasno Province.
The province of Durasno is located between the Negro River, the Yin River, and the Rio Grande Mountains. The entry of the Portuguese army here means that half of the Negro River defense line has collapsed, and the next defense line that the Uruguayans can count on can only be It's the Yin River--the Rio Grande Mountain Defense Line.
However, the defensive value of the Yin River, as a tributary, is not as high as that of the Negro River. The Uruguayans' next defense will be extremely difficult.
More than 10,000 people were lost, plus more than 5,000 people lost in the previous defensive war. Uruguay now has only 190,000 troops at its disposal. Most of these 190,000 people are volunteers. Uruguay’s next defensive war will Very pessimistic.
"President, Marshal Harry Pelos sent a telegram that the boundary river defense line has been breached!" James, the secretary of Jose Batlle Ordonez, reported to him.
"How is this possible? There are as many as 30,000 troops defending the Boundary River Defense Line. Portugal had been fighting for more than a month without any breakthrough. Why did it break through so quickly now?" Jose Batlle Ordonez, no. To believe this fact, you must know that the narrow place of the Boundary River Defense Line is where Uruguay focuses on building a defense line.
Since the beginning of the war, it has been serving as a fortress that anchors the sea, resisting Portuguese attacks time and time again.
In order to gain an advantage in the battle for public opinion, the Uruguayan government trumpeted the impregnability of this defense line, which greatly inspired the Uruguayan people's determination to resist the war. Why was it suddenly broken through now?
The day before, the Jiehe defense line easily blocked the Portuguese attack, but today it fell directly before noon.
"Mr. President, you'd better read the telegram. Marshal Harry will have an explanation and report in the telegram." With disbelief, Jose Batlle Ordonez picked up the telegram.
"250 cannons fired together, 3/5 of which were cannons over 105mm, among which 10 Skoda m·11 305mm cannons participated in shelling the mountain defense line."
"Oh God! Our largest cannons in Uruguay are three 150mm cannons. Although Argentina said it would deploy seven more 150mm cannons for support, facing Portugal head-on does not pose any danger at all."
"How can we fight this war? The Portuguese actually brought the 305mm cannon that only appeared in Europe to South America. What kind of defense do we have in Uruguay that can withstand such continuous bombardment!" Jose Batlle Ordonez Looking at the frontline battlefield intelligence, I feel gloomy about the future of Uruguay's war of resistance.
The Portuguese are too strong. I thought that their previous performance had already demonstrated Portugal's true strength.
But now the Portuguese told the Uruguayans that if the Portuguese really took action, the strongest boundary river defense line would be destroyed in one morning.
