Chapter 349: Continuous Border Conflicts:
The two countries of Argentina and Chile have had constant conflicts and numerous disputes over the hundreds of years since their establishment due to border issues.
It would be okay if it was an ordinary small conflict. Although the great powers would pay attention, they would basically not interfere too much.
But if it is a large-scale conflict with a greater impact, the situation in South America will definitely usher in the intervention of the great powers.
There is no way, the strategic significance of this area is too high. Chile has the world's largest mine of natural saltpeter, an important raw material used to make fertilizers and gunpowder.
Needless to say, the importance of chemical fertilizers and gunpowder. One can promote the development of agriculture, and the other can promote military development.
For the major powers in a chaotic world, the importance of natural saltpeter mines from Chile is self-evident.
Chile and the British Empire have always been on good terms, and the British Empire also controls all saltpeter mines in Chile.
In the past, various countries vigorously researched synthetic ammonia technology in order to get rid of the British Empire's control of saltpeter mines and to look for synthetic ammonia, a material that could replace saltpeter mines.
However, with current technology and development, synthetic ammonia is completely insufficient to completely replace saltpeter mines.
It can only be said that it has been replaced in some aspects. The importance of saltpeter mines is still very high, and the British Empire is always paying attention to the news from Chile.
The bad news is that this is a conflict between Argentina and Chile that is clearly different from the past.
To be precise, this conflict between Argentina and Chile is more like an extension of the previous South American naval arms race.
The South American naval arms race was caused by Brazil taking the lead in building dreadnoughts. However, Brazil lost its leading position in the arms race due to an uprising in the navy.
The real cause of the uprising was actually the conflicts caused by ethnic conflicts.
Most of the ordinary soldiers of the Brazilian Navy are black, but the middle and high-level officers who lead these blacks are all white.
When white people commanded these black naval soldiers, they often did not care about the opinions of black people. In serious cases, they did not even care about the life and death of black people. This led to the occurrence of this naval uprising.
After this incident, the combat effectiveness of the Brazilian Navy was greatly reduced, and the government no longer trusted the navy.
This also indirectly led to Brazil's third battleship, the Rio de Janeiro being forced to be sold.
After Brazil withdrew from the naval arms race, the only two remaining countries still competing were Argentina and Chile.
Argentina's naval warships are built in the United States, and Chile's naval warships are built in Australasia.
Although the tonnage is similar, from the perspective of the sophistication of the warships, Chilean warships are more advanced than Argentina's warships.
Although due to the relatively late start of construction, Chile may formally equip these warships about a year later than Argentina.
But once the Chileans obtain these warships, Argentina's navy will be at a disadvantage, and the strength gap between Argentina and Chile will widen again.
You know, Chile's saltpeter mines are very important to the British Empire. Therefore, the British Empire also attaches great importance to its relationship with Chile.
This also led to the fact that although the two countries were founded at about the same time, their initial development potential was almost the same.
But with the friendly relations between Chile and the British Empire, there is already hope of catching up with Argentina.
Naturally, Argentines do not want this to happen, because this may very well mean that the three disputed islands belong entirely to Chile, and even Argentina's territory will be threatened.
After all, Argentina is Chile’s closest neighbor and has a decades-long feud with Chile.
Watching Chile slowly become stronger and stronger is more uncomfortable for the Argentinians than losing money.
Perhaps it was the Second Balkan War that broke out not long ago that gave Argentines hope.
Or maybe it was contact with a certain country that gave the Argentines some trump cards and confidence.
In short, in June 1913, a medium-sized military conflict broke out on the southern border of Argentina and Chile.
The conflict resulted in the deaths of about a dozen Argentine and Chilean soldiers and the injury of dozens more.
Tensions between Argentina and Chile were instantly ignited by this conflict.
The governments and congresses of the two major countries have demanded that they prepare for war and seek justice for the citizens of their own countries.
Only the soldiers on the border knew the real cause of the conflict, but soldiers on both sides of the border were either injured or dead. Other soldiers also had different opinions, and it was difficult to determine which party was really responsible for the conflict.
After the conflict broke out, both Argentina and Chile sent military officers to control the troops on the border at close range.
But it is clear that, at least on the Argentine side, control of border troops is not strict.
This has resulted in the Argentine border troops still invading the Chilean border from time to time on the premise that the Chileans maintain restraint, and there is a strong tendency for conflict between the two sides to break out again.
Theoretically speaking, Chile has the support of the British Empire behind it, and Argentina cannot blindly launch wars and conflicts.
But the current state shown by Argentina should have corresponding trump cards and confidence.
This also means that Argentina should have received support from the great powers before it could have the confidence to risk offending the British Empire and provoke a conflict with Chile.
Although the conflict between Argentina and Chile has not yet affected the saltpeter mining areas, the British Empire is already very concerned about this conflict.
However, the matter has not yet developed to the point where the British Empire has intervened. The Allies and the Entente have only spoken out, calling on both sides to exercise restraint.
Unfortunately, such conflicts are no longer controllable by the governments of both parties. Because the last conflict resulted in nearly hundreds of casualties on both sides, it also made the border troops of Argentina and Chile very hostile to each other.
In a tense atmosphere between both sides, the second conflict ensued on June 21, 1913.
Since the last conflict broke out, both sides have urgently mobilized some weapons and equipment to the border areas to prepare for possible attacks by the other side.
At the same time, the number of troops stationed and patrolled on the border between Argentina and Chile has increased several times.
Although this effectively ensures the security of the national border, it also virtually increases the possibility of conflict between the two armies.
After all, the patrol forces from both sides might only encounter each other once every one or two weeks.
But now, with the increase in border defense forces, patrols from both sides encounter each other almost every day, and it is impossible not to break out into conflicts.
Eduardo Montalva is an ordinary Chilean border guard who belongs to a patrol class of the border garrison. Because it was almost winter in the southern hemisphere, Eduardo Montalva's patrol unit basically wore thicker cotton-padded clothes.
Before the conflict broke out, Eduardo Montalva and his comrades thought it was just a simple patrol.
Although it has only been a few days since the last conflict broke out, both Argentina and Chile know that the other side has sent more troops to station on the border. The outbreak of conflict at this time is very likely to trigger a larger war.
For several days, the armies on both sides were relatively calm, which also made the soldiers secretly relieved and felt that it was basically impossible for conflicts to happen again.
But the accident happened so suddenly.
The squad leader of Eduardo Montalva's patrol squad took the lead and climbed over the hill covered with yesterday's snow. What came into view was an Argentine army with dozens of people.
Before the "enemy" squad leader could say a complete sentence, he was directly hit by an oncoming bullet and fell instantly into a white snowdrift.
In just a few seconds, a large amount of blood spurted out, dyeing the pure white snow red. The snow mixed with blood flowed quietly to the feet of Eduardo Montalva and his comrades.
"The enemy has crossed the border! Fire the signal gun!" Eduardo Montalva was the first to react. He took out the Lee-Enfield rifle on his back and said to his comrades around him.
Although the sound of gunfire will quickly attract the attention of both armies, it is not easy to determine the specific direction in such a mountain forest.
If you use a signal gun, you can quickly identify where the conflict broke out, which will be beneficial to the arrival of your own reinforcements.
Of course, this also has a disadvantage, that is, the signal gun can also be seen by the opponent, and it is very likely to attract support from the opponent.
At this time, it is necessary to compare the two sides to support faster. This will not only determine the outcome of this conflict, but also may determine who has the advantage in this conflict, Argentina or Chile.
After calling his teammates to use the flare gun, Eduardo Montalva carefully climbed to the top of the mountain and fought back with a rifle.
Eduardo Montalva understood that if firepower was not used to suppress the enemy's attack, when the enemy climbed up the hill, their entire patrol squad would become a living target for the enemy, and the only result they would face would be death.
Fortunately, the quality and firepower of British-made Lee-Enfield rifles are reliable enough.
As the rifle with the fastest rate of fire at present, the Lee-Enfield rifle has excellent fire suppression. Eduardo Montalva also successfully made the Argentine army cower in the mountain stream, unable to advance even half a step.
boom!
Accompanied by a slightly dull gunshot, a line of red smoke shot straight into the sky, and finally exploded high in the sky, leaving behind conspicuous red clouds and exhaust gas.
Almost every border patrol squad in Chile is equipped with one or two flare guns to guard against possible accidents.
Once the troops stationed at the border see this red smoke, they will rush to the place where the smoke is as soon as possible to rescue troops who may be in danger and distress.
"Oh, shit! Damn it, come and help!" Seeing his teammates still standing there in a daze after firing the flare gun, and looking at the body of the squad leader beside him, Eduardo Montalva, who was fighting hard, couldn't help but feel He cursed secretly and yelled loudly.
But this is no wonder Eduardo Montalva's comrades-in-arms. For a small country like Chile that does not have many wars, the training of the army is naturally not as active as that of the great powers.
Especially border patrol soldiers like Eduardo Montalva, who only received simple training and joined the patrol team with weapons and equipment.
They didn't know the cruelty of real war. Faced with the squad leader who had been talking and laughing just now, he fell in front of them, bleeding all over the ground, making them look a little helpless and confused.
After hearing Eduardo Montalva's curses and scoldings, everyone quickly reacted, took their weapons and quietly climbed up the hill, and started to fight back against the Argentine army below.
There is no difference between the combat qualities of the Argentine and Chilean armies. However, because of the excellent performance of Chile's Lee-Enfield rifles, even though the number of Chilean soldiers was smaller, the two sides were in a state of balance for a while.
The battle lasted for about ten minutes, and hundreds of rounds of bullets were consumed. Eduardo Montalva and his comrades looked at the Argentine army at the foot of the mountain, which had not been reduced in strength, and were a little dumbfounded for a moment.
In fact, the Argentine army at the foot of the mountain was also dumbfounded. Although the Argentine army's standard rifle fire rate is not that fast, because of the advantage of large numbers of people, the bullet consumption is even higher than that of the Chilean army.
But judging from the current firepower of the Chilean army, their attrition is not much. Unless there is one situation, that is, they have a large number of soldiers. Once attrition occurs, there are prepared troops to directly make up for it.
But this possibility is also very low. After all, the Argentine army only has a few dozen people. If the Chilean army has a large number of people, they will not choose to huddle on the top of the mountain and fire hidden guns.
For the first time, the armies of both sides felt the real war, and the consumption was so huge, both in terms of lives and weapons and equipment.
If there were satellites capable of counting casualties on both sides, the Argentinian and Chilean soldiers would have discovered a slightly exaggerated figure.
Both sides consumed thousands of rounds of ammunition in total, but the actual casualties caused were very small, even less than ten people.
Strictly speaking, except for the Chilean patrol squad leader who was very unlucky at the beginning and was killed by a direct bullet, the other soldiers were basically hit by stray bullets.
Argentina and Chile combined have an average of one casualty for every 500 bullets fired.
If only death data is counted, one enemy will die for every thousand bullets on average.
This is because the distance between the armies of the two sides is not far, and because the Chilean side is condescending and the Argentine army without any disguise is more conspicuous, it caused a small number of casualties.
Even those who are careful can find that when their comrades fight back, the barrel of their gun may reach into the sky.
No one is not afraid of death, let alone armies like Argentina and Chile that have not received much training and ideological education.
In order to ensure that they do not become the most unlucky person, some people even just stretch out their hands when shooting, while the rest of their bodies are still huddled in nearby bunkers.
Faced with this situation, both parties are concerned. It is estimated that support from both sides may arrive before long. This is not good news for the Argentine army, because after all, this is Chilean territory and is closer to the Chilean border troops.
To break this predicament, the Argentine army's only current option is to cause massive casualties to the Chilean army in front of them, force them to retreat, or even kill them.
Without the encumbrance of these Chilean patrols, the Argentine army can hide again in the long mountains on the border and ambush the Chilean army as before.
At this time, the Argentine commander had some regrets. In order to facilitate movement, this operation did not carry any heavy weapons. It also left the Argentine army with no good way to face the Chilean army on the mountain.
Even though he knew that the number of the Chilean army was far smaller than his own, there were no bunkers on the long hillside. If he attacked the Chilean army on the mountain, he would undoubtedly let the Argentine army die.
If there is an artillery, even a small-caliber artillery, it can pose a threat to the Chilean army on the mountain and even quickly annihilate them.
And with the cover of artillery, the Argentine army can also find opportunities to reach the top of the mountain to deal with these cunning and annoying Chilean troops.
But now is obviously not the time for the Argentine commander to regret. Seeing that the army had been dragged into the mountain stream by the Chileans, the Argentine commander understood that he had to make decisive decisions to save his own life and that of the soldiers.
Asking for a monthly ticket!
(End of chapter)