Chapter 349: Conflicts on the Border

Because of the border issue, Argentina and Chile have been in constant conflict and disputes for hundreds of years since the establishment of the country.

If it is a small-scale conflict, it is fine. Although the great powers will pay attention, they will not interfere too much.

But if it is a large-scale conflict with a greater impact, the situation in South America will inevitably usher in the intervention of the great powers.

There is no way, the strategic significance of this region is too high. Chile has the world's largest natural saltpeter mine, and saltpeter is an important raw material for making fertilizers and gunpowder.

Needless to say, the importance of fertilizers and gunpowder, one can promote the development of agriculture, and the other can promote the development of military affairs.

For the major powers in the current chaotic world situation, 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 studied synthetic ammonia technology in order to get rid of the British Empire's control over saltpeter mines, and then they looked for synthetic ammonia, which is enough to replace saltpeter mines.

But with the current technology and development, synthetic ammonia is not enough to completely replace saltpeter mines.

It can only be said that it is 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, which is obviously different from the past.

To be precise, the conflict between Argentina and Chile this time is more like an extension of the previous South American naval arms race.

Because Brazil took the lead in building dreadnoughts, which led to the South American naval arms race, Brazil lost its leading position in the arms race because of the uprising in the navy.

The real reason for the uprising is actually the contradiction caused by racial conflicts.

Most of the ordinary soldiers in the Brazilian Navy are black, but the middle and senior officers who lead these blacks are all white.

When white people command these black naval soldiers, they often do not care about the opinions of black people. In serious cases, they don’t even care about the life and death of black people, which 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 the forced sale of Brazil’s third battleship, the Rio de Janeiro.

After Brazil withdrew from the naval arms race, the only two countries left in the competition were Argentina and Chile.

Argentina's naval warships were built in the United States, and Chile's naval warships were built in Australasia.

Although the tonnage is not much different, Chile's warships are more advanced than Argentina's warships in terms of the advancement of the warships.

Although the construction started late, Chile may be about a year later than Argentina to officially equip these warships.

But once the Chileans get these warships, Argentina's navy will be at a disadvantage, and the gap in strength between Argentina and Chile will widen again.

You know, Chile's saltpeter mines are very important to the British Empire, so the British Empire also attaches great importance to its relationship with Chile.

This also leads to the fact that although the two countries were founded at about the same time, their initial development potential is also almost the same.

But with the friendship between Chile and the British Empire, there is already hope of surpassing Argentina.

The Argentines naturally do not want this to happen, because it is very likely that the three disputed islands will completely belong to Chile, and even Argentina's territory will be threatened.

After all, Argentina is Chile's closest neighbor, and it has a decades-long hatred with Chile.

Watching Chile slowly become stronger and stronger, it is more painful for Argentines than losing money.

Perhaps the Second Balkan War that broke out not long ago gave Argentines hope.

Or perhaps it was the contact with a certain country that gave Argentines a certain trump card 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 death of about a dozen soldiers from Argentina and Chile, and dozens of soldiers were injured.

The tension between Argentina and Chile was instantly ignited because of this conflict.

The governments and congresses of the two major countries have demanded to prepare for war and seek justice for the citizens of their countries.

The real cause of the conflict is only known to the soldiers on the border, but the soldiers on both sides of the border are either injured or dead. The other soldiers also said their own things, and it is difficult to determine which side is really responsible for the conflict.

After the conflict broke out, both Argentina and Chile sent officers to closely control the troops on the border.

But it is obvious that, at least on the Argentine side, the control of border troops is not strict.

This has led to the fact that under the premise that the Chileans remain restrained, the Argentine border troops still invade the Chilean border from time to time, and there is a tendency for the two sides to have another conflict.

In theory, 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 obtained support from the powerful countries before it has the confidence to risk offending the British Empire and provoke a conflict with Chile.

Although the conflict between Argentina and Chile has not yet spread to the saltpeter mining area, the British Empire has paid close attention to this conflict.

However, the situation has not yet developed to the point where the British Empire intervened. The Allies and the Allies only spoke out and called on both sides to exercise restraint.

Unfortunately, such a conflict is no longer something that the governments of both sides can control. Because the last conflict caused nearly a hundred casualties on both sides, and also made the border troops of Argentina and Chile very hostile to each other.

Under the tense atmosphere between the two sides, the second conflict followed on June 21, 1913.

Since the outbreak of the last conflict, both sides have urgently mobilized some weapons and equipment to the border area to guard against possible attacks by the other side.

At the same time, the border between Argentina and Chile has also increased several times in garrison and patrol forces.

Although this effectively ensures the security of the national border, it also invisibly increases the possibility of conflict between the two armies.

After all, the patrol forces of both sides may only meet once every one or two weeks.

But now, after the increase in border defense forces, the patrol forces of both sides can meet almost every day, and it is impossible not to have a conflict.

Eduardo Montalva is an ordinary Chilean border guard, belonging to a patrol squad of the border garrison.

Because it is almost winter in the southern hemisphere, the patrol squad where Eduardo Montalva is also basically wearing thick cotton clothes.

Before the conflict broke out, Eduardo Montalva and his comrades thought it was just a simple patrol.

Although it was only a few days since the last conflict, both Argentina and Chile knew that the other side had sent more troops to station at the border, and the outbreak of conflict at this time was very likely to trigger a bigger war.

For several days in a row, the armies of both sides were relatively calm, which also made the soldiers secretly relieved and felt that the conflict was basically impossible to happen again.

But the accident came so suddenly.

The squad leader of Eduardo Montalva's patrol squad took the lead and climbed over the hill covered with snow yesterday. What came into view was an Argentine army of dozens of people.

Before the "enemy" squad leader could finish his words, he was hit directly by the oncoming bullet and fell instantly in the white snow pile.

In just a few seconds, a large amount of blood gushed out, dyeing the pure white snow red. The snow mixed with blood quietly flowed to the feet of Eduardo Montalva and his comrades.

"The enemy has crossed the border! Fire the signal gun quickly!" Eduardo Montalva was the first to react, took out the Lee Enfield rifle on his back, and said to his comrades around him.

Although the gunshots will quickly attract the attention of both armies, it is not easy to judge the specific direction in such a mountain forest.

If the signal gun is used, the outbreak of the conflict can be quickly identified, which is conducive to the arrival of reinforcements.

Of course, this also has a disadvantage, that is, the signal gun can also be seen by the other party, and it is very likely to attract the support of the other party.

At this time, it is necessary to compare which side has faster support, which not only determines the outcome of this conflict, but also may determine which Argentina and Chile have the advantage in this conflict.

After calling his teammates to use the signal gun, Eduardo Montalva carefully climbed to the top of the mountain and fought back with a rifle.

Eduardo Montalva knew that if they did not suppress the enemy's attack with firepower, once the enemy climbed up the hill, their entire patrol squad would become a live target for the enemy, and the only result they would face was death.

Fortunately, the British-made Lee Enfield rifle was reliable in quality and firepower.

As the fastest-firing rifle at present, the Lee Enfield rifle has excellent firepower suppression, and Eduardo Montalva also successfully made the Argentine army shrink in the mountain stream and could not move forward.

Bang!

Accompanied by a slightly dull gunshot, a red smoke rushed straight into the sky, and finally exploded in the sky, leaving conspicuous red clouds and exhaust.

Almost every border patrol squad in Chile is equipped with one or two signal guns to prevent possible accidents.

Once the troops stationed on the border see this red smoke, they will rush to the place where the smoke is to rescue the troops who may be in danger and difficulties.

"Oh, shit! Damn it, come and help!" Seeing his teammates standing there in a daze after firing the signal gun, and looking at the corpse of the squad leader beside him, Eduardo Montalva, who was fighting hard, couldn't help but curse inwardly and shouted loudly.

But this is not the fault of Eduardo Montalva's comrades. For a small country like Chile where there are not many wars, the military training is naturally not as active as that of the powerful countries.

Especially border patrol soldiers like Eduardo Montalva, they just went through simple training, brought weapons and equipment and joined the patrol team.

They don't know the cruelty of real war. Facing the squad leader who was just talking and laughing and fell in front of them, bleeding all over the ground, they seemed a little helpless and confused.

After hearing Eduardo Montalva's curses and scolding, everyone quickly reacted, took their weapons and quietly climbed up the hill, and began to fight back against the Argentine army below the mountain.

There was no big difference in the combat quality of the Argentine and Chilean armies. However, due to the excellent performance of Chile's Lee-Enfield rifles, even though Chile had fewer soldiers, the two sides were in a state of balance for a while.

The battle lasted for about ten minutes, and hundreds of bullets were consumed. Eduardo Montalva and his comrades were stunned for a moment when they saw the Argentine army at the foot of the mountain, which had not lost much personnel.

In fact, the Argentine army at the foot of the mountain was also stunned. Although the standard rifles of the Argentine army did not fire that fast, because of the advantage of more people, the bullet consumption was more than that of the Chilean army.

But judging from the current firepower of the Chilean army, their casualties were not many. Unless there is a situation where they have a large number of soldiers, once casualties occur, there are reserve troops to make up directly.

But this possibility is also very low. After all, there are only dozens of troops on the Argentine side. If the Chilean army has a large number of troops, they will not choose to hide 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 for life and weapons and equipment.

If there were satellites that could count the casualties of both sides, the soldiers of Argentina and Chile would find a slightly exaggerated data.

The two sides consumed thousands of bullets in total, but the actual casualties were very small, even less than ten people.

Strictly speaking, except for the Chilean patrol squad leader who was killed by a bullet at the beginning due to bad luck, the other soldiers were basically hit by stray bullets.

For Argentina and Chile combined, an average of 500 bullets can cause one casualty.

If only the death data is counted, even an average of 1,000 bullets can cause one enemy death.

This is because the distance between the two armies is not far, and the Chilean side is high above, and the Argentine army without any camouflage is more conspicuous, which caused a small number of casualties.

Even if there are careful people, they can find that when their comrades around them are fighting back, the barrels of their guns may be extended to the sky.

No one is not afraid of death, let alone the army like Argentina and Chile, which has not undergone much training and ideological education.

In order to ensure that they will not become the most unlucky person, some people even just stretch out their hands when shooting, and the rest of their bodies are still huddled in nearby bunkers.

Faced with such a situation, both sides are a little worried. It is estimated that it will not be long before the support of both sides may arrive. This is not good news for the Argentine army, because this is Chilean territory after all, and it is closer to the Chilean border troops.

To break this dilemma, the only option for the Argentine army at present is to cause large-scale casualties to the Chilean army in front of them, forcing them to retreat, or even kill them.

Without the drag of these Chilean patrol troops, this Argentine army can hide in the long mountains on the border again and ambush the Chilean army as before.

At this time, the Argentine commander regretted that in order to facilitate movement, this operation did not carry any heavy weapons, and the Argentine army had no good way to face the Chilean army on the mountain.

Even though it was known that the number of Chilean troops was far less than their own, there was no shelter on the long hillside. If they launched an attack on the Chilean army on the mountain, it would undoubtedly send the Argentine army to die.

If there was an artillery, even if it was only a small-caliber artillery, it could threaten the Chilean army on the mountain and even quickly annihilate them.

And with the cover of artillery, the Argentine army could also find an opportunity to touch the top of the mountain to deal with these cunning and annoying Chilean troops.

But now, it 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 realized that he had to make a decisive decision to save his own life and the lives of his soldiers.

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