The battle plan of entrenching city by city, using fortifications and fortresses to gradually deplete the opponent's living forces, was very effective on the battlefield of Paraguay more than ten years ago, but when Mitre transferred this defensive model to the war with the Han state, he inevitably suffered a major setback.

On the morning of 16 March, after a day of repairs, Luo Linshan commanded the troops of the 1st Division, under the cover of more than 50 artillery pieces, to take the lead in launching an attack on the Koliste position.

Corendor was the key defensive position of the Santa Fe defenders, and in the face of the onslaught of the Wehrmacht at any cost, Delgado on the one hand drew troops to reinforce the troops, and on the other hand, ordered the artillery units above the tower to fully support the defenders and concentrate their firepower on the attacking Han troops.

"Da Da", several old Gatling guns quickly sprayed bullets, strafing more than a dozen charging Wehrmacht soldiers to the ground.

"Mortars ready, shields cover forward!"

One of the mid-ranking officers who led the attack hid himself behind a tempered shield and gave orders to the mortarists in the rear.

"One, two, and three groups alternately cover the advance, and knock out the machine guns in front for me!"

"It's sir!"

The three mortar groups that received the order received the order lowered their bodies and crawled behind the soldiers with shields, and then, under the cover of the shields, approached the machine gun positions of the Argentines step by step.

"Da ......" noticed the actions of the Wehrmacht's side, and a volley of bullets was fired head-on in the direction of the mortar group.

The "bang, bang, bang......" bullet made a dull sound on the top of the shield, but after the shot, the bullet did not penetrate the shield, but only left shallow craters on it.

The early Gatling guns had limited penetration, and in the face of ordinary iron shields, Gatling guns could also pose a certain degree of threat, but the shields equipped by the Wehrmacht offensive troops were forged from the latest special steel, which was much higher than ordinary shields in terms of impact resistance, so the Gatling guns used by the Argentines to defend their positions could not cause effective damage to the soldiers behind the shields when facing the new shields.

Dodging a round of strafing from the Gatling gun, the halted mortar team slowly moved forward again, gradually closing the distance to the opponent's position.

"Stupid, shoot at the right front, don't let them get close to the position!"

The Argentine officer, who was in command of the battle, kicked at the machine gunner next to him, and said angrily.

"Sir, the enemy's shields are too strong for our machine guns to penetrate theirs."

The gunner, half-sitting on the ground, replied cautiously.

"If the machine gun can't be pierced, use the cannon, go! Report to General Delgado and ask for artillery support! ”

"Obey the order, sir!"

The gunner stood up, did not bother to pick up the military cap that had fallen to the ground, and quickly ran to the rear.

"You, you, you, the three of you take his place, block the right front of the position for me, and can't let the enemy take a step forward!"

The Argentine officer casually pointed out three soldiers, and was about to further direct the defense of the troops when a mortar shell fell on the perimeter of the Gatling gun position in an arc.

"Boom", the muddy water stirred up by the explosion of the shell splashed on the Argentine officer, but did not fatally injure him.

The first shell was a test firing before the official launch, after observing the location of the shell from behind the shield, the three mortar groups under the command of their respective artillery team leaders, carried out another round of firing, "Xiu Xiu Xiu", the unique sound of mortar firing accompanied by the sound of artillery shells in contact with the air reached the ears of the Argentine officer, looking up at the three shells fired diagonally, the Argentine officer did not have time to dodge, and became scrapped along with a Gatling gun next to him.

The cost of producing manganese steel was high, and after the outbreak of the Argentine war, the Wehrmacht purchased only seventy tempered shields in total, but only seventy tempered shields played an important role in the capture of the Corendist position.

With the strong defensive performance of the tempered shield, the assault troops successfully took the Gatling machine gun position, and then at 11 o'clock at noon, the troops of the 1st Division broke through the two hastily set up defense lines of the Argentines along the gap left by the machine gun position, and then pursued all the way to the river bank behind the Corenste position along the route of the Argentine rout.

In the first battle on the morning of the 16th, the position of Koliance was completely lost, and most of the more than 2,000 soldiers who were left in the Argentine troops guarding the position were taken prisoner, except for more than 600 people who fled back to the city.

With the loss of the Corendse position, the Paraná River was the only obstacle left in front of Santa Fe.

At about 3 p.m., taking advantage of the morale accumulated in the morning's victory, six gunboats of the River Fleet entered the Santa Fe section of the Paraná River, and then used the 155-mm heavy guns carried by the gunboats to bombard the city of Santa Fe along the river.

When the Corriste position changed hands and the Wehrmacht's river fleet entered the Santa Fe section of the Paraná River, Delgado panicked and ordered the defenders of the city to go out of the city to block the attack, and tried in vain to regain control of the Corliste position and the Santa Fe section of the river from the Wehrmacht.

However, the water forces to which Santa Fe belonged were far from being the opponents of the river fleet, and more than seven or eight old and dilapidated gunboats had just left the port of Santa Fe before they were all sunk under the heavy shelling of the river fleet.

The water forces of Santa Fe were wiped out, and the Argentine forces that attacked for the position of Corendus were not much better.

Delgar personally led nearly half of the city's military forces to attack the Corendist position, but after two hours of fierce fighting under the stubborn counterattack of the 1st Division, only 4,000 Argentine troops retreated into the city, and about 1,700 soldiers were again consumed on the Colendist position.

At six o'clock in the evening of the same day, the first time he understood the irreparable situation in Santa Fe, Argentine President Mitre immediately sent a telegram to Delgal, ordering him to lead the remaining troops to quickly withdraw from Santa Fe City, and then Mitre was already late when this order was issued, and from the time of Delgal's failure to fight for the position of Corenste, the Wehrmacht launched a full-scale attack around Santa Fe, and the battle lasted until five o'clock in the afternoon. The water gate of Santa Fe was breached, and the river fleet carried a group of soldiers into Santa Fe through the water gate, and by six o'clock, all three gates of Santa Fe were lost, and Delgar and the remaining soldiers could only huddle in the small fortress of the city to fight the Wehrmacht.

After reading the telegram translated by the communications officer, Delgar sat down in his chair in despair, his right hand touching the pistol at his waist and trembling.

"Guzmán, order the troops to surrender, the Han troops have surrounded this place, and it is impossible for us to break out."

"General, hold on a little longer, and in a few minutes we will be able to open a gap and cover the general's breakthrough!"

Guzmán couldn't bear to look at the other party's desperate expression and comforted.

"Forget it, holding on to the defense is only increasing casualties, I don't want to let other soldiers die because of my mistakes, Guzmán, I give you the last order in the name of the commander, give up resistance and surrender to the Han troops!"

"Yes, General!"

Guzmán gritted his teeth and turned to walk out of the fortress, and just as he reached the outside of the fortress and officially surrendered his weapon, he heard a gunshot from inside the fortress.

A tear flowed from Guzman's eyes, and he understood that Del Gal had made his choice and had gone through the last journey of his life as a soldier.