The 3rd and 4th armies immediately moved on the Olinoco Plain as soon as they received the news. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

In order to ensure the safety of the two armies, an airship stationed in Port of Spain was transferred to the command of the 3rd Route Army.

Since there were no longer troops of the United States of Venezuela on either side of the Olinoco River, the warships of the South American theater of operations were unimpeded on the river, carrying them on the basis of seized local cargo ships and flat-bottomed boats transferred from the District of Guyana.

By the time Lieutenant General Cao Jiachuan arrived in Ciudad Bolívar on 5 December, the main force of the 4th Route Army had reached El Tigre, and the Japanese mercenaries of a brigade of the vanguard had reached Cantaura, only 20 kilometers from Anaco.

The progress of the 3rd Route Army was also very rapid, and by this time the main forces had been assembled in the port of Cavruta, and a regiment of Wehrmacht had reached Santa Rita, and when the troops in the rear had followed, they could continue their advance.

Lieutenant General Cao Jiachuan was very satisfied with the speed of the army's march, as long as the main force of the troops crossed the river, the next march would be faster. To the 3rd Route Army, his order was to speed up and seize the plain city of Chaguaramas.

Now he was most concerned with directing the 4th Route Army to besiege or seize the city of Anaco at the right time, and sabotage the enemy's attempts to build the southern front.

At this time, Anaco was still just a small town on the transportation line, located in the northeast of Venezuela, surrounded by small hills more than 200 meters high, occupying this place is equivalent to opening the key to Barcelona, which is a very big threat to the defense of northeast Venezuela.

The city of Kantaola is an old city, surrounded by hills, with an average altitude of only 260 meters, and not far to the south is the large plain of Pingchuan, which is the first checkpoint to enter the northeast hilly area from the south; Venezuela originally planned to build a line of defense from Cantaura to Anaco, as the first defense point to defend against the attack of the Xia Imperial army, but the Xia Imperial army came too quickly, and their fortifications had not been built much.

Through the reconnaissance of the airship, the Venezuelan army in front was stepping up the construction of fortifications, Cao Jiachuan knew that time was waiting for no one, and ordered the army to speed up, and at the same time, asked the airship to cooperate with the Japanese mercenaries to make persistent efforts and take the town of Anaco in one go.

The Japanese mercenaries were eager to make contributions, and with the assistance of airships, they set off with confidence, after all, it was only 20 kilometers away from Anako, and they did not pay attention to those recruits who had not experienced the baptism of artillery.

In any case, the combat level of the mercenaries is still very good, many commanders at all levels participated in the Russo-Japanese War, the war at that time was much more cruel than now, and those who could survive were considered elites; Later, under the command of the Xia Empire, they fought all the way from the United States to Panama, but the scale of the war was not large, and their physique was strengthened, their marksmanship was more accurate, and their cooperation was more tacit, coupled with their own military skills, the current mercenaries are full of confidence in the face of the rookie level Venezuelan army.

In the face of those small hills, the mercenaries, with the cooperation of airships, adopted the tactics of continuous roundabout encirclement, and eliminated the Venezuelan garrison one by one, and the fight was very smooth, the Venezuelan army had no power to fight back, while the Japanese mercenaries suffered very few battle losses.

Lieutenant General Cao Jiachuan vigorously urged the troops to march at a rapid pace, preparing to attack the city of Barcelona in one go, and occupy the port of La Cruz, separating the northeastern region of Venezuela.

At the same time, they are desperately urging the naval troop carriers to reach Ciudad Bolivar as soon as possible, so that the troops can join the battle in the southern theater, otherwise, the existing troops will occupy the port of La Cruz, and they may also be surrounded by the Venezuelan army, and more troops must be sent to keep up with it, so as to continue to expand the results of the war.

The bombing effect of the airship in the hilly areas is very good, and the power has been greatly increased, and the fortresses built by the enemy cannot withstand the bombing of 250-kilogram aerial bombs at all, and more importantly, the antiaircraft guns and antiaircraft machine guns and other antiaircraft weapons arranged in these places will soon be bombed by the airships as long as they are exposed, and if they are not eliminated, the airships will not give up, so that the Venezuelan air defense weapons are used very carefully and cautiously, and the threat to the airships is greatly reduced.

Some of the forts were not solidified, and they could not even withstand mortar shells, and the enemy's fortress could be torn apart by a few shots in a row, and the heavy machine gun squads inside fled in confusion under the blows of the mortars.

The Xia Empire launched an all-out fierce offensive on the southern front, and Venezuela organized a series of counterattacks to buy enough time for the second line of defense in the San Mateo area north of Anaco to build a well-developed defense, otherwise it would be attacked like Cantaura and Anaco.

They surrounded San Mateo and built 3 circles of defenses, all of which were semi-underground concrete fortresses, as long as they were all built and solidified, they would definitely be able to inflict heavy casualties on the Xia Empire's army, unless they didn't want to occupy it.

The second line of defense was designed with the assistance of German staff officers, and its defensive capabilities were greatly strengthened.

While urging the 2nd Route Army to arrive as soon as possible, Lieutenant General Cao Jiachuan had airships continue to bombard the San Mateo area, firstly to harass their progress in building forts, and secondly, to destroy those forts that had not yet been fully solidified in time.

Anaco became the focus of contention between the two sides, and the two sides continued to increase reinforcements, making the war even more intense.

However, with the continuous arrival of follow-up reinforcements, the Japanese mercenaries fought more easily, and their roundabout tactics were perfected. Venezuela often fights with the lives of its officers and soldiers, and suffers heavy casualties.

The Japanese mercenaries relied on the bombing of airships as a match, and were also equipped with mountain artillery, mortars, light and heavy machine guns, and the combination of far and near firepower was reasonable, and the battle damage was controlled very low; They will not launch a pig charge, whenever they encounter a fierce resistance, some officers and soldiers will lure the enemy in front, and then send two small troops on the left and right to make a detour, go around the enemy's flank or rear, and suddenly deal a fatal blow to the enemy.

The Venezuelan army's mountain artillery and field artillery were completely lost under the bombardment of airships, and they could only rely on a small number of heavy machine guns and the advantage of large numbers of people to block the attack, and the crowded places were often heavily bombed by airships, and the casualties were even more serious.

In the end of the war, all the Venezuelan troops did not dare to gather together, but dispersed in the size of squads and platoons, so that they were not opponents of mercenaries; Two brigades of Japanese mercenaries, with the cooperation of airships, fought a Venezuelan army with heavy casualties.

The morale of the Japanese mercenaries was high, and this was the happiest war they had fought since they formed the army, and it was believed that they could get a lot of rewards for their military exploits in this war.

Even the former Venezuelan 6th officers and soldiers, who were in charge of transporting logistics materials, lamented that these Japanese mercenaries were really crazy, and they were still in the mood to laugh on the battlefield, and their excellent personal military qualities surprised these personnel in charge of logistics, and secretly sighed, fortunately, they surrendered at that time, otherwise the casualties would be more serious than the bombing of airships against this group of people.

The vanguard of the 2nd Route Army also successfully captured the important town of Chaguaramas, which was located on the plains and could not be defended, and under the bombardment of airships, a regiment of the Wehrmacht successfully advanced, and after a short exchange of fire, eliminated a battalion of the enemy stationed there.