Near Villa Maria, Argentina (Occupied by the Federal League)
February 14th, 1833
Colonel Calvino Moretti watched carefully as a Federal convoy left the town of Villa Maria and went out into the open road, heading towards the front in Cordoba. He and a hundred men were lying low in a nearby field, with their positions hidden by the darkening sky and ditches. He knew that the other men under his command were in good positions to strike the convoy as it came close, all they needed was a signal from him to begin the attack.
Despite what anyone claimed, Argentina was hardly out of the fight. Buenos Aires and Rosario were under enemy occupation, but the western provinces were still controlled by the Argentinan government, which had moved its seat of power to Cordoba in order to continue the fight. The loss of the eastern provinces was a blow to the Argentinan struggle against the Federal League and Brazil, but it was not a knockout blow. Despite all his faults, President Carlos Maria de Alvear, the second president of the Republic of Argentina, was a hardy and resilient man. President Alvear refused to surrender and continued on the struggle despite the fact that half of the country was under foreign occupation. Additionally, he knew that Argentina was isolated from the rest of the League, except for Chile, and decided to move the little industry that Argentina had to the western provinces. As such, despite losing two critical settlements that were important to the Argentinan economy, the besieged republic was still producing arms and ammunition for itself with the help of Chile out in the west. This was why the invaders were closing in on Cardoba, as it was the temporary capital of Argentina and was one of the biggest industrial cities in Argentina not named Buenos Aires. Thankfully, the Chilean military was helping the Argentinians defend the western provinces, which had brought the Federal and Brazilian push to a slow crawl.
While Chile still had a sizeable military to work with, the Argentinan military barely consisted of ten thousand men after the rapid advance of the enemy armies after they invaded in mid-October. The initial defenses around the border worked as intended, but only lasted a month before they were exhausted, allowing the Federal League and Brazil to sweep Rosario and push straight into Argentina. Most of the federal government and a chunk of the military managed to evacuate to the west, but not before suffering heavy casualties. As such, Argentina was unable to meet the Brazilian and Federal forces directly, as they outnumbered the Argentinians nearly six to one. Even with the assistance of Chile, the League forces were outnumbered two to one.
This resulted in Argentina creating a new method of warfare, "irregular" warfare as some called it.
Guerilla warfare.
Utilizing the local population (that hated the Federal League and Brazil), small and mobile groups of fighters, and ambush, the Argentinian military crafted a unique way to resist a numerically superior force. It was still a work in process, as it was a recent doctrine created by the military brass. However, it had proven to be quite effective so far.
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The lead of the convoy passed by the hidden Argentinan colonel and the man turned to look at the dozen or so men around him. The plan was to hit the convoy from multiple sides and to make the enemy think that the ambushers outnumbered them. From the information he had, the convoy consisted of over five hundred men, which meant that the Argentinians were actually outnumbered five to one. However, they had darkness and surprise on their side. Also, the locals nearby helped prepare several ditches and holes in the field to launch the ambush, and a few of them were participating in the attack as well. It was how he received information about the convoy in the first place; the locals were unsure of what was inside the convoy but provided information on the approximate number of guards for the convoy and the fact that it contained valuable supplies for the Federal League.
Colonel Moretti silently counted to ten before nodding to one of the Boroanos Native that was with the Argentinan military. The man lifted his head and let out a war cry, signaling the attack to begin. Several flares were lit above the convoy to provide lighting for the ambushers, while they themselves remained in the dark.
A hundred shots rang out within a span of a minute, dropping a few dozen men before the members of the convoy were able to respond. As planned, the ambushers themselves began to move away from their initial positions to throw off the enemy and to prevent them from rushing towards them with their superior numbers. Firing his CAR 1829 (Cardoba, Argentinan Rifle), the colonel downed a person that looked like an officer before sliding into another ditch nearby. The few Native Patagonians within their ranks continuously screamed loud war cries to disorient the enemy while firing a mix of firearms and bows.
To their credit, the soldiers of the convoy ducked low and started firing back, but they lacked vision on their attackers. A few Argentinians were shot down during the span of the firefight, but many more enemy soldiers fell from the fire of the Argentinan guerillas. To the enemies' credit, they realized that if they were unable to see the enemy, then they needed to get up close and personal to deal with the problem. Unfortunately for the Argentinians, they were still outnumbered.
"Carga!"
He knew what that meant: charge.
"Retreat! And throw the coctel!"
As the attackers quickly withdrew, three of them tossed "Moretti cocktails" at the dozen or so wagons of the convoy. The "cocktails" were filled with animal fat, naphtha, tar, and pitch, with a burning cloth shoved into the top of the bottle to act as the ignition source. It was an invention that Moretti himself created, in response to Argentina's lack of artillery and grenades. Though, they were still rare as glass bottles and animal fat were not widespread commodities in the middle of Argentina. The Moretti cocktails weren't able to produce a huge explosion, but the cocktails were flammable and caused a significant amount of damage.
Unknown to the attackers, the convoy wagons were filled with gunpowder and firearms, and the wagons themselves were made up of wood. Therefore, even the colonel was surprised when the convoy blew sky-high, knocking him down from the blast. Some Argentinians were caught in the blast, but the enemy soldiers were heavily affected by the sudden explosion. Dozens of them were killed instantly, while the rest were thrown off on their feet. After the explosion, the remaining survivors fled back to Villa Maria.
Colonel Moretti shakily got back up onto his feet. The battle was won.