between the East face and the main swamp. In the center, Fernandes Vieira's terço had the mission to penetrate as deep as possible into the enemy's formation. On the right flank, Filipe Camarão would use the long experience of the natives in fighting in the swamped terrain. Henrique Dias would use the "terço dos negros" (black's terço) to keep the Dutch from advancing and then avoiding the spear head advance from being flanked. Limited by the lack of space for maneuver, von Schoppe concentrated most of his forces on the space between the east face and the main swamp. Three of his battalions were face-to-face against the terços of Vieira and Camarão, while two other battalions of his would try to flank the advancing forces and would be contained by the terço of Dias. Two Dutch battalions would not be allowed to maneuver and would stay back, out of action. The closed space also did not allow the use of firearms to its full potential and maximized the use of native weapons and the short sword. Diogo Lopes Santiago, a possible eye witness of that event, gives his gruesome account of that encounter: "(...) and as they ran away, our soldiers would follow them with their swords with cuts and slashes, cutting legs, arms, heads, some killing, others wounding badly, laying on the field bodies without arms, trunks without heads (...) holding their sword in the middle of those squadrons, piles of enemies, giving spokes to some and to others death, showing the sword, tinted in blood". See also Second Battle of Guararapes References Citations Bibliography Rocha, Sebastião da. History of Portuguese America. History of South America Military history of Brazil Guararapes Guararapes Guararapes Guararapes I Guararapes Pernambuco Portuguese colonization of the Americas 1648 in Brazil 1640s in Brazil 1648 in the Dutch Empire Dutch Brazil