On April 21, 1907, the forward of China's Fifth Mountain Division was less than 10 kilometers away from the city of Spokane, and the 105mm mountain guns, which were closer to the cannon than the cannon, could even directly hit the shells into the city, and the residents in the city had already been evacuated, replaced by the American army, which had more residents than the entire city before, and if the American troops squatting in the trenches outside the city were also included, the total strength exceeded 300,000, but even so, the commander of the US Eighth Army still did not dare to be careless. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

The reason is very simple, since the outbreak of the war in only 12 days, the US army has lost no less than 80,000 troops, of which the number of dead and captured is close to 60,000, and more than 20,000 US troops are trapped behind enemy lines. Such an astonishing result is enough to show how terrible the enemy he encountered this time was, and how could this veteran who had experienced the Civil War dare to underestimate the enemy? If it weren't for the fact that the front-line troops exaggerated the enemy's casualties to whitewash the defeat, which caused a certain misleading situation, I am afraid that he would continue to ask the White House for support.

However, the Fifth Mountain Division has been advancing here without completely destroying a large number of enemy troops in the rear, and it is almost to the limit, considering that once it encounters a defeat, the US army will see through the truth that its own strength is seriously insufficient under its own momentum, so as to doubt the real main force of its own side, the Fifth Mountain Division wisely stopped its progress and shifted its focus to solving those damn American strongholds, the big killing weapon has arrived, and it is time for those Yankees to see how powerful they are, "Hehe, Do you really think that if you hide in a turtle shell, Lao Tzu will have nothing to do with you? ”

Compared with Feng Yuxiang's prosperous official fortune over the years, because he had been an official in the Qing army and did not lead troops to revolt anyway, Duan Qirui's career was obviously not so smooth, especially the artillery is a subsidiary technical arm that cannot fight alone, and the treatment is good but it is difficult to be promoted (Note 1).

Fortunately, Duan Qirui's insight is good, in line with the principle of "rather being a chicken head than a phoenix tail." And the idea of "scarcity is expensive" was filled in when applying for the Army University, and there was not even a "siege artillery" major of this branch at that time, because of the new type of troops, his grades in the class were top-notch (there are only 12 people in the class, and the gold content cannot be compared with Feng Yuxiang, but considering Duan Qirui's age, the effort required is not much smaller. And he had practical experience and became a battalion commander directly.

It must be noted that due to the fact that there are not many occasions when siege artillery is needed, a huge China has built a total of two siege artillery battalions, and Duan Qirui is in charge of one of them, as long as there is a need to use this troop, he has at least a 50% chance of participating in the battle, which is much higher than the vast majority of battalion-level troops!

And Duan Qirui's luck is obviously very good, after learning that the United States is building fortresses in the northwest mountains, Li Hui transferred their battalion to Vancouver so that they can be called as soon as the war breaks out, and later transferred to the completely militarized town of Cranbrook, and after a period of war, Duan Qirui's long-awaited opportunity finally came!

However, due to the troublesome disassembly and transportation of siege artillery, and more importantly, the initial offensive was too smooth to use siege artillery, Duan Qirui could only stay in the rear with envy and listen to the good news from the front line. However, there are always a few brushes that can become historical celebrities, even in the first few days of suffering, Duan Qirui did not slack off at all, and has been strictly supervising his subordinates, so that they are always in a state of imminent war, and can go to the front line immediately at any time.

With such a foundation, as soon as the order to requisition his troops to assist in the battle came from the front line, the siege artillery battalion, which had been prepared for a long time, was directly pulled out without the slightest friction, which left a very good impression on the officers and men of the Fifth Mountain Division, especially the siege artillery had already been disassembled and loaded with tractors, which saved a lot of time.

With the road severely damaged by the U.S. military, the already slow speed of the large tracked tractors was exacerbated, and Duan Qirui's siege artillery battalion was still able to reach their first destination on April 21, which would not have been possible in any case if they had not been fully prepared in advance.

Duan Qirui's siege artillery battalion only has a total of two cannons, but it is enough to give the commanders and fighters of the Fifth Division confidence in victory, because this is the strongest siege artillery in history during World War I - the German L/12 "Big Bertha" 420mm howitzer!

Well, the officers and soldiers of the Fifth Mountain Division must not know the great combat exploits in the history of this giant cannon, but just the muzzle that is bigger than a basin is scary enough, not to mention that with the military common sense that everyone has mastered, it can be imagined that nearly 1 ton of shells fell from a high altitude, facing the relatively weak top of the fortress, where is there a reason not to smash it?

The maximum firing range of the original German L/12 "Big Bertha" 420mm howitzer is 14 kilometers, and Li Hui has improved it slightly after optimizing the system, which will reach 15 kilometers. However, just in case, Duan Qirui deliberately chose a place with a mountain peak to block the line of sight to arrange the position, and the assembly of "Big Bertha" is still very fast (there is an error in the information on Baidu, it should be its prototype that takes 6 weeks, and the artillery bombardment soon began soon after the German army hit the scorching sun fortress when it was sent to the front line. When their muzzles were raised, the impregnable fortress that had previously left the mountain soldiers helpless was inevitably coming to an end......

Because the loud noise and cannon wind of the "Big Bertha" firing were too terrible, and the siege cannon was not isolated by turrets, the gunners could only use the method of remote control firing, and even so, before firing the guns, they still needed to plug their ears with earplugs, and then retreat to the specially dug protective trench 300 meters away for safety. Seeing this, the soldiers of the 5th Mountain Division could not help but laugh at the fact that they were afraid of the sound of artillery and that they were artillerymen in vain, but soon they understood why the siege artillerymen did this......

Note 1: Duan Qirui has the pressure to support his family, and it is impossible to start a new military career as an infantry company commander with a low income, which is very different from Feng Yuxiang's situation, although the latter has parents to support, but after all, it is two brothers who support the elderly together, and the old man also received a pension from the new government with Zuo Zongtang's westward expedition, and the pressure is much less than Duan Qirui. (To be continued.) )