However, the U.S. War Department did not give up on the matter, and the problems reported by the regiment commander were still given due attention. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 Although it was not possible to develop a special artillery that was particularly suitable for mountain warfare, the order to let the Eighth Army and other units in the western United States replace it with old howitzers was immediately implemented, although it was not as exaggerated as mortars, but the trajectory of the howitzers was also relatively curved, and in most cases it was still sufficient, at least it was more in line with practical needs than the new cannons imported from France.

The French cannon was naturally the original version of Miss 75, and in the case that it was impossible to get an optimized version from China, the original French version of Miss 75 came out as scheduled, bringing good news to the Western powers. However, the French were worried that the secret of this weapon of war would be known to their sworn enemies, the Germans, and were extremely cautious about the transfer of the patent for this artillery, and even Tsarist Russia, which was an ally of France, did not get it.

Originally, Miss 75 was indeed worth the money, the rate of fire was more than 5 times that of the old field guns, the accuracy was higher, the firing range was longer, and more importantly, the speed of arranging the artillery positions was extremely fast, and the initial ability to transfer in battle made it possible for field guns to suppress fire. But the problem is that the French designed this artillery to be used in the war against Germany, and basically did not consider the mountain environment, so the gun body was heavy, and it could only be dragged by mules and horses.

Even when used defensively, the original Miss 75 had a fatal weakness, and that was that she was a ballistic cannon (designed for direct artillery fire at close range, although the range was actually quite long by the standards of the time). The elevation angle can only reach a maximum of 18 ゚, and once the enemy deploys a ballistic curved gun on the anticline, she will be in a dilemma of being beaten but unable to fight back.

If it was the time when Miss 75 came out in history, this problem was not too big, because at that time, not to mention mortars, there were not even detachable mountain guns, and the old-fashioned mountain guns that could be used for mountain operations had a small caliber and a short range, and a slightly larger mountain could not use such a tactic, and even if it could be used, because of the extremely slow rate of fire, the infantry could attack the mountain fiercely. But now the Chinese army is equipped with a large number of mortars, with a long range and a fast rate of fire, which suddenly exposed all the weaknesses of the original Miss 75, and it would be good if the US Army changed its outfit slowly, because the mountain garrison must be the latest to change artillery, but the Roosevelt administration was the most efficient in the US government after the Civil War, so the US Eighth Army, which first exchanged fire with the Chinese army, was tragic......

The U.S. War Department (the predecessor of the U.S. War Department) could only urgently order the old mountain artillery that had been mothballed to be turned out and sent to the front line, but the problem was that it would take time, but the Chinese army would not slow down the pace of the offensive and wait for the U.S. army to change its outfit.

You know, even before this order was issued, the number of permanent attrition of the US Eighth Army had soared to more than 30,000, and in the face of the armor-piercing shells of China's 105mm mountain artillery, the mountain fortresses in the United States that they thought were very strong were not vulnerable at all, and countless US officers and soldiers were sent to see their God without even seeing the face of the enemy, and the Chinese infantry often did not need to fight at all, as long as they went up to find out if there were any survivors after the shelling destroyed the US fort, so the casualties were very limited, Even if you count the sick, there are only a few hundred people.

According to this exchange ratio, even if the offensive of the Fifth Mountain Division could only hold out to one-third of the casualties, the American army would have to be prepared to fill in millions of people, which is simply impossible. Fortunately, the technical staff officers of the US military, which is unique in the world, have played their due role, and after careful analysis, they found that the gap in the combat effectiveness of the two armies was not as big as the war report showed, and as long as the mistakes were corrected in time, the US forces still had hope of holding Spokane, and it was because of this that President Theodore Roosevelt gained confidence and adopted the proposal of "a sea of people versus a sea of fire."

The main reason for such a huge disparity in the exchange ratio between the two sides is that the Chinese army only needs to hide in a position that the US military cannot attack and fire a heavy bombardment, and the casualties are naturally very small, and the US exchange ratio has become very ugly. As long as the U.S. military abandons the already harmful fortifications and replaces them with field fortifications such as barbed wire fences, the effectiveness of the Chinese army's artillery bombardment will be greatly reduced, and the casualties will surely soar (relative to the previous casualties, of course).

In fact, the artillery of the Chinese army cannot destroy all the mountain fortresses, but they are very good at interspersing infiltration, avoiding the real and making the virtual, first knocking down those US strongholds that are easy to end, and then the nails that are difficult to gnaw will become lone troops, and according to the tradition of the US army, once it is encircled and there is a huge disparity in the strength of the enemy and the enemy, the commander can order surrender to avoid unnecessary sacrifices. As a result, the Chinese army bloodlessly uprooted those core strongholds and captured a large number of American troops.

Of course, there were many more who chose to break out of the encirclement without surrendering, or to withdraw from their strongholds before the Chinese army formed a siege, but they were often bombarded by Chinese long-range artillery on the way to retreat and suffered heavy losses, and the Chinese infantry marched frighteningly fast in the mountains, successfully catching up with and capturing a large number of American routs, resulting in an even greater disparity in exchange ratio......

In addition, there is another point that does not need to be reminded by the technical staff, and Theodore Roosevelt, who is not a military layman, can also think of it, that is, the enemy's artillery fire is so fierce, and the dependence on logistics supplies must be great, because the attack was very close to the national border at the beginning, and there was a railway behind him, this problem is not to be worried, but as they continue to push the battle line south, the dozens of kilometers of railway that were demolished before have even been completely destroyed by the roadbed, and they don't want to repair it in a short time. The ammunition supply of China's front-line troops can only be transported by mules and horses, and it is absolutely impossible for them to continue to squander it like this. As soon as the supply of shells is insufficient, so many cannons will no longer be an advantage, but will become a drag...... (To be continued.) )