Since the United States declared its entry into the war last April, the United States has sent soldiers directly to France and has also built military camps on its own territory for training.

On the Atlantic coast, the Americans built a dozen training camps, each of which could accommodate nearly 10,000 people.

After a year of training, the US soldiers already have initial combat effectiveness.

Because there were not enough officers, the U.S. military had an unconventional size, with about 27,000 men per division, about twice as many as Britain, France, and Germany.

Of course, although there are enough of them, the battle effectiveness of these troops remains to be tested by war.

In fact, when Foch called Pershing, Pershing had already sent a telegram to U.S. President Wilson asking to go to war.

Pershing was in France, watching the British and the French fight to the death every day, but he stayed on the wall in Orleans and watched, which is really unreasonable. If last year Pershing could still refuse to join the war on the pretext that the US military did not receive enough training, now there is no excuse.

Pershing knew very well that although the British and French did not say anything, they might be annoyed in their hearts.

After receiving Pershing's telegram, Wilson was also evaluating whether he should immediately go to war.

Since Wilson publicly published the "Fourteen Points," the British and French now have a bad opinion of Wilson, and even with less enthusiasm for the United States, Wilson needs an opportunity to ease relations with Europe.

On the other hand, Wilson is also assessing the situation in Europe, and in the resolution of the US Cabinet, the United States should enter the war, but it should join when the war situation is at a stalemate, or it should join when the Entente is at a disadvantage, so that the Americans can appear in Europe as saviors and maximize the benefits of participating in the war.

It looks like the time has come.

On April 5, Pershing called back to Foch, saying that the four U.S. divisions were ready to join the war at any time.

These four divisions are not four divisions in the usual sense, but a large force with a total strength of more than 100,000 troops.

In fact, just yesterday, Ludendorff finally noticed the importance of Yalu and ordered Hurtier to attack in the direction of Yamao.

However, Hurtier's troops were in trouble, and on the night of the fourth, when night fell, many of Hurtier's troops had not been in a drop of water all day.

The German soldiers finally paid the price for these two days of presumptuousness, because the Germans did not find any supplies in the area of the old battlefield on the Somme, and the German strategy of "feeding the war with war" was officially bankrupt.

Although they finally had a clear tactical objective, the forces led by Hurtier had lost the ability to continue the offensive, and they had to stop and wait for reinforcements from the rear, as well as for the slow-moving artillery units.

This finally gave Gough a respite, and by now Gough's troops had been mostly dispersed, and only the eight divisions that had followed Gough since '14 could still be contacted, and the remaining six divisions could not be contacted at all.

Goff did not know where the six divisions were at the moment, and at the same time did not know how much combat strength they had left.

It is more likely that these six divisions have been annihilated or captured by the Germans, and if such a tragedy does occur, it will be the greatest tragedy of the British army since the Battle of the Somme.

Goff did not want to be crucified to the pillar of shame, and the British could not let this happen, so Goff was transferred back home, and Haig was transferred back from the Italian battlefield to Plummer, the commander of the Second Army, and ordered Plummer to take command of Gough's troops.

In this way, it looks good, in the current Yalang area, the British, French, Chinese and Americans are gathered, so many troops are concentrated in a small Yalang, which suddenly highlights the importance of Yalang as a transportation center.

While Ya Luo's defense continued to strengthen, Qin Zhiyuan also received support, and a brigade of the U.S. Army's 42nd Division was headed to the Reims area, and the brigade commander was Douglas MacArthur, who was about to turn 38.

Douglas MacArthur is a legend, holding the West Point record for the highest score, a record that remains unbroken into the 21st century.

In the original history, Douglas MacArthur had mixed credits.

Through World War II, MacArthur liberated the whole of Southeast Asia, and fostered the independence of these countries, freed them from the colonization of Britain and France, and at the same time rebuilt Japan from the ruins after the war.

The current Douglas MacArthur does not show superhuman strength, he is just an ordinary American military officer, at best a American military officer who is good at dealing with the press.

This was due to the experience of being an adjutant to Secretary of the Army Baker in the previous two years, in charge of dealing with the news media, during which MacArthur's influence was very great, and MacArthur also benefited from it for life, and if it were not for the praise of the news media, MacArthur is estimated to have not reached the heights of his original history.

In the original history, MacArthur appeared as a prophet and savior, whether in the Philippines or in Japan.

But in April 1918, when MacArthur confronted Qin Zhiyuan, MacArthur was unusually respectful.

"Your Excellency, Douglas MacArthur reports to you with the 84th Brigade." MacArthur's salute was very standard, and he deserved to be the record holder for the highest score.

MacArthur is now in the rank of brigadier general, having just been promoted the other day because of his bravery in battle.

It's a bit strange that the U.S. military hasn't really participated in the war so far, and there has hardly been any real fighting, so I really don't know where MacArthur's combat bravery began.

"Doug, you're welcome to join us." Qin Zhiyuan returned the salute, which was different from the way the US military stretched his hand in front of his head and saluted, Qin Zhiyuan used the standard PLA military salute, the kind where his fingertips stayed on his sideburns.

Qin Zhiyuan was still very curious about MacArthur, so after meeting MacArthur, Qin Zhiyuan took a closer look.

Different from the general sense of emaciation, MacArthur who appeared in front of Qin Zhiyuan was tall and strong, and MacArthur's face was angular, which was impressive. At the same time, because MacArthur's hat is a little low, if MacArthur wants to face others, he has to raise his chin slightly, which gives people a slightly proud feeling, but it has not yet reached the level of arrogance, which makes Qin Zhiyuan feel good, and decided to implement this way of wearing hats in the Chinese army in the future.

After confirming the relationship between his superiors and subordinates, MacArthur followed Qin Zhiyuan into the headquarters.

Inside the headquarters, a group of generals were discussing the recent defense adjustment plan on a sand table, and the debate was quite fierce.

Qin Zhiyuan was originally strong and strong, but after being transferred to four divisions, Qin Zhiyuan's reserves were no longer enough, and although MacArthur's brigade was only a brigade-level establishment, it had a lot of numbers, more than 10,000 people.

The current US military units are not as pompous as those of later generations, and the troops are troops, and there is no distinction between combat personnel and logistics personnel, and almost all of these 10,000 people are combat personnel, which is almost a division.

According to Qin Zhiyuan's assumption, the 84th Brigade of the US Army will join the ranks of the reserves, and then decide the direction of support of the 84th Brigade as the war progresses.

But MacArthur obviously did not want to stay in the rear, and MacArthur, after listening to Qin Zhiyuan's orders, strongly demanded to be deployed to the front line, even if he would face the German attack directly without any buffer.

is so belligerent, which leaves Qin Zhiyuan with the impression that this is a very utilitarian person.

"Warlike" does not mean good fighting, for "warmongy" people, it is natural to kill from the sea of corpses and blood, step on the head of a soldier to reach the pinnacle of life, "one will succeed in ten thousand bones", this is what he is talking about.

Of course, Qin Zhiyuan was not disgusted with MacArthur's initiative to ask for war, for Qin Zhiyuan, the more generals like MacArthur, the better, anyway, it was not the Chinese who died, and Qin Zhiyuan did not need to be responsible for the lives of the Americans.

So on the day of its arrival in Reims, MacArthur's 84th Brigade was sent to Amifontein, where the terrain was unfavorable for defense and there was no Sypp River to rely on.

Qin Zhiyuan was skeptical about the combat effectiveness of the 84th Brigade, so after deploying the 84th Brigade to Amifontein, Qin Zhiyuan ordered Qin Haoge's Brigade to be stationed in Kolbeni to protect the rear of the 84th Brigade.

If the position defended by the 84th Brigade was broken through by the Germans, Qin Haoge's division would go up in time, so Qin Zhiyuan strengthened Qin Haoge's tank force by a battalion to further enhance the armored force in Qin Haoge.

In fact, the 84th Brigade also had tank troops, about 50 of them, and MacArthur apparently accepted George Patton's reminder that these tanks were not scattered, but were organized into an armored force under MacArthur's command.

When all this was done, it was April 10th.

By this time there were already enough troops in the Yalang area, and Foch sent the regrouped Tenth Army to Yalu, and by this time the French had sent three armies to support the British.

Ludendorff lost the opportunity to capture Yalu and take the initiative on the battlefield.

On the other hand, Ludendorff also fulfilled part of his strategic purpose, and his offensive in the Arras area not only forced out the British reserves, but also attracted a part of the French army to Arras.

Now it seems that the whole Western Front is in a state of strength in the north and weakness in the south, the northern half is strong, the German army has the initiative, and the Anglo-French forces plus the support of Chinese troops and American troops, although they are still in a state of retreat, but at a distance from the first line, they have successfully established a solid defensive line.

And in the whole southern half, although there are no large-scale battles now, the clouds of war are gathering, and the whole front is in a state of restless euphoria.

Everyone was waiting, waiting for Ludendorff's next move.

(To be continued.) )