News of the attack on the attacking troops by American poison gas bombs soon reached the headquarters. Liu Xian regretted that he only had a slight negligence, which made the front-line troops suffer a big loss.

The expeditionary force on the Martinsburg front quickly bombarded the yellow-green poison gas smoke with artillery, and the violent flame explosion was capable of burning the poison gas, a knowledge that all officers at the rank of colonel and above must master. Eight rocket brigades were now bombarding the US troops who had just occupied the positions of the expeditionary force, and all the infantry on the front line of the expeditionary force who were fighting back were also wearing gas masks. At this time, no one is crying out for the heaviness and inconvenience of gas masks.

The central part of the country, which received the news, also immediately issued a warning notice to the whole army, and all gas masks must be equipped on the front line. Even if that big tin can hangs around the waist, it is really inconvenient and cumbersome.

With less than an hour of interval, the officers and men of the expeditionary force, who had retreated from their front-line positions, regained their trenches. Heavy artillery groups and rocket groups continued to bombard the American positions, and the airship units coordinated in the air, and they dropped not only bombs but also special shells and smoke bombs from their heads, the latter two bombs were used by the expeditionary force for the first time to land on infantry positions. The first two special bombs were used to combat anti-aircraft artillery positions and cover tank attacks.

The Americans naturally guarded against the expeditionary force for blood for a tooth, and most of their front-line troops were equipped with gas masks, but the most unskilled of the Martinsburg defense line was the first line of defense, and the second, third, fourth, and fifth lines of defense in the back, each of which had more pillboxes, bunkers, and semi-underground offensives than the first line of defense.

The bombs of the Chinese airship force fell not only on the first line of defense, but also on the entire fortifications of Martinsburg as a whole.

The front-line troops, because they were equipped with a large number of gas masks, did not care about the gas offensive. The four lines of defense behind them were all lost a lot by poison gas. Because the U.S. and European volunteers of the four lines of defense lacked vigilance, when the poison gas spread after the offensive. They realized something was wrong, but it was too late.

Song Zuo first invested the most elite Praetorian Guards and 70% of the armored force in his hands. Armored tanks covered the infantry and captured one bunker and fortress after another by the American army. The losses of armored forces were not small. If the caliber of artillery in the US defense line is not hit, it will be enough to break the Land Rover. However, the sacrifice of the armored troops was exchanged for a great reduction in the number of infantry sacrifices, and they used their own individual rockets, explosives packs, and grenades to pull out the nails on the road one after another.

The expeditionary force took the first two lines of defense at Martinsburg in one fell swoop, and the battle was completely over before noon. Although sporadic gunfire could still be heard on the position, it was only the cold guns of a small number of remnants of the American army, and no one cared about those cold guns at all, and most people's attention was focused on the third line of defense. The eyes of the reporters accompanying the army were attracted by the terrifying scene on the battlefield.

Stand on top of a bunker. Hu Runzhi held the binoculars and looked at a position in front of him. The corpses of the dead soldiers of the Chinese and American armies were really shocking, and even Hu Runzhi, a veteran war correspondent, was accustomed to seeing the tragic scenes on the battlefield, and was still deeply shocked by the scene in front of him.

Is that a position? It looks more like a flesh mill!

But Hu Runzhi quickly calmed down. He thought of the scene he had seen in the military hospital before, the wounded who had been evacuated from their positions after being attacked by American poison gas bombs. If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, Hu Runzhi wouldn't have believed that the miserable scene was caused by one or several gases. But in reality, even now, because of the lethality of those gases, and the mass is heavier than air. When passing through positions, they are also told to avoid low-lying places and try to stand high or upwind to avoid poisoning.

The yellow-green smoke was no longer visible on the battlefield. But it was clear to everyone that a certain part of those gases was still gathering in the low-lying areas of the position. Perhaps it was the bottom of a deep trench. With little wind at the bottom of the trenches, no one could tell when the deadly gases would completely dissipate.

Only officers and soldiers of chemical weapons units in protective suits are busy there. They were cleaning up the corpses from the positions one by one. The bodies were gathered together and then incinerated.

Hu Runzhi simply starts from the sense of honor of a journalist. He now despises Americans.

China also has gas bombs, but it has never bombed infantry positions. They dropped poison gas on the upwind of the air defense positions. It is not simply to kill and injure American soldiers in air defense positions, but to drive them out. For half a year, the expeditionary force has insisted on this, but it is the Americans who first used this kind of thing in positional combat. Hu Runzhi felt a sense of honor for his own army inexplicably!

In the afternoon, the US military launched a wave of counterattacks.

When the figure of the American soldier disappeared from the smoke of the shells, the deafening sound of machine guns and mortars immediately rang out. Then the officers and men of the expeditionary line were satisfied to see that the enemy who was bending over and running was constantly falling, and before they could reach the distance of the grenade throw, the American troops withdrew.

……

Just when Liu Xian personally rushed to Martinsburg, in the garrison headquarters of Martinsburg, the supreme military commander of the defense line, John Brown. Pike is calling a military meeting. He was the former president of West Point, and half of the U.S. generals who would do it would have a relationship with the West Point bus.

However, compared with the military meeting held by Liu Xian, Xiang Fa, He Qing, and others on the train, the military meeting on the US side seemed somewhat depressing, even pessimistic.

Can they not be pessimistic?

The Martinsburg defense system consisting of five lines of defense was lost in only one day, and the first line of defense was before the battle. Pike was going to hold out for at least five days. But now, in just one day, not only has the first line of defense been lost, but the second line of defense has also been lost. At this rate, will it be two days before the Martinsburg system, which has been built up with huge sums of money and massive materials and manpower, will collapse completely?

And the front-line commander Snake . Major General Hoover has been killed. Second Line Commander Tony. Major General Kane was seriously wounded. All the remaining generals are to shout God, Lord, what kind of war is this!?

French Major General Danjou remained silent at the meeting. This war has long been no longer a contest between China and the United States alone, and the entire Western world, except for Germany and Austria, has not organized a large-scale volunteer army to enter the United States to participate in the war, and other countries have organized millions of elites. France, as a European power and a recognized land power, naturally provoked the backbone of the European volunteer army in the case of Germany's retreat. At least 500,000 French troops have been organized to enter the United States.

Major General Danjou was originally the deputy commander of the French Fifth Army, and after entering the United States, he was the commander of the Seventh Army of the European Volunteer Army.

He came to boost the morale of his volunteer troops. The war broke the self-confidence of the armies of the whole of Europe. Hundreds of generals were killed in battle, and many more were captured, whether they were brigadier generals or generals, and they could be found on the list of the dead. Among them are some of the most recognized European players!

When they landed in the United States, they arrived with high morale and high spirits. They look down on the U.S. military, believing that the U.S. military has blinded itself to so many numbers and so good equipment. They don't think that the Chinese army is really that terrible!

And what if Russia fell under their wheels? It was a rotten country in the first place.

After three or four hundred years of glory and expansion, the Europeans' 'Celestial Empire' is as deeply ingrained as China before the Yi Raven War, and they look down on all countries and civilizations outside of themselves. Even if China has shown its strength with war, many European soldiers have subconsciously dragged Russia off the mark of strength.

'Strong Russia' disappeared from the minds of Europeans and was replaced by 'rotten Russia'. It is because Russia was completely defeated in the hands of the Chinese.

However, after more than a year of war, no one looked down on the Chinese Expeditionary Force, and no general of any country's army dared to boast that he could easily defeat the Chinese Expeditionary Force. Although most of them are indeed very unconvinced. They believe that the strength of the Chinese army is more due to the strength of the armored forces, the power of the airship, and the strength of the weapon. And it has little to do with the morale and courage of officers and men.

However, 56 years ago, the British army broke the country, and 36 years ago the British and French troops broke into the city of Beijing.

Danru has already passed the stage of being unconvinced, he is the second batch of European volunteer officers who landed in the United States, a year is too long, he has forgotten his disbelief for a long time, and only remembers the strength of the Chinese expeditionary force.

Besides, what can you change if you are not convinced? Nothing can be changed. The fact now is that the Martinsburg defence is shaky and they must reverse that decline. And once Martinsburg falls, the Chinese Expeditionary Force can once again enter Washington, D.C. Could this be another big war that will last for a year and a half?

The atmosphere of the meeting was very gloomy, not only because of the decline of the battlefield, but also because of the lack of troops and ammunition, and more importantly, because of the lack of support for a short time. The Chinese airship forces bombed the railroad around Martinsburg, cutting off Martinsburg's traffic for a short time.

If the reinforcements were on only a pair of legs, if the logistics were supported only by horse-drawn carriages, the scenario would be extremely sad!

But the order from New York is to keep them to the end, and they must not retreat and surrender. It's going to make them fight to the death in Martinsburg. (To be continued......)