The U.S. Command in Denver, "reported that Air Force reconnaissance found that about 180 kilometers southwest of Redink, a large number of enemy units were found, with a strength of about three divisions!" "An operational staff officer made an urgent report. When Howell and the chief of staff heard the news, they quickly walked to the map to check it. "The enemy army really has follow-up troops, and it seems that the 55th Army Corps is not enough." Chief of Staff Analysis. "Order the 55th Army to take Rock Springs at midnight, the Air Combat Brigade to fully cooperate, and the 1st Armored Regiment to be engaged in battle before 3 o'clock in the afternoon."

Howell then said decisively: "Order the 75th Army and the 82nd Army of the Reserve Corps to be ready to support the 55th Army at any time." "It was reported that the 163rd and 164th Divisions of the 55th Army had arrived at the attack position and launched the attack on time at 1 o'clock. The 22nd Artillery Brigade was also ready. Howell glanced at his watch, and said half an hour before the attack: "Order the 1st Air Force Group to immediately dispatch and launch an air attack on the enemy." "At the Rolls front airfield, the 1st Air Combat Group of the US Army received an order from the headquarters to immediately take off in batches of fighters and fly towards Rock Springs.

The first batch of 30 fighters of the US military flew to the battlefield in formation over the airport. Orwell and Wright, the captains of the fighter group, stood on the tarmac and watched the fighters disappear to the west, and then ordered the second batch of fighters to enter the runway and stand by. Orwell and Wright raised their wrists and glanced at their watches and said, "Order the second batch of fighters to be dispatched in half an hour." "Finally able to carry out air strikes on the enemy, Orwell and Wright's long-held resentment can finally be released. He even wanted to vent his resentment on the plane himself, but as a commander, he didn't allow it.

Brothers Wilber and Wright couldn't wait. Lead the first batch of teams to set off. In the duel in Salt Lake City, Orwell and Wright's team lost about 60 fighters, and the enemy was not only experienced in air combat. The performance of the fighter is also better than his own, and the scene of being passively beaten has been lingering in his heart, and he even has lingering palpitations. He knew in his heart that his own fighters were not opponents at all in a short period of time. However, enemy planes also have a weakness, that is, they do not have enough range, so they must make use of their own strengths to overcome the enemy's shortcomings. At the very least, it was more than enough infantry to deal with the enemy.

In the defensive position of the 4th Division of Rock Springs, the officers and men were resting in the trenches after a hasty lunch. In the division headquarters, the chief of staff said: "The 10th and 11th brigades have entered the position. The 1st Brigade served as a reserve to support the operation at any time. Enemy forces have appeared on the eastern flank, ready to attack at any moment. "At this time, there was a roar in the sky on the east side, and a large number of planes appeared." It's enemy planes, enemy aircraft air strikes! "A combat staff officer shouted." Order the troops to hide in place! A few minutes later. U.S. fighter jets began to dive bombing. Suddenly, the position was shrouded in smoke.

The pilots of the US fighter planes also seemed to vent their grievances, and they flew the fighters very low to bomb them. The explosions on the battlefield continued one after another. A machine gunner was blown up and flew into the air, and a second lieutenant platoon commander could not bear it, grabbed a light machine gun, and fired head-on at a US plane. The second lieutenant platoon commander made a shuttle, and the fighter flew too low, and as a result, the cockpit was shot, and the pilot of the American plane was killed immediately. The fighter plane exploded headlong behind the position. When other US planes saw this scene, they immediately reined in what should have been horizontal bombing.

Inside the division headquarters. Seeing that light machine guns could restrain US planes from bombing at low altitudes, the division commander immediately ordered light machine gunners to fire into the air to restrain US planes from bombing. The soldiers bravely fired into the air, and the bombing effect of the US planes weakened. As soon as the first batch of US planes flew away, US artillery began to bombard, and the position continued to be shrouded in gunsmoke. Because the main force of the corps was still marching slowly in the rear, the 4th Division did not have artillery fire to support the operation, and the defensive pressure suddenly increased. The U.S. artillery fire was 20 minutes of rapid fire, and then the artillery fire was extended, and the U.S. infantry began to launch a group charge, and the battle quickly entered the white heat.

The American infantry charge was noticeably poor, and they lay down for a while, then got up, rushed forward a few steps, and then lay down. Even though the expeditionary force did not have artillery support, the American assault troops still fought like snails crawling again. In less than half an hour, the U.S. assault troops retreated with dead bodies in the spot, and the first charge was repulsed. At this time, US fighter planes appeared in the sky and launched wanton and indiscriminate bombing, and the US military took the opportunity to launch a second attack. With such a fierce three-dimensional attack, the 10th and 11th brigades suffered heavy casualties, and the reserves of the brigades had to be thrown into battle.

At 3 p.m., another US charge was repulsed, and the US troops temporarily stopped attacking, but the US planes in the sky did not stop bombing for a moment. At the front line, a captain shook off the dust on his body, and suddenly heard the earth shake, he raised his head to observe, and suddenly found that the secret numb steel monster appeared in the field of vision. "U.S. tanks, U.S. tanks." The captain and company commander hurriedly picked up the phone and reported. In the division headquarters, after receiving a report from the forward position, the generals and officers were a little confused.

"I didn't expect that the U.S. army had invested in tank troops, and told the forward defense troops that there was nothing terrible about tanks. The forward defending forces were ordered to prepare explosives, and the enemy tanks rushed up to blow it up. The division commander was clouded with clouds in his heart, and his confidence was insufficient, and the US army's dispatch of armored troops was indeed not expected. On the forward position, a squad leader led two fighters and watched as enemy tanks rumbled in, followed by a group of American soldiers. The two fighters were nervous and even trembling with their explosives bags.

"Don't be nervous, the U.S. tanks are much smaller than ours, and they will definitely blow him up." The squad leader was angry but had no bottom in his heart, the American tank was getting closer and closer, and the machine gun in the lower part of the tank turret continued to spew out fire snakes. Several mortar shells exploded behind the tank, and the American soldiers who followed were suppressed. One soldier jumped out of the trench and rushed towards the tank with explosives under his armpit, but was knocked to the ground by a vehicle-mounted machine gun after a few steps, and another soldier jumped out of the trench and was knocked to the ground again. The squad leader was furious and jumped up.

I saw that he rolled several times in a row, dodged the machine-gun bullets, and entered the dead end of the tank machine-gun shooting. The tank roared over and watched as it pressed past the squad leader. At this moment, the squad leader bit off the fuse of the explosive bag and rolled on its side. With a loud bang, the tank was blown up and almost jumped, and then the chain flipped over and shattered into several pieces, and the wheels without the chain were still turning. The 10-ton tank was violently exploded, and almost all the people inside were stunned.

The tank was damaged, and the American soldiers who followed behind were killed, and there was a dense rain of bullets, and the American soldiers withdrew in a wolf. In the division headquarters, everyone's faces were grim. The chief of staff said: "Division commander." 4 US tanks were destroyed, local positions were broken through and recaptured, the 10th and 11th brigades suffered heavy casualties, whether to put the 12th brigade in reserve. The division commander glanced at his watch and said: "The commander called, the 5th Division is advancing lightly, and it will have to arrive at noon tomorrow at the latest, it is now 4 o'clock, and we must fight for 18 hours." Reserve the 12th Brigade not to go into battle for the first time, and then see how it goes. ”

"But the two brigade commanders asked for support, what should I do?" The division commander picked up the phone and demanded that the logistics personnel of the two brigades, all non-combatants, participate in the battle. "It was getting late, and the US fighters were finally invisible in the sky, and all the officers and men on the position breathed a sigh of relief. After an afternoon of continuous fighting, the 10th and 11th Brigades lost one-third of their combat personnel, and a large number of wounded appeared in the temporary bandaging station of the division headquarters. The soldiers did not have time to catch their breath, and the Americans launched a night attack, and the Americans had an artillery brigade to cover the infantry attack.

The U.S. Army Command in Denver, Commander Howell was reprimanded by the Command, an infantry division of the enemy had no artillery support, and the U.S. Army invested two divisions, an artillery brigade, a fighter brigade, and an armored regiment. At this moment, Howell was restless, losing his former composure and dashing. The chief of staff said worriedly: "Your Excellency, although the enemy army has only one division, its defense is very tenacious. ”

Howell said: "After dark, the fighter brigade could not be put into battle, and the tank unit also lost its combat efficiency, but we could not afford to wait, so we ordered the 157th and 158th divisions of the 55th Army Corps to go into battle, and let the 165th and 166th divisions come down to rest." No matter what the cost, tomorrow will be the morning to recapture Rock Springs. In the face of Howell's hoarse shouts, the chief of staff seemed to sober up and said: "Your Excellency, the coming of night is beneficial to the enemy army, especially the air combat brigade cannot participate in the battle, the enemy defense will be more tenacious, if we can't take Rock Springs in the early hours of tomorrow morning, the enemy army will wait until reinforcements arrive, and it will be more difficult for us to recapture Rock Springs at that time." ”

Howell seemed to be more sober and said: "The 75th and 82nd Army Corps will enter the battle until about 9 o'clock tomorrow at the earliest, and there is no choice but to use the night to launch a powerful offensive, and the enemy cannot be given any respite." The chief of staff seemed to remember something: "I thought that the dispatch of tank troops could turn things around in one fell swoop, but I didn't expect that the enemy's explosives package could kill our tanks, and it was difficult for those ordnance experts to eat dry food?" "Don't complain, it's not easy to build a tank tank in such a short time. We need time now and time needs us to defend tenaciously to win. ”

In the darkness of the night, the main force of the 2nd Corps was still advancing slowly. The bumps up and down of military jeeps make people anxious. Zhuang Lei didn't say a word, and he couldn't see his expression clearly in the dark, but the anxiety in his heart was only known to himself. "Commander, the pressure on the 4th Division is too great, and we can expect the enemy to send fighters, but we did not expect the enemy to put into the armored forces to fight. Two infantry brigades suffered heavy casualties in one afternoon, and after dark, the enemy would not stop attacking, they had already discovered that the main forces of the 2nd Army were following up and would intensify their attacks. "The chief of staff was a little apprehensive.

Zhuang Lei said: "Any situation in the war will occur, and it is not surprising that the US army will invest in tank troops. According to the report of the 4th Division, the US army put in about 60 taels of tank fighting vehicles, estimated to be a tank regiment. It shows that the US armored units rushed into the battlefield after they were formed, and their combat experience can be ignored. The destruction of 4 enemy tanks by the 4th Division is more telling, I am not worried about tonight, the dark night is good for our defense, I am worried about tomorrow morning, the real test for the 4th Division is tomorrow morning. ”

At this moment a fast horse galloped in to report that the 4th Division had called the enemy to launch a group charge, and had committed the strength of a division.

(To be continued......)

PS: Tough test.