A flare exploded in the dark night sky, lighting up half of the sky, sending a dangerous message.

Was it discovered? Then there's no need to hide it.

Lieutenant General Michael Jackson came out of the command post with a cigar in his mouth, pulled out his gold pocket watch and looked at it, it was 3:17 a.m., and although the sortie was a little early, there was no need to wait.

"Pass my order, all the engine cars of the armored corps, leave on time in twenty minutes, and tell the boys, let's go and bring back the victory."

"Yes, Your Excellency."

The weather in Chicago in October is already very cold, the night is basically between minus 2~5 degrees, the cars of this era are not set on fire, after the order is delivered, small fires are lit everywhere in the camp, and the armored soldiers are holding burning torches in their hands to bake the engine.

Almost ten minutes later

The soldiers shook the handlebars vigorously, one armored car after another started with a bang, thick black smoke came out of the chimney, and with the excited shouts of the armored soldiers, the camp quickly became lively.

Lieutenant General Michael Jackson came out of the command post again, and as he went, wearing leather gloves, commanded; "Order the armored regiments to attack according to the established route, and after arriving at the enemy's position, do not hesitate, and launch a direct attack, I will take advantage of the night to fight a chaotic battle, this is the reason why we are here."

"Obey Your Excellency, General, and your orders will be carried out to the letter."

"God willing, go."

Lieutenant General Michael Jackson stepped aboard a hideous-looking armored car, and the two officers behind him squeezed in, before the doors slammed shut and the engine roared out louder black smoke toward the outside of the camp.

Behind this armored car, one armored car after another drove out of the camp and swooped in the direction of the western suburbs.

By this time, it had been two hours and 40 minutes since the departure of the infantry vanguard.

Considering the slow tracked tractor-modified armored vehicles, the armored corps did not travel fast, about 14~15 kilometers per hour, and the armored regiments arrived at the front line between about 4:40~5:00 in the morning and immediately launched an attack.

The U.S. infantry units arrived at about the same time, and after a short rest, they immediately entered the battle.

More than an hour later

The battle began with heavy shelling on both sides.

The 4th and 5th Divisions of Fuso showed no weakness in the face of the artillery bombardment of the US armored corps, and their artillery wings were greatly strengthened after entering the expeditionary force sequence, and they were equipped with quite a number of 95-mm and 122-mm large-caliber towed guns.

This time it took advantage of the night raid

Lieutenant General Michael Jackson did not reserve the slightest thing, and all the eight armored regiments under the armored corps were pulled out, with a total of more than 670 armored vehicles of various kinds, and the strength was quite good.

Each armored regiment is also equipped with a company of artillery, using towed army field guns, mainly in 75 mm and 105 mm calibers, and its main role is to bombard barbed wire, forts and trenches to open the offensive channels for the armored corps.

After about 20 minutes of continuous artillery bombardment by both sides, the US armored corps immediately launched a full-line assault on a frontal area as wide as 10 kilometers, and the hideous-looking armored vehicles rushed out of the night and rushed towards the Japanese positions with overwhelming momentum.

This scene

Lieutenant General Shen Xing, who was watching the battle at the command post, widened his eyes in horror and shouted wildly; Nani ...... Why are there so many armored vehicles? Didn't you say infantry units? ”

No one could answer his question, and the command post was already in chaos, with urgent phone calls coming from various positions, demanding tactical guidance.

This can't be blamed on the mistakes of the front-line scouts, because after the US military pressed on a large scale, the mountains were full of enemies, where else could there be any news?

After more than 70,000 US soldiers marched on foot for three and a half hours, they stopped to rest and recuperate when they were almost close to the forward position of the expeditionary force.

At five o'clock in the dark night of early winter, it was the darkest time before dawn.

The darkness of the night prevented the Japanese commanders from clearly grasping this change, and as a result, it was not good until the US armored corps launched a full-line assault, but unfortunately it was too late.

The construction of the position of the expeditionary force follows strict field requirements, with as many as 8~10 layers of barbed wire surrounding the perimeter of the position, infantry trenches and communication trenches are built on the position, and there are headquarters and concealment departments supported by logs, but nothing more.

Because it was an attacking side, it was only used as a forward position, and there was no open bunker made of reinforced concrete. The actual defense is not as good as the long-built Chicago Line.

Now the outer barbed wire fence has been blown into a pile of dead snakes by shells, and the only people who can resist are the soldiers in the trenches.

The Japanese soldiers in the trenches held heavy machine guns and fired wildly, shooting a dazzling long series of sparks on the ironclad chariots, "clanging bells" sounded non-stop, and the hideous-looking US armored vehicles slowly stopped, moving the muzzle of the most accurate heavy machine guns.

Under the frightened eyes of the Japanese heavy machine gunners, there was an explosion of "boom", and the heavy machine gun had been blown into parts.

Even if the close-range artillery bombardment did not hit directly, the violent shock within a radius of two or three meters was enough to stun the soldiers of the heavy attack crew.

The Japanese soldiers did not have the right weapons to deal with the armored vehicles, and the position was quickly captured, and the artillery and heavy machine guns on the American armored vehicles frantically vented their fire, knocking the Japanese soldiers who turned and fled to the ground.

More than 20 US armored vehicles broke through the trenches one after another, and the rout of the 4th Division was out of control.

On the other hand, the Fifth Division fought very fiercely, with many soldiers lying in the trenches with grenades bundled together, waiting for the US armored vehicles to rush up and ring the fuse, and then with a loud bang, they blew themselves and the US armored vehicles into a huge ball of fire, and there were no bones left.

This happened again and again, and dozens of armored vehicles that rushed to the positions of the 5th Division were blown up one after another, turning into dozens of blazing fire regiments, reflecting the forward positions.

The 5th Division used this crazy style of play to repel two attacks by the US Army Corps in a row, except for leaving dozens of blazing fire regiments on the trench positions, and did not take advantage of anything.

That was the ferocity of the 5th Division, and that was the end of it, because the American armored units on the other side continued to penetrate after defeating the resistance of the 4th Division, destroying the Japanese artillery positions and then detouring from the flanks and flanks, and flanking the 5th Division that was desperately resisting on both sides.

In the face of ironclad vehicles that were not afraid of bullets, the soldiers of the Fifth Division bravely charged with explosives bags, although they also blew up several armored vehicles with poor vision, but more were beaten into blood sieves by machine gun fire, and fell on the offensive route sadly.

On a position seven or eight kilometers wide, the soldiers of the Fifth Division fought stubbornly to the death, suffered heavy casualties under the fire of armored vehicles, and lay in wait for corpses everywhere.

See this scenario

The bloodshot eyes of Lieutenant General Yamamoto Norokuro, the commander of the 5th Division, were full of anger and hidden an indelible sorrow, if it were not for the defeat of the 4th Division in the first battle, exposing its soft flanks and rear flanks, the battle would not have been so brutal, and the losses would not have been so great.

What about fighting side by side?

"Your Excellency Division Commander, the current battle situation is very urgent, I implore you to immediately request tactical guidance from the expeditionary force, there is no time to delay!"

"Eight grids, be cautious at the tail, you villain, the shame of the Great Fusang Imperial Army."

"Your Excellency the division commander, our troops can no longer hold on, please make a decision as soon as possible."

"Send a telegram and ask for tactical guidance."

"Yes!"

This fierce battle against the ironclad chariots lasted about an hour and a half, and the 4th Division only lasted less than 15 minutes, while the 5th Division stubbornly relied on the soldiers' assault as if they were at home, and held out for more than an hour.

The time came around 6:30 in the morning, and the sky was white.

On the battlefield filled with gunsmoke, the enemy could be faintly seen dozens of meters away, and the US infantry unit launched a tidal wave at this time, sweeping towards the front of the position.

The current situation of the battle was even more unfavorable for the 5th Division, because the sky was much brighter, and the cover of night was lost, and those Japanese soldiers who wanted to sneak attack were swept down by machine gun bullets from a distance, and could only hide in the trenches, shoot in vain in the craters, and then be torn to pieces by the furious armored vehicles.

The tide of American soldiers poured into the position, and Lieutenant General Norokuro Yamamoto was forced to have no choice but to order the whole army to launch a white-knuckle attack, and more than 16,000 officers and soldiers of the Fifth Division, who could still afford to hold guns, jumped out of the trench with their rifles in their arms and fought with the American soldiers.

To say that the white-knuckle fighting skills of Japanese soldiers are really not covered, it is a real skill tempered in the sea of corpses and blood in the Russo-Japanese War, stabbing people accurately and ruthlessly, and there is a sense of madness, the tall American cowboy is really not a person, often two or three people can't stop a Japanese soldier, and those who are killed retreat again and again.

You can't really blame the American cowboys, they have never trained this thing.

The Fifth Division launched two 10,000-strong white-knuckle assaults in a company, repelling the two attacks in which the US forces had absolute superiority, and the corpses at the front of the position were piled up one after another, both American and Japanese soldiers.

When the American soldiers retreated into the trenches for the second time, Lieutenant General Norokuro Yamamoto couldn't help but feel sad when he looked at his soldiers covered in blood;

Pity the 25,000 warriors of the Fifth Division, there are less than 10,000 left at the moment, and most of them are wounded, so it can be said that the troops have been completely disabled.

If you want to say hate, he only hates the 4th Division now.

Originally, the two divisions had a strong strength of nearly 50,000 troops, even in the face of the impact of the armored corps, as long as they fought desperately, they could always be stopped, and the fifth division relied on human bombs to blow up more than 100 armored vehicles in more than an hour, which shows that the armored corps is not invincible.

As for the U.S. infantry, it was a vegetable item, and more than 10,000 corpses were left behind in two white-knuckle fights, and it was a suspicious life to be killed.

It is a pity that only the Fifth Division is fighting alone, and in the face of the absolute superiority of the US armored corps and more than 70,000 people, it has fought from 5 o'clock in the morning to more than 8 o'clock now, and it is really out of ammunition and food.

"Your Excellency, our armored forces are here."

This shout of surprise made Lieutenant General Yamamoto Norokuro follow the prestige, and he saw the flags of the Imperial Expeditionary Force's Honorable Red 1st Division fluttering high on the rows of tanks that shimmered with an icy sheen in the fields in the distance.

They rushed forward with unstoppable force, rushing headlong into the ranks of the infantry of the American brigade, machine guns firing fiercely through the bloody passages, and steel tracks crushing the soldiers, cruel and violent.

With just one impact, the US army collapsed, and the crying father and mother ran all over the mountains.

At this moment, a great feeling of happiness swelled in Lieutenant General Yamamoto Norokuro's chest, tears moistened his eyes, and he raised his saber in his hand with an excited expression and shouted; "Kill to ......"