readx; Chapter 354: West Memphis Fortress

West Memphis Fortress, is the Huojia Army Mississippi River along the river defense line on a number of large fortresses, at the beginning of the construction was strictly required, the whole fortress around the built 12 forts, the circumference of the ring battery group is more than 50 kilometers, the batteries are 3~6 kilometers apart, there are 500 artillery pieces and a large number of light and heavy machine guns deployed. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 The average turret has 8 150mm Fortress guns and 8 203mm howitzers per turret, all of which are protected by steel armor and can rotate at a 360-degree angle. In addition, two 240mm howitzers dismantled from the original Portuguese ironclad ship "Queen Maria" were also installed here.

In addition, under the fort, there are passages and various basements that extend in all directions, and a large amount of food, drinking water, ammunition, medical supplies and power supply facilities are stored. There were also deep protective trenches dug around each fort, and a large number of barbed wire and obstacles were laid on the outside of the trenches. On average, each battery was stationed with three artillery companies and two infantry companies, totaling more than 700 people. The open field between the batteries was also defended by mobile infantry companies, with a total strength of 25,000 men.

The fort was built 400 meters from the Mississippi River, blocking the U.S. Army's westward access to the original southern route of the Pacific Railroad. Of course, it is impossible for such a huge fortress to be built within two years, even if Huo Jiajun transferred a large number of Nanyang indigenous laborers, only five batteries have been successfully built, and only more than 200 artillery pieces of various calibers have been installed, but it is enough to deal with the current Americans.

"Commander, the troops have been prepared, and now we are waiting for your order!" Wu Min said after raising the telegram he had just gotten in his hand.

After taking it and flipping through it briefly, Wang Xiangzong put the telegram aside, glanced at the large American map on the wall with a calm eye, and said in a condensed voice: "Let the artillery prepare for the attack as planned!"

As Wang Xiangzong's voice fell, the spacious interior of the war room immediately turned into a sea of busyness, and the telegraph operator quickly transmitted the order to start the war through the radio to every unit participating in the attack.

"Ring, ring, ......!" The crisp telephone ringing was very harsh inside the cement-clad fortress, but it was as beautiful as heaven in the ears of Guo Chonggang, the squad leader of the 201st Artillery Squad of the No. 1 Fortress. He grabbed the phone after a long time of preparation, pressed it tightly to his left ear, and his expression was irrepressibly full of strong anticipation.

"According to the predetermined battle plan, prepare for battle!" Although the new alternating current has just been applied, and the voltage is not too stable, which makes the military order on the phone a little noisy, Guo Chonggang has engraved not a word in his heart.

"Yes! Company Commander!"

Putting down the phone, Guo Chonggang took a deep breath, looked at his soldiers expectantly, and suddenly shouted: "Don't look at it, the shells are loaded, let's show the Americans the power of the god of war!"

"Haha, that's great!"

"Damn, I've wiped the shells eight times, and I must give the Americans a good look later!"

Looking at the excited look on the soldier's face, although Guo Chonggang was equally happy in his heart, he understood that the most important thing now was to complete the combat mission assigned by the headquarters, "Okay, plug my ears for me, and open ......my mouth when I hit *!" Guo Chonggang of the San Francisco Landing and Pittsburgh Wars knew very well how much the sound of heavy artillery roar had on artillery in a relatively closed environment, and if one did not pay attention, it was easy to shatter the eardrums, resulting in deafness. Although these new artillerymen under his command have already fired hundreds of shells and undergone strict training, they have not really experienced actual combat, so Guo Chonggang still has to explain it carefully.

As the artillerymen continue to adjust the high and low machine and direction machine, the thick 203mm heavy howitzer barrel slowly lifted up, as the Huojia Military Arsenal can now make its own largest caliber of new artillery, 203mm heavy howitzer has excellent combat ability, in 14 times the caliber, the total weight of 4120 tons, muzzle velocity 325m/ In the case of S, it has a maximum range of 10,150 meters, although this number is not as good as a 105 caliber howitzer after a few decades, but with the processing technology and metal craftsmanship of this era, it is already very good, after all, even Krupp, the top artillery manufacturer in Europe, is at this level!

"Loaded!" shouted as the artillerymen stuffed the double-base pills, closed the gun door, tightened the running bolt, and stepped back.

"Release!" Guo Chonggang waved the small red flag in his hand fiercely.

"Boom!" Accompanied by a deafening roar and a large stream of gray and white gunsmoke, the huge 203mm heavy howitzer suddenly retreated, and then returned to its original position with the support of the stationary hoe.

The 105-kilogram projectile, propelled by a powerful projectile, flew swiftly across the wide Mississippi River, and then smashed into the fortifications built by the US Army. Accompanied by a violent explosion, a large circular crater several meters deep and dozens of meters wide appeared within the telescope range of Guo Fei, the captain of the 'Kun-012' airship.

But now he can't care about the powerful power of his own large-caliber howitzers, "quickly calculate the trajectory, and then send the new shelling coordinates to the headquarters!"

"Yes, Captain!"

Just when Huo Jiajun, under the guidance of the airship, was conducting artillery tests to provide accurate coordinates for large-scale artillery bombardment, the American team on the other side of the Mississippi River was obviously stunned by the hegemonic roar of heavy howitzers.

"What's the matter, where is the heavy artillery?" Pierre Beauregarde majored in artillery at West Point, and with many years of experience in warfare, he could tell the caliber and power of artillery just by listening to his voice.

The headquarters of the U.S. Army on the Southern Front was built in the former Zhèngfu building in downtown Memphis, five kilometers from the Mississippi River, and with the dense woods and buildings blocking it, Beauregaard did not know where the artillery was firing.

At this time, the United States was not like Huo Jiajun, who had begun to use radio on a large scale to communicate, and there was no telephone contact between the headquarters and various troops, so at this time, the fastest contact method for the US Southern Front Corps was the flag language and communication troops.

"Boom!" Less than two minutes later, the loud roar of heavy shells once again echoed in the ears of the generals of the U.S. Southern Front.

Pierre Beauregarde's eyes were firmly fixed in the direction of the Mississippi River, his originally flat eyebrows had wrinkled into a high bump, and his face began to hide the worry that could not be concealed. Although he was curious to know what was going on at the front, it would take the herald nearly twenty minutes to make his way back and forth on horseback.

"General, why do the Chinese fire artillery at this time? Are there enough shells for them to waste at will?" asked a middle-aged man wearing a U.S. Army uniform with the rank of major general on his shoulder.

His words are also the thoughts of most of the American officers present, you must know that the artillery of this era, especially the army artillery, is not equipped with any sights, and the shelling completely depends on the experience of the artillery, so even the combat distance of the navy's large-caliber naval guns is only two or three thousand meters, relatively speaking, the army is the same, although the army's cannons and howitzers can basically reach a range of five thousand meters, but there are few artillery battles at this distance, because purely by the naked eye and the experience of artillery, one thousand meters is already the limit, if it is farther, I am afraid that one out of ten shells may not be able to hit the target, which is no different from wasting shells。

Therefore, when the defensive position was first constructed, the US Army Corps Command on the Southern Front built its first line of defense at a distance of 2,500 meters from the Mississippi River, and if the width of the Mississippi River was added, the distance between the two positions was already more than 4,000 meters, and even with the naval guns of the river fleet, the distance between the two sides was nearly 3,000 meters. Any experienced artillery commander would not have engaged in an artillery battle at this distance.

Pierre Beauregarde doesn't believe that his opponent doesn't even have the slightest bit of common sense!

"Why?" said Boregaard, trying to find the answer to his question. When he looked up at the sky, a behemoth in the distance suddenly appeared in his eyes.

Seeing this huge airship, Pierre Beauret's eyes suddenly shrank, a trace of foreboding flashed in his heart, and he suddenly turned around and ordered loudly: "Order the front-line troops to immediately prepare for battle, in addition, pull out all the artillery that can be used in our hands, no need to hide anymore, the Chinese army is ready to attack us!"

"What Chinese are going to attack?"

"General, if all the artillery is taken out, what will James plan to do?"

"Commander, would you like to send a telegram first to ask for the opinion of the War Department?"

After listening to Pierre Beaurégarde's words, the officers of the dozens of officers of the Southern Front immediately threw out all sorts of questions like hornets that had blown up their nests.

"Boom!" At this moment, another deafening cannon roar rang out.

"Three shots, the next thing should be a massive shelling!" muttered Pierre Beauret, who started as an artilleryman.

As if in response to his accurate analysis, less than a minute later, the high-pitched whistling sound characteristic of heavy howitzers, resounding through the sky, and a continuous and violent explosion, opened the prelude to the Battle of Memphis.

Feeling the ground slightly shaken by the shelling under his feet, Pierre Beaurett took a deep breath, looked at all the American officers in front of him with an extremely serious expression and said: "Gentlemen, the Chinese have taken the initiative to attack us, and the war has broken out, so the most important thing we should do now is to repel them, as for the James plan!" After a while, Borregard said in a somewhat heavy tone: "I'm afraid we don't have a chance to continue to implement!" rs!.