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Chapter 383: The Battle of Yili (3)

"What? Why did the Chinese's artillery hit so accurately?" Looking at the eight 254mm heavy mortars that were destroyed almost instantly, the senior commanders of the US Northern Corps located inside the US military combat command room in the rear were almost in an uproar, and their faces were full of disbelief. Pen Fun Pavilion www.biquge.info Even Johnston, who has always been calm, was a little unacceptable for a while, and the much-anticipated city-breaking weapon was destroyed by Chinese after a single shot!

Now is not the time when a large number of various artillery aiming equipment is equipped in later generations, and the current artillery shooting still relies more on the experience of the gunner, so the combat distance is only about two or three thousand meters, if this distance is out, the accuracy of the artillery will drop to an unbearable degree, so Johnston could not have imagined that his main artillery, which was nearly four thousand meters away from the enemy's main block, was actually destroyed in an instant in the enemy's first round of artillery counterattack!

"Quick, order the heavy artillery to stop shelling and move as fast as possible!" Seeing that their artillery positions were destroyed by the enemy's artillery one by one, and suddenly reacted, the Chinese probably had some kind of mysterious aiming tool. Johnston, who was able to increase the long-range hit rate of his artillery, immediately gave a new order!

"Commander, what about our attack. Without artillery support, we would not be able to take down the enemy's heavily fortified fortifications with our weapons alone!" Howard Hughes, deputy commander of the legion, couldn't help but ask.

"I know, but the artillery is our guarantee to take the Erie Fortress and win the war, we can't let them be uselessly consumed in the enemy's artillery fire, as for the support artillery, then use field artillery below 75mm caliber. They are small in tonnage, towed by horses, and relatively easy to move. We can save our artillery strength to the greatest extent!" paused, "and now we must first pull out the four lines of defense set up by the enemy on the perimeter of the Erie Fortress, their defenses are relatively weak, and the 75mm caliber artillery should be enough!"

Johnston knew it very well. Face the enemy's sturdy fortress body. If the heavy artillery in their hands can't break through the thick cement steel plate of the main body of the Yili Fortress at a long distance, and the distance is too far, the accuracy of the artillery cannot be guaranteed, if it is forcibly used, it can only become the target of the enemy's artillery, rather than so, it is better to keep a few heavy artillery, and after the positions on the periphery of the Yili Fortress are cleared, all the heavy artillery of their own side will move forward. Even if the wound is exchanged for the wounded, the cannon is exchanged for the gun. Then the artillery in your own hands is enough to break the enemy's fortress, and even if all these artillery pieces are destroyed at that time, then after reaching the strategic goal of breaking through the defense line of the two rivers of the Chinese, the damage of the artillery will be worth it!

"Prepare the troops to attack!" Johnston said, putting down his binoculars.

"Now?" Brock asked in surprise as he looked at the battlefield outside with artillery fire and gunsmoke.

"Yes, now!"

Looking at the determined look on Johnston's face, Bullock couldn't help but ask, "Commander, the enemy's artillery fire is too fierce now......!"

After waving his hand to interrupt Bullock's next words, Johnston said calmly: "Bullock, the situation in the United States is no longer in a way that allows us to continue to drag out the war, and we must fight quickly. If we can break through the Chinese's Yili Fortress, then it is worth paying heavy casualties, and there is no reason for the war to be immortal!" "In addition, our military operation this time has been exposed, and the Chinese are likely to have begun to increase their troops here, so the longer this war drags on, the more difficult it will be for us to occupy Yili City, so we must seize every minute!"

"Understood, Commander!" said Brock Senna with a serious expression.

"Well, remember to keep the troops strictly implementing the new tactics we had trained before the battle, and the distance between the soldiers must be widened!" Johnston finally explained.

With the issuance of military orders one after another, the soldiers of the US Northern Front Corps began to make intense pre-war preparations, and as the artillery began to be transferred, and the sound of loud military music sounded, the Seventh, Twenty-eighth and Fortieth Armies of the US Army, which were the first batch of offensive echelons, totaled 60,000 people, under the leadership of military commanders at all levels, launched an offensive like a tide from the defense line of more than 20 kilometers outside the city of Yili!

Looking at the US troops pouring in like a tide, the four divisions stationed in the interior of Yili City, nearly 80,000 troops, hundreds of artillery pieces of various calibers, thousands of light and heavy machine guns, and tens of thousands of rifles all burst into angry flames, and the deafening sound of guns and cannons was clearly distinguishable from hundreds of miles away, and the earth-shattering shouts of killing indicated that the war had begun to reach the most brutal stage.

"Report!"

"Come in!" said Civilization, looking at the map hanging on the wall.

"Commissar, the latest telegram from the Northern Front Corps!"

He took the wireless telegram in the hands of the communications staff officer, looked at it, and handed it to Wu Guangzong on the side, "The Americans have launched an attack outside the city of Yili, and they have launched 23 attacks with 300,000 troops in one day! Our troops have suffered a lot of losses, and two of the four lines of defense on the periphery of Yili City have been lost!"

After reading it, Wu Guangzong handed the telegram to Pang Wanchun, deputy chief of staff of the American Theater of Operations, beside him.

"It seems that the Americans are really trying to open a gap in Yili! Johnston has 800,000 troops in his hands, and most of the strength is concentrated here!" Pang Wanchun said with a smile after reading the telegram.

"Well, that's what I'm saying, but other places can't be underestimated, the American troops on the southern front still have more than 400,000 troops after receiving follow-up support troops, and the Sherman Corps in the center also has nearly 700,000 troops, Helena, West Memphis, Carthersville, Owensboro, Louisville, Cincinnati, Ashland, Huntington and dozens of other cities along the Mississippi River and the Ohio River are all fighting, and the intensity of the fighting is several times more intense than in the first half month of the war.

"The purpose of the Americans is very clear, that is, Erie City, where they can easily avoid the barrier of the river and launch an attack by land, and Erie City is also the farthest defense point from us, and it is relatively difficult to replenish, but compared to us, the Americans have an advantage in logistics! Moreover, it is close to Lake Erie, the terrain is relatively flat, and it is easy to attack and difficult to defend! It is the easiest gap for the Americans to open! As for the fighting on other fronts, although the fighting was fierce, the Americans wanted to contain our vital forces and prevent us from reinforcing the Yili battlefield, and the threat was not too great!" Deng Shan, deputy commander of the theater of operations, looked at the place name marked with a red pen on the map and said with a solemn expression.

"What Lao Deng said is right, but the Americans have a lot of troops on the two fronts in central and southern China, and both Sherman and Borlegard have received professional military education and have rich experience in warfare, so we can't underestimate them! Otherwise, once they seize the opportunity to break through the river defense line and enter our rear, then it will be a big shame!" Wen Wen said.

"Damn, this battle is really too passive! Blind defense is really breathtaking!" Pang Wanchun said with a depressed face.

"Hehe, it can't be said that our army plus the black servant army is only more than 1 million, and the main force is only more than 600,000 people, while the regular army of the Americans is nearly 3 million, and the difference in strength between the two sides is too great!

Although the two major arsenals in the Americas are already capable of producing a certain amount of weapons and ammunition, they can only supply the combat needs of more than one million troops, otherwise why would we only have such a small amount of strength in our hands!"

After listening to Pang Wanchun's words, Wu Guangzong waved his hand and motioned for everyone to be quiet, "Lao Wen, where are the four cavalry divisions transferred back from the Southern Front?"

"After withdrawing from the east bank of the Mississippi River, they have been resting in West Memphis!" In the fierce battle on the southern front for nearly a month, although the Huo family army achieved a brilliant victory, annihilating nearly 300,000 US troops, but its own losses were also very heavy, the black servant army of the eleven divisions participating in the war, two casualties were more than half, and several other divisions also suffered varying degrees of damage, four independent cavalry divisions, 80,000 elite cavalry killed and wounded more than 8,000, after a war, the southern line corps of the Huo family army lost nearly 40,000 troops, although only more than 15,000 of them died, but for the troops of the southern line corps of the Huo family army, which was not advantageous in the number of troops, it was also a little painfulTherefore, in the days after the end of the battle, while guarding against the American ** team on the other side of the river, they rested and replenished new recruits, hoping to recover their combat strength as soon as possible and meet the next more brutal battle.

"Order them to stop resting and immediately gather all the troops to go north!" After listening to Wenming's words, Wu Guangzong commanded with a solemn expression.

"Commander, what's wrong?" Looking at the expression on Wu Guangzong's face, Pang Wanchun, who was standing on the side, couldn't help but ask.

Looking at the puzzled expressions on everyone's faces, Wu Guangzong said with a solemn expression and a hint of annoyance: "Everyone, we have overlooked a big problem, we have long realized that the northern rivers such as the Ohio River in the north will freeze in winter, which is not conducive to defense, but we have forgotten that the five big lakes next to us will also freeze in winter!"

Hearing his words, a trace of doubt flashed on the faces of several people, but in the end, they were all senior generals of the Huo family army who had undergone advanced military education, especially when they saw Yili City, which was located next to Yili Lake, the expressions on the faces of several people all changed! )