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Through the binoculars, and then the fire ignited by the explosion of the shell, watching more than a dozen American soldiers quickly lie down after encountering the combined strike of Huo Jiajun's artillery and light and heavy machine guns, and then began to crawl forward, and then after the gunfire weakened, they quickly jumped up, and continued to leap forward with the help of obstacles, although in the end they were still hit by the dense machine gun fire of the Huo family's army, but their more and more mature tactical movements, and the more and more calm expressions on their faces, made Lu Zhendong couldn't help frowning, he realized that more than ten days of war, so that the US Northern Front Army is rapidly transitioning from recruits to veterans, and the war experience is becoming more and more abundant。 Of course, the pen, the fun, and the www.biquge.info are becoming more and more difficult to deal with.

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"General, the two divisions of the 22nd Army that were put into the attack have been repulsed again!"

Hearing this, Joseph Johnston nodded expressionlessly, this famous family, graduated from the artillery department of the West Point Military Academy with a score of 13th, and the most unambitious hero in the South during the War of the North and South, and now commands nearly 800,000 elite troops of the most powerful Northern Corps in the United States.

"Now it's the turn of that force to attack?"

"Commander, it's the Twenty-eighth Army stationed outside the city of Erie!" the staff officer next to him immediately replied.

After hearing his words, Joseph Johnston took out the gold pocket watch in his arms and looked at the time, then turned around and said, "Let's get here first today!" After a pause, "let the medical unit immediately treat the wounded soldiers, and order the logistics department to replenish the troops!"

"Yes, Commander!" After retracting his gaze from the communications soldier who turned to go out, Howard Hughes, deputy commander of the Northern Army of the United States Army, looked at the sky outside and said, "Commander, it's almost dawn, I'll keep an eye here for a while, you can go and rest first!"

"No, I don't. It's not too late to rest when the 22nd Army's battle damage data is reported!" Johnston replied. Because the giant airship used by Huo Jiajun occupied the air superiority, it caused great damage to the attack of the American troops. In particular, the artillery unit had more than 200 artillery pieces destroyed in less than three days after the start of the war, and although the number of such airships was too small to kill the soldiers, they were helpless in the face of this threat from the air. The blow to the morale of the troops was very great! So Joseph Johnston deliberately chose the time for the attack to be at night.

Under the cover of night. Then the guns were separated as much as possible. After doing some more camouflage, the threat of Huo's airship dropped greatly. After all, there are no high-altitude bombing sights in this era, even Huo Jiajun's latest Mingxiang-class light cruiser has installed the latest GX10 baseline rangefinder, using a 10-meter baseline. The 20-fold lens set, with a test error of ±150 meters within 5 kilometers, more than doubles the distance of naval battles, far exceeding this era, but it is basically useless at night! Therefore, the aerial bombardment of the airship is even more unreliable at night, even if its altitude is only about 1,000 meters!

"Report, Commander! Report on the Battle Damage of the Twenty-second Army!" An hour and a half later, the report was transmitted through a dozen telegraph stations along the railroad. In Johnston's hands.

After reading it carefully, Johnston frowned slightly, then took out a notebook, recorded a few data according to the telegram, and handed it to Howard Hughes, who was standing aside.

"Five hundred deaths. 1,000 lightly wounded, 626 seriously wounded, half a regiment was lost in just three attacks, and we lost nearly 30,000 troops in half a month after the start of the war, is the defense of the squadron really so strong?" Howard asked with some disbelief as he looked at the casualty figures on the telegram.

Listening to the deputy's words, Johnston did not respond, but turned his head and sighed lightly. In two years, the Chinese built a strong defense line along the Mississippi River and the Ohio River, and even the only place from Corey to Erie that was not blocked by the river was dug by the other side with the help of the hilly and mountainous terrain formed by the Appalachian Plateau, plus a large number of light and heavy artillery and cement fortifications, this narrow area of less than 60 kilometers from the Ohio River to Lake Erie was like an insurmountable curse, firmly blocking the westward advance of the American Northern Front Army.

Moreover, compared with the well-equipped and well-trained troops of the other side, the US Army, which has only been transformed from a civilian to a soldier in the last one or two years, seriously lacks war experience, and is far inferior to the other side in terms of weaponry.

Although the United States concentrated nearly 2,000 artillery pieces purchased by its own production belt in the past two years, in the northern front battlefield, in the face of the Chinese troops in the heavy firepower formed a local advantage. However, the serious lack of experience in the troops cannot be compensated for in a short period of time. If he uses a large number of artillery to fight a tough battle with the squadron hiding behind the strong fortification group, then even if his troops can achieve a certain victory, they will inevitably pay extremely heavy losses.

As a military commander with a wealth of experience in warfare and a sharp strategic vision from the West Point Military Academy, Johnston was well aware of his own weaknesses and the enemy's strengths. Moreover, in order to avoid heavy casualties among his troops to the greatest extent and make up for his own inferiority, he began to wage a large number of small-scale wars on the entire northern front at the beginning of the war, and began to train his troops in batches through these wars.

Although at the beginning of the war, due to lack of experience, the American ** team paid a lot of casualties and once reduced its strength to 30,000, but with a series of wars, the number of battle losses of the soldiers of the Northern Front Army Corps was decreasing step by step. The brutal war allowed them to quickly complete the transition from a recruit to a veteran. In addition, by discounting small-scale warfare, Joseph Johnston also tested the defensive strength of all the defensive positions of the Huo family army on the entire northern front. A good foundation was laid for the next stage of the offensive.

"Commander, when are we actually going to attack?" Howard Hughes couldn't help but ask. As the deputy commander of the Northern Front Army, he was naturally very clear about Johnston's plans, and after being on the front line, he really experienced the strong defense of the squadron and the gap between the two sides in terms of military quality and weaponry, and he also agreed with Johnston's practice of using small-scale wars to train the army.

"Why? those stupid parliamentarians in the rear are telegraphing again?" As one of the most famous generals of the South during the Civil War, he did not have much affection for the North's parliament and government, which consisted of industrial capitalists. If it weren't for the fact that the United States was invaded by foreign enemies this time and the country fell into crisis, he would not have considered joining the army at all!

"Yes, Vice President William Wheeler personally sent a telegram hoping that we can launch a large-scale offensive in the near future, preferably to eliminate a part of the squadron, and to lift up the sluggish political and economic ...... in the country!"

"Don't listen to that bastard, his words are all shit, if it weren't for the fact that he advocated the passage of that damn Chinese Exclusion Act, and refused to compensate and apologize to the Chinese who were killed in the Baishi Town massacre, I'm afraid we wouldn't have started a war with the Chinese in the East Indies, so that now the country is ruined, the economy is declining, and domestic riots are frequent!" As he spoke, a white general with a strong body and a heavy military coat walked in.

Brock Senna, Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army's Northern Front Command, served as deputy commander of the National Guard before the Sino-American War began, and is one of the few active generals in the United States. And knowing the beginning and end of this war, he especially hated the once staunch **faction, nationalist, and Vice President William Wheeler.

"Brock, you're back, how are the troops on the front?" Howard asked.

At the mention of military affairs, Bullock Senna, who was still a little scolding just now, suddenly became serious, "The situation on the front line is not very good, although we have successfully avoided the air attack of the enemy's airship under the cover of night. But the Chinese fortifications in the hilly terrain were so strong that our troops were beaten back before they could break within 100 meters of their outer tunnels. There were so many of their machine guns that the bullets were raining down on us. Unless we can pull out these machine guns, no matter how many troops we have to go up, we will only be able to deliver food to the Chinese!" said Bullock Senna's tone with a hint of decline.

Hearing this, Joseph Johnston's face changed, and he nodded slightly. After half a month of war on the Northern Front, he had long been accustomed to welcoming all kinds of bad news. Moreover, the situation mentioned by Bullock is also a collective problem facing the entire US military at present, and the difference is only that the automatic firepower in other places is not as much as that of the Chinese troops on the northern front.

"Commander, let's fight according to the strategy you set before, and wait until the soldiers are used to the war, and then consider launching a large-scale strategic operation. Otherwise, with those little bean sprouts who have never participated in the war and have no experience in war, I am afraid that no matter how many people rush forward, we will get nothing but harvest a pile of corpses. Brock said.

"Bullock is right! But now the situation in the country has become very serious because of the relationship between the economic crisis and the war, and if we do not win quickly and open up the situation, but continue to drag on the war, I am afraid that in a few months, the domestic economy will no longer be able to support more than three million troops! What is the point of all the sacrifices we have made today!" said Howard Hughes.