Time passed, and the time soon entered April 1918, and with the efforts of Sun Qian's people, the assault battalion had become an army again, and because of its previous combat experience, its combat effectiveness had been significantly improved, and it even truly became a sea, land and air amphibious force. During this period of time, Sun Qian took great pains, and in order to temper the various abilities of the troops, he personally approached Pershing to ask for conditions, and it was not possible to offend Pershing. Even exaggerated to the point that no one in the US command wanted to see him. However, in any case, Pershing finally agreed to Sun Gan's request, after all, Pershing also wanted to see what kind of surprise the allied army's recognized tactical genius could finally bring him.

Sun Gan really went to great lengths to improve the combat capability of his troops in an all-round way. But he enjoyed it, and fortunately his efforts received the desired results.

In the sky, when the members of the assault battalion jumped out of the bomber's cabin and turned into umbrella flowers and landed on the ground, any soldier who saw this scene knew the great tactical value of it; On land, when the members of the assault battalion appeared behind the exercise troops in full camouflage, none of them could detect their presence; As for in the sea, when the commandos can sneak up on the warship with their excellent swimming skills with just a small bamboo pipe, the soldiers on the warship are still sleeping soundly.

Of course, all this is known only to the parties concerned, and Pershing also issued a gag order, otherwise the entire coalition army will definitely boil again, and Pershing wants to use the assault battalion as a killer weapon for the US army.

Sun Gan's assault battalion has finally survived the hardships of the early days of its establishment, and he will be greeted with incomparably brilliant achievements.

…………

Beginning with the U.S. Expeditionary Force setting foot on the continent in April 1917, the new force had been busy training for wartime and waiting for more troops to arrive rather than actually fighting in the war, and by early 1918 it had finally reached a sizable size. However, before this new force could play its role, the Germans took the offensive first.

The de facto supreme commander of the German army, General Ludendorff, knew that a decisive victory on the Western Front must be achieved before the American army was fully combat-ready. Conditions at that time also favored a new German offensive, and since Russia withdrew from the war after the October Revolution, Germany, which had been struggling with two-front warfare, was able to devote all its forces to the Western Front. For the Germans, the new year is a year of gritting teeth and perseverance, but also a year of hope.

The Germans on the Western Front mobilized large numbers of troops and ample supplies for their spring offensive, and adopted novel tactics. On March 21, 1918, the Germans succeeded in attacking the Somme region, but then became weak, and Ludendorff had to stop the offensive on April 5. However, by taking the initiative to attack, the Germans still scored a salient on the Allied front that was 80 kilometers wide and 65 kilometers deep.

In the Somme area, the fighting was temporarily halted on the line west of Montdidyer, which passed through a small village called Cantigny, which had about 200 villagers before the war and was now flooded with Germans. This elevated village and the surrounding hilly terrain provided a good vantage point for viewing the west and south-west, which was very important to the Germans who occupied the area.

The Germans quickly deployed 90 artillery pieces in the woods around Cantagny and converted several houses in the village into artillery observation posts with good views. The use of this batch of artillery was part of the future actions of the German army. According to Ludendorff's new vision, the Germans would launch a new offensive along the En River, and then take Paris directly between the Oise and Marne rivers.

The commander of the expeditionary force, General Pershing, had been fighting with the British and French generals, who wanted to dismantle American forces and fill them in their respective theaters, while Pershing insisted that American troops should enter the war in a separate and complete sequence. However, under the tense situation of the German spring offensive, Pershing still agreed to urgently put eight American infantry divisions that had arrived in France into the battlefield, and they would be sent to different areas to participate in the battle according to the situation of the battle. The 1st Division was ordered to enter the Piccardy area and be placed under the command of General de Burney's French 1st Army, which had just been overwhelmed by the Germans. By 23 April, the U.S. 1st Division was positioned directly west of Cantagny, between the 45th Division of the French 9th Army and the 162nd Division of the 6th Army, where trenches were dug and waiting.

Originally, there was nothing wrong with Sun Gan's assault battalion in the US army's combat sequence, but after watching Sun Gan's tactical exercises, Pershing couldn't wait to transfer Sun Gan's assault battalion together, and he knew that good tactics must also have good troops to carry them out, especially when the US military units had not yet fully grown up.

When Sun Qian came to the front line with the assault battalion, the morale of the American troops who had heard about the previous achievements of the assault battalion was greatly boosted.

Sun Gan, who arrived at the front line, held an operational meeting with Han Sen, who was about to take up the main offensive mission. Colonel Eli communicated for a period of time, and finally confirmed the scope of the tasks of both sides, and took over the reconnaissance and capture mission that was supposed to be completed by the 28th Regiment of the 1st Red Division itself.

Of course, everything is still the same old rules, and in order to better complete the task and fight a good war, the 1st Division has made full preparations. According to the aerial photographs provided by the reconnaissance plane, the engineering units built an imitation fortification in the style of the German fortifications, and the companies of the 28th Regiment carried out concentrated fortification drills here in batches. As for Sun Gan, he led the men of the assault battalion to conduct the first batch of simulations, but it was not a drill to attack fortifications but a reconnaissance and infiltration drill.

After a period of drills, both the assault battalion and the 28th regiment have mastered their respective tactics, and they are just waiting for the moment to show their talents.

The camouflage made by Sun Gan's assault battalion before setting off made the soldiers of the 28th Regiment drop their jaws, as long as they hid it, even if they knew that the person was hiding there, everyone would not be able to see that it was a person. Colonel Eli was even more confident in his subsequent actions.

On May 27, when Sun Qian was preparing to lead the battalion to attack, the 28th Regiment was also making final preparations for the next day's attack. That night, the Germans, who had become aware of the movements of the American troops, sent two reconnaissance detachments of 30 men each, hoping to capture a few prisoners to find out the news. It just so happens that the two sides are about to meet without knowing it.

Marching through the misty forest, the men of the assault battalion cautiously approached the German lines, and their task was to catch a few German tongues in order to understand the specific layout of the German army. Sun Gan, who was supposed to be in the middle of the team, ran to the front of the team, carefully observing the people in all directions at all times, and moving towards the goal little by little.