Wild North America 1846

At the high-level military conference held in Davenport, Lieutenant Colonel Fan Pengju was an eye-opener. Not only did he meet many famous generals in legends, but he also really knew so many senior generals in the entire army. bright.

In the army establishment of the Tang Kingdom, the commander of the ace division must be a major general of the army, the commander of a first-level field division must be a brigadier general, and the commander of a second-level field division must be a colonel of the army. The rank can be high but not low.

What can a lieutenant colonel do?
There are lieutenant colonels and colonel senior counselors in the Army Staff Headquarters. They can serve as intermediate lecturers in the Chang'an Lecture Hall. They can serve as the chief of staff or regimental commander in the second-level field division. A division commander whose main responsibility is training, but generally does not receive direct combat missions.

Now his cousin Fan Pengfei, who is now a lieutenant general in the army, when he was a lieutenant colonel in 1852, he served as the division commander of the supplementary army, mainly recruited from the mainland, and went to the Crimean battlefield in Europe.

This is a mercenary division funded by the British. Later, due to its outstanding performance in the Crimean War, it evolved into the main body of the British Foreign Legion.

This kind of supplementary division is only a temporary organizational system, and the third-line troops are not counted. There is no official designation given by the army. The number of troops is about 5000 to 6000.

Generally, it focuses on military training and does not undertake combat tasks.

The situation of Commander Fan Pengfei is an extreme exception that cannot be replicated. Before the main field army of the Tang Kingdom is wiped out, the supplementary soldiers cannot have the opportunity to go to the battlefield.

The military meeting lasted for two days. After the meeting ended, the huge military machine immediately started to run at high speed, entering a tense state before the battle.

5 a.m. on May 15th
More than 3170 artillery pieces belonging to the coalition army fired violently. The hot shells pierced the dark night sky and smashed hard on the northern army's position.

The violent shelling lasted from 5 o'clock to 8:30 o'clock. After pouring more than 80 shells into the northern army's position, the coalition forces began to drive a large amount of cannon fodder towards the enemy's position, and the fierce battle began.

The cannon fodder of the coalition forces passed through the front-line positions that were severely damaged by artillery fire, and they did not encounter much resistance. Just as they cheered and continued to penetrate with old-fashioned muskets, they encountered a strong counterattack from the second-line troops of the Northern Army. .

When the two sides met at close range, they raised their guns to shoot at each other in panic. After the intensive "cracking" gunshots, the strong black powder smoke covered the battlefield, and countless soldiers were gouged by bullets. to the battlefield.

The random shooting of gunfire continued, and both sides suffered serious casualties. After encountering strong resistance, the cannon fodder troops retreated as expected, leaving a large number of corpses on the enemy's position.

Not long
Under the strong pressure of the supervisory team, the cannon fodder troops once again launched an attack. Fierce battles broke out in the three battlefields of the northern, western and southern suburbs of Chicago at the same time, and the fighting situation became fierce from the very beginning.

On the 181-kilometer outer front in three directions around the Chicago metropolitan area, the southern front was the most aggressive. …

In just two days, the entire battle line had been dented into a large area, and the nearest outlying position that fell was only 37 kilometers away from Chicago, and the rumble of cannons could already be heard in the city.

The south is the main attack direction of the Colorado Corps. The main attack is about 5 remnants of former General Sherman's troops incorporated by the Colorado Corps. In addition to the tens of thousands of cannon fodder collected in the past two months, the total force of the servant army is about 10. .

Compared with other cannon fodder units, its combat effectiveness is undoubtedly much stronger.

The Northern Army troops in charge of the defense suffered a big loss at the first encounter. They were caught off guard by this ruthless white servant army. The remaining four-line position barely blocked the coalition attack.

If the four-line position falls again, the coalition forces will point directly at the city of Chicago.

The commander-in-chief of the Northern Army, Grant, was horrified and had to use the strategic reserves in the city to counterattack.

With the reinforcement of a reserve team of 5 people successively, the Northern Army suffered tens of thousands of casualties before regaining the third-line position and re-stabilizing the defense.

After several days of fierce fighting, General Grant, the commander-in-chief of the Northern Army, relied on the strong reserve force in his hands to fight fires everywhere in the three-sided siege, and barely passed the most difficult start.

bloody week
The Northern Army defending the city of Chicago repelled countless enemy attacks, killing and injuring nearly 10 enemy troops, and 8.2 of its own casualties. Although it paid a huge price, it managed to hold its outer positions and dangerous situations.

General Grant, the commander-in-chief of the Northern Army, looked stern about this situation, because he knew that the real test had yet to come. The Northern Army had fought all this week with cannon fodder troops, and the casualties were so heavy.

Especially against the strong enemy in the south, half of the losses were on the southern battlefield of Chicago. The militias temporarily recruited by the Northern Army were obviously not opponents, and the casualty ratio was almost double that of the opponent, which was very difficult to deal with.

"I curse them, this group of cold war machines that have lost their faith. They are more ferocious and active when they serve the Easterners, and they really caused us a lot of trouble." Admiral Grant supported his head with a headache, his He is not very old, but he suffers from migraines.

"Your Excellency, Commander, we have done everything we can and leave the rest to God." The artillery commander, Major General MacDonald-Knox, poured a cup of steaming coffee and handed it to Grant. Will, and then sat down beside him and said complainingly;

"Our artillery equipment is a whole century behind that of the Tang Dynasty. My artillery has lost 1/3 in this week. Soon the front line will not receive artillery support, and the war will become more difficult."

"This is really terrible bad news." Admiral Grant took a big sip of coffee, his face full of worry.

The new artillery equipped by the Tang State appeared as early as the Crimean War, leading the new development of artillery technology in Europe. The army powers of Britain, France and Prussia successively introduced Tang State artillery equipment and technology to replace the old equipment in the army.

In particular, the Ottoman Empire introduced 680 artillery pieces and 120 million rounds of shells at one time, enough to equip 8 artillery divisions. …

The problem is that the armies of European powers are equipped with a large number of outdated artillery. It is impossible to throw them away as scrap copper and rotten iron. They can only gradually introduce a small amount of advanced artillery equipment. Most of them have to rely on their own research and development and production. There is a lag period.

It has only been a few years since the end of the Crimean War. The U.S. military is not ignorant of Tang’s new artillery, but due to limited military funding, it has not paid enough attention to the world’s highest level of new artillery technology. loss.

Civil War

Due to the extremely tight military budget, the Confederate States of the United States only imported more than a hundred Colt breech-loading guns for the defense of Richmond and several important fortresses, and they couldn't open them up. It was all money!

Now facing the army of the Tang Kingdom armed to the teeth, the northern army suffered terribly just from the artillery fire that assisted the offensive, and the entire division and regiment were wiped out by the artillery fire.

General Grant felt bitter. The cannon fodder troops were so hard to deal with. He was not sure whether the army of the Tang Kingdom could withstand it when it was their turn to attack.

"How many guns do you have in your artillery?"

"Less than 1200, and most of them are on the frontline battlefield. We only have 480 artillery pieces in our hands. This is our last artillery force, and we can't easily use it."

"If you can't keep Chicago, everything is empty, and you have to use it when it should be used!"

"If we continue to fight like this, the artillery in my hands may not last for two weeks, and will be completely destroyed by the enemy's counterattack fire."

"The British still have some artillery in stock in Canada. They promised to unload some of the artillery on the sailing warship and transfer it to us. As long as we stick to Chicago, the big urban fortress, we can get a steady stream of supplements, including artillery and personnel."

"Can the troops be replenished?"

"Yes, President Buchanan has carried out further mobilization. We can receive volunteer militiamen from the port. Now the replenishment of troops on the Chicago front has the highest priority. We can get 2 to 3 reinforcements every week through the Great Lakes route, supporting us in fighting the war go down."

"An Eastern Front, a Chicago, when will these two bleeding wounds heal?"

Admiral Grant couldn't answer this question either. He silently drank the coffee in his hand, his heart was gloomy.

Perhaps, this is the catastrophe that the United States must go through?
The sound of continuous gunfire from the outskirts has lasted for a week. Millions of troops from both sides fought bloodyly in Chicago. People fell every minute, and the battle was in full swing.

In about a week, the casualties of the Northern Army reached 8.2, and the remaining troops were less than 50 (note; the original total strength was 56, and it will continue to be replenished through the Great Lakes region in the future. The total strength is a dynamic consumption ~ Supplement process), the pressure is increasing.

The field troops of the Tang Kingdom, which really made General Grant fearful, have not yet officially appeared. The western theater is the headquarters of the Confederate Hill Corps, the southern theater is a servant army composed of remnants of the Sherman Corps, and the north is a typical white cannon fodder army. Some are old, some are young, they rushed up to beat them all.

What hurt the northern army the most was the sharp artillery fire of the Tang Kingdom and the white servant army in the south. Therefore, the southern theater was the focus of repeated contention between the two sides.

Admiral Grant had invested heavily in reserves in the area, vowing to fight for every inch of ground and never back down.

But so far in the bloody battle, almost all the casualties on the battlefield are white people, how embarrassing is it?