Beiyang 1917

June 1917 was also a painful month for the Allied Powers. On June 6, the British launched a bombing offensive on the Messina Ridge on the Western Front. Although the Germans had taken precautions against this, they never expected the British The guy did such a great job. He actually dug 6 huge blasting holes at a depth of 17 meters below the German ridge defense line.

The initiators of this battle were the British, who wanted to take advantage of the fact that the German troops on the Eastern Front had not yet completed their transfer to the west to carry out a pre-emptive offensive. Only one of the 22 huge blasting holes was reversed by the German engineers, and the remaining 21 were filled. high explosives.

On June 1917, 6, the attacking British Second Army consisted of 17 armies, 3 divisions, and about 12 people, while the defense belonged to the German Fourth Army's about 21.6 people.The goal of both sides was the ridge position near the small town of Messina in the Ypres region of western Belgium.

The British bombarded the German positions frantically at first, and then stopped the shelling at 2:50 in the morning. German soldiers came out of the shelters and entered the trenches and positions, preparing to resist the ensuing British offensive. What the army expected, 3 tons of high explosives in 10 chambers were detonated. Except for the misfiring of two chambers, 21 consecutive violent explosions turned the German positions on their backs.

An explosion cost 25000 German soldiers, but the British did not have the last laugh. When the two sides fought exhaustedly and stopped a week later, the ridge position was still occupied by the Germans, and the British suffered 1 casualties. The casualties of the German army plus the 24000 people lost in the explosion were only [-] in total.

As for the entire third battle of Ypres, the German army had a total of 27 casualties, while the British army had 30 casualties. The two warring parties were exhausted and miserable on the Western Front.

When the sound of guns in Ypres gradually subsided, on June 1917, 6, the first and second advance detachments of the American Expeditionary Force, led by Commander Pershing, landed near the port in southern France, and the US military officially set foot on the battlefield. The battlefield of the European War.

On the same day, June 1917, 6, the second batch of U.S. reinforcements and a large amount of equipment arrived at Tianjin Port again, and then they were directly transported by rail to Nanyuan, the largest and most advanced barracks in China. .

While the eyes of the world are focused on the landing of the US military in France, it is also focused on when the Chinese participating troops will be able to complete their training and appear on the European battlefield?

In fact, the Second Division of the Participating Army had been transferred from Nanyuan back to Langfang a week ago. When the 16th Mixed Brigade left Langfang in early April, not only did they not hand over the camp, but the remaining troops continued to guard the camp. Over the past few months, the Corps of Engineers has also been spending manpower to expand the barracks in Langfang, making the place spacious enough to garrison 4 or more divisions.

One of the beliefs that Wang Geng instilled in his team is that we will never give up anything we own easily!The Model Army does not accept failure and retreat!The model army marches forward bravely!

从1917年4月18日中国正式宣战，到1917年6月25日，一共过去了69天，参战模范军的新兵征募数量始终保持在每天1000人左右，加上4月18日前从劳工中甄选募集的最初的18000人，到了6月25日美国远征军在法国登陆的那一天，同时也是第二批美援军火抵达的那一天。

The scale and establishment of China's model army participating in the war are as follows:

The first division governs the first, second and third mixed brigades plus the division's heavy artillery regiment and motorized reconnaissance battalion, with a total of 30000 people stationed in Nanyuan, Beijing

The second division governs the third, fourth, and fifth motorized reconnaissance battalions, a total of 28000 people stationed in Langfang, Tianjin.

The newly established third division governs the sixth, seventh, and eighth mixed brigade plus motorized reconnaissance battalions, with a total of 28000 people stationed in Beijing Nanyuan

In addition, there are 3000 teaching regiments directly under the participating army, 3000 military police regiments stationed in Nanyuan and Gyeonggi, and Wang Geng’s guard battalion expanded to 3000 guard regiments stationed in Nanyuan.

The total strength of the model army participating in the war has reached about 95000 people in nine mixed brigades under the jurisdiction of three divisions. The total number of graduates from the third and fourth phases of Baoding Military Academy is just over 1000, and more than [-]% of them have been recruited into the model army participating in the war. teaching group.

The machine guns and a lot of equipment that Wang Geng had been looking forward to appeared in the second batch of U.S. reinforcements. The specific list is as follows:

1. M1903 Springfield Manual Rifle: 30000 pieces

2. m1917bar Browning squad machine gun: 1500 pieces

3. M1917a1 water-cooled Browning heavy machine gun: 1000

4. M1 Garand semi-automatic rifle: 3000 pieces

5、柯尔特m1911.45口径自动手枪：30000支（含.45口径手枪弹900万发）

6. 7.62mm30.06 rifle bullets: 9000 million rounds

7、日式75mm41式山炮72门（含75口径山炮炮弹15400发）

8、日式75mm38式野炮72门（含75口径野炮炮弹15400发）

9、日式150mm榴弹炮24门（含150口径榴弹炮弹9800发）

10. American-made Dodge 1-ton military trucks (wide tires and all-steel wheels): 200

11. US-made Ford TT 1-ton multi-purpose vehicle (wide tires and all-steel wheels): 300 vehicles

12. American-made Ford Model T (wide tires and all-steel wheels): 300

Following the second batch of arms came a complete set of equipment for a Ford Dodge auto repair and assembly plant and a team of engineers and technicians sent by Ford. Manhattan Industrial Bank cooperated with Ford Motor as a joint venture to build the first Of course, because the supporting system cannot be established in a short period of time, the Ford Motor Branch Factory can only assemble and repair Ford, Dodge and other cars with a full set of imported spare parts at the beginning.

For Ford, they have no risk. There is such an auto repair and assembly plant procurement project on the Chinese US aid procurement list. Ford and Dodge can cash it out at any time, and take 500 million US dollars and go back to the United States to spend their lives.Such an exit mechanism ensures that Ford's investment will not lose money. However, Ford and Dodge are also visionary owners. The potential and huge market in China is far more attractive to them than 500 million US dollars.

In addition to the automobile assembly plant, an oil refinery with an annual output of 10 tons of gasoline and diesel also arrived at the port, but it was temporarily unloaded and stored in an open-air warehouse in Tianjin Port Area. The Morgan family and the Rockefeller family jointly formed a team. The oil drilling team of nearly 100 people came to China with oil exploration and drilling equipment worth 30 million US dollars like a hound smelling the scent of prey.Although they didn't know where Wang Geng's confidence came from, he actually wanted to purchase equipment from three refineries with an annual refining capacity of [-] tons.

Obviously, China was still a well-known oil-poor country at that time, which made the Americans very curious. If it weren’t for the lack of transportation capacity, the Yankees would like to transport all the equipment of the three oil refineries in one go, so as to avoid the Chinese regretting that they will not be able to produce oil in the future. After tearing up the purchase contracts of the equipment of the two factories.

The participating army was expanded into three divisions and 9 mixed brigades with a total of nearly 10 troops in less than three months. Weapons can be quickly equipped with the continuous arrival of American reinforcements, but the improvement of combat effectiveness cannot be achieved overnight. Everyone knows that those who carry guns are not necessarily soldiers, and soldiers must pick up guns.

Fortunately, the 16th Mixed Brigade, the seed of the participating army, has a very good foundation. Wang Geng's Yongding River mud dredging project and the nearly two months of morning and evening recruit training along with the water conservancy project have also played a significant role. The combat effectiveness is improved every day in training with the weapons and equipment in place.