Expedition to Europe

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When artillery was first born, it did not attract much attention.

At that time, there was a popular saying in Europe: infantry needs strict training, while artillery only needs to be hired temporarily.

Since the Napoleonic era, artillery has become an independent branch of the army and has achieved the same status as infantry and cavalry.

In 1897, the French produced the Schneider Mle189775mm field gun. This artillery used a variety of the latest technologies and was the world's first artillery with a recoil and recoil system, which made its performance far ahead of its contemporaries. The firing speed of the artillery reached an astonishing 15 rounds per minute.

Because the performance of this artillery was so excellent, the French affectionately called it "Miss 75" to express their love for her.

Demps Gail is a loyal fan of Miss 75.

"Using artillery to repeatedly bombard enemy positions has long existed. The Germans have been prepared for it, and the effect is not very good. Using infantry as bait is more dangerous, because infantry commanders are used to acting according to the plan. They always start charging after the artillery fire is extended. It is probably not a good idea to let them charge halfway and then stop." Demps Gail disagreed with Qin Zhiyuan's plan.

"It is no longer the era when military orders need to be pigeoned. The emergence of telephones makes communication more convenient and faster. The orders of the rear headquarters can be conveyed to the front-line commanders within one second. I don't think it is difficult." It is still a problem of rigid thinking. Qin Zhiyuan understands why the French were defeated in World War II.

In fact, at the beginning of World War I, if it were not for the weak offensive of the Germans, Paris would have been in the pocket of the Germans. Before the Battle of the Marne, the German vanguard was only 70 kilometers away from Paris. If Joseph Gallieni, the then commander of the Paris defense, had not organized the famous "taxi transport", the French would have tasted the taste of the fall of the capital long ago.

"No, no, no, the infantry I remember doesn't have such execution ability." Demps Gail still disagreed.

"Mine is OK! We can try it out tomorrow morning." Qin Zhiyuan insisted.

"Okay, if you insist." Before coming, Demps Gail received an order to cooperate with the Sixth Regiment in combat, so Demps Gail did not resist Qin Zhiyuan's insistence.

Then let's try it.

The test was the next day, and Qin Zhiyuan had other things to do that night.

A batch of military supplies produced in the United States arrived in Kapi, which was Qin Zhiyuan's request.

This batch of supplies included a thousand pump-action shotguns with a caliber of 18 mm, firing a special deer hunting bullet, each bullet containing 12 steel balls, and the effective range can reach 100 meters.

This is the weapon Qin Zhiyuan prepared for trench warfare.

This batch of supplies also includes 50,000 Mills offensive grenades. Unlike using fragments and steel balls to kill the enemy after the explosion, this type of grenade is suitable for attacking enemy bunkers or buildings in offensive operations. After the grenade explodes, it uses a large amount of high-temperature and high-pressure gas (i.e. shock wave) to achieve killing and destructive effects.

In order to quickly turn this grenade into a defensive grenade, Qin Zhiyuan customized a steel ball bag from Renault. As long as this steel ball bag is put on the Mills grenade, when the grenade explodes, 800 steel balls will be produced to kill the enemy's living forces.

The biggest difference between defensive grenades and offensive grenades is the killing range. After the offensive grenade is thrown out, the personnel using the grenade must continue to charge, so fragments cannot be used to kill the enemy. The killing radius of the defensive grenade may be greater than the throwing distance, so after throwing it, you must hide in the bunker, otherwise it may cause accidental injuries.

When the shotgun and grenade were in place, Qin Zhiyuan reorganized the troops participating in the attack.

In Qin Zhiyuan's plan, before the war, scouts led by Hu Tingfeng and Jin Taihe will be sent to the rear of the Germans to cut off the German telephone and telegraph lines and snipe the German communication personnel. In order to resist the possible attack of the Germans, Qin Zhiyuan ordered Ge Lifu to select some soldiers to join the scout team to strengthen the combat power of the scouts.

These people are equipped with Lewis light machine guns and 98A rifles, taking into account the continuity of firepower and precision strikes.

There are a total of 2,000 troops participating in the frontal attack, mainly Chen Kangjian Battalion and Liu Zizheng Battalion, and Zhang Tianshou's troops are the reserve.

The troops of the frontal attack are mainly equipped with shotguns and grenades, supplemented by a certain number of Lewis machine guns and MG15 machine guns. These MG15 machine guns are equipped with tripods. Once the German positions are occupied, they only need to replace the tripods, and the MG15 will become an MG08 heavy machine gun to defend against possible counterattacks by the Germans.

After the new weapons were issued to the troops, they needed some time to familiarize themselves with the weapons' performance in order to form combat effectiveness. Fortunately, shotguns were not difficult to use. They only needed to aim roughly to kill the enemy with the coverage of the bullets. Soldiers only needed to familiarize themselves with loading bullets, which did not take too long.

In addition to weapons, Qin Zhiyuan also prepared other things, such as large pliers for breaking barbed wire, small explosive packs for destroying anti-tank trenches, smoke bombs for attacking, etc. He was not afraid of too many things, but was afraid of insufficient preparation.

It is expected that the preparations will be completed around the second night.

Starting from the second day, Demps Gail and Zheng Dali organized artillery to start fire attacks on Elbecourt.

This work was organized and uploaded by Liujiu Book Bar~~

Dumps Gail's artillery brigade has 12 155mm artillery and 48 75mm artillery. The number of 75mm artillery is about the same as that of the Sixth Regiment, but the 155mm artillery makes Zheng Dali and Cheng Feiming envious.

Artillery is divided into two types according to its purpose: suppression artillery and infantry accompanying artillery. Both 155mm artillery and 75mm artillery can be used as suppression artillery. In terms of power, 75mm is obviously not as good as 155mm.

Zheng Dali looks at artillery, regardless of other things, only looks at the caliber. The barrel of the 155mm gun is nearly three times thicker and nearly twice longer than that of the 75mm gun. Zheng Dali was dazzled by the thick barrel of the 155mm gun and decided to ask Qin Zhiyuan for it after the battle.

He would hang himself if he didn't give it to him.

When nearly a hundred guns were deployed, the artillery position occupied nearly a thousand square meters. When all the guns were ready to fire, Demps Gale gave an order, and the heavy artillery roared, deafening the ears. The ground under his feet was shaking violently, and people were like standing on a war drum.

"Damn... spectacular." Li Fayun, an officer of the Beiyang faction, was stunned by the scene in front of him. In his impression, a unit with 10 guns could be considered fierce firepower. Nearly a hundred guns firing together, such a spectacular scene can only appear in dreams.

"What do you think? The French are wasteful enough! Why don't you go and talk to them about reason?" Zheng Dali teased the stunned Li Fayun.

These two people were locked up in a small dark room for two days because of a quarrel, but their relationship became much closer. Men's friendship is sometimes very puzzling.