Chapter 823: Layout of the US Army
The rainy season in France arrives early in early September.
The torrential rain caused the Meuse River to swell, and asset prices increased fivefold due to the successful landing of 300,000 American troops and the large amount of supplies shipped from the United States.
But the Egyptian expeditionary force in the trenches on the Nancy front was in low morale.
They built fortifications in the rain while complaining quietly:
"We are always deployed to the front line and charge at the forefront."
"What else? Do you think the British will rush in front of us to take the bullets?"
"But they should at least let us have enough food!"
…
"Shut your mouths!" Lieutenant Dicia glared at the people who were talking in a low voice. "We need people who can do the work, not bastards who can only talk!"
Dicia was one of the few Egyptians who became a lieutenant.
The lower-level officers in the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, even the second lieutenants, were usually British, even if they were stupid.
The reason is self-evident.
The Egyptian Expeditionary Force did not serve voluntarily; they were forcibly conscripted by the British. The British could only use this high-pressure method to control the army and force them to act as human shields.
The reason why Desia was promoted to lieutenant was simply because he had some reputation in the Egyptian army, and the British needed to use him to boost morale or set an example.
This was not what he wanted. Dixia sighed softly and continued to swing the engineer shovel in his hand, shoveling a piece of mud and muddy water out of the trench.
After the war broke out, the British forced themselves to be designated as a "protectorate" of Egypt.
Then, they forcibly purchased Egypt's food and mineral resources at one-third of the international price.
In addition, 100,000 laborers were forcibly conscripted and 125,000 soldiers were recruited to form the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, and the casualty pensions were less than one-fifth of the normal level.
In their eyes, Egyptians are not human beings, but slaves, cannon fodder, and tools!
But what can we do about it?
The result of complaining is being driven to an uninhabited area to die, or being shot as a public example.
Just as Dicia was venting her anger in the mud, the signalman Amir looked around to see if there were any British officers, leaned in and whispered:
"Lieutenant, have you heard?"
"The British originally planned to let the US military take care of logistics and security, which meant they didn't have to go to the battlefield."
"But the Americans refused. They would rather train with Ciel!"
Dixia was stunned, then he stuck the engineer shovel heavily into the mud in the trench and stood there blankly, letting the rain hit his face and blur his angry eyes.
The subordinate next to him expressed Dicia's thoughts:
"What right do they have to decide who goes to the battlefield and who doesn't?"
"This war has nothing to do with us. We are helping the British fight, but we are put in the most dangerous and difficult position, while the Americans don't have to go to the battlefield!"
"We would be shot if we wanted to be commanded by Charles, but the Americans can get it easily. What do they think we are?"
…
After being stunned for a while, Dixia seemed to have made a decision. He squeezed out a few words from between his teeth: "Everyone listen up, rest where you are!"
The order was quickly passed down:
"Rest where you are."
"Rest where you are!"
…
The British major who was taking shelter in the trench felt that something was wrong outside, so he put on his raincoat and went out and shouted angrily: "What's going on? Who told you to stop? Pick up your shovels and continue..."
The major shut up before he could finish his words.
The Egyptian soldier did not pick up the shovel, but held the rifle in his hand, with his index finger on the trigger and glaring with murderous intent.
…
At the Bizangxi training base, Charles was busy in his office supplying supplies to the US military.
Pershing was not ambiguous at all and formed an armored division and a mechanized division.
However, they are actually "two".
The size of an armored division is 27,000 people, more than twice the 10,000-strong Charles Armored Division.
The mechanized division has the same organization.
As a result, this armored corps reached a size of 54,000 people, including logistics and engineering troops, which is 70,000 more than the American soldiers in western Tibet.
Most of them were elite troops, and many of their officers were veterans with military experience like Patton, with the largest number of cavalry.
Because Pershing believed that the tactics of armored and mechanized divisions had many similarities with cavalry, for example, both relied on speed to attack the enemy's weak points.
The difference is that cavalrymen ride horses and have basically no defense and combat capability when maneuvering.
The armored and mechanized divisions can maneuver while taking into account both offense and defense.
Pershing's idea was not wrong. By World War II, cavalry had been basically eliminated. Most of them were transformed into armored or mechanized forces, and even Japan's cavalry was no exception.
This kept Charles busy for a while.
All factories worked at full capacity day and night, producing non-stop, and after all the inventory was moved out, they were barely able to equip one armored brigade and one mechanized brigade.
Pershing was pleased with this:
"I understand, Admiral."
"It's war time now, and France has always been in a state of material shortage. It will take time to expand production capacity."
"It doesn't matter. We still have time. These guys need at least three months of training before they can go to the battlefield."
Charles agreed on the surface, but he knew in his heart that the Germans would not let you wait that long.
The longer we wait, the more disadvantageous it will be for the Germans. Don't you understand the situation?
Although you, Pershing, have military talent, you still lack sensitivity to war.
But it is undeniable that Pershing had a good vision. He told Charles more than once: "I hope to equip the Camel fighter and the Caproni bomber, especially the one that can carry a radio to the sky!"
He knew the importance of air superiority.
Not to mention anything else, just the long-range howitzers, if there is no air superiority and aerial reconnaissance and shooting, they will be in danger.
But Charles always answered:
"General, you know that pilots cannot be trained in a day or two."
"Your army has very few pilots. Even if I hand these equipment to you now, I'm afraid no one can fly them into the sky."
“Even if they fly into the air, there is no guarantee that they will work.”
Pershing nodded helplessly.
This was the sequelae of the United States' lack of preparation. There were only 150 pilots in the country, and they were flying the outdated JN-4 unarmed reconnaissance aircraft, and quite a few of them were still unskilled.
But in fact, even if the United States has enough pilots, Charles will find other excuses to strangle it.
Charles is planning.
Most of the tactics he taught the US military relied heavily on air superiority and the intelligence and range expansion derived from air superiority.
Currently, all of these need to be provided by the French Air Force to the US military.
In other words, once the US military leaves the French Air Force, it will be unable to fight or will find it difficult to fight, and its combat system will be missing a key link.
On the other hand, airplanes are high-tech.
As long as Charles always maintains his leading position in aircraft, he will be invincible when facing the US military.
(End of this chapter)
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