Chapter 832 Artillery Battle Trap
The whistling of artillery shells broke the silence.
They were like sharp sickles that cut through the sky and the rain curtain, drawing clear bullet lines pointing directly at the US military positions.
The sound came from far away and gradually got closer. At first it was like the low hum of an orchestra, but soon it turned into a loud whimper, which made people feel fear and disgust.
Finally, with a loud "boom" sound, artillery shells exploded in front of and behind the position.
The fire, the smoke, the violent shaking, everything seemed like a dream.
The American soldiers who had never experienced such a scene had all their disguises shattered in an instant by the horrifying energy. It seemed as if the shells were not hitting the positions, but directly hitting their souls and deep into their hearts.
Some people instinctively covered their heads and hid, wishing they could burrow into the ground.
Some people stared at all this in a daze, unable to believe that they were in the middle of it.
Some people even screamed uncontrollably and turned around and ran away desperately.
But soon, they were thrown into the air like rags, tossed around by the shock waves of the shells, and finally disappeared.
…
A few kilometers away, at the foot of a gravel-covered hill, Pershing, wearing an Adrian helmet, stood motionless in the rain, holding a telescope and watching everything silently.
As the commander of the expeditionary force, he did not need to lead the troops in person.
But this was the first battle of the US military, and no commander had this level of command experience, including Pershing himself.
Helplessly, Pershing, who believed he had understood the essence of "Parthian archery", had to take charge himself.
"General." Seeing that Pershing did not respond, Hubbard reminded: "Our artillery units are in place."
The subtext of his words is: It's time to suppress the fire.
Pershing was silent for a while, then asked, "Do you know why Charles always wins every battle?"
Hubbard was stunned and replied: "Because of the equipment and his tactics."
"There's more to it than that, Hubbard," Pershing replied thoughtfully:
"He is also calm and patient. In his eyes, there are no casualties, only cold numbers."
"But precisely because of this, he was able to minimize these casualties."
"Because the battlefield is not a place for emotions. It requires commanders to treat lives as numbers!"
Hubbard didn't understand why Pershing said such nonsensical words when the enemy and we were engaged in a fierce battle.
But the next second, he suddenly realized it when he connected Pershing's words with the situation on the battlefield.
"My God, the first line of defense is bait," Hubbard exclaimed. "Bait to kill the enemy's artillery."
Pershing nodded slightly.
"The Germans are veterans, Hubbard." Pershing said with some helplessness:
"They have rich combat experience and work closely together."
"The 'Saints' tactic is feasible, but what if the Germans order the tanks to advance while the artillery fire is advancing?"
Hubbard swallowed hard. "Our armored forces are likely to be defeated by this kind of coordination, rather than by 'keeping their distance'."
Pershing nodded again.
The German artillery fire would block the US armored forces' path and even disrupt and disperse them with artillery fire.
At this time, German tanks broke into the defeated American armored forces and killed them all, leaving the American army with only failure.
"So," Pershing concluded, "I must severely damage the German artillery as soon as possible and reduce their infantry-tank coordination capabilities to the lowest level!"
The best way to "destroy the German artillery" was to let the infantry take the brunt of the artillery shells.
That's the solution, Hubbard thought, and it's efficient.
The Germans thought that the U.S. troops were newcomers and would not have such thoughts. In addition, they had been chasing the British all the way and underestimated the enemy, so they were easily fooled.
However……
Hubbard looked at Pershing, who was watching expressionlessly as the first line of defense was shattered by German artillery fire, and the soldiers were overwhelmed by the artillery fire and had no power to resist.
They even had to face the next attack from the German tank group.
Because the US artillery fire will not block the tanks, but will be busy destroying the German artillery.
Hubbard couldn't imagine, was this still the Pershing who tried every means to reduce casualties? He felt that he did not know Pershing.
…
The German army was indeed unaware of Pershing's forbearance.
Lieutenant General Albert, who commanded this battle, was Hutier's right-hand man and, like Hutier, was transferred from the Eastern Front.
(Note: When Falkenhayn was the Chief of the General Staff, the German army was divided into two factions, the Eastern Front and the Western Front. It was very difficult to mobilize troops between the two factions, and every major mobilization would involve competition and strife. After Hindenburg took power, only one faction remained, and the commanders and troops on the two fronts were mobilized more frequently)
Admiral Hutier had little faith in the commander on the Western Front.
He believed that the Eastern Front had been victorious while the Western Front had been in constant failure, and that the commanders on the Eastern Front had more advantages in terms of confidence, experience and tactics.
However, Hutier overlooked one point: the commander of the Western Front understood the environment on the Western Front better and was more aware of Charles' true strength.
Major General Erwin of the 1st Tank Division immediately realized that something was wrong and called Lieutenant General Albert to warn him:
"The Americans have already built a defense line in front of us, which shows that they have sufficient time to prepare."
"Common sense suggests that their artillery should be ready for battle, but now they are not firing a single shot."
"I believe this is most likely an 'artillery trap' set by the Americans. We should be sufficiently cautious about this."
"Artillery trap" is a term commonly used in artillery, which refers to the tactic of using other means to lure enemy artillery to open fire to expose them, and then concentrating artillery fire to destroy the enemy artillery positions.
The countermeasure is not difficult. The artillery can move its position after firing a few shots. The disadvantage is that the intensity of the artillery reinforcement will be much smaller.
Albert was dismissive of Erwin's warning. He didn't even bother to reply to the telegram. He threw the telegram aside and said sarcastically:
"These guys on the Western Front must have been scared by the Charles. They are always worried about traps."
"These are American troops. Although they were trained by the Shire, they have never been on the battlefield."
"They probably don't even know what a 'gun trap' is."
The staff officers chuckled.
Their idea was the same as Albert's, that this line of defense was hastily built by the U.S. military, and the reason there was no artillery counterattack was because the U.S. artillery failed to arrive in time.
However, he was slapped in the face the next second.
"General." The signalman stepped forward and reported: "The enemy artillery has returned fire. They have at least four artillery regiments. Our artillery has suffered heavy casualties."
(Note: During World War I, the US Army artillery was an independent organization, mostly in artillery brigades. An artillery brigade had two artillery regiments, the French 75MM artillery regiment and the 155MM artillery regiment.)
Lieutenant General Albert's face turned dark instantly.
Damn Americans, these rookies actually dared to set up an "artillery trap" for us!
(End of this chapter)
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