Chapter 1454 MacArthur's Lament (First update, please subscribe)
"Portland has fallen!"
When this news reached San Francisco, the people there were all shocked and could not believe it.
Although Olympic, the capital of Washington State, fell when the war broke out, God can testify that it was just a small town, but what about Portland?
It's a big city. At least for the West, Portland is a city, a city comparable to San Francisco and Los Angeles.
But now, the city has been occupied by the Ming army.
"God bless you, how could this happen?"
In fact, they should be grateful for Washington State’s backward transportation and bad weather. If it weren’t for the heavy snow in October that swept across the entire north, the occupied areas would not have been limited to Washington State and Iowa.
"It's not the weather, it's the manpower!"
Inside the San Francisco Defense Headquarters, General Arthur MacArthur stared straight at the sand table as he finished speaking.
Thanks to the expansion of the U.S. military, Arthur MacArthur, who retired after the Civil War, was promoted to brigadier general ten years ago and commanded an infantry brigade. This brigade has been deployed in California to guard against the invasion of Mexico. Two years ago, he was promoted to lieutenant general and is now the supreme commander of the U.S. military in California.
Since the outbreak of the war, he has been doing his best to strengthen the defense. In addition to reinforcing "Fort Grant", he also deployed heavy troops in the mountain passes upstream of the Sacramento River. But even so, he still did not have much confidence in the face of the invasion of the Ming army.
"Although the Ming invaded our country in April last year, their military strength was seriously insufficient at that time. Although they mobilized millions of troops, it is well known that those people were all new recruits. They would not rashly send new recruits to the battlefield, so in fact, they could only deploy less than 300,000 troops. Although it seems a lot, they are scattered on a long front line. The scattered troops prevented them from attacking with all their strength. In addition, the backward transportation in Washington State also affected their attack, so their offensive was not fierce..."
After thinking for a moment, Arthur MacArthur said to Chief of Staff Warren Krueger.
"But in the past eight months, their new recruits have completed their training, and they have also replenished a large amount of weapons and equipment. According to the intelligence we have so far, in the past few months they have mobilized more than one million troops from their homeland and African colonies, and even a large number of tanks..."
When mentioning tanks, MacArthur paused, picked up his pipe and took a puff silently. From last year until now, tanks have appeared most frequently in newspapers. Although there are not many tanks, no matter where they appear, the seemingly insurmountable defense line will immediately collapse. They are simply vulnerable.
Portland, with 40,000 defenders, surrendered after only a dozen days of resistance under the tank attack. Tanks are definitely a nightmare for any defender.
With his pipe between his lips, Arthur MacArthur continued.
"After this spring, they will launch a full-scale attack. By then, we will face enemies that will surge like a tide. Not only that, those enemies are armed to the teeth. They are equipped with the most sophisticated weapons in the world and will destroy everything. Their tanks, hundreds of tanks and hundreds of planes, will rush over with their troops and tear our defenses into pieces..."
Looking at the defense deployment on the sand table, MacArthur's brows were knitted together. He knew very well what he was facing.
"Plane, tank, these are what we are facing, but what do we have?"
Faced with the commander's complaints, Chief of Staff Warren couldn't help but sigh.
"God bless you! What kind of enemy are we facing? We are facing a group of enemies armed to the teeth."
When Warren made this exclamation, perhaps he never thought that in another world, there was a group of soldiers who faced their descendants and made such an exclamation, but those soldiers defeated their descendants with their will and flesh and blood.
"Except for rifles, we have almost nothing. We have 400,000 troops, but less than 2,000 machine guns. Each division has only a pitiful 100 machine guns. As for artillery, the number of long-range heavy artillery is also very limited..."
Despite his complaints, MacArthur knew very well that the factories in the East had tried their best. It was a miracle that they could provide them with 2,000 machine guns in just a few months. The Secretary of War even promised him that at least 3,000 machine guns and 200 barreled field guns with a caliber of 4 inches or more would be delivered by the end of the month.
But what does he need now?
Holding his pipe in hand and taking a puff of smoke, MacArthur said to his chief of staff.
"Tanks, we not only need large-caliber machine guns that can destroy tanks, but we also need tanks, not dozens, but hundreds or even thousands, and of course, planes..." MacArthur asked when mentioning planes.
"Warren, when will our plane arrive here?"
What is the best good news for MacArthur right now?
The president promised him at least 200 planes!
With these planes, he at least no longer had to worry about the Ming people's airships bombing his cities and fortresses as he did in the past. Before this, the Ming people, who had air superiority, had always used airships to bomb cities, fortresses and trains.
"It should be in the next few days, because the pilots need time to train, and they can't fly directly from New York, so they need to take the train. However, we have to prepare and repair the airport before they arrive."
Warren said with a smile.
"Thank God, building an airport is much easier than an airship airport. You only need a flat piece of grass to take off and land. In California, many people's farms can be used as airports. We have requisitioned more than 50 farms. Pilots can live in the houses, and the planes can take off directly on the grass."
Listening to the chief of staff's story, MacArthur nodded and said.
"As long as we have planes, the Ming people's airships will no longer pose a threat to us. But this is just to block their airships. Without airships, the damage caused by planes to the ground is limited. Compared with planes, we need tanks more. Tanks..."
MacArthur did not have a deep understanding of the role of airplanes. Apart from being able to attack airships, it seemed that there was no other use for airplanes. After all, the bombs they carried were limited. After the attack on Hampton, Ming airplanes almost fell silent, only occasionally showing up on the battlefield to show their presence. But tanks were different. Tanks... could play an extremely important role on all fronts.
When mentioning tanks, MacArthur said as if he had thought of something.
"I remember that we manufactured tanks three years ago. But why don't we have any tanks until now? The President said that we would be given tanks soon, but damn, the War Department told us that there are no suitable tanks at present. God, if we don't have tanks, we will definitely lose this war..."
The old group is down, so I created a new book club group: 739209015. Everyone is welcome to join and discuss and deduce the plot together.
(End of this chapter)
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