typeface
large
in
Small
Turn off the lights
Previous bookshelf directory Bookmark Next

Chapter 479 Artillery Battle

At dawn, almost at the same time as the sun in the east, the dark attacking team of the Northern Army appeared.

These people were not wearing the standard uniforms of the US military. Most of them were wearing their own clothes.

Only the armed belts on their bodies and the cowhide ammunition bag slung on one waist showed that these people were combatants.

At this time, the warring North and South sides claimed to be civilian armed forces. And the Kansas area they were fighting in was still a free state.

So they don't need to be bound by federal laws here. Everything here depends on whose fist is stronger.

To put it bluntly, this is similar to the fighting among the people during the Qing Dynasty. Sometimes two villages would fight with hundreds or even thousands of people to get water from a certain river, and it would not matter life or death. In such cases, the government would generally not

Come forward.

But the fighting that broke out in Kansas at this time was perhaps the largest local fighting in history.

Yes, the essence of this war is an armed struggle for control of land.

It's just that this time the area of ​​land they are fighting for is relatively large, almost the entire central Great Plains.

The U.S. federal government has been taking a cold-shoulder attitude towards this war.

This also reflects how weak the federal government's control over the states is now.

Maybe the federal government wants to take care of this matter. But even if it sends out all the federal troops, it may not be able to defeat any of them.

Because the entire federation currently only has a standing army of 10,000 people.

President Piltz's ambiguous attitude towards slavery in the South was also the reason why the federal government did not intervene in the matter.

Of course, the cause of this matter is the federal government's bill.

Now that northern liberals and southern slave owners are at war, the federal government has no way of stepping up to take care of this matter. If it does, it will involve the original law.

History says Piltz was sympathetic to slavery.

But Piltz is a real northerner. He grew up in New Hampshire.

How could he sympathize with slavery after growing up in such an environment?

In fact, this government favored southern slaveholders, mainly because Congress was controlled by southern states.

As President Piltz does not have enough courage to confront Congress, then he can only compromise with Congress.

Let’s not talk about the federal affairs of the United States. The current situation in the United States is that the northern liberals are dissatisfied with this law.

Prepare to fight these southern slave owners and use force to determine the ownership of the new territory in the center.

Returning to the eastern suburbs of Wichita City. As dawn falls, the war is about to break out.

"General Michel led 8,000 men from the right leg to attack the Chinese mercenary group position near the river."

"General Grant led eight thousand soldiers, including two thousand cavalry, to attack the Texan line on the left flank."

"The remaining people will follow the headquarters as a reserve force and confuse the enemy in the middle."

Commander Muller finally gave the order.

On the left wing of the Southern Army, the positions of the Renaissance Army were still bustling with activity.

As long as the battle has not begun, the soldiers of the Renaissance Army will continue to repair and strengthen their trenches.

There is a saying in the Renaissance Army that the trench is the soldier's home on the battlefield.

If the trenches in front of the station are well repaired, there will be fewer casualties during the battle.

The trenches on the Yangtze River security side were built into a Z-shape according to Wall's later requirements.

In the direction facing the river, some mounds of soil that were narrow at the top and wide at the bottom were built with the soil dug from the trenches.

The purpose of these mounds is to block bombardment from the direction of the river.

The Northern Army divided its artillery into two parts to assist the attack on the left and right wings respectively.

"Are the Northerners going to attack across the board?" In the rear command post, General Drayton was observing the deployment on the opposite side with a telescope.

From a distance, the Northern Army was divided into three parts.

But in fact, the left and right wings are the main force of the Northern Army, which cannot be seen clearly from a distance.

"Let all ministries hold on to their own lines of defense." Faced with the enemy's attack method, Drayton could only arrange this.

It now seems that the strength of both sides should be about the same. As the defensive side, the Southern Army should still have a certain advantage.

The Confederate Army's left-wing position. Wall was also watching the Union Army slowly approach to the beat of drums.

"Still using a line formation?" Wall's lips raised.

When they fought against the British in the past, the Americans were bullied by the British because their line formations were not arranged well.

So they have been learning the British line formation. And the French, the teachers of the US military, have been teaching them this way.

It is said that the American Continental Army defeated the British.

In fact, more than half of the credit should be attributed to the French.

Whether it was the American Revolutionary War from 1775 to 1783, or the American-British War from 1812 to 1815.

There are traces of the French in them. When you go back to the battlefield at that time, you will find that every American commander has a French officer beside him to assist in the command.

Therefore, the shadow of the French army can also be seen in the US military.

This time, General Muller had his troops conduct joint training for a period of time in advance before allowing them to arrange themselves into line formations.

Today they lined up to attack in a line formation just to give the Confederate army a show of strength.

Unlike Wall's sneer, General Drayton, the commander of the Confederate army, had a serious look on his face.

Because his men definitely cannot form such a formation.

This shows that the command of the Northern Army is more unified. Unlike the Southern Army, Drayton can only command those officers.

There are even conflicts between the various legions below.

Historically, Americans still used line formations until the Civil War. This shows their admiration for this tactic.

Of course, this is related to the fact that they mainly still use muzzle-loading guns.

Now, their perception is that the line formation is naturally invincible.

Infantrymen who can form a line formation are considered elite. This is because this formation requires cooperation between soldiers, understanding various instructions, and a long period of training to be able to do it.

Now the Northern Army is coming in line formation, which is very provocative.

Before the Northern Army infantry arrived, artillery fire came first.

"Boom, boom, boom..." Dense solid artillery shells flew towards the Confederate army's position.

But the results after the left and right wings are attacked are completely different.

The soldiers of the Chinese army on the left were hiding in the trenches. The effect of this solid shell was not obvious. Most of the shells crossed the trench or hit the low wall in front of the trench.

The right-wing white mercenaries, who were mainly Texans, hid behind parapets.

The cannonball hit the parapet with a loud noise, and the soldiers hid behind the parapet and shivered.

Some of the parapets that were not strong enough were even shattered by cannonballs, and the soldiers behind them were thrown off their feet.

"Boom, boom, boom..." The artillery from the Southern Army also began to fight back.

However, the artillery fire on the Confederate side was much sparser.

Because their artillery is arranged behind each defense line. It is very scattered.

Not only was it impossible to fire a salvo of artillery fire, but it was also impossible to concentrate the fire in one direction.

Although the artillery of the Northern Army was divided into two artillery positions, north and south.

But it can achieve a certain level of volley.

The only artillery unit in the entire Southern Army that can be considered an organic unit is the artillery unit of the Yangtze River Security Bureau.

Now Wall has about 6,000 men, members of three detachments.

These include a large number of mortars and field artillery.

The number of artillery pieces in Wall's hands is almost equivalent to the number of artillery pieces in a regiment of the Renaissance Army.

These artillery pieces are also newly added to the Yangtze River security equipment.

Before, they only had some mortars as supporting fire.

Huaer didn't know why Dong Shuheng was so generous this time and brought them so much equipment.

It seems that the president attaches great importance to the war in North America.

The Confederate artillery was counterattacking, but there was no movement on the Yangtze River security side.

"Commander, our artillery can reach their artillery position on the north side. Do you want to knock out their artillery?" an officer asked.

"Wait a minute and let them fight for a while," Wall said.

Seeing that the Confederate artillery was counterattacking, the Northern Army began to pinpoint the Confederate artillery positions.

The artillery of the Northern Army is obviously more professional. They improve the hit rate of artillery through salvo fire.

At this time, the artillery used by both the North and the South was mainly the 6-pound field gun from the Napoleonic period. The rate of fire was not slow, but the accuracy was not so good.

Under the targeted volleys of the Northern Army, several Southern Army artillery positions were already in place.

Wall knew that he could not wait any longer at this time, otherwise the friendly forces would have objections after the war.

"First destroy the enemy's artillery position on the north side. Let the mortars move forward to the first trench and fire together with the artillery."

The range of mortars is relatively short. But without the support of mortars, the artillery in Wall's hands alone cannot cover the enemy's artillery positions.

Coverage shooting is an important artillery tactic. It is very difficult to achieve such an effect with current black powder explosive shells.

To increase the success rate, more artillery must be concentrated.

"Bang bang..." One gun each fired from the artillery position and the mortar position.

"Adjust the angle upward by 5 degrees, correct it by 10 degrees to the right, and fire 5 rounds of salvos. Release!"

The artillery officers quickly issued correction orders based on the results of the test firing.

Then fierce artillery fire exploded on the Northern Army artillery position.

Seeing the enemy's mighty artillery fire just now, the people who were bombed fell over their feet. The morale of the soldiers on the Confederate side was immediately boosted.

"This group of Chinese artillery is very unusual, and their tactics are very professional." Mueller, the commander of the Northern Army, said after seeing this scene.

"This Chinese mercenary group fought well." General Drayton also praised.

Since the beginning of the war, the only thing the Confederate Army has done well is the Yangtze River security bombardment.

As for explosive bombs, the Northern Army also has them, but their use is not very common. On the one hand, they are expensive to make, and on the other hand, they are not stable.

Another reason is that the Northern Army just wanted to destroy the Southern Army's fortifications, especially the parapets.

"Send the order for our gunboats to attack and destroy the enemy artillery on the right." Muller quickly ordered.

The gunboats of the Northern Army were the trump card, and they were originally intended to attack suddenly when the infantry attacked.

Now, after seeing the Yangtze Security's artillery show off its power, Mueller finally couldn't help but send out the gunboats in advance.

Behind the left flank of the Confederate army, Wall was also observing the enemy's movements. The enemy's infantry moved very slowly and had not yet entered the shooting range of the rifle.

The wave of covering fire just now caused huge losses to the artillery positions on the right side of the Northern Army.

Wall felt that the threat from the enemy's artillery on the right was basically resolved.

"Commander, the enemy's gunboat is coming up." At this time, a soldier ran over and reported.

Sure enough, the enemy really prepared gunboats.

Wall moved his gaze to the river.

Five pillars of smoke rose from the river to the east.

These are five gunboats converted from steamships. Steel plates were added to key parts of the gunboats for reinforcement.

There are some field guns installed on the gunboat because there is no special turret.

These guns can only be fixed on the deck of the gunboat.

Originally, the Yangtze River Security artillery was preparing to turn its muzzle to attack the enemy's infantry, but now it had to concentrate its firepower on the enemy's gunboats on the river.

"Boom, boom, boom..." As soon as the gunboats on the river appeared, they preemptively fired at the Yangtze River security positions on the shore.

This time they also fired explosive bombs.

Despite the protection, the enemy's shooting still caused some losses here.

"One round for test firing, prepare to...fire!" the commander ordered from the artillery position of Yangtze Security Bureau.

The gunners quickly made adjustments under the commander's orders.

"Boom!" The test shell exploded in front of the enemy's gunboat formation, splashing a column of water.

The artillery commander quickly adjusted the angles of all artillery positions and fired a salvo.

This time they still used explosive bombs.

Because the gun emplacements on the gunboat are all installed on the deck without any protective measures.

As long as one explosive bomb falls on the deck, the gunboat will lose most of its attack power.

It is not very easy to hit a moving gunboat.

However, because it was covering fire, a few shells still fell on the gunboat.

The shock wave of the shell explosion overturned the artillery on the enemy gunboat. Several gunners were blown away by the shock wave and fell into the turbulent waters of the Kansas River.

The Northern Army's gunboats sailed upstream and were modified from ordinary merchant ships, so they were not very fast.

This was also their penalty item. Moreover, it was now the spring flood season, and the water flow in the river was very fast, which also slowed down the speed of the gunboat.

"Keep fighting and send them all to the bottom of the river to feed the bastards." the artillery commander shouted.

Taking advantage of the gap where the artillerymen of the Yangtze River Security were attracted by the gunboats.

The Union infantry on the right increased their speed.

General Michel held his command knife high and asked the soldiers to speed up their advance.

The biggest disadvantage of line formation is that it slows down the advance of the infantry.

Small horizontal arrays are connected to the left and right to form a huge horizontal array.

This huge horizontal formation pressed forward like a moving wall.

When two armies confront each other, such a formation can exert tremendous psychological pressure on the other side's soldiers.

"Mortar, shoot the enemy infantry." The commander of the Yangtze River Security Front ordered.

"Boom, boom, boom..." The mortar adjusted its angle and fired a round of fire at the enemy infantry formation pressing over from the opposite side.

Several shells directly hit the horizontal array.

Gaps were created one after another in the advancing infantry array, but they were quickly filled by the infantry behind them.

Line infantry always resisted enemy artillery fire.

This is the most basic thing. If they can't even withstand the shelling, then the subsequent shooting at them will be even more unbearable. That is the most cruel thing.

ps: Sorry, I posted late today. There are too many chores at home. Alas! Keep asking for votes. If you don’t vote, your monthly vote will expire.


This chapter has been completed!
Previous Bookshelf directory Bookmark Next