As the war progresses into its fifth year, as science, technology and industrial production capacity are fully tilted toward the military, the U.S. Army's equipment has made a qualitative leap.
At this time, the U.S. Air Force had not yet become independent of the Army. Long before the Japanese Combined Fleet attacked Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Army had been reorganized, with Deputy Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Henry Arnold also serving as Commander of the Army Air Forces. This made the pre-war The status of the Army Aviation Corps, which was still an inconspicuous supporting role, has been significantly improved.
In July of the second year after the war broke out, the U.S. Army Aviation Corps was reorganized into the Army Air Corps. With the establishment of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Army was reorganized again and consisted of ground forces, Army Aviation Forces and Army Logistics Forces. This has once again improved the status of the Army Aviation Force.
By October 1943, the U.S. Army Aviation Forces had established 12 aviation groups and 175 combat aviation groups, with a total of 1.88 million people and about 50,000 aircraft.
The main models equipped by the U.S. Army Air Force include P51 "Mustang", P47 "Thunderbolt" and P38 "Lightning" fighters, B17 "Flying Fortress", B25 "Mitchell" and B29 "Super Flying Fortress" bombers, and jet fighters Development has also begun.
However, due to the continuous bombing and harassment of industrial areas in the eastern United States by Japanese fighter planes, the research and development of jet fighters continued. The first prototype XP59A was not completed until June this year, but its performance was not even as good as the P51 "Mustang". Some flight schools and aviation clubs are equipped with some experimental models to obtain detailed flight data.
After the Japanese army landed on the North American continent, they obtained a large amount of high-tech from the United States. This included the production materials for the latest fighter aircraft, which led to a rapid improvement in the research and development level of Japanese military aircraft. The Japanese not only fully absorbed the advantages of US military aircraft. They even used The American aircraft production line is used to produce American fighter aircraft for use in combating the United States.
Japan's problem is that it needs to deal with multiple fronts at the same time. Due to the intervention of chaebols in Southeast Asia, Australia, North America and other occupied areas, interest disputes continue, property rights relations have never been clear, and there is an extreme shortage of strong domestic labor. Allied prisoners of war and forced work White workers were passive and slow at work, production materials were seriously insufficient, and production capacity could not be increased. Naturally, the number of Japanese fighter planes could not compare with that of the United States, which had launched a nationwide mobilization.
At present, the ratio of the number of fighter jets between Japan and the United States in the North American battlefield is 1:4. One Japanese fighter jet has to deal with the challenge of four U.S. fighter jets at the same time, and the U.S. military has an absolute advantage.
Compared with the Navy, which has always been relatively stable, the U.S. Army ground forces have also undergone great changes.
No one was optimistic about the U.S. Army, which had a pre-war total of only 100,000 people. This army seriously lacked actual combat experience, had outdated equipment, and uneven training. It could only be described as being at the bottom of the pack among the great powers.
With the outbreak of the war, especially the Japanese landing on the North American continent, the United States accelerated the pace of equipment updating, especially focusing on the establishment of armored forces. As of this year, twenty armored divisions have been organized and formed into heavy, medium and light Three major systems of tanks.
Among them, heavy tanks were developed based on the German "Tiger" type, the Soviet Union's KV and IS, and the Anjia Army's Tiger I tank. The M6 and T29 heavy tanks were developed. Although these two tanks are widely equipped in various armored divisions, There are few, but its skin is rough and its flesh is thick. It is very difficult for the Japanese anti-tank firepower to deal with it, so it has been used as the main force in attacking fortresses.
The medium tank M4 "Sherman" series is the main battle tank of the US armored division. It is mainly equipped with a 76mm artillery. It can penetrate 88mm 30° steel plate at a distance of 900 meters. What's funny is that it is the first tank under the Japanese North American Army.
The Second Armored Corps is mainly equipped with M4 tanks. Although their performance is not as good as the later improved models of the US military, they can still threaten the safety of US tanks.
The light tanks M3 and M5 "Stewart" series are the main combat equipment of the US Army's ** tank battalion. They are mainly used by infantry as cover firepower during attacks.
What Americans are most proud of is the progress of artillery.
As early as the last European War, senior U.S. military officials believed that the Army must have support weapons with stronger firepower to supplement the 75mm artillery. Therefore, the 155mm howitzer joined active service, and together with the 75mm artillery, served as the main weapon at the U.S. division level.
Artillery weapons.
Unfortunately, the 155mm howitzer has poor mobility and many other flaws. After the war, although the Americans believed that artillery of other calibers should be used instead, due to the influence of the international peace environment, the 2029 financial crisis and the trend of isolation,
, the U.S. government's research and development of new artillery has been intermittent, without much substantial progress.
After the Pearl Harbor incident, the Americans realized the urgency and necessity of building an army, and realized the superiority of the 105mm artillery between 75mm and 155mm from actual combat examples in European and Asian battlefields, so they actively chose to start from
Nanhua introduces 105mm mountain howitzer patent and production line.
Nanhua's 105mm mountain howitzer weighs only 1,310 kilograms and can fire 13 different types of shells. It can fire 20 rounds per minute and has a maximum range of 12 kilometers. It can be transported by aircraft, airdropped, towed by vehicles or livestock, or dismantled.
It can be disassembled into eleven parts and transported quickly by people or horses. Seven gunners can complete the disassembly work in three to four minutes, individual parts can be carried by manpower, and all parts can be reassembled into a complete howitzer in four to five minutes.
to perform new tasks.
Of course, in response to the frequent attacks by the Japanese army in North America, senior US military officials believed that in order to cope with larger-scale operations, the 105mm artillery must be supplemented by 155mm artillery, 8-inch howitzers, 240mm howitzers and 8-inch cannons, so they began to develop self-propelled artillery.
, so cannons of various calibers were moved onto the chassis of tanks, and various self-propelled artillery, assault guns and tank destroyers were derived.
In early September, the U.S. Third Army, commanded by Lieutenant General George Patton, successively captured the cities of Indianapolis, Champaign, and Bloomington, and pressed toward Chicago from the east, southeast, and south.
Since then, the two sides have repeatedly fought outside Chicago. The war has fallen into a stalemate.
On September 30, after learning of the U.S. military's naval defeat in the Pacific Theater, the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff asked General Patton to immediately deal with the enemy in front of him and boost the fighting spirit of the American people with an unprecedented victory.
On October 3, shortly after the U.S. troops on the island of New Caledonia announced their surrender to the Japanese, the North American U.S. military began the prelude to the Battle of Chicago.
"Replace with high-explosive bombs!"
"Loading complete!"
"Attention...aim...target...azimuth...shoot!"
The recoil of the 76mm tank gun when it fired made every member of the M4A3 tank deeply feel the huge power of the propellant bursting out in an instant.
When the loader opened the breech again, a pungent smoke suddenly filled the small turret and cabin inside the tank. However, no one paid attention to the harsh working environment. Since the shell flew out of the muzzle, the commander's
His eyes were constantly observing the target through the vehicle's periscope. After two or three seconds, he crossed himself excitedly on his chest: "Thank God, the target was hit! Loader, next shot, continue to load high-explosive bombs!"
The black loader, who was as strong as an ox, silently took out the artillery shell with a delayed fuse from the ammunition storage rack. He only heard a crisp metal collision sound of "clang", and then the loud voice of the black loader came: "
Report to the commander, the high-explosive bombs have been loaded!"
"Okay, now attack the next target!"
When the commander said this, he suddenly discovered a new Japanese firepower point and immediately shouted: "Aim...target...azimuth...fire!"
In this wilderness south of Chicago, twenty-four M4 tanks and twelve 105mm M4 assault guns are bombarding targets three kilometers away with their own artillery under the guidance of Army Air Force combat aircraft that firmly occupy the air superiority over the battlefield.
Japanese defensive position.
Hidden on the left and right wings of this long-range fire strike echelon are forty-two M6 heavy tanks, two hundred and ten M4 heavy tanks, one hundred and fifty-eight M5 light tanks, twelve M4 assault guns, and seventeen M8
Assault guns, fifty-four 105mm M7 self-propelled howitzers, and fifty-four M8 armored vehicles are watching the battlefield ahead with vigilance.
Behind these armored vehicles, parked next to the dense forest about two kilometers away, are three half-track armored command vehicles, six wheeled communication vehicles, and three radar vehicles. There are also hidden in the hilly area from the dense forest to the rear.
Six hundred and forty half-track armored vehicles and more than a thousand military trucks, all of which are the main battle force of this armored division.
After the shelling lasted for more than 20 minutes, many machine gun fire points on the Japanese defense line fell silent, and there was no more sound of counterattack gunfire, as if no troops were deployed in the position at all.
According to feedback from the intelligence department, as factories and enterprises in Chicago and surrounding areas were demolished by the Japanese army, the Japanese army encountered big problems in ammunition supply. Many troops were ordered to economize on the use of bullets and artillery shells. Therefore, US military commanders could not
It was concluded that this was not a case of the Japanese army holding back and waiting until the US military took the initiative to attack before delivering a fatal blow.
Just when the U.S. military commander was hesitant, clouds of yellow smoke suddenly rose from the Japanese position. This was obviously caused by the artificial use of smoke bombs.
When the Americans saw this scene, their faces changed drastically. The Japanese were well known to the world for their ruthlessness. The soldiers did not need to be reminded by their superiors at all, and began to hurriedly look for gas masks and put them on.
Soon the yellow mist spread to a large area and showed no sign of weakening. The US military was on standby to be on guard against Japanese mischief.
At this time, the roar of the engine rang out in the mist, and the sound of the tracks crushing the ground was heard one after another, and the ground shook violently.
It was only then that the U.S. military suddenly realized that the Japanese army was trying to use smoke to conceal the actions of its tank troops.
At this time, if you look down from a high altitude, you will see large waves of tanks rushing towards the smoke-generated areas in the south and north. The total number of tanks on both sides is close to 5,000, and the largest wave of tank battles on the American battlefield has broken out.
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The Emperor is really too tired, so this chapter doesn’t feel very interesting. Sorry!
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