After crossing the defensive line, Wesley first ordered ten divisions to set off, but instead of taking over the line immediately, they began to build a complete second and third line positions behind the first line of defense, and although there were fortifications here, it was rubbish in Wesley's opinion.
The American GIs became marmots, and they diligently began to dig, and the results of all the training were displayed here, and the troops of ten divisions, having completed the defensive line, moved into the second line to rest.
On the night of September 20, 1917, the follow-up troops quietly entered the front-line position, replaced the original British and French soldiers, and then began the re-construction of the trenches.
The next morning, the defensive position here was quiet, and the German troops began to constantly observe the situation on the opposite side, and the movement of the previous night was not small, they thought that the enemy was ready to attack, but now it was silent, which made them very depressed, and the tension had been spreading.
Wesley deployed 50 divisions and 10 heavy artillery brigades on the Somme Defense Line, and the strength of 10 divisions in the first line of defense, although the establishment of a division of the US Army was only 12,500 men, more than half of that of other countries, but the automatic weapons and artillery were all stronger than them, especially in the defense.
The problem now is that these soldiers are all new recruits, and Wesley needs to hone them, and the artillery bombardment on both sides is the best one, especially the quality of the front-line officers.
He divided all the troops, one army group for every ten divisions, a total of four army groups, and he kept ten divisions in his hands as reserves, and the heavy artillery brigades were divided into two for each army, and he left two.
On the front line, Wesley was observing with a telescope, and now he needed to understand the enemy's defensive line, but after seeing it, there was nothing new, it was all a dilapidated trench from the First World War, and many soldiers had been here for almost two years, and they were physically and mentally exhausted.
Returning to the rear command, Wesley directly ordered to concentrate six heavy artillery brigades and carry out artillery shelling of the enemy's front-line positions, with 155 new howitzers directly shelling local positions, and 120 new howitzers shelling the front of local positions, and carpets are shelling to destroy local mine areas.
Wesley's defensive section was only twenty kilometers of defense, no more, no less, six heavy artillery brigades would be engaged in a week-long artillery bombardment, while the remaining four heavy artillery brigades were ready to defend against enemy artillery counterattacks, concealed closer to the front line.
"Tom" the first artillery fired, and then hundreds of heavy guns were distributed at the longest distance to fire continuously, and continuous explosions began on the local positions, Wesley used carpet shelling, which required relatively high artillery shooting, and the artillery observers in the front-line positions continued to transmit back data, and the artillerymen began to adjust.
The Germans were dazed by the sudden artillery bombardment, but they did not think that the other side would attack, this is the norm on the defensive line, especially in this year's spring offensive, Britain and France suffered heavy losses, although the Americans came, but the Americans would attack directly The German artillery began to counterattack, but the effect was not great, but the counterattack was devastating, the maximum attack range of the 155 howitzer designed by Wesley was 18 kilometers, deployed at a distance of 16 kilometers from the local position, there were many large-caliber guns during World War I, but the range was a problem.
They could only carry out artillery bombardment on the front-line positions, and then the four heavy artillery brigades in ambush began to be eliminated at a fixed point, which caught the Germans by surprise, and the range of the opponent's artillery was too long.
Wesley observed the effect of the artillery battle and felt very satisfied, "Yes, it lasts for a week, let the artillery unit grasp it by itself, each shelling should be extended, and at the same time, constantly change the troops to feel the effect of the shelling, and all the soldiers must adapt to the roar of the artillery during a week." ” Wesley asked the lieutenant to convey the order, and then returned to the back to check the situation of the supplies, because there were not as many troops as in the parallel universe, and now all the transports began to guarantee ammunition and supplies, directly from the North Sea, and a large number of destroyers and light cruisers began to serve, so that the sea route was guaranteed.
The listening is very rough now, and for sonar-equipped warships, they are like beacons under the surface of the sea, especially since the US Navy has sunk more than twenty submarines so far.
Having summoned all the commanders again, Wesley laid out the battle plan for a week, "The First Army, to attack on the morning of September 27, the heavy artillery brigades will be the first to carry out the artillery bombardment, the First Army will concentrate three divisions and launch a breakthrough operation at three parallel points, and the follow-up troops will tear holes in the points and expand them." ” "The First Army is responsible for attacking all the way forward, I want speed, you must ensure speed, keep moving forward, and don't stop without an order."
The commander of the First Army was an older major general, and they were all major generals and brigadier generals here, not even a lieutenant general, so it was really rare to see such a strange thing.
"The task of the Second Army, after the breakthrough of the First Army, you are in charge of their right flank, you have to break through and attack like the right flank, but don't attack too deep, so that the Germans understand that their entire western front has been broken through, causing their rear flank, or sending troops to defend."
"The Third Army, follow the First Army, they don't stop, you can't stop, once the First Army's attack is smooth and keep moving forward, then you have to replenish their right flank defense.
Your two armies bear a maximum of twenty kilometers of defense on the right flank. ” "The Fourth Army is preparing to deploy a defensive line 30 kilometers behind the local position, the engineer brigade assists the heavy artillery brigade in moving forward, and the divisional artillery must give full play to the advantages of convenient movement, especially the advantages of small-caliber mortars and 75 rapid-fire guns on the front line, and use the short-term firepower advantage to constantly make the enemy unable to counterattack, but can only constantly retreat, and use automatic weapons to effectively kill and injure the enemy's living forces."
"The Fifth Army is the middle reserve, with two heavy artillery brigades with me, ready to support the operation at any time, the characteristic of this campaign is that it is fast, and all the participating countries have a problem, that is, their equipment is bulky, whether it is weapons or military uniforms, it is all unusually bulky, and this is the problem that we avoided when we formed the troops."
"Why did we form a new type of army, our equipment is light and simple, especially for troops below the regimental level, which are light and flexible, with sufficient firepower, and we have full advantages on the battlefield of hand-to-hand combat.
Of course, we also have a disadvantage, that is, our soldiers are all new recruits, so you should pay attention to this, let the soldiers continue to fight alternately, and fully let them feel the war, especially the front-line commanders, once there is an emotional collapse, directly dismiss on the spot, and promote a group of soldiers in the line of fire. ” "Do you understand," Wesley glanced around one last time.
"Yes."
War, the stage of the military. t1706231537: