Chapter 838 105 Truck Cannon

Charles’ armored vehicle drove into the position and was welcomed almost crazily by American soldiers.

What made Charles feel relieved was that the American soldiers did not jump out of the trenches to surround him. Instead, they stayed in the trenches, waving, greeting, cheering or saluting Charles.

If you have fought in a war, you will know the horror of the battlefield, and you will also know to remain restrained, otherwise you will lose your life.

Pershing’s armored vehicle followed behind Charles. He shouted to Charles from a distance of more than ten meters: “Say a few words, Lieutenant General.”

This is an impromptu speech that Americans like. They always say a few words to boost morale before going to war.

Charles nodded, patted the roof of the armored vehicle to stop it, got out, waved to the soldiers, and jumped into the trench amid cheers.

Hands rushed to Charles, and the soldiers’ voices were excited and excited:
“It’s nice to meet you, General.”

“We are ready, give the order.”

“We can’t wait to kick the Germans’ ass!”

……

Charles laughed, “You seem to be more anxious than I am. I almost thought the Germans were invading the United States.”

The American soldiers burst into laughter.

Charles went on to say:
“But it makes no difference to us whether the Germans invade France or the United States.”

“Because we fight for humanity, for world peace and for all the suffering citizens!”

“So, I don’t think you are helping France by standing here today.”

“And I won’t apologize for your casualties.”

“We will not put you in the second line of defense like the British did.”

“Because you are part of us, we have common interests, common goals, and common ideals.”

“We are fighting a great, just war, and I consider it an honor.”

“And I firmly believe that we will win!”

The American soldiers cheered loudly.

They may not care whether this war is great or just, or they may not care about glory.

But they cared that the Shire treated them as one of their own.

……

Williams successfully shook hands with Charles and got his autograph, which made him so excited that he showed off to Monty all the way.

“Look, I watched him sign and he said to me ‘well done, Captain’.”

He didn’t notice at all that Patton was walking past him with his guards.

The latter’s face darkened when he heard this. This guy seemed to value Charles’ signature more than his own future.

Patton stopped, his eyes grim and his tone stern: “You are no longer a captain, Williams, you seem to have forgotten this.”

Williams suddenly remembered that he had been promoted to major and became the commander of the 3rd Infantry Battalion. He stood at attention and said, “Yes, Lieutenant Colonel.”

Just as Barton was about to leave, he turned back and asked Williams, “Do you know Shire well?”

“That’s right, Colonel,” Williams replied. “I know every battle the Shire has fought.”

This is very similar to Patton, so Patton decided to test Williams.

“Well,” Patton raised his head toward the west bank of the Meuse River, “how do you think Charles will attack?”

Williams frowned, and after thinking for a while, he shook his head gently: “I don’t think there is a better way, Lieutenant Colonel, we can only charge forward.”

Patton nodded in agreement.

In order to prevent the US troops from crossing the river again, the Germans deployed an infantry division of more than 10,000 troops on the opposite side to confront the US troops.

The focus is not on these more than 10,000 people. The US military has much more troops than the German army.

But the Germans reinforced four artillery battalions, all equipped with 4MM caliber howitzers, and used their long-range artillery to block the stone bridge. “Perhaps, Charles can use a belt pontoon bridge.” Patton touched his chin, “Just like they crossed the Meuse River.”

“No, Lieutenant Colonel.” Williams shook his head:

“The crossing of the Meuse River with the pontoon bridge was successful because the Germans were caught off guard.”

“Now that they know that the Shire has a belt-type pontoon bridge and will force a crossing in this area, they will be fully prepared to deal with it.”

“For example, they will deploy a large number of artillery observers along the coast. Once they find that Charles is building a pontoon bridge, they will immediately transfer the artillery to concentrate the bombardment.”

Patton couldn’t argue with that.

Even if the belt pontoon bridge can be built in a short time to launch an attack, it will still be a tragedy if the pontoon bridge is blown up or blocked by artillery fire halfway through the attack.

所有的一切，都是因为德军105MM榴弹炮有12公里的射程，而美军与法军使用的6英寸26英担榴弹炮的射程只有10公里。

The 2-kilometer range difference made the US military very passive when attacking across the river.

The artillery was blocked by the river and could not advance across the board, so it could only cross the river little by little like adding fuel to the fire and be bombed.

Just as the two men were looking worried, trucks drove up along the road in the drizzle and then dispersed to set up artillery behind the defense line.

When their black gun barrels pointed toward the German army, Patton and Williams exclaimed almost at the same time:

“105MM howitzer.”

“German 105mm gun!”

……

Patton quickly took the telescope and looked at the trucks, then said excitedly: “My God, that’s a truck gun. Charles converted the 105MM howitzer into a truck gun.”

The surrounding American soldiers were also shocked by this new type of truck gun:
“Wow, that’s cool, it looks much more advanced than ours!”

“Nonsense! These devices were invented by Charles. Of course, his troops were the first to be equipped with them.”

“I thought a 75mm cannon could be mounted on a truck, but I didn’t expect they also installed a 105mm howitzer!”

……

The layman looks at the excitement and the insider looks at the doorway.

The American soldiers didn’t understand it, in their eyes it was only “cool” and “advanced”.

Williams was different. He turned around to look in the direction of the Germans and asked in surprise: “But this is a 12-kilometer-range artillery. How can Charles find the target…”

Before he could finish his words, the truck gun opened fire.

“Boom boom.”

“Boom boom boom!”

……

Shoot three shots quickly, then immediately put away the hoe and move to another location.

Soon, German artillery shells came whistling through the sky.

The German artillery fired very accurately, and the explosion point was near the French artillery position. Unfortunately, the French artillery had retreated several miles away and was busy with another artillery position.

“Boom, boom, boom!”

……

The battle went back and forth seven or eight times, and every time a shot was fired, the American soldiers cheered.

The artillery battle with long-range howitzers was not very exciting. They could not see where the shells were flying, nor did they know whether they hit their targets. They were just cheering for the sound of the artillery, which was not much different from cheering for firecrackers to explode.

But the astonishment on Barton’s face became more and more serious: “They are not aimless, they have precise coordinates, every time.”

Williams nodded in agreement.

The reason was that the German artillery’s counterattacks were getting weaker and weaker, which showed that the German artillery had suffered losses in rounds of artillery battles, and the losses were not small.

But he still couldn’t understand how Charles discovered the enemy’s artillery position?
(End of this chapter)