The American Civil War was the final curtain call for front-loading rifles.

Seeing the term "front-loading rifle", you should know what kind of training the U.S. troops receive, and Niveler was right, if the current U.S. troops were sent directly to the battlefield, then the tragedy of the Battle of the Somme would happen again.

Pershing's purpose is very clear, since the current US military is unable to undertake combat missions, then the US army will be subjected to a second basic training, and the time that Pershing hopes for is six months.

"Six months?" Roque couldn't believe that the world war had entered its fourth year, and both sides were exhausted and struggling to support it with their last breath, and Roque also wanted to give the Americans six months, but the Germans would not agree.

"Yes, six months, General Pershing's reason is that the US military cannot adapt to the current battlefield on the Western Front at all, and it needs at least six months of basic training before the US troops can undertake combat missions." Paul Cocker is also helpless, these American troops have received basic training in the United States for half a year before arriving in France, and now Pershing has another six months, which is not a frivolous "unable to adapt" can be summed up.

"Who is responsible for the expenses incurred by the US military in France?" The corners of Roque's mouth twitched, and he really wanted to scold.

"Of course it is—we the British Empire." Paul Cocker hung his head, the Americans were using the British Empire as a triumphant.

Regardless of how the media in another time and space boasted, in fact, in the First World War, the United States only joined the war when Europe was about to decide the winner, and even after the US troops arrived on the European battlefield, they only entered the battle after delaying for almost half a year.

I have seen a lot of people in two lives, shameless people and shameless country Roque, but there is only one like the United States that is so shameless in both time and space.

"Tell General Pershing that there is no such time as six months for him, only half a month at most, and after half a month, the US army will have to participate in the attack of the coalition forces, otherwise the US troops can only undertake auxiliary tasks." Roque is not accustomed to the Americans, the world war has been fought to the present, the pre-war conventional forces of the participating countries have been depleted, and now the participating troops of all countries have experienced the transformation process from recruits to veterans, including the Southern African Expeditionary Force and the Anzac, all of which have matured rapidly at a painful price in brutal battles, and there is no other shortcut.

"General Pershing also wants to get technical information on tanks and aircraft—" Paul Coker's spectacle lenses reflected a dangerous gaze.

"No, tell General Pershing that the pay and the gain are equal, the British Empire can share information with France, this is the qualification that France paid two million casualties of officers and soldiers, what contribution has the Americans made now? Just the million recruits they have in the training camp? Although the Kingdom of Italy blew up its hides, it finally tirelessly attacked Austria-Hungary on the Isonzo River, what did the Americans do? "Roque directly refused, everyone wants the key, do you deserve it?

Ah, no, that's rude, it should be: are you worthy?

While Roque and Paul Cocker were complaining about the Americans, several American generals were discussing their views on the course of the war at Pershing's temporary residence in Antwerp.

"By the standards of the 2nd Cavalry Division, it is true that our troops are not ready to take part in the battle, and if our troops go to the battlefield now, then they will definitely replicate the heavy losses of the British Expeditionary Force in the Battle of the Somme." Major General Charles Menor, commander of the Rainbow Division, had a serious expression, the Rainbow Division was the first US military unit to arrive in Europe, and the official name of this division in the US Army was the 42nd Infantry Division, because the Rainbow Division was drawn from the National Guard in 26 states and the District of Columbia, so it was also called the Rainbow Division.

"The 2nd Cavalry Division is the elite unit of the British Expeditionary Force, and probably the best performing unit on the entire Western Front, we don't have to be presumptuous, give us enough time, and our troops will be just as good." Chief of Staff Douglas MacArthur, who was promoted by surprise only after entering the war, was confident that this was another man who had been mythologized by transition, not that he was bad, but that he was over-touted and that his influence in East Asia was far greater than in the United States.

"Gentlemen, stay calm, the 2nd Cavalry Division is far better than what we have seen, have you paid attention to the battle reports of the 2nd Cavalry Division, since the New Year, the 2nd Cavalry Division has killed and wounded 45,000 German troops, but no large-scale battles have broken out in Antwerp during this time, what does this mean?" Pershing is indeed visionary, and the Second Cavalry Division is indeed a good fighter without a great attack, Xia Fei should feel ashamed to see what is the real "small bite and slow food".

The number of casualties and the number of casualties are two different things, the world war has been fought until now, the Allies and the Central Powers have noticed the role of veterans, the level of field medical care is constantly improving, the Battle of Verdun has been fought for a whole year, the total number of French casualties is 540,000, the number of casualties is 156,000, the total number of German casualties is 434,000, the number of casualties is 143,000, and the ratio of casualties is almost 3:1.

The casualty figure of the Second Cavalry Division was much higher than that of the Battle of Verdun, and the 45,000 German soldiers killed and wounded by the Second Cavalry Division may have directly killed more than 30,000 people, which is a very terrifying proportion.

Neither Charles Menor nor Douglas MacArthur could answer Pershing's question, as they lacked sufficient knowledge of the brutality of the Western Front.

"In the 2nd Cavalry Division, each squad has at least one precision shooter, and if you look at the basic infantry squad of the 2nd Cavalry Division, you will find that their tactical equipment is very reasonable, precision marksmen, light machine guns, portable grenade launchers, all equipped with self-defense pistols, as well as those flamethrowers and mortars that can move quickly, gentlemen, we still have a lot of work to do——" Pershing finished speaking, only to notice that Menol and MacArthur's expressions were ugly, so he immediately remedied: "- Fortunately, there were not many elite troops like the 2nd Cavalry Division, otherwise we would have better take a ship back to the United States at once and pray that the Germans would not cross the Atlantic. ”

The joke was not funny, Pershing did not have the talent to tell jokes, Menor and MacArthur could not laugh, putting aside the skin color of the officers and men of the Second Cavalry Division, only comparing the combat effectiveness, the American GIs of the Rainbow Division really did not have much advantage.

The "American GI" here refers purely to height, and the statistics of recruits born in 1900 in various countries show that the average height of recruits in the US military is 1.72 meters, 1.69 meters for British and German recruits, and 1.67 meters for recruits in France and the Russian Empire.

Guess how many Chinese were in the same period?

The answer is 1.68 meters, one centimeter lower than the British recruits and one centimeter higher than the French.

There is another data that must be of concern to many people, the average height of Japanese recruits born in 1900 is 1.57 meters.

Think about the Qing Dynasty in 1900, and think about Europe in 1900.

"Next, I will try to buy as much time as possible, you must immediately organize troops to train in the way of the Second Cavalry Division, and adapt to the Western Front as quickly as possible, if we want to get more benefits after the end of the world war, then we must perform better on the Western Front, at least not too far from the Second Cavalry Division." Pershing did not dare to speak of surpassing the 2nd Cavalry Division, for fear that Menor and MacArthur would lose confidence.

"We don't have tanks and planes, so we can't do coordinated training between different services." Menor has practical difficulties, and the gap cannot be bridged if you want to make up for it, the United States is too far away from Europe, and the combat methods of the US military units have lagged behind Europe for half a century.

Before the American troops came to Europe, they were still trained in the same way as the American Civil War, but the Civil War was already in 1861, and the fixed ammunition was even just appearing at that time.

"I'll try to figure out a way, there are no tanks and planes, at least we have rifles, and each infantry squad of the 2nd Cavalry Division has accurate marksmen, how many of them are there in total?" Pershing did not want to mention the data, in fact, if by the standards of the 2nd Cavalry Division, a whole 100 million Americans, there was not a single accurate shooter.

This reality is a bit hurtful.

After determining the focus of work in the next period, the US military immediately took action, and at least in terms of execution, the US military units are quite good.

The 2nd Cavalry Division gave the US troops the help they could, and at Pershing's request, sent sniper instructors to the US troops.

There are a total of 15 sniper instructors, 14 of whom are Chinese, which makes the US officers and soldiers a little embarrassed, and the United States is still implementing the "Chinese Exclusion Act", and according to the standards of the US military, the Chinese in the United States are not even qualified to join the army.

But in Europe, the fact that Chinese people have become instructors in US military units can only be said to be more bizarre than reality.

Sophia and her family went to Tanganyika, where Qin Ling purchased a 500-acre farm in Tanganyika, a special benefit given to expeditionary officers and soldiers by the Southern African War Department.

The officers and men of the expedition will buy farms in Tanganyika or Southwest Africa, and the price will be reduced by 20 percent on the normal basis, and the difference will be borne by the Ministry of Defense of Southern Africa, and the care of soldiers in Southern Africa is not superficial, but all kinds of tangible benefits, because of the relationship with Qinling, the Ministry of Defense will even reimburse the expenses of Sophia and her family to go to Southern Africa.

When he came to the Rainbow Division's station, Qin Ling was neatly dressed and his leather shoes were polished, which immediately won Pershing's favor.

Pershing is a person who has high requirements for military appearance.

(On the last day, I suddenly found that this month is basically three watches, I admire myself so much, I want to knock one to the person in the mirror when I look in the mirror.) ）