The commander of the U.S. artillery battalion was named John Baker.

Clifton secretly told Zhang Chi that because Baker was the commander of the artillery battalion, and he was lustful, he had a nickname called "Cannon Ghost".

When the "gun ghost" Baker stood in front of Zhang Chi, Zhang Chi couldn't help but be stunned, originally he thought that this Baker would be a raunchy, bearded, scumbag, and even drooling American officer, but he didn't expect to be a handsome young man in well-dressed clothes, and it was difficult to associate him with the "lustful" that Clifton said by looking at his appearance.

But then again, which American GI is not lustful? In fact, which man is not?!

"Here's the thing!" Zhang Chi summoned Baker to the map, pointed to the area west of the Matanicao River, and said, "Our preliminary estimate is ...... The Japanese have at least seven long-range artillery pieces in this area, and they are causing great problems for our airfields. Your job is to destroy or suppress as many cannons as possible, you know? ”

"Understood!" Baker replied.

"Do you have any plans?" Zhang Chi asked.

"Uh......" Baker replied after a moment's thought, "the plan is ...... Placement of artillery observers on the high ground, in addition, I need reconnaissance aircraft, especially when the organic group is about to land at the airfield, several reconnaissance aircraft need to closely monitor and be ready to guide the artillery, so that as soon as those Japanese fire...... I'll let them know I'm good! ”

"Hmm!" Zhang Chi nodded.

It can also be seen from this that Baker is an experienced veteran, especially the use of aerial reconnaissance to guide artillery is even more remarkable.

But that's not enough.

"You've got a great plan!" "But the problem is...... The Japanese artillery had a range of eighteen km, while theirs had only seven, and it was quite possible that it was scattered fire! ”

"Sir, how do you know they're scattered?" Baker asked.

Zhang Chi didn't answer, just took out a piece of paper and handed it to Baker.

That was the work that Zhang Chi did before. He clearly marked the location of each shell of the Japanese army on the map.

There are usually two kinds of artillery positions, one is an artillery company or an artillery battalion in the same artillery position, and the guns are separated by more than ten meters...... The advantages of this are strong firepower, fast response, and convenient communication. Once a coordinate is obtained, a dozen or more guns can be fired at the same time, and a large number of shells will cover the target's area and destroy it in a pinch of time.

The disadvantage is that once such an artillery position is discovered by the enemy and timely returns fire with artillery or air power, it will suffer heavy losses due to the excessive density of artillery.

Another. That is, each cannon is independent and scattered, which has higher requirements for communication, and each scattered gun must establish communication in order to command, and even if they hit the same target, it will also be due to different positions, calculation errors of various elements, wind deviation, air density and other factors that cause the shells to fall in a non-concentrated location, and it takes a certain amount of luck to destroy the target.

The Japanese apparently used the second method, because the points of their shells were very different from each other, and some shells even hit the jungle outside the airport.

Baker was an artilleryman, and he understood it when he looked at that picture.

"There's going to be a problem!" Zhang Chi said while drawing a circle on the map: "The Matanikao River is eight kilometers away from the airport. This meant that it was possible that the Japanese artillery could be hidden within a range of ten kilometers west of the Matanicao River. And your artillery observers, you have to find them exactly when they fire, don't you think it's okay? ”

Hearing this, Baker couldn't help but be stunned...... Ten kilometers of jungle, in which seven scattered artillery pieces were found, what is the difference between looking for a needle in a haystack? How many artillery observers are needed for this ?!

"What are your plans?" Zhang Chi asked again.

"Sir!" Baker replied with some embarrassment: "I, I don't have a plan!" ”

"Of course you have!" Zhang Chi said: "You can narrow down the scope of observation! ”

"Narrow your observations?" Baker was puzzled.

"Yes!" Zhang Chi replied: "The Japanese landed at Cape Cruise, and the long-range artillery and shells are very heavy, and there is no road on Kuah Island. There wasn't even a mountain road, so ......"

"Oh. Yes! Hearing this, Baker couldn't help but suddenly realize: "It is impossible for the Japanese to transport these long-range guns too far, so they must be near Cape Cruise." ”

"Yes!" Zhang Chi nodded: "If it is transported too far, the Japanese will spend a lot of manpower and time just to carry the shells, and they don't have time to do it." Do you know what to do now? ”

"Yes, sir!" Baker confidently stepped forward towards Zhang.

When Baker left, Clifton exclaimed, "Zhang. I have a question...... Are you born with these skills? ”

"What?" Zhang Chi didn't understand Clifton's words.

"I mean......" Clifton raised his head at Baker's back, "You seem to know everything, the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, and now the artillery...... Where did you get this knowledge? ”

Zhang Chi smiled and replied, "Colonel, we Chinese have a saying called one hundred tongs. It means that some things just need to know how they work, and you will find that everything else is the same! ”

Clifton nodded, then shook his head again. Zhang Chi understood what he said, but he felt that it would not be so simple.

Clifton was right, of course, things were not as simple as Zhang Chi said.

The truth is that Zhang Chi, a half of the military fans, has more historical knowledge and more military theories, coupled with attention to details and personal thinking, so that they can grasp the pulse of the war again and again.

Of course, Zhang Chi wouldn't tell Clifton about this.

The artillery battle in the direction of the Matanikao River turned out to be as Zhang Chi thought...... It was the Japanese artillery near Cape Cruise that gave Baker's artillery battalion a great victory, and they destroyed four Japanese guns in only half a day.

Of course, it is not certain whether the artillery was destroyed or not, because the shells hit a position several kilometers away, and the artillery could not see what was happening when the shells exploded. They could only hear from the scouts who were on a guidance mission in the air: "Well hit, I think you hit the target, because I saw the detonation of shells...... Wow, that's beautiful! I wish you could see it too! ”

But that was only the detonation of the shells, and only the Japanese themselves knew whether the artillery that destroyed the Japanese army or not.

The only thing that is certain is this: the Japanese artillery fire fell silent.

Because they realized that with their firepower and supply level, they were simply not capable of engaging in an artillery battle with the American troops, so they tried to block the airfield in vain.

(To be continued.) )