Nevertel, the front command of the U.S.-Australian coalition and U.S. Army Lieutenant General John DeWitt, commanded the operation. Pen~Fun~Pavilion www.biquge.info 9 infantry divisions of the U.S. Army were organized into a group army, and in addition, two armored divisions were also strengthened into this group army. The Australian Army's 15 infantry divisions were organized into two army groups.

"General, General MacArthur's phone number." A communications officer said to Lieutenant General John de Witt.

Lieutenant General Witte immediately picked up the phone: "Your Excellency, Commander, I'm Witte, please speak." ”

"Lieutenant General Werther, the Chinese have stopped their march to Nevertel, and we speculate that they must have seen through our plans. Therefore, Plan A is cancelled and Plan B is executed. In any case, do your best to get rid of the Chinese 14th Army within half a month. I'll order the rest of the troops to buy you as much time as possible. Admiral MacArthur said on the other end of the phone.

"Yes, Your Excellency, Commander. Rest assured, Plan B will start working on it and we'll be able to get the job done. Lieutenant General Witte said.

The phone hung up, and Lieutenant General Witte immediately gave the order to march eastward, and two American armored divisions, nine American infantry divisions, and 15 Australian infantry divisions, totaling more than 570,000 people, began to attack the defense lines of the Imperial Army's 14th Army and Fuso's Army.

On March 3, 4638, the United States and Australia began a large-scale attack on the defense line of the 14th Army of the Imperial Army. Among them, the frontal line of the 14th Army of the Imperial Army, in particular, was under tremendous pressure. The 29th Infantry Division and the 44th Infantry Division of the Imperial Army, which were defending the frontal defensive line, were under great pressure. Of course, that's about it. The two infantry divisions of the Imperial Army, supported by a large number of artillery and air force fighters, still firmly held the frontal line of defense that was 50 kilometers long.

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! "On the frontal defensive line, the U.S. Army mobilized 15 field artillery brigades and mobilized 400 155mm heavy howitzers and 800 105mm light howitzers to launch a fierce artillery bombardment of the Imperial Army's defensive line.

And the Imperial Army was not to be outdone, with 144 self-propelled howitzers of the 14th self-propelled howitzer brigade of the 210th Army Group, 24 heavy howitzers and 72 light howitzers of the 29th Infantry Division and 44th Infantry Division, as well as artillery regiments of the 14th Infantry Division. As for the artillery regiment of the 59th Infantry Division and the artillery regiment of the 74th Infantry Division, they were reinforced to the Fuso Army on both flanks. Although the empire has always used the Fuso Army as cannon fodder. However, these cannon fodder must also be of sufficient use on the battlefield. It can't be that at the beginning of the battle, it was almost solved by the heavy shelling of the United States and Australia.

On the frontal battlefield, the artillery strength of the Imperial Army was undoubtedly weaker than that of the Americans. 144 210-mm self-propelled howitzers, plus 72 155-mm heavy howitzers and 216 105-mm light howitzers. The number of artillery pieces is less than half of the US-Australian coalition forces, only a little more than a third. Even the power of the 210-mm self-propelled howitzer is very powerful. However, with the number of artillery seriously at a disadvantage, it is still very difficult to defeat the US-Australian coalition forces in an artillery battle. Especially when the morale of the US-Australian coalition was still aroused, they would rather suffer huge losses than destroy the frontline positions of the Imperial Army, which also caused a lot of losses to the Imperial infantry stationed on the front line.

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! "The U.S. army has more than a thousand artillery pieces, firing wildly. Dense shells fell on the positions of the Imperial Army, leaving craters one after another. The Imperial soldiers, who were hiding in the trenches and in the anti-artillery holes, could only grit their teeth and bear it.

"Well done, let the artillerymen work harder, within twenty minutes, you must run out of shells, and then hide." Lieutenant General Witte ordered. Through the binoculars, he could clearly see that the positions of the Imperial Army had been completely covered by a sea of fire and smoke. You don't have to think about it to know that the fragile human body will definitely not survive such a heavy shelling. Lieutenant General Witte was even optimistic that after this shelling, the US-Australian coalition forces could easily break through the positions of the Chinese Army.

"Work harder, go faster. Otherwise, the Chinese plane will come. When the time comes, we will be bombarded by them. Lieutenant General Witte said to the artillerymen. Now Australia is in the hot summer, and the artillerymen are already sweating all over the shells. However, after hearing that the fighters of the Chinese Air Force would soon fly in to bomb, they could not help but speed up their movements.

These US artillerymen also knew that once they were bombed by the Chinese Air Force, it would be difficult for them to escape. They know very well how powerful the bombing of the Chinese Air Force is. Many artillery colleagues were killed in the bombing of the Chinese Air Force.

"Boom!" A 210-mm shell fell from the sky and hit an artillery position of the US Navy. The six 155-mm howitzers on top of this artillery position were blown off in an instant. The artillery was torn to shreds, and the dead could not die again.

"Bastard, the Chinese's large-caliber heavy artillery, it's really powerful. I really don't know when we will be able to equip this large-caliber heavy artillery. An American artillery general said.

The Chinese Army has always attached great importance to artillery, and the US Army is no different. However, even so, the American artillery believes that they have invested too little in this area for them to confront the Chinese Army at all. Among other things, each infantry division of the US Army has a field artillery brigade under its jurisdiction. However, this brigade had only more than 4,000 people. The three regiments below also had only 24 155mm howitzers or 105mm howitzers each. In contrast, the Chinese Army's U.S. Infantry Division has an artillery regiment under its command, and one of the three artillery battalions is equipped with 24 155mm heavy howitzers, and the remaining two are equipped with 36 105mm light howitzers. There are 24 more 105-mm light howitzers than the US army. Not to mention the American Army Group of the Chinese Army, which also has a heavy artillery brigade armed with 210-mm self-propelled howitzers. The U.S. Army also has plans for this, but the 210mm howitzer is too heavy. So even now, no samples have been produced.

Although, under the fierce counterattack of the Imperial Army, the American artillery paid heavy losses. However, they also succeeded in blowing up the Imperial Army's defenses, and the entire position was as if it had been ploughed through by someone.

Many of the fortifications built by the Imperial Army, such as trenches, fixed firing points, barbed wire, and minefields, were destroyed by heavy American artillery. However, in terms of personnel, because the Imperial Army has always been very strict about the construction of fortifications. Therefore, even though the American artillery bombardment was fierce, the casualties of the Imperial infantry hiding in the trenches and in the anti-artillery holes were actually not large.

The Imperial Air Force arrived at the battlefield much earlier than Lieutenant General Witte had expected. While the artillery of the United States and Australia was still firing frantically, the fighters of a group of the Imperial Air Force rushed to the battlefield covering a squadron of dive bombers and two squadrons of ground attack planes.

"Oh God! How did the Chinese Air Force come so fast? Command the artillery, immediately transfer. Lieutenant General Witte shouted loudly at the top of his voice. He knew very well that if he wanted to destroy the 14th Army of the Imperial Army, it was very necessary to save the artillery. Without a powerful artillery force, it would have been impossible to destroy the 14th Army of the Imperial Army.

The artillerymen of the United States and Australia who were shelling hurriedly stopped firing, hurriedly put away the cannons, and prepared to tow them into the woods by trucks.

The Imperial Air Force had spotted them and attacked.

"The fighters attack first to suppress the anti-aircraft fire that the Americans may have, and then the dive bombers and ground attack aircraft attack again to attack and deal with the American artillery." The commander gave the order.

The F9 fighters of the Imperial Air Force, with 25 kg bombs hanging under the wings, were the first to attack, flying over the heads of the American artillery and dropping the bombs under the wings. The bomb fell into the crowd and blew up a lot of American artillery.

Subsequently, these fighters, who dropped their bombs, began to strafe the artillery of the US-Australian coalition with machine guns and aviation machine guns, and the intensive machine-gun fire and machine-gun fire brought about one bloody storm after another among the artillery of the US-Australian coalition. Countless American artillery were directly torn to pieces by powerful aviation machine gun bullets. Some of them were broken and all blown up into scrap metal.

"Knock knock!" The anti-aircraft artillery of the US army began to roar, wanting to disperse the Chinese air force in the sky. It's just that their efforts are completely in vain. Instead, it was suppressed by the fighters of the Imperial Air Force.

A dive bomber began to dive and drop bombs from a high altitude, and the 500-kilogram aerial bomb mounted under the belly fell directly into the US artillery. After the bomb exploded, a group of American artillery was torn to pieces, and those cannons were completely destroyed, and even the barrels were distorted.

Ground attack aircraft can also stay in the air for a long time because they carry more bombs and cannon shells. Therefore, these ground attack planes undoubtedly pose a greater threat to US artillery.

Under the blows of ground attack aircraft, the US artillery suffered heavy losses. A large number of artillery was shot and the artillery was blown up. For the artillery of the Imperial Army, there was only stopping.

When the Imperial Air Force fighters ran out of bombs and all the bullets, they swaggered away, leaving only a mess of American artillery positions. (To be continued.) )