Expedition to Europe

Since the United States announced its participation in the war in April last year, it has sent soldiers directly to France and built military camps for training on its own.

On the Atlantic coast, the Americans have built a total of more than a dozen training camps, each of which can accommodate nearly 10,000 people.

After a year of training, American soldiers have already had initial combat effectiveness.

Because there are not enough officers, the US military has an unconventional scale, with each division having about 27,000 people, which is about twice that of Britain, France, Germany and other countries.

Of course, although the number of people is large enough, how much combat effectiveness these troops can show remains to be tested in the war.

In fact, when Foch called Pershing, Pershing had already sent a telegram to US President Wilson requesting to join the war.

Pershing was in France, watching the British and French fight to death every day, but he stayed in Orleans and watched from the sidelines, which was really unreasonable. If Pershing could still refuse to join the war last year on the pretext that the US military had not received enough training, now there is no excuse.

Pershing knew very well that although the British and French did not say it, they might be very annoyed in their hearts.

After receiving Pershing's telegram, Wilson was also evaluating whether he should join the war immediately.

Since Wilson publicly announced the "Fourteen Points", the British and French now have a bad impression of Wilson, and they are not as enthusiastic about the United States as before. Wilson needs an opportunity to ease relations with Europe.

On the other hand, Wilson is also evaluating the situation of the European war. In the resolution of the US Cabinet, the United States should join the war, but it should join when the war is stalemate, or it should join when the Allies are at a disadvantage, so that the Americans can appear in Europe as saviors and maximize the benefits of joining the war.

It seems that the time has come.

On April 5, Pershing called Foch back and said that four US military divisions were ready to join the war at any time.

These four divisions are not four divisions in the usual sense, but a large force with a total strength of more than 100,000 people.

In fact, just yesterday, Ludendorff finally noticed the importance of Yamen and ordered Hutier to attack in the direction of Yamen.

However, Hutier's troops were in trouble. On the evening of the 4th, when night fell, many of Hutier's troops had not eaten or drunk anything for the whole day.

The German soldiers finally paid the price for their recklessness in the past two days, because the Germans did not find any supplies in the old battlefield area of ​​the Somme River, and the Germans' "fighting to support the war" strategy officially failed.

Although they finally had a clear tactical goal, the troops led by Hutier had lost the ability to continue the attack. They had to stop and wait for support materials from the rear, and also wait for the slow-moving artillery units.

This finally gave Goff a chance to breathe. So far, Goff's troops have been mostly disbanded. Only the eight divisions that have followed Goff since 1914 can still be contacted, and the remaining six divisions cannot be contacted at all.

Goff did not know the current location of these six divisions, nor did he know how much combat power they had left.

What is more likely is that these six divisions have been annihilated or captured by the Germans. If this tragedy really happens, it will be the biggest tragedy of the British army since the Battle of the Somme.

Goff did not want to be nailed to the pillar of shame, and the British could not let this happen, so Goff was transferred back to the country, and Haig transferred back the commander of the Second Army, Plummer, from the Italian battlefield, and ordered Plummer to command Goff's troops.

This is a good thing. In the current Yamin area, there are British, French, Chinese and Americans. So many troops are concentrated in a small Yamin, which immediately highlights the importance of Yamin as a transportation center.

While Yamin's defense force continued to increase, Qin Zhiyuan also received support. A brigade of the 42nd Division of the US Army went to the Reims area. The brigade commander was Douglas MacArthur, who was about to turn 38.

Douglas MacArthur is a legendary figure. He still holds the highest score record of the West Point Military Academy, which has not been broken until the 21st century.

In the original history, Douglas MacArthur had mixed reputations.

Through World War II, MacArthur liberated the entire Southeast Asia, and fostered the independence of these countries, freeing them from the colonization of Britain and France. At the same time, he rebuilt Japan from the ruins after the war. Finally, he was responsible for commanding the United Nations multinational forces and China in Korea. That battle also became Douglas MacArthur's Waterloo, stripping off all of Douglas MacArthur's legendary halo.

Now Douglas MacArthur has not shown superior strength. He is just an ordinary US military officer, at best, just an American military officer who is good at dealing with the press.

This is due to his experience as an aide to Army Secretary Baker in the previous two years, who was responsible for dealing with the news media. During that time, MacArthur had a great influence and MacArthur benefited from it for life. If it were not for the hype of the news media, MacArthur would not have reached the height in the original history.

In the original history, MacArthur appeared as a prophet and savior whether in the Philippines or in Japan.

But in April 1918, when MacArthur faced Qin Zhiyuan, MacArthur was unusually respectful.

"General, Douglas MacArthur leads the 84th Brigade to report to you." MacArthur's salute posture is very standard, and he is indeed the holder of the highest score record.

MacArthur is now a brigadier general, and he was promoted a few days ago because of his bravery in combat.

This is a bit strange. The US military has not really participated in the war so far, and there are almost no real battles. I really don't know where MacArthur's combat bravery comes from.

"Doug, welcome to join." Qin Zhiyuan saluted in return. Unlike the US military's way of saluting with hands stretched in front of the forehead, Qin Zhiyuan used the standard PLA military salute, with fingertips staying on the temples.

Qin Zhiyuan was still very curious about MacArthur, so when he saw MacArthur, Qin Zhiyuan looked at him carefully.

Unlike the thin figure in the general sense, MacArthur who appeared in front of Qin Zhiyuan was tall and strong, and MacArthur's face was angular, which was impressive. At the same time, because MacArthur wore his hat a little low, if MacArthur wanted to look at others, he had to raise his chin slightly, which gave people a feeling of pride, but not to the level of arrogance. This made Qin Zhiyuan feel good and decided to promote this way of wearing hats in the Chinese troops in the future.

After confirming the relationship between superiors and subordinates, MacArthur followed Qin Zhiyuan into the headquarters.

In the headquarters, a group of generals were discussing the recent defense adjustment plan on a sand table, and the debate was quite intense.

The original text is in Liu # 9 @Book/Bar!

Qin Zhiyuan originally had a strong army, but after four divisions were transferred away, Qin Zhiyuan's reserve force was no longer sufficient. Although MacArthur's brigade was only a brigade-level organization, it had a large number of people, more than 10,000 people.

The current US military is not as exaggerated as in later generations. The troops are troops, regardless of combat personnel and logistics personnel. These more than 10,000 people are almost all combat personnel, which is almost a division.

If Qin Zhiyuan's idea is followed, the 84th Brigade of the US Army will join the ranks of the reserve, and the direction of support for the 84th Brigade will be determined later as the war progresses.

But MacArthur obviously did not want to stay in the rear. After listening to Qin Zhiyuan's order, MacArthur strongly requested to be deployed to the front line, even if he would face the German attack directly without any buffer.

Such belligerence left Qin Zhiyuan with the impression that he was a very utilitarian person.

"Bell-belligerence" does not mean good at fighting. For a "belligerent" person, it is natural to fight out of a sea of ​​corpses and blood and step on the heads of soldiers to reach the pinnacle of life. "One general's success is the result of the death of thousands of bones" refers to this kind of person.

Qin Zhiyuan certainly did not dislike MacArthur's initiative to fight. For Qin Zhiyuan, the more generals like MacArthur, the better. Anyway, it was not the Chinese who died, and Qin Zhiyuan did not need to be responsible for the lives of Americans.

So on the day of arriving in Reims, MacArthur's 84th Brigade was sent to Amifontein, where the terrain was not conducive to defense and there was no Supp River to rely on.

Qin Zhiyuan was skeptical about the combat effectiveness of the 84th Brigade. Therefore, after deploying the 84th Brigade to Amifontein, Qin Zhiyuan ordered Qin Haoge's Brigade to enter Corbeny to protect the rear of the 84th Brigade.

If the position defended by the 84th Brigade was broken by the Germans, Qin Haoge's division would have to go up in time. For this reason, Qin Zhiyuan strengthened Qin Haoge with a battalion of tanks to further enhance the armored force in Qin Haoge's army.

In fact, the 84th Brigade also had a tank unit, about 50 vehicles. MacArthur obviously accepted George Patton's reminder and did not disperse these tanks, but formed an armored unit directly under MacArthur's command.

When all this was deployed, it was already April 10.

At this time, there were enough troops in the Ammien area. Foch sent the reassembled Tenth Army to Ammien. So far, the French army has sent three armies to support the British army.

Ludendorff lost the opportunity to capture Ammien and take the initiative on the battlefield.

However, from another perspective, Ludendorff also achieved part of his strategic goal. The offensive he launched in the Arras area not only forced out the British reserve, but also attracted part of the French army to Arras.

Now it seems that the entire Western Front is in a state of strong north and weak south. The northern half is strong, and the German army takes the initiative. The British and French coalition forces, with the support of Chinese troops and American troops, are still in a state of retreat, but they have successfully established a solid line of defense far away from the front line.

Although there is no large-scale battle in the entire southern half, the clouds of war are gathering, and the entire front is in a restless state of excitement.

Everyone is waiting, waiting for Ludendorff's next move.