Liu Zizheng's troops are building a defensive line.
After confirmation by the Algerian Foreign Legion headquarters, there are seven regiments under the First Division, namely five infantry regiments, one artillery regiment and one armored regiment. Their numbers in the Foreign Legion are 612 regiments.
This number is limited to the Order of Battle of the Foreign Legion.
Within the 1st Division, all troops are subdivided into nine regiments, numbered 19. Among them, Chen Kangjian's armored brigade has two regiments, namely the 1st and 2nd; Liu Zizheng and Greif's two infantry brigades
There are four subordinate regiments, occupying three to six; Zheng Dali's artillery brigade also has two subordinate regiments, the seventh regiment is equipped with towed artillery, and the eighth regiment is equipped with the newly installed self-propelled artillery; the final ninth
The regiment belongs to the regiment directly under Qin Zhiyuan, which is composed entirely of foreigners.
Compared with the British and French divisions, the First Division has about 23,000 men, which is similar to the establishment of the American division.
Liu Zizheng's troops are responsible for the first frontal line of defense.
With the jewels of the Hindenburg Line in front, the 1st Division's defense line was built to perfection. If I had to find a difference, it would probably be the artillery holes.
The Germans had enough time to build a defensive line. Their Hindenburg Defense Line had been built for less than half a year, so they could dig holes in an orderly manner until they were as deep as forty or fifty meters.
The First Division didn't have much time, and only had one week to calculate the full attack. Naturally, it was impossible to dig as deep as a dozen floors, so it had to use tricks. Fortunately, there were many smart people in the First Division. Based on the firepower characteristics of the Germans, they created
The reverse-sloped anti-blast hole does not require digging deep, and the defensive performance is not much different.
The so-called anti-slope anti-gun holes are dug at locations where German artillery cannot shoot directly. Since the position Qin Zhiyuan chose is a hilly terrain, it is not difficult to dig. In addition, the warehouse tube produced by Renault Company
The steel structure has very good defensive performance.
Long before rushing to Ferenta de Noir, Qin Zhiyuan approached Old Renault and asked him to produce a batch of large-scale steel frame structures that could be assembled, which could not only be used as supports in bomb-proof caves, but also
Quickly build defensive bunkers.
These steel structures are similar to yurts with openings at both ends. Both exits can be opened from the inside or closed. Once the opening is closed, it cannot be opened manually from the outside and can only be destroyed with explosives.
Generally, as long as such fortresses are set up, most of them will form a group of bunkers, which can support each other and are not easy to destroy violently. In order to increase the defense capability, the soldiers even piled several layers of sandbags around the bunkers. Unless they are attacked by
Large-caliber heavy artillery hit them directly, otherwise it would be difficult to destroy them.
Because there is sufficient material supply, the first division's light machine guns have been spread to the squad level, and there are still two guns per squad. Each bunker is garrisoned by a squad, which can take care of shooting on both sides.
Yes, on both sides. This is the key point for forming crossfire. There are shooting holes on the bunker, but the shooting holes are not directly aimed at the direction in which the enemy is coming, but are aimed at the side and front. This can prevent the enemy from directly shooting at the people inside the bunker.
The defenders can cooperate with other bunkers to form effective crossfire to kill the enemy.
The heavy machine guns of the 1st Division are assigned to the company level. Each company has a machine gun platoon, equipped with four heavy machine guns and four 80 mm caliber mortars. These heavy machine guns and mortars are plus those assigned to the squad.
The first-level light machine gun constitutes the basic firepower of the first division.
When it comes to firepower density, the First Division is no worse than the British division because of its larger proportion of heavy machine guns, and it is not even a bit better than the German division.
Although there are a lot of machine guns, they are spread across the entire front, and it still feels like there is insufficient firepower.
The position Qin Zhiyuan chose was a semicircular position nestled against a mountain. The advantage of this position was that it would not be attacked from both sides. The disadvantage was that the protruding part of the defense line would become a key attack target for the Germans. Once a point was broken through, the entire
All fronts will collapse.
Fortunately, Liu Zizheng still has a trump card, which is 20 taels of ft17 tanks. These twenty tanks may not be able to attack if they are used, but if they are added to the defense, the effect will be great. The advantages of using tanks for defense are better than fixed ones.
There are many types of bunkers. For example, they are flexible and can be transferred at any time and can be flexibly deployed according to the enemy's attack direction. For example, tanks themselves have strong defensive capabilities and are difficult to destroy unless they are hit in the face by direct-aimed artillery.
.Another example is that the tank itself has assault capabilities and can actually countercharge the enemy, etc.
In short, Liu Zi was preparing a feast for Crown Prince William on the battlefield, and was waiting for Crown Prince William to come and taste it.
About 500 meters behind the first line of defense, Greif's troops were also building a defensive line. Different from Liu Zizheng's attack and defense, Greif's troops mainly built anti-gun holes. Greif's troops were reserve forces. Once the front was
If Liu Zizheng's brigade or Bastian's 32nd Division can no longer hold it, Greif's brigade will attack.
Qin Zhiyuan's headquarters is on the defense line of Greif's brigade. The headquarters is built on the top of a slightly higher hill. The nearly 400-foot headquarters is reinforced with three layers of sandwich. The bottom layer is a steel frame structure with two layers of paving on top.
Layers of sandbags, logs on top, and sandbags on top.
Such a structure has been tested in the last exercise and can withstand direct bombardment from a 200 mm caliber heavy artillery. No matter how large the caliber is, it is estimated that the Germans cannot pull it over, and it has already entered the level of a rail gun.
At the same time, about 5 kilometers north of the main position, Chen Kangjian's armored troops were doing the last maintenance on the tank.
The armored soldiers were hiding in the woods, and the tanks were covered with camouflage cloth. Even if the German reconnaissance planes flew over the treetops, they might not be able to find them. The auxiliary fuel tanks on the tanks had been removed, and the tanks were filled with oil and ammunition.
The racks were filled with high-explosive bombs, and the troops were ready to attack.
Chen Kangjian's mission was to make a detour. Once the fighting started on the main position, Chen Kangjian would lead the armored regiment to make a detour behind the Germans. Even if he could not encircle and annihilate all the Germans, he would still annihilate some of them.
The fighting began when the Germans set out from Reims.
Hu Tingfeng and Jin Taihe led the scouts to seduce the Germans. They wanted to lead the Germans to the preset positions. In order to successfully complete the mission, Qin Zhiyuan gave all the three-wheelers to Hu Tingfeng, which was enough for him.
The Scouts provide unparalleled mobility. Neither the German horses nor their trucks can catch up with the Scouts, who are like stepping on Hot Wheels.
On May 3rd, the forward troops of the German Fifth Army set off from Reims and launched an attack on Fernandez de Noy.
On that day, there was an exchange of fire between the reconnaissance troops of the First Division and the forward troops of the Seventh Army.
