Through the periscope hidden in the position, David Lawrence observed the opposite side across the Mississippi River for a while. The staff officer beside him whispered about the organization and defense situation of a Mexican unit on the opposite side in very detail.
"There is a battalion of Mexico's 7th Motorized Infantry Division in the river bend opposite, and there is probably only one company on the forward position. There are not many troops, but the fortifications are very well built. Their grassroots commanders are pretty good, they must have fought
The old troops from the civil war are not bad at combat effectiveness."
"There are a total of fifty Mexican motorized infantry divisions, and twelve of them are deployed opposite us. There are several independent artillery regiments to provide fire support for them. It is worth noting that the Aurora Corps' independent artillery regiment will strengthen one during the war.
The M7 missile battalion has strong deep attack capabilities."
"The legion's air power is deployed farther away, and its equipment is good and bad. The most threatening one is a J-31 flight group. Although its performance is not top-notch, it can already challenge our F-22B."
After listening to the staff officer's words, David Lawrence also moved his eyes away from the periscope. The other officers beside him quickly opened an electronic map and continued to explain the current situation on the front.
After quickly forming the new Enclave, David Lawrence was extremely ambitious for a while. Although his relationship with his past allies in the Brotherhood was tense, no one dared to offend him at the moment. The only thing that could attract his attention was Aurora.
Legion.
In order to deal with Victor Hugo, David Lawrence prepared two plans. One was to use his daughter Angie as bait, and the other was to form a new Enclave to strengthen its strength. The two plans were carried out at the same time. Currently,
Said the plan went very smoothly.
However, no matter how smooth the plan was, there were times when it had to deal with hard problems. David Lawrence thought about it for a long time when deciding how to revive the United States - he was not sure, so he decided to do some testing.
"Let the exercise start on time, let the boys do a good job." David Lawrence, who was in uniform and full of domineering, left the front line accompanied by a large number of generals behind him. After he drove to the rear headquarters
While taking up the position, the entire troops near Vicksburg began to move.
Four divisions, more than 200 tanks, more than 500 armored vehicles, tens of thousands of logistics support vehicles, and air and ground strike forces including two F-22B flying wings. This is a quite large-scale military operation
The exercise is designed to test the collaborative combat capabilities of multiple Enclave forces.
The imaginary enemy for the exercise... goes without saying.
Not long after the order was issued, the F-22B tasked with the exercise rushed over to destroy the so-called enemy airport. The 'Raptor' was followed by a group of attack aircraft equipped with ground-guided weapons and began to clean the fortifications and armored targets on the ground.
Ground assault forces open the channel.
Finally, an armored division practiced crossing the river under the cover of heavy artillery. Tens of thousands of people were rampaging across hundreds of kilometers of battlefield, and the sound of killing was loud. The iron wings roared, the artillery roared, and the entire exercise was in full swing.
The Enclave has informed the Aurora Legion that it will have military operations near Vicksburg, and the Legion is naturally on the alert early and paying close attention.
Since the sound of artillery fire from the opposite side, the frontline officers and soldiers of the Legion in the protruding part of the river have had trouble sleeping and eating. Not to mention all the investigation methods are used, all the officers are highly nervous and tense 24 hours a day. No one dares to say anything
Is the opponent really fighting or pretending to fight?
The assaults in modern warfare are very fast and violent, and the firepower will reach the extreme in a short period of time. The Enclave's exercise will soon move to the third stage, which is to seize air supremacy and complete the air-ground strike. Next, heavy artillery will cover the armored forces to launch the assault.
The M109A7 self-propelled artillery battalion, which had just quickly rushed to the front line the day before, began to show off its power, bursting out a round of firepower and blasting the target area on the front line to pieces.
David Lawrence, who was staying at the rear command post, was very satisfied with the current situation of the exercise. He felt quite comfortable watching the imaginary targets on the battlefield being destroyed one after another on the electronic map. The staff officer responsible for planning the exercise continued to explain to him.
.
"Our long-range artillery immediately moved its position after firing rapid fire."
"The artillery drone is assessing the damage effect and will conduct the next round of firing if necessary."
"This is a war that will be destroyed upon discovery. The Mexican motorized infantry division on the opposite side cannot withstand such an attack for too long. We estimate that it will only take three hours to break through the opponent's defense line."
"Your Excellency, our radio interceptors have deciphered communications between a Mexican company and the rear. Would you like to hear about it?"
The staff of the exercise are also very proud of the current situation. They feel confident that if the war really starts, the enemy will collapse according to their own vision. David Lawrence has just become the president and is happy to accept his subordinates.
certain behaviors that demonstrate merit.
The communication encryption level at the forward position is not high, so it is not difficult to decipher. The deciphered radio communication is played out by a small speaker, and the sound is very clear. The deciphered conversations are mainly in English, with Spanish and Chinese mixed in, and there are dedicated personnel for this.
Translated for President Lawrence.
"I am Rafael from the protrusion of the river bend. The artillery shells from the opposite side fell outside our position. Can your artillerymen warn the other side so that they don't keep aiming at us?"
"I am the artillery advance battalion headquarters. According to the calculations of the ballistic positioning radar, the artillery shells on the opposite side have not crossed the agreed limit between the two parties. You do not need to panic."
"Of course you don't panic for the next twenty or thirty kilometers. It's us who are facing the artillery shells now. Is there something wrong with your radar? The enemy's artillery shells really fell outside our position."
"Outside the position is not on the position. The legion does not allow us to make the first move. The enemy has not really attacked us, so we cannot fight back. Please calm down, we are more nervous than you now."
"You are hiding far away, you are so nervous. The enemy is conducting drills right in front of our eyes. This is a provocation. Do you understand the provocation? We have to kill all the people on the front line before you can take action? You are all cowards.
"
The deciphered radio report was quickly drowned out by the loud shouts and complaints of the forward commanders. The Enclave staff officer in charge of monitoring proudly said to David Lawrence: "It seems that the Aurora Corps has never thought of going to war with us.
They have been working very hard to suppress the desire of front-line commanders to seek war. From this exercise, we can see that the initiative in the war is in our hands.
It can be said with certainty that as long as we take action first, the dozen or so enemy divisions on the opposite side will never have a chance to correct their mistakes. When Victor Hugo wakes up..."
The staff officer who reported the report wanted to say, 'It will be too late when Victor Hugo wakes up.' But at this time, there were several screams and shouts from the deciphered radio. The person in charge of the translator suddenly changed his face and became a little panicked.
.
David Lawrence was listening to the staff report while nodding his head, but the change in the translator's expression did not escape his eyes. He immediately asked: "What's wrong?"
The translator listened carefully to the sound coming from the radio for a while, and finally confirmed: "It seems like artillery fire was fired from the other side."
"What?"
"The battalion commander of the independent artillery regiment opposite was scolding on the radio, saying that there was a company below that fired artillery without permission."
"What?"
David Lawrence frowned, and everyone in the exercise headquarters became a little quiet. After a while, the officer in charge of liaison came anxiously to report.
"Your Excellency, the long-range artillery that was just transferred said that they were suddenly covered by enemy fire and suffered heavy losses. The 'fire finder' reported that the artillery shells came from the Aurora Corps on the opposite side."
Hey... didn't we agree not to take the initiative to fire artillery? We are practicing, and we have not taken the initiative to start a war. Your army is starting a war without authorization!
David Lawrence was immediately a little confused. The officers in the exercise headquarters were also acting stupidly. This was different from what they expected. This provocation kept coming, and it actually made the people on the opposite side angry.
"Counterattack, what are you doing in a daze?" When he heard that one of his men had been beaten, David Lawrence became furious instantly, "The enemy opened fire and attacked us actively, so let's fire too!"
The exercise soon turned into a real fight, but both sides only used long-range artillery. However, the fight was quickly stopped due to the hit-and-run long-range artillery maneuvering on the battlefield. Generally speaking, Yingke did not expect to be beaten at all.
Lei Fang suffered a big loss.
After David Lawrence calmed down, he immediately asked to protest to the Aurora Corps against the other party's unauthorized firing attack. However, his staff also received a telegram, which was from the Aurora Corps angrily accusing the Enclave of launching an attack in the name of an exercise.
Is there any mistake? It was obviously the Aurora Legion that opened fire and hit us first, and it was one of our artillery units that suffered a loss.
David Lawrence was furious, but the exploratory exercise he planned had to be stopped. The Aurora Legion on the opposite side was also furious. When Zhou Qingfeng learned that there was a firefight on the front line, he also demanded a thorough investigation into what happened?
"I clearly ordered not to take the initiative to attack. The Enclave wants to practice and let him practice. He must exercise restraint. Don't you understand restraint? Who is too full to restrain himself?" The legion commander was angry. Naturally, this matter must be clarified.
Not long after, an artillery company commander named Pang Youcai was found on the front line and said, "Commander, it's not that we can't restrain ourselves. The enemy is responsible for this. In response to the enemy's provocative drills, we remain patient and patient."
Calm down, but the artillery has been prepared, and the muzzle is firmly locked on the enemy's gun position.
When the radar showed that the enemy was firing and the artillery shells were about to land on our position, our artillerymen immediately counterattacked with courage. Because our artillery shells have a large caliber and fast muzzle velocity, our artillery shells reached the enemy before the enemy shells even hit the ground.
Artillery position.
As for why the enemy suffered heavy losses while we suffered small losses, this is entirely because we performed well. So at first glance it seems that we took the initiative to attack, but you wouldn’t believe it. It was really the enemy who attacked us first."
After this rhetoric came up, Zhou Qingfeng was stunned for a long time - Pang Youcai, you are such a damn talent!