1855 United States Tycoon

Chapter 76 Tactical Change (1)

“Tommy, what’s our training content today? Is it the damn trench digging again? I yuck! I was hoeing in the countryside, but when I was in the army, I was still digging, and the digging was more than when I was farming. Much!” A Sardinian soldier complained and stepped heavily on the foot of a multi-purpose engineer shovel. The steel engineer shovel plunged into the soil immediately, and then he lifted it forcefully. A large piece of soil was thrown out of the trench.

“Rosie, stop complaining and go ahead. Although we are lucky, but let’s be honest, Lieutenant Colonel Neville is a good guy. Although he likes to toss people with those from the United States, he still pays us when we are paid. That’s enough. Unlike some officers, I heard…”

“Tommy, why did I see you chatting again? If I didn’t finish it on time today, I’ll slap you with a whip!” A man with the appearance of a company commander shouted loudly.

“Damn it!” Tommy scooped up a shovel of dirt and threw it out. “Why does Captain Andy always only see me talking! Obviously you said it first!”

“Have you never heard of it? Our whip won’t break, we won’t beat lazy ones, only those without eyes!” Rossi looked around and saw Captain Andy turn his head over there. , Quickly replied.

“Why didn’t he come down and do it himself?” Tommy lowered his head and complained. “But to say, this shovel from the United States is really a good thing. It is much easier to use than ours. If we retire in the future, we can bring it back. Just go home.”

“If you can bring it home, you don’t need to buy shovel, kitchen knife, scissors, axe, saw, hoes, and frying pan. This one is enough! But, think about it, our military uniform is still left after the senior retires. Yes, this thing will definitely stay in the army. You want to take it back. It’s a dream!” said Rossi, lifting the engineer shovel in his hand, and making a strong move on a certain part, the engineer shovel. He bent over and became a hoe. Then Rossi lowered his head and hoeed it up.

“Brothers, work harder and dig it deeper. Today we have to finish this damn spider web! I can tell you that tomorrow you will squat in here and experience what the shelling is like.”

Like most countries, the artillery of the Kingdom of Sardinia usually has very few live ammunition training, and it may not be possible to fire two artillery in a year. But now, fools know that they are about to go to war with the Austrians, so the artillery’s live-fire training has also greatly increased. The Kingdom of Sardinia even spent money on the artillery to replace the artillery. They bought some new 12-pounder guns from the French and they are busy training.

This new 12-pounder gun was named after Napoleon III, who ruled France at the time, and was called the Napoleon gun. As a bronze smoothbore gun, its performance is also very good, so in the subsequent Civil War, both sides used a large number of this artillery. However, with the emergence of steel rifled guns, the splendor of this type of gun was short-lived and soon faded. But at this time, this gun is definitely still among the advanced weapons.

The consultants of “Blackwater” felt that since artillerymen rarely had the opportunity to train with live ammunition, it would be a waste to let them use those 12-pound iron balls to shoot targets. It’s better to just put the target near the trench net dug by the infantry, and let the guys in the army get familiar with the feeling of the shells flying over their heads.

Captain Andy called this group of trenches “cobwebs” for a reason. If you climb the hill nearby and look down at the trenches, you will find that there are three trenches, each with a distance of more than 100 meters, and these three trenches consist of several longitudinal traffic trenches. Phase connection. The traffic trench looks like the warp of a spider web, and the three trenches with jagged folds are like the weft of a spider web.

It is already the morning of the next day. Several artillery targets have been placed before the first trench, between the first trench and the second trench, and between the second trench and the third trench. The infantry also entered the trenches, ready to experience the bombardment.

“Tommy, you idiot! Haven’t fired yet, what are you doing with your head down so low and your butt so high? Is it convenient for me to kick it hard?” Captain Andy cursed viciously. Entering the trench, waiting for the artillery shells to fly over his head, he has not experienced such a thing either, so he was a little nervous.

“Captain, didn’t you teach us to be concealed?” Tommy raised his head and looked at Captain Andy innocently. The surrounding soldiers burst into laughter.

“Tommy, the captain didn’t tell you to push your ass so high!”

“That’s right, Tommy, your ass is sticking out of the trench!”

“Actually, there is nothing to be afraid of firing a cannon. After seeing the shells, there is no time to conceal it.” said Dell, a “blackwater” consultant who was assigned to the company. “I saw it when I was at war with the Mexicans.”

“What does it look like when a cannonball comes over?” someone asked.

“It’s like a big baseball flying over. At first glance, it seems slow, it seems that you can catch it with your hands. Of course, if you really accept it, you would be silly. But I have seen it with my own eyes, a 12-pound serve The shells made a Mexican marching column from beginning to end. Those unlucky ones who were hit were all smashed to pieces.” Dale replied, speaking of “split to pieces,” he exaggeratedly exploded. Gesture.

“Okay, we’re going to wave the red flag over there. They are ready to fire. Just wait for us to wave the red flag.” Captain Andy said, “Boys, are you ready? When you are ready, I will Wave the flag and let the gun fire over there.”

“Report to Captain, isn’t it all right?” Tommy replied.

“Why it’s you again! What else do you have?”

“Report to Captain, I want to pee.” Tommy said.

“Hold it!” the captain said viciously, and waved the flag in his hand vigorously.

The soldiers were still laughing at Tommy. Seeing the captain waved the flag, they squatted down one by one, fearing that they would be hit by the shells.

Captain Andy also wanted to squat down, but the United States guy named Dale is still in good shape, still sticking his head out of the trench, holding a binoculars and looking at the artillery, so he I felt that I was not too embarrassed to squat down. So Captain Andy had no choice but to hold his head on the outside. Like the United States guy, he raised his binoculars and looked at the artillery, while cursing in his heart: “Damn the United States guy!”

Through the binoculars, Captain Andy saw that a gunner was thrusting something into the gun body, and then a cloud of white smoke burst out of the muzzle.

“Fire!” Andy instinctively wanted to squat down, but looking at Dale, he still stood upright.

“Damn United States guy!” Andy tried hard to contain his desire to squat down. He had never hated that United States guy like this.

Although I saw the white smoke from the muzzle, the sound of the gun did not come over immediately. The artillery’s artillery position was about 1,500 meters away, and it took more than four seconds for the sound to be heard back. So most of the soldiers who put their heads in the trenches didn’t even know that the artillery had fired.

“Cowards! They are all cowards who are afraid of death!” Andy cursed, to relieve own tension. It wasn’t until he finished this sentence that the sound of the cannon penetrated his ears. The sound of the cannon was low and dull, like the sound of thunder from far away clouds during a thunderstorm.

At this time, he also saw the cannonball described by Dell, which looked like a large baseball. It flew from a distance and flew very slowly. It seemed that only a better pair of gloves could be used to hold it. Catch.

“How powerful is this kind of thing?” Andy thought.

The cannonball flew to the highest point and began to fall downward. In Andy’s eyes, it began to change faster and faster, and then fell heavily on the ground more than ten meters away from the target, and immediately smashed a ball on the ground. Dust, and then the cannonball jumped forward like a water drift, easily digging a hole in the first target made of thick planks, then piercing the four or five targets behind, and then again. When it fell, it landed heavily on the mound in front of the first trench, immediately stirring up a large amount of dust. At the same time, the cannonball jumped up, passed the first trench, and fell again about 20 meters behind the trench, then rolled more than 20 meters, then fell into a pit and stopped.

Andy has personally inspected these targets. The thick planks on each target are as thick as a palm, and at such a distance, the shell can penetrate them like several layers of paper. If these shells fall in the queue, it is really…

The first shot accurately hit the target, which obviously excited the gunners on the opposite side. This can be seen from the faster and faster firing speed behind them. It’s just that the shells shot from behind these gunners are not as accurate as the first shot. The second set of targets, they took five shots to hit, and one of them was hit directly at a distance of just over a meter away from Andy’s trench, when the shell fell with a strange noise. When he came, even the United States guy who had been pretending to be cool moved, and he jumped to the corner of the trench with a leap. Then the cannonball landed a little in front of the place where he had just stood, stirred up a large pile of dust, jumped up again, crossed the trench, and fell behind. After a while, the piles of stones and dirt fell down, and Andy’s hat and uniform were all over the place where Andy had just squatted down.

After about twenty shots, the opposite waved the flag to indicate that it was over. Andy began to check the loss of his own troops.

“Report the company commander, our platoon has no casualties.” The platoon commander of the first platoon reported. Andy nodded in satisfaction.

“Report the company commander, our platoon has no casualties.” The second platoon leader reported that Andy nodded with satisfaction.

“Report to the company commander. One of our platoons was injured.” The platoon commander of the third platoon reported.

“How hurt? Is it serious?” Andy was taken aback, because he remembered that none of the shells fell into the trenches?

“It’s Tommy. A stone from the cannonball fell on his hand, and there was some blood, but there is no big problem.” The platoon leader replied.

“I knew it was this idiot!” Andy scolded.