1855 United States Tycoon

After several single-shot calibrations, twenty McDonald’s 1895 6-inch guns fired a salvo, and the shells accurately covered the target area. From the binoculars, Roosevelt could clearly see the stones, clods, and logs lifted up after the bomb fell to the ground and exploded. Those thick logs were even easily thrown dozens of meters away. Roosevelt couldn't help but wonder whether there are still people living there under the blow of such artillery fire?

"It's great! How many Spaniards do you think our shelling killed?" Roosevelt asked, moving his eyes away from the eyepiece of the fixed high-powered telescope.

"It depends on how well the Spaniards dug their fortifications." Edward replied, "but I don't think their casualties will be particularly large."

"Why? Couldn't such cannons destroy their fortifications?" Roosevelt frowned as he looked at the thick coldly cyan barrels of the cannons in the distance.

"That's it. As long as the Spaniards dug some decent blast-proof holes and are hiding in them, unless our shells fall directly on them, it will be difficult to kill them directly. And just now, for the sake of Let the Spaniards misjudge the lethality of our artillery, and we did not use concrete saboteurs specifically aimed at fortifications.” Edward replied.

The so-called concrete destructive bomb is actually a semi-armor-piercing bomb, which reduces the charge by three-quarters, uses a heavier and thicker shell and a delay fuze. It can explode after penetrating a certain thickness of concrete. For example, the weight of the high-explosive shell used by the MacDonald 1895 6-inch howitzer is 110 kilograms and the charge is 44 kilograms. The concrete destructive bomb it used weighed 140 kilograms, but the charge dropped to 10.5 kilograms, and all the extra weight became a thick and solid shell. In the test firing of McDonald’s Infantry Weapons Company, this projectile produced a penetration rate of more than 50% for concrete with a thickness of 3 meters.

"I think they will be busy for another night tonight." Edward said, looking at the high ground guarded by the Spaniards.

"We will also be very busy tonight." Roosevelt said, "We must develop a new combat plan and launch a new attack as soon as possible."

...

Two days later, the United States launched another attack on the high ground dominated by the Spaniards. The method of this round of attacks is significantly different from the previous rounds. First, there was a long firepower preparation before the attack. Later, Theodore Roosevelt wrote in his memoir:

"After this battle, the U.S. military has formed a tradition. When facing a solid goal, it must prepare for a long period of time. For example, in this attack, we conducted a full two hours of fire preparation. ..."

The rate of fire of the 203 mm gun has always been slow, and the burst firing rate is only about one round in two minutes, and the sustained rate of fire has to drop to the level of one round in three minutes. But within two hours, the artillery group still smashed more than 400 shells on the Spaniard's position.

While the artillery continued to fire, the US infantry began to enter the starting position. In addition to these artillery pieces from United States this time, there are also some new troops added. However, Roosevelt knew that these new troops were actually veterans, and many of them had come to Cuba more than once or twice. These people are the state militiamen of Ohio, but in fact, they are all elite mercenaries from Blackwater. And Roosevelt also knew that the main purpose of these people was not to be able to quickly capture the Spanish positions, but to make the Spanish commanders die on the battlefield. To cover up the lies they fabricated that the Spaniards slaughtered captives.

Of course, in order to kill the Spanish commander first, they must be in the forefront. Therefore, the burden of tackling tough issues fell on these mercenaries.

After the shelling lasted for one hour and thirty minutes, it stopped temporarily, while the US army chanted slogans and made a charge. The remaining Spaniards stumbled out of the undestroyed bomb shelter and ran out to fight. Although hiding in the bombing hole, they were not directly injured in the previous shelling, but the violent shock still damaged their vestibular function, so that the balance of the action became very poor, and the movement was almost awkward. It's like a group of zombies.

The U.S. forces rushed closer and closer, and the distance between the two sides was only about 150 meters, and the Spaniards began to shoot differently. It was only because of the impact of the previous shelling that their reaction became a lot slower, and the accuracy of shooting was greatly reduced. Moreover, the American troops on the opposite side were very cunning. They were not eager to advance, but used the craters left by artillery shells as cover, making it difficult for the dull Spaniards to hit them.

Just when the distance between the two sides was only one hundred and twenty meters, the group of guns on the opposite side suddenly fired again. However, the Spaniards did not first hear the sound of the firing. Because the speed of the shells is much faster than the sound when they are just out of the barrel, their speed is lower than the speed of sound only when the shells are ascending to the highest point. And when they fell headlong, they continued to accelerate. Therefore, the first thing the Spaniards heard was the howling of a cannonball that pierced the air when it fell in the air. But at this time, they had no time to make any effective response.

The high-explosive shell used by the Macdonald 1895 8-inch gun has a kill radius of up to 80 meters. Twenty shells were shot down with head and face, ploughing the Spaniard's position. As a result, the Spaniard naturally suffered heavy losses. When this round of artillery fire was over and the United States army shouted to make a posture to rush upwards, a few of the remaining Spaniards who had not been bombed went out and braved their heads again. Was covered by artillery fire for a round. Then, the gunfire stopped, and the United States guys yelled again. Then the machine gunners who were hiding in the remaining bunkers that had not been destroyed also shouted: "United States people are coming up!"However, at this time, those infantrymen were no longer willing to go out and be fooled. Although there are urging from above, everyone is still afraid to get out of the blastholes, for fear that as soon as they go out, cannonballs will fall from the sky. As a result, the shell did not fall, but a fire dragon rushed in.

Yes, a fire dragon. This is the most effective and cruel weapon used by later generations to deal with tunnels and bunkers-the flamethrower. The technical difficulty of this weapon is actually not high, but the effect is first-class. The fuel sprayed by the flamethrower forms a violently burning fire column, which can splash around, stick and burn along the trenches and corners of the tunnel, kill and injure hidden targets, and has a mental shock effect. Because combustion consumes a lot of oxygen and produces toxic fumes, it can suffocate the personnel in the fortification. When attacking tunnels, caves and other solid fortifications, the flamethrower has a unique function that other direct-fire weapons do not have. MacDonald’s flamethrower can shoot flames up to 18 meters away, which is completely incomparable with the later generations of flamethrowers with a range of more than 70 meters, but in this era, this is already a good result. We must know that by the time of World War I, the range of the world's first flamethrower manufactured by Germany was only ten meters.

Of course, too close range will put the Spitfire in extreme danger. In later generations, if you say which soldier is the most hated on the battlefield, it must be a fire-breathing soldier. For most people, if there is only one bullet in his gun, but there are two enemies on the opposite side, one with the gun and the other with the flamethrower, then it is almost a question of who to shoot. Generally speaking, the vast majority of people would rather let the enemy shoot them to death than be burned alive. Therefore, in later generations, the Spitfire is always the opponent's first target. And once he was hit, especially the fuel tank he was carrying, he would die horribly.

But in this era, this is the first time a flamethrower has been on the battlefield. So although the comrades all know, the fellow with the flamethrower is a disaster star (to both the enemy and me. Because once the flamethrower is hit and exploded, the unlucky person is not necessarily just the flamethrower, who is closer to him. All of your comrades may be unlucky.), but the Spaniards don’t know. In addition, Heishui's mercenaries are well-trained, and the infantry can play very well in coordination. As a result, the Spaniard's defense line, which appeared indestructible in the previous attacks, was punched in a big hole almost in the blink of an eye.

The mercenaries in Blackwater have an important task, that is, to kill the Spanish commander, so that Spain's killing of the prisoners becomes unconvincing. However, this task seems to have become redundant, because the main fortification of the Spaniards, the large bunker located at the commanding height of the mountain, was directly hit by at least six 8-inch concrete blasting bombs. Although the Spaniard added a three-meter-thick wood and rammed-earth composite structure to the original half-meter-thick concrete roof, it still failed to withstand the 8-inch concrete destructive bomb. The entire big bunker was blown to pieces. And it is said that Spanish commander Leonardo and some other people were also in this strongest bunker.

After the high ground fell. The United States began to expropriate a large number of Cuban migrant workers and began to build the road to the top of the mountain. Roosevelt's meaning is well understood, that is, find a way to drag those cute 8-inch guns to the top of the mountain, and then you can happily bombard the port. Relying on the advantage of the high position, these 8-inch guns can even destroy all the Spanish warships hiding in the harbor.

In this case, the Spaniard's fleet had to forcibly rush out of the port in an attempt to break through the blockade of the United States fleet.

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