The enemy's artillery preparations before the attack were not only rapid, but also very violent.

In the blink of an eye, heavy artillery fire covered the defensive positions of the Eastern Luosha army, turning the scorched earth hill into a raging purgatory.

The earth shook like the mountains were shaking, like the end of the world.

It's just that the duration is also very short-lived.

Before and after, it was less than 10 minutes in total.

As for the effect of the shelling, it's really hard to say!

Because in modern defensive operations, it is no longer necessary to deploy heavy troops in the front, nor do we rely on the tactics of crowds, and the number of troops is not the key factor in determining victory or defeat, so it is almost impossible for the attacker to rely on artillery strikes to weaken the defender's combat effectiveness.

Many times, the defending side will put their forces behind the defensive line.

Even if they are forced to do so, they will set up anti-artillery holes in anti-slope positions for soldiers to hide.

Because of the fear of being counterattacked by artillery, especially in the face of an opponent with artillery radar and mainly self-propelled artillery, it is necessary to keep the artillery as far away from the battle line as possible, so in actual combat, it is impossible for the artillery units of the attacking side to be deployed in the front.

In addition, the widespread use of artillery radars created severe restrictions on the duration of continuous fire of artillery.

In the vast majority of cases, 10 minutes is the limit.

The artillery units of the defending side, after relying on artillery radar to determine the position of the enemy's artillery, only need 10 minutes at most to launch a counterattack.

If you are prepared, you can even fire in less than 5 minutes!

For the attacking side, it is necessary to control the fire strike time to less than 10 minutes.

Before the enemy's artillery fire was ready, the Dongluosha artillery units deployed in the rear had already begun to counterattack, but not too strongly.

There is nothing strange about it, there is only one artillery battalion, and only 2 companies are armed with self-propelled howitzers.

It must be said that the artillery of the East Luosha Army was more reliable than the artillery of the Imperial Army.

Because it has long faced the military threat of West Luosha and focuses on strategic defense, the East Luosha Army attaches great importance to supporting firepower.

Of course, it is also directly related to the lack of strength of the air force in Dongluosha.

When the Imperial Army was still using 40 times the diameter of the 150 mm howitzer, the East Luosha Army was already equipped with a ZT-80 chassis, the power compartment in front, equipped with a 45 times diameter body tube 150 mm self-propelled howitzer, and independently developed several extended-range shells.

Among them, the range of rocket extended-range bombs has reached 40 kilometers, and the bottom-row extended-range bombs are as high as 35 kilometers.

Because of the very advanced performance, especially the advantage of range, a few years ago, the Imperial Army purchased a production license from Dong Luosha and produced 150 units on its own.

Interestingly, there has been no follow-up since then.

All 150 self-propelled guns were handed over to the reserve forces shortly after.

According to the pre-war plan, these guns were already included in the inventory list, and eventually they would be sold to the not very wealthy allies at the price of second-hand equipment.

The reason is also very simple, the Western Continent Group has already begun to develop a self-propelled gun with a diameter of 52 times.

In comparison, self-propelled guns with 45 times the diameter of the barrel are obviously not high or low.

It was for this reason that the Imperial Army decided to directly develop self-propelled guns with 55 times the diameter of the barrel to replace all the guns in service.

Because the long section of the body tube directly determines the external trajectory of the artillery, and the artillery equipped with different body barrels will inevitably have an impact on logistics support and tactical regulations, so as early as the establishment of the Eastern Bloc, the first generation of standards was determined, setting 40 times the diameter as the unified body barrel length.

The second-generation standard is 55 times the diameter, not the 45 times diameter first adopted by Dongluosha.

Among them, the mystery also involves the dominance of the Eastern Bloc.

It is not surprising that we can improve our position in the group by taking control of the group's standard-setting power.

More than 10 years ago, when the second generation of standard-caliber ammunition of the Eastern Bloc was determined, the hegemony of the Liangxia Empire was vividly manifested. First, in the first round of public voting, the 5.45 mm small-caliber ammunition proposed by Dong Luosha was rejected, and then in the second round of supplementary voting, the 5.6 mm proposal with the most technical potential proposed by the Gao Ju Army was eliminated, and the 6 mm plan led by the Imperial Army finally won.

Although from an after-view perspective, this choice is far-sighted, that is, the 6 mm bullet is more powerful, and the development potential far exceeds the 5.45 mm bullet of the Xilu Group and the 5.56 mm bullet of the Beigu Group, and its long-range performance can be comparable to that of the previous generation of large-caliber gun ammunition, but at that time, that is, when the small-caliber ammunition was popular, the 6 mm bullet with the quality of the whole bullet was not reduced, and it was not unrelated to the authority of the Liang Xia Empire in the Eastern Bloc, and it was a model of political influence influencing military decision-making.

It's just that the difficulty of developing artillery is far higher than that of firearms.

The development of new artillery did not go smoothly, not only because of a lack of funds, but also because of a large number of technical difficulties.

Not to mention that it will be delivered in the near future, it would be nice to be able to come up with a sample gun in a few years.

Behind the battle line, the two companies that provided fire support were armed with this self-propelled howitzer, which the Imperial Army called the ZS-86R.

In fact, the artillery counterattack was also very short.

Because the artillery is deployed in the rear, even if there is an artillery radar, it may not have enough range to fire at all enemy artillery positions that are detected.

To say anything, most of the enemy's artillery positions were outside the effective range of the ZS-86R.

Before the artillery counterattack ended, Situ Lin had already led his troops to the east of the position.

On the way, Situ Lin arranged the task.

The three tank companies were deployed in platoons in the northeast of the position, maintaining a distance of 200 meters, and the battalion guard platoon under the direct command of Situ Lin was in the northernmost direction.

As for the reinforced 2 infantry companies, they followed behind the butt of the tank company, took charge of the rear of the hall after the battle began, and provided reception in the event of retreat.

According to regular tactics, the infantry fighting vehicles of the 2 infantry companies remained a few thousand meters behind.

After the counterattack begins, let the infantry get off the vehicle and set up defensive positions.

If the counterattack is in trouble, for example, if the mission is not completed and you have to choose to retreat, you have to attack the enemy's tank fighting vehicles with anti-tank missiles.

Actually, it's all a conventional tactic.

As one of the only armored battalions of the 4th Mechanized Infantry Division, the officers and men of the 04101st Battalion knew very well how to fight this counterattack.

If nothing else, they are all regular troops, not temporarily recruited reservists.

In fact, this is also the first time that Situ Lin and them have participated in actual combat.

Even in the past few years, we have participated in several large-scale exercises every year, and there must have been live-fire confrontation parts, but the exercises are only exercises, and they are far from being comparable to actual combat.

Not to mention anything else, Situ Lin was very nervous.

Just like the exercise, he asked the driver Tang Xuebing to park the tank at the front of the line, and all four tanks in the guard platoon were behind.

In the whole battalion, only the guard platoon had 5 tanks.

The other three companies consisted of 11 tanks, three per platoon, and the company commander and deputy company commander's vehicles.

Normally, the company commander and deputy company commander directly command a platoon and act as the attacking knife unit, while the other platoon acts as a substitute in the rear.

After the tank stopped, Situ Lin stayed outside the turret, standing in the commander's position to be precise.

Although according to the normal configuration, the ZT-99B was equipped with only one anti-aircraft machine gun, but before setting off from Astrakhan, Situ Lin specially found dozens of automatic grenade launchers and equipped each tank with one to enhance the firepower against infantry in close combat.

If you want to say, this is also the biggest problem of the ZT-99 family.

Because of the use of an automatic loader, there is no longer a need for a loader, so compared to the ZT-80 series, the ZT-99 series can only operate the machine gun and other weapons mounted on the turret in battle. As a result, it is often difficult to parry enemies at close range.

In response to this problem, the Imperial Army proposed a solution to the problem was to develop a weapon system that could be remotely controlled by the commander in the turret and used to deal with nearby enemies. It's a pity that the relevant research and development work is still ongoing, and even if it is successfully developed, it can only be used in the next generation of improved models.

Of course, there are always other ways.

The easiest way is to install more self-defense weapons.

Also coming out to "breathe" is the cannon commander Wu Qitie.

Tang Xuebing also opened the hatch above his head, but he didn't lean out.

If I have to say, the most aggrieved is the driver.

In order to ensure that the armor in the front of the hull was sufficiently thick, in addition to the large bevel setting, the driver's legroom was significantly reduced.

Although automatic transmissions, steering wheel driving systems and other equipment are used to reduce the burden on the driver, the space left for the driver is very narrow, which will inevitably lead to the driver will be very fatigued due to the rapid physical consumption of the long-term tank fighting.

It is said to be breathable, but in fact, it is mainly nervous.

In less than 10 minutes, Situ Lin smoked two cigarettes.

As he lit his third cigarette, he glanced behind him.

The commanders of the other 4 tanks were also outside the turret, and all of them were smoking.

In the left front, at the western end of the defensive line, the battle had been fought for more than 10 minutes, and not only could you see the dazzling flash of the explosion, but you could also faintly hear the sound of explosions and gunfire.

To be precise, it was the sound of machine gun fire.

From a distance of several thousand meters, the sound of gunfire could not be heard at all.

As for the sound of machine guns, in fact, everyone knows it.

The Dongluosha army guarding the defense line did not have machine guns at all, and the largest caliber weapon was only a 13 mm large-caliber machine gun.

The use of machine guns is definitely the enemy's infantry fighting vehicles!

The fact that the infantry fighting vehicles are all in battle can only indicate that the enemy has attacked the position, at least advanced to the front of the position.

Why hasn't Pavlov signaled yet?

Situ Lin was worried, even scared.

Pavlov had only 2,400 troops at his disposal, and he had no idea of receiving assistance in the next few days.

If it is exhausted on the first night, even if it only suffers heavy casualties, it means that the tasks assigned by the theater command cannot be completed.

The line of defense fell ahead of schedule, and Astrakhan was likely to be captured by the enemy!

It's just that Situ Lin also knows that as a senior commander, Pavlov will not make low-level mistakes, and he may be waiting for the best time.

To put it simply, it is to thwart the enemy's offensive spirit with a decisive counterattack.

If you fight well, maybe tonight's battle can end here!

From a tactical point of view, this requires concentrating the enemy in front of the line as much as possible, that is, trying to block the enemy's advance at the front of the line.

When the enemy concentrated his forces to attack the defensive line guarded by the East Luosha army, Situ Lin and his men were able to defeat the enemy in one fell swoop by launching a surprise attack from the flank.

The key is actually the timing of the counterattack.

After smoking the third cigarette, Situ Lin glanced at his watch.

It was 1:25 a.m., and they had been waiting here for 15 minutes!

How long will it be?

Situ Lin habitually took out the fourth cigarette.

In fact, his addiction to smoking is not big, and now he can't leave his cigarette just because he is too nervous.

If there is a mistake on Pavlov's side, it is not possible that before they launch a counterattack, they will be outflanked by the enemy, and the counterattack will turn into a breakout battle.

"Head!"

When Situ Lin buried his head and was about to light a cigarette, Wu Qitie shouted.

In the night sky in front of the left, a rising flare appeared, still red!

Immediately, the second and third flares burst into the night sky.

Situ Lin was stunned for a moment, then put the cigarette to his ear and put away the lighter.

"Attention to all units, all officers and men are ready for battle!" After waiting for a while to confirm that there was no fourth flare, Situ Lin got into the turret and gave the order at the same time. "The companies and platoons acted according to the plan, and the guard platoon acted with me to launch a counterattack according to the predetermined tactics."

"Go to the trouble for the country!" After a slight pause, Situ Lin shouted out the battle cry of the Imperial Praetorian Guard.

"Go to the trouble for the country!"

……

The 4th Mechanized Infantry Division was originally a cavalry division of the Praetorian Guard, and later restructured into a mechanized infantry division, and many of the traditions of the Praetorian Guard were preserved.

Soon, the roar of the engine drowned out the sound of slogans coming from inside the headphones.

When the maximum torque speed was reached, Tang Xuebing released the brake.

Don't look at the ZT-99B, after wearing reactive armor, the combat weight is close to 60 tons, but under the impetus of the 1500 horsepower engine, it still has a feeling of pushing back when starting.

Of course, it is strictly forbidden to start in this way during daily training, as it will speed up the wear and tear of the transmission.

It's just that now, no one cares so much.

After rushing out, the tank jerked violently.

The road is on the west side of the position, and the place where Situ Lin and them are actually a depression, and the ground is full of potholes, and it is strange that it does not run bumpy.

This is also where the value of the tank lies.

The wheeled combat vehicles equipped with the 4th Mechanized Infantry Brigade would be incapacitated due to violent turbulence even if they could travel in the field.

Only tracked combat vehicles, such as tanks, can engage the enemy while marching in the field.

In just ten seconds, the ZT-99B, which is numbered "41001", that is, Situ Lin's car, rushed out of the depression where he was hiding.

The enemy, still thousands of meters away.

Even if the ZT-99B soon exceeded 40 kilometers per hour, it would take about 10 minutes before it could reach the engagement range.

"Head, two o'clock."

After Tang Xuebing reminded him, Situ Lin turned the commander's Zhou Shiyi, which was directly controlled by him, around.

A few hundred meters away there was a helicopter, a downed gunship, to be precise, the fuselage had been completely burned out, and several parts were still burning.

Fortunately, the fire was not large.

A few dozen meters from the helicopter, there were two servicemen, who were supposed to be helicopter pilots.

After seeing the Imperial Army's tanks, the two men got up from their hiding places and waved at the speeding tanks.

Situ Lin immediately contacted the infantry company in the rear and arranged for the infantry fighting vehicle to come and pick up the pilot.

Ahead, the battle has entered a white-hot state.

Although it is still a few kilometers away, through the infrared imager, you can clearly see the fire caused by the explosion, as well as the tank and combat vehicles illuminated by the fire.

The enemy had advanced to the front of the line of defense and even attacked the defensive positions of the army in Dongluosha.