After crushing the enemy to the west, the tank group of the 17102nd Panzer Battalion advanced all the way to the east, almost dispersing the Van forces attacking from both sides of the road. Even if it failed to crush the ambush of the Van army in one fell swoop, it disrupted the combat deployment of the Van army and changed the course of the battle.

To speak, the size of the 17102nd Panzer Battalion is too small, no matter how powerful it is, there is only one battalion, and the only infantry company has not yet kept up.

Crucially, the 17309th Mechanized Infantry Battalion and the 17104th Armored Battalion, which were sandwiched between the ranks, had also been attacked and were engaged in a fierce battle with the Vatican army. Therefore, when the 17102nd armored battalion arrived, the situation on the battlefield was very chaotic, and the enemy and us were mixed together, and there was no way to distinguish them.

Although during the Poshawan War, the Imperial Army discovered the problem of identifying friend or foe, and forced all main combat vehicles to paint the sides and rear of the hull and turret with phosphor identification marks, but this simple method was easy for the enemy to grasp and use.

That's it this time.

On the tanks and vehicles of the Vatican Army, there are also identification marks of the Imperial Army!

There is no doubt that this was definitely the idea of the Nuland consultants.

What's even worse is that the ZT-99B and M1A1 are very similar in outline to the two main battle tanks, which are impossible to distinguish in night vision devices.

Even if you get close, it's hard to tell in the heat of battle.

Fearing accidental damage to friendly troops, the 17102nd Panzer Battalion had to slow down and fire at closer range as it reached the middle of the battlefield.

Fortunately, the Vatican tanks also had to face the problem of identifying friend and foe.

Crucially, the front-line commanders of the Vatican army obviously did not expect that after the battle began, they would be counterattacked from the west.

Of course, after the counterattack of the 17102nd armored battalion, the assault of the Vatican army was curbed.

Fierce fighting continued until about 1:15 a.m., when the joint command plane from Kuah Harbor arrived and began to provide information to the ground forces on the enemy situation.

It's just that the Air Force did not dispatch front-line attack aircraft at the first time.

It is not that there are no front-line attack planes available, but that the joint command planes have discovered ground targets suspected of being field air defense systems, and the electronic reconnaissance planes accompanying the activities of the early warning planes have also detected the signals of the air defense radars and judged them to be field air defense systems.

Affected by this, the Army Aviation also withdrew the helicopter gunships that had just been dispatched.

Although the Vatican army has always lacked advanced air defense systems, especially long-range anti-aircraft missiles, its short-range air defense systems are numerous and complex.

There are only three kinds of field air defense systems assigned to battalion-level troops, the "Sidewinder" from the Locke Kingdom, the "Roland" from the Bran Kingdom, and the "Avenger" imported from the Newland Republic, and the combat range of these three air defense systems almost completely coincides.

In addition, the Van army also has 4 types of individual anti-aircraft missiles, namely Nuland's "Stinger", Xiluosha's SA-7, Bran's "Starlight" and Rock's "Northwest Wind". Among them, the most advanced "Mistral" was only introduced from the Rock Country two years ago, and the number of equipment is relatively small, the performance of the SA-7 is no longer advanced, and the "Starlight" is also only equipped with a small amount of the main force because of its high price.

The main use is the "Stinger", which is relatively more advanced.

Obviously, the short-range air defense system of the Vatican army, as well as a large number of individual anti-aircraft missiles, can be used against low-flying helicopter gunships and front-line attack aircraft, even if it is difficult to pose a threat to combat aircraft at altitudes above 5,000 meters.

Two-thirds of the front-line attack aircraft and helicopter gunships lost by the Reich were shot down by individual anti-aircraft missiles and field air defense systems based on short-range anti-aircraft missiles, and not many were shot down by anti-aircraft guns, after all, front-line attack aircraft and helicopter gunships have very thick armor.

So far, nearly 100 attack planes and helicopters have been shot down by the Stinger alone.

In addition, the battle situation on the front line is in a state of stalemate, and there is also the problem of identifying friend and foe, and even if front-line attack planes and helicopter gunships arrive, they may not be able to provide support to the ground forces. In fact, due to the situation on the battlefield, the 171st Brigade, which was following behind, was unable to allow artillery to provide fire support to the front-line troops.

It must be admitted that the Vatican commanders, as well as the Nuland advisers, were indeed ruthless.

At around 1:30 a.m., the Vatican army's long-range artillery came into force.

The first to be shelled were the five companies of the 17103rd Panzer Battalion, which were still putting up stubborn resistance, and the three tank companies that were assembled behind the line of defense and ready to launch a counterattack.

Under the circumstances, if the 17103rd Armored Battalion successfully launched a counterattack, it would definitely be able to break through the encirclement of the Vatican army.

It can be seen that the commander of the Vatican army also has no choice.

It's just that this also buried the Vatican army that was besieging the 17103rd Mechanized Infantry Battalion.

The covering shelling, which lasted about 10 minutes, directly crushed the 17103rd Armored Battalion, smashed the counterattack that had not yet been launched, and incidentally "eliminated" more than 1,000 Vatican officers and soldiers nearby. It can be said that the commander of the Vatican army, who ordered the shelling, did not think about the front-line combat units at all.

Almost at the same time, in fact, it was only a few minutes late, and the 17304th Mechanized Infantry Battalion, which was at the back of the line, was also heavily shelled.

If I want to say, there is indeed a big problem with the quality of the Vatican army.

Prior to this, the 17102nd Armored Battalion had already entered the battle and rushed in front of the 17304th Mechanized Infantry Battalion, which was attacking the Van line.

The key is that the 17304th Infantry Battalion has been in a state of "paralysis".

It can be seen that the 17102nd Armored Battalion is a threat to the Vatican Army, but the Vatican Army's long-range artillery is aimed at the 17304th Mechanized Infantry Battalion.

The shelling lasted nearly 10 minutes before the Van army suddenly reacted.

That is, using these 10 minutes or so, the 17102nd Armored Battalion adjusted its offensive tactics, mainly to expand the frontal width.

Although the artillery fire was still fierce, most of the main battle tanks escaped the catastrophe.

In addition, by expanding to both sides of the road, the 17102nd Armored Battalion also detoured to the rear of the Van army, achieving a counter-encirclement of the Van army.

Although in the case of insufficient troops, the counter-encirclement has little practical significance, and it is simply impossible to encircle and annihilate an enemy with more troops than themselves, but for the Van army, whose morale is not high and the will to fight has begun to waver, the armored troops that suddenly appear in the flanks and rear have extremely strong "lethality", and will inevitably cause serious chaos, and even lead to the surrender of some of the Van troops in front of the battle.

It can be seen that at that time, the encirclement of the Vatican army was already crumbling.

The battle lasted by 2 a.m., and the Vatican army in the middle of the line was on the verge of collapse.

At that time, it was not the Vatican army that restricted the 17102nd Armored Battalion, but had to leave the infantry company behind to help the 17304th Mechanized Infantry Battalion treat the wounded, and in order to avoid the bombardment of the Van army, the tank group that was originally together was divided into two roads, and there was no way to maintain the intensity of the assault.

If the 17102nd Panzer Battalion had not dispersed, the battle would have ended before dawn.

In addition, there is a very serious problem.

As the assault continued to the east, the 17102nd Armored Battalion failed to make contact with the 17309th Infantry Battalion in front, and it was not clear what was going on with the 17309th Infantry Battalion.

However, this is not a question of any one person.

At the beginning of the war, the 17309th Mechanized Infantry Battalion was hit by a key attack, several command vehicles were destroyed, almost all the senior officers of the battalion headquarters, including the battalion commander, were killed, and the commander of the company who temporarily took over the command was also killed by the snipers of the Van army a few minutes later.

Since then, several companies of the 17309th Infantry Battalion have been in a state of fighting on their own.

What's worse is that the other company platoon commanders are not connected to the battalion and brigade communication network, or they all think that there are higher-ranking officers directing the battle.

As a supplementary unit, the 17309th Mechanized Infantry Company did not collapse after the death of the battalion commander and other major officers, which was already very good.

The battalion did not go to Posha Bay, but was a temporary reinforcement formed by the 17th Panzer Division after it came to Pakistan.

It is not integrated into the vanguard for combat purposes, but to provide support services for other combat battalions, such as the delivery of fuel and other combat materials.

It was in this way that the 17309th Infantry Battalion was located in the middle of the ranks.

Because there was no contact with the 17309th Infantry Battalion and the engagement was not known, the 17102nd Armored Battalion had to slow down the assault.

The key is also to organize the officers and soldiers of the 17309th Infantry Battalion encountered during the assault.

Instead of fighting with tanks, it is about protecting transport vehicles parked on the road, or more precisely moving those that have not been destroyed to safety.

It must be said that the quality of officers of such a main force as the 17102nd Armored Battalion is definitely not blown out.

At that time, the commander of the battalion had already thought that after crushing the enemy's ambush, he would definitely launch a counterattack, which would require replenishment of ammunition and fuel, especially ammunition. After almost 2 hours of fierce fighting, most of the tanks of the 17102nd Armored Battalion had already consumed more than half of their shells.

Fortunately, while the 17102nd Panzer Battalion was trapped in the middle of the battle line, the Vatican shelling finally came to an end.

In fact, it was the long-range artillery units of the Vatican army, fearing that they would be bombed, ended the shelling at about 2:30 a.m. and made an emergency evacuation from the forward positions.

The reason is also very simple, the electronic attack aircraft and anti-aircraft suppression fighters of the Imperial Air Force have been killed.

Obviously, the Vatican army does not think that those heavy fighters with anti-radiation missiles are going to deal only with air defense systems and will not destroy the artillery positions encountered by the way.

It is not impossible to strike artillery positions with anti-radiation missiles if necessary.

In addition, when the "Zhan-16AD" performs air defense suppression tasks, it often carries several additional laser-guided bombs to deal with low-value targets that do not need to use anti-radiation missiles, or solid targets that cannot be destroyed by anti-radiation missiles, such as air defense command posts made of reinforced concrete.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the 17102nd Panzer Battalion stabilized the crumbling middle of the front.

It's just that the 17102nd Armored Battalion has also suffered heavy losses due to continuous high-intensity operations, and there are less than 20 tanks that can continue to fight.

In the circumstances, it wasn't a big deal.

In front of the 17309th Mechanized Infantry Battalion was the brother unit of the 17102nd Armored Battalion, the 17104th Armored Battalion, which was also part of the 17104th Armored Brigade.

In terms of combat effectiveness, the 17104th Armored Battalion is in no way below the 17102nd Armored Battalion.

The three armored battalions incorporated into the vanguard are all genuine ace troops, and in terms of combat performance, these three battalions are very strong.

Before the 17102nd Armored Battalion arrived, the 17104th Armored Battalion had already stabilized its position.

Crucially, the battalion is heading east, to assist the 17103rd Armored Battalion, in accordance with battlefield information provided by the Joint Command Aircraft.

As far as specific tactics are concerned, as long as they can break through the encirclement of the Van army from the east, they can hope to turn defeat into victory.

In fact, this is also the key to the fact that the two armored battalions at the front of the team are attacking to the east after the battle starts, and they do not consider retreating to the west.

There is only one road, and rushing to the east can cut off the retreat of the Vatican army.

Obviously, this is also the main reason why the 17102nd Armored Battalion is rushing forward at full speed, because at that time, it was the only battalion that could cover the two brother units in front. To put it mildly, even if the operation to break through to the east is in trouble, it can retreat to the west with the help of friendly forces.

From this, it can also be seen that the personal qualities of the front-line commanders of the main forces are very prominent.

In addition, this also truly reflects the gap in combat effectiveness between the two sides.

With the combat effectiveness shown by the Van army, if you really ambush 2 combat brigades, I am afraid that they will be defeated after the battle starts!

In fact, Nuland's consultants had expected this.

According to information disclosed after the war, there were several officers of the Westcontinent Group in the Nuland Advisory Group, but all under false identities. The main reason is that the Van Luo authorities have not yet reached an agreement with the Western Continent Group on the issue of joint operations, and have never agreed to allow the military advisers of the Western Continent Group to participate in combat operations.

In the circumstances at the time, these officers of the Western Continent Group played a very key role.

After all, the only one who fought with the Imperial Army on the ground battlefield and achieved good results was the Western Route Army.

As for the Nuland advisors, their experience is mainly in the sea and air, and they know about the Imperial Navy and Air Force, and they don't know much about the Imperial Army.

Obviously, the Western Continent advisors would never underestimate the combat effectiveness of the Imperial Army, especially the main forces.

On the mainland battlefield, the Western Route Army had already paid a very heavy price for underestimating the Imperial Army, with hundreds of thousands of casualties in Astrakhan alone, missing the opportunity to make a strategic breakthrough before the onset of winter, and even being forced to end the strategic offensive ahead of schedule.

It was for this reason that the Vatican army arranged for long-range artillery to participate in the battle, and made more preparations.

In addition, the 17102nd Armored Battalion is facing a very serious problem.

Ammunition is running out!

To be precise, armor-piercing shells are about to run out.

Although most tanks still have about half a base number of shells, almost all of them are multi-purpose grenades, and there are very few armor-piercing shells left.

The main thing is that there are not many armor-piercing shells carried by tanks in the first place.

Even if you carry out an assault mission, you will only bring a third of the base number of armor-piercing shells at most, after all, the only thing that really needs to be used against armor-piercing shells is the enemy's tanks. A situation like that the 17102nd Armored Battalion is experiencing now, that is, the whole time it is engaged in an exchange of fire with the enemy's main battle tanks, can be said to be very rare.

As a result, after helping the 17309th Mechanized Infantry Battalion stabilize its position, the 17102nd Armored Battalion took some time to replenish its ammunition.

If anything, that's fine.

With the help of the joint command aircraft, the 17102nd Armored Battalion and the 17104th Armored Battalion have been in contact with each other and have a clearer understanding of the battlefield situation, plus the 17104th Armored Battalion has not been defeated by the Van army, so there is no need to rush to help.

Crucially, the 17104th Armored Battalion is preparing to launch a counterattack, while the 17102nd Armored Battalion is in charge of the rear.

In this case, there is no need for immediate mobilization.

As a result, the delay was more than half an hour!