Less than five minutes after Bradley received the report from the reconnaissance unit, and as soon as his order to turn the two tank battalions on the left flank arrived, the first row of shells fell in the center of the American tank unit. The three tank battalions of the 2nd Regiment formed an offensive front line several kilometers wide and quickly slaughtered them. When the second row of shells fell, a huge light popped out over the US camp, which was a flare dropped by a night reconnaissance plane, and in the two minutes that this flare burned, nearly 100 tanks of the three tank battalions of the second regiment almost fired several shells, although the hit rate of these shells was frighteningly low, but the effect was extremely obvious, and the US troops had been completely disrupted.

The Type 25 tank's 80mm armor-piercing projectile is difficult to penetrate the frontal armor of the M26 at a distance of 1000 meters, even if high-speed armor-piercing projectiles are used, they will lose too much speed because of the armor-piercing projectiles, and the threat to M26 is not great, and the accuracy of high-speed armor-piercing shells in long-distance combat is much worse than that of ordinary armor-piercing bullets, so in long-distance combat, high-speed armor-piercing shells are not as effective as ordinary armor-piercing bullets. However, an 80 mm ordinary armor-piercing projectile can easily tear through the frontal armor of medium tanks such as the M4 even at a distance of 1,500 meters. On the battlefield on the mainland, this has been confirmed, not to mention the M4, even the T-34, which has much thicker skin, can hardly block 80-mm armor-piercing shells fired from 1500 meters away. As a result, the Type 25 tank, especially the Type 80 tank, which used a large-scale 80-mm gun, was called the most powerful medium tank in the world at that time. … Mobile station N

Most tanks fired at a stop, a principle of engagement that all tankers in the world had to adhere to at the time. Due to the limitations of the tank's own gun sighting device, it is impossible for the tank to fire in the middle of the move, even if it does. So whether you can hit the target or not, only God knows. Therefore, even the best tanker has to stop the tank when firing, and the key to judging the tanker's ability is when to stop, and how much time to complete the aiming and shooting after stopping. Initiate this series of actions again to get the tank running again. And the speed of this action actually determines the survivability of the tank on the battlefield.

There was an unwritten rule in the Army of the Tang Empire, and that is. If you can complete parking, aiming, firing in ten seconds. And if you start these four steps and can ensure a hit rate of more than 50%, then you must be an excellent tanker. And in most cases. Even experienced and well-trained tankers need about fifteen seconds to complete these four steps. Most recruits are pretty good if they can complete these four steps in twenty to thirty seconds. Of course. It's just an unwritten rule, at least not used by the Army as a basis for the rank of tanker. In actual combat, some particularly capable tankers, such as Weng Yu, have created a record that no one has been able to break so far on the Russian battlefield, that is, to complete these four steps within five seconds, and ensure that the hit rate is more than 50%. And on the Russian battlefield alone, Weng Yu destroyed hundreds of tanks, armored combat vehicles, trucks and other targets. At that time, he was already the number one tank ace of the Imperial Army.

Combat experience is definitely not something that can be gained through training, but only through brutal combat tests. And the best tankers who survived in the end are the best tankers, and now, what Gu Xunlei lacks the most is excellent tankers. In the two cavalry divisions, except for officers at the rank of battalion commander and above, who are veterans, the other tankmen are all temporarily trained by the infantry, and the reserve infantry is temporarily trained, and it is impossible for these infantrymen to become excellent tankers after less than three months of training. Perhaps, on the training ground, this problem is not very prominent, but in real battles, this problem is immediately exposed.

In the battle between the 1st Cavalry Division and the US troops, the quality of the tankmen had already become a major problem, and in less than an hour of fighting, 36 tanks were destroyed by the US troops, and more than half of the tankers were killed and most of the others were wounded. Judging from the results of the statistics after the battle, eighty percent of these destroyed tanks were seized by the US tankers because they stopped for too long when they opened fire, and as a result, they were hit by shells before evading, while less than two percent were destroyed by US tanks during the march.

The same problem was also evident in the 2nd Regiment, where the average hit rate of all tanks in the first 10 minutes of the battle was less than 10%, and there were several instances of several tanks shelling a target repeatedly. This is not only a question of the personal qualities of the tankman, but also a question of the competence of the commander. This is a problem that Gu Xunlei cannot solve, and his hope is that more tankers will be able to gain experience in actual combat, find ways to improve their abilities, and eventually survive and become good tankers.

Relatively speaking, the quality of the US military is not much better. Although the U.S. troops assigned to the Australian continent at that time were elite troops, most of the U.S. army's elite armored units were actually in the British and North African theaters. For example, General Patton's tank unit was in the United Kingdom, and General Abrams was in the North African theater. It can be said that Bradley only got some second-line troops, many of which were reserve troops, and his situation would not be much better than Gu Xunlei.

After being beaten for more than ten minutes, the US army organized an effective counterattack, and the remaining tanks of the two tank battalions quickly assembled and launched a counter-charge towards the tank units of the Tang Empire. At this time, Bradley sent two infantry battalions, as well as a tank battalion. Apparently, Bradley did not give up hope of continuing the offensive to the west, and he did not know that there was a sufficient tank regiment from the south, and if he had known this, he would have begun to retreat long ago, and instead of retreating, he held on.

When the tanks of both sides rushed together, the situation on the battlefield immediately became chaotic. Another problem exposed during the intense, tense battle was that many tankers did not even carefully identify their targets, but instead fired at any tank in front of their muzzle. After the battle. Gu Xunlei arranged for personnel to go to the battlefield to investigate the situation, and as a result, forty percent of the tanks destroyed by the Second Regiment at that time were fired by mistake! Similarly, this problem exists in the US military, where an M26 was hit by 12 rounds of 75 mm shells, but was not destroyed. In the end, one was destroyed from the side by an 80-mm high-speed armor-piercing projectile.

One can imagine how chaotic the situation on the battlefield was at that time. Most of the battles were fought at a distance of 200 to 500 meters, that is. Almost any shell is fatal. At this distance, even the M4's 75mm short-barreled tank gun could easily take out the Type 25.

Perhaps, the tanker will not see the enemy inside the destroyed tank being blown up. But this is definitely an extremely tragic battle, whether it is Gu Xunlei or Bradley. I don't want to see such a battle, it's a battle with the lives of soldiers on both sides. The fire on the destroyed tanks lit up the battlefield. When Gu Xunlei rushed over, many tanks were still burning in flames.

The scuffle continued until about eleven o'clock, and the commanders on both sides recognized the seriousness of the problem. By this time, at least 50 American tanks had been destroyed, and the 2nd Regiment of the 1st Cavalry Division had lost more than 40 tanks. The commander of the second regiment gave the order to withdraw from the battle at this time, and he let the third battalion stay behind the broken rear, the first battalion withdrew first, and the second battalion followed to withdraw from the battle, blocking the American tanks outside the battlefield. Then let the three battalions withdraw. The commander of the US army gave the order to retreat only five minutes late, and two tank battalions had already completely lost their combat effectiveness. The U.S. military could not hold out either.

After receiving the report of the 2nd Regiment, Zhang Xiaolin immediately ordered the 2nd Regiment to continue to attack the US troops after reorganizing its ranks, and asked the 2nd Regiment to find a weak position in the US defense line to attack and not to fight with the US troops. Then, Zhang Xiaolin asked a regiment to also organize the remaining forces and compress the American defense line from the front. At this time, Zhang Xiaolin led the third regiment to continue to advance.

Gu Xunlei did not interfere with Zhang Xiaolin's command, he just ordered Weng Yu to prepare for the battle. At this time, Gu Xunlei had already smelled the opportunity for victory, if the American army was quickly defeated, then the Second Cavalry Division should be allowed to attack quickly, and it was best to hit Armidale in one breath and cut off the retreat of the American army. Of course, it is impossible to capture Armidale with only cavalry divisions, and infantry units must be coordinated. Therefore, Gu Xunlei transferred an infantry regiment from the Second Infantry Division, which arrived at noon, and asked the infantry regiment to fight with the Second Cavalry Division.

On the battlefield, the 2nd Regiment retreated to the south five kilometers away, and after all the tanks had arrived, the commander of the 2nd Regiment found that only 38 tanks could continue to fight, and among the withdrawn tanks, the turrets of 6 tanks were blown away, but the power system was not damaged.

The 38 tanks were immediately reorganized and formed in three columns. Before twelve o'clock, they returned to the battlefield, and the battle continued, and this time, the tankmen of the 2nd Regiment encountered not American tanks, but a temporary line of defense built by American infantry.

Bradley seized this precious respite to adjust the defensive line, if two hours ago he did not believe that he had encountered the main armored forces of the Tang Empire, now he no longer had the slightest doubt that he was facing a much stronger armored force of the Tang Empire than him. Although the performance of this armored force on the battlefield is far from being as strong as the legend, its huge number and high fighting spirit are enough to defeat his armored force. In desperation, Bradley thought of retreating, and threw his last two tank battalions into the western flank, using them to withstand the rapid assault of the 1st Cavalry Division, while on the southern front, Bradley could only throw in infantry units.

By the time the tanks of the 2nd Regiment returned to the battlefield, Bradley was organizing a retreat. He first gathered the armoured troops who had withdrawn from the battle, and this was the last armored reserve in his hands, with only 21 tanks still in the fight. At that time, what Bradley lacked most was time, and what was needed for the troops to move from offense to defense was time. In order to speed up the retreat, Bradley had to order the destruction of all the tanks that could not be moved and could not be repaired in a short time. He then turned all his troops to Amidaire. Although the U.S. military is only about 50 kilometers away from Armidale at this time, the vast majority of the U.S. troops will never reach Armidale.

In the face of the defensive line of the American infantry, the assault speed of the 2nd Regiment was much faster. The American defense line was also built improvised, there were no trenches, no firing points, not even machine-gun forts. That is, the American infantry was a temporary defensive line on the plain, and it was too late to lay mines. And in the face of high-speed assault tanks, the infantry can only rely on strong defensive positions to block the tank's attack. In addition, there was a prerequisite that the infantry must have suitable anti-tank weapons in their hands, and the only weapon that could threaten the Type 25 tank in the US infantry at that time was the "Bazooka" rocket launcher.

The Bazooka was the world's first individual bazooka, but it was originally designed not to deal with tanks, but to defend machine-gun fortresses. In terms of armor-piercing power, it is far inferior to the German "Iron Fist", as well as the Type 24 rocket launcher imitated by the Tang Imperial Army on the basis of the "Iron Fist". Only at a certain angle, "Bazooka" was able to penetrate the armor of the Type 25 tank. However, the problem is that at that time, according to the standard equipment of the US military, an infantry company had only three "bazookas" at most, while one "bazooka" in an infantry company of the US military stationed in Australia was quite good.

This time, the tanks of the Second Regiment quickly broke through the defense line of the American army, and what everyone did not expect was that it was the more than 30 tanks of the Second Regiment that finally made Bradley have to order a retreat immediately, and completely disrupted the deployment of the American army, because these more than 30 tanks directly rushed into the front line headquarters of the American army. At that time, Bradley happened to go to the infantry unit in the rear to gather troops and prepare for a retreat, otherwise, I am afraid that Bradley would be killed here, and he would also become the first US Army lieutenant general to die in the Pacific theater.

On the frontal battlefield, the assault of a regiment was also very fast, and after Bradley gave the order to retreat, the American troops had no confidence to continue fighting. In other words, by the early morning of the 24th, the situation on the battlefield had been basically determined, but the battle was still not over!