Before arriving at Armidale, the troops led by Zhang Xiaolin did not encounter harassment by the US military, which made Zhang Xiaolin feel a little strange, could it be that the US army had abandoned Armidale? It was not until the troops rushed into Armidale that they encountered slight resistance from the American army, and without waiting for Zhang Xiaolin's guard company to enter the battle, the two tank companies that rushed in front had already eliminated the resisting American troops, and also captured dozens of prisoners by the way.

"They are the baggage force of the U.S. military, and they have only one company of troops."

"No other U.S. troops?" Zhang Xiaolin is even more strange.

"No, all the U.S. troops originally stationed in Armidale have gone south, and we have also found U.S. military warehouses with a large amount of supplies."

Zhang Xiaolin nodded and motioned for the company commander to lead the way. He was not surprised when he saw the bombed-out town of Armidale. Even before the U.S. military moved south, not many troops were stationed in Armidale, which has always been a major place for fleet bombers. And the U.S. army must have thought that it would be able to move south quickly, and reinforcements would arrive before dawn, while the armored troops of the Tang Empire could not kill Armidale before dawn, so the troops left in Armidale were very small, and there was no way to block Zhang Xiaolin's attack.

From the outside, it is impossible to know that this is a material warehouse for the US military, and bombers generally do not take the initiative to bomb residents' houses, and obviously, the US military took advantage of this.

"It's mainly food, there is a lot of flour, there is a lot of canned food, there is not much ammunition, and the US military probably took all the ammunition away."

"Ammunition is also useless for us." Zhang Xiaolin walked around a private house. Then he walked out, "It seems that the U.S. military left these supplies for the reinforcements behind, otherwise they would have been taken away a long time ago." ”

"Colonel, what are we going to do with these supplies?"

"Lock the door, arrange for a squad of soldiers to come and watch over it, and no one is allowed to use these supplies without my orders."

"Yes!" The captain and company commander hesitated for a moment, "What about the prisoners of the American army?" ”

"Captive?" Zhang Xiaolin had a headache, he didn't have the troops to come and take prisoners now. He hesitated for a while, then said, "Find a house, hold all the American prisoners, and kill them if they dare to escape." ”

"Yes!"

After the captain and company commander left, Zhang Xiaolin called his guard company commander over. "Figure out the layout of the city as soon as possible. Get me a map, and let the troops rest as soon as possible and refuel the tanks. ”

The troops immediately got busy, and three tank companies were scattered to the north, west and east of the city. Each tank carried fuel barrels, which had already traveled more than 100 kilometers at night. The fuel is running out, so it is now necessary to load the fuel from the spare barrel into the tank's fuel tank. In addition, the troops had been marching continuously for a night, and the officers and men were tired and hungry. After Zhang Xiaolin gave the order to rest, the officers and soldiers took out the rations they had brought with them. The rations of the armored corps are much worse than those of the pilots, and the pilots enjoy special treatment, and the rations are all high-energy foods such as chocolate, while the rations of the armored corps are generally biscuits and other foods that can be stored for a long time. Of course, Zhang Xiaolin did not forget about those canned food of the US military. He asked the guard company to distribute the cans to the various units.

At about half past three, Zhang Xiaolin received a late arrival message, to be precise, he received this message from Gu Xunlei more than ten minutes after arriving in Armidale. When he learned that American reinforcements were approaching at full speed, and that it was likely that they would reach Armidale after five o'clock, he immediately became nervous. The company commander of the guard company then sent over a map of the city of Armidale, a military map captured from the American army.

"U.S. reinforcements must have come from the north." With the map, Zhang Xiaolin can also judge the situation on the battlefield more clearly, "If the commander's intelligence is not wrong." Then we only have an hour and a half to prepare at most. ”

"Then we should follow the order and block the American troops on the north side of the city." The major commander of the first battalion followed and spoke.

"Nope. If we go to the north of the city to block it, it will be tantamount to throwing ourselves into a dead end! Zhang Xiaolin immediately vetoed the major's suggestion, "The commander only asked us to hold Armidale, but he did not ask us to use any method to hold Armidale, so we can deploy troops according to the actual situation, rather than according to the commander's direct request." ”

The major officer glanced at Zhang Xiaolin, and he did not raise any more objections, after all, Zhang Xiaolin was the front-line commander.

"The U.S. Army has at least one armored division, and there is definitely a group of heavy tanks, and the terrain north of the city is very flat, and we obviously don't have enough tanks, so we can't defeat the U.S. Army in the field." Zhang Xiaolin said as he looked at the map and pondered, "The best way is to fight street battles with the US army in the city, relying on the buildings in the city as cover." ”

"But our troops are ......"

"Either way, we're seriously underarmed." Zhang Xiaolin looked at the many officers, "And our task is to hold out until dawn, and we have to make preparations for holding on for a few more hours." The fleet's bombers would arrive at about eight o'clock, and the commander had arranged for reinforcements to arrive, and if the reinforcements could arrive after daybreak, we would have to hold off the Americans in the city. ”

The battalion and company commanders were silent, and it was almost impossible for them to use a battalion plus a guard company, but a mere 40 tanks to hold off the attack of several American divisions, even if it only lasted a few hours, seemed to them to be an almost impossible task.

"Colonel, telegraph!"

Zhang Xiaolin was about to make a deployment when the officer of the guard company sent a new telegram, he glanced at it quickly, and then laughed. "Good news, everyone, our two motorized infantry battalions are coming, and they will be there in an hour."

The officers all looked surprised, and then they all laughed.

"With the support of two motorized infantry battalions. We are more likely to get the job done. Zhang Xiaolin quickly turned his brain, "Now, the most important task is to build a defensive position before the arrival of the US troops, and the tanks should try to use the cover of buildings as much as possible and not clash head-on with the US troops." We put two motorized infantry battalions outside, so that the American army thinks that we only have infantry here to defend, and the tanks are hidden in the city, and when the American troops enter the city, we will give them a head-on attack! ”

"But the Mobu battalion will not arrive in an hour, and they don't have enough time to build their positions!"

"Then we'll help the Mobu Battalion repair its position!" Zhang Xiaolin did not hesitate. "Gather all the people, except for the officers and men guarding the warehouses and the prisoners, build defensive positions here, here, and here, at the three intersections, and pay attention to the deployment of anti-tank fire points. Set up roadblocks as much as possible, reserve anti-tank mine burial points, let the American troops come in according to the line we deployed, and then we deploy the tanks behind these three lines of defense, as long as the American tanks break through the infantry lines, then their flanks will be exposed to our guns! ”

Zhang Xiaolin said as he clearly marked the specific deployment method of the defense line on the map.

"These positions must be repaired within an hour. When the motorized infantry battalion arrives, let them lay mines at the front and our defense line will be built! Zhang Xiaolin looked at everyone, "Everyone, hurry up and act, we only have less than an hour to go!" ”

The troops immediately took action, and Zhang Xiaolin also personally went to the front to supervise the work of building positions, but there were still many problems.

"Colonel, we don't have enough punching bags!"

"Sandbags?" Zhang Xiaolin looked towards the north of the street. "Damn, immediately send someone to the warehouse to get the flour bags of the American army. There are also boxes of canned food that have been moved, and there are no sandbags, so we have to find a way to find something else to replace them! ”

Soon, this tank company used tanks to deliver bags of flour and hundreds of boxes of canned food from the American army. And the tank crews used these bags and boxes to build barricades.

Other problems were quickly resolved, such as the lack of materials for the construction of barricades, and the tankers managed to push several houses and block several streets with bricks. There are no digging tools. The officers and men of the guard company used explosives to blast the roads and set up improvised mine burial sites. Other than that. The townspeople were all concentrated in a few houses to the south, and the American prisoners were moved to the south.

For a whole hour, the officers and men of the cavalry battalion and the guard company were busy, and although most of the fortifications were extremely rudimentary, there was no way to build better positions under the circumstances. Just after half-past four, the vanguard of the motorized infantry battalion arrived at Armidale.

"Two battalions are deployed in depth, with the first battalion in front and the second battalion as a reserve, accompanying the cavalry battalion." Zhang Xiaolin immediately assigned tasks to the two battalions, "The first battalion mainly sticks to the front-line position, remembers the position where the tank fire points are deployed behind, and if it can't hold on, it must be withdrawn with the help of the cover of the house, and try to bring the US troops to the killing range of the tank ambush site." The second battalion listened to my orders, and we put the US troops in one by one to fight and destroy them one by one. Therefore, when the cavalry battalion participates in the battle, the second battalion must rush up, block the intersection, intercept the American troops behind, and buy time for the cavalry battalion to annihilate the enemy! ”

The commanders of the two motorized infantry battalions looked at the several lines of defense marked by Zhang Xiaolin on the map, as well as the positions of the tanks' firepower, and at the same time realized that this would be an extremely difficult battle.

"I've got the reconnaissance unit going, and the U.S. forces are rapidly approaching." Zhang Xiaolin looked at the two of them, "There is not much time left for us, your troops enter the position as soon as possible, remember to tell every officer and soldier that when retreating, do not block the firing range of the tanks, and lead the American tanks into our ambush circle!" ”

"No problem, I'll go now!" The battalion commander of the 1st Motor Infantry Battalion immediately nodded.

Zhang Xiaolin was about to continue, when the company commander of the guard company ran over. "Colonel, the reconnaissance unit has sent a message that they have encountered the vanguard of the American army about 10 kilometers to the north, and the American army will arrive in about half an hour."

"The vanguard? How many troops are there? Zhang Xiaolin's expression immediately became nervous.

"There was probably a tank battalion and an infantry battalion, mixed forces, along the road line."

"Only two battalions?"

The commander of the guard company nodded, and the reconnaissance unit was a platoon he had sent out.

Zhang Xiaolin suddenly laughed. "It seems that we have to take out this force of American troops first, so that the American troops behind are timid, so that the American troops will not attack immediately, and we can buy more time."

The two motorized infantry battalion commanders immediately looked at Zhang Xiaolin, they didn't know what the colonel was thinking.

"Deploy a company of troops on the front line, not too dense, moreover, the resistance should not be too stubborn, shoot a few shots and run." Zhang Xiaolin redeployed the mission, "The other two companies of the first battalion set up an ambush circle on the road to the east to deal with the infantry following the American tanks. The three companies of the 2nd Battalion were responsible for setting up ambush circles on both sides of the two roads in the west and the center, and the infantry all entered the civilian houses, and like the 1st Battalion, they were mainly responsible for dealing with the American infantry and not attacking the American tanks. You should all pay attention to the deployment of machine gun fire points, maximize the killing range of machine guns, separate the US infantry from the tanks, put the tanks to the south, and let the cavalry battalion be responsible for cleaning up the US tanks! ”

The commanders of the two motorized infantry battalions immediately focused on watching the colonel give them a new mission explanation on the map.

"After annihilating the infantry of the American army, the first battalion immediately resumed the defense of these three points, and the large force of the American army must be behind it, and it must block the attack of the large force of the American army." Zhang Xiaolin drew a red circle on the three blocking positions, "The second battalion is a reserve, and the cavalry battalion must be given enough time, understand?" ”

"No problem, we'll keep it up."

"Wait and see what my orders do!" Zhang Xiaolin looked at the two of them, "Now let's go and deploy the troops!" ”

The commanders of the two motorized infantry battalions immediately returned to their units, and the infantrymen who had just arrived immediately mobilized.

"Let the cavalry battalion and the guard company enter combat mode and act according to the previous deployment!" Zhang Xiaolin gave the final order to the commander of the guard company, and then he walked towards his tank.

Ten minutes later, the armored car of the reconnaissance platoon rushed into the town and delivered the latest news, the vanguard of the American army was still continuing to advance at high speed, and it would not be more than 15 minutes to reach Armidale, and by this time, the officers and men of the three battalions under Zhang Xiaolin had already entered the combat state.