At dusk, in the wilderness on the east bank of the Haraha River, a unit with olive green as the main color is advancing smoothly in battle formation. www.biquge.info The C-35, the main combat vehicle of the Soviet Russian Army, was the main combat vehicle in the Soviet Russian Army, and its design drew on the main structure of the "Celtic Knight" and the power system of the American "Ranger", and won the reputation of "Steel Cossack" for its excellent comprehensive performance.

Covering the flanks of the queue were the fast and light tanks that the Soviet and Russian armies particularly admired in the mid-to-early 30s, these tanks with small-caliber artillery as their main weapons had defects such as weak firepower and too thin armor, but they were very suitable for rapid penetration operations in large depths, and in the initial offensive operations of the Second Battle of the Haraha River, they showed unparalleled maneuverability.

In addition to the C-35 and BC-3 and BC-4 tanks, the C-30 and KV-1 can also be seen in the Soviet Russian armored forces, which are classified as "heavy tanks" in the equipment division of the Soviet and Russian fleets, but according to the standards of the Western allies, the C-30 can only be regarded as a medium tank, and the 40-ton KV-1 is an out-and-out steel heavy cavalry. By the spring of 1942, more than 400 of these successful heavy tanks were equipped with Russian troops, and the Second Battle of the Harakha River was their first appearance on the battlefield.

Closely followed by the advance of the tank troops, dozens of armored vehicles and trucks of various types were filled with Soviet infantry wearing khaki combat uniforms, such "mechanization" is still a certain distance from real mechanized combat, but compared with the pure infantry combat mode of the last war is already a considerable progress. Behind many armored vehicles and trucks towed artillery of various calibers, especially 76.2 mm howitzers - the Soviet Russian Army, which has not yet been massively armed with assault guns and self-propelled guns, still needs to rely on these old and strong artillery in field and offensive battles.

Different from the situation of the first Battle of the Haraha River, the Soviet and Russian air forces made a large-scale sortie this time, and it took only half a day to basically sweep away the air force of the Japanese and Manchurian armies around Hailar, thus firmly grasping the air supremacy on the battlefield and giving strong support to their ground troops.

However, the extension of the combat distance and the continuation of the combat time obviously affected the operational efficiency of the Soviet Russian Air Force, and in the afternoon in Arshan, the two sides launched an unusually fierce offensive and defensive battle, although the Soviet and Russian Air Force frequently dispatched to support the attacking forces, but failed to achieve the desired effect. By evening, half of Arshan was still heavily defended by the Japanese, and the 1st Mechanized Corps, with more than 200 chariots and tens of thousands of infantry, repeatedly attacked, with the result that it was like a hammer hitting a rock, and the progress was slow with great effort.

As night wore on, the Russian armored force, which was making a roundabout operation on the eastern side of Arshan, was getting closer and closer to its destination, when suddenly, the whistling shells rained down on the marching columns, a blow that cost them vehicles and personnel. Under the immediate command of the officers, this unit finally retreated beyond the range of enemy artillery, and at this moment, hundreds of Japanese soldiers, supported by combat vehicles and armored vehicles, suddenly launched an attack from the flank, and the situation on the battlefield immediately turned against the Soviet Russian army. In the sonorous sound of tracks, the Type 97 chariot equipped with a 57-mm gun continued to spew blazing red flames, and several chariots and armored vehicles painted with red five-star symbols were turned into fireballs in the blink of an eye!

At the critical moment, the Russian infantry went on the defensive, using anti-tank guns of different calibers of 37 mm, 45 mm and 57 mm to fire from a slightly greater distance. For the Japanese tanks whose armor was not as thick as the KV series, the Soviet and Russian gunners were still able to play a certain role in containment, but when the two sides exchanged fire fiercely, the battle group composed of dozens of Type 94 light tanks rushed at full speed, and in a blink of an eye, they smashed into the left flank of the Soviet Russian army, and turned the firepower that the Russians had easily organized into a paste......

Flares rise and fall, and fireworks come and go. In the flickering wilderness, Ishihara Matsutaro leaned out of the hatch of the chariot and stared anxiously ahead, praying uneasily that his driver, Kojiro Hirano, would be able to clear the chariot's mechanical problems as soon as possible.

Quack Quack ......

To the Japanese officers and soldiers, the neighing of the Taisho three-year heavy machine gun was all too familiar, and this infantry machine gun group was lying on its stomach less than 20 meters away from them. In most battles of the war of aggression against China, the Japanese tanks were destroyed by the infantry of the Chinese defenders, and because of this, the Japanese infantry developed the habit of working closely with the chariot units - as long as the two legs could keep up, the infantry was almost inseparable from their chariots, but there were very few who fought directly in the chariots like the Russians.

Almost silently, a light popped up in the air dozens of meters away, when it illuminated this wilderness with a blazing light, the eyes accustomed to darkness suddenly lost their previous sharpness, but as a "veteran driver" with 10 years of experience, the most skilled military officer of the Japanese Army Tank Teaching Brigade, Ishihara Matsutaro was keenly aware that danger was approaching. When the first obscure silhouette appeared in his sight, he quickly loaded a 57-mm armor-piercing shell into the chamber - according to the standard test results of the technical department, the main gun of the Type 97 tank could penetrate 50 mm of high-quality armor at a distance of 1,200 meters when using Type II armor-piercing shells, which was enough to take out all Soviet tanks except the KV-1.

The Russian tank that appeared on the right was less than 100 meters away, and almost at the moment when the muzzle erupted flames, the flying shells hit its turret accurately. After the first explosion, the Soviet tank in front of him instantly exploded a second time, and the huge fireball was like igniting a large powder keg. The flames not only turned the Russian chariot into a flaming fireball, but also illuminated a large area around it, and the Russian soldiers wearing steel helmets and armed with rifles were immediately visible.

As Japanese machine gun and rifle bullets rained down from several directions, the crowd burst into screams.

Ishihara suppressed the excitement in his heart, because the battle scene here was quite chaotic. Even the Soviet soldier who was close at hand might not have realized that the shells were being fired from this hidden position, so he decided to continue to "wait and see" here. Sure enough, the Soviet Russian tank in front was still burning, and suddenly a black shadow appeared in his sight, and he didn't have time to distinguish its model, Ishihara reloaded and aimed again, and then opened fire decisively!

With a muffled boom, the Type 97 chariot shook back slightly, and the dark red cannonball slammed into the target at high speed, and the naked eye could fully judge its hit - but the expected explosion did not appear, and the dark red cannonball actually changed direction, and only exploded from a distance a moment later!

"Damn it......" Ishihara secretly exclaimed, judging from the huge outline of the black shadow, he was likely to encounter the legendary Russian heavy tank, which was said to be the helpless existence of ordinary artillery.

At this juncture, the stalled chariot suddenly let out a clear roar, and Ishihara hurriedly shouted at the driver: "Quick, backwards!" Retrogression! ”

With the familiar roar, the chariot shuddered twice, and quickly retreated with the sonorous sound of the crawlers rubbing. The Russian chariot in front of it was passing past its flaming companion, and then the massive hull came to a halt and the huge turret began to turn.

"Stop!" Ishihara roared, and after a moment of adjustment, his 57mm gun burst into flames again, revealing the vehicle's position to the opposing gunners.

Rumble! Rumble!

This time, the shell flew out and exploded at the same time as it hit the target, causing a ball of fire to the delight of the attackers, but in the blink of an eye, they found that the guy's turret was still moving slowly......

"Onward! Advance! Ishihara hurriedly gave instructions to the driver, and in the instinct of escape, the driver had actually made the action to start, but it seemed too late, and the huge cannon suddenly burst into deadly flames.

Although it is impossible to determine the caliber of the opponent's tank gun, the 25 mm thick armor of the Type 97 tank is simply unable to withstand such a close attack, even if the opponent is loaded with howitzers. Out of instinct in despair, Ishihara hurried to close the hatch, and the outstretched hand suddenly felt a hot storm, and a flash of inspiration flashed in his head: the enemy's shell missed!

A moment later, the shells fired by the Russian tank's horizontal cannon made a deafening explosion in the rear, and the Type 97 chariot that had escaped death rushed forward frantically, and Ishihara's idea was not to fight the other side, but to go around its back and attack relatively weak positions, such as the engine in the rear of the car.

Rushing through the open and platformed wasteland, the speed of the Type 97 vehicle quickly exceeded 30 kilometers per hour, which was greatly inferior to the 50+ of the enemy BC-4 light tank, but compared to the opponent in front of it, this speed was enough for it to perform bold maneuvers.

In the environment of the night battle, the sound of gunfire, cannonballs, explosions, and shouts of killing, all kinds of sounds were mixed together, dark red shells flew everywhere, and the air was filled with the smell of death. Finding targets through observation holes and periscopes didn't work well, so Ishihara still ventured his head out of the cabin. He was engrossed in his surroundings, but he was stunned by a sudden series of "clanging" sounds-it was clearly the sound of bullets hitting the steel plate, and the sparks from the collision of the two were more than ten centimeters away from him, although he was not sure whether it was a stray bullet or a targeted attack, he still chuckled violently in his heart. If the trajectory of the bullet is a little bit off, I'm afraid my head will become a rotten melon!

Without waiting for Ishihara to breathe, the driver, Kojiro Hirano, exclaimed, "There's a chariot ahead!" ”

Ishihara hurriedly put his eyes in front of the observation hole, the paint colors of the chariots on both sides are easily confused in the dark night, not to mention that this encounter has long been you and me, and I have you.

It was either his own man or the enemy, Ishihara didn't dare to try his luck, he hurriedly adjusted the turret, aimed the muzzle of the gun at the black shadow in front of him less than a hundred meters away, ready to fire armor-piercing shells at any time.

(End of chapter)