When Gu Xunlei arrived at Naraburai, the 3rd Infantry Division was still on the offensive, the 1st Cavalry Division only left the artillery, and Zhang Xiaolin had already led his troops to the north near the bridge and established a bridgehead. After having the 2nd Cavalry Division assist the 3rd Infantry Division in the attack, and putting the artillery of the 4th and 5th Infantry Divisions into battle, Gu Xunlei took the guard battalion to the bridgehead position in the north. When he arrived, Zhang Xiaolin had already arranged two motorized infantry battalions to guard the north side of the bridgehead, and also put the cavalry regiment to the north, leaving only one motorized infantry battalion and three cavalry battalions in the south.

"Half an hour ago, the reconnaissance detachment encountered the reconnaissance unit of the US army, and now it is rushing back." Zhang Xiaolin's expression was a little nervous, and he marked the location of the encounter between the reconnaissance troops on both sides on the map, "It is only about 30 kilometers away from us, and the large force of the US army is less than 50 kilometers away from us, even if the US army slows down its advance, it will only take 3 hours at most to arrive." ”

"Sooner than we expected." Gu Xunlei's expression immediately became gloomy.

"The U.S. forces must have known that we had captured Gunneda, and that we were going to attack Narabrai immediately, so they would have accelerated." Zhang Xiaolin glanced at the sky, "However, it was already evening when the US troops arrived, and they needed time to prepare for the attack, and the battle would definitely be fought at night." ”

"Try to hold the bridgehead as much as possible, and in addition, lay more mines."

"We don't have enough mines, only infantry divisions have."

Gu Xunlei nodded. "I will immediately send the Fourth Infantry Division to come and support you, let the Fourth Infantry Division set up defensive positions in the south, and you delay the American troops as much as possible in the north. As long as we lay down the Narabrai, then we can shrink the line, and before that. In any case, it is necessary to stand here, and the US army cannot be allowed to cross the river! ”

Zhang Xiaolin took a long breath, he also knew the importance of time.

The 4th Infantry Division moved over at 4 o'clock, and according to Gu Xunlei's order, set up a defensive position in depth on the south side of the riverbank, while the 1st Cavalry Division also shrank the defensive position on the north bank, withdrawing two cavalry battalions, leaving only one cavalry battalion to block the American troops on the north bank. In order to expand the range of defenses. Infantry divisions laid a large number of mines on the banks of the river. In addition, the artillery of both divisions was transferred around five o'clock and deployed behind the lines of the 4th Infantry Division, at this time. The vanguard of the U.S. military has appeared in Zhang Xiaolin's field of vision. After discovering that the bridge had already been occupied. The vanguard of the American army did not rush to attack, but stopped and waited for the arrival of the main forces.

At this time. The battle against Narabrai has reached a critical stage. Although the U.S.-Australian coalition in Narrabrai was only a few thousand men, the officers and men of this force already knew that reinforcements were not far away, and their task was to hold out until reinforcements arrived. When there was hope, the officers and men of the US-Australian coalition fought extremely tenaciously, which caused a lot of trouble for the officers and men under Gu Xunlei.

Just after six o'clock, bombers on the last round of aviation support missions dropped bombs over the city of Naraburai. The bombers carried out bombing missions in the extreme combat radius, and immediately after dropping the bombs, they flew away without much delay. Only the fighters on the bombing mission circled over the battlefield for about twenty minutes. And constantly strafing the exposed American and Australian soldiers. By this time, however, it was already dark. The fighters are also preparing to evacuate.

The fourth attack began at 6:20, just after the fighters had flown away. Narabrai was a defensible town, and the U.S.-Australian coalition had placed anti-tank positions directly on the streets of the town, making it impossible for attacking tanks to effectively destroy these anti-tank fire, and the infantry was not advancing very quickly. In general, this type of urban warfare is extremely disadvantageous to the attacking side, and it is difficult to quickly break through the enemy's defenses, even with tank support.

"Arrange for two tank battalions to be sandwiched from the west, and two infantry battalions will work together." Gu Xunlei personally commanded the combat operation to attack Naraburai, "Wait, the 3rd Infantry Division is holding back the enemy's main force in the south, the artillery preparation time is fifteen minutes, you attack ten minutes later, and after the enemy's attention has been diverted, you will immediately surprise and attack directly towards the center of the town, and defeat the enemy as soon as possible, understand?" ”

The commander of the motorized infantry regiment of the 2nd Cavalry Division nodded, in his opinion, it was a difficult and glorious task.

"Add a machine gun to each infantry squad, in addition, bring more grenades, automatic weapons. Resolutely do not fight with the enemy, break the enemy's defense line as soon as possible, as long as you complete the assault, then the enemy's attention will be diverted, and when the time comes, we only need half an hour to buy enough time for a frontal breakthrough! Gu Xunlei closed the map, "The artillery preparation will start in half an hour, we don't have much time, let's go and prepare for the attack!" ”

The power of the hundreds of guns in the artillery units of the three divisions when used intensively is quite astonishing. Artillery preparation began at 7 o'clock and lasted 15 minutes, after which three battalions of the 3rd Infantry Division, under the cover of some tanks and armored vehicles, launched a fourth assault on the American positions, while the infantry who had previously pinned down the Americans in the forward positions also followed behind the tanks and entered the attack.

Gu Xunlei was behind the battlefield to observe the battle, and for any commander of an armored unit, the last thing they wanted to fight was to fight a siege of the city.

On the Russian battlefield, Gu Xunlei has suffered many times in urban fortifications. Especially when the Russian army is stubbornly defending a certain city, Gu Xunlei will never let his tanks attack the city unless it is absolutely necessary. The most important thing for the armored forces is the field battle of the large corps, so that the speed, firepower, and defensive ability of the armored forces can be fully exerted, and in the urban siege, the well-trained infantry with enough anti-tank weapons is enough to pose a mortal threat to the armored forces. A similar situation has occurred on the battlefields of Western Europe, as long as the quality of the soldiers on the defending side is good enough, there are enough anti-tank weapons, and the defense is strong enough. Then to attack the city with armored forces, this is almost a dead end!

In the previous battles, Gu Xunlei had also been avoiding attacking the town. Even at Volka, Armidale, Tamworth, the armored forces did not attack the town directly, but broke down the enemy's defenses by attacking important targets around the town, or by a quick assault, without giving the enemy time to prepare for resistance. But now, he had to send his armored forces to attack Naraburai. The main forces of the American army have arrived, if not yet to quickly take down the Naraburi. He will be exposed to the enemy on his back, and this is a taboo for soldiers.

Gu Xunlei knew very well that the U.S. army was already storming the bridge to the north, and the fire came from there. and the hemispherical flash of light from the explosion. The U.S. military also knew that Naraburai would not hold out for long. will attack desperately. Both sides are scrambling for time. If the U.S. forces are unable to cross the river to the north before the capture of the Naraburai, then the U.S. forces will be held back north of the Naraburai. If the U.S. military can rush over in time. Then Gu Xunlei has to think about how to save his life.

The infantry attack was quite resolute, and the first three rounds of attacks were blocked by the enemy, which already annoyed the officers and men of the 3rd Infantry Division. The commander of the 3rd Infantry Division even went directly to the front line to supervise the battle, and until now, he has asked the commander to personally direct the battle, which is simply the greatest shame for the 3rd Infantry Division. And at this moment, the innate sense of honor of the soldiers is completely aroused, and even for these recruits - perhaps they are not recruits anymore - the sense of honor still drives them to charge forward without fear of sacrifice.

As the first troops to go ashore. The 3rd Infantry Division did not take part in the assault on Port Macquarie, but it played a major role in the encirclement and annihilation of the U.S. mobile units in the rear. The status of the 3rd Infantry Division as the main infantry unit has already been recognized. This time, both the 1st Infantry Division and the 2nd Infantry Division were resting in the rear, and the 3rd Infantry Division was the only main infantry division participating in front-line operations, and the 3rd Infantry Division had a significantly higher status than the other six infantry divisions that arrived later. During the attack on Tamworth, Gu Xunlei did not let the Third Infantry Division rush forward, mainly considering that the Third Infantry Division also needed time to rest, but this made the officers and soldiers of the Third Infantry Division very dissatisfied. Now, they have finally taken the position of the main force, but they have stopped in front of a town defended by only 3,000 American and Australian troops, which makes all the officers and soldiers feel humiliated.

Within ten minutes, the attacking force of the 3rd Infantry Division had advanced about 200 meters, which was farther than the advance of the previous three attacks, and the enemy's first line of defense was already about to be breached, and more and more enemies were approaching this side. But equally, the casualties of the 3rd Infantry Division were extremely heavy. The battalion that was the first to go into battle had already been withdrawn, and of more than 100 people, only more than 100 had left the battlefield.

"You can't fight like that!" Gu Xunlei was also anxious, this was just the beginning, he didn't want to waste too many troops in Naraburai, "Immediately let the Second Cavalry Division dispatch, let the Third Infantry Division slow down the pace of attack, and can't fight with the enemy!" ”

Before Gu Xunlei's order arrived, the motorized infantry regiment of the 2nd Cavalry Division had already rushed forward, the cavalry battalion opened the way in front, and the infantry of the two motorized infantry battalions followed closely on both sides of the tank battalion, covering each other to advance forward. At this time, the vast majority of the American and Australian officers and soldiers were pinned down on the southern defensive line, and the defensive position to the west was less than one battalion of troops, and it was impossible for an infantry battalion without sufficient heavy firepower to block the attack of three battalions.

By the time the U.S. forces found that their flanks were under attack and were about to move their anti-tank guns over, the cavalry battalion had broken through the two lines of defense of the U.S. forces and entered the core of the town. Two motorized infantry battalions were expanding the breakthrough, and Gu Xunlei also threw two battalions of the Fifth Infantry Division into the western battlefield at this time, which was the reserve he prepared.

Before the anti-tank guns of the American army could be erected, the tanks crushed them. And with the destruction of the anti-tank artillery positions of the American army, the situation on the battlefield began to change. Immediately after capturing the western part of the city, the cavalry battalion penetrated south and attacked from behind the American lines, while the 3rd Infantry Division continued its onslaught on the front. The 5th Infantry Division successively committed three battalions to expand the breakthrough to the west.

The battle reached about 10 o'clock, and the United States and Australia finally could not resist and began to retreat to the north, while the two cavalry battalions of the Second Cavalry Division, which had been standing by in the north, blocked the retreat of the United States and Australia.

"Clear the battlefield as soon as possible, and return the wounded and prisoners to Gonidal as soon as possible." Gu Xunlei led his guard battalion into Naraburai, "Besides, how is the battle on the bridgehead?" ”

"The U.S. military stormed for four hours, and Colonel Zhang Xiaolin once gave up the bridgehead in the north, and was even ready to blow up the bridge, but half an hour ago, the U.S. army gave up the attack and took the initiative to retreat ten kilometers to the north, and now it is probably organizing a new attack. Colonel Zhang Xiaolin has also arranged for troops to regain control of the bridgehead in the north, and the 4th Infantry Division is reinforcing the defensive positions in the north. ”

"Let the 5th Infantry Division rush over as soon as possible, and let the 3rd Infantry Division and the 2nd Cavalry Division rest in Naraburai and act as reserves. Also, contact the 6th Infantry Division and the 7th Infantry Division so that they must arrive before dawn. Gu Xunlei stopped, "The headquarters is located here, I'll wait to go down to the bridgehead to take a look, and when I come back, the commander will start working, understand?" ”

The staff officer nodded, and immediately went to call for the personnel to set up the headquarters.

At the time of Gu Xunlei's onslaught on Narabrai, the American forces were also storming the bridgehead positions controlled by the 1st Cavalry Division and the 4th Infantry Division. Zhang Xiaolin's defensive tactics were simple, he set up several observation positions on the south side of the river bank, which were specifically responsible for guiding the artillery, and as a result, most of the attacking forces of the American army were repulsed by the artillery. In order to reduce casualties and losses, Zhang Xiaolin simply left only a motorized infantry battalion in the northern bridgehead, and all the other troops withdrew, trying to use artillery to weaken the American offensive.

In the battle, which lasted four hours, in addition to consuming tens of thousands of shells, the 1st Cavalry Division and the 4th Infantry Division lost less than 30 officers and men, and less than 100 wounded, while the American attack was repulsed six times, and at least more than 2,000 American troops were annihilated. Of course, Zhang Xiaolin also completed his mission and bought Gu Xunlei enough time to capture Naraburai.

When Gu Xunlei rushed over, the officers and soldiers of the First Cavalry Division were cleaning the battlefield, and the American troops had retreated, but the enemy had not left.

……