In the first half of the night, the Third Tank Regiment of the First Cavalry Division advanced rapidly under the direct leadership of Zhang Xiaolin. Zhang Xiaolin received several battle reports from the 1st and 2nd regiments, but he ignored the battle in the west. At twelve o'clock, the 2nd Regiment sent another report that the American armored forces had withdrawn from the first line of defense, and at this time, Zhang Xiaolin smelled the breath of victory, and his intuition told him that the American troops were preparing to retreat. He asked the third regiment to speed up the march, but the problem was that the cross-country speed of the Type 25 tank was already very good if it could reach 20 kilometers per hour, and those technical indicators at the factory time were impossible to achieve on the battlefield. And the third regiment has been advancing at a speed of 17 kilometers per hour, and if you want to be fast, you can't get fast!

As the three regiments advanced, the three battalions that rushed to the front encountered small units of the American army several times, the largest of which took place at about half past ten. According to Zhang Xiaolin's order, the third battalion did not stop, and immediately increased its speed after annihilating the American army. And when Zhang Xiaolin arrived at the battle site, he knew that the third battalion should have killed a heavy force of the US army, and this strengthened his idea that the heavy troops of the US army were in the rear, and the best way to defeat the US army was to destroy the heavy troops of the US army, and quickly go around to the northeast of the battlefield to block the passage of the US army to escape back to Armidale. But the problem is that until 12 o'clock, the two motorized infantry battalions arranged by Zhang Xiaolin still did not keep up, if these two motorized infantry battalions could not arrive on time, then he had to leave a unit in the east of the American army, so that the American army could not return to the forest, and he could only lead two battalions to fight in the north at most.

At 12:50 p.m., the 3rd Battalion again routed a heavy American force and captured a large amount of booty. By this time, the 3rd Regiment had reached the east of the American troops, blocking the passage for the American troops to retreat into the forest. Zhang Xiaolin also rushed over at this time, and he was still most concerned about when the two motorized infantry battalions behind him would be able to catch up.

"Contact the Motorized Infantry Battalion again. Let them have to catch up before one o'clock. "Zhang Xiaolin is also a little impatient, the first and second regiments are fighting desperately with the US army, and the third regiment has not yet entered the battle." Either way, you have to hold the line here! ”

A staff officer who followed the guard company immediately ran back to the command vehicle and went to contact the motorized infantry battalion in the rear.

"Third Regiment Commander, let the Third Battalion move on." Zhang Xiaolin called the lieutenant colonel officer over, "The U.S. troops are definitely organizing a retreat, and they have two routes, one is to return to Armidale." The other is to retreat into the forest. Now we are waiting for the US troops here, and I am afraid that the US troops will not come directly to trouble us, so it is very likely that the US troops will retreat to Armidale, let the three battalions be excited in the direction of Armidale, and send out all the regimental reconnaissance units. Closely monitor the movements of the U.S. military. ”

The commander of the third regiment immediately nodded, in fact, he had already sent the reconnaissance troops out.

"Damn the motorized infantry battalion, I don't know when they're going to get here."

At this time, the staff officer ran over. He sent the latest news. That is, the 2nd Regiment has already terminated the battle report of the US Front Command and captured more than a dozen senior US officers.

"Here, the front command of the U.S. military." The staff officer marked the location of the US Front Command on the map, "One colonel, three lieutenant colonels, and five major officers were captured, and the generals of the US army were not captured, and now the 2nd Regiment is cleaning up the battlefield." General Gu Xunlei had already arranged for three infantry battalions to follow the first regiment forward, and it would be around two o'clock to join the second regiment. ”

"What are the second regiments doing now?" Zhang Xiaolin frowned slightly. This is certainly good news.

"The results of the battle are expanding, and the commander of the second regiment sent 20 tanks to continue to assault the assault, which is more than half of their tanks now."

"How's the situation with a lump?" Zhang Xiaolin furrowed his eyebrows again, he didn't expect that the loss of the second regiment would be so huge.

"I don't know, I haven't received a new battle report from a regiment yet." The staff officer hesitated slightly, "The first regiment is facing the last armored unit of the US army, and the losses are definitely not under the second regiment, if the final assault of 30 tanks can be successful, it will already be the best result." ”

"Go get in touch with a group. Let them join the 2nd Regiment as soon as possible and leave the task of cleaning the battlefield to the infantry. Their mission was to pursue the fleeing main force of the American army. Zhang Xiaolin immediately made a decision and adjusted the deployment again, "In addition, let the Second Regiment arrange reconnaissance troops, find out the direction of the retreat of the American army as soon as possible, and strive to leave Bradley behind, if you can kill the supreme commander of the American army this time, see if that kid Weng Yu dares to follow me!" ”

Everyone immediately laughed, although the losses of the troops were large, but the battle had basically been won so far, and the next thing to do was to expand the victory.

Five minutes later, when the tanks of the third battalion were starting one after another, ready to move on, the news of the motorized infantry battalion finally arrived.

"It's about 10 kilometers away from us, and it will take at least half an hour to get there."

"Then let the second battalion wait here for half an hour." Zhang Xiaolin sighed, "The first battalion will go on the road immediately, and after the motorized infantry battalion arrives, the second battalion will follow." The U.S. forces are definitely retreating at full speed toward Armidale, and we must get to the road to the north as soon as possible to cut off the U.S. retreat! ”

"Colonel, do you need to contact General Gu Xunlei?"

Zhang Xiaolin hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Send our new deployment to the headquarters, and in addition, contact the 1st Infantry Division, the US troops have been defeated, let the 1st Infantry Division immediately arrange troops to support us, the first task is to assist our motorized infantry battalion to hold the line here and prevent the US troops from entering the forest. If you have extra troops, get here as soon as possible......"

The staff officer glanced at the location marked by Zhang Xiaolin on the map and immediately wrote it down.

"We're going to set up a defensive line here to stop the American retreat, and if the 1st Infantry Division can send reinforcements at dawn, then we'll be able to hold this line, and if we can't reach it, we'll have to fight alone."

The troops quickly hit the road, and Zhang Xiaolin still advanced with his guard company and the first battalion. Now, he no longer doubts that he can achieve a final victory, judging from the entire battlefield situation, the American army has been defeated. And the speed of the collapse of the US military even Zhang Xiaolin himself could not believe it.

On the continental battlefield, the battle between the Imperial Army and the Russian Army can be said to be extremely fierce, and the tank battles between the two sides have been fought hundreds of times. If the Imperial Army did not have strong artillery, as well as the support of aviation, it would not have been possible to suppress the Russian Army on the battlefield. In particular, at that time, the Type 25 tank had not yet been mass-produced, and the production of Type 24 heavy tanks was not enough to meet the needs of the troops, and the troops used the Type 23 medium tanks on a large scale. And at that time, the armored forces of the Russian Army were already massively equipped with T-34 tanks. Even the T-34/85 appeared on the battlefield. Suffice it to say that in 24, the Imperial Army relied not on tanks, but on powerful aviation. It was the bombers of the Reich that really dominated the Russian battlefield. This was the case until the second half of '25, when thousands of Type 25 tanks rolled off the production line. The situation changed when they were transported to the front-line troops, and a large number of Type 24 heavy tanks formed a large-scale combat force on the battlefield.

Just like Zhang Xiaolin, Weng Yu and other commanders of tank units who participated in battles on the battlefield on the mainland, in their opinion. In many cases, decisive battles between tanks are the result of both defeats, and even if they can defeat the enemy, it is a victory with blood, lives, and huge losses. And this time, in just a few hours, the American army was routed, and more than 200 American tanks were destroyed. And the loss of their own tanks is probably only about 100 units. The loss was relatively low, and the rate of victory was too fast.

Around two o'clock in the morning. The 3rd Battalion encountered an American armored unit about 10 kilometers from the road line. When he received the news, Zhang Xiaolin was also surprised, he didn't expect that the U.S. Army still had armored troops, and his first reaction was that this was a reinforcement from the U.S. Army. Then, the third battalion sent back a new battle report, and all they encountered was a fleeing American unit, and all 14 American tanks had been destroyed. Moreover, the 3rd Battalion is continuing its advance towards the road line and is expected to arrive by 3 o'clock. And according to Zhang Xiaolin's order, capture this node and block the American troops retreating towards Armidale. At this time, Zhang Xiaolin breathed a sigh of relief, at least the reinforcements of the US army had not yet appeared, and if a few US tank battalions were killed at this time, I am afraid he would have to turn around and flee for his life.

The 1st Battalion reached the road line at 3.15 p.m. Zhang Xiaolin chose the blocking site about 25 kilometers away from Armidale. This is completely outside the strike range of the American artillery, of course, the premise is that the American artillery stays in Armidale, and this is not very likely.

"How many infantry can we organize now?"

"There's only one platoon of guards!"

Zhang Xiaolin gritted his teeth, and he glanced in the southwest direction. "Let the guard platoon form positions on both sides of the road, and the US troops may arrive at any time."

The company commander of the guard company immediately nodded, and then went to arrange for the infantry of the guard platoon to deploy positions.

"Third Regiment Commander, we must wait here for the support of the 1st Infantry Division and hold off the attack of the American army." Zhang Xiaolin called the lieutenant colonel officer over, and he looked towards the hill north of the road, "Deploy two tank companies behind the hill, pay attention to concealment, and don't expose until I give the order." ”

The lieutenant colonel officer also looked towards the small hill, which should be an ideal ambush point.

"The reconnaissance force is advancing 10 kilometers to the southwest, and it is very likely that the US troops are coming towards our side." Zhang Xiaolin pointed to the southwest of the road, "Arrange two tank companies in front, and the other two tank companies in the south, if the US army wants to bypass our defense line, then we have to fight back." ”

"When will the second battalion arrive?" The lieutenant colonel's question was a little awkward, he didn't even know what his troops were doing.

"Half an hour at the fastest, an hour at the slowest." Zhang Xiaolin shook his head, "I have already let the motorized infantry battalion replace the second battalion, we can't stop the infantry of the US army by ourselves, except for counting on the first infantry division to send reinforcements as soon as possible, the only way is to launch a counterattack when the US army arrives, so that the US army cannot organize an effective attack and delay time as much as possible." ”

"Then it depends on whether the second battalion can arrive quickly, and it is impossible for us to launch a counterattack with our current strength!"

"Let's arrange it as soon as possible, after the second battalion arrives, it will act as a reserve first, and God will know if the US army will come before this."

After the third regiment commander left, Zhang Xiaolin returned to his armored command vehicle and asked the staff officer to send back the news that they had arrived at the blocking position. His armored command vehicle is very similar to Gu Xunlei's, in fact, every officer above the regimental level has an armored command vehicle. Unlike Gu Xunlei's armored command vehicle, the radio on Zhang Xiaolin's command vehicle is much less, and it looks a little more dilapidated.

"Colonel, General Gu Xunlei's order."

Zhang Xiaolin had just made himself a cup of coffee, he immediately put down the coffee cup, picked up the telegram, and when he finished reading the content of the telegram, his brows immediately locked. Gu Xunlei's new order was to immediately arrange for an armored force to assault Armidale, and strive to capture the junction of the road north of Armidale before dawn, and American reinforcements were rapidly approaching. In other words, Zhang Xiaolin is going to block the reinforcements of the US army in Armidale!

At this time, Zhang Xiaolin had a headache, he only had two tank battalions in his hands, a guard company, and the third tank battalion had not yet rushed over. What to do? Do you want to stay here, or do you want to go on a new mission? After thinking for a while, Zhang Xiaolin made a decision, it was impossible for him to disobey Gu Xunlei's orders, and Gu Xunlei knew more about the overall battle situation.

After the third regiment commander learned about Gu Xunlei's order, he was also surprised, but there was no time for him to argue with Zhang Xiaolin, in addition, he also knew that the military order was like a mountain, since the general had already issued the order, then he could not disobey.

"I'll lead the first battalion to set out, and when the second battalion arrives, you will stay here." Zhang Xiaolin made a new arrangement, "If you block the attack of the American army before dawn, then you have to arrange at least one battalion of troops to support me before dawn, understand?" ”

"I know that if we can hold out until dawn, I will send all my troops over."

Zhang Xiaolin patted the lieutenant colonel officer on the shoulder, and he suddenly had a feeling of "wind and wind".

……