Poof

Just as the surviving Japanese soldiers were lying down, several tall soldiers of the Northwest Army rushed out of the improvised bunker and threw the grenade as fast as they could.

The successive explosions caused some losses for the Japanese troops who rushed into the bamboo forest.

"Kill!"

When the two units in the bamboo forest fought together, the small Japanese army, which was attacking from the side, also lost its purpose of departure because it was exposed.

The collision at the level of this brigade quickly caught the attention of the main forces of both sides. Of the three Japanese tanks, one squadron of Japanese troops and two Type 97 tanks had already arrived first.

Rumble!

THE JAPANESE ARMY WAS NOT REALLY STUBBORN, AT LEAST AT THIS TIME, THE 57MM LONG-BARRELED GUN MOUNTED ON THE TYPE 97 TANK HAD SURPASSED THE MOST POWERFUL TANK IN SOUTHEAST ASIA DURING THE PACIFIC WAR IN HISTORY. The 57MM long-barreled tank gun already has a fairly strong destructive power. At least at this time, the simple fortifications of the Northwest Army are no longer enough in front of the Type 97 tank, and the Type 97 tank, which has gradually strengthened its armor, is also somewhat different from the historical Douding tank. AT LEAST THE 12.7MM LARGE-CALIBER MACHINE GUN THAT COULD THREATEN THE TYPE 95 LIGHT TANK AND THE LIGHT ARMORED VEHICLE IS NOW POWERLESS AGAINST THE TYPE 97 TANK.

In the sound of tinkling bullets and armor, the Type 97 tank flew the sandbags piled up in front of it with one shot, along with the soldiers of the Northwest Army and the fire snake general machine gun behind the sandbags.

"Long live the Emperor!" Seeing that the hateful general-purpose machine gun was now only a broken tripod that had fallen to the ground, the Japanese soldiers who were close could not help but let out cheers.

Da-da-da

At this time, several soldiers of the Northwest Army were frantically outputting fire with imitation Czech light machine guns, doing everything possible to hit the Japanese soldiers who were following behind the tank.

Boom, boom!

The Japanese tank guns, as well as the machine guns above, successively killed several Northwest Army machine gunners who blocked the road.

"The third child!"

In the mournful cries of his comrades, the soldiers who were originally hidden were exposed to the sight of the Japanese army.

"Bastard, over there, there's a bazooka from the Northwest Army!" Soon, amid the almost frightened cries of the Japanese soldiers, a bazooka hidden behind an improvised bunker entered the exclamations of more soldiers.

At this time, the Japanese soldiers showed their courage and tenacity as always, and a wave of Japanese soldiers quickly rushed out, and the machine guns and rifle bullets in their hands were greeted by the Northwest Army on the opposite side as much as possible.

Although the other party was not hit in a hurry, it was enough to have such harassment. The actions of these infantry had already attracted the attention of another Type 97 tank. The rocket launcher was also blown up, but the next explosion also made the Japanese army's heart feel like a hammer. The Japanese army has more than one tank, but the fearless Northwest Army also has more than one bazooka.

Unlike the tanks of the Northwest Army that ambushed the Japanese army many times in the past, the rocket launchers that were not difficult to produce at this time were already equipped in batches in the ground forces. This is also an important reason why the armored forces of the Japanese army suffered heavy losses in the Central Plains Theater of Operations, and still failed to take the Central Plains Theater despite heavy losses.

Heavy artillery alone could not destroy the will of the Northwest Army to resist. In many cases, the role of tank assault and covering infantry attacks is irreplaceable. When these tanks rushed to the positions of the North-Western Army, they received heavy blows one after another, not only from the North-Western armored forces, but also from these dreadnought anti-tank infantry.

The burning Type 97 tank made the Japanese officers in the rear wail for a while, and another tank was destroyed by the opposing infantry. Yes, it's infantry. Although the infantry of the Northwest Army suffered heavier casualties, for the Japanese officers, the Shina people were almost endless, coming all the way from the northeast, and there were people everywhere. A tank, to exchange for some of the opponent's infantry, is not a cost-effective deal at all, kill a few, the opponent can recruit more. But the replenishment of tanks by the Japanese was not fast. At least it is far from the speed of the other side's military expansion. The imitation of the bazooka is not difficult, but the performance of the grenadier that came out of the early rush is really not very good, the range of the rocket launcher named electric drill after the improvement of the Northwest Army has reached more than 250 meters, and the range of the imitation of the Japanese army in the early stage is about the same as that made in the Northwest, which is less than 150 meters, and the two sides not only have a gap in range, but also have a huge difference in armor-piercing ability. The early bird gets the worm, and the Northwest has worked the bazooka for a few more years.

"Kill!"

Soon, another grenadier of the Northwest Army was also suppressed by the hateful Japanese machine guns, and he lay behind a simple bunker and could not raise his head at all. A large number of Japanese troops swarmed up from behind and stabbed the soldiers of the Northwest Army into a sieve with the most angry bayonets.

"What? Another brigade reinforcement for the Japanese army? Reinforcements, Lao Tzu has a fart reinforcement here, a Japanese brigade opposite Lao Tzu, now there is a fart reinforcement, you hold on first, Lao Tzu will send you a telegram to the military department! If you really can't stand it, you will withdraw, and you don't have to defend there, Lao Tzu asked the military department to send a few tanks to take you down, and then fight back. Commander Wu of the Northwest Army was anxious on the phone, hung up without waiting for the other party to react, and then began to make another call.

"Damn, withdraw to Woniugang, if the Japanese army dares to catch up, make them look good!" After feeding twice, he found that there was no sound on the phone, and the head of Zhou cursed secretly and ordered angrily.

"Tuanza, now the Japanese army is biting too hard, and they won't let the other party withdraw if they want to!" The adjutant next to him was so angry that he had a toothache.

"If you can't withdraw, you will continue to hold on. If you can't bear it, pull a few Japanese soldiers on your back! Captain Zhou smashed his hat to the ground.

After the appearance of the Type 97 tank, two more Type 95 light tanks were killed. I went to the side of the bamboo forest. The soldiers of the Northwest Army, who had relied on machine rifle fire to suppress the Japanese troops in the woods, did not have enough defense, and immediately collapsed.

The machine gun on the Dada tank hit the ground and raised a large amount of dust, like a long snake woven from dust, biting all the way towards the Northwest Army.

"Sakazai!" The Japanese troops in the bamboo forest scattered one after another.

In fact, in the battle just now, in order to destroy the counterattack firepower of the Northwest Army as much as possible, the Japanese suffered even greater casualties, and also lost a lot of light and heavy machine guns. It's just that the fierce battle just now also knocked out the firepower of the Northwest Army's counterattack. At this time, the Northwest Army could no longer cope with the Japanese brigade with a similar number of troops, but with a few tanks to help.

"I can't hold it, camp, you take the brothers to retreat first!" Company Commander Zhao and several soldiers tied the collected grenades together, although the Japanese army's protection of tanks is much tighter than before, and the cluster grenades blow up Japanese tanks are very small, but at least for now it is the only means for the Northwest Army to threaten Japanese tanks. The anti-aircraft artillery and grenadiers had been destroyed by the Japanese army. Machine rifles, even small-caliber mortars, could not penetrate the armor of the Type 97 tank.

People will eventually progress in the war, after losing a large number of tanks, armored vehicles on the battlefield of the Central Plains. Even the stubborn Japanese army had too poor survivability on the battlefield because of armored vehicles and tanks. I had to step up to these big guys again and again. to adapt to the Central Plains battlefield, which was deteriorating for the Japanese army. Although the manufacturing cost has skyrocketed due to the increase in the tonnage of Type 97 tanks, these improvements still have a significant effect on the battlefield, at least those Type 95 light tanks do not dare to rush so fast.

"Boom!"

"Grass Ni Ancestor!" The battalion commander saw the company commander in charge of the broken rear behind, and several soldiers who had disintegrated in the explosion or were overwhelmed by the churning sandbags. Scattered sand and blood splattered everywhere.

"Let's go!" In the mournful shouts of the battalion commander, the Northwest Army of the brigade fought and retreated, leaving corpses along the way, although the Northwest Army would not throw the corpses of their comrades most of the time, but there was a priority, and the Japanese army was attacking too fiercely at the moment. Not to mention the corpses of their comrades-in-arms, even they themselves can't take care of it at this time, and there is a military order on it, strictly ordering them to retreat to Woniugang. Military orders are like mountains, and in this kind of battle, it is more important than life.

"You can't let go of a branch army!"

Previously, the Japanese were too heavily killed and wounded under machine gun fire, and it was only with the current wave of counterattacks that the casualties were leveled out. It was not easy to regain the upper hand, and at this time, where would you like to let the enemy retreat so easily.

Two armies dressed in different uniforms retreated and pursued in the undulating sand dunes.

"What? Bastard, inform Yabe Kotoshi and ask him to withdraw the troops immediately! Chase so close, do you want to die? At this time, the commander of the Yoshishima detachment, who was in charge of fighting in this direction in the rear, was furious when he heard the news that Yabe Shou led the team to pursue.

"Your Excellency Yoshishima, it's too late to inform the Yabe Brigade at this time, just now someone was sent over there to deliver the news, and they have already passed through Hongwa Village. At the moment, I am afraid that it will soon collide with the reinforcements of the Chinese army. The staff officer next to him reminded, "If the Yabe Brigade loses at this time, then the position that the detachment has just grabbed will fall back into the hands of the Northwest Army, and Prince Tokuhiko will inspect the theater tomorrow, if the battle is not effective at this time, I'm afraid."

"Order the Iwasaki Tank Unit to be responsible for receiving the Yabe Brigade, and request the assistance of the Air Force."

Without waiting for the staff officer to finish speaking, the commander of the Yoshishima detachment quickly ordered Prince Tokuhiko to come to the war zone for inspection, on the one hand, to boost the morale of the Heavenly King, and at the same time to rebaptize the army, since the Battle of Nomenkan last year, the Kwantung Army suffered heavy losses. This war, which was not explicitly dictated by the base camp, led to such great losses. In order to curb the long-standing bad habits of the Japanese army and change the tradition of private action in the Japanese army, the Kwantung Army began with the purge at the behest of the emperor and the unanimous consent of the base camp.

Although in the theater of operations, the purge of officers was irrational, and after Prince Tokuhiko took a turn in the northeast, the task of coming to the Central Plains theater became to inspect and boost morale, but at this time, if he suffered defeat. There is a considerable chance of being labelled as incompetent and perhaps even disgusted by the emperor. In this situation, in the face of the Yabe Shou Brigade that was chasing too fast, the captain of the Yoshishima detachment had no way not to save him.

Otherwise, a brigade was lost, and the positions that had just been taken were recaptured by the Northwest Army. If it is not much in peacetime, after all, there are too many tug-of-wars between the Japanese army and the Northwest Army at this time. But just like the superiors of later generations who went to the school to conduct inspections, the school must be cleaned up. Always maintain a good image in front of your superiors, rather than dropping the chain at a critical time.

In short, this order, which violated the usual combat habits of the captain of the Yoshishima detachment, was issued.

However, at the same time as the order of the commander of the Yoshishima detachment was given, a mixed armored unit of different heights and a large number of soldiers transported by car rushed to Woniugang from the opposite direction of the Japanese army.

"What, Woniugang, so close to the main force of the Zhina Army, is the detachment leader crazy? What if you run into the tank units of the Chinese Army? Their tanks are no slower than ours. Iwasaki Hakuden was furious when he received the order.

"Your Excellency Iwasaki, the detachment leader said that Prince Tokuhiko came to inspect, and if Yabe's Shou Brigade is surrounded and annihilated by the Shina Army, the responsibility for the defeat will be borne by His Excellency Iwasaki! In addition, the detachment commander has already called in aviation for support. The chief of staff next to him whispered.

"Bastard! Everyone immediately rushed to Woniugang with me! Hearing that there was air support, Iwasaki Hakuden's face looked a little better.

Soon, 19 Type 97 tanks, 13 Type 95 tanks, 11 Type 95 light armored vehicles, dozens of trucks, and a number of three-wheeled motorcycles flying the sun flag quickly entered the car with Iwasaki Baiden's order. A mighty armored force marched towards the established area of operations.

It's just that Iwasaki Baiden, who was standing on the command car, didn't have a trace of smile on his face, but an undisguised trace of worry in the corner of his eye. The same worry flashed through the eyes of several other tank commanders. Perhaps the air force still has a certain advantage, and perhaps the ground combat units still have a certain degree of confidence compared with the Northwest Army, but as an armored unit, it is also the unit with the strongest combat capability among the ground forces of the Japanese army.

In the face of the enemy, especially in front of a backward enemy like the Chinese army, it seems absurd to lose confidence. Of course, this is not to say that they dare not fight, in the face of the more powerful tanks of the Northwest Army, they also forgot to die, but in the Central Plains Theater, they have always tried their best to avoid fighting the enemy with sufficient artillery and ground forces. This time, however, it was a very dangerous area. This is not a good sign. It's just that since he was assigned to the Yoshishima detachment, and he bumped into Tokuhiko's dead ghost, he didn't come sooner or later, just in time to catch up at this juncture. I can only blame myself for being unlucky, but I hope I can get through this level smoothly. (To be continued.) )