"Come closer!" On the south bank of the Arno River, Lin Shuo leaned out of the turret hatch of his car, ignoring the flames of war flying everywhere around him, and loudly ordered his chariot to continue to move forward and approach the riverbank. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

"Fire!" With Lin Shuo's order, the huge Tiger Tank suddenly stopped, and the wide track violently rubbed against the gravel on the ground and made a screeching sound. After the muzzle of the black hole was slightly adjusted, a ball of flame rose in the night, and an 88-millimeter high-explosive bomb burst out of its chamber and flew straight towards the other side of the river. In an instant, a US machine-gun fire point on the opposite shore was shrouded in the smoke of gunpowder rising into the air.

There were also a large number of Ming chariots near Lin Shuo's chariot that were desperately pouring fire on the opposite bank, and more Ming infantry were like migrating ant colonies, dragging various tools to cross the river towards the opposite bank. In the sky, the artillery units of both sides were already firing at full power, and a dense rain of bullets like flying meteors pierced the sky and fell to the ground, stirring up huge dust. It was as if the whole city of Florence had been enveloped in it.

After the failure of the sneak attack in the night battle, Wang Dexiang directly ordered the sneak attack to be changed to a strong attack. Tens of thousands of Ming officers and soldiers, under the cover of a large number of artillery and tanks, rushed to the Arno River in an attempt to break through this dangerous place. The Allied forces on the other side of the river put up desperate resistance, and the entire battlefield had turned into a pot of boiling hot porridge.

The artillery power of the Ming army was very powerful, and among the artillery units of the Ming Dynasty, only artillery with a caliber of more than 100 mm was qualified to be called heavy artillery. And at this moment, the artillery units of the Ming army deployed outside Florence have at least three hundred heavy artillery! That's a number enough to destroy any city.

Although hiding behind fortified buildings and ruins can effectively resist the devastating shrapnel attack. However, the Ming army had too many heavy artillery, and it was extremely powerful. In particular, if a large building is hit directly, it is powerful enough to bury everyone under the rubble.

Although the Ming army that took the initiative to attack suffered heavy casualties, the Allied forces that resisted according to the river also suffered great losses. The ones who can be selected to join the armored corps to participate in the war are all elite troops.

In the absence of night combat equipment such as on-board radar and infrared sighting devices, it is difficult for armored units to fully display their combat effectiveness at night. Shooting across the river as it is now, if it is not for the battle-hardened, experienced and well-trained elite troops, it is difficult to achieve much effect. More of them are just waving flags and shouting, and the momentum is very loud, but most of the attacks don't know where they have hit, and they just waste ammunition in vain.

However, the troops of the Second Armored Division of the Ming Army are elite and strong troops. They are experienced and able to quickly locate and attack even at night.

"Come again!" Lin Shuo, who had a calm face, pressed his throat intercom and roared loudly, "Come on!" Pull on! ”

Numerous tanks and armored vehicles of the 2nd Panzer Division approached the riverbank, pouring fire on the defenders on the opposite bank with their various weapons. From 88-mm guns to 20-mm guns, from vehicle-mounted machine guns to smoke launchers. If you look towards the city of Florence from the sky, you can clearly see that along the banks of the Arno River, there are two long bands of light, which are the muzzle fireworks of the fierce exchange of fire between the two sides.

War, especially large-scale war, is not something that ordinary people can play. The horrific consumption of ammunition alone is enough to discourage the vast majority of countries.

'Squeak~~Crunch~~' In the shrill sound of tracks, one after another Ming army tank armored vehicles drove onto the bridge. Tanks loaded with heavily armored baffles in front of them desperately drove their engines to push the tanks on the bridge that had been destroyed during the day's fighting into the river, freeing up the assault position.

The defenders on the opposite bank opened fire from various concealed firing points, especially those tanks and anti-tank firing points that had been hiding and were used as fixed firing points. The rain of bullets continued to hit the Ming tanks, and the splashing sparks were so clearly visible in the night.

The tank at the front was destroyed, and the night was lit up by raging flames. The tanks in the rear followed, pushed the wreckage of the destroyed tanks in front of them, and continued the attack. As for the officers and soldiers who climbed out of the chariot with fire and wailed, they could only ask for more blessings. It has reached a critical moment in the battle, and no one can be merciful at such a time.

"Boom !!"

Seeing that with strong fire support, many tanks and armored vehicles were gradually advancing from the bridge deck, and they were about to attack the other side of the bridge. Suddenly, the entire bridge was blown open from the middle, and the violent explosion almost covered the entire battlefield with a loud explosion. The flames and smoke and the splashing debris made everyone's eyes widen!

"Bastard! They blew up the bridge! Inside the front-line headquarters, the angry Ming generals looked at the troops who were shrouded in smoke and fire, and roared loudly.

Although there had been speculation that the defenders had planted explosives under the bridge, the time constraints and the fierce resistance of the defenders were fierce. The Ming army failed to inspect under the bridge and dismantle the explosives. Now that the defenders had detonated the explosives, the offensive on the front line came to an end.

"Go on." Wang Dexiang, who had cold eyes, put down the telescope in his hand, pinched his fingers tightly, and then ordered in a deep voice: "The troops continue to attack." The reserve stepped forward and ordered the engineering units to immediately erect a pontoon bridge that would allow passage through the armored units. Armored units advance to provide direct fire support. The artillery units of all departments have stepped up their firepower and fired all the shells! I don't care how many casualties there are today, I just need to take Florence! ”

After the defenders blew up the bridge, instead of stopping the fierce offensive of the Ming army, they ushered in an even more violent attack.

Under the cover of strong firepower, the Ming engineer troops rushed to the bank of the river, sent section after section of pontoon bridge into the river and quickly assembled it. With great courage, many Ming infantry bravely resisted the rain of bullets and strafing from the defenders, wielding sapper shovels and rifle butts, rowing their kayaks across the Arno River, forcibly landing on the opposite bank and establishing a bridgehead.

Just after arriving, they didn't even eat much dinner, and the artillerymen of the Ming army, who were busy building artillery positions, received the most severe orders. Shirtless, the tall artillerymen sent heavy shells into the chambers, and then fired them at the defenders of Florence with a roar of rage. This was followed by the next round of shelling.

The shelling of the Ming army had reached the limit of the capacity of the artillery barrels. They no longer care about the wear and tear of the artillery barrels and the consumption of ammunition, and the most important thing now is to send the shells out and send all those allied troops to the western sky!

In the face of the Ming army's offensive that entered a state of rage, the pressure on the defenders was huge. After all, they are facing the strongest army in the world. The rain of bullets that fell intensively caused huge casualties to the defenders, especially since the troops who resisted on the front line of the Arno River had reached the point of emptying a battalion in an hour! That's thousands of officers and soldiers.

Even Zhou Heng, who was cold by nature and didn't care about the lives of officers and soldiers, frowned. It wasn't that he was too worried about the huge casualties, but he was worried that if he continued to fight at this level, the soldiers in his command would soon be lost. At this moment, not to mention other troops, the armored units of the First Armored Division of the US Army alone have lost more than half, and thousands of officers and men have been killed or wounded. The field hospital in the rear was already overcrowded at this time, and even the ammunition supply was already starting to be a little tight.

Faced with this situation, Zhou Heng quickly sent a telegram to Patton, who had returned to the rear yesterday, asking him for reinforcements and supplies. But what reinforcements does Patton have in his hands at this moment?

The American Expeditionary Force that followed Patton into Italy was either in the pocket with Rommel's main army at this moment, desperately struggling, or had been collected by him and sent to Florence to resist the attack of the Ming army. The main forces of the other expeditionary forces, with the exception of some logistical units, were all stationed in France.

The French, on the other hand, now had a large number of troops deployed in northern Italy, but they were also tasked with garrisoning everywhere, maintaining logistical supply lines, and coastal defense. It is difficult to draw enough troops south to support the operation.

Of course, Patton knew very well in his heart that it was not that the French could not provide support, but that they had already prepared the bottom line before coming to Italy for reinforcements, that is, to protect themselves. If the French want to help the German army, it must be negotiated at the top. But now it's too late.

The only ones who could now provide reinforcements to Florence were the remaining German troops that remained in northern Italy after Rommel went south. But these forces also face a variety of problems. The biggest problem is that because of the heavy bombing of the Ming army's army and aviation and the destruction of the Ming army's special operations forces, almost all transportation, whether it is railway or road transportation, is paralyzed. It is very difficult to mobilize movement in a short period of time.

The army attack does not mean that you just send people over, you also need to bring a large amount of equipment and a large amount of supplies! In modern warfare, there is no logistical supplementary support, and there is no huge amount of material supply consumption, what is the use of the army alone in the past? It's just a waste of death.

Under these circumstances, the only heavy group that could provide Florence with effective reinforcements on a large scale and who could quickly reach the battlefield was the German garrisons on the line of Pisa and Livorno.

The distance from Pisa to Florence is only a few tens of kilometers, and the traffic conditions in this section are relatively good. The German troops stationed on the line of Pisa and Livorno were a second-rate infantry division, the 219th Infantry Division. Patton had already transferred a regiment from this infantry division to reinforce Florence, and now that he could draw troops again, the defenders would be greatly weakened. It wasn't something he could decide on anymore.

After receiving Patton's telegram, Rommel, who had not had a good rest for several days, lay on the map with red eyes and studied it carefully. After a moment of silence, it was finally decided to send the defenders from Pisa to Florence for reinforcements! (To be continued.) )