Zhou Heng is a person who pays great attention to practical interests. Pen ~ fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info he actually only cares about his own interests, in order to be able to achieve his goals, he can do anything, and naturally there is no moral bottom line.

He didn't care at all about the casualties of the American officers and soldiers and the Italian locals, and he didn't care about it. Zhou Heng knew very well in his heart that as long as he could drag the Ming Army's armored corps here for a few days, then he would remove that damn acting title and officially become the commander of the First Armored Division. This is decisive in the military. It's like a door to heaven, and there are very few people who can pass it, because the past is heaven. When you have the opportunity to open the door, why not work hard?

In Zhou Heng's heart, he believes that with the advantage of being a Chinese, as long as the family has a little more effort, it is easy to stand out in the American army. Now is a time of tragic war, everything is based on war, the means and laws of peacetime are no longer important, only real military power can decide everything. As a general with military power, Zhou Heng believed that he would be able to obtain huge benefits. It is not impossible to run for president even after the war. As for the few casualties and losses, what does it matter to him?

Because the march of the armored corps of the Ming army was too fast. Although the Americans have issued emergency evacuation notices, many locals who have lived here for generations are still reluctant to leave their homes. For the locals, war is far away news, and in the current economic situation, the only thing that matters most is to fill their stomachs.

Under Zhou Heng's orders, many American troops were stationed in various parts of the city of Florence, waiting for the Ming army to attack. Entering the city to build a position also means bearing the fierce artillery bombardment and bombardment of the Ming army, which is not an artillery battle set off during the Chinese New Year!

Although Barton also felt that this tactic seemed inappropriate, he could not find what was wrong. At the moment, the war is urgent, and there is no time to think about many things.

There is nothing wrong with Zhou Heng's battle plan, if he can't beat it in the wild, he can only be entangled in the city and beaten hard. As for the casualties of the officers and soldiers and the locals, there are no dead in the war? And even if the whole of Florence is in ruins, it has nothing to do with him. Now that the Kingdom of Italy has announced its surrender, it is an enemy country, and it is really not a pity to destroy the cities of the enemy country. I don't even have to send an apology letter.

......

On the evening of March 29, 1942, the search force of the Second Armored Division of the Ming Army arrived near Florence and engaged the US infantry units stationed on the outskirts of the city.

Although it was strange that the defenders of Florence did not take the initiative to meet the outside of the city, after all, they had already learned about the stationing of the US 1st Armored Division and other troops. However, after a night of artillery harassment and adjustment of troops, in the early morning of the next day, the Ming army soon launched an artillery bombardment on the fortresses, strongholds, and important supply centers that had been urgently repaired on the outskirts of Florence. A large number of mechanized infantry then stormed the city under the cover of armored troops.

Along the way, the morale of the Ming army, which swept through thousands of troops, was like a rainbow, and all the towns on the way forward were all fought down. Therefore, the Ming army gave the capture of Florence a generous time, a full twelve hours. They were expected to take Florence between 8 p.m., and then march to Pisa and Livorno a day later to end the glorious campaign.

However, the Ming offensive was stopped in Florence.

After fighting along the way, assigning troops to various important locations, and maintaining and protecting logistical supply lines, although they were reinforced by follow-up reinforcements, the Ming army arrived outside Florence at this moment with only two armored divisions and two mechanized infantry divisions. And not all of them came, but the faster ones came first. The rest of the troops were still running wildly on the road in the rear.

After the artillery bombardment and aerial bombardment in the early hours of the morning, about a regiment of Ming infantry and more than 100 tanks and armored vehicles entered the city at about eight o'clock. After just over three hours, less than 200 Ming infantry and a few armored vehicles escaped. Then, the commanders of the Ming army came to their senses, and they met a hard bone here.

Because the speed of the march was too fast, in fact, there were not literally as many Ming troops arriving at the front line at this moment. Many of the troops were only partially reached, especially the artillery units. The only artillery units that actually arrived at the front line outside Florence were the self-propelled guns of those armored divisions, and the towed artillery, which occupied the main position among the artillery of the Ming army, was actually still on the road at this time, hurrying and hurrying. Even the industrial capacity of the Ming Dynasty could not equip all troops with tracked self-propelled guns with ultra-high mobility capabilities.

As for aerial bombardment, the Daming Army Aviation is indeed very powerful, there is no doubt about this. However, the Battle of Florence was a matter of life and death for the entire German Army Group South that attacked Rome by hundreds of thousands of officers and soldiers. At this critical juncture, both the U.S. Army and the Luftwaffe were fighting desperately, and even the French Air Force, which had been playing soy sauce, sent reinforcements to support the operation. The deterrent effect of Daming Army Aviation was greatly weakened immediately.

At this time, the main German army, which had gradually fallen into the encirclement, was trying with all its might to get rid of the entanglement of the main force of the Ming army, and quickly returned to northern Italy through Pisa and other places in the north.

In the northern part of Italy, there were the remaining units of the German Army Group South and the reinforcements of the French, who were able to escape Pisa almost unsurpassed. For this reason, Rommel even continued to send small units of armored troops to carry out suicidal counterattacks, delaying the pace of the Ming army at the cost of total annihilation. Under these circumstances, the Ming army top brass sternly ordered the panzer corps that were outflanking and outflanking to rush to Pisa and Livorno before the specified time, so as to completely cut off the German army's way of life.

Before lunch, the Ming troops outside Florence used all the artillery at their disposal to bombard the city of Florence. There were even many tank units that turned into demolition troops and drove outside Florence to provide fire support, destroying all the buildings.

Florence is an ancient city of culture and an artistic paradise with a long cultural tradition. It was the cultural center of the European Renaissance. Strategically located, Florence is home to a number of rail and road connections between northern and southern Italy, the most important of which is the road to Pisa and Livorno, which is a desperate battle. The city of Florence is crossed by a river of Arno, with seven large bridges spanning both sides of the river, and the whole city is full of large architectural and cultural monuments. This is a very advantageous thing for the defending side.

Before lunch, the Ming army launched another strong attack. More than 100 tanks and armored vehicles covered a regiment of infantry and steadily entered the city, engaged in a fierce exchange of fire with the defenders. The officers and men of the American Expeditionary Force hid in buildings and bombed-out rubble, firing at the Ming army that exposed themselves. The officers and men of the 1st U.S. Armored Division even drove their tanks into the buildings to act as fixed batteries and block off the streets.

The sky began to boil. Both sides know the importance of Florence at this moment. It was completely unreserved to send all his forces to engage in fierce battles in the air, and the blue sky was about to be completely obscured by the fighters between the two sides. The fierceness of the battle was no less than that on the ground.

After more than an hour, the Ming army approached the Arno River after paying heavy casualties, but they were never able to capture the bridge over the river, even with their fierce attack at the cost of casualties. Then the Ming army, which suffered heavy casualties, had to stop on the south bank of the Arno River.

"Why don't you go on the offensive!" At half past one in the afternoon, the door of the Ming army's front-line headquarters was suddenly pushed open, and Wang Dexiang, the commander of the Ming Southern European Theater, strode in with an indifferent face. He asked sharply after tearing off the gloves on his hand.

Now Rommel and his troops continue to move north to try to break out, but the troops responsible for closing the encirclement are blocked at the last crevice of the pocket. Seeing that the already cooked duck was about to fly away, how could Wang Dexiang not be angry? He knew very well that Zhang Cheng was very concerned about the Italian battlefield, and even sent telegrams to himself many times saying that defeating Rommel was of great significance to the whole war.

Although Wang Dexiang has never understood why Zhang Cheng attaches so much importance to Rommel, as a soldier, Wang Dexiang must strictly obey orders.

"Sir, the casualties on the front line are too great, and we are waiting for the artillery units to come over." A Ming army general standing in front of the map studying the battle plan hurriedly responded.

"No need to wait." Wang Dexiang ordered with a cold face and a deep voice: "Immediately put in the troops to attack, and in any case, capture Florence before dawn tomorrow." Rommel is escaping from the encirclement with the main German forces, and we must not let the boiled duck fly away again! ”

Wang Dexiang also knew that Florence was not easy to fight, otherwise he wouldn't need to come over in person. He pushed back the original operational schedule by another 12 hours, which was already the limit he could give.

With Wang Dexiang's stern order, after two o'clock in the afternoon, the readjusted Ming army began to continuously put troops into the city of Florence to engage in fierce competition with the American army. Bullets rained down and gunsmoke filled the air. The city is littered with blood and sewage. The air was filled with a strange smell mixed with gunsmoke, blood, scorching and so on, which made people want to vomit.

Florence, a historic city with many famous buildings, was reduced to rubble in a rain of bullets. Tens of thousands of officers and soldiers on both sides fought desperately in this ruin, and countless lives were rapidly disappearing. (To be continued.) )