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"The casualties are too high!! Mr. Vatutin, okay!! Dimitri had to say this to Vatutin.

He can't help it, after all, compared to Vatutin's troops, most of his armored troops are M18 "hellcats", although some important parts in front of the hull are pasted with armor modules, but M18's own defense capabilities are not much different from those of paper paste, so the opponent's armor-piercing shells hit the turret or the parts of the armor module, and there is a certain chance that it can defend against the opponent's shells, however, there are probably half of the front of the hull that are not pasted with armor modules, once these areas are hit, So waiting for the fate of this M18, at least it has to be semi-paralyzed.

What's more, the firepower of the opponent's armored forces is not too weak, at least, in Dimitri's eyes, those things that should be tank destroyers can easily penetrate the hull and even the cannon shield of these M18s with armor-piercing shells.

In fact, the best part of a tank combat vehicle is theoretically the gun shield, once the gun shield is penetrated, then theoretically, the armor of other parts of the tank can also be penetrated.

Therefore, the battle loss rate of these M18s is increasing.

For a tank destroyer like the M18, hiding behind the line of attack and defending in the second line is the best way to use it.

But it's not that Dimitri doesn't know this, it's that he doesn't have a good way.

Because the vast majority of the tanks and combat vehicles he has on hand are M18 "Hellcats". With only a dozen E-50Ms and the IS-7 he is now carrying, he simply can't get a better card, and he can only use the resources at hand to delay time for Vatutin.

In fact, Dimitri also knew very well that Vatutin's troops had to replenish ammunition and build another line of cover, so ten minutes was not enough, so he could only do his best to command the troops to resist.

But the problem is that he is a complete novice when it comes to commanding armored units, because his specialty is in commanding infantry units. If he hadn't made up for this knowledge with Vatujing and Zhang Shixin, I am afraid that he might have made a mistake even in commanding a squad of tanks.

Watching the tanks and combat vehicles being destroyed, Dimitri was quite angry, but there was not much he could do. Because he has to slow down the other side's progress.

"We're out of shells! Request approval to go back! Repeat, we are out of shells, ask for permission to retreat!! ”

This sentence was a request made by the commander of the M18 formation to Dimitri on the radio, Dimitri gritted his teeth and watched the battle situation, and then gave the order: "There is cover with shells, and the wingmen without shells retreat!" The rest of the troops...... Fight and retreat! ”

After Dimitri said this, he took a deep breath, and then said to himself helplessly: "Maybe...... I'll die in a minute, right? ”

Dimitri's forces were completely withdrawn, but for the troops who also suffered heavy casualties, nay, it should be said that they had suffered more losses, they could only wait for the arrival of the follow-up troops, and not rely on these crippled troops to pursue the enemy.

Although the other party's losses are also heavy, for them, this is a very loss. It's like an extremely expensive heavy tank being exchanged for a light tank, and this account is quite uneconomical.

Dimitri didn't know that his blocking was quite successful, and although the losses were also quite high, Dimitri should be quite happy to be able to achieve such a result with the M18.

……

Just as Zhang Shixin decided to install the M18 "Hellcat" on a large scale, he expected that this thing was more of a consumable, rather than a complete main force.

Using the M18 "Hellcat" as the main force, Zhang Shixin did not have the idea of pitting his subordinates.

If the M4 "Sherman" is a Langson lighter, then the M18 "Hellcat" can be regarded as a kitten with fairly sharp paws......

After all, the "streaking" M18 "Hellcat" can be said to have no defenses to speak of, especially the hull.

The average armor thickness of 13mm is, in a word, the kind that can penetrate as long as it is a gun, and it is very easy. In this case, if Zhang Shixin still uses this thing as the main force, his head will be clipped.

Consumables mean they can be consumed on a large scale. In this way, although it is a bit unkind, in the eyes of an officer, especially in Zhang Shixin's mind, the M18 "Hellcat" is such an existence.

For example, if someone else has the golden finger of Zhang Shixin, it must be the zoo army wave after wave, from Tiger I to Tiger III (E-75 in the eyes of Western military commentators, it is considered Tiger III, Tiger II is the Tiger King. From the Panther to the E-50M, there are no hundreds or thousands of vehicles that are embarrassed to come out to meet people.

However, Zhang Shixin knows that when he has thousands of E-50M, he doesn't know that the Year of the Monkey is over, because he doesn't have the capital. At least not in the short term.

Even if it is the E-75B type produced by the system, Zhang Shixin cannot install it in large quantities, firstly, such a preparation does not have much significance, and secondly, even if the E-75B type is a complete body, the mobile surname is still not very good, and it is barely passable.

Starting from the Tiger tank, Zhang Shixin called these three tigers defensive tanks, rather than attack-oriented, because these heavy tanks are either poor in mobility, or they are a little different in overall surname compared to heavy tanks of the same level.

Just like the M103 and IS-8 tanks, in fact, the surname can be better than the E-75, after all, it is not a product of the same period, and the gap of more than ten years is not something that YY can make up.

Therefore, the system classifies the Mouse tank as a nine-and-a-half-level, which is this factor.

It is true that many later accessories can be installed on the E-75 and the Mouse tank, but this will cost more money, which is undoubtedly a very serious problem for Zhang Shixin, a person who has been calculating income and expenditure all day long.

In addition, the most important thing is that the combat effectiveness of a mixed armored unit is always much stronger than that of a pure heavy tank formation.

Especially in terms of the same cost, there are many times when the cost of a heavy tank is almost equivalent to two medium tanks, just like the cost of an IS-3, which is about equal to a T-54/55, and the difference between the two surnames is also quite obvious, so even if it is not for the consideration of cost control, Zhang Shixin will not install heavy tanks on a large scale, because the financial pressure is too great.

It can be said that a large number of tank combat vehicles with sufficient firepower, and there are certain advantages in all aspects, and the cost is relatively low, has become one of Zhang Shixin's current deployment guidelines.

That is why there will be a situation where several hundred M18 "Hellcats" will be mass-produced, and then this battle will be carried out.

Zhang Shixin is not unaware of the shortcomings of the M18 "Hellcat", for this "paper cat", the firepower can effectively penetrate most of the tank combat vehicles known now, this is his advantage.

Therefore, even if Zhang Shixin knows that Dimitri has lost a considerable number of M18 "Hellcats" this time, as long as he can save his capital, Zhang Shixin will not blame Dimitri.

Because he himself uses a value-for-money tank destroyer like the M18 as a consumable.

……

Dimitri retreated with less than half of the tank formation, but this time it was the turn of the gunners of a vote of self-propelled guns who were dumbfounded.

Because Dimitri didn't leave an eye car!

Well, the gunners of these self-propelled guns were able to reflect this situation only to their own formation commanders, because in the effective range of the Hawkeye, there was no one to detect, and it was in vain.

The artillery commanders quickly reported this situation to Vatutin, who was directing the troops to set up a sniper position.

After a short silence, Vatuin could only reply to the commanders of the artillery, so that they could be ready to support at any time.

He knew very well that the fault this time was not Dimitri, but that he was negligent. But when he retreated, he knew that in this battle, the number of enemy troops was not at all something they could easily face.

Otherwise, he would not have improvised such a staggered cover retreat tactic to make the large army retreat while fighting.

Because if he played the offensive battle, he knew very well that the capital brought by Zhang Shixin this time was not enough to defeat the opponent head-on.

According to his conception, the mission was likely to fail because of such a rather unexpected factor.

Through his association with the system, he knew that Zhang Shixin would not reproach him for ordering a retreat privately, because Zhang Shixin would most likely choose his approach.

However, even if he sent a reconnaissance tank to the front to act as an eye car again, it would not help now, after all, if the other side really wanted to pursue them with all his might, he would immediately order all the troops to retreat.

Because, if you can't fight hard, it makes no sense for this battle at all.

……

Three minutes later, Vatutin asked Dimitri, who had suffered more than half of the casualties, to step back behind him for a short rest to recuperate and replenish his ammunition.

He ordered the troops to remain in place.

However, he waited for about five minutes before he saw the enemy troops chasing after him.

However, the next moment, Vatutin, through the telescope, saw not one or two groups of enemy armored troops, but could be said to be all over the mountains.

Watutin, who gasped, quickly assessed that staying here to stop the enemy army was not much different from looking for death.

So, a few minutes later, a scene was staged in which Zhang Shixin saw that the mountains were full of enemy armored troops.

Of course, that's what is seen on the tactical map, in fact...... It's just not much of a difference.

Because Zhang Shixin did not want to give up his considerable number of super-heavy self-propelled guns.

He's ready to fight the enemy to the death. It's just that after communicating with Vatujing, Sinia made some moves after knowing that Zhang Shixin, a stupid person, stayed here, which was not much different from looking for death.

Half a minute later, Zhang Shixin, who was knocked unconscious in the commander's position, immediately turned around with a ticket of tank combat vehicles and armored vehicles, ran as fast as he could, and quickly retreated westward.

Of course, Vatutin did not forget about the other mechanized infantry divisions of the Kapani Kingdom that fought together, and such a thing as selling teammates, Vatutin did not think about doing it.

It's not that Vatujing hasn't thought about using refueling tactics to fight a tug-of-war with the other party in this area, but as a subordinate, Vatujing knows very well that Zhang Shixin's troops may not be able to stop the other party's onslaught of this level, and it is very likely that the defensive line will collapse first before the reinforcements arrive.

Although Zhang Shixin's armored forces far surpass the enemy in terms of quality, the base number of shells for a tank is limited, and the enemy's quantity, even if Zhang Shixin's tank and combat vehicles are twice as large, I am afraid that they will be directly dragged by the enemy to run out of ammunition again.

It can be said that Vatujing has no expectations for the outcome of this battle, otherwise he would not have communicated with Sinia, knocked out Zhang Shixin, the boss who can be regarded as Grande, directly commanded the troops, took those "prisoners", and quickly ran away.

Vatujing is also quite unwilling to this situation, but what can he do if he is unwilling?

The situation is weaker than people, he can see this clearly.

As for that Anfield, Vatujing didn't care. At the same time, whether Zhang Shixin's accumulated prestige will change because of this retreat, Vatujing can't take care of it, after all, for those things, in Vatujing's eyes, it is not as important as Zhang Shixin's life.

……………………………………………… Dividing Line................................................

Zhang Shixin's troops, under the command of Vatutin, retreated on all fronts.

It's just that until the day of his death, Vatutin didn't know why these armored forces of the Papal States attacked them at the cost of casualties......

In fact, this time the situation was not accidental, but an inevitability.

Because, the commander-in-chief of this force, another great knight Lazio on the same level as Anfield? Fingal, in fact, was also a man of loyalty to the previous pope.

He was appointed commander-in-chief of the reinforcements this time, and knowing that he was going to encircle Anfield, he had to divert the attention of the other commanders and order the troops to attack Zhang Shixin's unit, which was "quite likely" hiding Anfield.

At the same time, he found an opportunity to send a message to the other two Papal "rebels" who came to the rescue of Anfield, so that they could hurry up and tear apart the siege.

Therefore, while he ordered his troops to pursue Zhang Shixin's department, the southern encirclement network of the town where the remnants of Anfield was located was torn apart by the two Papal "rebels".

When the remnants of Anfield, supported by these two forces, broke away from that town, Lazio? Fingal ordered a temporary halt to the pursuit, and then convened a military council to discuss the next move.

In fact, Lazio? Fingal didn't know that by doing so, he almost ruined the cooperation between Zhang Shixin and Binion.

After all, in Zhang Shixin's eyes, he was ruthlessly put on a show by these Holy See.

Not to mention anything else, just that number of tanks and combat vehicles, which has nothing to do with the information he has obtained, can already be said to be another category.

This was also a considerable cause for the Coalition forces to have a decisive battle with the Pope [***] two days later.

……

That night, Zhang Shixin looked at the generals of the "rebel" of the Papal States led by Anfield, and showed a rather dissatisfied expression.

After all, Zhang Shixin blew up the mouse self-propelled gun he was most proud of this time. Although Vatujing has the most direct responsibility, Zhang Shixin knows very well that this situation has nothing to do with Vatujing's half a dime.

If it weren't for this premise, the battle plan laid out in advance would have been almost lost, and Vatujing would not have made such a decision to break the wrist of a strong man.

However, despite this, Zhang Shixin still looked at the high-ranking "rebels" of the Papal States in the tent with anger, because he knew very well that he did not seem to be guilty of destroying the cooperative relationship between the two sides for such a loss.

But Zhang Shixin still felt very unhappy psychologically, and he was silent for a while before he said a word: "Since things have come to this point, haven't you expressed it?" ”

When Binion heard this, she knew that Zhang Shixin wanted to blackmail them again, but this time it was indeed clear that they were at a loss.

A knight captain was about to say something, but was stopped by Binion, the saintess who was supposed to be missing.

After the latter pressed down some thoughts from the high-ranking "rebels" who felt that this matter had nothing to do with them, and thought that they were much more respected than Zhang Shixin, the little duke, she looked at Zhang Shixin and said for a while: "When the matter is over, we are willing to compensate His Excellency the Duke for the losses of this battle." ”

After Zhang Shixin heard this, he was quite moved, because what the other party said was completely giving him a chance to open his mouth.

However, he was not overjoyed, but after a moment of silence, he looked at the rather quiet Binion, and said something that made the "rebel" high-ranking members of the Papal States quite angry: "In addition, I hope you must retell what you know......

"Because that's the basis on which we can continue to work together." After Zhang Shixin finished speaking, he looked at Binien, not knowing what he was thinking.

"Okay." Binien once again forcibly suppressed the objections of the others, because she knew that if she did not agree to Zhang Shixin's rather rude but reasonable request, I am afraid that the cooperative relationship between the two parties would disappear.

Binion knows very well that although Zhang Shixin already has a certain amount of power, but just because of this, it is not worth saying what she said just now.

The most fundamental reason for her to say those words was the alliance between the two countries behind Zhang Shixin.

Because after a brief discussion within them, she knew very well that the personnel who were now in control of the Papal States might have brought other forces to foreign aid.

This can be seen just by the number of tank fighting vehicles.

It can be said that what they need to face in the future is not only those in the Papal States, but also external forces that may intervene by force at any time.

So, she had to find another way to open up the situation.

Although Zhang Shixin and her already have a certain level of cooperation, after this incident, Binion has to find ways to mend the rift between the two sides, and also officially drag the two alliances behind Zhang Shixin, especially the Gultoka Empire, into this matter.

……

After this meeting, Binien, under the protection of several knights, left Zhang Shixin's tent.

Zhang Shixin, on the other hand, was silently looking at the map, thinking about something...... (To be continued.) )