Chapter Ninety-Nine: Facing the Sixth Division (2)
The darkness often makes people uneasy, but the flames that tear through the darkness are dazzling, and with the extension of the artillery fire of the Thunder Artillery Group, the temporary camp of the entire Sixth Division seems to be burning, the red flames reflect the sky, and the roaring cannon sound is stirring in the sky. The sudden artillery attack caused the Japanese to lose their way and there was confusion, and the appearance of the Jewish infantry, who had already taken several sections of the trenches on the outlying positions, made the 6th Division, which had already been in confusion, calm down.
If it was just an artillery attack, the Japanese army in the dark didn't know how to deal with it, and the appearance of the Thunder infantry indicated that Thunder was about to meet the 6th Division. The Sixth Division, which had a good record in both China and South Asia, was determined not to bow its head and admit defeat, and at the moment when the Garand rifle sounded, thousands of Japanese troops who had already assembled from the chaos rushed towards the outskirts of the makeshift camp in an attempt to annihilate all the Jewish soldiers who had captured it.
"Fool, hurry up and inform the M1 artillery group behind us, and ask them to cover the area 100 meters in front of us with artillery fire" Bruno didn't bother to wipe the blood on his face, his eyes stared at the thousands of Japanese soldiers who rushed straight at him in the cold light, and shouted loudly at the foot soldiers who kept sifting chaff. The Japanese troops who rushed directly to the outlying positions once relied on their large numbers to suppress the 1st Battalion commanded by Bruno in the trenches, but they completely forgot that it was not the Chinese army or the American army that was fighting them, but the thunder in the name of Yum.
Only when a person is on the verge of death, can he burst out of his potential, and after being slapped twice in succession by the foot walkie-talkie who was dragged up by Bruno from the trench, as if possessed by the god of war, not only quickly informed the artillery group behind him of the shelling coordinates, but also took advantage of Bruno's distraction to call for tank support. "Boom" "Boom" The American 75 howitzer that had just fallen silent began to roar again, and the shells that crossed the night sky accurately fell in front of the trench controlled by the 1st Battalion, and with the correction of the impact point, the M1 artillery group ploughed back and forth the position of 100 meters directly in front of Bruno.
The sound of heavy motors sounded, and the Jewish soldiers crouching in the trenches began to cheer, it was tanks, thunderous armored units that came up. The Japanese soldiers, who also noticed the appearance of tanks on the battlefield, had begun to despair, and what appeared in their sight was a group of black behemoths, combat vehicles and a large number of armored vehicles. Zhao Zhi didn't want to show the armored troops so early, and now it was a night battle, once the Japanese army used their man-and-bullet tactics again, the European-style tanks in his hands were really not enough for them to blow up.
The person who helped Zhao Zhi make up his mind to put the armored troops into the war was Rowling, this is the so-called bystander Qing's truth, Rowling doesn't know how to fight, but she can analyze. Whether it is an artillery bombardment or an infantry assault, Thunder has not really broken through the Japanese defense line yet, let alone defeated the other party, the Sixth Division is the leading division in the Japanese army's permanent divisions, not to mention that they number more than 25,000 people, if the Sixth Division seizes the opportunity to fire the 16 large-caliber howitzers in their hands, Thunder's night attack this time will not only fail to achieve the expected purpose, but may also be repelled by the Sixth Division.
Although there are many types of tanks in the armored forces of the Thunder, after all, there are almost no opponents in the Asian theater in terms of armor protection, and with the more than 1,000 infantry in the armored forces covering firepower, the success rate of the Japanese army in using man-and-bullet tactics will not be too great. Rowling analyzed Zhao Zhi for a long time, and there was only one purpose, to use the armored troops as a road opener, using the speed and strong armor protection of tanks and armored vehicles to open a passage in the Japanese camp, forcing the Japanese army to retreat and squeeze their space, so that the Japanese artillery could not be released normally.
At the top of the armoured array were three German Tiger tanks, followed by 12 British Hatch Cars, and finally 14 German Pz3 tanks. Twenty-nine well-protected tanks pierced the Japanese line like a sharp blade, and the battlefield formation was followed by a battalion of Jewish soldiers, who not only had to clear the way for the follow-up troops, but also took on the task of providing ground fire cover for the tank formation.
Zhao Zhi also had some Renault tanks and Hillman tanks in his hands, which Zhao Zhi handed over to Joey and the Stalker team under his command to be mixed into a new armored unit, which was responsible for picking up leaks and clearing those leaky Japanese firepower points and bunkers. There is no doubt that in the face of the extremely targeted tactics of the Thunder, which was almost an unprecedented attack method of the Japanese troops, the forward positions of the Sixth Division appeared panicked to varying degrees. In the face of the almost indestructible Tiger tank, the Japanese army had no choice, and the Type 92 heavy machine gun bullets hit the Tiger protective armor, which was no different from tickling, and the mortar shells smashed on it, leaving a scorched black mass at most.
"Report, found the position of the Japanese artillery wing" After half an hour of fierce fighting, the 6th Division, which had slowly stabilized, was actively returning fire while shrinking the defensive line, but as soon as their artillery wing opened fire, it was discovered by the Thunder Artillery Observer who had been waiting for a long time. Kanda Masashi's Sixth Division is also equipped with 105 caliber howitzers, and the number is about the same as Zhao Zhi's, reaching as many as 14. The reason why Zhao Zhi did not send a large number of infantry to encircle the Sixth Division was that he was waiting for his artillery observers to determine the location of the Japanese artillery group, and if he wanted to defeat the Sixth Division, he had to destroy their artillery wing first.
"It's time for our big guy to appear" Zhao Zhi's order made Xiao Ziyun in the command headquarters shocked, Zhao Zhi said that the big guy was still in Thunder control of Yangon Port, and the British fought fiery Hitler gave Zhao Zhi a gift - 8 170mm K18 heavy guns. This 170 mm K18 heavy gun, which was heavily equipped with German field troops, had an actual caliber of 173 mm, and was a larger caliber heavy gun developed by the German army to replace the 150 mm heavy gun. In order to show his appreciation for Zhao Zhi, Hitler specially sent Zhao Zhi 8 guns, so this kind of heavy artillery with a range of nearly 30 kilometers has become Zhao Zhi's big killer.
The commander of the artillery team, who had earplugs in his ears, waved the torch in his hand, and eight K18s with their barrels held high spat out projectiles weighing 60 kilograms, and the sound of shells streaking across the night sky even caused a brief pause between the soldiers on both sides who were fighting. "Boom", "Boom", "Boom" The position of the Japanese artillery wing that only fired two salves turned into a sea of fire, Zhao Zhi's K18 first round of salvo successfully hit the Japanese artillery position, and the two Japanese Type 91 Type 105 howitzers that were directly hit became pieces, and the two Type 91 105 howitzers next to them were also overturned to the ground.
The "artillery" K18 artillery group continued to carry out long-range strikes, not only the luck of the 6th Division, but also the luck of the K18, although two consecutive salvos hit the Japanese gun position, but not a single shell could detonate the shells piled up by the Japanese army next to the Type 91 105 howitzer. After three rounds of salvos, Zhao Zhi, who was distressed about the K18 shells, called a stop, Hitler was a stingy man, and gave Zhao Zhi 8 K18 but only gave Zhao Zhi only 800 shells, this kind of shell is one less shot, Zhao Zhi can't live with his fingers crossed.
The Japanese artillery, which had experienced the three rounds of K18 bombardment, finally died down and became much more honest, and the sound of the Japanese Type 91 105 howitzers could no longer be heard on the position, and even the sound of the Japanese 75 mountain artillery was much weaker. The Thunder Tank formation, which had no threat, left behind three Hatch Cars, which had been destroyed by Japanese howitzers, and rushed to the Japanese defense line with murderous spirits, forcibly separating the Japanese troops who had no time to retreat with armor that ignored the Japanese firepower.
When the sun jumped over the horizon, the billowing smoke had already enveloped the Japanese camp, which lasted two hours of fierce fighting, and more and more breakthroughs appeared in the camp of the Sixth Division. The main strength of the Japanese 6th Division began to concentrate and shrink in the second line of defense, and the 13th Wing of the Japanese Army, which had been crippled, had already been divided by tank formations, and was now surrounded by the 1st Battalion commanded by Bruno.
Kanda was puzzled as he looked at the Thunder troops that had suddenly come to a standstill, in his opinion, this was the best time for the enemy to attack, but the enemy showed no signs of preparing to attack, and there was no sign of shrinking the defense, all this was really weird. "The commander of the division, the captain of the 13th Wing, Okamoto Hoyuki, sent a telegram that the 13th Wing has burned the flag of the wing and is ready to fight to the death with the enemy" The sad and indignant look on the face of the personal adjutant made Kanda Masashi feel depressed, the famous Sixth Division would be beaten by people and had no power to fight back, this had to be said two days ago, Kanda Masa would definitely draw his sword against him, but now he will not be so much, because the current situation of the Sixth Division is indeed not good.
"Order the rear team of the troops to change to the front team, immediately retreat to Xibu, and the 13th wing is responsible for breaking the rear" is a quality that a good commander must have, and Kanda Masasa has already seen the dilemma of the thunder. Their stagnation was not a tactical strategy, but because the Thunder did not have enough troops to eat the Sixth Division in one bite. Their purpose was to quickly divide the Sixth Division and then slowly eat the divided troops in one bite.
As long as the 22nd and 56th Divisions of Donghu can break through the Burmese defense line, Kanda Masashi's 6th Division may avoid being defeated by thunder. The Xibu that the Sixth Division passed through when it came was obviously a good choice, as long as it could successfully retreat to Xibu, Kanda Masashi was confident that he could hold off the thunder for 5 days.