Episode 57 Heavy Tanks

The Lightning-3 medium tank rolled through the rubble on the "street", followed by a platoon of dozens of infantrymen, and a few dozen meters behind, the armored vehicle carrying a 120-mm mortar slowly drove away, and once it encountered resistance, it was immediately suppressed.

This can no longer be considered a "street". This area has been repeatedly bombarded by the artillery fire of the Qing army and the Ming army, and the façade has been filled with rubble, bricks, broken cement, and steel bars one by one, sticking out of the broken floor slabs, showing teeth and claws.

The buildings on both sides of the street, which were not tall in the first place, are now even shorter. Where there are window holes, the outside of the window holes are blackened, and more buildings don't even have window holes and walls, and you can directly see the floor slabs and load-bearing walls inside.

"Boom!"

The infantry behind the tank was startled, dozens of guns were pointed at the sound in the upper right, only to see a floor slab on the second floor slowly break and fall off the steel bar, and a broken cabinet on it slid down with a "bang" and smashed to the ground, raising a puff of smoke and dust.

The soldiers all breathed a sigh of relief, turned around and continued on their way. However, one of the soldiers closest to the cabinet suddenly heard a strange sound. It's like a cry.

He began to think he had misheard, but as the tank in front of him drove a little farther away, the cry became clearer, as if it were in that cabinet.

"Hey, come here!"

He called out to his two companions, and the three of them came over together, making sure that the cry was coming from the cupboard. The large wardrobe fell to the floor and fell from the second floor, all broken.

The leading private didn't say a word, and opened the cabinet door twice, and the three of them were stunned.

In the cupboard lay a little girl, naked, fourteen or fifteen years old, covered in dust, with blood on both thighs, her eyes wide open, her whole body convulsed, crying and coughing, and with each cough there was a lot of blood foaming from her mouth.

The three soldiers were speechless in horror, and the first class soldier reacted and hurriedly shouted:

"Hey, there's a civilian here!"

The soldiers in front stood still, and a squad leader knocked on the tank with the butt of his rifle, and the tank also stopped, and the commander leaned out.

Two squads stood guard around the tank, and one squad came here quickly. When the platoon commander saw this, he didn't say a word, first pulled out a sheet from under a floor slab, put it on the little girl, and then squatted down and asked:

"Why are you still here, this young lady? …… How are you? ”

The little girl's face was as white as paper, her eyes were wide open, and her chest twitched for a long time before she spat blood and said vigorously:

"I ...... I'm going to pick up my mom and dad...... They...... Clear ......"

"And then the Qing captives entered the city?"

"Hmm...... Well! ”

"You...... You're caught by them? ”

"Hmm...... Hmmm......"

The little girl nodded with difficulty, and there was no shame on her face, but her eyes widened, and she gasped for breath, and the blood foamed more and more on her mouth.

The soldiers around him had gloomy faces, and no one spoke, but their chests were already burned with anger.

The military doctor on duty squeezed in and squatted down, letting everyone else dodge, and then lifted the sheet for her to briefly check and cover it again.

He stood up and whispered to the platoon commander:

"The spine and sternum are broken, the pleura is penetrating, and it is no longer possible."

The platoon commander squatted down, grabbed her cold hand, and said softly:

"Miss,...... You're not going to live for a while. We'll take revenge on you, okay? ”

The little girl nodded vigorously, and two large tears rolled into her hair.

The platoon commander continued to say without emotion:

"Tell me, what did you see? How many people are there in Qingqing? Are they all gone? ”

The soldiers next to him saw that the little girl was dying, and the platoon commander still asked like this, as if he wanted to ask everything he could before he died, and he felt very unbearable.

The little girl's face became paler and paler, and she gasped for breath, and said with difficulty:

"It's a cannon...... And they all ...... Let's go...... I...... Hiding in the cupboard......"

Suddenly, she struggled to raise her head and whispered with blood foaming:

"Sister...... Sister...... Let them be tethered behind tanks...... Dragged away...... You guys...... Help me save my sister ......"

After saying that, the back of his head fell into the cabinet, his eyes dimmed, and his breathing became weaker and weaker.

"What did you say?" The platoon leader was taken aback, "You said that Qingyu has a tank?" …… Hey, hey! ”

He shook the little girl's body vigorously, but the little girl didn't react. The military doctor crouched down, brushed aside the chief with some annoyance, pressed his fingers on the little girl's carotid artery, and after a while, said:

"She's dead."

The surrounding soldiers were in a state of rage, but the platoon commander commanded loudly:

"Herald, go to the battalion headquarters and report to Commander Shi, there may be a tank in the Qingyu! The number is unknown! ”

……

The news that the Qing army had tanks was reported to Xiang Xiaoqiang's command as soon as possible. Within ten minutes, this herald ran through the tank battalion headquarters, the regimental headquarters of the machine infantry regiment, and the field headquarters of Xiang Xiaoqiang and Li Gensheng.

Because it was the same herald, Xiang Xiaoqiang accurately heard the situation at that time. How did you find out about the little girl, how did the platoon commander ask, what did the little girl say, to what extent did you finally ask, and so on.

Then, throw the pencil in Xiaoqiang's hand onto the map table and sit down slowly.

"What's your platoon leader's name?"

He asked.

"Platoon commander of the second company of the third battalion of the first motorized infantry regiment, Xu Xiangde."

The herald replied apprehensively.

Xiang Xiaoqiang nodded:

"Go back and tell you Platoon Commander Xu, he asked very well, I remember him. Platoon commander of the first regiment, three battalions, two companies, and one platoon, Xu Xiangde. ”

The herald breathed a sigh of relief, saluted and left.

Xiang Xiaoqiang looked at the subordinates who looked at each other in the command car:

"What do you think?"

Gao Dayi opened his mouth and said:

"My lord, I think that in such a short period of time, there will not be many tanks in the city. Each of their tanks had to be transported by a large tugboat, and there were no reports of Qing tanks being found ashore. First, it means that they have very few such ships at present, and second, the area where they use them for tank landing is so narrow that it is not visible from the lines of defense on either side of the gap, or from the walls. ”

"As for the tanks that they may have already shipped, it is more likely that they will be the 'Barutu' heavy tanks or the 'Kubu' medium tanks. Because these two tanks have more firepower and better protection, they are suitable for infantry tanks and are used in street battles. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang knew what kind of opponent he would probably encounter. "Balutu" means Manchu warrior, and "Kubu" means wrestling big man, both heavyweight guys.

As the commander of the main armored forces of the Ming army, Xiang Xiaoqiang knew the opponent's main tanks well.

The total weight of the Barutu heavy tank is 34 tons, which is 3 tons heavier than the "Thundering" tank of the same class of the Ming army. It is armed with a 57 mm anti-tank gun with 65 mm armor at its thickest point and a top speed of 28 kilometers per hour on the road.

The Kubu medium tank weighs 27 tons, 5 tons heavier than the Ming Army's Lightning -3 tank, and is equipped with a 47 mm anti-tank gun, with 55 mm armor at its thickest point, and a top speed of 30 kilometers per hour on the road.

The strongest tank in Xiang Xiaoqiang's hand, the Lightning-3 medium tank, weighs only 22 tons, the thickest part of the armor is only 40 mm, and the artillery is only 47 mm. The only advantage is maneuverability, the maximum speed of the Lightning-3 highway is 40 kilometers per hour.

That's it, Xiang Xiaoqiang now has only 13 Lightning-3s in his hands. The other 52 were all weaker Lightning-2 light tanks.

It can be said that the number one advantage of the current is quantity. - At the moment, the number is definitely superior, although I don't know how big this advantage is.

The second advantage is that the mobility of its tanks is much higher than that of its opponents: the speed of the road is 40 kilometers per hour. - These two behemoths of the Qing army were 12 and 10 kilometers slower than their own tanks, respectively. And Xiang Xiaoqiang knows that they are all ordinary narrow tracks, and his own tanks are all wide tracks suitable for off-road in order to adapt to the hilly and muddy conditions in the south of the Yangtze River.

It is conceivable that with high speed and wide tracks, your own tank will have a lot of advantage in cross-country performance in such a battle on the ruins.

…… But in general, qualitatively it is a disadvantage.

The tank industry of the Northern Qing Dynasty was above that of the Southern Ming, which was no way, they were continental countries, and they traditionally attached more importance to tanks than to the Southern Ming. Nanming put too much money into the navy and the Yangtze River defense line.

However, how did you teach Zhu Yourong? - The strongest weapon of a tank is not artillery or armor, but mobility.

Xiang Xiaoqiang first let Gao Dayi, the "armor expert" of this era, let go of the command, and he planned to observe it first. He watched Gao Dayi give various orders to the front of the phone, and he sat aside, calming down, recalling Guderian's words.

Those are the classic textbooks written by Guderian, the father of German armored forces and the "blitzkrieg hero", after the experience of World War II and the combination of theory and practice. In the era of Gao Dayi, this is the "Nine Yin True Scripture".

Cities, woods, and fog make tanks weaker and infantry stronger.

Again, this environment will make the powerful tank weaker and the weaker tank stronger.

……

The Qing army reported that there might be heavy tanks, and it was immediately sent to various units. The tank platoons that are now advancing around Stone Town are more cautious.

Gao Dayi had already ordered the only 13 Lightning-3s to be removed and replaced with Lightning-2s at the front.

Since knowing that they might run into a strong enemy, the task of the People's Guard's armored troops has changed, no longer chasing and destroying enemy infantry, but reconnaissance.

In the rubble-strewn streets, a Lightning-2 light tank "Kara-Kara" crushed bricks and drove forward at a very slow speed. The infantry behind pulled a large distance, carrying anti-tank guns and machine guns, and cautiously followed.

Further behind, there was a 57-mm self-propelled gun. This is a 57-mm anti-tank gun mounted on the chassis of the "Lightning-2", open, with only half armor in the front.

Even this kind of anti-tank gun, the firepower is only comparable to that of the "Barutu" tank, and the armor is even more incomparable.

From time to time, a stray bullet landed on the street, and the dust kicked up by the explosion made the front white and white, and it was impossible to see how far it was.

Whenever this happens, the tank at the front stops, not daring to move forward, and must wait for the smoke to dissipate and you can see the end of the street before daring to continue moving.

It's like a hunter walking cautiously through the jungle, wary of a bear at the sight of a near-sightedness.

A stray bullet smashed into the small building on the side of the road in front of it, and the small building collapsed, and the thick dust rushed all the way through, enveloping the tank and the infantry behind, and obscuring half of the street.

After a while, the dust gradually dissipated, and a burly gray figure loomed, just in front of the "Lightning-2", less than twenty meters.

"Barutu" heavy tank!

The captain of the Lightning-2 was stunned and shouted:

"Enemy tanks! 20 meters ahead! Armor-piercing bullets, eliminate! ”

As soon as the shot was fired, a small 37-mm shell hit the opponent's front armor plate and bounced out. The commander shouted in horror:

"Run! Come on! ”

Lightning-2 puffed out green smoke and quickly fell backwards, trying to pour into the alley by the side of the road.

But the Qing army's "Balutu" turned the turret, lowered the barrel, and the fire flashed, and the front armor plate of this Lightning-2 was smashed open, bursting out a ball of fire, drowning in smoke.