Episode 33 Armored Butter Knife

At the forefront of the attack, followed by 58 Lightning 2 light tanks. Light tanks are followed by armored personnel carriers, which are basically guaranteed to be followed by one after each tank. Finally, there are motorized infantry in trucks.

The narrowest part of this narrow strip of land selected as an ambush area is only 3 kilometers, but because there are only more than 100 People's Guard tanks and armored vehicles combined, the distance between them is too large if they are completely horizontally opened, and it is difficult to support each other in the fog, so they are lined up in a relatively tight wedge-shaped formation, and each vehicle is only 10 meters apart, which is just the distance from which they can see each other.

According to Rommel's positioning, the mechanized regiment was only used as a butter knife, cutting all the Qing army into two pieces like butter, scattering, defeating, defeating them until they lost their formation, and lost their will to fight, and then the infantry that followed behind them was eliminated.

The commander of each tank was required to stand out of the turret in order to have the greatest view. The commanders wore headsets and had their turret hatches lifted open on their chests, like shields. Each of them had a submachine gun at hand, and fired at it when the enemy appeared close enough to retract into the hatch.

The tank battalion commander Shi Shengli was full of ambition, he pressed the submachine gun in one hand, grasped the turret hatch in the other, his body swayed with the tank bumps, listening to the roar of the front and back, left and right, and felt that he had lived for more than 30 years, and life was not worth until today.

He covered his headset and said loudly:

"I'm an elephant, and the units report the situation."

Soon, the voices of each company commander and platoon commander in the headset sounded:

"The lion called the elephant and found no enemy."

"The badger called out to the elephant, but did not find the enemy."

"The monkey called for the elephant, and no enemy was found, only the corpses of the enemy, more than a dozen, all of which were blown up."

"The kangaroo called the elephant, but did not find the enemy."

"The mountain dog called the elephant and found the military horse that had been blown up."

"The tiger called the elephant, found the enemy, met with slight resistance, and did not need support for the time being!"

……

The lead tanks of the three platoons were driving on a wooded terrain with slightly undulating terrain and sparse trees.

The Lightning 3 tank was running through the bushes with great force, breaking a small tree from time to time, the bright headlights shining ahead, the course machine gun on the front armor plate "clicked" at the point, and tracer bullets marked the line of fire and flew towards the panicked Qing soldiers in front.

One of the soldiers tripped as he ran, pulled out a grenade and threw it. The commander shrank behind the hatch cover, and with a loud fire, the tank passed through the smoke without slowing down, and the course machine gun hit the guy to death with two blows.

At this moment, there was a flash of light next to a mound in front of him, followed by a spark "dang" on the front armor of the tank.

"Attention, attention," the commander said, cocking his submachine gun and shrinking a little, quickly recognizing, "...... Anti-tank gun, one o'clock direction, 15 meters, exterminate! ”

The turret "clicked" a little to the right, and the synchronous machine gun strafed into the approximate position. Immediately after that, the 47-mm barrel dropped a little. A roar came from the turret:

"High-explosive bombs, over!!"

The commander hid behind the hatch cover and ordered:

"Put!"

There was a loud bang, the muzzle fire flashed, half of the grave in front of it was torn off, and two Qing soldiers and an anti-tank gun were blown away. The commander excitedly smashed the top of the turret twice and shouted:

"Good fight, one shot! …… The tiger called the elephant, the tiger called the elephant, was fired at by an anti-tank gun, it was routed by me, no damage, over. ”

……

In the next ten minutes, the other companies and platoons also reported encountering the Qing army, but they were all small units, and there was no will to resist, most of them just fled forward, and the few who planned to resist were also eliminated.

However, more and more Qing soldiers were encountered, and at first there were only a few sporadic soldiers, but now it feels like there are everywhere in the dense fog. Units also reported being fired at by anti-tank guns.

Four of the Lightning 3 medium tanks at the front were hit by anti-tank guns but were not damaged, and its 40 mm front armor was just enough to withstand the Qing army's 14.5 mm armor-piercing rounds. But five Lightning 2 light tanks were hit, two of which were penetrated. The front armor of the two hapless tanks was only 30 mm thick, one machine gunner was killed, the other driver was killed, and the tanks broke down on the spot.

Shi Shengli listened to the report on the radio and ordered loudly:

"Keep going! Keep moving! Keep up the speed! Don't grapple! ”

Dozens of tanks charged forward with their headlights on, roaring and jolting, and machine guns constantly strafing the fleeing Qing soldiers. Occasionally, they were attacked by machine guns and grenades, but they did not stop, and only cleared them with the main gun and synchronous machine guns during the advance. If they couldn't be cleared for a while, the tanks drove straight over, leaving these small resistances to the infantry behind. The vast majority of the Qing soldiers had lost their will after 15 minutes of intensive artillery fire, and when they saw the headlights of the Ming army in the distance, they crawled north with a rolling belt.

A small number of Qing soldiers with good psychological qualities stood still when they saw the headlights coming, taking advantage of the darkness and fog to hide, trying to wait for the tank to drive past and throw grenades close to the tank from the rear. But they found that once they slipped behind the tank, they were in an even brighter pillar of light, and less than ten meters behind them were followed by an armored personnel carrier, in front of which the machine gun was spewing tongues of fire......

Gao Dayi, the commander of the 1st Mechanized Regiment, stood in an armored car, wearing a steel helmet, and looked around through the armor plate. Ten meters in front of it was a tank butt, which was clearly illuminated by its own headlights. There was a pair of headlights on the left and right ten meters, and the pillars of light were bumpy and shaking. There was also an armored car in the back, and the two headlights were dazzling, completely covering the back of his car in bright light. Further on, there were trucks, and between the trucks were infantry with submachine guns and walking briskly to follow.

These infantrymen were soldiers of the motorized infantry regiment, and now in order to cover the rear of tanks and armored vehicles, they are required to get out of their vehicles and walk on foot. Because it was dark and foggy, the whole armored cluster was not moving very fast, and the infantry was able to keep up with the speed of the infantry.

The armored vehicle under the tall righteous seat vibrated as it climbed over the ridges of the field, climbed over the dirt slopes, and pressed over the trunk of a blown tree. The soldiers inside clung to the bulkhead like a ship, leaning forward and leaning backwards for a while. Because it was open, the armored car was also shrouded in the roar of the engines around it, and the soldiers could not hear them if they wanted to, so they had to rely on gesturing.

The roar of the engines was accompanied by the sound of machine guns and the occasional tank fire. The regiment commander Gao Dayi held a submachine gun in his hand, and while observing the battle situation, he shouted into the headset:

"No...... Again, all tank commanders are not allowed to get into the turret unless they are attacked! Otherwise you won't be able to see anything! …… Do not turn off the headlights...... What the? Is it a target with the lights on? I'm telling you, turn off the lights and you're blind! The anti-tank guns of the Qing army were all transferred to the front, and now there are only anti-tank guns...... Even there are few anti-tank guns...... So what is your armor for? Drive full throttle and rush over! The vehicle behind will cover you ......"

"Boom !!"

With a loud bang, a grenade exploded in front of the side of the armored car, and all the soldiers in the car shrank on the ground with their heads clenched. Gao Dayi was thrown to the ground by the waves, and the soldiers hurriedly helped him up. Several soldiers stood up and, by the light of the car behind them, saw a figure running with a gun behind a bush. As soon as they were about to shoot, the front machine gun of the armored car behind them had already gone off, and the Qing soldier who threw the grenade was immediately shot and fell to the ground.

"*** x ......"

Gao Dayi covered his ears and sat up, and he was shocked a lot. He took off his helmet and saw a clear scratch on it. If it weren't for this steel helmet, his head would have been blown open by shrapnel.

It's not painful, it's too unpleasant to fight in this fog!

It can be said that the two major advantages of the tank: strong firepower and high mobility, were not brought into play in the fog. The main guns of both tanks have an effective range of several kilometers, and if it is sunny, they can fire from a distance of one or two kilometers. Even in the hilly terrain around Nanjing, it is possible to fire at a few hundred meters. As for machine guns, not to mention. Fortunately, a heavy fog has reduced the tank's attack distance to the same level as a pistol.

Moreover, another major advantage of the tank: mobility, was basically lost because of too low visibility. Now the infantry behind can follow on foot without much effort. If this battle were to be fought on a sunny day, they would have to sit in the car no matter what they said.

Now the only thing that works is armor. Previously, many company commanders suggested that light tanks should be placed in front of the search, and a small number of medium tanks should follow behind, focusing on the attack. But Gao Dayi still insisted on putting a small number of medium tanks at the forefront. Now it turns out how right that decision is. The 40 mm front armor of the Inazuma 3 blocked the most attacks from the rear, whether it was an anti-tank gun or a grenade, and not a single Inazuma 3 had been penetrated so far.

But even after losing the two major advantages, the soldiers in the tank and the armored car, looking at the Qing soldiers running in terror in the lights in front of them, trying to dodge the bullets, still clearly felt that they were strong.

Although tanks are very disadvantageous, this is, after all, armored against infantry. Or infantry with insufficient anti-tank weapons.

……

A few kilometers to the north, Ha Feng'a had just asked people to re-erect the tent of the division headquarters, and was gathering the rout troops running from the south. He also heard the sound of artillery coming from the south, and could tell that it belonged to some kind of small-caliber anti-tank gun, and what was even more terrifying was that the sound of artillery was still advancing, getting closer and closer.

The staff officer next to him was interrogating several soldiers who were running fast and vomiting blood:

"Tell me, how many are there? Do you see it clearly? Is it a tank or not this time? ”

Several soldiers poured water, their faces were covered with mud, wiped a handful, and said tremblingly:

"Big ...... My lord, it's a tank, it's a tank, you can see it clearly...... A few of us were lying on the back of the ridges, and there were two boys on the opposite side who were too good, holding anti-tank guns all at once, but the tanks were fine, and they were killed with a single shot...... A few of us got up and ran, and the machine guns chased after us, and several of them were killed, so we lost our lives and ran back......"

Haphon knocked on the table anxiously and asked himself:

"How many tanks are there in the Ming army?"

"There are so many, I've never seen so many tanks! Anyway, it's full, and it's full of tank lights behind it! It was too loud to speak! …… Master, ...... Run, it's time to drive, it's too late to run! ”

Ha Fenga grabbed the soldier's collar, gritted his teeth, and said:

"Don't even think about running, stay with me and build a defensive line! Build a line of defense! ”

He threw the soldier on the ground, drew his pistol and fired it into the air, shouting:

"Listen, brethren, let no one run backwards, and whoever runs away will kill whom! Don't panic, the Ming tanks are still some distance away from here, such a big fog, they can't drive fast, now immediately establish a defensive line, dig anti-tank trenches on the spot, hit all the anti-tank guns, our anti-tank guns are transferred to the north, now I want to transfer them all back! ”

Haphona sent a military police unit to gather the scattered routs and chose an uphill area for them to quickly dig anti-tank trenches.

The telephone line was blown up by shelling, and he couldn't care so much, and at the risk of being intercepted by the Ming army, he ordered the anti-tank battalion in the north to be transferred back immediately by radio.

Fortunately, the shelling just now blew up a lot of craters, although not enough for the depth of the foxhole, but it can be used improvised.

Judging from the sound of artillery, the Ming tanks were three or four kilometers away from here, and according to the descriptions of the soldiers who fled, the speed of the Ming tank group was not fast, and they could be thrown off by trotting. At that time, the speed was about five or six kilometers, and it took half an hour to get here at the earliest.

The rout in the south continued to retreat here and was stopped, and the soldiers in the north were quickly transferred. Soon, two or three thousand Qing soldiers gathered on this "defense line", several improvised trenches were dug out, and more than 50 anti-tank guns were gathered.

Haphon A, carrying a pistol, patrolled behind the trench and spoke loudly:

"Brethren! Our Eighth Banner Division is the strongest combat force in the Qing Dynasty, and our Eighth Banner Sixth Division is the first unit to break through the Nanming Defense Line! We wiped out Nanming's 87 motorized infantry division last night! We're here to fight Nanjing, not to let people fight it! Nan Ming is now relying on a tank, did he scare the courage of the brothers? I'll tell you, tanks are usually very easy to use, but now it's so foggy that you can't eat it at all! It's a big thing, and when you come over later, don't be afraid, just hold your breath! Hold my gun steady and shoot it at the light! The closer you get, the easier it is to penetrate!

"Brothers, now there is the Waiqinhuai River behind us and the mountains on both sides, if we don't win this battle, there will be no way back! If they are Han Army, just throw their guns and surrender, but our Eight Banners Army can't! We are all banner people, and they have always been shot when they catch the banner people! There are still nearly 10,000 people in our division, and the main force is still there, and today we either killed them or they killed us! Brothers, cheer me up, fight well! ”

The Qing soldiers lying in the trenches and bomb craters listened to the division commander's lecture, especially the sentence "The Ming army shot the flag people when they caught them", and indeed their whole body aroused a sense of strength to fight the trapped beasts. They all sweated and grabbed grenades, clenched their anti-tank guns, and pressed their faces against the cold guns, staring intently at the south.

Haphona looked at his pocket watch, it was already half past five. The sky was already dark.

The anti-tank battalion is still desperately moving to this side, and most of those military horses have been blown up. There is no way, people know to lie down during the shelling, Marco doesn't know. The few horses that didn't die also became startled horses, running around like crazy. Now those anti-tank guns are pushed to this side completely by manpower, and it is possible to count on those more than 30 37-mm small guns. Those twenty 47-mm anti-tank guns simply couldn't be pushed in an hour, and they couldn't be counted on.

It's a pity that this kind of 37 cannon hits the front armor of the Ming army's medium tank, and it can penetrate if it hits vertically, but it is easy to ricochet if the angle is larger. If the four or seven cannons can come up, it will definitely be one cannon at a time.

Suddenly, there was a cheer from behind, and Ha Fenga looked back to see that several artillerymen were pushing a small cannon up in the thick fog.

Haphona felt a wave of ecstasy in his heart, and began to regain a little confidence in winning the battle. Now that the first 37-mm anti-tank gun has been transferred, then at least a few more can be transferred before the Ming tanks come over.

The Ming People's Guard had only 75 tanks in total, and now they have more than 50 anti-tank guns alone. Plus a couple of anti-tank guns to knock them back, it's not impossible!

"Division...... Division! A soldier lying in the trench next to him put his ear to the ground and said in a trembling voice, "Master, it seems to be coming!" ”

Soon, the surrounding soldiers also felt it, and they all put their ears to the ground, and their faces slowly turned white.

"Don't panic!" Ha Feng'a yelled, then brewed his feelings, and smiled very calmly, "Don't panic, everyone, it's okay, we must have seen them first." Hit it when you get closer. The enemy had only fifty tanks, and we had more than fifty anti-tank guns. As long as everyone hits one, the enemy is eliminated and we win! I declare that anyone who hits the tanks of the Ming army today, regardless of officers and soldiers, will be promoted to two ranks! ”

The gendarme trotted over and passed on the words of the division. One person can destroy the enemy with one shot, and the rank of the hit can be upgraded by two levels, these two sentences are undoubtedly another shot of stimulant, and the morale of the Qing army's defense line has improved a lot.

I didn't hear the sound of tank guns for a while, which means that almost all the Qing soldiers from the south have run over. But the approaching tank cluster was clearly felt.

The fine soil on the walls of the trench began to tremble and fall, and now the sound of tanks could be faintly heard in the air without having to put your ears to the ground.

……

Shi Shengli looked at the gradually brightening sky, covered his headset and said:

"I'm an elephant, and the units report the situation."

……

"I'm a monkey and I didn't find the enemy."

"I am a mountain dog, and I have not found the enemy."

"I am a tiger and have not found the enemy."

……

Shi Shengli's fingers flicked lightly on the top of the vibrating turret, looking at the white surroundings, a little uneasy.

For more than ten minutes, there was no resistance on the whole line, and even the shadow of the Qing soldiers could not be seen.

Where have they gone? Are they still moving north? Don't they know that the river to the north can't be crossed?

"The lion calls the elephant, and the lion calls the elephant."

A call came from the headset.

"Elephant received, please speak."

"Now that it's getting a little light, can I turn off the lights? Complete. ”

Shi Shengli hesitated. Although it is "a little brighter" now, it is not yet morning and it is still dark.

He looked at his watch and said:

"I'm an elephant, all note, it's 5:50 and turn off the lights at 6 o'clock. Complete. ”

As soon as he finished speaking, a row of fire flashed in front of him, and at the same time, the front armor plate of his tank was slammed.

An exclamation rang out from the headset:

"Anti-tank guns! ……”

Immediately after that, an explosion almost rose in front of the eyes, and in the white fog opposite, the machine gun "clicked" sounded.

Shi Shengli quickly retracted into the turret, closed the top cover, and yelled into the headset:

"Enemy lines! All in the turret! Turn off your lights! Don't stop, charge fast! …… Tanks, forward!! ”