The Japanese army's deployment in this way can be described as a three-front operation, dealing with three opponents at the same time.

The battle in the third-line area unfolded one after another and quickly entered the white heat.

Taihang Base Area, the former enemy headquarters of the Eighth Route Army.

The boss and the deputy chief of general staff controlled the overall situation of the entire battlefield on the military map in front of them.

A day ago, the news came that Kong Jie and Li Yunlong led a mobile unit to officially start the battle with the tank brigade of the army stationed in Mongolia.

At a certain node in the Mengxi area, the deputy chief of general staff planted a small flag belonging to the rapid reaction force directly under Taihang of the Eighth Route Army.

"Boss, according to the news delivered back by Kong Jie and Li Yunlong, they have successfully completed the secret deployment, and the pre-planned final battle is in this area.

It's just that Kong Jie's pressure is probably not small, in addition to the devil's armored brigade, there are also the 26th divisions of the Japanese army in the northern Shanxi area.

It's hard to say what the final outcome of this battle will be! ”

The boss nodded, his face a little solemn.

"This old guy Okamura is a sinister chess player, and I have to admit that this old boy is very bold and dares to take risks to play big chess.

So far, the Shanxi battlefield has been completely cracked into a pot of porridge around the five cities of Licheng, Shexian, and Liaoxian, and the Japanese army's sweep of our base areas such as Taihang Taiyue and even Zhongtiao Mountain has also kicked off.

The security forces originally stationed in Shanxi were all sent to Shandong to sweep after being transferred to the war zone by Okamura, an old devil, and they were all sent to Shandong to sweep up. ”

Speaking of which, our comrades in Shandong have carried out the most difficult anti-sweeping operation. ”

The deputy chief of the General Staff took over and said: "Yes! Coupled with the battle in the direction of Inner Mongolia in northern Shanxi, Okamura, an old devil, played three big chess games in one go. ”

"It's just that this old devil can't help but be big, he wants to play against the three of us alone, I want to see what he wins?"

The boss's words revealed a particularly domineering spirit.

To this day, the improvement of the equipment of a large number of elite troops of the Eighth Route Army and the rapid development of the economy in the base area have given the boss the confidence to say this.

As the boss sighed:

"This battle is not smaller than the scale of our Zhengtai Campaign, but to put it mildly, when the Zhengtai Campaign was carried out, I was very bottomless in my heart.

But this time, we can really show our muscles and break our wrists with the little devil! ”

……

…… As for who is stronger on both sides, it may be possible to react slightly with some local battle situations.

In the Mengxi area, on an unnamed pasture that is largely controlled by the Mongolian garrison.

The two elite tank squadrons of the Nanzhi Chariot Brigade finally caught up with an armored unit of the Eighth Route Army that was constantly retreating in pursuit.

Seeing that they could not get rid of the pursuit of the Japanese army, the officers and men of the Eighth Route Army on the opposite side seemed to have given up their intention to continue to retreat, but directly turned the head of the car and set up a battle in the pasture, preparing to meet the Japanese chariot troops.

Among them, the Japanese army led the command of the first tank wing of the Nanzhi Brigade and the captain of the pioneer search brigade, Nishizono Shaozo.

……

The establishment of the Japanese Army is not quite the same as that of other countries, and it refers to the establishment of the old Germany and has ingeniously constructed a system of detachments, squadrons, squadrons, brigades, wings, brigades, and divisions.

In terms of firepower and numbers, it is a reference to the American army during World War I.

In addition, after the Japanese army specially studied the equipment level and establishment system of the Chinese troops, it made corresponding standards for the army that invaded China.

Among them, the armored units of the devils are subordinate to the army, and the establishment ranges from tank squads, tank squadrons, tank wings, tank brigades, tank divisions, to tank clusters.

Of course, there is no uniform standard for the size of tank clusters.

For example, the current Nanzhi Chariot Brigade is actually a chariot cluster.

The devil's tank unit, that is, the armored force combat, often uses the tank squadron as the basic tactical combat unit, and the tank wing as the basic campaign-level combat unit.

The tank wing of the Japanese army was equivalent to the tank regiment of the Central Army in terms of organization.

For example, the Central Army spent a lot of effort to buy tanks from abroad to build, and the armored corps led by Du Yuming.

It is a pity that such a Chinese army, in the true sense of the word, was also the only armored unit after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, and it was completely destroyed on the battlefield shortly after the outbreak of the Battle of Songhu.

That's it.

In the confrontation of armored forces, the Chinese army basically had no power to fight back.

Until now, there has been no movement on the side of the Central Army for the time being, but the Eighth Route Army has created a mobile combat unit directly under Taihang.

Among them is a considerable component of the armored corps.

Regarding this information, the Japanese army also gathered information later.

According to the devil's investigation, the original armored unit of the Eighth Route Army, known as the armored corps, was built by a team led by Kong Jie.

And the news seems to have spread early in the morning.

It's a pity that under the deliberate propaganda of the strategic camouflage department led by Shi Dahu.

It's obviously the truth, but the little devils don't believe it at all.

Therefore, it can be said that the first armored corps of the Eighth Route Army in the true sense built by Kong Jie was completed under the noses of little devils.

When the old devil Okamura learned about this later, his intestines were about to repent, but he was helpless.

Then Datong was attacked by the Eighth Route Army with mobile troops, and the Eighth Route Army took over the mechanized vehicles of the 26th Division, and the mechanical combat troops became stronger and stronger.

It's just that even if the Eighth Route Army has built a rapid reaction force directly under Taihang, it even includes elite chariot troops.

If it is really compared with the strong foundation of the Japanese army, it is still far from it.

Take the simplest data.

According to the speculation of the intelligence department of the Eighth Route Army, by May 42, the Japanese army was only an armored unit in China, and there were at least more than 40 tank wings.

That's more than 40 armored corps!

And what the Central Army spent so much effort to build at the beginning was just an armored corps.

The disparity in military strength between the two sides is a real judgment.

For example, right now, under the command of Okamura, an old devil, the Japanese army has launched a May Day sweep on an unprecedented scale, even if it is a hasty transfer of troops, even if it is the elite armored unit of the Kwantung Army, it cannot be easily mobilized because it has to be wary of the Soviet Union.

The Japanese army also casually deployed a cluster of Nanzhi chariots and placed them in the Mengxi area.

In order to guard against the 35th Route Army and the Eighth Route Army in northern Jin, they were in rebellion.

In addition to the Nanzhi Chariot Brigade, there are also many chariot units in the Mongolian army, including the Japanese army that cooperated with the Shanxi and Shandong battlefields to encircle and suppress the base areas of the Eighth Route Army, and many elite units are also equipped with tank troops.

It can be seen that the emaciated camel is larger than the horse.

To this day, the overall military strength of this little devil is still much stronger than that of the Central Army, including the Eighth Route Army, the Jin Sui Army and all other Chinese armies.

It is like the local battle between the Japanese army and the armored forces of the Eighth Route Army.

On the Japanese side, only two tank squadrons of the Nanzhi Chariot Brigade were dispatched.

One of them is a squadron of medium tanks, and the other is a squadron of light tanks.

Okamura, the old devil, also made a bloody investment this time.

The Armored Cluster has been created to enhance the vehicle configuration, such as one of the medium vehicle squadrons.

The Medium Tank Squadron has a Tank Squadron Headquarters, plus three Medium Tank Squads and a Baggage Squad.

Among them, each medium tank squad is equipped with 5 medium tanks of the 97 modification.

There were also 15 trucks, 6 armoured vehicles, and 5 search motorcycles.

With all this in number, even if it is a squadron of medium-sized tanks, the devil has more than 40 mechanized vehicles of all kinds.

Even tanks have more than a dozen.

In addition, another squadron of light tanks is equipped with a larger number of Type 95 light tanks.

In the contest of armored strength between the two sides, although they have not yet started, there are only about a dozen tanks and armored vehicles, and the Eighth Route Army, which looks a little shabby, is completely at a disadvantage.

Xiyuan Shaozuo was full of fire at this time, and an hour ago, he discovered the armored unit of the Eighth Route Army, so he immediately led the search team, and called the follow-up chariot squadron to pursue quickly.

As a result, in the process of pursuing all the way, the armored troops of the Eighth Route Army had not really fought face to face, so they spent their energy on the real and false fortifications, real and false minefields, and real and fake tanks and armored vehicles encountered along the way.

These eight-way cunning made Xiyuan Shaozuo furious.

All kinds of positions, minefields, anti-tank firepower are real and false, false and real.

Xiyuan Shaozo was cautious enough, but he was still in pursuit all the way, and was fooled many times, resulting in the loss of troops and generals.

Just on the way to the pursuit, two light tank squads, plus one medium tank squad, were basically disabled.

Otherwise, there will be more tanks that can be used to strangle these damned Eighth Route Army at this moment.

"Your Excellency Shaozuo, you can't escape from the Eighth Road, you have already set up a battle, and it seems that you are ready to start a decisive battle with our army!"

The Devil Squadron Leader of the First Medium Tank Squadron analyzed the situation on the side of Xiyuan Shaozo.

Xiyuan Shaozo nodded with anger, wrinkled his brows again, and solemnly asked: "Tell the warriors, don't be careless."

According to the relevant information we have detected, it seems that Balu has invented a very special anti-tank gun similar to a horn barrel, which is specially designed to restrain our armored vehicles.

This type of artillery can even be operated by individual soldiers and used for anti-tank combat.

Before the enemy's artillery is exposed or completely destroyed, we must not act rashly and expose the vehicle to danger. ”

Xiyuan, the old devil, obviously still has two brushes, and he deliberately ordered to keep a certain distance between the chariot and the armored vehicles of the Eighth Route Army in the target area.

As far as he knew.

Although this individual anti-tank gun built by the Eighth Route is powerful, with the weakness of the Imperial armor, even a medium tank cannot stop it.

Even if the front armor is bombarded, it will be seriously damaged in an instant.

However, the firing range of this artillery is quite limited, and the combat data of the current confrontation with the Eighth Route Army show that the farthest strike range of this type of artillery of the Eighth Route will never exceed 200 meters.

Therefore, the old devil Xiyuan believed that as long as he deployed the combat vehicle within a range of 200 meters, the Eighth Route Army would not be able to use this type of anti-tank artillery to attack.

Out of safety, the old devil retreated his team by an additional 200 meters.

With a distance of nearly 400 meters, the two sides looked at each other on the relatively flat plains, and with the protection of armored vehicles on both sides, the conventional infantry had lost the meaning of combat.

As a result, the air on both sides seemed to be condensed over the gentle terrain, and the tank guns were bombarded.

The artillery used by the Japanese army, the medium tank squadron mainly used a 47 mm tank gun equipped with a medium tank of the 97th modification.

This gun was extended from a 47 mm anti-tank gun, and although the caliber was reduced from 57.7 to 47.8 times, it was capable of penetrating 70 mm of vertical armor at an effective distance of 500 meters.

The performance is much better than the 57 mm short-diameter gun that the Japanese army's original Type 97 medium tank was equipped with.

In addition, the Type 95 37 mm tank gun belonging to the Type 97 light tank vehicle is used.

This gun barrel is relatively long, the whole gun is 1.36 meters long, weighs only 64 kilograms, has a certain armor-piercing power, and can theoretically penetrate 45 mm thick armor at a firing distance of 300 meters.

And the armored vehicles used in the hands of the troops of the Eighth Route Army.

Through the observation of the telescope, Xiyuan Shaozo could see clearly, most of them were captured some Type 95 light tanks of the 26th Division, and the armor of this type of tank, even the thickest front armor was only 12 mm.

Once hit by your own tank gun, you can easily destroy it.

It's just that......

"Your Excellency Shaozo, I can also tell at a glance the models of the tanks in the Eighth Road, which are some light tanks and medium tanks captured from us.

But why do their tanks look so weird? ”

Through the perspective of the West Garden Shaozo telescope, you can see:

The Eighth Route Army originally belonged to the Japanese-style Type 95 light tanks, including some 97 modified medium tanks, which were still basically the original tanks.

But in the front armor of the tank, as well as directly in front of the turret, it seems that some thicker steel plate devices were additionally added.

It was the local improvements made by the Eighth Route Army Arsenal for all kinds of armored vehicles.

Simple, more economical materials, centralized reinforcement of defenses.

This is the same reason that in order to keep the aircraft light, it is easy to break down and injure the pilot, and some thicker steel plates are added to protect the pilot at the core.

For this reason, Kong Jie believes that the tank should integrate firepower, mobility and armored defense.

The increase in firepower is not mentioned for the time being, in order to strengthen the armored defense of the armored vehicle, it is necessary to thicken the armor, which will lead to the excessive weight of the combat vehicle itself, which will affect the mobility.

In this case, we might as well consider focusing on defense in key positions.

For example, the front armor that is vulnerable to shelling, and the location of the battery.

The specially thickened steel plate, which can be welded outward, plus the protection of the compartment, looks like a circle of anti-collision layers at first glance.

Kong Jie also drew a corresponding sketch at that time, a sketch on the improvement of tank armor reinforcement, and the sketch was taken out to Li Wenjie and Xu Guoan to take a look.

The two of them were stunned and didn't see what it was.

In the end, Xu Guoan asked tentatively: "I said Lao Kong, you painted this thing...... It can't be a tank, right? ”

Kong Jie did not change his color on this side.

"If you really start a cannon, it's practical, does it matter if it's ugly or not?"

When Xu Guoan heard this, he was speechless for a while......

(End of chapter)