12dz Chapter 115: Battle of Kursk in East India (3)
Chapter 115: Battle of Kursk in East India (3)
Outside Silchar, in the village of Jonal, at the forefront of the 113st Battalion, 1th Brigade's defensive positions, the Japanese howitzers had ceased firing. In the distance, the rumbling of machinery grew louder, and the ground began to shake.
Wang Chengwu crept to the edge of a massive bomb crater, picked up his binoculars, and calmly observed the Japanese army's steel behemoths advancing slowly through the billowing smoke. Nearby, 1st Battalion Commander Gou Xiaoqiang muttered, "Wow, there are at least dozens of them! They're definitely much bigger than the ones we saw earlier!"
Wang Chengwu said to him coldly, "Why, are you scared?"
Gou Xiaoqiang said with disdain: "Afraid? When I was in Songhu, my brothers and I strapped explosives to our bodies and used our flesh and blood to blow up the little Japanese turtles. None of us was afraid! These turtles are bigger, so I strap more explosives on them. Even if I die, I will drag the Japanese turtles with me!"
Wang Chengwu yelled at him from behind, "You're the battalion commander now, a commander, not a death squad leader!" Then, he patted him on the shoulder and said meaningfully, "The lives of hundreds of men under your command depend on you. Commanding a battle, use your brains."
Battalion Commander Gou felt a little embarrassed after being scolded by Deputy Brigade Commander Wang, who was much younger than him. He hesitated and said, "It's not that I don't have a good way to deal with these big bastards, so I thought..."
Wang Chengwu stopped Captain Gou and asked in a deep voice, "How are the Molotov cocktails and cluster bombs we issued to you being prepared?"
"They have been dispatched to the front-line squads in batches, but there are too few of them, not a single person." Captain Gou answered while complaining.
Wang Chengwu had never experienced direct combat with such a massive tank. He even said that none of the troops had. He waved his hand at Captain Gou and said, "These weapons I've given you may not be enough to destroy these massive Japanese bastards. Logistics has urgently produced them, and these are the only ones we have."
"According to the advice of the deputy commander (Yang Hong) and the US military guidance team, you should hide in the tunnel and wait for the Japanese tanks to pass by. Then you can attack from behind to kill them!"
"When attacking these big turtles, be sure to bomb the engine at the back, and also bomb the tracks! Use the bazooka and other weapons to deal with the smaller ones behind the big ones!"
Wang Chengwu was giving Battalion Commander Gou a heads-up and asking him to pay attention to the arrangements for activating the pre-buried explosive devices at the front. Battalion Commander Gou looked at the Japanese troops about to enter the front-line positions and called for the guards to take the deputy brigade commander away.
The machine guns on the positions on both sides continuously poured bullets at the infantry behind the Japanese tanks. The sharp-eyed Japanese light armor and tanks immediately pounced on them as fast as a hungry tiger, attacking the exposed enemy firepower points.
With the assistance of the commander and the US military training group, each squad and platoon hid in the cat holes, anti-artillery holes, and serpentine holes in the trenches as much as possible. The platoon leader on the front line ordered the activation of the explosives buried in front of the battle!
"Boom boom boom!" Huge explosions rang out continuously, and the position inside and outside were immediately shrouded in a cloud of smoke. Soldiers from each squad and platoon bravely rushed out and attacked the Japanese tanks that rushed into the position according to the anti-tank combat method arranged by the US military guidance group.
"Da da da——", "Boom——Boom——". "Tututu——", the Japanese tanks and armored vehicles fired frantically at the suddenly appeared enemy. These Japanese armored units trained by the German army organized and rhythmically eliminated the counterattack of the frontline troops of the 113st Battalion of the 1th Brigade.
When the smoke cleared, the 1st Battalion's frontline positions had been captured by the Japanese. Aside from a few burning armored vehicles and a Type 95 tank, the Japanese had suffered virtually no major losses. The bodies of a row of soldiers lay scattered on the ground and around the trenches. Several Japanese Panther tanks were crushing trenches that might have held surviving soldiers.
"Damn it! A whole platoon, only to destroy a few armored vehicles and a small turtle. What a loss!" Gou Xiaoqiang was both heartbroken and complaining. It seemed that these devilish turtles were indeed difficult to deal with, and the combat methods of the US military guidance team were not very desirable! Gou Xiaoqiang thought and calculated in his mind, and using the old method of bundling explosives to blow them up was obviously not a good idea.
"Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh", a group of rocket launchers rushed over, "boom, boom, boom", and exploded in several Japanese tanks.
The smoke quickly cleared, revealing only one Panther tank with a broken track and one with a flaming engine. The rest continued to charge forward steadily. The Japanese tanks' 75mm guns quickly fired back at the rocket launch point, accurately destroying the exposed rocket battery.
The burning Japanese tanks were quickly put out, then they staggered and slowly retreated. The one with a broken track was quickly repaired with the help of the repairmen and rushed forward again.
Wang Chengwu and his chief of staff, Lieutenant Colonel Balawi, were engaged in a heated discussion in hushed tones. They had just paid the price of a rocket launcher battery, only to receive one Leopard tank severely damaged and one lightly damaged. This exchange ratio was clearly unacceptable to them.
Balawi kept shouting: "Anti-tank weapons, anti-tank weapons. We need effective anti-tank weapons!" Indeed, what was most urgently needed at this moment was weapons that could effectively attack enemy tanks.
Wang Chengwu fell into deep thought: Facing such a powerful Japanese tank force, is it really feasible to confront it head-on?
When Gou Xiaoqiang saw the Japanese army entering the second position, he decisively dispatched an assault team, detoured behind the enemy along the anti-tank trench, launched a surprise attack with Molotov cocktails, and successfully ignited several Leopard tanks rushing in front.
However, the raid also paid a painful price - more than a dozen team members died in the battle, and were wiped out by the Japanese armored troops who arrived later. The Japanese army quickly extinguished the flames on the tanks and continued to advance deeper.
At this moment, two British bombers successfully broke through the interception of Japanese aircraft, dived down from a high altitude, and accurately blew up a Panther tank!
The 113mm mortars of the 120th Brigade also launched an artillery attack at the right time, destroying two Japanese armored vehicles and a Type 97 tank, forcing the Japanese army to retreat and ending the first battle between the two sides!
The one who ordered the retreat was Major General Hideichiro Abe, commander of the 4st Tank Regiment of the 1th Tank Division of the Japanese Army. The sudden appearance of enemy bombers and heavy mortars frightened him. He knew that his precious bloodline could not be wasted in such a battle to capture a position!
The combat staff presented the battle report, stating that the 1st Tank Regiment easily broke through multiple enemy defense lines with one Panther destroyed and one seriously damaged. As for the loss of other coordinating armored vehicles and 95/97 tanks, Ichiro Abe did not care.
"Yoshi!" Abe said to himself with satisfaction. He then summoned the staff officer (a newly created position in the Japanese tank regiment, equivalent to the operations director) and instructed him, "You, immediately report to the commander of the 2nd Division and ask him to transfer his armored forces. Our tanks will be more effective in a mixed formation!"
Colonel Hashimoto Jusan nodded. He understood what the commander meant. The tank regiment needed these cannon fodder troops to attract the enemy's firepower.