The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 373: Soviet Anti-tank Artillery vs British Tanks
Following He Wei's order, the assault corps troops that had crossed the river to the west bank of Fuchikou quickly moved in an orderly manner, deployed battle formations, and began to search and advance in a combat-ready posture.

Taking into account the abnormal behavior of the Japanese army, in order to promptly discover possible ambush forces of the Japanese army, He Wei deployed all the infantry units at hand.

He Wei's special forces company (minus one platoon) directly under the assault corps, which had the most veterans and the strongest combat effectiveness, was deployed in the front as the vanguard. Behind the two platoons of the special forces company was Fu Chen's 1st Infantry Battalion. The three infantry companies of the 1st Battalion followed behind the special forces company, and they were fully deployed in a first-line combat formation. The headquarters company, the battalion heavy machine gun company and the battalion mortar company of the 1st Battalion followed behind.

The First Mountain Artillery Company and the Tank Defense Artillery Company of the Assault Corps' Artillery Battalion were behind the First Battalion's battle formation. As for the Assault Corps' direct engineering company, they followed behind the First Mountain Artillery Company and the Tank Defense Artillery Company.

The artillery unit had more artillery, mules, horses and baggage, and its self-defense capability was weaker than that of the infantry unit, so He Wei deployed it behind the First Battalion and before the engineering company. Once encountering the Japanese army, the infantry of the First Battalion and the engineers of the Assault Corps could provide timely protection and support to the First Mountain Artillery Company and the tank defense artillery company.

There is no need to say much about the infantry combat effectiveness of the 1st Battalion. Although the engineering company directly under the assault corps is called an engineer, it has mastered the basic tactics and basic training that infantry should have. To be precise, the engineering company of the assault corps should be called a "combat engineering company" that combines infantry and engineering tactics. If a real fight breaks out, the engineering company can be fully used as an infantry company.

The marching formations of the two artillery companies, the Tank Defense Artillery Company and the First Mountain Artillery Company, were all carried out in accordance with the highest combat readiness standards. He Wei ordered that all artillery pieces must not be unloaded and must all be towed by mules and horses during marches. This way, once they encountered the Japanese army, the artillery pieces could be put into firing position as soon as they were unloaded, so that they could return fire at the fastest speed.

The mortar company and heavy machine gun company of the first battalion also adhered to the principle of entering combat status as quickly as possible. They marched forward with the mortar body and gun carriage intact, and the heavy machine gun body and gun carriage intact. All the riflemen in the unit also mounted their bayonets in preparation for any eventuality.

Of course, He Wei did not forget to protect the retreat route. At the river crossing and landing site, he specially left behind an infantry platoon of the special forces company and a machine gun platoon (two zb37 heavy machine guns) of the heavy machine gun company of the first battalion to guard the river crossing tools and the landing point to prevent anyone from cutting off their retreat.

It can be said that He Wei's temporary combat group of nearly 2,000 people has done its best to make all preparations to deal with the enemy.

After deploying all the combat readiness work, He Wei dared to say with confidence that although he didn't know what was going on behind the sudden disappearance of the Japanese army and other abnormal situations, if the Japanese dared to ambush his battle group or had any other plans, it would be an unknown who would be killed in the end!

Since they had to search and advance, He Wei naturally could not let the troops run around like headless flies. Under the current abnormal situation where the Japanese troops suddenly disappeared, He Wei judged that the Japanese troops might be deployed in two directions in the end.

First, it was a certain place on the long river beach on the west bank of the Fuchi River. Second, it was the defensive position lost by the 18th Brigade of the 54th Division. The reason why He Wei made the former judgment was very simple. Since the Japanese troops suddenly disappeared in the original crossing area, it was very likely that after suffering a great loss, they knew that the Chinese army on the other side of the original crossing area was not easy to deal with, so they simply changed the crossing point and prepared to cross the river and land again from other locations on the Fuchi River.

The second judgment is based on another more simple and direct consideration, that is, after the Japanese were severely beaten by the assault corps in the first river crossing attack, they did not have the ability to launch another river crossing attack in a short period of time and needed time to reorganize, so they gathered their troops and concentrated them in a certain area to rest.

And this area for repair cannot be chosen randomly, but must have at least the most basic defensive fortifications and temporary camping sites, and even logistical facilities such as bandage stations and ammunition stations.

The Japanese army landed just last night and fought a whole night with the 18th Brigade of the 54th Division. He Wei did not think they had enough fortifications to build. Once the Japanese army concentrated and retreated, the best choice would be the positions and fortifications left behind by the 18th Brigade of the 54th Division.

Based on these two judgments, He Wei decided to first search in the direction of the positions left by the 18th Brigade of the 54th Division to see if he could capture Japanese troops near the remaining positions of the 54th Brigade. If he came up empty-handed, he would turn back with the troops and search the west bank of the Fuchi River instead.

Based on this combat plan, taking advantage of the hot breeze of the summer evening, He Wei led the temporary combat group that had already deployed its combat formation and carefully began the combat search.

In the vast wilderness, the whole land was silent and the fields were muddy. At the front of the temporary battle group's formation, the special forces company directly under the assault corps had been deployed in full accordance with the combat readiness marching and search formation under the command of the company commander Yang Biao, and took on the task of opening the way.

The two platoons of the special forces company advanced side by side, one on the left and one on the right. The fully armed officers and soldiers of the two platoons advanced vigilantly with guns in hand while keeping an eye on the situation around them. Apart from the sound of wind and cicadas, the only sound was the sound of the officers and soldiers of the special forces company stepping on the crops.

A unit, from the most basic infantry squad to the infantry division and army, must be equipped with a vanguard unit when marching and fighting. The so-called vanguard unit can also be seen as the eyes and ears and scouts of a unit.

The special forces company at this time plays the role of eyes and ears and scouts. For a company-level scout unit, according to general tactical principles, if an infantry company with a slower movement speed is used as a scout unit, the search front of that company will only be two kilometers. If a cavalry company is responsible for the search, it can control a ten-kilometer front.

Although the special forces company directly under the assault corps was an infantry company, and one of its infantry platoons was withdrawn to perform the guard mission at the river crossing point, resulting in a shortage of a full platoon of troops, the sergeants and soldiers in this company were almost all veterans with rich combat experience. After the baptism and test of war, they were all skilled in combat. Therefore, the special forces company was very bold and opened up a search front of nearly 2.5 kilometers despite the lack of one platoon. All officers and soldiers of the special forces company also had their guns loaded and their grenades unpacked to ensure that if they encountered a situation, they could immediately switch from the alert search state to the "power search" state.

Ou Yuxiang, the second lieutenant platoon leader of the special forces company, walked in the center of the platoon's combat formation, carrying a 20-shot machine gun, and skillfully commanded the squads in his platoon to take turns to cover each other as they advanced.

Ou Yuxiang, a new platoon leader who graduated from the 12th class of the Whampoa Military Academy, has shed the immaturity of having just graduated from the military academy after experiencing the actual combat training of encircling and annihilating the vanguard of the Japanese Army's Hata Detachment. He has grown into an outstanding officer with both military academy education and practical experience.

As Ou Yuxiang moved forward, he kept looking around. When his eyes fell on the advancing formation of the first row of the special forces company advancing in parallel with the second row, Ou Yuxiang thought of the first row platoon leader Liu Yonggui, a rough officer who came from the military but had given him a lot of help and experience. A smile appeared on his face.

Suddenly, the smile on Ou Yuxiang's face froze. An extremely harsh and strange sound came from behind a hill a few hundred meters away and reached his ears. Moreover, this sudden and strange sound did not disappear in a flash, but became louder and louder, more and more obvious, and finally became a series of low roars.

Ou Yuxiang felt that this roar was not strange at all, and even had a familiar feeling. When Ou Yuxiang recalled the source of this roar in his memory, his face suddenly changed and he shouted: "There is a chariot!"

Almost at the moment when Ou Yuxiang finished speaking, suddenly, six small Japanese tanks suddenly rushed out from behind a small hill more than 400 meters away from the special forces company. Dozens of Japanese soldiers in navy blue uniforms followed closely behind the six tanks, shouting and launching an attack team to attack.

"It's a machine gun tank, scatter quickly, scatter quickly!"

Seeing that his judgment was correct, Ou Yuxiang immediately shouted and ordered the surrounding officers and soldiers to disperse and hide.

The six Japanese tanks that suddenly appeared were the six Cardenloyd light tanks of the independent tank squadron that landed on the Japanese army.

While Kitaro Tsuchiji was withdrawing his troops to the positions left by the 18th Brigade of the 54th Division and preparing to hold their ground, he also attached an infantry squad to his independent tank squadron to form a mobile search force, which repeatedly carried out mobile searches and security reconnaissance at various locations on the west bank of the Fuchi River.

Coincidentally, just as He Wei was leading his troops to search towards the remaining positions of the 18th Brigade of the 54th Division, the Japanese mixed mobile search team composed of infantry and tanks also happened to search in the direction of He Wei's troops. As a result, the two sides collided head-on with the special forces company directly under the assault corps!

The commander of the Japanese mixed infantry and tank mobile search team, Lieutenant Colonel Tanosho, was already furious about the failed river crossing attack by the 4th Special Marine Corps today. After discovering the special forces company directly under the assault corps, he could no longer hold back. He immediately seized the opportunity to avenge the 4th Special Marine Corps and issued the attack order without hesitation.

As a result, a melee between the vanguard troops of both sides broke out suddenly.

Da da da

Da da da

After the six Japanese tanks rushed out, they quickly adjusted their formation, spread out in a horizontal line and rushed head-on to meet the search formation of the special forces company. The British Vickers water-cooled heavy machine guns on the six tanks also started to sound, spewing out streams of fire, and flew towards the special forces company of the assault corps in front of them.

Even though the sergeants and soldiers of the special company of the assault corps were all veterans, they were suddenly rushed towards by six tanks and dozens of Japanese infantrymen, and were violently strafed by the vehicle-mounted machine guns. The two platoons of the special company had no time to dodge the sudden fire attack from the Japanese tanks, and were severely hit by the fierce fire from the Japanese tanks. More than a dozen soldiers were caught off guard and were mowed down by the machine gun fire from the Japanese tanks, falling in a pool of blood.

There were sudden cries of pain and groans from the special forces company's advancing formation, and dense dust from bullets rose up on the ground.

Feeling the heat from the 7.7mm heavy machine gun bullets flying around overhead, Ou Yuxiang, the second platoon leader of the special forces company, quickly lay down on the ground and shouted to the soldiers in his platoon around him: "Everyone, get down quickly and concentrate your firepower on the tank. Don't panic. This is a machine gun tank. There are only machine guns on the tank. This kind of tank can't even withstand steel core bullets. Everyone, stay calm! Switch to steel core bullets for the machine guns! Get the riflemen and mortars over here!"

Ou Yuxiang was not at all unfamiliar with the six Japanese tanks that suddenly appeared before him.

When he heard the roar of the Japanese tank just now, he had an inexplicable sense of familiarity. Before the Japanese tank suddenly rushed out, he immediately determined that the roar was the sound of the tank's engine.

Now that they had seen the true appearance of the Japanese tanks, they immediately recognized that they were using the Carden-Lloyd ultra-light tanks.

The reason why Ou Yuxiang was able to identify the model of the Japanese tank at first sight was because this type of tank was also in the equipment sequence of the Chinese army.

As early as 1928, Song Ziwen, the Minister of Finance of the National Government, purchased a batch of Carden Lloyd tanks from Britain and equipped them to the Anti-Smuggling Brigade directly under the Ministry of Finance (which later became the famous Tax Police Corps), which was equivalent to his private army. These tanks were later transferred to the Cavalry Regiment of the st Army Training Division and entered the combat sequence of the regular army of the National Army Central Army. It was the first armored force in China formed in the name of the central government.

However, as the National Army introduced more advanced tanks from Britain and Germany, this ultra-light tank with no turret, low profile, and only equipped with a water-cooled heavy machine gun soon withdrew from the combat sequence of the National Army's front-line armored forces and was sent to military academies as a teaching vehicle.

Although Ou Yuxiang was a student of the 12th Infantry Department of Whampoa Military Academy rather than the Tank Department, students of the Infantry Department also need to master basic tank knowledge and memorize the various parameters of the tanks equipped by the National Army. When he was in military school, he had seen the Carden Lloyd ultra-light tank and even rode in this tank himself and operated the Vickers heavy machine gun on it. He was very familiar with the performance of this tank.

Ou Yuxiang knew that the protective performance of this type of tank was extremely poor. The body of the vehicle could not withstand the steel-core armor-piercing bullets fired by the machine gun. It did not even have a turret, and the machine gunner could only shoot from the open-air vehicle-mounted machine gun position. Therefore, both the steel-core armor-piercing bullets fired by the machine gun and ordinary bullets had the potential to cause damage and casualties to the vehicle body and crew.

Therefore, after being attacked, Ou Yuxiang reacted quickly and decisively ordered all the platoon's firearms to open fire. Ou Yuxiang believed that to deal with this kind of ultra-light tank, as long as he kept his composure and concentrated his infantry firepower, he would be able to effectively block the impact of the Japanese tanks.

'Get down, listen to the platoon leader, and fire!'

"Machine gun squad, quickly change the bullets to steel core bullets and use them to shoot!"

With Ou Yuxiang's organization, the veterans in the second row of the special forces company quickly stabilized themselves and crawled on the spot with skilled tactical moves. The light machine gunners and general-purpose machine gunners of each class also followed Ou Yuxiang's orders and began to replace the machine guns with steel-core armor-piercing bullets used to shoot tanks.

The gunners of the second row of 60mm mortar squad also began to set up their guns, and the riflemen of the second row started to fire directly after crawling, and greeted the Japanese tanks that were rushing. The first row of the special forces company, which was advancing in parallel with the second row, was a little chaotic. Although the platoon leader Liu Yonggui had rich combat experience, he was not like Ou Yuxiang, an officer who graduated from a military academy, who knew the performance and shortcomings of the Japanese tanks. In his opinion, as long as it was tracked, it was the devil's iron turtle. As for the differences between different types of iron turtles, their advantages and disadvantages, and their different weapons and equipment, Liu Yonggui, a platoon leader who was born as a rough sergeant, really had no idea.

Based on Liu Yonggui's combat experience, if he encountered the Japanese "Iron Turtle" at close range, if he did not have a tank defense gun, he could only use cluster grenades to desperately play with the Japanese tanks. Seeing the Japanese tanks rushing over, Liu Yonggui's first reaction based on his experience was to organize his soldiers to use cluster grenades to blow them up.

When Liu Yonggui saw that several soldiers in his first row had fallen under the fire of the Japanese tank-mounted machine guns, he became furious. He rolled up his sleeves, tied a bundle of grenades himself, and was ready to charge forward with his men.

Fortunately, Ou Yuxiang did not forget to remind Liu Yonggui and specially sent a messenger to tell him not to charge forcefully. This stopped Liu Yonggui in time and prevented the first row from attacking the Japanese tanks by means of human explosion.

So, the first row also learned the tactics of the second row, crawled on the ground, and began to attack the Japanese tank and infantry mixed attack column with various firepower.

Soon, all kinds of firearms of the two platoons opened fire. The Czech light machine guns and mg34 general-purpose machine guns equipped with steel-core armor-piercing bullets roared one after another, forming a fierce line of machine gun fire, and fired at the six Japanese tanks that were charging head-on.

The two platoons' four 60mm mortars also fired rapidly at the Japanese Marine infantry following the tanks, while some riflemen fired at the tanks and some at the Japanese Marine infantry.

The commander of the special forces company, Yang Biao, who was following behind with the company headquarters, also came with officers and soldiers of the company headquarters to reinforce and joined the battle. Facing the coordinated attack of six Japanese tanks and a small group of infantry and tanks, the special forces company used the fierce firepower composed of various firearms with six Czech light machine guns, two mg34 general-purpose machine guns and four 60mm mortars as the core of two infantry platoons to fight against the Japanese tanks and infantry.

Six Japanese tanks and a squad of Japanese Marine Corps infantry rushed towards the special forces company while firing like mad. The special forces company did not give in and engaged the Japanese head-on with fierce firepower. The trajectories of various firearms fired by both sides crossed each other, and the dense gunfire rang out like popping beans. This unexpected encounter became extremely fierce in an instant.

However, the special forces company, which had suffered some losses at the beginning of the encounter, quickly turned the tables, and Ou Yuxiang's expectation soon became a reality.

Although the Japanese tanks charged fiercely, the performance of these six ultra-light tanks was really poor after all. After the light machine guns and general-purpose machine guns of the two platoons of the special forces company were replaced with steel-core armor-piercing bullets used for shooting tanks, they quickly dealt a heavy blow to the Japanese army.

First, a Japanese tank broke out of the horizontal battle formation of its tank column in a very rampant manner and rushed towards the special forces company. It was immediately subjected to concentrated fire from various firearms of two platoons of the special forces company. As a result, the tank was first penetrated by dense 7.92mm steel-core armor-piercing bullets, and the on-board machine gunner and the driver in front of the tank were all shot into sieves by the steel-core bullets.

Then, a 60mm mortar operator with superb shooting skills from the special forces company accurately fired a 60mm mortar grenade at the body of the Japanese tank. The violent explosion directly blew the upper half of the small tank into pieces and completely destroyed the structure above the body of the tank.

Seeing a tank knocked down, the attacking Japanese soldiers were also stunned. Originally, they thought they had encountered Chinese army's infantry, so the Japanese tank soldiers thought they had met a soft persimmon, like a cat seeing a mouse, they stepped on the accelerator and rushed forward, ready to carry out another massacre like the sneak attack on the 18th Brigade of the 54th Division last night, staging a massacre-style battle between tanks and infantry.

But when the special forces company of the assault corps established a fierce fire defense line on the spot and responded to the Japanese army with a fierce rain of bullets, the Japanese army realized that they were facing a tough nut to crack.

The remaining five Japanese tanks would naturally not be so foolish as to rush forward. They could only temporarily retract their attacks and stop their reckless advance.

You know, the Carden Lloyd ultra-light tank equipped by the Japanese army was not even as good as the Type 94 bean tank equipped by the Japanese army itself. In the era before He Wei traveled through time, the size of this thing was even similar to some oversized children's car toys. If you really rush forward against the dense infantry and machine gun fire of the special forces company, you might be pierced by steel-core bullets before you even get close. The Japanese tank soldiers were all well aware of this.

Therefore, the remaining five Japanese tanks immediately changed from a direct charge to speeding up and dispersing, constantly detouring left and right to avoid the intensive fire of steel-core armor-piercing bullets from the special forces company, while at the same time firing fiercely at the special forces company with the firepower of the vehicle-mounted machine guns.

A small group of Japanese Marines advancing behind them did not dare to move forward rashly. They also stopped, crawled on the ground, and fired at the special forces company with rifles, light machine guns and grenade launchers.

In the center of the special forces company's temporary defense line, the company commander Yang Biao was holding a 20-shot pistol, lying on the ground and spitting out a mouthful of dirt. Dust was flying all around, and everywhere was dust raised by the Japanese army's vehicle-mounted machine guns, machine gun bullets in the hands of the infantry, and grenade explosions.

Yang Biao looked at the five scattered Japanese tanks and cursed: "Damn it, this won't work. This bastard is running too fast. The messenger should report the situation to the captain-in-chief and ask him to send the tank defense artillery company!"

Although the five Japanese tanks were forced to retreat from the front by the special forces company, they adopted a dispersal tactic and effectively dispersed the firepower of the special forces company's infantry and machine guns.

Therefore, although the Japanese tanks could not do anything to the special forces company for the time being, the special forces company did not achieve the result of destroying the Japanese tanks with machine guns and mortars again.

Moreover, the Japanese tanks were dispersing and were making detours. Once the Japanese tanks went around the back of the special forces company, the one who would cry would be Yang Biao!

At this point, Yang Biao realized that the battle was no longer something that the special forces company, the vanguard, could handle independently, so the first thing he thought of was to ask He Wei for help and pull up the tank defense gun company to use 45mm tank defense guns to bombard these damn Japanese tanks!

"Yes!"

The messenger of the special forces company, who was also lying on the ground, answered and immediately rolled and crawled to retreat. However, at this moment, a sudden and urgent bugle call came from the rear of the special forces company. The messenger of the special forces company was immediately attracted by the bugle call. He looked in the direction of the bugle call with a slightly dull look, and then his eyes became extremely bright. He pointed in the direction of the bugle call and shouted to Yang Biao excitedly: "Company commander, it's the anti-tank gun, the anti-tank gun is coming up!"

Yang Biao turned his head and looked in the direction the messenger pointed, only to see five tank defense guns and many soldiers from the tank defense gun company of the assault corps artillery battalion had appeared behind the special forces company (the tank defense gun company of the assault corps artillery battalion originally had six guns, but one was damaged in the battle against Japanese ships at Banbi Mountain, so there are now five guns).

Yang Biao's active request for help was obviously redundant. With He Wei's keen ability to deal with battlefield situations on the spot, how could he sit back and watch the special forces company and the Japanese tanks and infantry fighting without sending reinforcements?

As early as the beginning of the firefight between the special forces company and the Japanese army, He Wei immediately ordered Fu Chen's First Battalion to send people to scout the situation. After learning that the special forces company was engaged in a firefight with a mixed team of Japanese infantry and tanks, He Wei decisively ordered the tank defense artillery company to reinforce and use 45mm tank defense guns to destroy the Japanese tanks!

Previously, He Wei ordered the tank defense artillery company to march with mules and horses to ensure that they could quickly switch to combat status when encountering the enemy. The effect of these measures was immediate at this time.

After receiving the order to reinforce, the tank defense artillery company immediately spurred on its horses, using mules and horses to pull five tank defense guns, and rushed quickly towards the direction of the special forces company to provide reinforcements.

When approaching the area where the special forces company and the Japanese army were fighting, the officers and soldiers of the tank defense artillery company quickly released the traction status of the tank defense gun and switched to manpower to push the artillery forward, and finally quickly and promptly reinforced the position of the special forces company.

"Hurry up, hurry up, get ready to shoot immediately."

Three hundred meters behind the special forces company, the company commander of the tank defense artillery company directly under the artillery battalion of the assault corps squatted behind the gun shield of a Soviet-style M1932 tank defense gun with sweat on his forehead, holding up a telescope to observe the battle situation in front of him, and shouting orders to the gun crews of the five surrounding tank defense guns to prepare for firing.

The officers and soldiers of the five tank defense guns lowered their guns one after another, and skillfully and orderly completed the preparations for firing, such as opening the tripod, digging the spade, lowering the gun carriage, etc., and quickly loaded 45mm armor-piercing shells into the barrel of the tank defense gun, completing the first loading of the gun.

The commander of the tank defense artillery company also revealed a disdainful smile after observing through the telescope that the Japanese tanks were actually ultra-light Carden-Lloyd tanks.

"Report to the company commander, the first platoon is ready for combat shooting!"

"Report to the company commander, the second platoon is ready for combat shooting!"

"Report to the company commander, the third platoon is ready for combat shooting!"

After hearing the reports from the platoons, the commander of the tank defense artillery company put down his telescope and shouted, "All the company, fire freely. Kill these five Japanese bastards as quickly as possible."

The tank defense artillery company commander's order was simple, direct and clear. In fact, this order did not meet the requirements of the training manual.

According to the requirements of the training manual, the commander of the tank defense artillery unit must specify the firing targets and even the firing time for each gun and platoon when issuing a firing order. The free firing order just issued by the tank defense artillery company commander obviously violated the basic rules in the manual.

The reason why the tank defense artillery company commander issued such an order that did not meet the requirements was certainly not because he was not good at his job, but because he felt that if he issued orders according to the requirements of the manual to deal with these five "little tanks", assigning shooting targets to each artillery one by one would be a pure waste of words and time, and might even miss the opportunity to fight. It would be better to have a free-shooting combat order!

Soon, clouds of smoke came out of the muzzles of five Soviet-made M1932 tank defense guns, and they opened fire at five Japanese Cardenloyd ultra-light tanks not far away.

The Japanese Carden-Lloyd tank was only developed and produced by Britain more than a decade ago. It has long fallen behind the world's mainstream ultra-light tanks. The thickest part of the armor plate is only 6mm, and it may not be able to defend against even the steel core bullets fired by machine guns.

The Soviet-made M1932 45mm tank defense gun equipped by the tank defense gun company of the assault corps is an anti-tank gun with excellent performance in the world today. Its design prototype is the German PAK37 37mm tank defense gun. The armor-piercing projectile it fires can penetrate 500mm steel plates within 50 meters. It is not difficult to imagine what kind of shooting effect would be achieved by using such a Soviet tank defense gun to attack such an early British ultra-light tank.

The five tank defense guns opened fire in rapid succession, firing dozens of shells in a short period of time. After a burst of fierce attack and shooting, a Japanese tank soon became the first victory of the tank defense gun company. It was attacked by multiple 45mm armor-piercing shells, its tracks were broken, and it was spinning in place, losing its mobility.

The 60mm mortar operators of the special forces company also took the opportunity to strike back at the Japanese tank that had lost power, and destroyed it with multiple 60mm mortar explosive grenades.

Another tank was first pierced by an armor-piercing bullet through its fuel tank, and then hit by multiple grenades, causing an explosion. Suddenly, thick smoke rose up and flames shot into the sky, turning it into a "turkey."

Another tank's body was pierced by multiple armor-piercing shells on the spot, and it was beaten into a sieve and broke down. Seeing that the situation was not good, the other two tanks immediately turned around and ran away, but they were immediately attacked by the concentrated fire of the tank defense artillery company and the intensive machine gun fire of the special forces company. Under the continuous attacks of the armor-piercing shells and explosive shells of the 45mm tank defense gun and the concentrated fire of the steel-core bullets fired by the machine guns, the two fleeing tanks were soon riddled with holes and destroyed.

In just over five minutes, the independent tank squadron under the landing Japanese army, which had served as the vanguard in the attack on the 18th Brigade of the 54th Division last night and shot and crushed a large number of Chinese officers and soldiers, was completely annihilated by the tank defense artillery company and the special forces company of the artillery battalion of the assault corps.

(End of this chapter)