Blood-Red Front

Normally, in combined arms operations, the tanks should draw fire in front, allowing the infantry to get as close as possible, but the "sword-wielding squad" obviously didn't get that treatment.

The tank squadron stopped 500 meters from Wenhe, while the knife-wielding squadron carried the landing craft and continued their charge.

They didn't even wait for the shelling to stop, but instead prepared to use the last few minutes of bombardment to shorten the attack distance as much as possible.

As for whether they would be killed by their own artillery fire, they were not worried at all.

As the newly promoted lieutenant just said, only blood can wash away their humiliation; this blood can be from the enemy or from themselves.

"Attack! Attack!"

The newly promoted lieutenant of the sword-wielding squad charged at the forefront, sword in hand.

Without tank cover and only focused on charging forward, more than a dozen members of the "sword-wielding squad" fell instantly. However, they showed no intention of retreating and continued to shout "Long live!" as they charged forward.

Behind the squadron of sword-wielding soldiers, after the tanks stopped, Company Commander Uchiyama stuck his head out of the vehicle.

After observing carefully through binoculars for a moment, Uchiyama turned on the radio.

"Attention, squads. This is Uchiyama. From now on, each crew will fire freely to suppress enemy strongpoints."

Although the newly launched Type 37 tanks were their most advanced tanks, only tanks of squad leader rank and above had radios, so Uchiyama could only contact three squads.

As for the remaining tanks, the squad leader had to call out to them himself.

"Squad leader, we're too far away. Should we continue moving forward?"

A crackling sound came from the radio.

They are now 500 meters from Wenhe and even further from Xia Jun's position, a full 600 meters away.

The Type 37 tank was designed for infantry support, and its main gun was a short-barreled cannon. The performance of the cannon itself meant that its hit rate at this distance was less than 20%.

"The enemy has anti-tank guns, so we can't approach rashly," Uchiyama said. "However, the engineering corps will go ahead to build anti-tank fortifications. We'll continue our advance once the tank fortifications are completed."

Based on the artillery fire marks from the 68th Regiment command, the newly promoted army easily determined that the Independent Battalion possessed 37mm anti-tank guns.

Anti-tank guns are long-barreled cannons with high muzzle velocity and flat trajectory. They can pose a certain threat to Type 37 tanks at a distance of 500 meters, so they cannot easily risk advancing.

For newly promoted soldiers, the value of tanks far exceeds that of infantry. Not to mention a company, even a full-strength infantry battalion is not as valuable as these 10 tanks.

Therefore, they would only continue their advance after the engineers had dug the anti-artillery bunkers.

Once the tank is driven into the bunker, only half of the turret will be exposed, making it very difficult for anti-tank guns to even detect it, let alone hit it.

"Squadron Leader, I would like to request a reduction in the shelling frequency to conserve ammunition and allow the tanks to advance before launching a precision strike," someone said over the radio.

"Okay," Uchiyama agreed. "You can also launch concentrated attacks in small teams to increase the hit rate."

"Hi!"

……

Unbeknownst to Uchiyama, while he was observing the Independent Battalion's position, Lin Zhiyuan was also observing their movements.

Seeing that the diamond-shaped icon representing the newly launched tank had stopped far away, Lin Zhiyuan felt somewhat regretful.

If they moved another 200 meters, or even 100 meters, Lin Zhiyuan would call the artillery position.

But now, he could only watch as the nascent tanks fired from outside the armor-piercing range of the anti-tank guns.

"Boom!" "Boom!"...

The initial tank hit rate of the newly promoted army was indeed somewhat weak. Even when they conducted swarm fire in small units, they failed to destroy many light machine gun positions.

A single tank has a 20% hit rate. Even if a squad of three tanks concentrate their fire, they cannot increase the hit rate to 60%. Their hit rate will still be 20%.

However, this forced the light machine gun teams of the independent battalion to constantly move their positions, inevitably affecting their firepower density.

Inside the underground command post of the independent camp, watching the rising army launch a relentless attack, Lin Zhiyuan said, "We can't fight like this. If we let the enemy lead us by the nose, we'll run into trouble sooner or later."

The newly built tanks are parked in the distance, but that doesn't mean they'll never move forward.

Lin Zhiyuan had already seen newly promoted engineers moving forward on the minimap. Although he didn't know what they were doing on the position, he figured it wasn't anything good.

If this continues, the Independent Battalion's casualties will likely become uncontrollable, and we must find a way to reduce the intensity of the Rising Army's attacks.

After a moment's thought, Lin Zhiyuan decided to take action.

Lin Zhiyuan grabbed the map from the table, put on his helmet, and crawled out of the command post.

Braving a hail of bullets, Lin Zhiyuan followed the trenches straight to the 1st Company's position.

Ma Daxi was greatly surprised.

"Battalion Commander, what brings you here? It's too dangerous here."

Although the various mountain guns of the newly formed army had ceased firing, the shells from infantry guns and grenade launchers continued to fall, and the explosions never stopped.

"Danger? Where isn't it dangerous?" Lin Zhiyuan said, "The main battlefield in Binxi is 800 square kilometers. You could get hit by a shell even if you just go out to take a piss."

Lin Zhiyuan waved to stop Ma Daxi from continuing to persuade him and picked up the phone from the ground.

"Hey? Artillery position, can you hear me?"

"This is an artillery position."

"I am Lin Zhiyuan. Tell Liu Tianle to get ready."

As he spoke, Lin Zhiyuan opened the map and laid it directly on the slope at the top of the trench.

In fact, with the frontline troops' field of vision, even if Lin Zhiyuan stayed in the underground command post, the minimap would clearly mark the initial rank army's firepower points.

However, he could not explain how he had spotted the enemy without any line of sight.

After measuring the coordinates on the map with a ruler, Lin Zhiyuan said into the microphone, "Coordinates: 113, 285."

"There's an enemy heavy machine gun position there. Take it out."

[A newly established heavy machine gun position, with 11 personnel.]

The Type 92 heavy machine gun weighs 55.3 kg, has a caliber of 7.7 mm, a rate of fire of 500 rounds per minute, ...

This heavy machine gun position was the most threatening firepower point for the Independent Battalion in the early days of the army.

Upon hearing the coordinates given over the phone, Liu Tianle immediately marked them on the map and then looked over with his binoculars.

"The battalion commander is indeed the battalion commander, his eyesight is really good, he can see even from such a hidden place."

Liu Tianle's face was full of admiration.

The heavy machine gun position of the newly promoted army was extremely well hidden. Water was even sprayed outside the firing ports, so there was no dust when they fired. If it weren't for the specific coordinates, Liu Tianle really wouldn't have been able to find it easily.

Putting down his binoculars, Liu Tianle began adjusting the cannon barrel.

Moments later, with a cannon blast, a plume of smoke rose from the heavy machine gun position of the newly promoted army.

Seeing the heavy machine gun position disappear from the minimap, Lin Zhiyuan changed his target.

"Coordinates: 222, 321".

"boom!"

"Coordinates: 185, 255".

"boom!"

……

With each shell fired, Liu Tianle's expression changed from excitement to shock, and finally to numbness.

He couldn't understand what kind of eyes could so accurately spot enemy firing positions.

Why are there people who are so awesome?