Episode 32 Tank, advance!

At this moment, behind the woods was an infantry trench. A barbed wire was temporarily pulled in front of the trench, and several 37mm anti-tank guns were placed behind the barbed wire, each separated by more than ten meters away. They shot a shot from the Qing army from time to time, and then quickly pushed the small cannon to another place, and fired another shot after a few minutes.

Behind the cannon was a deafening engine roaring. Dozens of trucks kept moving in staggered, and a staff officer kept giving instructions like a band commander, asking a car to stop at a certain position, and then causing a parked car to start.

The Ming army's tank engines and truck engines were both gasoline engines, and the sound was not very different. In addition, the hoods of these trucks were opened, and the sound was much louder. Dozens of vehicles were driven around, and they were fired from time to time with anti-tank guns. It sounded like a tank cluster in the distance.

In the woods, several Ming army officers observed several trucks pretending to be armored vehicles outside the woods. Each vehicle was shaking outside for a while. After avoiding a few Qing army shells, the officers would give a signal to ask a car to retreat, and then arrange a truck behind the woods to drive out, always keeping eight to ten "armored vehicles" ahead, always suppressing the Qing army's heart a layer of confusion and fear.

With an explosion, another car was hit by the Qing army. Several Ming army officers watched the two drivers rolling down with fire, and then were killed by the Qing army. The machine gunner also escaped. He was lucky and rushed all the way to the woods with his waist.

"Sir...sir..." He threw himself to the ground with a dark face and gasped, "I'm back... the boy next to me...is afraid he's dead..."

"Okay, brother, thank you for your hard work!"

Two officers put the soldier's arm on his shoulder and pulled him back. At the same time, several soldiers behind the woods stuffed a machine gun into the seat of a truck, smashed the windshield from inside, and stretched out the barrel. The driver drove, and the machine gunner sat next to him to control the machine gun, like an armored vehicle.

"Okay, brothers, it's your turn to come! Let the Qing Lu have a great taste!"

The officers closed the car door for them, guided the car through the woods, drove through the trench from the wooden boards, and joined the ranks of fooling the Qing army.

Just as the car rushed out, five hundred meters south of the south, the Qing army's mountain cannon position opened fire. Thirty-six 75mm mountain cannons roared in unison, and the woods and the trucks in front were suddenly trapped in an explosion of fire.

These 36 75 mountain cannons are the largest caliber weapon carried by the 6th Division of the Eight Banners of the Qing army. This time their mission was to rush forward with lightweight equipment, so they did not bring bulky large caliber howitzers. That kind of thing dragged down the itinerary, and it took a long time to transport it from the floating bridge. In addition, this thick fog environment, the long-range cannon cannot be used. Although the caliber of this mountain cannon is not small, 75 mm, the characteristic of the mountain cannon is particularly light and has a large caliber that can be very light, which can fully keep up with the front-line troops. It is very suitable for the hilly landforms near Nanjing and also for the needs of "needle combat" under thick fog conditions.

Another round of volleys was fired, and a total of 72 shells were eaten in the woods, and there were raging fires in several places, mixed with thick black smoke, and the air was filled with the smell of gunpowder and the strong smell of gasoline.

The cars in the woods were parked in a relatively dense manner, and six were shot and exploded in an instant. Dozens of other trucks poured out of the woods under the command of the officers and retreated northward.

The Qing army's First Infantry Regiment opposite rushed over with bayonets and shouting.

The Ming army machine guns in the trench fired like crazy, and the Qing soldiers rushed up to the ground like cutting wheat. Originally, the machine guns were not very effective in this thick fog, and the Qing army could only be seen by the machine gunners when they rushed to a close. However, the barbed wire mesh a few meters away from the Ming army trench played a big role. When the Qing army rushed there, they had to stop. Whether it was drilling or turning over, they had to stop for a few seconds. However, the barbed wire mesh was covered with wolves, and those who were hooked around their clothes and those who pulled the gun were unable to turn over smoothly.

Moreover, the distance between the barbed wire and the trench was just enough for the machine gun to see. For a moment, blood splattered on the barbed wire and filled the dead bodies.

After dozens of people died, the Qing soldiers behind stopped rushing forward and lying on the spot, and threw grenades like raindrops. The Ming army machine gunners quickly retracted their heads into the trench. After an explosion, they rushed to the machine gun and continued to fire, but many Qing soldiers had already taken the opportunity to climb over the wire and jumped into the trench to fight.

The Ming army infantry used submachine guns to fight to the death, but the trenches were too narrow and could not be used. In addition, the Qing army kept jumping in from front and back left and right, and the Ming army resisted for a while, and a whistle sounded in the woods. As if he heard the signal, the Ming army's machine gun team climbed out of the trenches and retreated with machine guns. The other Ming soldiers no longer fought hard, and climbed out of the trenches and ran into the woods.

More than a thousand Qing soldiers rushed into the woods and moved forward carefully with guns. Because several trucks from far and near were burning, they were no longer so dark. The thick fog was floating strangely under the flames, red and red, like hell.

The Ming army, who had just fought to the death, are now running cleanly, but occasionally they see a corpse on the ground.

The sound of gunfire has ended, and now it has quieted down. The sound of tank engines that were connected just now have disappeared.

A Qing army held the bayonet rifle tightly, bent over and advanced, swallowing the dry saliva and whispered:

"Hey, there's an ambush ahead?"

The companion around him exploded and cursed hard:

"Shut up your mouth!"

The search went forward for dozens of meters, and the woods became denser. The black and unfathomable in front of them, and I felt like I was waiting for something.

"boom!!!"

There was a loud bang in the fire, and a Qing soldier at the front was blown away with one leg and fell to the ground shakingly. All the Qing soldiers immediately lay on the ground, covering their heads, waiting for more shells to fall.

The broken leg turned around in the idle for several times, and hit the face of the last row of soldiers behind him, which scared him to make a strange scream.

Lin Zi was quiet for a while and nothing happened. Only the Qing soldier whose legs were blown off kept screaming. A company commander shouted:

"Everyone gets up, it's a landmine!"

Then he ordered everyone to stay where they were, and let the communications soldiers run to the back and ask the regiment headquarters to send engineers to clear mines.

The engineer came up soon, and slowly looked forward with a flashlight.

Following the engineers, they looked forward were several staff officers from the division headquarters. They were ordered by the commander of the division to inspect the area.

Several staff officers followed the engineers, and also used flashlights to shine on the ground, looking for ruts and other traces.

“There are tire marks here.”

"So too, my side."

...

"Did anyone see the track print?"

"No."

"I don't have it here either."

...

The infantry sat on the ground, leaning against trees, gasping heavily, temporarily relaxing their almost broken nerves. Many soldiers unscrewed the kettle to drink water, and many soldiers took out half of the cigarette that they had not finished smoking, lit the matches, and smoked beautifully.

"Hey," several officers began to yell in a low voice, "Don't fucking matches, expose the target!"

"Grandma, what a bear... I'm so stupid," the Qing soldiers threw the matches on the ground and cursed in a low voice, "There are so many fucking things to do with the matches. Those minesweepers are still using flashlights. They will be exposed long ago!"

They put matches back in their arms and used cigarette butts to borrow fire from each other. All kinds of low-pitched complaints and insults were everywhere, and the cowardly anger that had accumulated in the middle of the night burst out one after another.

"Donkey Day! What are the bird fights we fight in the second half of the night?"

"What I mean is how beautiful the annihilation battle was in the first half of the night! But what's the matter in the second half of the night!

"Ming Jun is not very proud to pull it out and beat it up, just like this."

"Small mouth? Eat our pioneer reconnaissance battalion in one bite, is it still small?"

"I deserve to eat it! I went to scout a bird and killed so many of us. I'll fuck him..."

A soldier next to him rushed up, grabbed his neckline and shouted:

"Who are you fucking? Who are you fucking? You guys have the will to say it again?"

Seeing that the fight was about to break up, the officer rushed over and stopped him and said:

"What are you doing? You are so energetic, right? You have no place to do it, right? What kind of heroes are you fighting with your brothers? Tell you, it's the man who is trying to keep it up. Wait until we enter Nanjing, and you will do whatever you want!"

After saying this, these Qing soldiers stopped arguing and started to ruthlessly:

"When I enter Nanjing, I will kill anyone whenever I see it. Don't stop me!"

"Kill people when you see them. Do you have so many bullets?"

"Damn it, I tied it up and picked it one by one with a bayonet."

"I burned the palace with a torch."

"Hey, what's the most good things in Nanming?"

"What?"

"Beautiful woman!"

"Yes, not bad! Haha!"

When the woman was mentioned, the Qing soldiers' eyes were shining and they began to swear with a blush:

"Grandma, just take the Nanjing and search from house to house. We will go to the Qinhuai River to find it. There are all the officials and the officials."

"I'll come to you for one person who is seventeen or eighteen a day. No, I'll have to do it for one person who is fifteen or sixteen. Don't argue with me..."

...

These Qing soldiers were flushed in their faces and had forgotten the cowardly anger that had been accumulated in the middle of the night.

The engineer platoon explored the thunder for a long time, and the mine detectors passed through the forest, a huge area, and only found four other landmines. It seemed that the Ming army was in a hurry to retreat and had only had time to bury these five landmines.

Moreover, the tire marks on the ground are densely packed and intertwined. It seems that many cars have driven here. But only one track mark was found, and judging by the depth, it is not a tank, but an armored vehicle.

At the rear division headquarters, Ha Fenga heard the report on the phone and bit the cigarette hard:

"Order the First Regiment to arrange for the reconnaissance troops to advance, the First Regiment and the Second Regiment immediately went through the woods and followed me, and the Mountain Cannon Battalion also followed me!"

Hang up the phone, Hafenga gritted her teeth and said:

"I knew it was like this!... So, where have the People's Guard tanks gone?"

...

On the Yuhua Platform, Xiang Xiaoqiang was staring at the map in the Zen Room. Suddenly, a muffled thunder-like cannon sound came from the distance in the south. The sound was not very loud, as if it was a mountain cannon. According to the account of the captives of the Qing army reconnaissance camp who were captured, the main artillery carried by the 6th Division of the Eight Banners this time was the 75mm mountain cannon.

There was also a clear sound of cannons in the mountain cannons. It should be that the Ming army from the Qinhuai River position was fighting back. This was the sound of a medium-caliber mortar.

Xiang Xiaoqiang looked at the pocket watch on the table. It was now at half past four, half an hour away from the scheduled main attack at five o'clock.

It will start to brighten after 5:30, and it is still a little early now, so I still have to hold on here for a while. If Rommel is going to start now, the main battles will be held in the dark, which is too unfavorable to the armored cluster.

At this time, the communications soldiers came to report that the vanguard of the Qing army had already started fire contact with our army on the front line of the Qinhuai River.

He nodded to Xiaoqiang, looked at the table again, and ordered:

"Order heavy artillery positions to fire in the predetermined area."

"yes!"

The communication soldier saluted and ran out. After a while, there were dense muffled sounds from the left and right sides. After a while, explosions from different distances came from the south. It seemed that you could feel the earth trembling here.

Fired at the heavy artillery positions deployed by Xiaoqiang on both sides of the Yuhuatai.
To be continued...