Chapter 543 Armed Reconnaissance (Chapter Two in One)
At about 2:40 in the afternoon, Hu Biao and other people took the No. 11 bus and officially arrived at the headquarters of the 162nd Regiment of the Dahong 1st Division.
Then, they were asking questions all the way.
We successfully found a group of tank soldiers who were busy in a corner. These were the tank companies directly under the regiment that they needed to cooperate with.
When Hu Biao saw these people, he could clearly see that the leader was a handsome white blond guy in his 30s with the rank of lieutenant.
There is no doubt that this is their commander in this mission, Lieutenant Don Collier of the tank company.
At this moment, he was leading about twenty tank crews and was busy surrounding five M4 Sherman tanks.
What’s a bit miraculous is that Xie Mantou, the main tank of the soldiers during World War II, is indeed said to have various improved, variant, experimental and other models with more than 50 types of equipment.
After taking a quick look, Hu Biao and the others could distinguish at least three models among the five tanks.
2 original M4 tanks, 2 slightly improved M4A1 tanks, and 1 newer M4A2 tank.
The way Lieutenant Don Collier and others strengthened them was to use thick logs, sandbags, and even some small furniture.
Tools such as wire ropes were used to fix them one by one on both sides of the tank, the front of the tank, etc., making the originally chubby Sherman tank become even more bloated.
After seeing such a scene, Hu Biao and others immediately felt friendly.
Because of this approach, they also did this the last time they were on the battlefield in Volgograd.
And such an approach, although it makes the originally mighty tank a lot of trouble, can actually play some considerable roles in actual combat.
For example: First of all, if you encounter a place with bad road conditions, when the track of the tank is stuck.
As long as these logs are removed, bundled and padded under the tracks, the tank's self-rescue effect will be very good, and it can basically drive out by itself.
This approach is not new at all, even for a long period of time in the future, when European and American main battle tanks such as Guo Jia have given up this approach.
Whether it’s Maozi’s tank or Rabbit’s tank, they all bring some logs with them as a habit, and it’s part of their repertoire.
The reason is that Guo Jia's main battle tanks in Europe and the United States can get out of the mud with their own high horsepower without the need for this kind of rescue wood because the engine horsepower is getting bigger and bigger.
As for Maozi and Rabbit's tanks, because the engine horsepower of some models is slightly different, they can only continue to use this method.
Secondly, after hanging these scattered things on the sides and front of the tank.
Although the kinetic energy bullets fired by defensive barrel artillery are basically useless, they are quite effective against infantry anti-tank weapons such as Panzerfaust and anti-tank grenades.
The most critical thing is that these gadgets can reduce the ricochet produced by the opponent's machine gun fire.
This approach is quite useful for the Central Continent team that needs to act as infantry to accompany them in combat in the future.
This shows one thing: Lieutenant Don Collier is truly an expert in tank combat.
After realizing this, the depressed mood of Hu Biao and others immediately improved a lot.
After all, fighting with an understanding person is much easier than fighting with an idiot like Lieutenant Decker, which is also very good news.
The only pity is that according to Hu Biao's understanding.
During World War II, the soldiers should have had 14 tanks in a regular tank company; but now they only have 5 tanks left in front of them.
I don't know if all the other tanks of Lieutenant Don Collier's regiment's tank company and other tanks were damaged in the battle, or if only some of them were planned to be dispatched.
Taking into account the fierce fighting conditions during the landing battle, it is obviously more likely that the battle was damaged...
I thought that since everyone was here, it was only right to hurry up and help strengthen the tank's defense, which would be beneficial to the subsequent course of action.
Hu Biao stepped forward quickly and saluted the lieutenant with a serious military salute.
He shouted loudly: "Report! Hu Biao, second lieutenant and platoon leader of the 3rd Platoon of D Company, 162nd Regiment of the 1st Infantry Division, was ordered to lead the entire platoon to report on time. 41 people were supposed to show up, but 41 people actually showed up."
After hearing this, Lieutenant Don Collier stopped his movements and looked over here.
First of all, there is no dissatisfaction with the 3rd platoon, which is composed entirely of Chinese people.
But after seeing Delo being carried on a stretcher by King Kong and Lao Hei, Don Collier immediately frowned.
Pointing at Delo, who was now like a squirming caterpillar because he had been lying on the ground for a long time, and raised his buttocks, he said:
"Hello, Second Lieutenant Hu!
I have heard about your Chinese 3rd Platoon's outstanding performance in the landing battle more than once in the past few days; so I feel very honored that you can participate in this operation.
It's just this unlucky guy who was shot in the butt. If he doesn't stay in the field hospital, why are you taking him with you?"
After hearing such a comment, Delo, who was originally happy because he didn't have to walk and slept all the way, suddenly felt a little bad.
It was in the face of such doubts that Hu Biao started telling lies:
"Oh! This unfortunate guy is the strongest sniper in our 3rd Platoon. Although he can only lie down during the operation, he can still shoot while lying down, right?
I believe his marksmanship will be of great use in this operation."
Looking at Hu Biao's serious expression, Lieutenant Don Collier hesitated for a moment and decided not to worry about this anymore.
After nodding, he said: "Okay! Anyway, according to the plan, you will have some vehicles as transportation; then let us look forward to the outstanding performance of this sniper gentleman."
Under such questions and answers, De Luo, a rookie, even felt that he was feeling better.
What the hell! Because his only kill result was achieved at the cost of being shot in the butt; when it really comes to a critical moment, he can have an outstanding performance.
Not to mention that De Luo was so bragged that a lot of people panicked in the aftermath.
After Lieutenant Don Collier showed his friendly attitude, Hu Biao already led a group of people from the Central Continent team and began to help.
Among them, Yang Dongli and others were particularly enthusiastic, pestering the tank soldiers constantly asking this and that.
The main reason is that these Central Continent teams have the best tank groups. In fact, one by one, none of them have ever driven a tank from a great soldier like Sherman.
Therefore, these people are very interested in finding out what are the differences in structure, driving, and operation of these Uncle Sam's tanks.
Because they were thinking, maybe at some point, they would need to use tanks like "Xie Mantou" to fight.
******
With a sound of "Ah~", he sat in a famous Willys Jeep, and Hu Biao, who was sitting in the passenger seat, yawned heavily.
In order to refresh himself, he took a breath directly into his mouth and stuffed two ounces of Obi chewing gum.
Stimulated by chewing the mint content in the chewing gum, Hu Biao couldn't help but perk up. He began to pick up an M1918A2 light machine gun in his hand and cautiously observed the positions on both sides of the dirt road in the dark night.
Be prepared, but if there is any slight disturbance, you will open fire directly.
By the way! After reporting to Lieutenant Don Collier, the group prepared overnight.
Not only did they strengthen the five Sherman tanks and replenish fuel and ammunition, the Central Continent team also obtained some good things at the regiment headquarters.
These include an M1 81mm mortar, two M18 57mm recoilless rifles, 4 bazookas, and an M2 flamethrower.
There is also a considerable amount of ammunition, grenades, etc., which makes everyone armed to the teeth.
Finally, around 3 o'clock in the morning the next day, the group of them finally set off quietly in the dark night.
The size and formation of the entire action team was led by five Shermans at the front.
The back seat is composed of three rows of a Willys Jeep and two CCKW medium-sized trucks produced by General Motors.
In the darkness, after this small team left the regiment headquarters, they immediately started heading southwest along a rutted dirt road.
The reason is that unlike what is shown in many movies, the members of the Zhongzhou Team sat directly on the tank.
Instead, they drove their cars and followed the tanks.
That's because the infantry were sitting on tanks. If they were attacked by anti-tank fire during the march, they would often suffer heavy casualties. The Central Continent team was very clear about this.
Of course, the scenes in the movie where the infantrymen and the others sit full of tanks are not exactly the plot that the screenwriters came up with.
It's just that this method is more common in the Maozi family, which has a serious shortage of mechanical transportation capabilities.
In order to keep up with the rapidly attacking tanks, the Maozi soldiers had to load up their tanks.
Therefore, in the modern dimension, there is a related joke: the World War II German tanks were protected by steel plates, Uncle Sam's tanks were protected by sandbags, and Maozi's tanks were protected by human plug-ins.
In this way, Hu Biao and the others, as wealthy soldiers this time, would certainly not sit on the tank stupidly.
In order to avoid being hit by an iron fist halfway, resulting in a large area being knocked down on the spot.
Besides! The soldiers of the Maozi family habitually sit on the tank and follow the advance, and they also have their own routines and tips.
For example, there are many handles welded on the outer shell of the tank for the infantrymen to hold on to.
At the Dzerzhinsky Tractor Factory, Hu Biao could often see Maozi's workers holding electric welders in their hands doing this kind of thing on the shell of the T-34 tank.
Otherwise, believe it or not, while the tank is speeding, the hard-working infantrymen on top will be accidentally thrown off, and then a huge tragedy will happen.
As for Lieutenant Don Collier, their mission this time is actually very simple:
According to aerial reconnaissance, there may be a sizable German armored force hiding and lurking in an area more than 100 kilometers away.
If true, when the Allied forces attack Cherbourg, an important port city, in the future, once this German stick force breaks out from the flank, it will cause a huge loss to the attacking force.
However, because the terrain in this area is relatively complex and there are a lot of woods.
After the reconnaissance aircraft conducted many low-altitude reconnaissances, they were still unable to confirm whether there really were German armored units in this area.
At the same time, some intelligence personnel have not reported any news back after setting off.
In view of this, there was an armed reconnaissance operation by Don Collier and others.
They don't need to fight to the death with the German armored troops hiding there; as long as they confirm the existence of the German armored troops and transmit the news back through the radio, they can retreat immediately.
When the time comes, there will naturally be relevant troops to deal with them.
According to the map, the distance traveled along this route is about 130 kilometers.
With the entire action team currently traveling with tanks and trucks, it seems that just one day is enough to get back and forth.
But such a seemingly simple action is actually full of dangers in the actual process.
Because throughout the Normandy area, small German troops were scattered everywhere under the crazy Allied air raids; while the action team passed by, God knows how many battles they encountered.
By the way! Ever since the Allied forces landed in Normandy, the German side has actually made considerable efforts.
Trying to push the unsteady Allied forces back into the sea.
For example: On the afternoon of June 6, the 21st Armored Division launched a counterattack against the Allied forces that had just landed, targeting the town of Luke between Juno Beach and Sword Beach.
At that time, the Allied forces still had a gap of several kilometers between the two beaches, which could be regarded as hitting the Allied forces' vital point.
Unfortunately, the commander of the 21st Armored Division at the time saw a fleet of 500 transport aircraft in the sky on the way. He thought it was an Allied airborne force and planned to attack him from both sides after landing in the rear.
After retreating hastily, the best anti-landing fighter was lost.
After the 7th, Mustache handed over the command of five armored divisions on the Western Front to the Desert Fox, hoping to use these armored divisions to launch a counterattack.
Unfortunately, the Allied air superiority was too great.
During the counterattack, these five powerful armored divisions suffered heavy casualties in the Allied air raids; in the end, only sporadic troops arrived at the beach to launch a counterattack, but it did not have the slightest effect.
Subsequently, German troops who landed one after another were mobilized, but they no longer continued to launch counterattacks, but defended some key areas.
Therefore, this means that Hu Biao and the others may encounter many encounters that are not large in scale but fierce enough...
"Lao Hu, Lao Hu, wake up, there's a situation~"
When this sentence came to his ears, Hu Biao was immediately awakened and immediately picked up the M1918A2 light machine gun in his hand.
By the way, he quickly wiped away a long strip of hair at the corner of his mouth with an unusually secretive movement.
What the heck! He fell asleep in the middle of the mission and even had tears flowing out. You can't blame him for this kind of thing, Hu Biao, right?
The main reason is that the roads along this route are too dilapidated, with deep ruts everywhere, as well as large and small pits created during the bombing.
Jeeps and trucks cannot drive very fast on such bad road conditions; they can only move forward slowly at a maximum speed of seven or eight kilometers per hour, and the body of the vehicle is also very bumpy.
During the whole process, the car body was like a cradle. Hu Biao was very sleepy after being rocked all night long.
Under such circumstances, it seemed reasonable to change shifts with Lao Yang after dawn and let Lao Yang help keep an eye on him for a while. He also took turns taking a break like other team members.
What Hu Biao didn't expect was that he felt that something had happened to him as soon as he closed his eyes.
The problem is, waiting for Hu Biao to hold the light machine gun and prepare to fire.
But they discovered that the situation was not what they thought; it was not the German soldiers who appeared, but a large number of refugees coming in groups in the direction they were heading.
Most of them were old people, women and children, and there were basically no adult men in sight. These people were carrying a few boxes in their hands and were walking towards them along both sides of the dirt road.
And letting Zhui Feng, who was driving the Willys Jeep next to him in the driver's seat, was the reason to wake him up.
With Hu Biao in his ear, he could hear the old SPs chatting animatedly in Chinese in the truck behind him. The emotion in their voices was so exciting that there was no trace of the tiredness from before.
"Oh! That blond lady looks so pitiful, I'm willing to use five cigarettes to help her~"
"What a sin! That girl with a few freckles on her face looks very hungry. I also have a can of Spam luncheon meat here. I really want to have breakfast with her~"
"Damn it! It's such a cold morning, and the girl in the dress doesn't even have socks on. I don't know what color socks she likes."
Amidst the chatter among the old SPs, Hu Biao suddenly had a dark look on his face.
Even he actually knows that these guys are still a bit weak. Knowing that everything now is mainly about armed reconnaissance missions, they are just talking about it.
But after hearing such comments, Hu Biao still felt severe pain in his head.
There is quite a lot of talent in the team, and the mentality of the players is getting heavier and heavier.
In addition, there were many telephone poles on the roadside, and the bodies of men were hung on them, swaying constantly with the wind.
There is no doubt that it was the work of the German army, and it was used to frighten the local Gaulish natives.
The deterrent effect seemed to be excellent, because facing Lieutenant Don Collier, there was a question about whether there were German sticks entrenched in front.
Regardless of whether these people are real or not, they all look like they don’t understand English.
This situation lasted until about 9 o'clock in the morning, when the leading M4A1 tank suddenly stopped, and the entire action team came to a complete stop.
It was a small town not far in front of them, which was a place they must pass through as they progressed.