Such a deployment of the Japanese army can be described as a three-front battle, dealing with three opponents at the same time.
The battles in the third-line area began one after another and quickly became intense.
Taihang Base Area, former enemy headquarters of the Eighth Route Army.
The boss and the deputy chief of staff control the overall situation of the entire battlefield with the military map in front of them.
One day ago, news came that Kong Jie and Li Yunlong led the mobile troops to officially kick off the battle with the tank brigade of the Mongolian Army.
At a certain node in the western Inner Mongolia region, the deputy chief of staff planted a small flag belonging to the rapid reaction force directly under the Taihang of the Eighth Route Army.
"Boss, according to the news sent back by Kong Jie and Li Yunlong, they have successfully completed the secret deployment, and the planned final battle is in this area.
But the pressure on Kong Jie and the others is probably not small. In addition to the Japanese armored brigade, there is also the Japanese 26th Division in northern Shanxi, which has been keeping an eye on them.
It’s hard to say how this battle will ultimately turn out!”
The boss nodded, his expression quite solemn.
"This old guy Okamura is an insidious chess player, and I have to admit that this old boy is very courageous and dares to take risks to play big chess.
So far, the battlefield in Shanxi has been completely reduced to a mess around the five cities of Licheng, Shexian, and Liaoxian. The Japanese army's raids on our base areas in Taihang, Taiyue, and even Zhongtiao Mountain have also begun.<
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After the security army troops originally stationed in Shanxi were transferred to the war zone by the old devil Okamura, they have all been dispatched to Shandong for mopping up."
To put it bluntly, our comrades in Shandong are conducting the most difficult anti-mopping operations."
The deputy chief of staff took over and said: "Yes! Coupled with the fighting in the direction of northern Shanxi and Inner Mongolia, this old devil Okamura played three big games in one breath."
"It's just that this old devil is too big. He wants to play against the three of us. I want to see what he can win?"
The boss’s words reveal a particularly domineering attitude.
Today, the upgrade of the equipment of a large number of elite units of the Eighth Route Army and the rapid economic development of the base area have given the boss the confidence to say this.
As the boss said with emotion:
"This battle is no smaller than the Battle of Shota, but speaking of it, when we fought the Battle of Shota, I felt very unsure.
But this time, we can really show off our muscles and have a good showdown with the little devil!"
……
...As for which one of the two sides has stronger skills, perhaps we can use some local battle conditions to briefly reflect.
In the western Inner Mongolia region, on an unknown pasture generally controlled by the Mongolian army.
Two elite tank squadrons from the Nanzhi Tank Brigade, in pursuit, finally caught up with a retreating Eighth Route Army armored force.
Seeing that they could not escape the pursuit of the Japanese army, the Eighth Route Army soldiers on the opposite side seemed to have given up their plan to continue retreating. Instead, they turned around and set up formations in the pasture, preparing to fight the Japanese tank troops.
Among them, the Japanese commander was none other than Major Nishizono, captain of the First Tank Regiment of the Nanzhi Brigade and the Pioneer Search Brigade.
……
The organization of the Japanese Army is different from that of other countries. It refers to the organization of old Germany and ingeniously constructed an organization system of detachments, squads, squadrons, brigade, regiments, brigades, and divisions.
In terms of firepower and number of people, it is based on the US military during World War I.
In addition, the Japanese army specially studied the equipment level and organizational system of the Chinese army, especially for the army that invaded China, and made corresponding standards.
Among them, the Japanese armored forces are affiliated with the Army, and their organization ranges from tank squads, tank squadrons, tank regiments, tank brigades, tank divisions, to tank clusters.
Of course, the size of tank clusters varies, and there is no unified standard.
For example, the current Nanzhi Chariot Brigade is actually a tank group.
The Japanese's tank troops, that is, armored units, often use tank squadrons as the basic tactical combat units and tank regiments as the basic operational-level combat units.
The Japanese army's tank regiment is equivalent to the Central Army's tank regiment in terms of organization.
For example, the Central Army spent a lot of effort to buy tanks from abroad to build the Armored Corps led by Du Yuming.
It is a pity that such a Chinese army, in the true sense, was also the only armored force after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War. Shortly after the Battle of Songhu broke out, it was completely defeated on the battlefield.
That's it.
In the battle between armored forces, the Chinese army basically has no power to fight back.
Until now, there has been no movement from the Central Army, but the Eighth Route Army has created a mobile combat unit directly under Taihang.
This includes a considerable portion of the armored force.
Regarding this news, the Japanese army only collected intelligence later.
According to the knowledge of the Japanese investigation, the Eighth Route Army's initial armored unit, known as the Armored Corps, was built by a team led by Kong Jie.
And the news seems to have spread early.
Unfortunately, under the deliberate propaganda of the strategic disguise department led by Shi Dahu.
It's obviously the truth, but these little devils don't believe it at all.
Therefore, it can be said that the real first armored corps of the Eighth Route Army built by Kong Jie was completed under the eyes of the little devil.
When the old devil Okamura learned about this later, he almost felt regretful, but there was nothing he could do.
Then Datong was attacked by the Eighth Route Army's mobile troops. The Eighth Route Army took over all the mechanized vehicles of the 26th Division, and the mechanical combat force grew stronger.
However, to put it bluntly, the Eighth Route Army even built a rapid reaction force directly under Taihang, including an elite tank unit.
If compared with the strong foundation of the Japanese army, it is still far behind.
Take the simplest data as an example.
According to the speculations of the Eighth Route Army intelligence department, as of May 1942, the Japanese army was only an armored force in China, and there were at least 40 tank regiments.
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That’s equivalent to more than 40 armored corps!
And what the Central Army spent so much effort to build was nothing more than an armored corps.
The gap in military strength between the two sides is truly huge.
For example, right now, under the command of the old devil Okamura, the Japanese army launched an unprecedented scale of May Day raids. Even if they mobilized troops in a hurry, even the elite armored units of the Kwantung Army could not be mobilized easily because they had to be wary of the Soviet Union.
case.
The Japanese army also casually deployed an additional Nanzhi tank group and placed it in the western Inner Mongolia area.
To guard against rebellion between the 35th Route Army and the Eighth Route Army in northern Shanxi.
In addition to the Nanzhi chariot brigade, there are many chariot troops stationed in the Mongolian Army, including the Japanese troops who are cooperating with the Shanxi and Shandong battlefields to encircle and suppress the Eighth Route Army base areas. Many elite troops are also equipped with tank troops.<
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It can be seen that a skinny camel is bigger than a horse.
To this day, the overall military strength of this little devil is still much stronger than that of the Central Army, including the Eighth Route Army, the Shanxi-Sui Army and all other Chinese armies.
Just like this local battle between the Japanese army and the armored forces of the Eighth Route Army.
On the Japanese side, only two tank squadrons from the Nanzhi Tank Brigade were dispatched.
One of them is a medium tank squadron, and the other is a light tank squadron.
The old devil Okamura also spent a lot of money this time.
The armored cluster created has particularly enhanced the configuration of the tank. Take one of the medium tank squadrons as an example.
The medium tank squadron has a tank squadron headquarters, plus three medium tank squadrons, and a baggage squadron.
Among them, each medium tank team is equipped with 5 97 modified medium tanks.
There are also 15 trucks, 6 armored vehicles, and 5 search motorcycles.
After all, even a medium-sized tank squadron, the Japanese have more than 40 mechanized vehicles of various types.
Even there are more than a dozen tanks.
In addition, another light tank squadron is equipped with a larger number of Type 95 light tanks.
In the battle of armor strength between the two sides, although they haven't started yet, there are only about a dozen tanks and armored vehicles, and the Eighth Route Army, which looks a bit shabby, is already at a complete disadvantage.
Major Xiyuan was full of anger at this time. He had discovered this Eighth Route Army armored unit an hour ago, so he immediately led the search brigade, and also called the follow-up tank squadron to pursue it quickly.
As a result, during the pursuit, I didn't even have a real face-to-face confrontation with the Eighth Route Army's armored forces, so my energy was consumed in competing with the real and fake fortifications, real and fake minefields, real and fake tanks and armored vehicles that I encountered along the way. These cunning ways made Major Xiyuan furious.
Various positions, minefields, and anti-tank firepower are real and fake, virtual and real.
Major Nishizono was already cautious enough, but in the end he was fooled many times during the pursuit, resulting in the loss of troops and generals.
Just on the road of pursuit, two light tank teams, plus a medium tank team, were basically disabled.
Otherwise, the number of tanks that can be used to kill these damn Eighth Route Army at this moment will be even greater.
"Your Excellency, Major, the Eighth Route Army cannot escape. They have already set up battle formations, and it looks like they are preparing to start a decisive battle with our army!"
The Japanese squadron leader of the 1st Medium Tank Squadron was analyzing the situation beside Major Nishizono.
Major Xiyuan suppressed his anger and nodded, then frowned and solemnly instructed: "Tell the warriors not to be careless.
According to the relevant information we have detected, the Eighth Route Army seems to have invented a very special anti-tank artillery similar to a trumpet, which is specially designed to suppress our armored vehicles.
This type of artillery can even be operated by a single soldier and used for anti-tank operations.
Before the enemy's artillery of this type is exposed or completely destroyed, we must not act rashly, exposing the tank to danger."
Xiyuan, this old devil, obviously still has two skills. He deliberately ordered the tank to keep a certain distance from the Eighth Route Army armored vehicles in the target area.
As far as he knows.
Although the individual anti-tank artillery built by the Eighth Route Army is powerful, due to the weakness of the empire's armor, even medium tanks cannot stop it.
Even if the front armor is bombarded, it will be severely damaged in an instant.
However, the range of this artillery is quite limited. The current combat data of the confrontation with the Eighth Route Army shows that the longest striking range of this type of artillery of the Eighth Route Army will never exceed 200 meters.
Therefore, Laojiazi Xiyuan believes that as long as he deploys the tanks beyond the 200-meter range, the Eighth Route Army will not be able to use this type of anti-tank artillery to attack.
Out of caution, the old devil moved his team back an additional 200 meters.
The two sides were separated by a distance of nearly 400 meters and looked at each other on a relatively flat plain terrain. In addition, both sides were protected by armored vehicles, so conventional infantry had lost the meaning of combat.
So, across the gentle terrain, the air on both sides seemed to be stagnant, and the tank guns exchanged bombardment.
The artillery used by the Japanese army, the medium tank squadron mainly uses a 47mm tank gun attached to the 1997-modified medium tanks.
This kind of artillery is extended from the Type 1 47mm anti-tank gun. Although the diameter is reduced from 57.7 times to 47.8 times, it can penetrate 70 mm of vertical armor within an effective distance of 500 meters.
Its performance is much better than the 57mm short-caliber gun equipped with the original Type 97 medium tank of the Japanese army.
Also used is the Type 94 37mm tank gun attached to the Type 95 light tank.
This kind of artillery has a relatively long barrel, with a total gun length of 1.36 meters and a weight of only 64 kilograms. It has a certain armor-piercing power. At a shooting distance of 300 meters, it can theoretically penetrate 45 mm thick armor.
And the armored vehicles used by the Eighth Route Army troops.
Through the telescope, Major Nishizono saw clearly that most of them were captured Type 95 light tanks of the 26th Division. Even the thickest front armor of such tanks was only 12 mm. p>
Once hit by your own tank gun, it can be easily destroyed.
Just...
"Your Excellency Major, I can tell the models of the Eighth Route Army's tanks at a glance. They are some light tanks and medium tanks captured from us.
But why do their tanks look so weird?"
Through the perspective of Major Nishizono’s telescope, you can see:
The Eighth Route Army's original Japanese-style Type 95 light tanks, including some 97-modified medium tanks, are generally still the original tanks.
However, there seem to be some thicker steel plate devices installed on the front armor of the tank and directly in front of the turret.
It is the partial improvement made by the Eighth Route Army Arsenal on various armored vehicles.
Very simple, relatively economical materials, centralized reinforcement of defense.
This is the same reason that in order to keep the aircraft lightweight, some thicker steel plates are installed at locations that are prone to breakdown and injure the pilot to protect the core pilot.
For this reason, Kong Jie believes that tanks should integrate firepower, mobility and armor defense.
Ignoring the increase in firepower for now, in order to enhance the armor defense of an armored vehicle, the armor must be thickened, which will cause the vehicle to weigh too much and affect its mobility.
In this case, we might as well consider focusing on defense at key locations.
For example, the front armor that is vulnerable to artillery fire, and the location of the turret.
It is a specially thickened steel plate that can be completely extended and welded, and with the protection of the partition, at first glance it looks like an anti-collision layer.
Kong Jie also drew a corresponding sketch at that time, a sketch about the improvement of tank armor reinforcement. As a result, the sketch was taken out to Li Wenjie and Xu Guoan for a look.
The two of them were stunned and didn't see what it was.
In the end, Xu Guoan asked tentatively: "I'm talking about Lao Kong, what you drew... couldn't be a tank, right?"
Kong Jie did not change his expression.
"If you really want to have sex, practicality is enough. Is it that important whether it is ugly or not?"
When Xu Guoan heard this, he was speechless for a moment...