In fact, Takeda Uchiharu thought too much. He did not need to consider the defense of Duolun County at all. What he should consider more was whether the 81st Division could withdraw to Duolun County.
Because not long after Takeda Uchiji finished contacting his superiors, more than fifty "La-5"s of the Eighth Route Army surged up like a tide and fought with the Japanese "Feiyan" and "Zero War".
If it was just "pull 5", the Japanese fighter planes might still be able to maintain the advantage, but at this time, several anti-aircraft missiles suddenly fired from the ground and the Japanese "Feiyan" fighter planes exploded into a ball of flames and then disintegrated in the air... The air battle happened instantly.
reverse.
The air defense system was indeed deployed in Shagou Town. Takeda Uchiharu guessed this correctly, but what he didn't expect was that the Eighth Route Army had already used such advanced equipment as the air defense system as auxiliary offensive equipment.
In this battle, the Eighth Route Army did not actually need to seize air supremacy to win.
The reason is that the Eighth Route Army's 20 T44s and 23 "Shermans" have become hard equipment that the Japanese cannot shake.
The Japanese fighter planes are not equipped with armor-piercing projectiles for anti-tank. If they want to attack tanks, they can only rely on their cannons to directly attack the weak top armor of the tanks.
But this is obviously very difficult. The fighter plane must dive at a large angle and hit the top of the tank, which is not much bigger than a washbasin... If you are not careful, you will hit the ground plane and destroy everyone.
If the Japanese had any way to deal with these two tanks, it would be to send infantrymen holding explosive packs or thorn mines to explode them at close range, but the Eighth Route Army soldiers would not let them succeed.
Therefore, the soldiers only need to chase the Japanese under the cover of tanks. The final victory will definitely belong to the Eighth Route Army.
But Wang Xuexin was not satisfied with this.
Wang Xuexin believes that the Japanese Kwantung Army is different from the North China Front Army. The Kwantung Army is well-trained and well-equipped. If they are allowed to escape back to Duolun County, they will undoubtedly plant a time bomb for future attacks.
Therefore, Wang Xuexin immediately ordered all members of the aviation team to attack the Japs to seize air supremacy. After seizing the air supremacy, the three mechanized regiments could play their role...Although the tanks were not afraid of Japs aircraft, the half-tracks of the mechanized regiments could not withstand the attack of planes.
So the protagonist of this battle is actually neither the "Sherman" nor the "T44". The T44 has almost completed its mission after taking out the "Tiger".
The real protagonist is the half-track car.
As soon as air supremacy returned to the hands of the Eighth Route Army, the three mechanized regiments hiding in Shagou Town were like tigers that had been hungry for several days, and they couldn't wait to chase the Japanese troops in three directions.
Among them, the Independent Regiment is in the middle, surrounded by the New First Regiment and the New Second Regiment from both wings.
Although the Japanese soldiers had fled more than three miles away, how could their legs be faster than the four wheels of a half-track car? They were soon overtaken by the independent regiment.
What followed was a massacre...
The first to open fire were half-track vehicles equipped with mortars. As they advanced, they fired shells at the Japanese who hurriedly turned back to organize defenses.
Although these shells were fired from a bumpy car and were not very accurate, the Japanese were in a state of having no fortifications or bunkers. They just turned around and lay down on the ground, raised their guns and fired, trying to block the pursuit of the Eighth Route Army.
This was of course a delusion. The artillery shells came in rows and blew up the Japanese defense lines to pieces.
Immediately afterwards, the machine gun on the half-track vehicle started shooting. The advantage of the machine gun is that its bullets are continuous. The shooter can adjust the angle and shooting direction in time according to the point of impact. Their targets are the Japanese grenade shooters and machine gunners... The key point
It is the Japanese grenade shooter, because the grenade is a piece of equipment that can threaten half-track cars. It may throw grenades into the trunk.
Under the dense rain of bullets from the soldiers, the Japanese grenade shooters screamed and were beaten into sieves and fell into a pool of blood. All the Japanese soldiers within a radius of more than ten meters also suffered and were beaten to death or injured.
This was intentional on the part of the machine gunners. They would not let any enemy get close to the grenade. Otherwise, given the quality of the Kwantung Army, any enemy with the grenade could be effective.
The closer the distance was, the fighting started from the soldiers holding repeating rifles on the back compartment.
They were not all crowded into the front of the car to fight...the space at the front of the car was small enough for the machine gunner. If there was another person standing next to him, the machine gun would probably not be able to rotate.
Most of the riflemen stood on both sides of the rear compartment, shooting towards the upper left and upper right respectively.
What they were covering was not their own half-track, but the nearby friendly vehicles.
It is not difficult to imagine that if every vehicle did this, the half-track vehicles driving forward in a row would have only one-way cover for the two vehicles at both ends, while the rest of the half-track vehicles would have crossfire from both sides.
cover.
Therefore, they do not need to worry about their own safety. Their comrades will protect them. At the same time, they also provide protection for the tank, which perfectly solves the problem of the front firing area being blocked.
This is a kind of synergy, a kind of synergy in which each other gives their lives to their comrades. It requires 100% trust between the comrades and a high level of tacit understanding.
For example, the driver of a half-track vehicle discovered that there was danger ahead: several Japanese soldiers were hiding in the crater and equipped with grenades.
At this time, the driver will slow down and fall behind the friendly half-track vehicles on both sides.
The half-track vehicles of the friendly forces on both sides will immediately understand what is happening. They will accelerate forward and then attack the enemy from the flank, throw grenades, or kill the enemy from a better angle to remove the danger, and then slow down and return to the defense line.
The Eighth Route Army's fighting style made the Japanese pay attention to one side but not the other. The Eighth Route Army's half-track vehicles were visible in all directions. In addition, the enemy's equipment to deal with half-track vehicles was very limited and the speed was not as fast as half-track vehicles, so they were beaten.
The army cannot be defeated.
Li Yunlong was not in a hurry. He commanded the half-track car to follow the Japanese's defeated army slowly: if the Japanese stopped to defend, Li Yunlong would order to speed up and quickly break down their defense line. If the Japanese escaped, Li Yunlong would order to slow down and follow behind.
Chase.
It was like driving the devils away like sheep, killing them along the way. There were corpses and blood everywhere along the way.
Li Yunlong himself was following the troops in a half-track car. He looked through the binoculars at the Japs running around in panic, and a satisfied smile appeared at the corner of his mouth: "Don't you little Japs always like to play around?
Is this a trick? Today I will let you try the real Wei San Jue Yi!"
But of course, Li Yunlong could see that the Japanese were running towards Jiulian Town.
Once the Japanese are allowed into the city, the mechanized troops will not be able to fight so comfortably.