Major General Kaoru Iwata's order was destined to fail to be implemented.
This is not to say that the puppet cavalry and armored units do not obey orders, but that they cannot do so.
The distance between the cavalry and the armored forces is already a kilometer... This distance is nothing to the cavalry and the armored forces. If they move closer to each other, they will be together again in just a few minutes.
But getting closer on the battlefield is not just about distance, speed and turning around.
The pseudo-cavalry could not take the initiative to get closer to the armored troops, because the distance of one kilometer in front of them had been blocked by the Eighth Route Army's firepower, and it was also crossfire... The Eighth Route Army's half-track vehicles formed two circles in front, one on the left and one on the right, that were constantly rotating like wheels.
, firmly suppressing the pseudo-cavalry outside such an open space.
The puppet armored troops could not turn back and move closer to the cavalry, because at this time the Eighth Route Army had already placed many infantry around them, and they were also infantry equipped with rocket launchers.
The puppet armored soldiers know one thing very well: the reason why they are still alive now is because they have speed, and it is difficult to hit a high-speed armored vehicle with the accuracy of a rocket launcher.
Once these armored vehicles slow down due to turning, or even make a U-turn...several rockets will be fired at them at the same time.
This is not their guess, but three armored vehicles turned because they heard Kaoru Iwata's order, and then they became a burning fireball in the rear, including their captain.
Having lost their commander, they pretended not to hear Major General Kaoru Iwata's order and continued to accelerate forward... They might be able to save a life by going forward, but there would be only death if they returned. The armored soldiers knew what choice they should make.
What's more, the puppet armored forces still have ample excuses:
"Our commander has been loyal and we didn't hear the order!"
"We are charging towards the enemy bravely!"
"We are rushing to kill the enemy!"
…
Who can hold soldiers who "fought bravely" accountable and let them take the blame for their failures?
Therefore, the so-called "Iron Tiger Force" and "Iron-Blooded Force" of the puppet army showed no signs of reuniting for coordinated operations as Kaoru Iwata hoped. Instead, they became increasingly separated: the "Iron-Blooded Force" was killed by the Eighth Route Army.
While suppressing the situation, the "Iron Tiger Troop" was "pursuing" several half-track vehicles farther and farther away.
In the end, the pseudo-"iron-blooded troops" could no longer hold out under the hail of bullets from the Eighth Route Army, and the cavalry scattered like frightened rabbits... The advantage of the cavalry is that they can escape very quickly. If the infantry is in this state, they will probably be beaten.
The whole army could not be wiped out, but the pseudo-cavalry was still able to escape with less than half of its strength.
But even so, the battlefield is still full of corpses of puppet troops and war horses... The puppet iron-blooded troops have two cavalry regiments, namely the 47th Regiment and the 49th Regiment, with a total strength of 2,500 people. There are at least casualties in this battle.
1,500 people.
The camouflaged armored troops were not much better.
Armored units do have strong firepower and strong defense, but they need infantry to cooperate with them to cover each other.
They were originally coordinated by the cavalry. Once the cavalry defeated the armored forces, they were left to fight alone. Among them, the Type 95 tanks were destroyed one after another without any surprise... The Type 95 tanks had poor external perception capabilities and had many blind spots for sight and firepower. The Eighth Route Army
Rocket launchers make it easier to get close to them and destroy them.
Instead, it is the Type 92 armored vehicle, which has thin armor and strong external sensing capabilities. It has three machine guns: a heavy machine gun in the turret, a light machine gun in the front of the vehicle, and a light machine gun on the side.
The light machine gun on the side can be switched left and right, that is, the machine gunner can sometimes move the machine gun to the right to shoot, and sometimes move it to the left to shoot.
Therefore, in principle, the Type 92 armored vehicle has no blind spot for firepower in the front, only the rear.
But if it can advance at full speed and reach a speed of 60 kilometers per hour, not even the Eighth Route Army's half-track vehicles can catch up with it.
Therefore, its survival rate is very high, and five out of ten armored vehicles can leave the battlefield alive.
However, they are only alive temporarily.
Because they were able to escape by rushing forward into the main defense line of the Iron and Stone Army.
But this "escape" is just escaping from one encirclement to another...
Yoshikawa Saki hoped that this combination of tanks and cavalry could defeat the half-track vehicles of the Eighth Route Army. But now instead of being able to defeat them, they returned with a huge defeat. Then the main force of the Iron and Stone Army was completely surrounded by the Eighth Route Army.
At this time, Yoshikawa Saki did not dare to rely on others, and immediately ordered the Iron and Stone troops to break out. At the same time, the 39th Division would also provide cover for the Iron and Stone troops.
Just kidding, if the Iron Stone Troops are not allowed to break through at this time, Yoshikawa Saki will completely bear the infamy of treating the Iron Stone Troops as cannon fodder.
As a result, the miserable puppet armored vehicles had just broken out of the encirclement and before they had even taken a breath, they received the order to break out again.
These five armored vehicles didn't even have time to replenish their ammunition.
At this time, everyone was panicked. Some people had even started to run away. No one cared about whether the armored vehicle had ammunition!
As a result, three more of the five armored vehicles were blown up on the way to the breakout.
The last two surviving vehicles still couldn't escape because the Eighth Route Army's encirclement was layer by layer. The puppet armored vehicles escaped from this mountain but could not climb that mountain. In the end, they were killed by the puppet army because they ran out of fuel and could not replenish it.
It blew itself up and was abandoned.
When Zhang Dabiao saw the bombed armored vehicle, he cursed: "Damn it, if I had known better, I wouldn't have bothered to blow up the Raoshizi armored vehicle. Let them run away. By now, they would have blown themselves up too."
Got it!"
Zhang Dabiao said this because the Type 92 armored vehicle had no blind spots in all directions. In order to blow it up, the Eighth Route Army killed and injured more than twenty infantrymen responsible for covering the vehicle and more than a dozen rocket launcher shooters.
But who can say for sure what happens on the battlefield?
If these armored vehicles had not been bombed, maybe the puppet army could have relied on these armored vehicles to break out in an orderly manner and disrupt the Eighth Route Army's plan!
Yoshikawa Saki never expected that his "breakout order" would become the main reason why the 39th Division was quickly defeated.
It would have been better if Yoshikawa Saki had not ordered a breakout. The Iron and Stone troops knew that the Japanese 39th Division was behind them, and they still felt a little guilty.
Now when Yoshikawa gave the order to break out, he saw the Iron Blood troops and the Iron Tiger troops were completely defeated in the rear. His mentality immediately collapsed, and everyone grabbed their weapons and ran away.
What Yoshikawa didn't expect the most was that the Eighth Route Army would not block these deserters... The Eighth Route Army obviously had the conditions to seal the encirclement. As soon as the half-track car drove into the middle, the firepower would immediately make it impossible for the Iron and Stone troops to escape.
But Zhang Dabiao would not do such a stupid thing. He knew that there was a word called "trapped beast fighting". Once the encirclement was sealed, the iron and stone troops would fight to the death, and both sides would suffer as a result.
So, wouldn't it be nice to open the door and let the iron and stone troops break up to attack the Japanese 39th Division's defense line?