The reason is that the top speed of the Type 97 tank is only 38 kilometers per hour, which is far from the speed of the enemy tank.
Needless to say what will happen then...
The enemy tank with the advantage of speed can catch up to a close range, such as 300 meters, then stop and take aim, knock out a few tanks with a "boom", and then chase a few steps. Repeat this, and it won't take long for the tank group to be attacked.
During the pursuit, the entire army was wiped out.
Because of the slow speed of the chariot regiment, if you want to escape, you must drive non-stop, and you cannot aim at the enemy while driving, so you will be a target without the ability to fight back.
Rather than doing this, it is better to mobilize the remaining tank squadron and fight to the death.
However, after thinking about it, Yutomijiro still issued the order to retreat.
The reason is that Tomijiro believed that even if the remaining tanks were mobilized to fight the enemy, the final result would still be like now, with heavy losses on our side but no harm to the enemy.
More importantly, Tomijiro believes that there is still hope for the 4th Tank Squadron to evacuate... If the three squadrons already on the battlefield are sacrificed and only the 4th Squadron leaves, the enemy tanks may not be able to catch up so quickly!
What's more, the 37th Mountain Artillery Regiment is still on the way. If they can join up with them, with the mountain artillery and troops in their hands, they may be able to turn defeat into victory.
Thinking of this, Yutomijiro gave three orders:
"The first, second, and third squadrons must fight until the last moment, otherwise they will be dealt with according to military law!"
"The Fourth Squadron will retreat immediately to join the Mountain Artillery Regiment!"
"Contact the Mountain Artillery Regiment immediately, inform them of the appearance of new enemy tanks, and ask if they have enough anti-tank equipment!"
Of course, the last two orders were only known to the retreating troops, and the subordinates on the battlefield had actually been abandoned by Aritomijiro.
It was not only these three squadrons that were abandoned, but also Shimizu Nobutake's cavalry regiment.
Tomijiro simply turned around and ran away with his subordinates without even saying hello to Noritake Shimizu.
The collapse of the Japanese began at this time.
To be honest, the Japanese's fighting will is quite good.
If other troops suddenly discover that the enemy has a new type of tank on the battlefield, and this tank can penetrate one's own tanks from a long distance, but one's own cannot hit the other side, this psychological shock will be enough to cause panic and cause chaos.
Soon it developed into a rout.
However, the Japanese did not react in this way.
Of course there are factors of training and will, but at the same time there is also a sense of looking down on the Eighth Route Army...
It feels like I have always looked down on a poor relative, but this poor relative suddenly became rich. Although this is the reality, I have not adapted or changed psychologically, so I still have a psychological advantage when facing this poor relative.
The Japs probably have this kind of mentality at this time...
The Eighth Route Army has always been looked down upon by them, especially because the gap in equipment is as huge as heaven and earth.
But now that the Eighth Route Army suddenly became stronger, the Japanese still maintained their psychological advantage. They thought they could defeat the enemy, or thought that even though the Eighth Route Army had equipment, it was not well trained, etc., so they had the confidence and morale to continue fighting.
However, Androvich's "tank penetration warfare" was a heavy blow to their morale.
Because they found that the enemy's tank crews were not as poorly trained as they thought, they did not know that the Eighth Route Army was indeed poorly trained, and Androvich's car was an exception.
Having Tomijiro leave them behind to retreat was another heavy blow, which let them know that there was no hope of victory in this battle.
The collapse was initiated by the cavalry regiment, which was the first to discover Tomijiro's retreat.
In fact, when the T34 of the Eighth Route Army emerged from the tank bunker, Qingshui Guiwu realized that this battle was more dangerous than the other. Qingshui Guiwu's only hope was that the tank regiment could defeat it with numerical superiority.
enemy.
But the following battle showed him that this was not the case.
Shimizu Noritake regretted that he kept urging the tank regiment to attack. He had always thought that he could easily defeat the enemy, but now he found that it was a joke.
This made Kiyomizu Kukitake feel shameless. He tried to contact Yutomijiro several times to suggest retreat but endured it... He believed that at this time, he should be a subordinate who obeys orders, so that he does not need to bear too much.
responsibility.
So Qingshui Guiwu did nothing, he just asked people to prepare the war horses.
Therefore, when Tomijiro turned around and fled, Shimizu Noritake immediately led his troops to evacuate... mounted their horses and fled in all directions.
The Eighth Route Army really had nothing to do with these cavalry.
The cavalry is fast and can handle many complex terrains, and can penetrate mountain roads. More importantly, they are dispersed... while the Eighth Route Army only has ten tanks.
But to be honest, at this time, the Eighth Route Army no longer bothered to target the cavalry. With enemy tanks in front, who would care about the escaping cavalry?
The next thing to collapse was the Japanese Chariot Regiment.
They were still fighting desperately against the Eighth Route Army's tanks, but when they turned around, they saw that the infantrymen covering the tanks had fled without a trace. Wasn't it just waiting to die if they stayed?
So he turned the car around and ran in the opposite direction.
However, with their speed, how could they run away...
Gangzi loudly ordered over the radio: "Everyone is here, move forward! Don't let any enemy go!"
The moment he gave the order, Gangzi was so excited that tears filled his eyes.
Normally, the Eighth Route Army would be very angry with Japanese tanks. Whenever they fought on the plains, Japanese tanks and armored vehicles would be seen. But in the face of these iron bastards, all the Eighth Route Army could do was to bear the rain of bullets and hold explosive packs and armored vehicles.
On the grenade.
Over the years, I don’t know how many comrades have been sacrificed at the hands of enemy tanks. Gangzi’s old company commander died while bombing a tank, and the bomb was a Type 95 small tank...
At that time, all the soldiers, including Gangzi, shouted to avenge the company commander, but were stopped by the instructor.
The instructor said: "If you have tactics to blow up tanks, I promise not to stop you! But if you are just hot-headed and want to go up and fight the Japanese to the death, then you are making a mistake! You are sacrificing yourself in vain to achieve the victory of the Japanese tanks!"
As a result, Gangzi and the soldiers discussed and discussed, but they could not come up with a reasonable plan to blow up the tank.
I didn’t expect that things would turn around...
This kind of tank, which was invincible not long ago, is now worthless under the T34's tracks.
Gangzi thought silently in his heart: Company Commander, the time has come for the Japanese to pay their blood debt. Today I will avenge you! If you know better, follow me to fight against the Japanese!
As he said that, Gangzi secretly wiped away his tears and ordered: "Go forward! Catch up with the enemy!"