Although the Eighth Route Army had achieved a decisive victory and the Japanese had fled in embarrassment, Gangzi still did not relax his vigilance.
The reason is that Gangzi saw that the Japanese tank formation was defeated and did not mess up... The Japanese had about 17 tanks left, only 5 of which were Type 97 tanks, and the rest were all Type 95 tanks.
The reason is that T34 specializes in Type 97... This thing is a threat to T34, so of course it should be killed first. As for Type 95, it basically has no threat to T34, so we put it aside for now.
The Japanese seemed to have sensed this, so they used Type 95 to provide cover for Type 97 when escaping.
This sounds a bit weird, but it can also provide cover for friendly forces when escaping.
But in fact this is a helpless choice.
Because the Japanese clearly realized that the Type 97 was their only hope for survival. Only the tank gun of the Type 97 could penetrate enemy tank armor, but the Type 95 was impossible.
Therefore, when both tanks are not as fast as the enemy tanks, there is only one way to survive, which is to protect the 97 Zhongzhan and give it a chance to attack the enemy. This will at least give the pursuing enemy some constraints.
Otherwise, the enemy will chase down the 95 light battles without any scruples after finishing the 97 style. It may only take a few minutes for the seemingly huge number of 95 light battles to be wiped out.
The No. 7 car chasing at the front was a little more anxious. It stopped and took aim after it reached a distance of 200 meters. A grenade blew a Type 95 into the sky... It is often better to use grenades against Type 95 tanks. This is not true.
It's just a matter of whether it can penetrate the tank. Sometimes even if it misses, just the flying shrapnel can penetrate its 6mm armor. Although it is difficult for the shrapnel to injure the tank crew inside, there is still a certain probability of causing the tank to malfunction.
Just as Car No. 7 was moving forward again, it suddenly discovered an explosion of fire and turned out of a Type 97...
The Japs' cooperation was perfect. They used the Type 95 to block the firing angle of the T34 so that the T34 could only attack the Type 95. When the Type 95 was blown up, it meant that there were no shells in the barrel of the T34, but the Type 97 was already ready.
Waiting for the opportunity.
Therefore, when Type 97 suddenly turned out, T34 was almost inevitable and had no choice but to fight hard.
The T34 crew members hurriedly loaded the ammunition and adjusted the artillery firing angle as quickly as possible to aim at the enemy, but it seemed that it was too late. The Type 97 took the lead, and its black muzzle was already aimed at the T34 body...
Two hundred meters, if this shot hits, it will most likely be the first tank destroyed by the Japanese.
Just at this critical moment, there was a "swell" sound, and a T34 came diagonally across and slammed the Type 97 aside.
Almost at the same time, the Type 97's muzzle spurted out a flame and fired a shell. The shell flew close to the T34's armor and scratched a shocking dent on the side armor. The tank crew also heard the harsh sound of gold and iron.
The sound of the banging made me dizzy.
They were lucky. If the sudden T34 hadn't knocked the Type 97 off the track, the No. 7 vehicle would have been blown into a ball of flesh inside the tank by an armor-piercing blasting bomb.
Gangzi, who had been watching the battle, was shocked by this scene. The Japanese were exchanging the Type 95 for the T34. This transaction could not be done.
Taking a closer look, the T34 that hit the car in time was Car No. 0, Androvich's car.
Androvich has been commanding the tanks to always intersperse among the Japanese tanks.
He is very experienced in this and knows that when T34 is facing off against Japanese Type 97, it should either stay far away or get closer...both situations are relatively safe.
Farther away, the Type 97 armored bullets cannot penetrate the T34 armor.
Going a step further, the T34 has a speed advantage. Its high maneuverability coupled with the large angle at close range has exceeded the rotation and reaction speed of the Japanese turret.
The most dangerous distance is around 200 meters. At this time, the Japanese armor-piercing bullets can penetrate the T34, and the maneuvering angle of the T34 is not large.
At that time, Androvich did not see friendly forces, and his observation hole was facing the Japanese Type 97... The tank's external perception ability was poor, and its field of vision was limited to the front of the observation hole.
Androvich guessed from the movements of the Type 97 that it was aiming at friendly tanks...the turret was always facing backwards. After the Type 95 was destroyed, it suddenly turned out and stopped, and then adjusted the turret to aim at the target.
Androvich immediately realized that the friendly car might not be able to dodge the shot, so he decisively gave the order: "Straight ahead, full speed! Crash into it!"
His order saved Car No. 7 at the last moment.
Androvich and others were also knocked to pieces. Although the car crash was a good deal due to its large mass, the Type 97 was almost half as heavy as the T34. The instantaneous impact caused Androvich and several others to hit their heads.
The blood was broken and the blood flowed out again and again.
However, the Japanese Type 97 was even worse. Not to mention its side armor was severely deformed, the tracks were broken under the violent impact, and one of the road wheels was knocked to the ground.
We couldn't see the condition of the tank crew inside, but seeing that it didn't respond for a long time, we could imagine that it wouldn't be much better.
Androvich endured the pain and ordered the car to be reversed, and then a cannonball at close range blew it into burning scrap steel.
When Androvich continued to drive the tank around, Gangzi was in a dilemma.
The situation just now was unavoidable during the pursuit. Behind every Japanese Type 97 was a Type 95, and if this Type 95 was destroyed, another Type 95 would come up to take over.
If this continues, it will become difficult and dangerous for T34 to pursue the enemy.
Gangzi couldn't always hope that Androvich would resolve it.
How to solve it?
Gangzi thought for a while and then ordered: "Everyone is here, pursue in an inverted triangle formation, and the second row should keep a distance of 300 meters from the enemy!"
This is said to be an "inverted triangle formation", but it is actually outflanked by two wings, one row, three rows on both sides, and two rows in the middle and rear.
This is indeed a good solution.
Because for the enemy fleeing in front, it is difficult to take advantage of speed if they are chasing directly behind and maintaining a distance of 300 meters... If you are fast, you will enter the enemy's range, if you are slow, you will not be able to keep up. No matter what, it will be 300 meters short.
, it’s useless no matter how fast it is.
But it's different if you outflank from both wings. The T34 can increase the accelerator and overtake from the flanks. As long as the distance between the flanks and the enemy is kept 300 meters, it will be no problem.
Once it exceeds a certain distance, it can stop and take aim. At this time, it is difficult for the Type 95 to even provide cover for the Type 97, unless each Type 97 is blocked by three Type 95s.
As a result, the nine T34s were immediately divided into three groups in platoon units, and they were surrounded by more than a dozen Japanese tanks from the left, rear, and right directions like herding sheep. There was also an Androvich tank in the middle that kept causing trouble.
It didn't take long for the Type 97s to be destroyed one after another.
In the end, there was one Type 97 and five Type 95s left. They may have found that they could not escape no matter how hard they fought, so they had no choice but to stop and open the hatch and surrender.