Due to insufficient intelligence, Nagatake Taro could only organize an artillery defense line.
This line of defense is centered on the road and deployed along both sides... Most tanks maneuver on roads, so there is no problem in deploying it this way.
The problem is that he did not take into account Tomijiro's tank squadron at the same time.
The Japs actually have a chance to defeat T34.
For example, the Japanese Type 97 tank can penetrate the T34 at a distance of 300 meters, which could have become part of the artillery defense line.
Therefore, the correct approach is that Changzhu's artillery regiment should build tank bunkers for 97 in advance when building fortifications... that is, dig a hole in the ground and hide the tank body underground with only the turret exposed.
In this way, the target area will be much smaller. It is difficult for the T34 to destroy the Type 97 from a distance of three hundred meters, but the T34 is a moving target exposed on the open ground. The most important thing is that it only has ten vehicles.
In addition, the Japanese Artillery Regiment also has 10 92 infantry guns and two 105mm caliber howitzers. Although these artillery cannot penetrate tank armor, they are enough to pose a threat to the following infantry.
Therefore, the artillery and the Type 97 cooperated with each other to cover each other. Although they could not completely wipe out the T34, it was not a big problem to block its attack or even cause it to lose more than half.
But Nagatake Taro did not have this sense of collaboration.
Tomijiro didn't have it, otherwise in his telegram to the artillery regiment, he didn't want them to prepare anti-tank equipment, but told the artillery regiment to build fortifications... After being beaten and fleeing, Aritomijiro only thought about his tank.
Unable to compete with the opponent's new tanks, they never expected that for the imperial army at this time, the best anti-tank equipment was not in the hands of the artillery regiment, but in their own hands.
There was not much time left for the artillery regiment. They had just set up the cannon and built a semi-open sandbag fortification in front of the cannon when bursts of gunfire were heard from the south.
Nagatake Taro raised his binoculars and looked in the direction where the gunfire came from. He saw a troop of tanks coming in this direction a few miles away. There were at least twenty or thirty tanks.
But when he took another look, Nagatake Taro realized something was wrong. The tanks on both wings were models he had never seen before, and they stopped from time to time to fire at the Imperial tanks trapped in the middle. When he was looking at it, there was one.
Type 95 was destroyed.
Could it be that it is the enemy's new type of tank?
Nagatake Dalang took a closer look at this kind of tank. It was a strange-shaped tank with an angled turret. It was much faster than the Imperial tank. They outflanked the Imperial tank from both sides and seemed to hope to surround the Imperial tank and cut it off.
The way out... This made Nagatake Taro feel incredible that such a thing would happen while fighting the Eighth Route Army!
"Prepare for battle!" Nagatake Taro shouted to the communications soldier more than ten meters away.
The communications soldier loudly repeated Nagatake Taro's order and signaled his assistant to pass on the order using semaphores.
Compared to the field artillery regiment, the mountain artillery regiment prefers to use semaphores rather than telephones, and this has become a habit.
The reason is that the Mountain Artillery Regiment mostly fights in mountainous areas...The terrain in mountainous areas is complex and positions are moved very frequently, making it inconvenient to lay out telephone lines, so semaphores are more convenient than telephones.
This habit was brought to the plains by them.
The Japanese artillerymen who received the order immediately loaded the shells.
"Aim at the enemy tanks on both wings!" Nagatake Taro ordered again.
The artillerymen nervously adjusted their guns to aim at the enemy tanks.
"Fire!"
Following Nagatake Taro's order, more than a dozen cannons fired a row of shells at T34.
Then Nagatake Taro realized that the 92 infantry gun could not penetrate this new type of tank... He could see clearly in the telescope that several shells hit the enemy tank but the target was unharmed.
This seems to be expected, otherwise the tank regiment would not have suffered such an embarrassing defeat.
Nagatake Taro put away his telescope, hesitated for a moment, and then ordered: "Organize a demolition team to prepare to blow up the tank, and the artillery will target the enemy's infantry!"
This is the standard combat procedure for artillery when facing tank troops.
If artillery cannot penetrate the armor of enemy tanks, continuing to use cannons to hit tanks is obviously a waste and a useless effort.
At this time, artillery fire should be used to separate the enemy's infantry and tanks so that the tank cannot be covered by the infantry. Then the demolition team can rush towards the tank from the blind spot of fire to blow it up.
As a captain with rich combat experience, Nagatake Taro certainly knew this, so he organized such a defense without thinking.
But Nagatake Taro failed to consider one thing... This tactic is more suitable for use when there are complete defenses, such as trenches, barbed wire, anti-tank trenches, mines, tank roadblocks, etc.
These will slow down the enemy tank. Only when the tank slows down can the demolition team be able to keep up with the tank.
Or maybe the target tank is slower.
For example, the Type 97 has a top speed of 38 kilometers per hour, which is moderate. The cross-country speed will be slower, reaching a speed of about 20 kilometers per hour. It is possible for soldiers holding explosive bags to catch up while sprinting.
But the top speed of T34 is 55 kilometers per hour, and the off-road speed can reach more than 30 kilometers (the road conditions are very poor, the average speed is more than 20 kilometers).
This area is the Yuncheng Plain and the terrain is flat and easy to travel. If there is any trouble, it is that the fields cultivated by the people will bump up and down when driving, but there is no big problem in speeding up.
If the tank is very fast, how can the Demoman catch up with the tank?
How to estimate and control the explosion time?
How to fix the explosive package on the tank to blow it up?
If these problems are not solved, even organizing the Demoman will be in vain unless the tank happens to drive past the Demoman's position or is nearby and hits him.
Gangzi only learned that he had hit the Japanese artillery regiment when the tanks in front reported.
"The front is under enemy artillery fire!" Car No. 1 reported: "It is probably the Japanese artillery regiment. Requesting instructions! Requesting instructions!"
Being the commander of an army often involves multiple choice questions.
For example, at this time, Gangzi was faced with the choice of fighting or not fighting.
Fight, can the tank company escape unscathed by the artillery regiment?
If we don't fight, we have just caught up with the Japs chariot squadron, and the duck that got into our mouths flies away? Gangzi is unwilling to accept it.
After thinking about it, Gangzi gave the order: "Fight! Charge forward at full speed. Unless you break through the enemy's defense line, don't let go of the accelerator and don't look back!"
Gangzi dared to do this because he was inspired by the "infiltration warfare" of Androvich's crew.
The biggest experience that this penetration battle gave Gangzi was the speed and maneuverability of the T34 tank.
Not only that, he also learned the benefits of speed and mobility... Originally Gangzi thought that speed and mobility were just for getting to the battlefield faster.
It wasn't until he saw Androvich's style of play that he realized their role was more than that.