Although Wang Xuexin had not yet taken action at this time, he was already secretly competing with Neji Okamura.
It is not difficult for Okamura Neiji to break through the defense line of Chu Yunfei's 358th Regiment. After all, he has gathered two heavy artillery brigades, a flying brigade, plus three tank regiments...
Yes, Okamura Neji has three tank regiments instead of two.
At this time, the two tank regiments sent to carry out the attack were both light tank regiments. Each tank regiment was equipped with only seven or eight Type 97 tanks, and most of the rest were Type 95 tanks.
There is also a main tank unit equipped with 23 latest "Type 1" tanks and 30 Type 97 tanks.
Needless to say, what this main tank unit is used for is to deal with the ten T34 tanks in Wang Xuexin's hands.
The tank troops in the hands of the Eighth Route Army have always been a worry for Okamura Neiji. Without them, Okamura Neiji has been afraid to let the tank troops break through the enemy's defense line with confidence.
The reason is very simple. Once a tank breaks through the enemy's defense line, it must rely on mobility to quickly penetrate to the rear so that the enemy has no time and opportunity to build another line of defense. Only in this way can the enemy be defeated like a mountain.
Otherwise, there is no point in breaking through the defense line, and we will still fight forward one line of defense after another.
However, before the Eighth Route Army's tank troops appeared, could the empire's tank regiments intersperse?
The tanks of the Eighth Route Army may appear at any position. If they suddenly appear on the flanks or even the rear of the intersecting troops... the tank regiment of the Imperial Army will be easily defeated by them just like last time.
Okamura Neiji hoped to use two light tank regiments as bait to induce the Eighth Route Army's tank troops to attack.
As long as the Eighth Route Army's tank troops attack, they will immediately face attacks from Japanese artillery, aviation, and the newly formed 25th Tank Regiment using "I" tanks. Even T34 and T26, even the elite troops of the Eighth Route Army, will only
I'm afraid the whole army will be annihilated.
As a result, after waiting and waiting, we found that the Eighth Route Army's tank troops showed no sign of dispatching at all.
Okamura Neji looked at the map blankly and said to himself: "How cunning, Eighth Road, have you seen through my thoughts?"
Wang Xuexin did see through Okamura Neji’s thoughts.
In fact, Wang Xuexin is not sure either.
Nothing on the battlefield is certain, and sometimes even the information you get may be something the enemy deliberately lets you know.
Wang Xuexin just felt that if the battle was fought like this, that is, as Chen Songyong thought, it would be too easy to win easily.
If it were in the past, the Japanese might still have their flaws exposed by underestimating the enemy.
But now, it is very suspicious that the Japanese still fight like this when they know that the Eighth Route Army has a tank unit and is cooperating with the Shanxi-Sui Army.
Therefore, Wang Xuexin never sent out the tank troops.
He was waiting for Okamura Neji to break through Chu Yunfei's defense.
Wang Xuexin believes that he will wait until this moment, because it will be dark in three hours, and at this time, neither tanks nor fighter planes have the ability to fight at night. This also means that if the enemy is late, they will have to fight another day...
This is why Wang Xuexin checks the time from time to time.
At this time, Okamura Neji fell into an embarrassing situation:
Let's break through. His tank regiment will still face the same disadvantageous situation as before... He doesn't know the location of the Eighth Route Army tanks, and he doesn't know where they will suddenly appear from and hit him in the head.
At that time, even the empire's fighter planes had difficulty functioning. If enemy and friendly tanks were fighting together, the bombing of the fighter planes was likely to accidentally damage our own tanks.
If you don't break through, it will get dark soon. Another meaning of not breaking through the defense line is that you have done a useless work for a day.
It is conceivable that the Jinsui Army will take advantage of the night to repair the fortifications and replenish troops and firepower in time, and start from scratch again tomorrow.
More importantly, Neji Okamura will still have to face this problem tomorrow: Breakthrough or not?
This corresponds to the saying: "The invisible enemy is the most terrifying enemy."
Okamura Neji fully realized this this time.
After hesitating for a moment, Okamura Neiji made a decision. He looked down at the map for a while, then pointed at a point and ordered Shinozuka Yoshio: "Order the 25th Tank Regiment to break through quickly from here! With lightning speed
Cover your ears and defeat the Jin-Sui army!"
"yes!"
Then, Chen Songyong got the news immediately.
When he heard the news, he was so surprised that he was speechless for a while... Could it be that the battalion commander had already guessed that the Japanese had an elite tank regiment?
But this seems normal.
Last time the Japanese tanks were beaten badly by our tanks, so they must be prepared this time.
Fortunately, the battalion commander did not send out the tanks, otherwise we would be in trouble now.
However, Chen Songyong did not neglect, and immediately reported to Wang Xuexin with a telegram: "Batalion Commander, we have discovered that the Japanese's new tank regiment, equipped with new tanks, is launching an attack from the junction of Yuncheng and the North Wing. A breakthrough will be made soon."
The defense line is up!”
Wang Xuexin nodded, and sure enough he came anyway.
But the new tank...
Wang Xuexin remembers that during World War II, the most advanced Type 97 was the only one the Japs had on the Chinese battlefield. No new tanks appeared. Why did a new tank appear at this time?
After thinking about it, Wang Xuexin felt that this seemed normal.
The Eighth Route Army is all equipped with T34s, why don't they let the Japanese bring in new tanks?
Now it’s a bit troublesome:
What kind of tank is the new tank?
How much speed, how much armor thickness, how much penetration depth...
So if you don’t know all these things, wouldn’t you start a war with a blind eye?
But soon Wang Xuexin felt that there was no need to worry about this. The Japanese's tank technology was lagging behind that of European countries, and it was not on the same level as the T34, so there was no doubt that they would still be crushed.
So Wang Xuexin turned his attention to the Japanese's breakthrough point.
Attacking from the junction of Yuncheng and the northern flank is a good choice.
Although Yuncheng is integrated with the northern flank defense line and there is no loophole in the middle, there are obvious differences between the defenses of Yuncheng and the northern flank:
Yuncheng is defending the city. They rely on the bunkers, gun towers and walls outside the city, so they can only defend but not attack... The troops in the city can only leave the city through the city gates, and are easily blocked by enemy artillery fire. The soldiers in the bunkers and gun towers cannot
Move, otherwise the fortification work will be in vain.
Therefore, Yuncheng's defense was extremely passive, and it could only watch helplessly as the Japanese tore through the defense line without reinforcements.
As for Chu Yunfei's northern defense line, its fortifications are field fortifications, and anti-tank equipment such as rocket launchers have been moved more than 20 miles away by the central tank regiment, and they will not be able to catch up for a while.
So the artillery fired and the tanks rushed, cleanly breaking through the defense line and outflanking the 358th Regiment's rear...