"Get ready to fight!" Konno Chimi ordered, then hesitated for a moment, then retracted his head from outside the tank and ordered the electromechanical officer: "Let's go!"
"But Mr. Lieutenant Colonel!" The electromechanical officer looked at Konno Chimi in horror: "We don't have infantry coordination!"
Konno Chimi said categorically: "Forget these bastards! We can only rely on ourselves!"
"Yes!" the mechanical and electrical officer responded and passed on the order.
So the tanks of the 25th Tank Regiment formed an offensive formation and headed towards the smoke.
On the way, some subordinates expressed their opinions to Chimi Konno via the radio:
"Your Majesty Lieutenant Colonel, although the guys at Sekiguchi do not obey orders, they have gained the upper hand on the defense line. Shouldn't we wait for them for a while?"
"Your Excellency Lieutenant Colonel! We can pull the tanks behind the defense line to wait for the enemy, so that the infantry can still coordinate with us!"
…
However, Chimi Konno replied: "Do you know what kind of tank they may be coming up? Mao Xiong's T34! They can easily destroy our tanks at a longer distance, even the 'One Type' is no exception! So,
Are you still going to wait behind the defensive line?"
As soon as Imano Chimi said this, his subordinates were silent.
They all know that Chimi Konno is right. Long-distance shooting is the situation that the Eighth Route Army prefers. Now they can only step forward and fight to the death with the Eighth Route Army.
"Everyone!" Chimi Konno ordered in the rickety tank: "We should ignore the enemy's T26 and focus all firepower on the enemy's T34. Do you understand?"
There was silence on the radio for a while, and then responses came one after another:
"yes!"
"Yes, Your Majesty Lieutenant Colonel!"
…
This decision made by Chimi Konno should be said to be very brave and smart.
Because he realized that the reason why the Eighth Route Army's tank troops had always been very fearful to the empire was because of those ten T34s.
If those ten T34s can be dealt with first, the T26s will be out of the question. By then, the Imperial tank troops will have the upper hand and have the initiative, whether in close combat or long-distance combat.
But of course, if you ignore t26 and concentrate your firepower on attacking t34, you will inevitably pay a heavy price.
Chimi Konno planned to sacrifice herself in exchange for the strategic advantage of the imperial army.
However, as Kamano Chimi got closer and closer to the enemy, what he saw chilled his heart.
In the dust, one T26 was lined up in the middle as the main force to fight, while the T34 was divided into two parts and placed on the flanks as a cover unit.
This is Gangzi's decision.
This decision was even opposed by Androvich.
"I have never seen T34 used as cover, Comrade Company Commander!" Androvitch said dissatisfied: "We should use stronger tanks as the main force. The enemy's shells cannot penetrate its front armor, but this is not the case with T26.
…”
Gangzi interrupted Androvitch: "This battle is under my command, I know what to do!"
After finishing speaking, Gangzi murmured: "We are not furry bears. After the tanks are finished, there are still ten T34s. We hope to keep them so that the Japanese will be too scared to let go and fight!"
What Gangzi is playing is actually a kind of psychological warfare.
He believes that the T34 is not only an advanced tank, but also a strategic equipment, one that reminds the Japanese of the Eighth Route Army tanks and immediately makes them feel inferior and need to be careful...
At this time, even if T34 did not fire a single shot and did not destroy a target, the strategic containment of the Japanese was considered a success.
Therefore, Gangzi believes that T34 should be preserved as much as possible on the battlefield.
What's more, using the T34 for flank cover does not affect its performance at all... The T34 artillery penetrates deeply and can destroy targets one thousand meters away, so there is no need to move forward generously.
In addition, the T34 has excellent maneuverability, so it is also very suitable for maneuvering on both wings.
So ten T34s were divided on both sides to form a regular triangle formation to face the enemy.
Immediately encountering this formation, Imano Chimi felt dizzy.
The imperial army may be able to attack T34 first as originally planned, or even split into two parts to carry out a siege.
But reality is not feasible.
Because the T34 is further back, if the imperial army does this forcefully, it will only expose its flanks to a large number of T26s and at the same time be hit by the T34 frontally... This is almost courting death.
In desperation, Konno Chimi could only change the order: "Deal with T26 first! Move forward at full speed!"
"yes!"
The subordinates responded and drove the chariot at full speed towards the Eighth Route Army tanks.
At this time, the Eighth Route Army tank stopped. As the tank turret adjusted its firing angle, the infantrymen on the cars and tricycles behind them also got off their vehicles one by one and quickly dispersed to the cover of the tank.
Seeing this scene made Imano Chimi's scalp numb.
He originally hoped that the Eighth Route Army would not know that the infantry-tank collaboration could catch them off guard. But now it seems that the Eighth Route Army is well-trained and knows how to deal with such emergencies.
This made Konno Chimi a little unbelievable.
Wasn't the Eighth Route Army trained by Mao Xiong's consultant?
The Mao Xiong didn't understand these infantry-tank coordination tactics and started fighting randomly. How could the Eighth Route Army know?
Of course Chimi Konno didn't know that Androvich, who was a consultant to the Bear, was still secretly learning tank tactics from the Eighth Route Army...
However, Chimi Konno had no choice but to bite the bullet and move on.
The speed of the Type 1 tank is not very fast. The top speed is only 44 kilometers per hour, which is faster than the 38 kilometers per hour of the Type 97 tank. This is one of the reasons why Okamura Neiji compiled the two tanks together. The speed difference is not much different.
better.
However, the Type 1 tank, like the Type 97, still does not have a stabilization system and cannot shoot while moving. Therefore, they can only use armor to withstand a few rounds of enemy fire... This is actually the strategic advantage brought by the T34, otherwise the Japanese Type 1 tanks
The tank uses 50mm thick armor against the T26, so it can sit back and wait for the T26 to attack.
Just hearing a "boom" boom, the Eighth Route Army tanks opened fire.
However, what surprised Chimi Konno was that only the T34 opened fire... Ten T34s fired nine armored rounds, and two tanks were hit and paralyzed on the way to the attack.
The hit rate was not as high as expected, which made Chimi Konno feel a little relieved. He even said to himself: "After all, there is insufficient training!"
Chimi Konno thought this was a problem with the level of the Eighth Route Army gunners. In fact, this was a characteristic of the furry bear equipment... Although it had rough skin and thick flesh, it was powerful, but its accuracy was not high.
Especially when aiming at a moving target, turret rotation is definitely a chore for the gunner. The reason why ten tanks only fired nine rounds is because the turret of one tank was stuck and unable to rotate at this critical moment, and then the gunner
He was so angry that he hit the inside with a hammer.
Just when Imano Chiwei was feeling confident, the Eighth Route Army fired a row of smoke grenades with mortars from the direction.
Suddenly the front was filled with white smoke.
Imano Chimi secretly cried out for trouble and cursed: "You bastard, you are bullying us for not following the infantry!"