A military train followed the railway from the north to the south, and finally arrived at Zhige, a city in the central and southern part of the northern peninsula of the Orissa Empire.
This place is located in the southern part of the northern peninsula of the Orissa Empire. It is not close to the sea, but there are two railway lines crossing it. It is an important railway transportation hub in the northern peninsula.
Going north, you can directly reach the coastal city of Newman on the Endless Strait, and now Newman is the most important material delivery point for the Daheng people after they cross the Endless Strait.
Going east, you can reach the eastern coastal city of Vogt in the Northern Peninsula, which is an important coastal port city in the northern gulf of the Orissa Empire.
Going west, you can reach the western coastal city of the northern peninsula, Able, a medium-sized coastal port city.
Going south, its railway line can directly reach the northern peninsula and enter the hinterland of the Orissa Empire.
After this important railway transportation hub was captured by the Daheng Empire Army, it became the headquarters of the Daheng Empire's Southern Theater Command and the most important transfer station for soldiers and supplies.
A large amount of materials used by the Daheng Empire to maintain the southern war zone were shipped from the home port. The cargo ship went south directly under the escort of the navy, and then arrived at the above three port cities connected by railways for loading and unloading, and then passed through the northern peninsula.
The railway network carries out transportation and arrives at Zhige.
It was then deployed from Zhige, transferred, and then transported to various fronts in the south more than 100 kilometers away.
In order to ensure the operation of the railway network in the northern peninsula, the Daheng Empire even prepared a large number of locomotives and carriages to stockpile in the Kingdom of Dyna before the war. After the war broke out, these locomotives and carriages followed into the northern peninsula.
Accompanied by a large number of engineering troops and professional and technical personnel from the railway company.
The purpose is to repair the railway lines that have been destroyed by the Orissa Empire as soon as possible and restore the operation of the Northern Peninsula Railway.
Since the Daheng Empire occupied this place and used it as the Southern Theater Command headquarters and material transfer station, this city has become extremely busy, especially the train station, which is brightly lit day and night.
On this day, the guards on duty at Zhige Railway Station discovered a train that was different from usual entering the freight yard.
There are many trains transporting various supplies every day, carrying all kinds of supplies. These guards on duty are also well-informed. Even a few days ago, a group of military trains came from the north carrying dozens of 150 trains.
Large weapons such as millimeter cannons did not attract their attention.
However, the things carried on this train today are different.
It's a bit like an armored vehicle, and a bit like a track tractor used to tow heavy artillery, or simply a combination of the two.
This thing is very strange. The lower part has the same tracks as a tractor, but the upper part is a raised iron tower, and there is also a gun barrel. The caliber should be 37 mm.
This thing was different from the armored vehicles they had seen before.
The Daheng Empire Army began to equip various vehicles very early. The earliest motor vehicles can be traced back to the steam tractor tractors more than ten years ago.
At that time, in order to transport the Army's large number of heavy artillery, the Army began to try to use steam tractors, with only mediocre results.
Later, as gasoline engines gradually matured, the Army began to use gasoline tractors to tow a large number of heavy artillery units.
At first, this tractor was just a large-wheel tractor model, but soon began to use crawler tractors to tow artillery.
At the same time, the Army began to equip wheeled vehicles and half-track vehicles, which were used to tow small and medium-sized artillery, transport artillery shells, etc.
Subsequently, wheeled armored vehicles and half-track armored vehicles were developed and equipped for reconnaissance, rapid maneuvering, etc.
However, none of these various motor vehicles are as strange as this weird steel vehicle in front of me.
These steel motor vehicles that surprised the guards on duty were the first batch of tanks equipped by the Daheng Empire: Type 21 tanks.
Strictly speaking, these tanks are not mass-produced models yet. In fact, they are early-stage test models. Some are prototypes used by the manufacturers themselves to test improvements, while others are ordered by the army in small quantities for testing.
There are a total of forty-eight vehicles that explore the tactics used by tanks, and they belong to several sub-models.
The reason why these tanks appear here is that on the one hand, the army wants this new weapon to make a breakthrough on the battlefield, and on the other hand, it is also because it hopes to collect more data in actual combat to provide information for subsequent research and development, improvement, and production.
, using tanks provides more effective data.
There is nothing better than actual combat to test the performance of a new weapon.
To this end, the Army collected forty-eight Type 21 tanks that were in relatively good condition, organized them into an armored cavalry regiment, and sent them to fight on the southern front.
These tanks, which looked strange to ordinary soldiers, did not stay at this transfer station for long. The next day, they were transported southward until they arrived at the station of the 27th Army, which belonged to the Fourth Army, about 20 kilometers away from the front line.
After arriving at the destination, a large number of tank soldiers and engineers came with the train and started the tanks. After leaving the train car, they prepared to head to the temporary station in the suburbs.
When these tanks were in action, Colonel Tang Ruming, the commander of the First Armored Cavalry Regiment, the first tank regiment in the Daheng Empire, also came to greet Major General Fang Guilin, deputy director of the Cavalry Department of the Southern Theater Command.
Why did the Deputy Chief of Cavalry come to greet him?
Because this first armored cavalry belongs to the cavalry unit in the army's combat order...
Just look at the cavalry in the name!
In fact, not only tanks, but also most of the armored vehicle units actually belong to the cavalry sequence.
Since the early development of armored vehicles by the Daheng Empire Army, they have been under the control of cavalry. Today, when machine guns, trenches, and barbed wire have appeared and become popular, the cavalry generals of the Imperial Army, even if they are psychologically unwilling, have to admit that traditional cavalry charge operations
It's out of date and behind the times.
The cavalry force that Daheng people have been proud of for hundreds of years is facing the embarrassing situation of being outdated and backward.
In this battle on the northern peninsula, the cavalry troops actually fought well at the beginning, constantly carrying out high-speed penetration, maneuvering, reconnaissance, and even engaged in a cavalry charge...
But after the Orissas established the second line of defense, Daheng's cavalry troops completely lost their use...
There were barbed wire fences and trenches in front of them. No matter how fierce the cavalry was, they couldn't get through. As for detours, if they could detour, the two sides wouldn't have to fight a trench battle.
The total width of this place is only 300 kilometers, and the total strength of both sides exceeds 3 million, including tens of thousands of artillery pieces, large and small, and tens of thousands of machine guns...
The front line where the two sides are facing each other is basically a bare no-man's land bombarded by artillery fire from both sides. There is no place for you to make a detour.
What's even more disgusting is that this trench defense system is not a single trench, but a network of many trenches, which can be more than ten kilometers deep. When attacking, the advancement distance can only be calculated in units of one hundred meters.
In this situation, the infantry and artillery were helpless, let alone the cavalry.
As a result, the cavalrymen who participated in the battle dismounted one by one and turned into infantry to fight. It was very miserable!