si-mexico Chapter 1193 Tank Regiment
Chapter 1193 Tank Regiment
For the next two weeks, there were no large-scale battles on the 72nd Army's positions; instead, the Fifth War Zone's troops were engaged in fierce fighting with the Japanese. Of course, our side wasn't idle either. If anyone requested air or artillery support, we would certainly not hesitate to provide it. We were always ready to help the troops fighting the Japanese.
Moreover, whenever a battle ended, our battlefield medical teams would immediately go there, bringing trucks, jeeps, and all sorts of medicines, all available to our own brothers. This moved the Fifth War Zone Command for a long time.
However, some people soon realized something was wrong. When these trucks left, they took away quite a few lightly wounded people. Wasn't this the same as what happened in Pujiang? Back then, the people taken away never came back.
Someone immediately reported this phenomenon to the Fifth War Zone Command, believing that the 72nd Army had ulterior motives and was trying to poach our troops at this time.
However, the commander of the Fifth War Zone immediately rebuked them, saying, "If you were capable of treating these people, would they need to poach our staff? If they stay in their own units now, they might not even have anti-inflammatory drugs and will just be waiting to die here."
So what if they were poached by the 72nd Group Army? Are they going to keep them on hand and foot? They'll definitely put these people into grassroots command positions. That's somewhat helpful to the 72nd Group Army; they'll do what we can't. Can you say they have ulterior motives?
The Fifth War Zone Command even held a special meeting to lecture its subordinates. While it's true we've suffered a loss in the current situation—some experienced veterans and junior officers have been taken away—if we were to keep them on the battlefield, what could we do besides dig a pit for them?
This loss represents the loss of our entire Chinese resistance force. By taking people away, at least the wounded could be treated, and then they could join the army and continue fighting the Japanese. From a broader perspective, this saved our Chinese resistance force. We shouldn't hold a grudge; we should remember their kindness. Otherwise, how can we face our brothers?
As for why these people were willing to stay with the 72nd Group Army after recovering, isn't that obvious? Our casualties on the battlefield were too high, while the 72nd Group Army's casualties were low. Moreover, they were able to receive their monthly pay, which was more than what we received here, and they could also take better care of their families. Who wouldn't want to stay there? It's only human nature.
Moreover, the situation on the battlefield has stabilized in the past two days. If it weren't for the support from the 72nd Army, how could we have fought a battle of equal strength against the Japanese? The Japanese heavy artillery alone had us completely overwhelmed. Now, when the Japanese artillery fires, it immediately falls silent within 10 minutes.
The 72nd Army Group mobilized a total of 4 heavy artillery regiments and 2 artillery regiments in the southern Shandong region to fully support the battle of the Fifth War Zone. In addition, it set up a large number of tank regiments at many strategic points to help the people of the Fifth War Zone disengage from the Japanese.
The tank regiment is a relatively recent organization, established by Li Shaoyi and the chief of staff based on my country's unique circumstances, and streamlined from the armored regiments.
While tanks are the most powerful weapons on the battlefield, Li Shaoyi's observations on the battlefield have shown that our heavy armored vehicles have equally strong survivability. Moreover, the Japanese have had little success with our heavy armored vehicles. We should simply form an armored vehicle regiment, which would make them much faster, at least twice as fast as an armored regiment.
However, their losses and transport capacity were significantly less than those of the armored regiment. After all, tanks are too heavy to cross many bridges, leaving them unable to complete their assigned combat missions and only able to stare helplessly at the river. But having heavy armored vehicles is different. Although these are also heavy, they only weigh a fraction of a tank, making them much easier to cross.
After the trials at Ma Leizi's place, the three tank regiments that were put into service in the entire military camp had 126 heavy armored vehicles, 115 light armored vehicles, and more than 130 other types of combat vehicles, which fully guaranteed the use of the tank regiments and can be said to have brought huge casualties to the Japanese on the battlefield.
Many soldiers have previously reported that while the main gun of a tank is extremely powerful, its rate of fire is far too slow. The 20mm or 40mm cannons on armored vehicles are a different story; they are practically divine weapons when facing Japanese fortifications.
One cannonball from me might not be enough to open your skull, but if I bombard that spot with five cannonballs, there won't be anything left.
Many captured soldiers also said that what they feared most on the battlefield were these rapid-fire cannons on armored vehicles. The sound of these things was irritating, and their coverage area was too wide. When the 72nd Army attacked, a dozen or so armored vehicles would line up, and the opposing position could face more than 200 of these shells in just one minute.
Take a 40mm rapid-fire cannon as an example. The explosive power of the shell is actually not very large, equivalent to about three hand grenades. But this thing can fire 22 rounds per minute, which means nearly 70 hand grenades are thrown onto the position per minute. What kind of situation is this? On average, each person could get several grenades. How could anyone survive?
With the added threat of 12.7mm heavy machine guns and sniper marks, anyone who survived an attack by a tank regiment on a Japanese position would have to kneel down and kowtow to their goddess Amaterasu several times, and even break their head from the kowtow.
Li Shaoyi, seeing the situation in southern Shandong from his headquarters in the north, nodded in satisfaction. "That Ma Leizi is a man of action; he's turned the two Japanese armies upside down. Although we haven't engaged them in large-scale direct combat, we've helped the Fifth War Zone achieve many victories."
This is still the same old story Li Shaoyi told us: our only purpose in running around is to inflict massive casualties on the Japanese. Only by killing enough of them can they know how terrifying this land is.