xymnovel Chapter 163 Tearing apart the Isogai Division's first line of defense was surprisingly easy.
Chapter 163 Tearing apart the Isogai Division's first line of defense was surprisingly easy.
This included two large armored units and an artillery battalion that had been almost completely rebuilt.
More than fifty artillery pieces, along with several hundred modified tanks, constituted the main force attacking the Isogai Division.
The cost was that it directly consumed more than 200,000 of Li Jianghe's merit points.
After all, the supporting vehicles, fuel, ammunition, tank modifications, and personnel all require merit points.
Now, however, Li Jianghe no longer needs to consider how to spend his merit points, but how to wipe out the main force of the opposing Isogai Rensuke Division.
The real battle began after the shelling ended.
There weren't many fancy tactics.
This armored force split into three routes. One route broke through the center and launched a fierce attack on the Japanese defensive positions. Meanwhile, two other routes, led by Bai Chengshan and Long Wenzhang respectively, flanked the Japanese forces from the flanks and attacked their rear.
Originally, Isoya Rensuke was convinced that with enough anti-tank artillery, pre-built defensive positions, and suitable hilly terrain, he could stop Li Jianghe's mechanized forces from advancing.
They should be able to hold out for at least two or three days.
But once the fighting actually started, Rensuke Isogai realized that his understanding of warfare was far behind the times.
Li Jianghe's tank units maintained their offensive against the Japanese army from the front, which already kept the Japanese army busy.
Moreover, two more units came from the side, attempting to encircle the entire Isogai Division.
This forced Isogai Rensuke to deploy his reserves to defend the flanks and rear.
That's all the anti-tank firepower we have.
After repeated battles of attrition, the Japanese army's most effective long-range anti-tank weapons, such as the 37mm anti-tank gun, had been exhausted by repeated shelling.
Even the anti-tank mines planted in front of the positions were continuously detonated by engineering troops and artillery.
The remaining tanks, while capable of causing some damage to the Third Detachment's vehicles, would not alter the overall situation.
When the Japanese anti-tank forces were finally exhausted, they began to try to use their own flesh and blood to stop the advance of the Third Detachment's tanks.
These Japanese troops used Molotov cocktails, cluster grenades, and explosive charges as weapons to demolish tanks.
Some Japanese soldiers even strapped bombs to their bodies and shouted "Tenka! Banzai!!" as they tried to approach the tanks of the Third Detachment.
But the soldiers of the Third Detachment often didn't give them such an opportunity.
During the long period of combat, they had already become proficient in using the combined arms tactics that they had practiced before.
Especially on the battlefield, they found that Japanese infantry tactics often became rigid after losing long-range anti-tank firepower.
They often launch suicidal attacks with threats like "black card incident" or "boarding up."
The result can be imagined.
The MP38 submachine gun, PPSh submachine gun, and Mauser rifles commonly equipped by the soldiers of the Third Detachment filled the blind spots in the tank's firing range.
Any Japanese soldiers attempting to approach the tanks had to first overcome a dense barrage of submachine guns and machine guns mounted on the vehicles.
"Da da da!!!!"
Gunfire echoed, and the Japanese soldiers within sight were like moving human targets, either torn apart by the heavy pointed bullets of the vehicle-mounted machine guns or riddled with bullets from submachine guns.
The infantrymen continued clearing along the trenches, while the engineers used flamethrowers to spray the trenches first.
The gushing flames could even curve along the contours of the trench.
Some Japanese soldiers who hid at the corners of the trenches, intending to ambush the tanks or perish together with the soldiers of the Third Detachment, were instead met with the scorching flames that devoured them from their gaping maws.
The flames ignited everything flammable on the Japanese soldiers the moment they came into contact with them.
Hair, clothing, and so on all become accelerants, accomplices to the flames.
"ah!!!!"
Screams echoed as Japanese soldiers, their bodies engulfed in crimson flames, writhed or ran wildly across the battlefield until the intense heat completely consumed their lives, or their suffering was ended by stray bullets.
Engineers and infantry moved in coordination within the trenches, with tanks roaring forward overhead.
Inside Isogai Rensuke's command post, Umemura Atsuro, his face blackened with soot, rushed in.
"The first line of defense has been torn apart by the enemy."
It was just getting dark, and only a few hours had passed before the battle began.
The first line of defense that Rensuke Isogai had placed high hopes on failed to hold out even until nightfall.
"What is the extent of damage to the enemy's tanks?"
According to Isogai Rensuke, the core of the enemy's tactics was the tanks, and without the tanks, the Third Detachment was not a threat.
Consuming some troops, or even the first line of defense, to wear down enemy tanks is an acceptable price to pay.
"They destroyed about thirty to forty enemy tanks, and many more were damaged, but..."
Atsuro Umemura looked troubled when he got to this point.
Atsuro Umemura looked troubled when he got to this point.
"But what?"
Isogai Rensuke turned around and asked.
Atsuro Umemura took a deep breath before speaking:
"However, the enemy has at least three to four hundred tanks. We lost one-fifth of our elite forces and nearly half of our anti-tank weapons, but we only depleted one-tenth of the enemy's strength."
War seems to have become a simple math problem.
The current rate of personnel and equipment losses in the Isogai Division is clearly insufficient to inflict heavy damage on Li Jianghe's Third Detachment.
Finally, Rensuke Isogai spoke:
"So many armored vehicles must be the main force of the Third Detachment. That means that currently in the Tengxian area, only Tang Enbo's 20th Army Group is present, and Li Jianghe's armored forces are not involved?"
Atsuro Umemura pondered for a moment and said:
"That should be the case, otherwise where would Li Jianghe have gotten so many armored vehicles and artillery?"
After saying that, he realized that although the 10th Division had suffered huge losses, it was an opportunity for the 20th Division.
Without the support of armored forces, it shouldn't be difficult for the 20th Division to break through the front line against Tang Enbo's 20th Army Group.
Isogai Rensuke immediately said:
"Send a telegram to Bunzaburo Kawagishi, telling them to launch a larger-scale offensive as soon as possible. The mechanized units of the Third Detachment are all on our side. Let them fight freely. The only thing blocking their way is Tang Enbo's 20th Army."
"yes!"
Atsuro Umemura said with some excitement.
Only by opening a gap in the direction of Tengxian, even if it's only a few kilometers wide, would it be enough for them to break through the encirclement.
Inside the command post of Kawagishi Bunzaburo, the division chief of staff, Kinemura Hisazo, handed over the intelligence and said:
"Isoya Rensuke has confirmed that the attack on the 10th Division is carried out by the main force of the 3rd Detachment."
Bunzaburo Kawagishi suddenly realized:
"So that's how it is. No wonder we didn't find any trace of enemy armored forces in Teng County after fighting for a whole day."
I thought Tang Enbo had a backup plan, but I didn't expect Li Jianghe's mechanized troops to have already been transferred away.
"Then we..."
"All-out attack! If Li Jianghe's tank troops were in the Tengxian area, I would be a little more wary."
"If it's just Tang Enbo's 20th Army, then there's nothing to fear."
"I have a plan," said Bunzaburo Kawagishi confidently.
Late at night, at 4 a.m., in the northeast of Teng County, Yang Ruifu was looking at the news from the reconnaissance troops at the front.
Although they did not participate in the fighting, they kept a close eye on the changes on the battlefield, especially whether the 20th Army Group's defense line was secure.