xymnovel Chapter 17 Anti-tank Gun Squad: Beating Up the Fragile Japanese Tanks
Chapter 17 Anti-tank Gun Squad: Beating Up the Fragile Japanese Tanks
Sihang Warehouse, outer perimeter defenses.
Wang Dayong led his assault platoon of more than 30 soldiers, hiding in the outermost trench.
They carried cluster grenades, intended for destroying Japanese tanks.
Behind them were hidden anti-tank guns.
During previous operations, Li Jianghe did not allow the anti-tank gun squad to participate in the battle.
Before participating in the battle, he had already anticipated that, given the Japanese army's inability to use artillery, it was only a matter of time before tank units joined the battlefield.
If the Japanese army had known in advance, they would have taken precautions.
Only by striking unexpectedly and catching the enemy off guard can we catch the Japanese off guard.
Not only that, but Li Jianghe also summoned three anti-tank gun squads just in case.
Including those summoned earlier, there are a total of 8 anti-tank guns, concealed in their positions on the outer perimeter.
Amidst billowing smoke and dust, the Japanese tanks, roaring and churning, finally revealed their menacing faces.
Behind and to the side of the tank were Japanese soldiers following along.
"fire!"
The small-caliber cannons on the Japanese tanks began to roar, firing a shell at the firing point on the second floor of the Sihang Warehouse.
"Boom!!!"
This seemed to be some kind of signal, as the machine guns and cannons mounted on the Japanese tanks began to roar together.
The entire front of the Sihang Warehouse, with a total of seven Type 95 light tanks and eight Type 97 medium tanks, resembled a heavy steel fortress, advancing under a dense barrage of fire.
Upstairs, the machine gun emplacements opened fire first under Yang Ruifu's command.
"Da da da!!!!"
Light and heavy machine gun bullets, when hitting the armor plates of the Japanese tanks, only left a series of slightly dented bullet marks, but could not penetrate the armor at all.
"I can't break through!!!! This damn iron lump is fucking hard!!!"
The organic gunman shouted.
"We must continue fighting and draw Japanese artillery fire!!!"
Yang Ruifu roared and personally controlled a Maxim gun, firing wildly at the Japanese tanks below.
"boom!!!!"
The roar of tank cannons filled the air again, and a machine gun emplacement upstairs was precisely hit, wiping out an entire machine gun position.
The Japanese Type 97 medium tank had just entered service that year, with less than thirty produced.
Some of them were urgently deployed to the Shanghai battlefield to support the fighting.
This tank weighs fifteen tons and is equipped with a 47mm main gun and three 7.7mm machine guns. Its firepower is extremely fierce on the Far East battlefield, making it practically a mobile fire fortress.
(Our first tank was also a Japanese Type 97 tank captured from the Japanese army.)
This is why Hiroshi Nakagawa is so confident.
He was confident that this new tank could run rampant on the Chinese battlefield.
More shells began to fall on the walls of the Sihang Warehouse.
There's no need to worry about these tank cannons hitting the concession area with their shells.
Below, at the anti-tank gun position, the gunner gripped the firing rope tightly, his eyes fixed intently on the front.
Closer and closer, until the Japanese tanks entered the Sihang Warehouse and were less than two hundred meters away, Li Jianghe finally roared in anger.
"fire!!!!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the Liaoning Type 14 anti-tank guns roared together.
"Boom!!!!!"
The sound of artillery fire rang out, and a 37mm caliber shell flew away, drawing a beautiful arc in the air.
"Boom!!!! Boom boom boom!!!"
The moment the bullet hit the armor plate of the Japanese tank, it produced a huge metallic clang.
The sound was almost imperceptible because the warhead was detonated immediately afterward. The explosion completely drowned out the sound of metal clashing.
A Japanese Type 97 medium tank had its frontal armor instantly pierced, triggering the secondary explosion of the shells inside, resulting in a deafening explosion.
In addition, the Japanese Type 94 light tanks fared even worse, with the two leading tanks being directly penetrated by bullets.
The shell penetrated the cockpit and exploded inside.
The burst of metal jets instantly engulfed the entire cockpit.
The Japanese tank crew inside were blown to pieces by flames, shockwaves, and flying shrapnel.
Although the Japanese army's firepower was decent in the 1997 Sino-Japanese War, the thickness of its armor plates was pitifully thin.
The front armor plate is only 25mm thick, and the sides are even thinner, only 20mm thick.
Li Jianghe's anti-tank gun squad is equipped with the Liaoning Type 14 37mm anti-tank gun. Although the caliber of the gun is not large, it can easily penetrate 25mm armor plates.
This is why, later on, these tanks were crushed by Shermans in the Pacific theater.
A single shell can easily penetrate the frontal armor of this tank, making its defense virtually zero when facing artillery fire.
Seeing the Japanese tanks, which had been so arrogant and seemingly indestructible, destroyed by anti-tank guns, the Nationalist soldiers inside the Sihang Warehouse cheered loudly.
"Well done!!!"
"To hell with tanks, let's take down tanks!"
"Well done, brothers of the Third Battalion!!!"
"Keep beating those Japanese devils! Beat those sons of bitches!!"
On the other side of the river, the people in the concession also cheered.
"This lump of iron looks good but is useless."
"Yeah, it looks pretty hard, but when you actually fight it, it's as soft as noodles."
"So it's just a showy spearhead. I thought it was something special, but it got pierced by a single shot."
,,,,
On the rooftop, Xiao Ze's face turned ashen. He hadn't expected that the Chinese troops opposite him were equipped with anti-tank guns.
Moreover, the fact that multiple tanks were destroyed in a single bombardment indicates that there was more than one.
"Damn it, how come they even have weapons like this?"
Ozawa thought to himself, "Shouldn't they have all been destroyed in the previous battles?"
Williamson then shouted excitedly.
"Hahaha, I knew it, I knew it, these Chinese warriors are not so easy to defeat."
American Jim secretly cheered in his heart, but on the surface he remained calm.
On the main battlefield, the Japanese soldiers were quite surprised to see their own tanks destroyed.
But the orders from the commander at the rear were still urging them to keep moving forward.
At the same time, Japanese tank crews also discovered the presence of anti-tank guns.
"Prioritize destroying enemy anti-tank artillery!!! Suppressive machine gun fire!!!"
The Japanese soldiers shouted.
"fire!!!"
Japanese tanks roared again, but this time their targets were no longer the firing points on the upper floors, but rather the anti-tank gun positions on the outer perimeter.
"Pay attention to shifting firepower!!!"
Li Jianghe shouted.
The next moment, shells from Japanese tank guns landed on the outer perimeter of the positions.
"Boom!!!!!"
Explosions were heard, and two anti-tank guns had been destroyed by Japanese tank guns because they had not been moved in time.
"Maintain suppressive fire!!! Tanks, continue the advance!!!"
The Japanese commander roared, and more than a dozen tanks continued to advance, bringing a suffocating sense of oppression.