xymnovel Chapter 204 The Roaring Cougar Tank Crushes the Japanese Formation
Chapter 204 The Roaring Cougar Tank Crushes the Japanese Formation
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"Take cover! Find cover quickly!!!"
The Japanese regimental commander was thrown off balance by the blast wave of the exploding shell and fell heavily to the ground.
He was covered in mud, his military cap had fallen to the side, revealing his forehead blackened by gunpowder smoke, and he was screaming hysterically.
But his shouts were instantly swallowed up by the continuous explosions of artillery shells.
Amidst the deafening roar, no one could hear his commands.
The intensity of the artillery fire was astonishing, lasting for a full five minutes.
During those five minutes, all the artillery pieces of the 3rd Motorized Infantry Detachment were firing shells relentlessly without stopping.
The dense barrage of shells rained down like hail, turning the Japanese army's marching route into scorched earth.
During those five minutes, the armored units of the Third Column, hidden among the trees on both sides, slowly approached the area where the Japanese troops were located under the cover of armored vehicles.
The low hum of the engine, masked by the sound of gunfire, approached silently.
On both sides of the drainage ditch, the surviving Japanese soldiers barely managed to stick their heads out of the mud.
All around them were the corpses of their companions, broken limbs and blood and flesh scattered everywhere, a horrifying sight.
The strong smell of blood and burnt food was so pungent that it was almost impossible to breathe.
Before they could recover from the dizziness of the bombing, heavy booming sounds echoed through the night, where smoke and darkness intertwined.
That was the sound of tank tracks rolling over the ground, getting closer and closer, carrying a suffocating sense of oppression.
The Japanese soldiers looked up in horror and saw tanks slowly advancing forward.
The muzzles of cannons of different calibers were pointed at them in the darkness, gleaming coldly in the night.
"Fire!!!!"
At a command, the tanks of the Third Motorized Infantry Detachment unleashed their full firepower.
Shells roared out, and bullets rained down like a storm, hurtling towards the area where the Japanese troops were located.
Japanese soldiers who had just poked their heads out of drainage ditches or shell craters were instantly swallowed up by incoming shells and bullets.
"ah!!!!"
Screams rose and fell, once again engulfing the battlefield, only to be quickly drowned out by the roar of tanks and the sound of gunfire.
"Hold the line! Anti-tank guns! Deploy anti-tank guns immediately!!!"
The Japanese regimental commander struggled to his feet, his voice hoarse from shouting, and yelled at the top of his lungs.
However, in the fierce shelling just now, most of the Japanese anti-tank guns had already been destroyed and turned into piles of scrap metal.
The few who managed to survive were just dragged out by the soldiers to complete their deployment, and before they could even aim, they were covered by machine gun bullets flying from the front.
The gunner, along with the cannon, was torn apart by a hail of bullets, his blood splattering all over the cannon.
The whistling of shells was incessant, continuously suppressing and bombarding the area where the Japanese troops were located.
The flares soared into the sky with a piercing whistle, their pale light illuminating the battlefield, only to be shrouded in the thick smoke from the explosions.
The air was filled with the smells of blood, gunpowder, and the pungent stench of burnt bodies, making one want to vomit.
The remaining Japanese anti-tank guns, having suffered heavy losses, could only fire blindly.
Amidst the thick smoke, they were unable to pinpoint the exact location of the enemy tanks and could only fire in general directions, with minimal success.
Finally, after a sustained advance, the tanks of the Third Column reached the area where the Japanese soldiers were located.
The agonizing screams rang out again; they were the final cries of Japanese soldiers being crushed by the tank tracks.
The steel tracks, combined with the tank's weight of tens of thousands of kilograms, rolled over the fragile bodies of the Japanese soldiers.
The crisp cracking of bones breaking and the muffled thuds of flesh being crushed mingled together. Some Japanese soldiers were crushed, their heads separated from their bodies, while others were simply turned into a mangled pile of meat.
One after another, Puma tanks, Type 251 armored tracked vehicles, and M3 armored vehicles roared as they rolled over the Japanese positions and over the corpses of Japanese soldiers.
The Japanese defenses crumbled instantly, and a complete rout began.
Some Japanese soldiers, in despair, roared and grabbed their grenades and explosive packs, trying to rush towards the tanks and stop their advance.
But all of this was in vain.
The infantry of the Third Column, which was advancing with the tanks, had already set up a tight fire net, giving the Japanese soldiers no chance to get close to the tanks.
The roar of submachine guns, rifles, and machine guns rang out continuously, and the Japanese soldiers who tried to charge fell to the ground one after another, never to get up again.
As for the wounded Japanese soldiers still struggling on the ground, the infantry did not spare them either, continuously firing and finishing off the Japanese soldiers whose fate was unknown, leaving no survivors.
In less than ten minutes, the Japanese infantry regiment that came to their aid was overwhelmed by the tank formation and instantly collapsed.
In the direction of Longtan Town, at the command post of the Japanese army's supply regiment.
Regimental Commander Aota was holding up his binoculars, staring intently at the western direction, a glimmer of hope burning in his eyes.
"They've arrived! Our reinforcements have come!"
Qingtian put down his binoculars and said excitedly to the staff officer beside him:
"They'll be here soon! Then, we'll repel those enemy tank units that are charging at us head-on!"
But just as he was speaking, the telephone in the command center suddenly rang urgently, shattering the brief moment of optimism.
Qingtian strode over, grabbed the microphone, and held it to his ear.
On the other end of the phone, a desperate cry, tinged with sobs, immediately came through:
"Aota-kun! Quickly! Send reinforcements to support us! Our troops are being fiercely attacked by enemy tank units along the way, and we can't hold on any longer!"
That was the voice of the infantry regimental commander who had come to their aid.
Of all the reinforcements, the Japanese troops in Longtan Town were the closest and could arrive the fastest.
The Japanese troops at the Gushi front had only just completed their assembly, and it would take them a long time to arrive there.
Upon hearing this shout, Qingtian's face turned deathly pale, and the hand holding the microphone began to tremble uncontrollably.
He instantly realized: It's over, it's completely over.
The troops that should have been there to support them are now the ones who need their support.
But Longtan Town is barely able to protect itself, so where can it spare even a single soldier?
"My situation is much more urgent! I simply can't spare any manpower!"
After gritting his teeth and finishing speaking, Qing Tian abruptly hung up the phone, looking bitterly at everyone in the command center.
"How long can the frontline defenses hold out?"
Seeing his grave expression, the regimental staff officer beside him knew the situation was bad and replied hesitantly:
"At most half an hour... or maybe... only twenty minutes left."
No sooner had he finished speaking than a shell landed with a bang around the command post.