afterglow

Chapter 344 Chapter [-] Whose subordinates are so brave?Win decisively!
The Pert Bridge is an ordinary steel-framed bridge with intersecting I-beams on the left and right sides. The bridge, built more than ten years ago, is not wide and can barely accommodate two cars side by side.

The British and Indian troops built a bridgehead on the west bank, deploying two infantry platoons, three heavy machine guns, two mortars, and a support team composed of three armored vehicles.

"They are in position B, about 30 people!"

"Lieutenant! Lieutenant Sean! Take your men and prepare to counterattack."

The searchlights swept back and forth, and the dazzling white light beams matched with the flares in the sky, illuminating the area with a radius of more than a kilometer along the west bank.

Three Vickers M25 armored vehicles drove slowly from the steel bridge close to each other, almost head to tail.

This kind of armored vehicle is a common sight in later movies and TV dramas - it has a square body with a hemispherical oval machine gun tower on top, and two heavy machine guns extending outward.

Its armor is only 6-8mm, and it was often used by the British to suppress colonial resistance. The outside of the car body can be electrified to prevent it from being overthrown by a mob.

"Dum-thum-thum-thum-"

A series of bullets came towards us. Although everyone hurriedly found cover, some people were still injured by the ricocheting bullets.

"I rely on his grandma, bazooka! bazooka!" a sergeant shouted at the top of his voice while changing the magazine of his automatic gun.

"immediately--"

"cover!"

"Shoot the flare!"

The soldiers huddled in the trenches. Some of them shot the slowly falling flares hanging under their parachutes in the air, while the rest also threw grenades backhand to attract the enemy's attention.

Booms and explosions continued one after another. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the pacesetter carrying the rocket launcher quickly stretched out his upper body.

Aim and pull the trigger!
His movements were completed in one go, and the black powder barrel at the tail of the rocket-propelled grenade was ignited, and the high-temperature gunpowder gas produced pushed the grenade out of the launch barrel in the blink of an eye.

This flat-headed conical grenade flew towards the armored vehicle dozens of meters away at a speed of about 50m/s, and hit the side of the front armored vehicle.

Due to inertia, the fuze firing pin at the tail of the grenade continued to move forward and penetrated into the detonator. The explosion of the detonator immediately detonated the warhead charge.

Under the influence of the Monroe effect, part of the energy of the TNT explosive is concentrated forward, and the hemispherical soft iron charge cover turns into a jet with partial liquid characteristics due to high temperature and high pressure.

"boom!"

Just like a hot embroidery needle poking through tissue paper, this soft iron jet easily penetrated the armor steel plate, which was only 6mm thick, then penetrated the flesh and blood of a crew member, and finally hit the fuel tank.

"call--"

Before the roar of the explosion stopped, shining flames spurted out from the gaps in the tin can truck's shooting port, doors, and windows!

The car door was opened, and several firemen rolled out and jumped out, then staggered and fell to the ground struggling.

Their screams were distorted by the high temperature and flames, like howls from hell, making people shudder.

The small battlefield even fell silent for a few seconds. The British and Indian soldiers could not believe what had just happened. This situation was beyond their imagination.

Ming army infantry can actually effectively counter armored vehicles? !And such complete destruction? !

Although common anti-tank guns can also penetrate armored vehicles, they are only bullets and have average effectiveness. They often need to penetrate several rounds before they are effective.

The enemy's surprise was my opportunity. The pacesetter using the rocket launcher moved his position while reloading, and then aimed and fired again.

"Boom!"

The effect this time is less effective, after all, detonating ammunition or fuel depends on luck.

Although only one crew member was killed by the metal jet, the others who were frightened hurriedly chose to abandon the vehicle and evacuate, fearing that they would be killed in the fire if they ran too late.

"What the hell is that..."

"Sir, we should retreat!"

"Retreat, retreat, get out of this place!"

The crew of the last M25 armored car had no fighting spirit and fled immediately when they saw the situation was not good.

How majestic it used to be when suppressing colonial demonstrations, it is now so embarrassing.

The rocket-propelled grenade that Zhou Changfeng commissioned from Yingtian Arsenal can be said to be very crude. It is essentially equivalent to the early Iron Fist in history, except that it has the ability to be fired repeatedly and adds a grip.

After some detailed modifications, it was finalized as a Type [-] combat rocket launcher, but the Ming army soldiers also habitually called it a "bazooka".

Because there was no intention to make it have overly exaggerated performance at the beginning of the war, engineers deliberately limited it, but it is still a subversive weapon-even light infantry can attack dozens of meters away Destroy the tank.

From now on, tank crews no longer dare to act recklessly when facing infantry.

When the Ming army landed on the Japanese islands and pacified Japan, some of the experimental products were already put into use for actual combat testing.

At that time, some military observers from Western powers noticed such weapons, but did not pay attention to them. Because the Japanese had almost no armored vehicles, the Ming army basically used rocket launchers to attack civil engineering works. This made Europeans think that this was just a unique grenade launch. device.

"Brothers, these guys are already frightened, be bold, come on!"

The leader of the reconnaissance platoon gave the order loudly, then raised his signal gun and fired a flare into the sky.

Without the armored vehicles they relied on, how could the British and Indian troops at the bridgehead on the West Bank withstand the fierce Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers?
The so-called hard work within 200 meters, the essence of infantry combat lies in the ability to fight at close range.

With the five major skills of shooting, bombing, demolition, earthwork, and assassination, none of the lax and lax colonial troops of the British Empire could compare with the First Marine Brigade.

In this close combat within tens of meters, the British and Indian troops, who lacked automatic weapons, suffered a great loss and were almost beaten to the point where they could not find their way.

The gap in weapons is only one aspect, the gap in personnel quality is even greater - there are many talents in the military, and the reconnaissance unit is already an elite, so there are naturally more "immortal talents" gathered here.

The sharpshooter Sergeant Guo Shenggen who had accompanied Mr. Zhou to Batavia to carry out the attack and killing operation was also in this reconnaissance platoon. He was now a candidate officer with the rank of warrant officer.

He used a Type 7.36 semi-automatic rifle without an optical sight and emptied a magazine in less than half a minute, achieving an astonishing 56 out of [-] rapid fire results at night.The British and Indian soldiers who were knocked down by [-]×[-]mm rifle bullets were still struggling in a pool of blood and calling for help, but where could anyone pay attention?They soon died from blood loss.

"We need support! Now! Now! Artillery, reinforcements, whatever you can send over here!"

Captain Andrew, the commander of the bridgehead garrison on the West Bank, shouted frantically into the phone receiver at the top of his lungs, but the dense and loud gunfire around him made it impossible to hear the reply on the other side of the phone.

The sounds of our own Enfield rifles and Bren light machine guns became a little sparse, while the opponent's gunfire was getting closer and closer.

The crisp "tap-tat" sound is the sound of the Type 351 automatic gun firing .[-] Winchester rifle bullets; the continuous "tat-tat-tat" sound comes from the Type [-] submachine gun.

The resistance of the British and Indian soldiers became increasingly weak. They only dared to raise their guns and shoot randomly in the general direction. Whether they could hit the Ming soldiers could only depend on God's favor. However, they would soon be stunned by the grenades and then be swarmed. The officers and soldiers of the reconnaissance platoon turned into a hornet's nest.

Suddenly, a low roar came from a distance, like rumbling thunder.

Immediately afterwards, a series of artillery shells fell on the east bank of the Terengganu River. In the blink of an eye, the 200-meter-wide area was enveloped in brilliant and dazzling artillery fire.

The original fire reconnaissance turned into an infiltration raid?And it also messed up the British-Indian bridgehead on the West Bank to the point of collapse?
Such a result also surprised Zhou Changfeng. He felt that as long as the opponent laid out the minefield and took basic vigilance, the reconnaissance unit would not be able to expand the results even if it finally penetrated.

He immediately ordered an early attack to see if he could capture the Pert Bridge before the British and Indian troops blasted it.

So the artillery units in the assault group quickly organized fire coverage, formed a blocking area on the east coast, and blocked the route of the British and Indian troops to reinforce the Port Bridge.

Afterwards, the combat convoy directly under the First Marine Brigade cooperated with two teams of Marine infantry and one platoon of Marine engineers to launch an attack and capture the bridgehead on the west bank.

Under the illumination of flares, more than a dozen tanks and densely packed infantry became the straw that broke the camel's back.

Just seeing them approaching from a distance, the remaining dozens of British and Indian soldiers collapsed instantly, and began to run away regardless of the officers' scoldings and warnings.

"What a frightened bird, these guys are really a bunch of cowards." The captain of the direct chariot team was a little speechless.

Later, the engineers began clearing the sparsely placed mines in the minefield.

After opening up a small road for safe passage, more than a dozen Type 300 medium tanks and more than [-] officers and soldiers seized the time to quickly pass through and occupy the bridgehead on the west bank.

"Hey!" The second lieutenant of the reconnaissance platoon patted the body of the command vehicle, turned over from the back and climbed up.

He opened the hatch cover and shouted to the captain of the chariot team inside: "I'm telling you! The British army is setting up explosives and checking wires, and they must attack immediately!"

After hearing the news, the latter immediately called for preparations to attack the east bank.

Twelve tanks were arranged in a fishbone column, and then set off one after another.

"Rush over in one go, step on the accelerator, and don't block the road!" The commander's voice was clearly audible in the radio communicators of each vehicle.

Due to the limited carrying capacity of the steel bridge, only two Type [-] medium tanks with a total combat weight of more than [-] tons can pass through at most two at a time. Now they are attacking the defensive position on the opposite side of the bridge. It feels like a gourd boy saving his grandfather.

"Boom!"

"Biang——"

A 40mm armor-piercing tracer bullet hit the turret mantlet of the No. 2-4 car at the front, ricocheting on the spot. However, it hit the steel frame on the side and immediately fell apart, splattering countless brilliant sparks.

The members inside were very nervous. The driver pressed the accelerator to the bottom and engaged the highest gear. The strange ten-cylinder in-line gasoline engine roared loudly, driving the tank towards the other side of the bridge at a top speed of 42km/h. .

The British and Indian troops responsible for guarding the Pert Bridge actually had B Company and C Company. However, C Company was in a second-line position and could not be reached at this moment due to the blocking artillery blockade.

The two platoons of Company B were beaten and fled in panic on the west bank. The company headquarters and another platoon that stayed on the east bank, a total of more than 40 people, plus dozens of remnants and defeated generals, were all the enemy forces the Ming army was facing now.

Several 64mm smoke bombs landed on the British and Indian army positions on the east coast, which more or less hindered the opponent's observation and attack.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The British and Indian troops on the east coast used two QF 2-pound anti-tank guns to fire wildly at the attacking Ming tanks. In desperate situations, the Indian and Indian soldiers actually achieved the theoretical rate of fire of fifteen rounds per minute.

Even though the 40mm armor-piercing bullet had no charge, the broken steel fragments flew freely inside the tank after the armor was penetrated. The tank soldiers covered in blood could not feel the pain because they were so nervous. The driver stepped on the accelerator tightly, and the remaining The commander also controlled artillery and machine guns to fire continuously.

The Type [-] medium tank does not use a front-mounted gearbox design, which makes it less likely to be paralyzed by attacks and reduces the overall height to avoid wasting weight.

The first two tanks to attack were destroyed one after another. Vehicle No. 2-3 was hit on the track and finally stopped at the bridge. Vehicle No. 2-4 was penetrated in six places, but used inertia to rush to an anti-tank tank. They stopped in front of the artillery position.

Twenty seconds later, the two tanks that followed also drove through this short yet long distance.

They fired at the enemy's already exposed anti-tank guns. The parallel machine guns and heading machine guns poured out countless bullets. The bullets like exploding beans crackled on the mantlet of the QF 2-pound gun, some shattered and some collapsed.

"boom!"

A 48mm explosive bomb accurately hit the Bren carrier vehicle next to the anti-tank gun position. The high-speed fragments that flew in all directions mashed the artillerymen nearby to a bloody pulp.

The remaining British and Indian soldiers only dared to hide in the civil fortifications at this moment. Everyone was at a loss - they neither wanted to surrender voluntarily nor dared to explode physically.

As the following eight tanks and two teams of infantry passed through the Porter Bridge one after another, the bridgehead on the east bank seemed to have become a rock-solid position?

The Ming Army tank crews drove their tanks to the top of trenches and foxholes, then twisted left and right, using their tracks to crush the ground back and forth, burying the enemies hiding below alive in the graves they dug for themselves.

Far away from the battlefield, in an observation post on a hill, Zhou Changfeng stood up in front of the artillery mirror.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, you are so ruthless. This time, there will be at least ten first achievements and one extraordinary achievement." The fierce battle under the night was shocking, and he was greatly impressed by the determination and bravery of his subordinates.

Facts have proved that the bravery of the Chinese army has been first-rate since ancient times. For example, even the 93rd Division, which was beaten to the point of losing its armor and only remaining defeated troops, was able to carve out a foothold outside.

It would be nice if the ones that had just joined the battle were the assault tank battalions, that is, those heavy tanks - the Type 50 heavy tank's frontal armor could be up to [-]mm thick, and it was basically immune to incoming small-caliber armor-piercing projectiles.

Unfortunately, war is so unpredictable that no one can accurately predict everything.

Because launching an attack at night was a hasty action with a temporary decision, the first offensive tank battalion had just been undergoing maintenance and was unable to participate in the battle.

"Report!" At this time, an eager-looking staff officer rushed over and said with clasped fists: "The navy submarine reported that the British fleet is approaching at this high speed!"

(End of this chapter)