The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 184 The battle begins
night.

Temporary base of the combined battalion.

As an organization outside the 42nd Division, the combined battalion is also experimental in nature and highly confidential, so the combined battalion was not located together with other units of the 42nd Division, but instead had its own barracks.

Inside the temporary command tent, Li Fuguo and others were holding a meeting, and all company and platoon cadres were attending.

Arrangements are being made according to the combined battalion's attack route.

The tank company's forward route, the infantry's forward route, the setting of artillery positions, etc., as well as the operations of the special operations team.

"Two tank companies will advance along this route, with mine-clearing vehicles in the front and self-propelled anti-aircraft guns responsible for air defense and providing fire support when necessary," Li Fuguo made combat deployment.

This time the two tank companies were the main force of the attack.

The tank company is naturally powerless in places with rugged and dangerous mountains, steep slopes, narrow roads, and crisscrossing valleys, but this does not mean that the entire Koulin Mountain has this kind of terrain. Those places with relatively flat terrain can still be attacked with tanks.

The protection level of the Type 80 main battle tank reaches over 1000mm. It can be said that even if the Vietnamese army uses artillery, it will not pose a threat to the tank.

Even most landmines are not a threat to tanks. Only a few extremely powerful landmines can threaten tanks.

In addition to these relatively flat areas, tanks can also provide artillery support. After all, the bombardment range of the Type 80 tank is quite long.

"The special operations team will scout the battlefield situation and destroy those hidden fortifications in a timely manner." Li Fuguo also assigned tasks to the special operations team.

Li Fuguo looked at Liu Tao, "Director, is there anything you need to add?"

"The only thing I want to add is that you don't need to save bullets and artillery shells. I have prepared enough bullets and artillery shells for you. Just go ahead and do it! I'm waiting for you to return victoriously and celebrate with you!" Liu Tao said in a deep voice.

"Boom~~"

Everyone burst into laughter.

Everyone took the time to rest.

December 25th of the lunar calendar, Friday.

In the countryside, people have already started cleaning their houses and preparing for the Spring Festival.

But here in Masuluo, the sky was already covered with dark clouds, the air seemed oppressive, and the war was about to break out.

Border troops and militia have already been mobilized.

The first thing that happened was that the mixed artillery group of the 42nd Division bombarded the Vietnamese defensive positions on the Guolin Mountain Heights for 15 minutes, after which all the troops immediately launched an attack.

Here in the combined battalion, a vehicle with a very special shape is walking in front of the tanks. It is a mine-clearing vehicle.

This mine-clearing vehicle integrates mechanical mine-clearing, blasting mine-clearing, and magnetic simulation mine-clearing. It can be used alone or in combination. It has powerful armor protection capabilities, excellent mobility, and strong off-road capabilities.

"Boom!" The moving tank was already firing.

There is a fortress on a high ground, which is garrisoned by a squad of soldiers and equipped with two machine guns.

A tank shell directly blew up the fortress.

Fortresses and fortifications were reduced to rubble by tanks.

At the front-line command post, everyone was watching with binoculars.

Division Commander Wang said, "Director Liu, aren't you afraid that the tanks in your battalion will be destroyed by enemy artillery fire?"

"This is a new type of tank with extremely strong armor protection capabilities. The Vietnamese artillery shells cannot penetrate the tank's armor protection." Liu Tao seemed very confident.

Are you kidding? According to all the information and intelligence available so far, none of the Vietnamese artillery on the battlefield has the ability to break through the armored protection of the Type 80 tank.

"I haven't figured out the tank's armor protection capabilities, but the tank's gun is quite powerful!" said Commander Wang.

Liu Tao smiled. As the main gun, the 125mm smoothbore gun was naturally extremely powerful.

Suddenly, Liu Tao saw a Vietnamese tank. It was a T-34 tank, which was easy to identify.

Then Liu Tao saw that the T-34 tank was hit by a cannon, and a ball of flames rose up directly.

The T-34 tank is a medium tank and the main tank of the Soviet Army during World War II. More than of them were produced during the war, far exceeding the total number of all German tanks.

This type of tank was often destroyed during World War II, and its armored defense is still very thin today.

As long as it is hit by a Type 80 tank, it can be destroyed with one shot.

"Even tanks have appeared. It seems that the intelligence collected before the war is not entirely accurate." Liu Tao thought to himself.

Because neither the intelligence collected by the special operations team of the combined battalion nor the battlefield intelligence collected by the reconnaissance troops of the 42nd Division found that the Vietnamese army had tanks in the Koulin Mountain area.

On the battlefield, a fierce battle between the two sides has begun.

Bullets continued to hit the Type 80 tank, sparking sparks.

And every time gunfire rang out, the hidden fortifications would be discovered, and then they would be hit by a rain of bullets.

"Boom~~" A soldier in the infantry company noticed that a hole was constantly spewing flames. He picked up the rocket launcher on his shoulder, aimed and fired in one go.

The rocket hit the hole and flew into it. Then there was an explosion and it turned into a sea of ​​fire.

The special operations team, a sniper, is in a hidden corner. He holds up the tripod and is looking for the target through the telescope.

"There's a fortress at 1500 meters!" The sniper aimed and shot.

The incendiary bomb was fired, drawing a beautiful trajectory and shooting into the machine gun hole of the fortress.

"Boom~~" an explosion sounded.

The entire fortress was destroyed.

In the fierce fighting, fortresses and fortifications were destroyed one after another.

On the mountain, the 14th Regiment Headquarters.

Information from all parties was constantly summarized to the headquarters.

"What the hell is going on? Building so many fortifications doesn't have a slowing effect and can't kill the enemy on a large scale?" Pei Chi cursed.

In fact, they were fully prepared for this battle, otherwise they would not have built a large number of fortifications and seized favorable terrain, and he even led troops to reinforce.

However, the enemy's artillery power and fierce offensive were beyond his expectations.

"Captain, they used tanks!" said the subordinate aggrievedly.

Pei Chi said angrily: "Were there no mines laid? Are they all duds?"

"Captain, they have a demining vehicle and they detonated the mine."

"If the mines explode and destroy the demining vehicles, won't that stop their tanks?" Pei Chi was puzzled.

"Captain, the mine was detonated, but the mine-clearing vehicle could not be destroyed." The subordinate looked aggrieved.

"What?" Pei Chi was shocked. "What kind of mine-clearing vehicle is so powerful? Why haven't I heard of it?"

Pei Chi then took out a telescope. Although it was far away and the view was not very clear, he could still see that there was an armored vehicle in front and mines were constantly being detonated, but the armored vehicle was still moving forward. The tanks behind it were at a distance from each other and were not threatened by the mines at all.

The mines they had laid before were actually laid in vain.

This made Pei Chi very depressed. "Mobilize the artillery to bombard this tank armored unit!"

Pei Chi gave the order.

Without artillery, it is impossible to destroy tanks relying solely on infantry machine guns and rifles.

(End of this chapter)