Age of Rebirth

Considering the scale of hundreds of tanks in the first echelon, two tanks exploded and caught fire, which is a negligible loss at all, but Battelle's heart was "thumped", "Could it be that the soldiers of the Eastern Army are in ambush ahead? Impossible !" He thought, judging by experience, it wasn't destroyed by an anti-tank mine either, so what happened?

"Avantgarde Unit, what happened? Why did our tank explode and catch fire?" Battelle asked.

In the earphones, there was a report from the commander of the Vanguard Tank Battalion, "Reporting to the commander, a group of little devils came out of nowhere. There are not many of them, but they are enough to kill. My two tanks, and now, the infantry is tackling the battle!"

"Okay, don't waste time. There is no need for one of your battalions to fight with a small number of Kwantung Army soldiers. Your battalion draws out a tank platoon, and the infantry leaves a company of troops to settle the battle. The rest of the formation will continue to move forward!" Battelle Take it easy, the order arrives.

Just after giving the order, Battelle's chariot crossed a ridge, and when it landed, the bright headlights of the car happened to shine on a figure several hundred meters away. It was an officer of the Kwantung Army. Holding a command knife, a short man with a straight waist, standing motionless in front, has a somewhat fearless spirit!

Battelle's good eyesight played a role. In an instant, the Kwantung Army officer on the opposite side who wanted to die, the two gold stars on his collar badge reflected a different luster, and he was caught by him instantly, "Lieutenant General!" Battelle was overjoyed , "Playing Bushido! Then I will make you a bastard!" He thought with a sneer in his heart.

Then.Battelle exchanged positions with the gunner, the tank stopped slowly, but the lights kept shining.At this time, the tank tens of meters away flew past without stopping, and no one noticed it. With a sneer on the corner of Battelle's mouth, he skillfully turned the muzzle and the turret turned.The black muzzle aimed at the Kwantung Army officer in front, and then.Gently step on the fire pedal, as easy as shelling a pile of garbage.

The cannon was fired, and there was a loud "boom!", and a ball of fire exploded in the dark night.The Kwantung Army officer in front.I can't see it anymore. There is only a big pit on the ground. The tanks crushed it without hesitation. Battelle has no intention of capturing prisoners. If he knew, it was the No.18 Division of the Ninth Army of the Kwantung Army that he killed with one shot. The words of Lieutenant General Masao Watanabe.I don't know if I regret my actions?

A group of officers in the No.18 Division of the Ninth Army of the Kwantung Army who didn't even have a few grenades, did have the spirit of bushido.It's just that the actual combat experience and weapons are too poor, which only brought slight harassment and losses to Battelle's first armored assault group.Lieutenant General Masao Watanabe, head of the Lieutenant General Division, was blasted to pieces by Battle.

The remaining more than 100 officers are usually high-ranking and giving orders in the division headquarters, or some radio soldiers and communication soldiers. There have been bloody battles on the bloody battlefield, surrounded by shaking the earth , engines roaring, roaring past independent division tanks, rolled up the dust all over the sky, turned a blind eye to these Kwantung Army officers and soldiers with more than a hundred people bumping into each other like headless flies, and rushed into the dark night ahead in the blink of an eye middle.

The bright headlights dazzled the officers and soldiers of the Kwantung Army, and the vastness of vision made them even more desperate. They felt as helpless as fleas jumping into a sea of ​​fire. The few grenades they had were all used. , only caused negligible damage to the tanks of the independent division, and at the same time, there was a sense of shame that was completely despised.

However, the shame of more than a hundred officers and soldiers of the Kwantung Army did not last long. The armored soldiers of the independent division who were ordered to destroy them were surrounded by a tank platoon and a company of infantry. Many submachine guns screamed, and a dense rain of bullets poured over. In less than 100 minutes, more than 10 officers and soldiers of the Kwantung Army turned into corpses on the land of western Liaoning.

A burst of short and intensive gunfire subsided, and under the bright light, the infantry began to clean up the battlefield. It was nothing more than a few more shots for the officers and soldiers of the Kwantung Army who were not completely dead. The independent division troops did not have the habit of keeping Japanese prisoners. , Then, the infantry jumped on the tank and flew to catch up with the front brigade.

An encounter that could not be called a battle ended like an inconspicuous small wave on the huge battlefield of the Liaoxi Corridor. In the dark night, there lay more than 100 bloody corpses of Kwantung Army officers and soldiers, emitting The smell of blood and gunpowder will soon be blown away by the night wind, and the battle will be forgotten.

The outline of a dark city appeared in Battelle's field of vision. He let out a breath, with a smile on the corner of his mouth, and finally reached the outskirts of Linghai. Move swiftly, the other two regiments will quickly enter Linghai to wipe out the resisting Kwantung Army soldiers, remind us that we are not here to fight in the streets!"

In an instant, the entire city of Linghai was filled with the roar of tanks and bright lights. The battle to capture Linghai went smoother than expected. A large Kwantung Army team guarding Linghai, hundreds of soldiers, saw When countless tanks swarmed into the city like mountains and seas, they immediately lost their fighting spirit and didn't even have the intention to resist. It was originally a second-rate army, and it was composed of soldiers who had not been on the front line for a long time. What kind of bushido spirit, for the emperor The idea of ​​His Majesty's loyalty, when he saw the tank of the Independent Division, all disappeared, and what was left was endless fear and single-minded escape.

More than an hour later, Battelle's tank stopped in the open space in front of the Kwantung Army's Linghai Garrison Brigade. He jumped out of the car and looked at the dark yard. Fortunately, there was no sign of damage at all. The soldiers of the Kwantung Army had all fled, and the capture of Linghai was unexpectedly smooth, with almost no shots fired. A new idea came to his mind.

Battelle quickly matured his thinking. From the analysis of the situation where a brigade of the Kwantung Army fled without a fight in Linghai City, the Kwantung Army troops on the front line in western Liaoning were eager to retreat, and it was impossible to take any blocking measures. , it is almost the same as saying that the army is defeated like a mountain.

In this way, it is a good opportunity to continue chasing, and I have enough troops, one brigade of tanks, a whole infantry brigade, and two self-propelled artillery regiments. They are well prepared and have high fighting spirit. , It is very likely that a large piece of fat will be cut off from the retreating Kwantung Army troops. It is a pity to miss such a good opportunity!

The only inconvenient thing is that the brigade commander and the brigade headquarters of this infantry brigade didn't keep up, and they didn't know how far behind they were. It is not a problem to go to the Kwantung Army with tens of thousands of troops, not to mention that there are hundreds of thousands of troops behind!" Battelle made up his mind.

Battelle called over to the staff and ordered, "Immediately report to the headquarters of the attacking force that the first assault group of our tanks, with the cooperation of the infantry, has occupied Linghai. Now, I will command the troops and continue to pursue in the direction of Fengtian!" In the telegram Here, explain the current strength of our First Armored Assault Group!"

When Battelle received the telegram, Major General Feng Jiwu, the commander of the Niangziguan Garrison Corps, led the headquarters of the Corps, and had just crossed the Daling River. Lieutenant General Gu Cang, the commander of the Ninth Army of the Kwantung Army, ordered the rest of the troops to block the attack. The attack at the breakthrough, under the fierce shelling of the artillery group commanded by Zheng Yong, left corpses all over the place, without even seeing what the breakthrough looked like, they were hit by heavy artillery shells, and retreated in a hurry go,

On the north bank of the Daling River, scattered gunfire still rang out. It was the battle of soldiers of the Kwantung Army on the defensive positions that divided the encirclement and annihilation, and the battle was still going on. The Kwantung Army soldiers on the battlefield are all dead!

The staff sent a telegram. After reading it, Feng Jiwu smiled wryly, and said to the chief of staff Zhang Hansheng: "Chief of staff, why do I think our corps headquarters is like a decoration? Look at Battelle's armored cluster. Now Linghai has already been captured, and our command organization is still dangling on the banks of the Daling River. Oh, something is wrong. Battelle holds an infantry brigade in his hands. It is the third brigade of our corps, the brigade commander of the third brigade , why didn't the telegram come?"

Feng Jiwu saw something strange in the telegram. It stands to reason that the occupation of Linghai City was the result of the cooperation between tanks and infantry, but the infantry commander didn't report a word. Isn't it normal?

Zhang Hansheng smiled wryly, and said: "Commander, I was just about to report this to you. Ma Dongting, the commander of the third brigade, sent a telegram. There are a lot of vehicles in the department, so it lags behind, the whole brigade ran away with the tanks, and now he is the brigade commander, and there is only one guard battalion around him, he is almost a poor commander!"

"In the telegram, I complained to the headquarters. It said that several regiment commanders under my command were so red-eyed in the war that they refused to obey the command. Also, Commander Battelle of the armored forces robbed the command power privately. Please uphold justice. Now , Ma Dongting and the [-]rd Brigade Command are rushing to Linghai!"

"What?" Feng Jiwu yelled, his eyebrows raised in anger, "He Ma Dongting is really promising! His own troops failed to keep watch, and he blamed others. A brigade of soldiers ran away with the tank. He was incompetent. The brigade If the whole department fails to keep up with the troops, it is his brigade commander's dereliction of duty, no, he must be punished!"

Zhang Hansheng said with a smile: "Commander, even if you are punished, you have to finish the battle, right? Let's urge the troops to speed up, listen to Commander Battelle's wishes, and pursue desperately with the existing troops, trying to stop the retreating troops. Kwantung Army troops, what do you think?"

(to be continued) (to be continued...)