Chapter 728: 728 Nanfengkou
Chapter 728728 Nanfengkou
Under Feng Kezhi’s order, Ding Hong actually did something serious. He was ordered to withdraw all Dahua troops near Tengyun to Nanfengkou, and the troops executed it very quickly.
The somewhat panicked Dahua troops were very quick when executing the retreat order. They carried out the order without hesitation and saved themselves.
In the drizzle, these troops gave up on Tengyun, and then fled to the mouth of the south wind with all the heavy weapons they could take away.
Soon, the Tang Army occupied Tengyun and captured it as planned. Then these armored units began to move towards Nanfengkou.
The battle soon broke out near Nanfengkou. An armored battalion of the Tang Army attacked along the road and encountered the Dahua defenders about 10 kilometers away from Nanfengkou.
A fierce battle immediately broke out between the two sides. The Tang Army gave up the attack after losing two No. 4 tanks, and then the two sides faced off here.
About an hour later, the follow-up troops of the Tang Army arrived and once again launched an attack on the enemy at Nanfengkou. The Dahua troops invested tanks, and the two sides fought together again.
As a result, the Dahua defenders miraculously held their position. The Tang army once again lost 4 tanks, but they did not occupy the village where the Dahua troops were stationed, nor did they capture the defensive positions on both wings.
Even though it was raining, the Dahua troops dug trenches and reinforced them with sandbags.
Relying on the supply depot behind them and sufficient artillery shells, the artillery of the Dahua Army also kept firing, which caused considerable trouble for the Tang Army's attack.
"We can't continue fighting like this! Our losses will be huge." Looking at our own tank troops that were releasing smoke and beginning to retreat in the distance, a regiment commander in charge of commanding this combat team said with some resentment.
In fact, this is not his regiment at all, he was just temporarily appointed as the commander of this combat team.
The entire combat team includes the tank battalion that arrived here first, as well as another armored grenadier battalion and some self-propelled artillery that just arrived.
Also included were some logistics trucks supporting the troops, as well as other miscellaneous troops following the troops as they advanced.
It is indeed a large and messy force: there are a few No. 4 assault guns, but the organization is incomplete, almost just a company. They are currently used as supporting firepower and are temporarily mixed with self-propelled artillery units.
There are also two Lion armored reconnaissance vehicles. They have no frontal combat capabilities. After all, the armor is too thin, so they can only be arranged for flank surveillance and cover.
The commander of the tank battalion standing nearby also looked helpless and asked with a sigh: "What should we do? Behind them is the Nanfengkou, and there are plenty of artillery shells."
Because it was in the rain, the smoke released by the tank troops was not very effective and had almost no effect. However, those tanks still covered the retreat of a small number of grenadiers, and brought back many wounded.
Among the officers present, apart from the regimental commander, the commander of the tank battalion has the highest rank, so he is almost the second-in-command of the combat team.
The attack just now caused him to lose many tanks, which was almost one-sixth of his entire battalion's combat effectiveness.
If he had a choice, he wouldn't even want to storm the enemy's position like this - according to the manual, this **** job should have been done by the assault gun.
It is simply a waste to let the tanks attack the enemy's fixed defenses that the infantry assault guns attack. His tanks should rush up like heavy cavalry and advance thousands of miles into the enemy's hinterland.
But the closer to the south, the more rainy weather there is. The armored troops lose their air cover and have to fight in the mud. This makes the tank troops lose their former agility and become clumsy.
"The other side has dug trenches and laid mines. We have to wait for the follow-up infantry to come up." The regiment leader briefly summarized and ordered the troops who were fighting hard to retreat: "Let your tanks retreat too. , it’s not worth continuing to waste time and life.”
The commander of the tank battalion, who was somewhat red-eyed, was still a little unwilling. He didn't want his tank to be lost in vain, so he said with a slight annoyance: "If we do this, today will be wasted. The infantry is still more than ten kilometers behind us."
“That can only wait.” The commander of the combat team gave his opinion.
"Okay! Then I'll let the people below cook and find a place to take shelter from the rain." The battalion commander was also helpless at this time. After being silent for a few seconds, he nodded and agreed with the commander's view.
In fact, after calming down for a few seconds, he realized that his troops really had no way to break through the defense line in front of them. The enemy also had tanks and would launch a counterattack when the defense line was about to collapse.
Although the tanks of the Tang Army were powerful, the rain shortened the fighting distance between the two sides, and the Dahua tanks on the defensive side did not need communication and communication, so the gap between the two sides was infinitely narrowed.
In this case, it would be too irrational to waste tanks and precious tank crews by using refueling tactics little by little. The group leader was wearing a raincoat, but in fact some places were already soaked. But he has his own car and doesn't need to be outside in the rain all the time.
Panzergrenadiers also have Type 113 armored vehicles to take shelter from the rain, and only a small number of people are needed to set up sentries. The tank troops don't have to worry, they only need to close the hatch cover to prevent them from getting wet by the rain.
So the regiment leader squinted at the sky and comforted: "It doesn't matter, we are an armored force, and the enemy will definitely suffer more than us in the rain."
"Who knows, I feel very uncomfortable right now. Those are six tanks! They are all my tanks!" The battalion commander looked at the battlefield not far away through the rain curtain in front of him.
Silence has returned to the place. Only the remains of the tank that were wet by rain can still be seen vaguely, and misty smoke can be seen diffusing from the gap in the hatch.
Although the regiment commander ordered to stop the attack, he was not willing to accept it, so he cursed: "Damn weather! If the rain had stopped, we should have arrived here yesterday."
"Yes, this **** weather, if it hadn't rained, we might even have caught up with the Dahua troops retreating from Tengyun." The commander of the tank battalion understood this sentiment very well and agreed.
In the distance, the retreating grenadiers have carried the wounded into the compartment of the truck. The truck driver and some follow-up logistics engineers are setting up tents. Some soldiers wearing raincoats gather under the trees, where the rain can be slightly lighter. .
The ground is full of mud and water, and when you step on your boots, water will seep in and soak your socks. If you walk for a day in this condition, your entire foot will be swollen and white with blisters.
The skin will wrinkle together and become fragile. Then it broke due to friction and turned into a wound that continued to bleed.
If not treated in time, these wounds will soon become infected and affect the entire sole of the foot. The fungus will cross-infect and eventually destroy the nerve tissue, forcing doctors to consider amputating the entire calf to prevent the spread of rot and lesions.
The design of military boots is actually very contradictory. If you consider daily use, it is best to have a high waist to protect the calves and tighten the calves so that soldiers can better adapt to long-distance treks.
However, if you consider the wet environment of wading, it is necessary to make it as easy as possible for soldiers to take off their shoes - but unfortunately, the boots are not easy to take off.
So infantrymen during World War II often used leggings, some made of wrapping cloth, and some made of leather or canvas materials.
Tang Jun’s high-waist military boots are actually not easy to take off, but if you don’t take off your shoes and dry your feet as soon as possible at this time, you will easily lose a few toes...
That's why some engineers started setting up tents when they attacked, and some soldiers got into the truck compartment and started taking off their shoes when they came back.
Two more trucks stopped at the roadside in the rain. They were troops coming along the road. They were from another motorized infantry regiment. Most of the people did not get off the truck. Only two people in raincoats came to see the combat team. The commander reported for duty.
This is a tacit understanding. As long as an organized unit is found, these units that were lost on the road will immediately join and mix into a new unit.
In this way, the size of the army can be ensured and the combat effectiveness of the attacking force can be maintained. There are also shortcomings. For example, if there are casualties, their troops cannot count them in a short period of time.
So far, the Tang Army has not calculated its losses after the war. This requires subsequent counting and summary before a conclusion can be drawn.
Even if the Tang army was like this, the Dahua garrison on the opposite side was in complete tragedy. In fact, despite how brave and tenacious they had just fought, in fact, these soldiers didn't even wear raincoats.
They were already soaked in the trenches. Because they were afraid that the Tang army would attack again, they did not dare to retreat. They could only wait stupidly in the muddy trenches.
The Dahua tank troops hiding on the other side of the village are better off, at least they can hide in the tanks to avoid the rain.
However, the Tang Army obviously did not intend to make things easier for these Dahua tank soldiers: soon several No. 4 assault guns began to shell, focusing on the Dahua tank troops who might be hiding behind the village.
After several shells fell, Dahua's tank troops had to move their positions. Although only one tank was damaged, the frightened tank crews had to consider their own safety.
When they left the area where they had just been bombarded, the Tang Army's bombardment also stopped abruptly: in fact, the Tang Army did not dare to waste their artillery shells too much. They bombarded such "suspicious areas" that had not been fully investigated and just fired a few rounds of shelling. That's it.
So, both sides ended the day's battle while cursing each other. The rain continued, and the Tang Army's troops also arrived one after another.
(End of this chapter)