Chapter 1552: 1553 Inexplicable retreat
Tang Army's 96 main battle tank uses an automatic loader, which has a high rate of fire and fast reloading. Needless to say, its advantages are obvious, but its ammunition reserve is only 41 rounds, which is not very much.
This amount of ammunition is not too small in a modern main battle tank, but it seemed a little insufficient during World War II: the mainstream ammunition quantities of the 75-gun and 88-gun guns in that era were around 70 rounds...
Why do modern main battle tanks only have forty or fifty rounds of main gun ammunition? Because on modern battlefields, high-intensity continuous charges by tank troops rarely occur. Everyone will use anti-tank weapons, including armed helicopters and anti-tank missiles, to prevent tank attacks.
Under the lag of anti-tank mines, the interference of anti-tank missiles, and the effective attacks of weapons such as the opponent's artillery and armed helicopters, modern tanks basically will not "persist" until they run out of shells and must retreat. Many times, they were destroyed before even a few rounds were fired.
But at this moment, there are very few weapons that can destroy the Tang Dynasty Type 96 main battle tank, and the Tang army's technology and tactics are superior to its opponents, so the Tang army's tanks were firing and they found that they had run out of ammunition...
They almost penetrated the entire 1st Dwarf Armored Division, destroyed hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles, destroyed hundreds of cars, and destroyed more than a dozen artillery pieces...
Just as they were preparing to continue the attack, they found that there were only a few shells left in their tanks.
Liu Guozhu angrily punched a piece of equipment in front of him. At this moment, he somewhat missed his old friend, the Panther tank, which could stack more than 70 rounds of artillery shells.
Although he knew that the Panther tank had no way for him to fire while moving, and there was no way for him to see distant targets clearly in the dark, let alone drive such a long distance safely... However, the ammunition capacity of the 70 rounds of artillery shells, It really smells good.
When Haralek personally rushed to the front line to supervise the battle, the Tang army actually stopped the attack on its own initiative. This result made him very proud, because judging from the results, his supervision was extremely effective.
He didn't know why the Tang Army's tanks stopped attacking. His 1st Armored Division had obviously collapsed, and the entire unit had even been penetrated. But what he knew was that the Tang Army might be at the end of its tether.
If you can't expand your advantage even though you have already established it, isn't this the end of the line? After making his judgment, he immediately ordered his troops to launch a large-scale counterattack.
However, before his order was conveyed, the Tang Army's large-scale air raids began. After completing replenishment and refueling, the carrier-based aircraft of the Datang Empire Navy took off again. This time their support target was the Datang Empire's 1st Airborne Division, which was fighting fiercely on the east side of Benn.
Countless bombs fell from the sky, and the dwarf troops finally understood this time: it turned out that everything they had experienced before was just an appetizer.
Now, the real main course is on the table, and they find that they really can’t eat it! Heavy weapons and equipment and crowded troops were instantly paralyzed. A reorganized division lost its combat capability before they could receive their orders.
Within ten minutes, the battlefield was littered with exploding ammunition, burning trucks, and paralyzed tanks and armored vehicles. The subsequent troops of the Dwarf 1st Army were like the Iraqi troops in the Gulf War, all drowned in a sea of fire.
The grassroots troops could not find their superior commanders, and all their superior commanders were burned to ashes in armored vehicles. The dwarf troops, who had no supplies, no command, and no intelligence, were completely helpless. They were scurrying around the battlefield like headless flies, unable to form combat effectiveness at all. It was already past three o'clock in the morning, and it was very close to General Moss's bottom line. General Haralek gave the order to continue the attack. He could no longer imagine what would happen if he returned without success.
He has the most elite troops of the dwarves in his hands. If he attacks continuously for one night and loses more than half of his troops without being able to break through the Tang army's defense line, how will this war continue in the future?
Therefore, he must give an explanation to the emperor, an explanation to the empire, and an explanation to himself: no matter how great the sacrifice, he must complete the task of regaining Benn!
Unexpectedly, at the same time that he ordered a desperate attack, General Moss, who was far away in Everwinter City, issued an order for the 1st Army to retreat.
Moss believed that since the battle had not been able to break through the Tang Army's defense line until three in the morning, it would be very dangerous for the 1st Army to stay where it was. Haralek's troops had to return to their base and move into fortifications in order to protect themselves from the Tang army's air strikes.
It is a pity that Everwinter City was attacked by a fierce air attack by the Tang Empire Navy aircraft carrier squadron at this time. Lu Qianshan launched an invader attack group and destroyed the power station, telegraph building and various facilities of Everwinter City.
When Moss knew that his order had not been issued in time, he was so angry that he almost vomited blood. He ordered a reissue immediately, but General Haralek did not receive this second order.
The luck on the battlefield was so strange. Communication problems caused the Tang army to run into trouble that day. As a result, the dwarves also fell into crisis due to similar problems.
At about 3:50 in the morning, this crucial order was sent to Haralek, and by this time his new round of attack had already begun.
After receiving the order to retreat, Haralek originally wanted to "disobey the military order abroad", but when another news came, he immediately changed his mind.
General Harf of the 2nd Army of the Ice Empire received a call. His counterattack failed. The 2nd Army's eastward marching troops were trapped in a tight encirclement, and the plan to attack Benn completely failed.
After hearing the news, Haralek immediately realized that he was fighting alone and had no results, and there was no point in continuing to persevere.
So he decisively issued an order to stop the attack and retreat immediately—this was probably one of the most failed orders he had ever given in his life.
If he knew that there were only more than 130 Tang paratroopers standing on his offensive path at this moment, and if he knew that most of the Tang tanks covering these paratroopers only had two or three rounds of artillery shells left, I wonder if he would regret his decision. Order to retreat.
However, history has no ifs. He did issue this order, and then the 1st Dwarf Army, which was storming the Tang Army's position, hastily ceased fire, turned around and began to retreat.
They left behind their own bodies and even many wounded, and withdrew from the battle in embarrassment, leaving a messy battlefield to the inexplicable Tang Army paratroopers behind them.