Chapter 649 Encirclement and Annihilation of the Third Army One
An officer came up with an idea: "Let's cut down the trees and build a wooden bridge. The water here is not deep. As long as three or five pieces of wood are tied and placed on top, it will be enough to support the soldiers from sinking."
McClain said: "If we continue like this, we will hit Windhoek at some point. Okay, let's cut down trees and build bridges. Let the reconnaissance troops also send cavalry to the left and right along the shore of the salt marsh.
Go in that direction and see if we can see its boundary. If we can go around it, it will save a lot of time."
Looking at the already setting sun, McClain added: "Let the soldiers set up camp. We will stay here today. Inform the engineers to cut down trees and build bridges as soon as possible. We have to pass here as quickly as possible.
"
Bostonians don’t have maps, but the Chinese Empire is just the opposite. At this time, Brigadier General Baden is holding a very accurate satellite mapping map and observing the nearby terrain. The salt marsh blocking McClain is also marked.
On the map it's called Etosha Salt Flats.
"McLean is probably blocked by the Etosha Salt Flats. After all, this is a large salt marsh that is more than 140 kilometers long and more than 60 kilometers wide. They will not be able to get through in a few days." Brigadier General Baden
He pointed at the map and said.
Several staff officers next to him were also watching. One of them said: "We have enough time to continue building blocking positions, but we don't know what's going on with the other way."
"It's no problem. With Commander Cheng Guangling here, the people of Boston will have nothing to eat." Colonel Ouyang Zhe, commander of the 915th Infantry Brigade of the National Defense Force assigned to the Southern Army, happened to come over and took over the topic.
"Yes, we just need to do our part and hold off the Seventh Army for a month. As for the Third Army, Commander Cheng will solve it smoothly." Brigadier General Baden also nodded in agreement. Regarding the combat effectiveness of the Imperial Chinese Army,
, he has always been very convinced.
At the same moment, the Third Army led by Chief of Staff Major General Somerville was advancing rapidly. They were moving faster than the Seventh Army. At this time, they had entered the Namib Desert.
"Report to the Chief of Staff that another tank has broken down." An officer came over wiping his sweat.
"Damn desert, how can there be such a hateful terrain." Major General Somerville cursed: "It's really inconvenient here. Check it immediately. If it can be repaired, fix it. If it doesn't, give up. Don't give up every time.
Come and ask me." Somerville was in the same bad mood as McClane. Although the hard Gobi desert ground did not consume too much physical strength of the soldiers, the scorching wind evaporated everyone's moisture.
Marching here, everyone needs three times as much water as usual, so all soldiers must move forward on foot, because trucks and jeeps are used to store drinking water and food. Those who sit on artillery carts are pulled by tractors or trucks
The walking artillerymen also had a hard time. The blazing sun heated up all the metal surfaces. Once the artillerymen's skin came into contact with the artillery, they would be scalded red. The metal on the seats and backrests were also very hot, making people feel like they were on the ground.
It's like being dried.
The most unlucky ones are those tanks with unreasonable design. Because the M4 tank has a large horsepower and a relatively sophisticated engine design, its air inlet has a fine grid. Due to design problems, the tank's air inlet is in
At the bottom of the tank, this causes the air inlet grille to be often blocked by the sand and dust raised in the Gobi Desert, and the tank stalls because it cannot suck in air. This has happened many times. Despite repairs
It was very simple, as long as the grid was cleared, they could continue driving, but doing so was a waste of time, but they had no choice but to slow down their march.
Major General Somerville, like the soldiers, was also walking in the team. He took off the soft military cap on his head, wiped the sweat that had flowed down his neck, or fanned himself. Unfortunately, it was quite hot here.
, even the air blown out by the fan is hot, but it turns out to be even hotter.
After drinking a gulp of cold water, Somerville felt better. "Report a mountain range ahead." A scout ran over.
"Really? Are there any trees?" What Somerville wants most now is to find a shade tree and lie down for a while.
The scout said: "There are trees, but they all appear to be short trees such as red willows and sand poplars. However, the mountains are very high and stretch for a long time."
Somerville nodded and said: "That's good. Let the troops move quickly. We will spend the night under the mountain today." Although there are no woods to provide shade, it is good to have a mountain wall to block the sun. I heard that you can camp under the mountain shade.
The morale of the soldiers increased a lot. They quickened their pace and tried to get to the foot of the mountain to rest as soon as possible.
As the saying goes, looking up a mountain is like running to death. Although they soon saw the mountain, after walking for another half an hour, they felt that the mountain was still as far away. According to the scout's report, there was still at least twenty kilometers to the foot of the mountain.
distance.
Now the Boston soldiers were as if looking at plum blossoms to quench their thirst. When they saw the camp, even though it was still far away, the soldiers were very excited. They marched quickly on the hard Gobi Desert and accelerated towards the mountains. Suddenly, there was a scream.
, a large-caliber artillery shell fell in the middle of the team, causing a cloud of dust and gravel to fly out of dozens of marching Boston soldiers.
"There is an enemy attack." Many soldiers shouted and dispersed. They found cover and fell down. However, the Gobi Desert was flat and empty, and there were not many places for them to hide, so many people simply lay down on the spot.
Somerville was also thrown under him by the adjutant. He raised his head, looked at the chaotic situation in front of him and said, "What happened?"
The adjutant said: "It seems that there was an enemy attack. I will send someone to ask."
The guard who went out to inquire soon came back. When he heard that artillery shells exploded nearby, he immediately ordered the reconnaissance troops to expand the search area, but soon more artillery shells flew, and dense explosions rang out in the team,
Many people were thrown into the sky.
The shelling just now was obviously a school firing, but now there is no need to conduct reconnaissance at all, because there is a lot of gunpowder smoke rising from that big mountain. This is caused by a large number of artillery salvos. Obviously, that is where the enemy's artillery position is.
.
Seeing that his troops had entered the opponent's heavy artillery firing range, Somerville immediately ordered the troops to retreat five kilometers, and at the same time called the air force to conduct reconnaissance and bombing. A dozen fighter jets on standby at the rear airport quickly took off and flew towards the
Mountains called Brand.
The field airport is less than two hundred kilometers away from the Somerville area. At the speed of a jet plane, it only takes more than ten minutes to arrive. However, when more than a dozen planes arrived here, they were immediately attacked by a large number of anti-aircraft guns.
After they circled around, they had to increase their flying altitude.
These jets are just fighter jets. They are part-time reconnaissance aircraft and have no high-altitude reconnaissance capabilities at all. Therefore, they only made a rough observation and began to hover here, occupying high altitudes to guard the surrounding environment.
Soon a large number of B29 bombers arrived. They took off together with the jet fighters, but their speed was too slow, so they did not arrive until this time. Arriving above the Brand Mountains, they opened their bomb bays, and a large number of small
The bombs fell to the ground like raindrops, blowing up clouds of smoke and dust. The fragile land on the top of the mountain was severely damaged, and the already sparse vegetation was completely destroyed.
Stationed on the mountain are the troops of the 391st Division of the 132nd Army of the National Defense Force. They rely on anti-aircraft firepower to shoot at the bombers raging in the sky. The 391st Division is a reserve force, and their weapons are not the best, but every soldier has carried out close combat.
After a year of training for new recruits, their technical and tactical skills are quite good, not to mention that many of them are frequent visitors to various clubs, and their marksmanship and artillery skills are very good.
Hou Yu, the commander of the 1019th Regiment stationed at the infantry position on the mountainside, spat out the sand in his mouth and cursed: "These bastards, don't their bombs cost money? They bombed without even seeing the target clearly. It was obviously artillery that was shooting, but they knocked it down.
Our infantry position is here."
Zhou Peng, the guard battalion on the side, smiled and said: "Captain, it's nothing. Such bombs don't pose much of a threat at all, and we don't have much loss."
Hou Yu nodded and said: "The sand can effectively remove the power of the explosion. Their bombing will not have much effect. It's just that we have too few people. If the opponent starts to attack, it will be difficult for us to defend it."
Zhou Peng nodded and said: "Yes, but we have to defend for two days anyway. When the main force surrounds us, we can annihilate these guys."
Hou Yu and Zhou Peng were talking when a group of silver swallows suddenly came out of the clouds and launched an attack on the B29 bomber. It was the Golden Eagle 4 fighter jet of the 71st Wing of the Air Force stationed in Nanfang County. See you.
When the Chinese Empire's fighter jets appeared, the F84 fighter jets that were on alert immediately rushed to greet them.
The two sides fought in an air battle in the sky. Since most of the Boston Empire's aircraft had been transferred to the Western Continent, and the air force in the southern subcontinent was not strong, the F84 was clearly outmatched even though the numbers of both sides were similar.
A team of four Golden Eagle 4 fighter jets saw the opportunity and quickly got rid of their opponents and rushed towards the bomber group. Those F84 fighter jets were entangled by other Golden Eagle 4 fighter jets and could not go to the rescue. The four aircraft rushed into the bomber group.
The group seemed to be in a deserted area, and those clumsy B29 bombers were unable to fight back.
After those bombers were attacked, the machine gunners in the cabin immediately turned their large-caliber machine guns and fired desperately. However, the speed of the Golden Eagle 4 fighter was too fast. They were too busy turning their guns.
But they still couldn't keep up with the speed of the plane. In desperation, those bombers had no choice but to throw away their bombs and return immediately.
A note to readers:
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