Until the explosion was completely over, gunpowder smoke was still hanging over the minefield.
Compared with flesh and blood, it was indestructible. Compared with the diminutive Japanese soldiers, the Type 97 modified medium tank was like a behemoth. Just like that, under the helpless eyes of the Japanese Major, it was instantly reduced to pieces.
After being stunned for several seconds, the Japanese Major finally came back to his senses in shock and horror. He swallowed hard, and then roared angrily.
He vowed to tear this group of gangsters into pieces.
The entire minefield is a group of anti-tank mines specially laid by the Eighth Route Army. Once detonated, it will instantly cause a series of explosions throughout the minefield.
In the explosion just now, all the landmines have been detonated.
The Japanese Major immediately ordered to continue the desperate pursuit, and his anger almost made him lose his rational judgment.
However, the subsequent pursuit did not go smoothly. Along the way, we encountered some large and small Eighth Route Army defense fortifications and minefields. Some of these fortifications were real, and some were fake.
The enemy minefields laid were also real and fake, making it impossible for the Japanese army to judge.
Just like that, the speed of the pursuing Japanese armored vehicles was greatly delayed, and soon there was no trace of the enemy Eighth Route Army's armored vehicles.
After the Japanese fighter jets were ordered to arrive, they completely lost sight of the Eighth Route Army armored units.
In the end, the Japanese Major who led the team in pursuit returned without success and honestly reported the situation to the old Japanese Nan Zhi.
As for the result, due to poor fighting skills, as expected, I suffered two big battles.
The Japanese Major became even more resentful towards these damn Eighth Route Army soldiers.
The Japanese army thought this was the end, but who would have thought that this was just the beginning.
The attack at dawn had just ended. The pursuing Japanese army finally fell into a minefield trap laid by the Eighth Route Army and damaged several Type 97 modified medium tanks.
Then at around 9 a.m., when the Japanese troops were setting up camp to rest at 12 noon, and in the evening when they were preparing to set up camp for defense, the Japanese troops were repeatedly attacked by small groups of armored units from the Eighth Route Army.
In fact, the precise definition of this kind of attack should be harassment.
The Eighth Route Army would often bombard the Japanese camp from a certain distance, and then choose to withdraw without hesitation.
This series of harassment caused limited casualties to the Japanese army, but it was extremely annoying.
Not very harmful, but very insulting.
In addition, this series of attacks did not come from one direction, but from multiple directions. From the perspective of the Japanese army:
These cunning bastards are like insidious poisonous snakes. You can never guess where they will be, at a certain moment, they will suddenly spring out and bite you.
Then he rushed into the hiding place with a sudden sound and disappeared.
The angry old Japanese Nan Zhi also divided his troops to pursue him many times. However, he was always blocked by some real and fake fortifications and real and fake minefields of the Eighth Route Army along the way.
There is no way to pursue them.
So, the Japanese army continued to push forward, thinking that no matter how cunning you are, the monks can't escape and they can't escape the temple!
When our troops attacking from both sides finally converge and completely compress your space for activities, there will always be a time when we force you to fight.
As a result, when the Japanese's forward armored troops crossed the river, they were ambushed by the Eighth Route Army with rocket launchers and armored troops.
After a battle, the Japanese vanguard troops crossing the river suffered heavy casualties.
This completely angered the little devil, and the old devil Nanzhi personally ordered the pursuit. The small group of armored troops from the Eighth Route Army that made the sneak attack must be wiped out in one fell swoop.
At the same time, continue to maintain the advancing formation of the entire armored brigade and try to merge with the 26th Division troops in the direction of Datong, forming a two-sided attack.
However, the Eighth Route Army did not necessarily retreat in a straight line.
Sometimes they will continue to retreat in circuitous circles.
Anyway, the entire Western Inner Mongolia region is vast and flat, almost endless. Although the armored brigade led by the old Japanese Nanzhi has a lot of troops, the Eighth Route Army armored troops who want to encircle and suppress small groups of troops in this weak plain area are basically unable to do so.
It's just wishful thinking.
It is impossible for the Japanese to draw out a front line hundreds of kilometers long and conduct a large-scale encirclement in a net-like manner.
And this is far from over.
In the next few days, the Eighth Route Army maintained this style of play, which was to constantly harass the Japanese army, wait until the Japanese divided their forces to pursue them, and then quickly retreat, using traps set along the way to cause the Japanese to lose their troops. Of course, once the Japanese army was annoyed and pursued them desperately, the Eighth Route Army soldiers decisively chose to retreat and never entangled with them.
In addition, the Japanese troops were harassed by highly maneuverable combat vehicles. Once a hit was hit, they would immediately escape thousands of miles away.
It's quite a plain terrain - the meaning of armored troops harassing guerrilla warfare.
When the enemy advances, we retreat; when the enemy is stationed, we harass; when the enemy is tired, we attack; when the enemy retreats, we pursue!
Overall, the confrontation between the two sides showed that the Japanese army still had the absolute advantage, and the armored units of the Eighth Route Army did not dare to face the enemy head-on.
The Japanese tank pursuit troops were in pursuit.
Sometimes the Eighth Route Army evacuated hastily and was even forced to abandon some supplies and equipment.
Sometimes the fortifications and minefields were still under construction, and they were discovered by the Japanese, and the Eighth Route Army had no choice but to escape hastily.
This gave the little devil some comfort amid the annoying harassment and repeated pursuits of the Eighth Route Army.
However, this also invisibly consumed a lot of fuel for the Japanese, and caused more losses to various types of mechanical vehicles of the Japanese army.
After several days of fighting with wits and courage, the Japanese army completely disabled 3 95 light combat teams, 2 97 modified medium combat teams, and 4 92 armored vehicle teams.
Even the Motorized Search Squadron was severely damaged by 3 people, and as a result, they didn’t even see the Eighth Route Army.
A large number of damaged vehicles need to be overhauled, otherwise they will not be able to be put into combat again.
The Japanese army's pursuit front is also getting longer and longer. The originally relatively concentrated armored group troops composed of various arms are gradually divided into multiple pieces during the pursuit.
The soldiers did not give the little Japs any chance to breathe. When the Japs took a break at noon, especially when they set up camp for defense at night, the soldiers would even harass them all night long.
Old Japanese Nan Zhi didn't dare to be careless. Who knows whether these Eighth Route Army soldiers might suddenly launch a fierce attack when he thought they were just harassing them?
As a result, the Japanese soldiers could not get enough rest at all amid the harassment of the Eighth Route Army all night long.
After several days of pursuit, the soldiers were quite exhausted even with the help of mechanized vehicles.
Time flies like this to the sixth day.
Because the Japanese armored vehicles and tanks kept advancing, they were constantly harassed by small groups of armored units of the Eighth Route Army, and there was no time for adequate repairs.
In addition, fuel consumption is very large.
Originally, all this was not fatal. The Japanese army was specially equipped with maintenance troops, and the fuel they brought was quite sufficient.
As long as you take a good and steady rest for a whole day, the lost mechanical vehicles can be completely repaired, and the fuel required by each team can also be replenished in time by transport tankers.
In actual fact, the Japanese army did this.
At this time, according to the Japanese reconnaissance situation, the armored units of the Eighth Route Army were temporarily missing.
When Nan Zhi ordered the troops to rest, carry out extensive unified maintenance of the machinery, and replenish fuel, after reporting on the situation of the command vehicles at all levels, the pursuing troops were already far behind without realizing it. p>
The two furthest chariot brigades are even nearly 100 kilometers apart.
This situation actually made Nan Zhi feel a little guilty.
However, the chariots are currently experiencing serious wear and tear, and there is also a serious shortage of fuel. They must be stationed on the spot to rest and recuperate before they can be put into combat again.
Nanzhi ordered the maintenance troops and transport convoys to take action immediately, and sent additional chariot troops to escort them along the way.
to about 4 p.m.
The old Japanese in Nanzhi are currently stationed in a temporary camp, waiting for the scattered chariot brigades to be renovated and immediately regroup, concentrate their forces, and beware of being driven out by the Eighth Route Army!
Communication messages came one after another in a hurry:
"Your Excellency, Brigade Commander, the maintenance team heading to the 1st Tank Group was ambushed by the armored troops of the Eighth Route Army on the way. They are currently in a bitter battle. Please ask for tactical guidance!"
"Sir, the temporary camp of the Third Tank Brigade was suddenly attacked by the Eighth Route Army. The enemy had a considerable number of armored and tank vehicles, and the firepower configuration was extremely fierce. The external defenses built by our unit have been forcibly breached!" p>
"Sir, the transportation unit was attacked, and two oil tankers were detonated by the Eighth Route Army..."
"Sir..."
"Your Excellency, Brigade Commander... the Eighth Route Army seems to have launched a full-scale counterattack!!!"
One after another terrible news came one after another. The old Japanese Nan Zhi at the temporary camp headquarters stared blankly at the military map in front of him. Each node that appeared represented the Eighth Route Army's armored forces.
It seems his chief of staff was right.
Judging from the appearance of various armored units on the Eighth Route, it seems that the enemy wants to completely separate his entire tank brigade.
"Are these damn Eighth Route Army really going to start a decisive battle with my chariot brigade?"
The Japanese chief of staff on the side spoke out Nan Zhi’s thoughts:
"This is absolutely impossible, brigade commander. According to our investigation, although there are a lot of armored vehicles of the Eighth Route Army in this area, I'm afraid they are far from enough to confront our troops head-on.
In addition, according to the report of the flying team, it has successfully destroyed many enemy armored units in the target area, destroying at least nearly a hundred tanks and armored vehicles.
Under such circumstances, what trump card does the Eighth Route Army have that can defeat our army in a decisive battle?"
This is something that these two old devils never figured out.
As the best way to attack land armored forces - air force bombing.
After detecting the presence of the Eighth Route Army's armored units in the western Inner Mongolia area, almost all the aircraft at the Wuzhaigou Japanese and puppet army airport were dispatched.
Regardless of whether it was a classic aircraft or a new fighter jet, he invested all his money in it. According to Okamura Neiji's absolute order, he continued to conduct reconnaissance back and forth in the target area for six consecutive days. Whenever the enemy's armored target was discovered, he immediately
Start bombing.
In just five or six days, the Japanese bombers probably dropped no less than 500 bombs in the target area.
According to the squadron's combat feedback, a total of more than a dozen enemy armored units were blown up, and dozens of enemy fortifications and camps were blown up.
According to this situation, the squadron leader of the Japanese flying squadron believes:
The strength of the Eighth Route Army's armored forces in the target area has been reduced to ten percent.
This is why the old Japanese Nan Zhi and the Japanese chief of staff were stunned when they learned that a large number of enemy armored units suddenly appeared at various nodes and presented a full-scale counterattack.
Naturally, Kong Jie and Li Yunlong would not explain themselves to the little devil.
The devil's judgment is indeed good.
Time passed to the sixth day. According to the weekly offensive plan created by Kong Jie and Li Yunlong, it was precisely when the Japanese troops were exhausted, armored vehicles also suffered great losses, and the fuel supply was also insufficient, that they launched a comprehensive counterattack.
After the comprehensive counterattack begins:
The first step was to take advantage of the fact that the Japanese armored units were scattered during the pursuit, and directly divide the Japanese armored units in a roundabout way.
The second step is to eliminate the Japanese maintenance troops and transportation troops in a targeted manner.
The third step is to launch the final decisive battle with the Japanese armored forces and quickly defeat the Japanese armored forces, mobile artillery, cavalry and other units.
Steal various resources and equipment from the Japanese armored brigade, and then quickly disperse and hide.
……
Everything is ready, and the decisive battle between the mobile and armored forces of both sides is about to begin.
What Kong Jie and Li Yunlong expected was that the Japanese armored forces were exhausted after being constantly harassed by the Eighth Route Army.
The timeline extends to the sixth day. The soldiers are already tired and the vehicles have also suffered varying degrees of wear and tear.
In addition, the Eighth Route Army officers and soldiers used tanks, armored vehicles and various modified combat vehicles to launch fierce attacks on the Japanese army in different directions.
The entire Japanese tank group is like a herd of bison.
Relatively speaking, the Eighth Route Army soldiers are smaller in number and smaller beasts.
Although there are few ferocious beasts, unity, teamwork, and joint attack are better than unity.
On the other hand, the buffalo herd, although powerful, was in chaos under the siege of the beasts.
The reaction speed of various maneuvers is often led by the Eighth Route Army soldiers.
If you are attacked to the east, you will hastily defend to the east; if you are attacked to the west, you will hastily defend to the west.
After so many times, the deficiencies of the Japanese armored cluster force, which was composed of multiple arms, lacked unified command and lacked tacit teamwork, were immediately exposed.
The overall cooperative operation seems increasingly chaotic.
What depresses the old devil Nanzhi the most is...
Also undergoing constant combat marches, his soldiers were exhausted and his chariots were suffering from various levels of wear and tear.
However, the number of various armored vehicles and tanks of the Eighth Route Army that launched the decisive battle far exceeded his estimate. Judging from the opponent's mobility, artillery fire and other factors, it seemed that they had not suffered any losses. p>
"Baga, how did the Eighth Route Army do it?"
...Boom——
The elite tank troops from both sides launched a fierce confrontation.
On the Japanese side are the two most elite tank squadrons in the entire Nanzhi Armored Brigade, equipped with more than 30 Type 97 modified medium tanks plus Type 95 light tanks, plus more than ten armored vehicles.
On the vast plain terrain, we directly opened up the formation and used a tank group to crush the armored troops of the Eighth Route Army that appeared not far away.
On the Eighth Route Army side, most of them were armored vehicles and modified combat vehicles. Only seven or eight light tanks were mixed in the center of the formation, plus a few medium tanks.
The strength of both sides does not seem to be on the same level.
The Japanese Major commanding the battle roared angrily, as if he wanted to vent all his anger for the past six days into the battle in front of him, crushing and wiping out all the Eighth Route Army troops...