Xiang Ziyu didn't know why the dwarf troops opposite him suddenly retreated when it was almost dawn. According to their estimation, if the opponent continued to attack all night, they would probably fight until dawn.
After all, when dealing with the Tang Empire's air raids, there were two commonly used tactics: one was to retreat early when it got dark, and the other was to insist on continuing the fight after dawn.
Since the dwarves did not retreat at three or four in the morning, they were almost determined to continue the attack at all costs.
The soldiers of Datang's 1st Airborne Division were ready to fight to the end. They had to cover and supply the tanks of the Tang army that had run out of ammunition, and they had to hold on until the air force arrived. They knew that they were likely to die.
On such a small high ground.
But it turned out that their enemies were not determined to fight to the end: after the collapse of the Dwarf's 1st Armored Division, the 1st Infantry Division and the 11th Infantry Division, which subsequently served as the main offensive force, began to retreat around 4:30 in the morning.
The two sides were no longer entangled, and the fighting suddenly stopped. The dwarves moved too quickly, not even leaving a rearguard.
"Have these dwarfs retreated?" the deputy battalion commander asked as he walked around some empty ammunition boxes discarded at his feet and walked to Xiang Ziyu, who was resting with his rifle in his arms.
He had just returned from the regiment headquarters, bringing back a truck full of ammunition and 15 soldiers reinforced by the regiment headquarters. These soldiers were from the guard company and were ordered to support the 1st Battalion, which had suffered the most serious battle losses.
Last night, the 1st Battalion had a total of 500 officers and soldiers, and by the end of the battle, almost half of them were gone. During the counterattack, there were about 240 soldiers from the two companies, but at this moment, only 110 were left guarding the position.
After almost four days of fierce fighting, this unit has changed beyond recognition. Despite this, an hour ago they were still fighting tenaciously, carrying ten times and a hundred times the enemy force to the end.
Xiang Ziyu raised his heavy eyelids, and his tired voice was very obvious: "Yes! We retreated! I thought they would fight until dawn."
The deputy battalion commander handed the document in his hand to Xiang Ziyu: "It's probably because they know the news!"
"Oh? The 2nd Division on the west side has already won?" Xiang Ziyu steeled himself, looked at the contents of the document, and raised his eyes to look at the deputy battalion commander.
"Yes, I guess they are capturing prisoners now." The deputy battalion commander took the piece of paper again and stuffed it into his pocket.
"Then we still have to thank them?" Xiang Ziyu asked with some disdain. His troops had fought well just now and even captured many prisoners during the counterattack.
The deputy battalion commander laughed, shook his head and said, "I don't think it's necessary. We fought well here and didn't lose the face of our paratroopers."
Xiang Ziyu yawned as he spoke: "Ha... I'm a little sleepy without those bastards rushing up to me."
He had been directing the battle before, and took the lead in counterattacks at critical moments, repelling several dwarf attacks. It was not obvious during the battle, but after taking a rest, he realized that he was really sleepy.
The deputy battalion commander also agreed: "Let the soldiers take a rest... They are already too tired."
According to the situation where the dwarves left so resolutely, the possibility of coming back should be slim. If the opponent's commander had any brains, he would not mobilize his troops like this.
The normal situation is that either the opponent will continue to attack until dawn and not stop, or they will choose to retreat in an earlier time and in an orderly manner. Like the kind where the troops are withdrawn at dawn and then arranged to fight after dawn.
Idiots are really rare.
Xiang Ziyu leaned against the wall of a cement-reinforced trench in the high ground, and was a little confused when he spoke: "Choose some soldiers who are in the best condition to serve as sentries, and the rest of the troops will rest! But! Go to bed after the ammunition is ready
!”
"Understood!" The deputy battalion commander did not argue with Xiang Ziyu anymore, and placed the 15 newly brought soldiers in guard positions with weapons on their backs. Soon the position became quiet.
From the perspective of the Tang Army paratroopers, the Battle of Benn was over because the dwarf troops had withdrawn from the ground attack.
However, from the perspective of the Air Force, this battle is far from over. As the sun appears a little bit from the horizon, the outline of the earth gradually becomes clear, and the number of Tang Army's aircraft has increased significantly.
The helicopter troops that had been on the battlefield for the first time became more and more precise in their firepower: rockets and machine gun fire caused more trouble for the retreating dwarves.
The problem of the dwarf troops' lack of anti-aircraft firepower also began to surface: yesterday they abandoned a lot of equipment for the offensive, and those anti-aircraft guns were one of them.
A group army that takes action as soon as it says it will take action is already very powerful. It is unrealistic to expect this unit to make all the preparations when it is temporarily assembled.
When the 1st Dwarf Army set out last night, they did not prepare too much in order to speed up the march. They left all the heavy weapons and equipment that were not easy to mobilize at their garrison positions.
This decision caused confusion for the dwarf troops throughout the night's battle: they lacked heavy artillery support and had no decent anti-aircraft firepower.
According to Moss's idea, or according to General Haralek's judgment, as long as the 1st Army moved quickly and could cooperate with the 2nd Army to form a two-sided attack, the lack of anti-aircraft firepower and the lack of heavy firepower support were not particularly fatal problems.
After all, they have hundreds of tanks, as well as the support of some self-propelled artillery and light artillery that can follow the movement of the troops. Logically speaking, this is enough.
But they did not expect that the firepower they had high hopes for would be completely useless when faced with a position garrisoned by a parachute regiment of the Tang Army.
Even when facing the counterattack of a tank battalion and a paratrooper battalion of the Tang Army, tens of thousands of troops and hundreds of tanks were beaten back steadily, and finally even lost their combat effectiveness.
When the sky was completely lit up, the Tang Air Force attacked Yongdong City, bombed the retreating 1st Army, and also greeted part of the 2nd Army that had been trapped.
These planes dropped a large number of bombs, destroying the Dwarf troops who had lost their bunkers. During breakfast, the Dwarf counterattack forces on the west side, which had fought fiercely all night, surrendered because they had exhausted all the ammunition they carried and there was no possibility of a breakout.
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And General Half outside the encirclement could no longer mobilize any troops to reinforce the dwarf troops in the encirclement.
