"Looking at the map, we are only about 30 kilometers away from the border." The gunner took the time to take out a can from the storage box next to the turret, opened the lid and started to devour it.
The driver was not idle either. He also crushed a pack of instant noodles, sprinkled the ingredients on it, ate it with a mouthful of mineral water and a mouthful of instant noodles.
The two of them were so hungry that they didn't eat much on the way. Liu Guozhu was okay. He had just eaten a piece of bitter chocolate to refresh himself.
"In other words, we are less than 70 kilometers away from the target?" Liu Guozhu spread out the map on the turret, lowered his head and compared it: "If we work hard tonight, we will probably reach the border."
They have been on the offensive for the past few days. Fortunately, there were no problems with the communication between the troops and supplies were on time, so there were no major problems.
In fact, there are still many small problems: Liu Guozhu's tank battalion now has less than half of its usable tanks left, and the rest are scattered on the road behind them, waiting to be repaired before they can catch up and join the battle.
There were no direct battle losses. They lost a tank in a battle, and the other party didn't know what kind of bad luck it was. A 150mm caliber shell directly hit the 96 tank, and the turret was blown off.
.
Now Liu Guozhu directly commands only 21 tanks, including his own command tank. The 1st company suffered the most losses, with only 5 tanks left to fight; the 2nd company has 7 tanks left; the 3rd company and the 2nd company have the largest losses.
There are still 7 cars left.
The remaining two tanks were directly under the battalion headquarters. Originally, Liu Guozhu's battalion was fully equipped with 50 tanks, as well as two armored reconnaissance vehicles...
All the armored reconnaissance vehicles at the battalion headquarters were broken down on the road. The troops currently providing reconnaissance intelligence are the mechanized infantry temporarily assigned to them. In order to allow Liu Guozhu's troops to have a certain independent combat capability, the division headquarters transferred a battalion of mechanized infantry and returned them to the mechanized infantry.
They were reinforced with several wheeled assault guns.
So now Liu Guozhu's unit can no longer be called a tank battalion, but a slightly strengthened mixed armored battalion.
"The infantry company said they hoped to have a meal and rest before continuing the attack. A wheeled assault gun went out for reconnaissance. They said no decent enemies were found 5 kilometers ahead," a noncommissioned officer at the battalion headquarters said.
Reported the situation to Liu Guozhu under the tank.
"The 1st Company lost another vehicle... We only have 20 vehicles left." The gunner took off his earphones and said vaguely while chewing the starch in the can.
"It's really bad news." Liu Guozhu smiled nonchalantly. Now one less tank is nothing to him: anyway, if you have too many lice, you won't have to worry about too many debts.
"When will the air force support be in place?" Liu Guozhu looked at the noncommissioned officer standing under the tank and asked.
The sergeant immediately replied: "Last radio communication, four attack planes have taken off, and they will arrive in about half an hour..."
"Let the infantry stay to eat and rest... The 2nd Company advances to Village No. 205 on the map to set up defenses, pay attention to the flanks... The 3rd Company covers the east side of the 2nd Company and controls the side road with more difficult terrain to avoid wasting time.
Tell them to pay attention to ammunition and fuel, and to retreat immediately if they encounter enemies! We have no fighting capability."
There are only two artillery shells left in his tank, and the machine gun ammunition has been almost consumed. The fuel in the tank can allow them to advance for more than 20 kilometers at most. If they have more, they may be stranded on the road due to lack of fuel.
However, Liu Guozhu still felt that it would be a pity not to use the last bit of fuel and ammunition, so he decided to send troops to the front in advance to control the strategic arteries.
"Understood!" The noncommissioned officer saluted with a military salute, and then went to give the order. Liu Guozhu didn't wear headphones, and the tank didn't start, so he simply let the noncommissioned officer deliver the order.
Soon, ignoring the infantry who had already started cooking, the tanks' engines roared again. One after another, the Type 96 main battle tanks drove out of the village and drove along the road towards the next target.
The black smoke column left by the bombing could still be seen in the distance. Liu Guozhu twisted his sore neck twice and put away the map he had just spread out.
A few minutes later, he saw the supply team's cars, trucks loaded with fuel, and ammunition trucks covered with canvas, stopping along the road one after another. Logistics soldiers holding weapons were chatting and laughing from where they were waiting for supplies.
The tank soldier took the cigarette from his hand.
"Go away and smoke!" Liu Guozhu shouted to a few smokers, and then directed the troops to start replenishing ammunition.
Here’s the bad thing about the three-person crew: when they were cleaning the tank and replenishing ammunition, they did lose one coolie. These physical tasks are definitely not easy, and it’s so exciting when the automatic loader pours ammunition on the battlefield.
, how annoying it is to refill ammo.
It is not easy to increase the power of reloading ammunition, but it is indeed easy to design an automatic loading machine structure. For the armored soldiers of the Tang Empire, sacrificing a little power for the sake of speed of fire is actually completely tolerable.
Anyway, their 125mm cannon can penetrate everything with one shot, and there is no so-called insufficient power problem at all. In many cases, Tang's technical personnel concluded from battlefield feedback that tank artillery was overpowered, and they hoped to reduce the caliber and increase ammunition.
Carrying capacity.
No way, for the Tang Army, 40 rounds of artillery shells were really too few. They missed the early days when their tanks had 70 rounds of artillery shells.
Although the improvement of the fire control system allows the 40 rounds of artillery shells in their hands to play a far greater role than the original 70 rounds of artillery shells, it is so popular.
As the battalion commander, Liu Guozhu was qualified not to carry the artillery shells, but he still chose to help. He stood on the tank, took the warhead from the driver below, and handed it to the gunner behind him. The whole process was cumbersome, and
Not a pleasant thing.
There is no way, the infantry has to load bullets in its own magazine, and the air force ground crew also has to load ammunition for the cannon... It is even worse when they hang the missile. Several people need to work together to pick up the missile and hang it on the aircraft pylon. That's terrible.
Not an easy job.
"Bring more ammunition for the machine gun!" Liu Guozhu ordered while carrying the shells. In order to continue fighting, each unit will try their best to carry more ammunition and materials. This is also an unwritten rule of frontline combat.
"Don't worry! It's still the same." The gunner agreed, giving a thumbs up.
