Under Feng Kezhi's order, Ding Hong actually did something serious. He was ordered to withdraw all the Dahua troops near Tengyun to Nanfengkou, and the troops carried out the task very quickly.
The somewhat panicked Dahua troops were very quick when executing the retreat order. They carried out the order without hesitation and saved themselves.
In the drizzle, these troops gave up on Tengyun, and then fled to Nanfengkou with all the heavy weapons they could take away.
Soon, the Tang army occupied Tengyun and captured it according to the plan. Then these armored troops began to march towards Nanfengkou.
The battle soon broke out near Nanfengkou. An armored battalion of the Tang Army attacked along the road and encountered the Dahua defenders about 10 kilometers away from Nanfengkou.
A fierce battle broke out immediately between the two sides. The Tang army gave up the attack after losing two No. 4 tanks, and then the two sides faced off here.
About an hour later, the follow-up troops of the Tang Army arrived and once again launched an attack on the enemy at Nanfengkou. The Dahua troops put in tanks, and the two sides fought together again.
As a result, the Dahua defenders miraculously held their position. The Tang army once again lost 4 tanks, but they did not occupy the village where the Dahua troops were stationed, nor did they capture the defensive positions on both wings.
Although it was raining, the Dahua troops dug trenches and reinforced them with sandbags.
Relying on the supply depot behind them and sufficient artillery shells, Dahua's artillery kept firing, which created considerable trouble for the Tang army's attack.
"We can't continue fighting like this! Our losses will be huge." Looking at our own tank troops releasing smoke in the distance and beginning to retreat, a regimental commander responsible for commanding this combat team said with some resentment.
In fact, this is not his regiment at all, he was just temporarily appointed as the commander of this combat team.
The entire combat team includes the tank battalion that arrived here first, as well as another armored grenadier battalion and some self-propelled artillery that just arrived.
Also included were some logistics trucks supporting the troops, as well as other miscellaneous troops following the troops forward.
It is indeed a mess of troops: there are a few No. 4 assault guns, but they are not fully organized and are almost just a company. They are currently used as supporting firepower and are temporarily mixed with self-propelled artillery units.
There are also two Lion armored reconnaissance vehicles. They have no frontal combat capabilities. After all, the armor is too thin, so they can only be arranged for flank surveillance and cover.
The commander of the tank battalion standing nearby also looked helpless and asked with a sigh: "What should we do? Behind them is the Nanfengkou, and there are plenty of artillery shells."
Because it was raining, the smoke released by the tank troops was not very effective and had almost no effect. However, those tanks still covered the retreat of a small number of grenadiers and brought back many wounded.
Among the officers present, apart from the regimental commander, the commander of the tank battalion had the highest rank, so he was almost the second-in-command of the combat team.
The attack just now caused him to lose many tanks, which was almost one-sixth of his entire battalion's combat effectiveness.
If he had a choice, he wouldn't even want to storm the enemy's position like this - according to the manual, this damn job should have been done by the assault gun.
It is simply a waste to let the tanks chew up the enemy's fixed defenses that the infantry assault guns are chewing. His tanks should rush up like heavy cavalry and advance thousands of miles into the enemy's hinterland.
But the closer to the south, the more rainy weather there was. The armored troops lost their air cover and had to fight in the mud. This caused the tank troops to lose their former agility and become clumsy.
"The other side has dug trenches and laid mines. We have to wait for the follow-up infantry to come up." The regiment leader briefly summarized and ordered the troops who were fighting hard to retreat: "Let your tanks retreat too.
, it’s not worth continuing to waste time and life.”
The commander of the tank battalion, who was somewhat red-eyed, was still a little unwilling. He didn't want his tank to be lost in vain, so he said angrily: "If we do this, today will be wasted.
The infantry is still more than ten kilometers behind us."
"Then we can only wait." The leader of the combat team gave his opinion.
"Okay! Then I'll let the people below cook and find a place to take shelter from the rain." The battalion commander was also helpless at this time. After being silent for a few seconds, he nodded and agreed with the commander's view.
In fact, after calming down for a few seconds, he realized that his troops really had no way to break through the defense line in front of them. The enemy also had tanks and would launch a counterattack when the defense line was about to collapse.
Although the tanks of the Tang Army were powerful, the rain shortened the fighting distance between the two sides, and the Dahua tanks on the defensive side did not need communication and communication, so the gap between the two sides was infinitely narrowed.
Under such circumstances, it would be too irrational to waste tanks and precious tank crews by using refueling tactics little by little.
The group leader was wearing a raincoat, but some places were already soaked. But he had his own car and didn't need to be outside in the rain all the time.
The Panzergrenadiers also have Type 113 armored vehicles to take shelter from the rain, and only a small number of people are needed to set up sentries. The tank troops don't have to worry, they only need to cover the hatches to prevent them from getting wet from the rain.
So the regiment leader squinted his eyes and looked at the sky, and said comfortingly: "It doesn't matter, we are an armored force, and the enemy will definitely suffer more than us in the rain."
"Who knows, I feel very uncomfortable right now. Those are six tanks! They are all my tanks!" The battalion commander looked at the battlefield not far away through the rain curtain in front of him.
The place has returned to silence, only the remains of the tank that were wet by rain can still be seen vaguely, and misty smoke is diffused from the gap in the hatch.
Although the regiment leader ordered to stop the attack, he was unwilling to do so, so he cursed: "Damn weather! If the rain had stopped, we should have arrived here yesterday."
"Yes, this damn weather, if it hadn't rained, we might even have caught up with the Dahua troops retreating from Tengyun." The commander of the tank battalion understood this sentiment very well and agreed.
In the distance, the retreating grenadiers have carried the wounded into the compartment of the truck. The truck driver and some follow-up logistics engineers are setting up tents. Some soldiers wearing raincoats gather under the trees, where the rain can be slightly lighter.
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The ground is full of mud and water, and when you step on your boots, water will seep in and soak your socks. If you walk under these conditions for a day, your entire feet will be soaked in water and become swollen and white.
The skin will wrinkle together and become fragile. Then it will break due to friction and become a bleeding wound.
If not treated in time, these wounds will soon become infected and affect the entire sole of the foot, with fungal cross-infection and eventual destruction of nerve tissue, forcing doctors to consider amputating the entire calf to prevent the spread of rot and lesions.
The design of military boots is actually very contradictory. If you consider daily use, it is best to have a high waist to protect the calves and tighten the calves so that soldiers can be more adaptable to trekking long distances.
However, if you consider the wet environment of wading, it becomes necessary to make it as easy as possible for soldiers to take off their shoes - but unfortunately, the boots are not easy to take off.
Therefore, infantrymen during World War II often used leggings, some made of wrapping cloth, and some made of leather or canvas materials.
Tang Jun's high-waist military boots are actually not easy to take off, but if you don't take off your shoes and dry your feet as soon as possible at this time, you will easily lose a few toes...
That's why some engineers started setting up tents during the attack, and some soldiers got into the truck compartment and started taking off their shoes when they came back.
Two more trucks stopped on the side of the road in the rain. They were troops coming along the road. They were from another motorized infantry regiment. Most of them didn't get out of the truck. Only two people in raincoats came to see the combat team.
The commander reported for duty.
This is a tacit understanding. As long as an organized unit is found, these units that were lost on the road will immediately join in and form a new unit.
In this way, the size of the troops can be ensured and the combat effectiveness of the offensive troops can be maintained. The disadvantages are not without, for example, if there are casualties, the troops to which they belong cannot count them in a short period of time.
Therefore, so far, the Tang Army itself has not calculated the loss data after the war. This requires subsequent counting and summary before a conclusion can be drawn.
If the Tang army was like this, the Dahua garrison on the opposite side was in complete tragedy. In fact, despite how brave and tenacious they had just fought, in fact, these soldiers didn't even wear raincoats.
They were already soaked in the trenches, because they were afraid that the Tang army would attack again, and they did not dare to retreat, so they could only wait stupidly in the muddy trenches.
The Dahua tank troops hiding on the other side of the village were better off, at least they could hide in their tanks to avoid the rain.
However, the Tang Army obviously had no intention of making things easier for these Dahua tank soldiers: soon several No. 4 assault guns began shelling, focusing on the Dahua tank troops who might be hiding behind the village.
After several shells fell, Dahua's tank troops had to move their positions. Although only one tank was damaged, the frightened tank crews had to consider their own safety.
When they left the area where they had just been bombarded, the Tang Army's bombardment also stopped abruptly: in fact, the Tang Army did not dare to waste their artillery shells too much. They bombarded such "suspicious areas" that had not been fully investigated and just fired a few rounds of shelling.
That's it.
As a result, both sides ended the day's battle while cursing each other. The rain continued, and the Tang Army's troops also arrived one after another.