As one of the few surviving officers of the old 3rd Tank Regiment in the Battle of Nomenhan, Lieutenant Colonel Ikoma Hayashi has a profound memory of that battle. The tanks dispatched by the Japanese army in that battle were overwhelmed by the overwhelming Soviet artillery fire. The battle suffered heavy losses. Less than half of the hundreds of tanks dispatched finally returned to the camp. The two tank regiment captains who participated in the battle were also killed in the battle.
But although he was deeply impressed, for Lieutenant Colonel Ikoma Hayashi, he did not think that it was his failure. In that battle, the Kwantung Army's tank troops lost in quantity and even more in artillery support. As for the light tanks of the Soviet Army, he has not paid much attention to them yet.
If Lieutenant General Komatsubara and Captain Angan used the tactics correctly at that time, and if the Kwantung Army had more tanks, all the tanks could be used together, and the weaknesses of the Soviet army should be selected to give full play to the strengths of the Japanese army in night battles, rather than temporary If it is assigned to each regiment and divided for use, the battle will definitely not have a certain ending.
In his opinion, although the Type 97 tanks have fallen behind, the Kwantung Army's latest Type 97 tanks and even the Type 95 light tanks are not backward compared to the Soviet tanks. The Kwantung Army is losing in numbers and tactics. , it was not that he lost in other aspects, but through interrogating Soviet prisoners of war after the war, he believed that the quality of the Kwantung Army's tank troops was far superior to that of the Soviet army.
In his opinion, the most critical thing about the Kwantung Army in that battle was not its combat effectiveness, but ultimately its loss due to the gap in national strength. Therefore, he was not convinced about that battle, and after the war, the infantry's attitude towards the tank soldiers was useless. The insult was even more difficult for him to accept. In his opinion, if he had roughly the same number of tanks as the Soviet army, the outcome of that battle would never be the same.
For Lieutenant Colonel Ikoma Hayashi, who wanted to fight an upright decisive battle with his opponent to restore the reputation of the tank unit in the Kwantung Army, after learning that his opponent was equipped with a large number of tanks, he immediately I want to have a samurai battle with them.
However, Kanji Nishihara, who did not understand at all how to use tank tactics under modern warfare conditions. In his mind, the use of tanks was still stuck in the Japanese army's usual thinking. Regarding the concentrated third battle he had proposed many times, The suggestion that the vehicle regiment engage in a tank battle with the enemy to completely defeat the enemy's armor and weaken the enemy's attack power as much as possible was flatly rejected.
Instead, they insisted on following the traditional tactics of the Japanese army, dividing the third tank regiment and assigning it to each infantry regiment to participate in the battle. In his opinion, Nishihara Kanji's equal distribution was a waste of troops and risked repeating the tragedy of Normandy. Lieutenant Colonel Ikoma Hayashi firmly disagreed with the dangerous tactics of the battle.
He was arrogant and wanted to be humiliated in the Snowman War. Especially after observing the performance of the German armored troops on the Soviet-German battlefield, his eyes turned red from stimulation and he wanted to fight a tank battle with the enemy. Ikoma Hayashi would agree with Kanji Nishihara's approach.
In his opinion, if Nishihara Kanji's conservative tactics were followed, his Third Tank Regiment would probably be exhausted on the battlefield in a short time, and would not be able to play the role that a tank unit should have. , as for the losses in the battle of Linxi Airport, it was just an excuse for him to oppose Nishihara Kanji's approach.
Even when facing all the anti-tank firepower combined, except for a small number of anti-tank artillery, the only weapons were Chinese soldiers covered with grenades, the number of tanks lost by the Japanese army in every battle on the Guanhai battlefield was The losses were much higher than during the peripheral battle at Linxi Airport.
The loss of several tanks was not in the eyes of Lieutenant Colonel Ikoma Hayashi, but in his opinion, if Lieutenant General Kanji Nishihara followed the method of dividing a tank regiment and assigning it to each regiment, That is to ruin the Third Tank Regiment, especially when the opponent is already equipped with large-caliber anti-tank guns and a wide variety and quantity of small and medium-caliber anti-tank guns.
The 23rd Division's own two tank squadrons were all lost in the battle for Linxi Airport. This was due to Lieutenant General Nishihara Kanji's incorrect use of tanks. These tanks were formed into a formation of four tanks. , all losses were caused by constant counterattacks against the enemy.
In his opinion, Lieutenant Colonel Ikoma Hayashi, even if there is a large amount of artillery support, this kind of attack is still no different from suicide. If he still follows Lieutenant General Nishihara Kanji's previous tactics, his third tank regiment is very likely to They will be defeated by their opponents one by one in the constant battle.
The experience of the Nomonhan Battle made Ikoma Hayashi always believe that attacking positions equipped with a large number of anti-tank guns, especially large-caliber anti-tank guns, would be courting death. Therefore, after his opinion was rejected, he expressed his concern for Kanji Nishihara. Basically, the orders were passively resisting.
He tried different ways to preserve his strength, not because he was afraid of death, but because he had never given up on the idea in his heart, that is, to have a battle with Wang Guangyu's armored unit that broke into Linxi, like the Germans fought on the European battlefield. Tanks fight to maintain strength and hoard supplies.
Although there is currently insufficient fuel and ammunition, especially the Sanqi artillery on the tanks, there is a serious shortage of armor-piercing ammunition necessary for anti-tank. Most of the fuel that was replenished was blown up along the way, except for the radio station and baggage of the 23rd Division. In addition to the use of vehicles, less than one ton was in the hands of the 3rd Tank Regiment.
However, in Ikoma Hayashi's view, coupled with the fact that he has painstakingly saved the fuel on hand, the third tank regiment may not be without the possibility of a battle. It lacks armor-piercing bombs and grenades. As long as it is close to the anti-union tanks, it can fight in close combat. Melee fighting, the use of high-explosive grenades, and the high quality of the tank crews gained through hard training, made it possible for the anti-alliance tank troops to fight despite the division of troops.
He has always believed that as long as some of the tank clusters currently concentrated in Linxi by the Anti-Japanese Alliance are destroyed, the Anti-Japanese Alliance's offensive ability in Linxi will be reduced by at least half or more. Without the support of tanks, the battle situation of the 23rd Division will not be able to Reversal, but cannot continue to worsen.
Moreover, in Ikoma Lin's view, if the Anti-Japanese Alliance's current tank troops are divided and the main force is still fighting in the Bahrain Right Banner, the opportunity to destroy the Anti-Japanese Alliance's tank cluster will be eliminated. The 23rd Division will seize the front line of Sunjiayingzi and defeat the opponent. It is also difficult to defend there under a mass tank offensive.
Because through observation of previous battles, Lieutenant Colonel Ikoma Hayashi believed that the Anti-Japanese Alliance's infantry-tank coordination tactics were far superior to the Soviet army. Compared with the Soviet army, which relied more on the impact of tank clusters and had extremely poor infantry coordination, the Anti-Japanese Army The alliance's infantry-tank coordination tactics are not only closely coordinated, but also specially trained at first glance. The cooperation between the infantry, artillery and tank troops has reached a tacit understanding.
This kind of infantry tanks and infantry artillery cooperate with each other tacitly to attack difficult problems. The combat effectiveness is far from comparable to that of an army that relies solely on tanks or infantry. Without destroying the anti-alliance tank cluster in Linxi, all the 23rd Division's It is difficult to succeed in a counterattack, and even if you break through the opponent's defense, it is difficult to stand.
Therefore, it was of no use to Matsuda Iwa whether he gave orders, requested, or even begged him. When he thought that it was not yet time for the entire army to press on him, he would not move. As for when the entire army would be dispatched, it was very simple. Just wait until the anti-Union tanks appear.
Although the defenders on the opposite side are currently only resisting passively, and the tank units attached to them have not appeared on the battlefield for a long time, Lieutenant Colonel Ikoma Hayashi always has a feeling that the tank showdown he has been looking forward to will definitely appear today, because with The smell of gunpowder smoke filling other people's noses was different. He smelled a strong smell of gasoline in the air here.
This smell is his favorite smell, and it is also the smell to which he is most sensitive. It is precisely because he smells this familiar smell in the air that he believes that the opponent's tank will definitely appear. As long as the opponent's tank is defeated, Although the tank cluster cannot turn the tide of the battle, it can create good conditions for the next battle of the main force of the 23rd Division on the front line of Sunjiayingzi, but there is no problem.
Therefore, he must accumulate strength and wait for the kind of battle he is looking forward to, instead of exhausting his strength little by little while fighting back and forth with the defenders equipped with a large number of anti-tank weapons. As for the 23rd Division and up to Lieutenant General Nishihara Kanji, Colonel Matsuda Iwa, down to the group captains, it is up to them what the squadron leaders think.
No matter how he threatened or intimidated me, or even begged me as the chief of staff of the division, he remained unmoved. In the end, I even leaned against a big rock and closed my eyes, pretending to be "I". Lieutenant Colonel Ikoma Hayashi and Colonel Matsuda Iwa were so angry that they almost chopped him alive without a single blow.
In the end, there was nothing we could do about this guy. Matsuda Iwa, who was so angry that he was about to vomit blood, decided not to use the Third Tank Regiment to participate in any offensive. If you are willing to adopt the same tactics as before, it is your business. In short, I can't manipulate you. , I can do without you.
Since you are unwilling to cooperate with the infantry to break through and find various excuses to shirk the tasks assigned by the division, and would rather sit back and watch the infantry fight bloody battles, then continue to cool down over there. Colonel Matsuda Iwa does not believe that he has left the 3rd Tank Regiment. This pile of live fish cannot be made into sashimi without your piece of stinky meat, Ikoma Hayashi Zhongsa.
Matsudayan was going crazy with anger. Faced with his tactical adjustment, Qi Zhibiao, the deputy commander of the third regiment of the first division who was responsible for the first-line defense of Twelve Tu, was also under considerable pressure at this time, which only brought pressure to him. It was not the few infantry squadrons facing the Japanese army, but the fierce artillery fire that the Japanese army had almost continuously fired from the beginning of the counterattack to the present.
Although there were defense fortifications built by the Japanese army on the Twelve Tu Lines, those fortifications faced the west and south directions, and there were almost no fortifications facing the east. Because this is a rare grassland terrain in Linxi, the Japanese army No anti-slope positions were built. The fortifications currently used by the defenders were all field fortifications built by the troops who worked overtime after capturing the Twelve Tu line.
Let this kind of civil structure plus field fortifications composed of sandbags and trenches be used to withstand the continuous bombardment of the Japanese army from 150 heavy artillery, 75mm mountain field artillery, to 92nd infantry gun and 90mm mortar. It is simply impossible, and the terrain of the Twelve Tu Lines is flat. Except for a small river no deeper than the upper of a shoe, there are no natural dangers to rely on.
Less than half an hour after the Japanese army launched its attack, under the fierce Japanese artillery fire, the field fortifications on the 12th line were basically destroyed to embers. Facing the fierce Japanese attack, there were almost no fortifications left for the front-line defense forces to utilize. , can only rely on the crater to support itself.
There are no more fortifications, and the intensity of the Japanese heavy artillery behind has also dropped. The threat is not that great, but the threat from the Japanese infantry artillery, Qiwu Mountain artillery, and 90mm mortars is still there. It was quite big, but Qi Zhibiao didn't care about the Japanese tanks that were suppressing fire from 700 meters away.