Seeing the staff officer who looked at him with confusion after hearing his last words, obviously not knowing where his feeling came from, Lieutenant Colonel Ikoma Hayashi raised the telescope again and looked around a lot. After a while, he said: "There is nothing surprising about this. This is the intuition of a veteran who has been fighting on the battlefield for four full years, and it is also the intuition that a tank officer should have."
"This kind of intuition is a very wonderful thing. It can only be developed by being on the battlefield for a long time. You, a young boy who just graduated from the sergeant academy, cannot understand it. After you have been on the battlefield for a few more years, you will You will understand. You should report it now. Even if there is a misjudgment, it is my intuition error, and it is not your turn as the combat staff to bear any responsibility."
Seeing Lieutenant Commander Ikoma Hayashi's insistence, the staff officer looked at the fierce fighting over there at the Twelve Front Lines, shook his head without arguing, and went down to convey the order. However, Lieutenant Commander Ikoma Hayashi did not have the opportunity to carry out his plan. , just when his third tank regiment was in combat formation, preparing to fire at the Twelveth Line to provide indiscriminate fire coverage, a tank unit rushed out of his flank at high speed.
Almost at the same time, a tank unit also rushed out from the front of Twelve Tu. The anti-alliance tank unit rushing out from the front and the protruding tank units on the flanks were like iron pincers, attacking the Japanese army from the front and flanks respectively. The three tank regiments formed an encirclement.
Seeing the two outflanking tanks totaling more than 80 tanks, Lieutenant Colonel Ikoma Hayashi had long forgotten his idea of indiscriminately shelling the defensive positions in front of the Twelve Tu. For him, The appearance of the enemy's tank troops not only confirmed the accuracy of his intuition, but also gave him the opportunity to fulfill his long-cherished wish since the Battle of Nomenhan.
As for why the artillery of the 23rd Division did not fire, whether there is still hope for a final breakthrough in the garrison position, and whether Colonel Matsuda Iwa's expectations can be realized, at this moment, because his own ideal is finally coming true, and he is so excited that he has already I no longer think about it.
Commander Ikoma Hayashi is obviously not a qualified commander, because in his eyes at this moment, there are only more than 60 vehicles outflanked by his opponents. His old rival from the Battle of Nomenhan, the Soviet-made T-26 Tanks, BT fast tanks, and other things have long been forgotten by him.
Although the bodies of these tanks are covered with square boxes that are different from those of the Soviet tanks in the Battle of Nomonhan. There is an extra semicircle on the turret, and a steel apron-like thing with a certain angle is formed on the top and bottom. He didn't know what he was doing, but one thing he was sure of was that it was time for him to show off his talents as Commander Ikoma Hayashi.
The lieutenant colonel, who finally felt the arrival of the fighter plane he had been waiting so hard for, quickly jumped off the ** type tank under his feet, found his type 97 command tank, and immediately got in and commanded his regiment to meet it. As a regiment leader, you not only consider tank performance, but also from a safety perspective.
Considering the importance of being a commander, it is natural to choose a tank with the thickest armor as his command vehicle. Otherwise, once his command vehicle is destroyed, the entire regiment will be without a command. It is absolutely inappropriate for a snake to have no head. , if you want to win the war, the safety of the commander is a very important issue.
After getting into his command vehicle, which was the most heavily armored among the entire Third Tank Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Ikoma Hayashi commanded his Third Tank Regiment without any hesitation. According to what he had already done Among the various combat plans that have been formulated, the one that is most suitable for the current situation begins to face the battle.
However, considering that there were a large number of anti-alliance tanks rushing from the flanks, he decided to use part of his force on the front, mainly 95 light tanks and 94-type armored vehicles, to conduct mobile defense. At this time, he had already quickly attacked from the front. With the cooperation of a withdrawn infantry squadron, they defended against the anti-alliance tank troops pressing forward from the front.
And he personally commanded most of his tanks, especially the Type 97 medium tank, which was the main force and among all the tanks of his entire Third Tank Regiment. It had the thickest armor and the most powerful artillery, to fight against the tanks that broke out from the flanks. Anti-Union tanks coming over.
He believed that the 57mm artillery and 37mm artillery on his regiment's tanks would have no problem dealing with the fragile armor of these Soviet tanks, and the largest 25mm gun of his Type 97 tank Although the thickness of the armor cannot completely withstand the 45mm artillery on enemy tanks, relying on the excellent quality of its crew will definitely not suffer.
The Japanese tank soldiers are indeed well-trained. Even when their own tanks are engaging the enemy at high speed, they still fire first, and their first round of shooting at a distance of about 600 meters has a hit rate of 100%. More than thirty, this hit rate is not low for the tanks of both sides approaching at high speed.
It is already very good for tank troops in general countries to achieve half of this hit rate. After all, at this time, there were no two-way stabilizers for tank artillery, and there was no hunter-killer fire control system of later generations. The tanks mainly exerted their firepower, which was short-stop shooting, and when the opponent Also under the circumstances of high-speed movement and long distance, the hit rate is still very low. Even if the first round of artillery fire is all empty, it is not unusual.
But before Lieutenant Colonel Ikoma Hayashi applauded his men's wonderful performance, he was shocked to find that the armor-piercing shells from his tank cannon that hit the turret were bounced away by the enemy tanks, while the armor-piercing shells that hit the car body, although there were The explosion was unable to penetrate the enemy tank. Whether it hit the turret or the hull, there was no armor that could penetrate the enemy tank.
His first round of tank fire, together with the two subsequent rounds of tank fire, failed to destroy even one of the Anti-Union tanks. After the Anti-Union troops approached a distance of 500 meters, he was the unlucky one. Under the power of the Anti-League 45mm tank cannon, none of his tanks could escape if it was hit. In his opinion, even the Type 97 tank with the thickest armor would not be able to escape. There was no escape.
Although the hit rate of the anti-alliance tanks in the first round was not as good as that of the Japanese army, relying on their own defensive capabilities, they caused serious losses to the Japanese tanks. In the first round of counterattack fire, seven Japanese tanks were destroyed, and A considerable number of tanks were hit. Although not necessarily fatal, they also suffered heavy damage.
As for the two rounds of artillery fire, among the Japanese tank groups facing the enemy from two directions, almost all the Japanese tanks with the worst defensive capabilities were destroyed, and most of the Type 95 light tanks with better maneuverability were also destroyed. Four of the last armored Type 97 tanks were destroyed, while almost none of the anti-Union tanks were lost.
Looking at the almost one-sided battle situation, Lieutenant Colonel Ikoma Hayashi could hardly believe his eyes. This was still during the Battle of Nomenhan. Those thin-skinned people were even at close range. Can millimeter machine guns penetrate the Soviet-made T-26 tanks and BT fast tanks?
He never thought that compared with the same type of Soviet tanks during the Battle of Nomonhan, the tanks of the Anti-Japanese Alliance had the same cannons. There was no change in this aspect, except for the strange ones hung on the bodies. Apart from the weird bits and pieces, there is not much difference from his former opponent in the Battle of Nomenhan.
But whether it is the armor on the turret or the car body, it is completely different. That is to say, the appearance is still the same, but the inside is completely different. Whether it is the armor thickness of the car body or the communication capabilities, it can be said that There have been fundamental changes.
During the Battle of Nomonhan, the Type 97 57mm short howitzer on the Type 97 tank was not as powerful as the 45mm artillery on the Soviet tank in terms of performance, especially its armor-piercing ability was not as good as that of the Soviet tank. cannon, but according to the experience during the Battle of Nomonhan, it has almost no problem penetrating the Soviet-made T-26 tank at a distance of 500 meters.
Although those Soviet-made T-26 tanks and BT fast tanks are extremely maneuverable, and the power of the artillery is not small, and the rate of fire is generally higher than that of Japanese tanks, but they only have 15 mm thick front armor, so they are incapable of resisting anyway. To withstand the power of the 57mm cannon on your own tank.
Not to mention the 57mm gun on the Type 97 tank, the 37mm gun on the Type 95 light tank has no problem penetrating their armor within a distance of 500 meters. As for the thinner armor The BT-type fast tank has nothing but speed.
And there are four of the latest 97-type tanks in the entire Japanese army in his regiment. The 47mm cannon equipped with them is more powerful and can even penetrate 75mm thick armor at 500 meters. , although one was lost before, but now there are three more.
This so-called Type 1 47mm tank gun was improved based on the Soviet-made 45mm anti-tank gun captured during the Battle of Nomenhan. Its performance is still superior to the Soviet-made 45mm anti-tank gun. The first Japanese tank gun with true anti-tank function.
The Japanese army had high hopes for this new type of artillery, but what disappoints Ikoma Lin now is that these artillery pieces hit the enemy tanks, but they were like scratching an itch, either being bounced away or having no effect. It is inconsistent with common sense, and it is even more inconsistent with the experience of fighting the same Soviet-made tanks in the Battle of Nomenhan.
In fact, Lieutenant Colonel Ikoma Hayashi clearly made a common sense and conceptual mistake. He was still using the performance of the Soviet T-26 tanks and BT fast tanks during the Battle of Nomonhan to evaluate the anti-Japanese war. A tank performance that is at least similar in appearance to Soviet tanks.
Little do they know that during the Battle of Nomonhan, the Soviet army suffered serious losses during the battle because the armor of its two main tanks was too thin. Even when encircling and annihilating the Japanese infantry, they faced two types of tanks that the Japanese army had already lagged behind. The Sanqi anti-tank gun also suffered serious losses.
Therefore, the Soviet army modified both tanks on the original basis. As the industrial level of the Soviet Union far exceeded that of Japan, because of its strong industrial foundation, the speed of improvement of its tanks was far beyond what the Japanese army with outdated concepts could compare with. , the Soviet Union, which also summarized the gains and losses in the Battle of Nomonhan, not only developed new tanks in a short period of time, but also significantly modified the original old tanks.
Because when Yang Zhen introduced tanks, he specified the latest model of the T-26 tank, the T-26S type, with an armor thickness of about 50 mm, and it was similar to the BT-5 tank used by the Soviet army during the Battle of Nomonhan. The greatly improved BT Type 7 fast tank.
Moreover, these tanks, together with some of the old T-26B tanks and BT-5 tanks that were later purchased in Hailar and purchased one after another, have been modified. The installation is still top secret at this time. The modification cost is low and there is no need to carry out any maintenance on the tanks. Extensive surgery and additional armor can greatly improve survivability.