Chapter 252: The Meat Grinder on the Xinjing Battlefield
In this battle for the city, both sides suffered not only casualties. Xinjing, which the Guandong Army had worked hard to build and was known as the most modern city in Asia, was completely reduced to the ground. The battle inside the city
After the war, the entire city was littered with dead Japanese soldiers, and corpses that could not be collected in time were scattered all over the streets and alleys.
A large number of destroyed equipment and buildings turned into piles of rubble were piled up on almost all roads in the city. Among the main streets in Xinjing City, Datong Street, Suncheon Street, and Datong Square, there were shell craters one after another.
1. The vast tracts of woods in the city were completely cut down, and all the wood was used for fortifications.
After the entire huge area of Xinjing was completely recaptured by the Anti-Japanese Alliance, the entire Xinjing city was completely reduced to ruins, with no complete building left. The original magnificent State Council, Eighth Department, and Kwantung Army Headquarters of the Puppet Manchukuo were
A series of buildings such as the Central Bank of Manchuria, the Japanese Temple, and the Manchukuo Telephone Co., Ltd. had all been razed to the ground by this time.
Especially the Central Bank of Manchukuo, which was the site of the most brutal battle in Xinjing City and was also the headquarters of the Japanese army in Xinjing City. This building, known as the strongest in the Far East, took more than ten rounds of 280mm heavy howitzer shells.
, plus countless rounds of artillery shells with a caliber of more than 75 mm from both sides, as well as large and small aerial bombs. The entire building complex has been completely turned into a pile of rubble, and not even a complete wall can be left.
In the words of Pearson and Ross, who visited the Xinjing battlefield, the most modern city in Asia, which the Japanese worked so hard to build, no longer exists as a city. The entire city, which was completely reduced to ruins, has
Impossible to recover.
Although the Anti-Japanese Alliance captured the urban area of Xinjing and controlled the Gongzhuling line on the southern line, extending the defensive space of Xinjing City to the south for dozens of kilometers, the momentum of the Japanese counterattack was extremely fierce. The Japanese army continued to draw divisions from the rear.
The regiment's troops launched continuous counterattacks in the area south of Xinjing, trying to recapture Xinjing, the capital of the puppet regime they had single-handedly established, and a city that symbolized the Kwantung Army's rule over China.
During the fierce fighting on the east and west wings of the Xinjing battlefield, in order to prevent the Anti-Japanese Alliance tank group offensive and ensure that the entire Xinjing battlefield would not be cut off by the Anti-Union armored offensive, the three Japanese divisions on the Xinjing battlefield would not be cut off by the Anti-Japanese Alliance armor offensive.
The Kwantung Army's armored group offensive was divided and encircled, and the Kwantung Army was much more effective than the North China Front Army in using captured British second-hand goods as the main anti-tank means.
The Kwantung Army not only mobilized a large number of rapid-fire artillery, but also strengthened a large number of field guns for use as anti-tank artillery. It also learned from itself when the Sanqi rapid-fire artillery and Type-1 rapid-fire artillery were not powerful enough to fight against the German tanks of the Alliance.
Based on the combat experience of the German allies, almost all Type 88 anti-aircraft guns were moved to the front line and used as large-caliber anti-tank guns for horizontal firing.
During the battle, a large number of meat bombs were concentrated and used as the last anti-tank method. Although the Japanese army's meat bomb offensive did not cause much losses to the anti-alliance tank troops participating in the attack. However, the Japanese army fired a large number of flat shots in the mountains and fields.
The artillery and the Type 88 75mm anti-aircraft gun were quite a threat to the tanks of the Anti-Japanese Alliance.
Especially the Type 88 75mm anti-aircraft gun equipped with armor-piercing projectiles. Although it is not as powerful as the German 88mm anti-aircraft gun when firing horizontally, it also lacks corresponding dedicated armor-piercing projectiles. However, it relies on the excellent ballistic performance of this anti-aircraft gun, and
It was temporarily used as an anti-aircraft armor-piercing projectile for anti-tank guns, and its power in anti-tank combat is still amazing.
Outside the range of the Anti-Japanese Alliance's tank guns, it penetrated a large number of tanks, and even once curbed the Anti-Japanese Alliance's armor advancement speed on the battlefields on both sides of Xinjing. The large encirclement south of Xinjing has not yet been completely eliminated.
Completed. The Anti-Japanese Alliance invested a large amount of troops and only completed the sealing of the Xinjing battlefield. These anti-aircraft guns used for level shooting can be said to have done the most great work.
This type of anti-aircraft artillery, combined with the Taisho 14th-year-old 105mm heavy anti-aircraft artillery, posed a considerable threat to the anti-alliance armored forces on the Northeast battlefield. Fortunately, the Japanese army's anti-aircraft artillery can only use fixed positions.
The erection work was extremely cumbersome. Moreover, the range of horizontal fire was far less than that of the Soviet-made field artillery and cannons of the Anti-Japanese Alliance.
In addition, after the anti-aircraft gun is used as a flat-firing gun, the target is very huge. Although its original sighting system for air defense has high accuracy, it is too large in scale and can easily become a living target on the battlefield. As long as you observe carefully,
It is not difficult to find the position of this kind of anti-aircraft gun first.
After suffering heavy losses at the beginning, Wang Guangyu immediately discussed with the commander of the Second Armored Division to adjust tactics. He strengthened some Soviet-made field artillery for the Second Armored Division. As soon as he discovered this anti-aircraft artillery position, he immediately mobilized 76mm cannons.
Using long-distance and high-precision shooting, we first destroyed the positions of such anti-aircraft guns, and then accelerated the advance of the tank group again.
However, the entire large encirclement was never completed. This allowed Japanese reinforcements to continuously enter the Xinjing battlefield through the gap. In order to reinforce the Xinjing battlefield, the Anti-Japanese Alliance reduced the number of troops invested on the eastern front and deployed two divisions.
, turned around and joined the Xinjing battlefield. And a division that served as a reserve force was also put into the Xinjing battlefield.
There are battlefields everywhere around Xinjing City, and it has become a veritable meat grinder. Even though the Anti-Japanese Alliance invested two-thirds of its armored force, more than half of its large-caliber artillery, and nearly one-third of its aviation force on the Xinjing battlefield,
.However, under the counterattack of the Kwantung Army with all its strength, the entire battlefield is still in a stalemate.
In this meat grinder, the daily casualty figures for both sides remain high. The average daily casualty figure for the Anti-Japanese Alliance is two regiments. As for the Japanese army, which is worse equipped, the casualty figure can only be higher. On the Xinjing battlefield
Both sides fire at least 50,000 rounds of artillery shells of various calibers every day.
The aerial bombs dropped in each air raid are not measured in kilograms, but in tonnage. The entire Xinjing battlefield is full of large and small craters. The originally fertile farmland has become a battlefield of blood and fire. Tons of
Steel fell on these lands, making this land that was originally a granary almost barren of grass for more than ten years.
The huge consumption caused the reserves of both the Kwantung Army's arms warehouses in the rear and the Anti-Alliance's ammunition reserves to drop rapidly every day. The arsenals of both sides were working hard to produce almost every day, trying to meet the huge needs on the battlefield.
The artillery shells produced by the arsenals of both sides were pulled to the front line as soon as they came off the assembly line.
In order to replenish the ammunition depot of the Kwantung Army, the Japanese base camp transferred the Korean army, even part of the artillery shell reserve in the country, and all the artillery that could be mobilized to the Kwantung Army. On the entire railway from Andong to Fengtian in North Korea, a large number of missiles were fired every day.
The arms train braved the constant bombings of the Anti-Japanese Alliance to transfuse blood to the Kwantung Army.
At the same time, all the output of the Fengtian Arsenal was also allocated to the Kwantung Army. It can be said to be a base camp that sells iron and steel. It has only one request for the Kwantung Army. It must recapture Xinjing at all costs and ensure the safety of the grain-producing areas around Xinjing and the Nanman Industrial Zone.
Absolute safety, especially for the Fushun petroleum smelting industry which is necessary to fight Japan.
While the Japanese base camp continued to desperately transfuse blood to the Kwantung Army, in order to reduce the casualties of the troops and enhance the covering firepower of the front-line combat troops, Yang Zhen even ignored the poor ammunition reserves and used the two newly formed German 150mm howitzer regiments
, was also brought to the Xinjing battlefield to enhance the firepower of the Xinjing battlefield.
The arsenal in the rear has stopped the production of all light weapons and ammunition, and has focused all its energy on the production and manufacture of artillery shells and aerial bombs. In particular, the 75mm mountain field gun, which is most urgently needed by the army, is a German-made 150mm gun.
mm howitzer shells, Soviet 122 mm howitzer shells, and rocket shells of various calibers.
Yang Zhen was thinking of ways to increase the firepower of the front-line combat troops, and the Japanese army was doing the same thing. In addition to desperately supplying blood transfusions to the Kwantung Army from the base camp and North Korean army reserves. The Japanese base camp also used blood transfusions from the Philippine battlefield where the operation had been completed.
All captured American tanks and artillery, as well as stored artillery shells, were transferred to the Kwantung Army.
The Kwantung Army used these American-made tanks, plus its own newly formed tank troops, to temporarily organize five tank regiments, all of which were strengthened on the battlefields on the east and west wings of Xinjing. Together with the anti-alliance armored groups on the two wings of Xinjing
On the battlefield, a tank battle was fought that was unprecedented in scale so far on the Chinese battlefield.
In September 1941, in order to strengthen the defense of the Philippines, the US military dispatched two tank battalions equipped with M-3 light tanks to the Philippines. As a result, during the Philippine campaign, due to the confusion in US military command and unfavorable combat operations, these tanks were destroyed
Basically abandoned.
Although these tanks had suffered some damage before being abandoned, the damage to these tanks was not complete. The Japanese army repaired a large part of them. Together with some of the Dutch army tanks captured in the Dutch East Indies, the formation of
Two tank regiments were quickly transferred to the battlefield in Northeast China.
So in this tank battle, there was such a strange scene. Among the five tank regiments invested by the Japanese army, in addition to the Type 97 and Type 95 tanks, there were actually more than 70 American M-3 tanks.
Light tanks. As for the tanks put into the battlefield by the Anti-Japanese Alliance, in addition to the German-made tanks equipped by the Second Armored Division, there was also an independent tank battalion also equipped with the newly arrived M-3 light tanks.
This tank battalion was formed using the first batch of aid equipment from the United States in March, excluding the remaining tanks that were detained by the Soviet Union. Among the forty-five tanks equipped in the entire battalion, they are all American-made M-3 light tanks.
After this battalion completed its conversion training, Yang Zhen immediately put it into the Xinjing battlefield. Unexpectedly, these tanks, which were supposed to be a new force, caused a certain amount of chaos on the battlefield after they arrived.
In this tank battle, both sides invested more than 300 tanks each. As a result, among the total of 600 tanks invested by both sides, more than 100 of them were actually the same type of tanks standing in the enemy camp. They came from the same sect.
It is ironic that a group of brothers fight each other for their master on a battlefield.
Both sides put the same type of tanks on the same battlefield, and a certain amount of confusion inevitably occurred on the battlefield. Especially in the melee, everyone thought that the other side's tanks were their own friendly forces, and many misunderstandings occurred.
During the battle, both the Kwantung Army and the Anti-Japanese Alliance had many tanks. They regarded the opponent's M-3 tanks as friendly forces and were destroyed by the opponent.
There were even cases where tank soldiers from the Anti-Japanese Army and the Japanese Army mistook the mixed enemy tanks of the same model as friendly forces. When they left the battlefield, they followed the opponent's formation in a daze and retreated until they opened the hatch cover and saw the so-called friendly forces.
Only then did they realize something was wrong, and they made a big fuss on the opponent's position.
Fortunately, the commander of the Second Armored Division, who was commanding this tank battle, responded quickly. After discovering that the Japanese army had also invested in tanks of the same type, he immediately withdrew the independent tank battalion. He also quickly dispatched a Mattie from the Xinjing battlefield.
The tank battalion of the Erda II tank took over. This prevented more losses due to misunderstandings.