Chapter 199: Defensive Tactics of the Hundred Divisions
The top brass of the North China Front, who had had enough of the power of the Anti-Alliance tank guns, ignored the firm opposition of the technicians and the commander of the 4th Independent Tank Brigade, Colonel Gao Zeyinghui, and forced the technicians to temporarily modify this tank. Its firepower is indeed higher than the previous model.
Up a level.
It does have the ability to compete with medium-sized tanks of the Anti-Japanese Alliance, giving the Japanese army for the first time a tank that can compete with the Anti-Japanese Alliance in terms of firepower. But after all, the design and modification of a new weapon requires a lot of science.
Demonstration and systematic research are not about doing whatever you want.
They were blindly reckless and only focused on increasing the power of the artillery, but never thought about starting from the bullets and improving the old armor-piercing bullets, which is a shorter way. They only thought about adding large-caliber artillery to the tanks. Without detailed demonstration,
As well as relatively sufficient experiments, problems abounded after being put into actual combat.
The main gun, which was temporarily modified from an already powerful field gun, is indeed quite powerful. Both in terms of range and accuracy, it exceeds the main gun used by the American M-4 tanks and T-34 tanks of the Anti-Japanese Alliance. If you pass
Through systematic demonstration and scientific improvement, the performance is not even worse than that of the most powerful anti-collision weapon, the 75mm long-barreled gun of the German-made Panzer IV tank.
However, medium-caliber ground artillery such as mountain guns generally use manual breech bolts, which makes their main guns have a very slow rate of fire compared to tank guns. The original weight was too heavy, which made the original design of the turret rotation mechanism not very successful.
The speed of rotation is slower.
Among the entire artillery equipment of the Japanese army, the Type 90 field gun is the most powerful, has the longest range, and is the only one with real anti-tank capabilities. It is not the original 50mm tank gun. It weighs more than a ton. Japanese Army Artillery
They all thought that this field gun, in addition to having a long range and high power, was too bulky and made maneuvering difficult, so they chose the Type 95 field gun.
Taking a field gun that is too bulky for artillery, without making any major changes. Just removing some unnecessary parts of the tank gun and cutting off the barrel, and then forced it into the turret that was originally only used for 50mm tank guns.
Among them, only the Japanese Army, which has always been known for its recklessness, could do this kind of thing.
Although all the large-caliber tank guns in the world are basically modified ground artillery, it is true that there are not many tanks that specially develop a tank gun in this era, but it is indeed rare. Especially in wartime, there is not so much ample time.
Under the circumstances, basically all tank guns are modified from anti-tank guns or anti-aircraft guns.
But before they can be stuffed into a tank, they have to undergo major surgery and even redesign many aspects. The North China Front, which blindly pursues power, only focuses on the power of the artillery and does not care about anything else. It is such a hasty modification.
, it would be strange if nothing happens.
Although the turret of this Japanese tank was originally designed, there was room for modification. However, this one-ton field gun is still a bit unbearable for the turret. Although it is used as a tank gun, it can be removed
There are many settings and two wheels. But the weight of this field gun is still unbearable by the turret.
After replacing the 90 field gun, because the original design did not make corresponding adjustments, the turret of this tank rotates more slowly. The Anti-Union M-4 tank has bypassed the Japanese tank gun and aimed directly at the line of sight.
, the turrets of the Japanese tanks have not yet been turned around.
Coupled with the problem of its own rate of fire, the anti-Japanese tanks often fired four shots before the Japanese tanks could fire back one shot. This caused the Japanese army to suffer a great loss in the confrontation. In addition to armor, mobility, etc., tank duels
Among other factors, the power and rate of fire of the artillery are critical.
At the same time, due to the original design, the shield and the parts for fixing the gun used by this tank gun were not specially prepared for this gun. Only the gun was modified, and the strength of the shield did not increase accordingly. This is not good for this tank gun.
Tanks are also a fatal threat. The shield has to bear the main recoil of the artillery, which far exceeds the original design.
As a result, the tanks in these two Japanese tank squadrons only fired a few shots, and one-third of the tanks' shields were torn apart by the powerful recoil generated by their own tank guns when they fired. There were even a few tank guns.
, due to the recoil caused by continuous firing, the mounting lug of the fixed artillery was forcibly torn off, and it lost its ability to fight back and was destroyed by the anti-Union tanks.
Coupled with the sighting system and vertical stabilizer of the American-made tanks of the Anti-Japanese Alliance, the shooting accuracy is far better than that of Japanese tanks. At the same time, it has the ability to shoot accurately while moving, and the training level of tank operators has also exceeded
The training level of Japanese tank crews.
At the same time, although the M-4 medium-sized tanks provided by the United States to the Anti-Japanese Alliance are equipped with old-fashioned 75mm tank guns, there is still no problem in dealing with the 50mm frontal armor of Type III tanks. Although it was true at the beginning
It suffered a big loss, and the power of the main gun was inferior to that of the Japanese tank, but overall it still had the upper hand.
However, this tank battle was the first time that the Anti-Union tanks were at a disadvantage in terms of artillery power when facing Japanese tanks. At the same time, the Japanese relied on the anti-tank gun positions behind them to avoid close combat with the Anti-Union forces as much as possible.
.Although the temporarily modified tanks had many problems, they also caused considerable losses to the tank clusters invested by the Anti-Japanese Alliance.
After a small-scale tank battle, a tank battalion of the Anti-Japanese Alliance that participated in the battle destroyed all ten Type 1 artillery tanks of the two Japanese tank squadrons and an artillery tank squadron, but its own losses were also small.
It was quite disastrous. In the battle with the Japanese Type III modified tanks, more than half of the troops were lost.
Moreover, it has widened the attack distance, focusing mainly on the Japanese tank group, and also created considerable opportunities for the Japanese infantry and anti-tank guns deployed on the sides and rear of its tank group. Although the infantry fighting with the tanks
, constantly driving away the Japanese anti-tank soldiers and covering the tanks with intensive firepower.
However, in the face of the multi-layered and deep defense system adopted by the Japanese army, which copied the Anti-Japanese Alliance's tanks and anti-tank gun positions, plus infantry anti-tank firepower groups, it also caused considerable losses to the various units participating in the Anti-Japanese War. Originally,
A complete organic battalion with three medium tank companies, plus an attached light tank company, used for deep breakthroughs, was basically disabled.
The three medium tank companies suffered heavy losses. Although they cooperated with the infantry to break into the Japanese defenses to a depth of six or seven kilometers, they themselves also paid a considerable price. Only five tanks of the American M-4 medium tanks of the three medium tank companies were left.
Combat effectiveness. The M IV tank with the largest number of hits was hit by more than ten Iron Fist anti-tank rockets and two 50mm anti-tank shells.
As for the M-3 light tanks with even weaker armor, all were destroyed by the Japanese during the battle. This loss was caused by the Anti-Union armored forces. In this battle, except for the defeat in the Tongzhou battlefield, they were fighting against the Japanese tanks.
The battle with the greatest losses.
This battle brought such heavy losses to the Anti-Alliance tank force, not only because the Japanese army invested in new tanks. This hastily improved tank invested by the Japanese army indeed posed a great threat to the Anti-Alliance tank group.
, even a big loss, but this is not the key factor why the loss is so big.
The tactics adopted by the Japanese army in this battle were the reason why the tank troops invested in the Anti-Japanese War suffered such heavy losses. The Japanese army used Type 88 anti-aircraft guns and 50mm anti-tank guns to form a combination of long and near anti-tank firepower networks. They used high-speed
Gun firing director guides anti-tank artillery operations.
The anti-tank gun positions it set up cooperated with the tank troops in front and a large number of anti-tank groups dispatched behind them under the cover of artillery and machine guns. In order to deal with the firepower of Japanese tanks, the anti-tank troops switched to an evacuation attack formation.
, and focused its main attention on dealing with the Japanese tanks, which were a considerable threat.
The Type 88 anti-aircraft artillery group deployed behind the Japanese tank group immediately took advantage of its long range and opened fire directly at a distance of one thousand meters under the guidance of the one-meter optical rangefinder and anti-aircraft gun shooting director.
The tanks in front of them cooperated with each other and used this long-range, high-precision anti-aircraft gun to shoot flatly, making up for the shortcomings of the slow rate of fire of the Japanese tanks.
At the same time, the infantry's anti-tank team also rushed out under the cover of artillery, heavy machine guns, and the infantry's counter-assault at all costs. The infantry's counter-assault and the cover of artillery fire were used to entangle the anti-tank troops fighting with the tank troops.
The infantrymen themselves used the anti-tank rocket launchers in their hands to attack the anti-Union tanks at close range.
Behind the Japanese tank cluster, there are not only a large number of anti-tank clusters composed of Type 88 anti-aircraft guns and infantry. There are also 50mm anti-tank tanks that are well concealed and can easily not fire at a distance of less than 300 meters from the anti-alliance tanks.
Artillery position. This tactical system of the Japanese army posed a fatal threat to Hou Guozhong's assault.
The M IV medium tank and M III light tank are too tall, and on the flat terrain, they set up a tall target for the Japanese anti-tank artillery fire. The Japanese army was using an anti-aircraft gun shooting director and a one-meter optical range finder.
The instrument guides anti-tank artillery to fire at long distances, and it can be said that the hit rate is quite high.
Although the artillery of the Anti-Japanese Alliance continued to provide fire cover. In particular, the rocket artillery continued to cover the deep positions of the Japanese army and suppressed the Japanese anti-tank artillery positions. However, the entire defense system of the Japanese army still gave Hou Guozhong
The breakthrough operation brought a considerable threat.
Originally, Hou Guozhong's plan was to deploy infantry to open a passage for tanks, and then use tanks to adopt the large-depth penetration tactics commonly used by the Anti-League. However, in the face of the penetration offensive launched by the Anti-League, the Japanese army immediately invested two tank squadrons, plus an artillery piece.
The tank squadron was used to deal with the infantry assault of the Resistance Alliance.
He could only use the tank group planned to attack in depth in advance, directly facing the firepower combination of Japanese tanks and anti-tank gun positions. After this battle, although he also made a considerable breakthrough. But he planned to invest in depth,
The tank group that outflanked the 100th Division also suffered heavy losses.
This loss surprised both Chen Hanzhang and Hou Guozhong. As soon as the battle started, a sharp spear was broken. This will undoubtedly have a considerable impact on the progress of the entire campaign, and even directly affect the right wing.
Breakthrough operations and delay the entire campaign.
Fortunately, Hou Guozhong, who was in charge of front-line command, acted very quickly. After the tank battalion was basically completely lost, he immediately adjusted part of the deployment. The last two tank companies were mobilized from the battlefield where the remnants of the 72nd Division were surrounded and annihilated.
, plus the remaining five tanks of the battalion, it was temporarily reduced to a battalion.
Head to the battlefield at full speed to reinforce the outflanking troops, so as to complete the task of penetrating the flanks of the 100th Division as quickly as possible. It also nearly doubled the number of artillery on the flanks. The defense system of the entire right wing of the 100th Division,
Intensive artillery fire coverage was adopted to fully cover the breakthrough of the attack group.