In the early winter of 1938, in the southern part of the Aral Sea, the sky was full of haze, and the whole world was gray. There were also some snowflakes mixed in, so it was impossible to see the situation in the distance.
On the edge of the Gobi desert, among the small sand dunes piled up by camel grass and Haloxylon ammodendron trees, tanks painted in khaki desert camouflage blend into the surrounding environment. If you don't look carefully, you can't spot them at all.
In this barren land, there is still such an armored force hidden.
Sand and gravel blown up by the wind from the Gobi desert kept hitting the chariot, making bursts of harsh metal sounds.
The 27th and 60th Army Groups of the Republican Army cut off the retreat and supplies of the main force of the Soviet Turkestan Front on the Nukus line. The 350,000 Soviet troops were surrounded by no supplies. Nukus became the focus of the Soviet army's rescue and breakthrough.
The two sides launched a brutal offensive and defensive battle in this area.
The Republican Army struggled for nearly twenty days between the 1st, 16th, and 17th Group Armies rescued by the Soviet Army and the retreating Turkestan Front Army's 9th, 23rd and 1st Mechanized Army.
Soviet troops suddenly
Breaking the defense line. After the 1st and 26th Army Groups of the Republican Army rushed to Nukus, the Soviet Turkestan Front Army, which lacked ammunition and supplies, could only begin to shift to strategic defense, waiting for the rescue force sent from the Caspian Sea to break through the Republican Army's defense line.
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After making slight adjustments and supplements, the Republican Army began to launch a general offensive towards Urgench, the focus of Soviet defense.
The artillery fire on the Soviet positions in the distance gradually became sparse. At 8 a.m., the 1st and 2nd heavy armored divisions, the main force of the First Army, launched an assault from the front of the 30-kilometer Soviet defense line. The 3rd Cavalry Division and the 180th Armored Division attacked the enemy.
The attack was launched from the left and right flank positions.
"Set off!"
Seeing three red flares rising in the sky, Feng Jianjiang, the commander of the second battalion of the second regiment of the 180th Division, sitting in the commander's position of tank No. 60331, shouted into the walkie-talkie microphone in his hand and issued the combat order for the entire battalion.
His voice was trembling due to nervousness.
Following his shouts, all 32 Type 35C tanks and 56 armored infantry fighting vehicles of the second battalion roared and began to advance towards the Soviet defense position two kilometers away with black smoke rising from behind.
Yang Haiming pressed the accelerator and shifted the gear to 3rd. The tank he was driving rushed towards the enemy's trench at a speed of 21 kilometers per hour. Through the driver's observation window, he could only see the uneven piles of sand and weeds moving toward the enemy's trenches.
The vehicle was moving underneath. The yellow sand thrown up by the tank in front of him blocked his sight. The driver's field of vision was already very limited, which made it even more difficult for him to see the situation on the battlefield.
In fact, during combat, he could only operate according to the instructions given by the commander's feet on his shoulders.
The chariot raised two yellow waves in the desert, and the roar of the diesel engine occupied the entire wilderness. The steel chain rails rolled on the Gobi gravel, making a harsh clang, and the entire earth was shaking.
Company commander Luo Qi, who was sitting in the turret, held his hands tightly on the handles and endured the violent bumps in the tank. Although the entire tank's running mechanism was equipped with thick shock-absorbing springs, it was still traveling through the undulating desert.
, it was still shaking very violently. The light in the car flickered with the ups and downs of the chariot, and the rising yellow sand kept pouring into the car from the observation port, and mixed with the strong smell of diesel, the entire air inside the car
Very turbid.
The 32 tanks of the second battalion were arranged in two rows about 50 meters apart, followed by infantry fighting vehicles accompanying the tanks. The Republican Army's Type 35 infantry fighting vehicle actually uses the same chassis as the Type 35 tank.
Its armor is not much worse than that of a tank, but its upper part is equipped with a twin-mounted 20mm long-tube machine gun with a large elevation angle, which can sometimes be used as anti-aircraft firepower.
In addition to the two 6.8mm machine guns on the front of the Type 35 infantry fighting vehicle, the rear crew compartment also has seven spherical shooting holes for the crew to shoot outward when accompanying the tank.
A shrill scream came from the sky above the battlefield. Luo Qi saw a ball of fire flashing suddenly in the yellow dust in front of him, and then more shells fell. The soldiers in the tank could clearly feel the ground.
There was a violent vibration. The enemy's artillery was not dense. Under the attack of the Republican Air Force, the Soviet army had lost most of its heavy artillery, but the remaining artillery still carried out fierce shelling on the advancing tank column of the Republican Army.
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However, it was obvious that the enemy's main firepower was directed at the 1st and 2nd Divisions that were conducting frontal assaults.
Encouraged by the rear artillery, the Soviet soldiers on the position also joined in the shooting. The dense bullets hit the tank like hail hitting the iron sheet, flying sparks and making a clanging sound.
Da da da da!
The tank in front began to use the synchronized machine gun on the side of the turret to test fire at the enemy's fire points, and then the shells began to fly towards the enemy's flaming machine gun position.
Because it was at the rear of the formation, Luo Qi's tank could only fight back directly forward, with a very limited range of fire. The tank still braved the enemy's artillery fire and rain of bullets, moving forward slowly. He observed through the peephole
While observing the situation ahead, he gave instructions to the gunner about the target. Suddenly there was a flash of fire in front of him, and there was only a bang, and the tank shook violently.
"At 11 o'clock, one anti-tank gun!" Luo Qi shook his head, which was numb from the shock, and indicated the target to the gunner.
As the turret rotated, the 90mm muzzle of the tank pointed at an anti-tank gun located in the shelter behind the enemy's position. The 37mm and 57mm anti-tank shells used by the Russians hit the 37-ton Type 35
There is no penetration at all on the tank armor. There is only a very small chance. The 45-caliber Russian 76mm anti-tank gun can penetrate the side and rear armor of the Type 35 tank within 300 meters.
Boom! Boom!
The shells fired from another tank also hit the enemy's anti-tank stronghold while they were firing. With the violent explosion, the firepower point made of wood burst into flames and was blown up.
The debris flew into the air.
Under the attack of anti-tank artillery, the Republican tanks continued to advance unharmed. Under tremendous pressure, the Russian army began to provide support from the position.
"Attention, attention! The enemy's position is ahead!" Feng Jian saw through the peephole that there were trenches filled with loess on the ground in front of him, and some vague figures were shaking behind the mounds. "Keep the formation, keep the formation!"
He continued to give orders.
The enemy trenches in front became clearer and clearer, and the Russians in yellow-green military uniforms were shaking behind them. When the machine guns fired, these figures disappeared immediately, and soon they emerged from other places. The tanks behind them followed,
These tanks stopped in front of the trench, the gun barrels slowly drooped, and then the hulls
With a violent shock, a fireball mixed with brown smoke shot out from the muzzle. Almost at the same time as the main artillery was fired, a ball of flames burst out in the trench in front, including fragments of sleepers used to build the trench, broken rifles, and bloody rifles.
The pieces of human body mixed with the soil were flying in the air along with the air waves caused by the explosion.
The Russian resistance was very weak. Although the Soviet army was brave, it completely collapsed in front of their helpless tanks. There were also some brave officers and soldiers who threw grenades at the Republican tanks, but they soon fell under machine gun fire.