The Fifth Armored Division of the People's Guard lived up to high expectations. Once it tore a hole, it immediately took advantage of the armored division's advantages, like a fast torrent of steel, from Suqian County all the way east, from the rear flank of the first-line Qing army
Cut with one knife.
The Qing army's defense line focused on the Shangqiu-Suqian line, with Xuzhou as the center. However, both sides were relatively weak. Especially when the Qing army was attacked during a major change of defense, the various armies, divisions, and regiments were unable to coordinate and became fragmented.
Chaos. In addition, more than half of the troops transferred from the second line were Han troops, and the quality of their weapons was not comparable to that of the transferred Eight Banners Division. The "feast of hidden rules" that had been practiced by the Qing army's military industry system for many years finally came to fruition on a large scale.
For a time, some machine guns jammed, some rifles failed to fire, some anti-tank guns exploded, and some mortars did not move for a long time after being loaded into the barrel... The most terrifying thing is the last one.
The shell slid into the bottom of the barrel. There was supposed to be a crisp explosion, and then the shell was shot out instantly. Now the primer does not detonate, and there is no movement for a long time. I don't know if it is a problem with the shell or the firing pin.
If it is a breech-loading gun, you can still open the breech and take out the shells at this time. But it is troublesome for the front-loading gun. This is the most feared situation with mortars. At this time, whether it is moving the gun body to dump the shells out, or
Lying down at the muzzle of the gun and checking it out, you are risking your life. No one of the two or three people in the gun crew has that awareness. They usually just yell and run away, even abandoning the gun with ammunition.
The Fifth Armored Division rediscovered the feeling it had at the beginning of its development, charging all the way behind the first line of defense of the Qing army, breaking through 30 kilometers in two hours, and reaching Shuyang County at three o'clock in the afternoon. Then it went non-stop, breaking through 30 kilometers in three hours.
Kilometers, at six o'clock in the evening, they hit Guanyun County directly. At this time, the Fifth Armored Division was only 50 kilometers away from the sea.
…
The gap in the Qing defense line east of Suqian is getting bigger and bigger. The current situation is that the 5th Armored Division has gone deep alone, even leaving behind a motorized infantry division that followed. The motorized infantry division is mainly composed of wheeled vehicles.
Relying heavily on roads. Although
Military vehicles have better off-road performance than civilian vehicles, but after all, their speed in the fields cannot be compared to tracked vehicles. Now the Ming army has cut through the first line of defense of the Qing army, running parallel to each other between the first and second lines.
Cut straight down.
It happened that the roads between these counties were all occupied by the first-line Qing army defenders, and the Ming army wanted to quickly outflank them, so they could not fight more and could only choose to advance in the fields. Otherwise, it would take too long and the second-line army would
The Qing army on the Xinyi-Donghai-Haizhou front line would receive orders to attack the flanks of the Ming army. That would be too dangerous.
The Central Command Hall of the Nanjing Headquarters was in full swing all afternoon, and everyone was in high spirits. Even the few female officers serving the huge map were particularly enthusiastic at this moment, climbing up and down the scaffolding.
The little people were all very happy, as if they were decorating their new home.
"Go for it!"
Tang Yunsheng stood far away, raised his hand and shouted, and then continued to discuss with several generals.
Xiang Xiaoqiang agreed, and nervously said the last few words to Li Gensheng and the others, and then trotted all the way to the tables of some old men. Now everyone was so busy that they all wished that one person could be used as two people.
"Come on," Zhang Zhao spoke first, "Our army hasn't fought at night yet."
"Yeah, it seems not yet. Why," Xiang Xiaoqiang said with a smile, "Ming Gong, do you want to continue pushing forward tonight?"
Zhang Zhao nodded first and said with a smile:
"Yes, I'm afraid we will continue to advance tonight. Is your armored division okay?"
Xiang Xiaoqiang also nodded and smiled:
"I was thinking that I might have to attack continuously tonight, but I didn't expect Ming Gong to talk to me. The armored division should be fine! We have been training for night battles. Guderian led them to train not to be too fierce. Now is the time
Pull it out and give it a try."
Zhang Zhao nodded first, very satisfied. Tang Yunsheng smiled and said:
"Come on, notify General Guderian immediately and have the armored division prepare to advance overnight. Which division is Guderian in now?"
Xiang Xiaoqiang said:
"He is not in the 5th Division. He is in the 1st Division, which is now in the direction of Xuzhou. However, these five armored divisions are under his command, and the 5th Division must be no different from being led by him personally."
"Okay, let's make an order to order the 5th Armored Division to continue advancing without rest tonight. Order the Eighth Group Army in northern Jiangsu to mobilize three motorized infantry divisions and quickly move closer to the 5th Armored Division to cover it. Night battle, armor
The division must be followed by an infantry division, otherwise it will be too dangerous."
"Students understand. Are we going to take Haizhou?"
"Yes, our goal is Haizhou. We will advance 50 kilometers in 12 hours. We will advance to the seaside tomorrow morning and survive. Are you sure?"
Xiang Xiaoqiang pondered for a moment, recalling Guderian's tank warfare works that he had read in later generations, and recalling his precious practical experience in tank warfare in World War II.
"On average, we advance four kilometers per hour," Xiang Xiaoqiang said slowly, "under night conditions..."
Zhang Zhao first interjected:
"Today is the 28th, which happens to be the 15th day of the lunar calendar, the night of the full moon. The weather report shows that in East China from southern Shandong to northern Jiangsu, it will be basically clear and slightly cloudy tonight."
This sentence immediately reminded Xiang Xiaoqiang. It is the full moon tonight, and if there are not many clouds, the visibility is still ideal. As a condition for a night battle, can you ask for more?
Xiang Xiaoqiang nodded and said:
"If Ao Shi does not encounter large-scale and tenacious resistance, I am confident that the armored troops will advance to the sea before dawn."
"What do you think are the chances of massive and serious resistance?"
Xiang Xiaoqiang looked at the map, watching the little female officers climbing up and down and placing little figures, thought for a moment, and said slowly:
"Precisely because our army has never attacked overnight since the war began, the Qing army should not have expected that we would attack overnight. It would be very surprising. In addition, the Qing army's first line of defense had just been torn through, and they were in panic. In a short period of time,
It is difficult to reorganize a strong defense, let alone change the direction of defense... As for the second line, Xinyi-Dong
Hai - Haizhou garrison is 10-15 kilometers away from our army, and it is night... On the one hand, they are unlikely to take the initiative to attack south, and on the other hand, even if they attack, it will be too late... Ming Gong,
Mr. Tang, the students believe that the possibility of encountering large-scale resistance tonight is very small. The students are confident that they will advance to the seaside at dawn."
"Very good!" Tang Yunsheng nodded with satisfaction and asked again, "The enemy's problem can be put aside for now. But after all, the biggest problem of marching quickly and long distances at night is to keep the direction straight. After all, our tanks and
Most of the armored vehicles move forward in places where there are no roads. In bare fields, how are you going to keep the troops in the correct direction of attack?"
Xiang Xiaoqiang is quite confident about this. This point is described in considerable detail in Guderian's "Tanks, Forward". After extensive practice in World War II, Guderian listed at least four of the most practical methods. Here,
Xiang Xiaoqiang was going to use the most handsome one. He was going to show on the spot a classic scene from a certain movie of later generations:
"Mr. Tang," he asked with a smile, "do you have a lighter?"
Tang Yunsheng was confused and took out his lighter and handed it to him. Xiang Xiaoqiang also took out his lighter.
Xiang Xiaoqiang held a lighter in each hand and clicked it twice, and two flames popped up and danced together.
"Ming Gong, please look at Tang Gong," Xiang Xiao smiled and placed two flames on a baseline, "I plan to light two large bonfires every ten kilometers behind the attacking troops. Each troop
When the commander is attacking, he can turn around and look at the two fires at any time. If the two fires overlap, it means the attack is in the correct direction."
Then, he moved his arms again and staggered the two flames:
"...If the commander finds that the two campfires are not in the same line, it means that the attack direction is biased."
Zhang Zhaoxian and Tang Yunsheng looked at each other, smiled, nodded repeatedly, and were very satisfied with Xiang Xiaoqiang's approach.
"Very good, support it, let's do it."
…
Night has fallen.
In the land of Northern Jiangsu and Huaihai, streaks of bright light passed through the night sky in bright arcs, passing overhead, and then disappeared into the distance. Then, flashes of light flashed frequently in the distance, and after a while, there would be
A lot of muffled noises were heard. From time to time, a black cloud drifted across the sky, covering the full moon. I don't know if it was clouds or gunpowder smoke.
The second line of defense of the Qing army, twenty kilometers away to the north, was firing thousands of artillery pieces. The Qing army was pouring artillery shells into the area between the two lines of defense, trying to use artillery to plug the gap. But the distance was too far.
, it was dark again, and there was not even basic observation. Although there were many Qing artillery pieces participating in the bombardment, the actual losses caused to the Ming army were very few.
In a bare field, a giant firewood pile three to four meters high was erected. It was mainly composed of small trees and firewood, and there were also a lot of rubber tires that had been blasted and scrapped.
Several Ming soldiers climbed up the big firewood pile carrying gasoline barrels and dumped them "dong dong dong". Finally, they put the remaining gasoline and barrels on top of the firewood pile.
Then, they all climbed down and stood more than ten meters away.
A command shouted:
"ignition----"
A torch was thrown on top in a circle. Suddenly, with a "boom", the entire firewood pile was burning, and the flames shot up more than ten meters high, and hundreds of meters around were suddenly as bright as day. Even a few kilometers away, it was very bright.
Clearly see this giant bonfire.
Immediately afterwards, more than a hundred meters away, another pile of similar giant flames also burst into flames. The two large bonfires were like two giants dancing on the earth.
In the distance, a signal bomb soared into the sky.
Suddenly, the entire earth seemed to be roaring. Countless engines started at the same time, and thousands of tanks and armored vehicles seemed to emerge from the ground and began to move forward. With the good moonlight and
In the light of the fire, all vehicles did not turn on their headlights. Only the commanders were exposed outside the turret, looking into the distance with wide eyes, distinguishing every shadow in the dark fields.
In this war, the Ming army's first large-scale night attack began.
At the same time, the overhead began to be shrouded in roaring. Many soldiers raised their heads and looked into the night sky. Under the bright moon, they could vaguely see large groups of black shadows flying past.
This was a bombing operation carried out by the Army Air Force in conjunction with this night attack.
More than a hundred Swan bombers flew to the north and south of the 5th Armored Division to bomb the first and second lines of the Qing army. Although such night bombing would not cause much losses, it would not have many actual results. In low visibility,
Under this, not many Qing troops would be effectively killed.
However, the purpose of this bombing was not to kill, but to increase the atmosphere of terror, so that both the Qing troops in the north and the south felt overwhelmed and fell into more panic and confusion. They were unable to organize effectively and attacked the Ming army's attacking troops from both sides.
In the dark, the traveling speed of all vehicles is only one-third to one-fourth of that in the daytime, less than ten kilometers per hour. Because the visibility is so poor, almost every tank and armored vehicle has crew members getting off the car and walking around, acting as
Vehicle extra eyes.
In the early winter night, breathing the dry, cold air in the north, every officer and soldier was nervous and excited. They all remembered what Xiang Xiaoqiang said to them: