Company C of the Raigar Battalion entered the city from the south, accompanied by tanks. The tanks were on both sides of the medium and infantry lines, slowly moving forward.
This is the basic operation of infantry-tank coordination in urban combat. The two cover each other and are indispensable. If the infantry is still timidly following the tank at this time, then the opponent may suddenly jump out of the buildings on both sides to attack the field of view. Poorer tank.
In fact, a more efficient tactic is for the infantry to lead the tanks, that is, the infantry is in front and the tanks are behind. The infantry gradually advances and clears both sides, while the tanks following behind bombard any exposed opponent's firepower points.
But this bold tactic requires the infantry to have a fearless spirit and high morale, which the current British and Indian troops obviously do not have.
The nervousness of the past few days of fighting in Company C is uneasy. Only three of the nine companies in the brigade can continue to fight. Moreover, Company C has also lost more than 30 people, including the company commander. Major Lilley.
Now they are cautiously advancing slowly with seven tanks, but the streets are extremely quiet? Apart from the roar of the tank engines, there was only the sound of footsteps.
"boom!"
"Da da da da——"
Suddenly there was a loud sound of gunfire, and the Ming army ambushing diagonally forward on both sides opened fire. Three heavy machine gun fire points, six light machine gun fire points, and rifle grenades formed a fire net.
"Enter the enemy! Chinese infantry!!!"
Six or seven British and Indian soldiers were knocked to the ground in an instant. Others hurriedly scattered to both sides to find cover. However, some people were still hit by bullets or fragments; some unlucky ones were shot into the tank armor and flew away. Knocked down by bullets.
The tank crews were frightened when they heard the clanging sound hitting the armor. After all, no one knew when they would encounter anti-aircraft machine guns.
When the three smoke grenades fired by the Ming army fell in the middle of the tank column, the A9 cruise tank at the front opened fire. The 2-pound high-explosive bomb immediately overturned a fire point. The light machine gun team The two shooters fell in a pool of blood.
At this time, a combat anti-gun team also opened fire, and the loud "dong dong" sound of gunfire was as shocking as a fist hitting the heart.
Even with armor-piercing incendiary bombs, the aftereffects of combat anti-guns are still small. Even if four holes are opened in a row, the turret of the cruise tank is still rotating and firing. This is why it is usually recommended that combat anti-guns be used intensively. for the sake of.
The smoke released by the smoke bomb that just fell finally filled the air, and the smoke mixed with the explosion of the grenade seemed to be more effective?
"This street is a killing zone!"
"Watch out, enemy crossfire!"
"Sergeant, get off the street! Enter the housing area!"
The British and Indian soldiers hiding on both sides of the street were trembling with fear from the hail of bullets and the constant flying grenades. They were so worried that they had to retreat into the adjacent housing area.
But maybe this is the beginning of another nightmare?
In an alley, nine British and Indian troops were cautiously marching forward with rifles... Suddenly, several figures appeared in the ruins next to them, followed by a violent blast.
Two Type 34 submachine guns and two Type 20 automatic guns spit out tongues of fire. In just a few seconds, 70 rounds of 9.6mm pistol bullets and 30 rounds of .351 Winchester round-head bullets were poured out!
Caught off guard, the nine British and Indian soldiers had no room to react. The only move they made was to turn around and raise their guns in the direction of the bullets. However, they were all shot dead before they could pull the trigger.
With their backs to the wall, close together, a whole row of dead people? The British and Indian troops in this class seemed to be executed collectively, which was a bit like the queuing executions a hundred and fifty years ago.
The five Ming soldiers in this close group left two of them on guard, while the remaining three stepped forward quickly. Rifles and bullets could not enter their eyes. They only took Mills grenades from the corpses.
Now that it has turned into street fighting, the more grenades the better, and there are not many grenades left in the first battalion.
Unsurprisingly, the British and Indian troops, who attacked in three directions, also suffered head-on attacks from three directions.
The Ming army's carefully arranged hidden fire points, mobile fire points, and close combat groups turned each block into a killing area. The British and Indian troops who broke into it would be killed by crossfire from four or five places.
Fierce fighting continued into the afternoon, with the fighting being the most brutal near the Dhemaji Hospital building.
Five cruise tanks of the 5th Royal Tank Battalion were parked on the street outside the building, and the 2-pounder tank gun and 7.7mm machine gun never stopped.
Vickers heavy machine guns, Lewis light machine guns, Type 20 heavy machine guns, Type 33 light machine guns, there were at least dozens of machine guns on both sides firing at each other. Maybe the bullets as dense as raindrops could collide in mid-air?
Five QF 3.7-inch mountain guns were in the front and eight QF 4.5-inch howitzers were in the rear. This part of the artillery was deployed forward and fired at close range, aiming directly at the hospital building at close range. Several shells were fired directly every ten seconds. Hit the building.
The shattered concrete fragments were scattered in all directions, and the steel bars twisted like snakes were exposed. The entire west four floors of the building were riddled with holes, filled with craters and holes.
The remains of two A9 cruise tanks and three Carden-Lloyd ultra-light tanks were burning, black smoke billowing into the sky, and at least fifty corpses of British and Indian soldiers in various forms of death were lying around the building. .
Unlike the battles to siege strongholds, the street battles in other parts of the city were shorter. The British and Indian troops tried to penetrate deep into the city in order to separate the Ming troops in the city.
A city that was reduced to rubble by shelling and air raids seemed to be more beneficial to the defenders? In the narrow, complicated streets and alleys strewn with bricks and debris, the Ming army's close-in groups equipped with submachine guns, automatic guns, and grenades were at home.
They work in units of five or six people, hiding in the enemy's only way, and then use automatic fire at close range; or several groups cooperate with each other. When the enemy approaches, one group first attracts the enemy's attention, and so on. When they turned to fight, another group attacked from behind.
Faced with a large number of bullets suddenly sprayed from submachine guns and automatic guns, as well as grenades that kept falling at their feet, the British and Indian infantry detachments were almost unable to find their way.
How can the bolt-action Enfield No. 1 rifle cope with the intense automatic firepower like a storm at a close range of more than ten meters?
Moreover, the Ming army used hand grenades to lay out terrifying booby traps in many places. Type 18 grenades and captured Mills grenades were based on the principle of pulling out the safety pin, ejecting the safety handle and then igniting the fuze, which was very convenient for setting up booby traps.
A thin wire is tied to the safety pin pull ring, and the grenade is buried on one side. When the enemy passes by and touches the thin wire, the pull ring will be torn off; or the pull ring is directly pulled out and the grenade is placed on the ground in a ready state. If something presses against the handle, if the enemy touches the object, the handle will fly away.
Company C of Raigar Battalion, which entered the city from the north, lost more than 50 people within four hours, leaving only 78 people in the company. It gloriously became the seventh company of the 16th Infantry Brigade to be disabled.
The elusive automatic weapons team, the terrifying booby traps everywhere, and the Ming army's street fighting tactics made the British and Indian troops embarrassed and at a loss as to what to do, making them fearful every step forward.
