Just as the aerial bombardment of the expeditionary force ended, a torrent of steel composed of 300 tanks came over in a mighty manner;
Commanders at all levels of the Japanese Tank Division hurriedly gathered the bombed tanks in disarray. Before they could get into formation, the tank group of the Expeditionary Force rushed in front of them;
They stopped collectively, then fired at the Japanese tanks, exploding them one by one.
The decisive battle of tank clusters that Okada expected did not appear, but a one-sided massacre, and it was the Second Tank Division under his command that was massacred.
The expeditionary force has a wide variety of tanks, including T26 light tanks purchased from the Black Bear Country, and tanks abandoned when the John Bull mechanized force was defeated. These account for about 200 tanks;
The remaining ones are the Sherman M4 medium tanks that Stevie intercepted from Eagle Sauce's supplies to support John Bull, a total of 80 tanks, and some of the Japanese Type 97 medium tanks that were captured.
On this basis, Chuxiong established an armored division directly under the expeditionary force, equipped with 80 Sherman tanks and 40 Type 97 medium tanks.
The Japanese Second Tank Division is equipped with 225 Type 97 medium tanks, 60 armored vehicles and thousands of cars.
In the initial aerial bombardment, the Japanese lost no less than 50 tanks and armored vehicles, and the cars suffered heavy losses.
The aerial bombardment caused great confusion in the Second Tank Division, but the two armored divisions of the Expeditionary Force came well prepared;
The armored division of the New First Army attacked from the front, and the armored division directly under it outflanked the right wing. A regiment of the First Division guarding the Japanese right wing could not stop the charge of 120 tanks and was quickly dispersed.
Zhou Qing, the commander of the directly affiliated armored division (former squad leader of the 1st squad of the old 7th company, and guard battalion commander of the independent regiment), didn't care about the Japanese's defeated infantry, but led the tank group straight to the right flank of the 2nd Tank Division.
Soon they broke in from the right flank of the Second Tank Division, working in front and right of the New First Army Armored Division, cutting the Japanese tank group into three large pieces;
The ensuing battle was easy. Attacked from both sides, the Japanese were already in chaos and fled in all directions, unable to organize effective resistance at all.
The remaining more than one hundred tanks of the Second Tank Division were completely defeated and were overtaken by the tank group of the Expeditionary Force and destroyed one by one.
Of course, there are also those who are unwilling to fail and forcefully stop to block the torrent of steel from the expeditionary force. As a result, they are crushed into powder by the torrent of steel. In the face of the rolling torrent, individual resistance is useless.
For the tank group, if it loses its air superiority and gathers in the plain area, the armored group is like a lamb to be slaughtered. There will be no fair and just tank training showdown at all.
Lieutenant General Okada finally understands this truth. It's not that the Chinese don't know tank tactics, but that his tactical thinking is out of date!
After the two armored divisions defeated the Japanese Second Tank Division, they rushed the defeated Japanese tank group towards the position of the First Division;
At this time, the Chinese bomber group came to help again. They bombed the defense line that the First Division had worked hard to build, blowing the Japanese defense line to pieces and destroying a large number of anti-tank trenches. During the war, the Japanese suffered heavy losses and corpses littered the fields.
Before the Japs in the First Division could react from the indiscriminate bombardment, the Japs' defeated tank group was driven over like ducks. A large number of tanks and armored vehicles were like bulls, rushing into the First Division. The division's defensive position.
It doesn’t matter if you make the Japanese attack you, and it doesn’t matter if you let them;
The Japanese tanks can't control that many. Escape is the most important thing. The army is defeated like a mountain. It doesn't matter whoever stands in front of the defeated army;
Either destroy them or be scattered by them, there is no third way.
The remaining anti-tank trenches of the First Division came into play at this time. Many Japanese tanks fell into the anti-tank trenches dug by their own troops in a hurry, causing heavy losses.
Behind them, hundreds of Chinese tanks rumbled in pursuit. In order to escape, they could only mechanically push forward and crush the Japanese infantry in front of them into mud.
The Japs in the First Division were no longer polite to them, and various anti-tank weapons were directed at them. Either you die or I live.
Although the dozens of defeated tanks were a considerable armored force, they were still blocked in front of the carefully prepared anti-tank positions;
Although they also dispersed and killed many Japanese infantry, in front of them was the defense line of a division (missing a regiment). They were a defeated division and had no organizational skills, so they were all defeated in the end. In front of the First Division's position.
After wiping out the main force of the Japanese Second Tank Division, the armored troops of the Expeditionary Force did not take advantage of the victory to attack the First Division. Instead, they stopped and began to clear out the remaining enemies and consolidate the results.
First, let’s take down the entire Second Tank Division. The sporadic fighting lasted for a day and ended only after dark. The Second Japanese Tank Division was completely wiped out.
The good news quickly reached the expeditionary force headquarters. Before Chu Xiong had time to read it, Old Man Stevie grabbed it and read it at a glance. Then he laughed and said:
"Okay, Chu, we annihilated another Japanese tank division, the boys did a great job!
More than 180 tanks and armored vehicles were destroyed, more than 60 were captured, and only a few escaped. More than 300 cars were destroyed, more than 600 were seized, more than 100 guns were destroyed, more than 13,000 Japanese were killed, and guns and ammunition were seized. "
There was a burst of cheers in the headquarters. This was a tank division, and there were only 4 Japs in total. It was more exciting than annihilating a Japs infantry division.
Stevie asked Chu Xiong with great interest:
"Chu, I have two questions for you:
First, you cleaned the battlefield and even took off the Japs’ pants. Why didn’t you capture a single Japs prisoner?
Second, what does it mean that the seized firearms and ammunition are not counted? "
After hearing this, Chu Xiong was a little embarrassed. This old man was good at everything, but he always liked to ask questions about prisoners of war. Chinese people who didn't understand would turn a blind eye. He had to explain this problem to the old man:
"Old Shi, because to the expeditionary force, the enemy's underpants are more useful than the enemy's prisoners!
The seizures are insignificant because they are not much and not worth mentioning. "
Zhong Guoliang on the side smiled unkindly and said to himself:
"This old Chu is also so careless about his allies, but Stilwell still takes advantage of him."
Sure enough, Steve was surrounded by Chu Xiong, and he stood there thinking for a long time, but still couldn't figure it out.
"Chu, no, these pants are more useful than Japanese prisoners, and have nothing to do with not being able to capture prisoners. You still haven't answered my question."
Stevie finally realized that Chu was fooling him again, so he protested.
Chu Xiong shook his head and said:
"Old Shi, haven't I already answered you? These little devils are not even worth their pants when they come here, what do I want them to do?
Either die or run away! The expeditionary force was too lazy to pursue. "
At this time, Stevie finally understood, and a smile appeared on his face. In his opinion, as long as the expeditionary force did not kill prisoners, it would be fine. That is what barbarians do, and Chu is a civilized person!
"Chu, you are a kind person, and all Chinese people are, but these devils are bad people. Next time, we must capture them, judge them, and then imprison them."
"Old Shi, China doesn't have that much food to feed them!"
