flstandardbreds Chapter 127: Decisive Battle in North China 3
Chapter 127: Decisive Battle in North China 3
"Don't fire randomly. Wait until you are 800 meters away!" The commander's voice sounded in the communication channel.
The tanks of both sides were getting closer and closer. The Chinese tanks were charging forward, while the Japanese tanks were starting and stopping. It was not because they wanted to do so, but because they had to stop the tanks to ensure the stability of the shooting.
Shi Zhihua's Type 43 tanks had caught up, and now almost all of them were at the front, while most of the T34s began to make an arc and tried to outflank from both sides.
This naturally brought the Type 43 heavy tanks, which were moving in a straight line, to the front line.
A loud "boom" was heard, and the tank crew members clearly felt the tank under them shaking.
"We were hit! But we failed to penetrate!" the observer shouted to the other team members behind him!
"Keep moving forward! The Japanese tank guns can't do anything to us!" Shi Zhihua's face did not show any nervousness, he believed in the protective capabilities of his tank.
"Yoshi! We hit a Chinese tank!"
Shooter Sato saw the front armor of the tank opposite explode and shouted excitedly!
But then he saw that the tank was completely unharmed, as if the 75mm high-explosive bomb had just tickled it.
Sato and all the crew members of the Type 4 tank began to feel nervous.
"Load armor-piercing shells! Fire them again! I don't believe they can withstand the armor-piercing shells!" Major Ono gave the order immediately.
Sato hurriedly took out an armor-piercing bullet, stuffed it into the barrel, loaded it with propellant, and then once again aimed at the steel monster that was driving towards him.
"Boom!" A ball of fire burst out from the muzzle of the 75mm tank, and a hot shell flew towards the Type 700 heavy tank more than 43 meters away from them.
The observer inside the Type 4 tank stared at the Chinese tank and hit it again!
Sato's artillery skills are really amazing. He hit the moving tanks twice in a row at a distance of seven or eight hundred meters.
However, this time the enemy tank did not even explode because the armor-piercing shells were deflected by the thick front armor of the tank.
"Ricochet! The damn shell bounced off!" The observer's terrified cry was heard by the crew members, making them feel chilled to the bone.
After being hit twice in a row by a tank from the opposite side, even a clay man would get angry, and Shi Zhihua's face looked a little ugly.
"Old Black! Kill it for me! Do you really think I'm made of mud?" In fact, the gunner had already installed armor-piercing shells one by one, just waiting for the order from his superior.
Following the commander's order, Lao Hei's firing pedal was immediately stepped on, and a 122mm shell flew out.
Two seconds later, the scorching shell cut through the sloped front armor of the Type 122 tank. It was a 35mm armor-piercing shell, even though the front armor of the Type 50 tank was mm thick and the turret armor was even mm.
But they were facing 122mm armor-piercing shells, which such armor could not withstand at all.
"Boom!" After the front armor of the Type 4 tank was torn open by this shell, an explosion occurred inside the vehicle body.
The explosion caused a huge fire and ammunition detonation at the same time. Flames were spewing out from the gaps in the entire tank. Soon, a bigger explosion was heard, and the entire turret was blown more than ten meters into the air.
On the battlefield, tanks from both China and Japan gradually approached each other in thick smoke. Each tank was like a steel behemoth, charging forward with a resolute momentum.
The Japanese tanks opened fire first, and 75mm shells flew out like fire dragons.
These shells drew deadly arcs in the air, and with a sharp whistling sound, they slammed heavily into the Chinese tanks.
The shell hit the tank armor with a deafening noise, and the fire and smoke produced by the explosion spread instantly.
However, after most of the explosions, the Chinese tanks were not seriously damaged and continued to move forward.
The tanks of the 1st Armored Brigade did not retreat, they advanced firmly towards the enemy.
The tank commanders stared at the Japanese tanks through binoculars and calmly directed the gunners to fight back.
The gunners gripped the turret handles tightly, aimed at the target, and shells whizzed out of the barrels, intersecting with the Japanese shells in the air.
At the forefront were more than 60 Type 43 heavy tanks. They were like the heavy armored cavalry in the ancient cavalry charge team, welcoming the enemy's strongest attacks and at the same time smashing one scorching shell after another onto the Japanese tanks.
The atmosphere on the battlefield was extremely tense, and every second was a test of life and death.
The tanks of both sides fought back and forth in a thrilling duel. The sound of exploding shells, the roar of tank engines and the shouts of the soldiers intertwined together, playing a symphony of blood and fire.
As the distance shortened to less than 500 meters, the hit rate of both sides increased a lot, and tanks were constantly being hit. Basically, as long as the Japanese tanks were hit, most of them were destroyed or damaged.
The heavy tanks of the 1st Armored Brigade relied on their thick front armor to withstand one shell after another.
Of course, it was not completely unscathed. One unlucky Type 43 tank was hit by a shell from the observation hole, causing an explosion inside the tank, and all the crew members of this tank died.
Some of the T34-85s that were outflanking were also hit by the Japanese 75mm tank guns and had their front or side armor penetrated, resulting in the destruction of the vehicles and the deaths of the people on board.
There were also some unlucky crews whose tracks were hit while driving at high speed, forcing the tanks to stop. Some tanks also crashed head-on into the tanks in front.
Compared with the accidents and losses that occurred in China, the losses of the Japanese 3rd Tank Division were much greater.
The first wave was covered by Katyusha rockets and more than 20 tanks were lost. In addition, because it was the first time for them to participate in such armored combat, many crews started fighting at a long distance.
By the time the two sides were within 500 meters of each other, many Japanese tank crews had used up all of their few armor-piercing shells, and they did not achieve good results.
They could only use high-explosive bombs to fight against the heavy tanks of the 43st Armored Brigade, and the result was natural. The only thing they could be thankful for was that the hydraulic stabilizer and gun control of the Type tank were not stable.
As a result, the accuracy of the artillery was not very good, but at a distance of 300 meters, this problem disappeared.
Although the firing rate of Japanese tanks exceeded that of the Type 43 tank, they were unable to penetrate the frontal armor of this huge tank with a frontal armor of more than 100 mm.
The tanks of the 43rd Tank Division were systematically taken out one by one by the Type tanks.
"Speed up! Speed up! We have to get behind them, their frontal armor is too thick!"
The Japanese commanders kept giving orders using flag signals to speed up the attack. If they wanted to destroy the Chinese heavy tanks, they could only go around behind them and penetrate the weak points behind them.
The two sides have been fighting at a distance of one kilometer, and now they are almost in close combat. The front battlefield is littered with the remains of tanks that were destroyed and left standing and burning.
After sacrificing nearly 70 tanks, the Japanese rd Tank Division finally narrowed the distance between the two sides. However, after a fierce battle, the number of tanks on both sides was equalized.
Moreover, the T34s that bypassed the two wings had completed the strategic detour. A total of more than 80 T34s on both sides began to attack the two wings of the Japanese tank group.
The front battlefield was even more bloody and terrifying. Several Japanese Type 95 and Type 97 tanks were directly knocked down by the huge Type 43 tanks and crushed over by them.