Chapter 350: He was fine yesterday, but he’s gone today?
Li Yutang never dreamed that one day he would be pointed at and scolded by a junior.

It’s not really an insult.

But the tone wasn't very pleasant.

It's simply because they dislike that the speed of their Tenth Army is too slow.

Is it slow?

To be honest, he is quite fast. After all, Li Yutang is quite good at leading troops.

But compared with tanks, there is naturally some gap.

Seeing that Zhao He was about the same age as his son, he wanted to lose his temper but held back.

"Captain Zhao, we are infantrymen with two legs. We are not comparable to your tanks. This speed is not slow." Li Yutang could only respond sarcastically.

Hearing this, Zhao He didn't react at all, but said calmly.

"The key to winning this battle is the speed of your infantry. We have only opened a gap in the Japanese defense line and have not completely defeated them. Only by rushing to the rear of the Third Division can we annihilate them. Otherwise, we will eventually let them escape."

"Doesn't Commander Li want to capture a regiment flag? Doesn't he want his rank of lieutenant general to be changed to that of general?"

After following Cun Yunsheng for a long time, Zhao He has become a top-notch expert at confronting people.

At least these words made Li Yutang blush and turn pale.

"Captain Zhao has a good tongue. You are right. I am indeed very interested in promotion." Li Yutang did not refute his interest in promotion.

"Okay, since you want to get promoted, then run as fast as you can. Whether we can capture the regiment flag depends on this chance. The Japanese army hasn't fully reacted yet, so we still have a chance." After Zhao He finished speaking, without waiting for Li Yutang to speak, he went straight back to the tank, called out, and ordered his subordinates to keep moving forward.

Watching Zhao He leave, Li Yutang swore that if any of his subordinates dared to speak to him like this, he would definitely slap them in the face.

But what the other party said makes sense. If you want to achieve great success, you must pay a certain price.

In ancient times, beheading generals, seizing flags, being the first to climb the ladder, and breaking into the enemy lines were all first-class achievements.

But needless to say, the risks involved are really huge.

Now Li Yutang wants to be promoted, but it is impossible without any effort.

And this time it was almost an easy win, as the heavy artillery regiment and the tank regiment directly stunned the Japanese army.

Thinking of this, Li Yutang took a deep breath, turned around and said to his subordinates.

"How many are still able to move?"

"There are probably more than 2,000 left. The rest have either fallen behind or are cooperating with brother units to fill the gap." The communications staff officer immediately stepped forward and said.

"Okay, tell the brothers to work harder. We must not let those bastards in the Armored Regiment look down on us. Let them know that we can outrun them with just two legs."

"Even if our legs break, keep up. Whether we can completely wipe out the Third Division and whether everyone can be promoted three levels in a row depends on our legs."

"I will personally toast to my brothers when the time comes." After saying that, Li Yutang let go of his already panting warhorse and started galloping wildly.

On the other side, Zhao He's armored regiment started again. Of the forty-eight tanks, forty-two were still able to start.

The other six tanks were either broken down or stuck in the mud.

Xue Yue's Tianlu tactical tactics turned the entire area outside Changsha city into a muddy rice field.

If you are not careful, it is easy to fall into it.

As for combat losses, there are none for now.

First, the Japanese army was stunned and had not yet reacted.

A gap was torn open, and then the 6th Infantry Regiment was torn into pieces, losing contact with the regiment and having to fight on its own.

Now they were attacking the position of the 18th Infantry Regiment.

According to intelligence, after breaking through this regiment, the next step would be to face the headquarters of the Japanese 3rd Division.

The fighting was intense at the front line, with the sound of artillery shells continuing to rang out. Such a loud noise could not be concealed from the 18th Regiment at all, coupled with the reminder from Lieutenant General Takahashi Takaji.

Colonel Hikoshiro Ohashi immediately ordered his troops into position.

What's the use of hearing it? The speed of a tank is far beyond that of an infantry charge.

In particular, the M4 tank's speed reaches 21 kilometers per hour, but because the road is muddy, it is an off-road speed and cannot run at this speed.

If the road was better, the speed could be even faster.

Even so, they are much faster than infantry.

The fortifications stationed at the 18th Regiment's position could not withstand the bombardment of tank artillery. After a few rounds of tank artillery bombardment, their fortifications were reduced to ruins.

The Japanese army came to their senses and began to organize their soldiers. The soldiers who crawled out of the bunkers in a panic and barely entered the trenches. However, when the soldiers just got in place and loaded the bullets, they found that the opposite tanks had already arrived in front of them.

Huge black monsters appeared in front of them, frightening the Japanese soldiers who were already stunned by the explosion.

Some Japanese soldiers came to their senses and fired wildly at the tanks with machine guns. Sparks flew everywhere, but unfortunately there was no reaction. Only a few bullet marks were left on the dark green camouflage tank, and there was no other gap.

It can only be called scraping.

There is no way, the Japanese army really lacks anti-tank means.

The Japanese army in the Pacific battlefield did have a lot of anti-tank guns.

However, there were not many tanks on the Chinese battlefield, and because the Chinese had few tanks, the Japanese naturally looked down on them.

So there is no anti-tank gun.

As a result, now I can only scrape the wound but cannot cause any damage.

Use the Suicide Squad?

Do you really think the Browning machine guns on other people's tanks are just for show?

Not to mention that there are infantry following behind.

A short journey of one thousand meters takes only one minute for a tank. When entering a range of three hundred meters, the machine guns on the tank begin to show their power.

"Da da da!"

Dense bullets covered the area in front of them. The Japanese soldiers in the trenches were beaten so hard that they could not even raise their heads. They could only watch the tanks crush their trenches.

The trench, which was less than one meter thick, was simply unable to stop the five-meter-long tracked tanks, which were rushing forward madly.

The order they received was to advance, advance, advance, and advance recklessly until all the fuel was used up or they were destroyed.

As for the task of clearing the two wings, it was handed over to the infantry at the back, and they only needed to charge forward regardless of the consequences.

"Damn, so many American tanks. Has the American support arrived?" Colonel Hikoshiro Ohashi shouted angrily after listening to his subordinates' reports.

It was not until this moment that he understood one thing, that is, the reason why the Ninth War Zone dared to launch a general attack on them was because it relied on the tanks in its hands.

If it were him, he would probably dare to launch a general attack on Changsha City.

At this stage, the M4 tank is really unstoppable for the Japanese army.

Because they had no effective anti-tank means, they could only watch their positions being breached.

Finally, some newly arrived Japanese soldiers on the battlefield were frightened.

Then, regardless of anything, they turned around and ran backwards. However, no matter how fast a person ran, he could not be faster than the machine gun bullets. Under the crazy shooting of the machine gun, most of them were knocked to the ground.

In the rear, the soldiers of the Tenth Army who had just caught up could only grit their teeth, endure the pain in their legs, and continue to charge forward madly.

Their mission was to clear the infantry on both wings for the tanks, and then break through in depth and directly penetrate the Japanese fortifications.

One thousand meters is only one minute or even two minutes for a tank, but for fully armed infantry, it is five or six minutes. However, at this time the soldiers' morale is high and they charge forward one by one, roaring.

Sore legs?

I forgot it long ago.

It’s not as exciting as killing the Japanese.

Especially the feeling of killing a drowning dog is really refreshing. Once upon a time, Li Yutang never thought that there would be such a day to chase the Japanese army.

In the past, they would look at the Japanese troops with fierce eyes and run after them.

Now they are chasing the Japanese army like sheep seeing a wolf.

"The Chinese army is charging." A Japanese second lieutenant shouted loudly when he saw a large number of infantry rushing up from a distance.

Unfortunately, no one responded to him. Everyone was only concerned about escaping. The Japanese troops in the trenches lost all morale and were on the verge of collapse.

Because many soldiers in the 3rd Division were new recruits and did not have much combat experience.

They were already terrified by the steel behemoth, and the fortifications they were so proud of seemed like paper when facing the Chinese army's tanks.

How can we still have the confidence to continue holding on?

The leading M4 tanks have already advanced deep into the enemy territory and have penetrated one kilometer.

The 18th Regiment's defense line was basically declared a failure.

The Tenth Army following behind strangled the remaining Japanese troops.

Actually, there is nothing to pursue.

Because they had already run away.

So Li Yutang could only make timely adjustments and re-issue orders.

Their mission was to follow the tanks wherever they rushed, and they were not allowed to stop until the tanks stopped.

Fortunately, Zhao He also knew that the infantry were almost reaching their limit, so he slowed down a lot.

The main thing is to tear down the frontal fortifications, which takes time.

"Hurry up and hold on, use your infantry guns." The Japanese soldiers, unable to run, thought they couldn't just sit there and wait to die, so they had to fight on.

"Use the 75mm infantry gun." The Japanese squadron leader shouted angrily at the tanks that were about to rush over.

"But we don't have armor-piercing shells. High-explosive shells alone are useless." The gunner was confused. This was the first time he had encountered such a requirement.

"Baga, we can only try now, otherwise we will all die here." The Japanese squadron leader roared.

"Hay."

The result is that high-explosive shells are not very effective.

You have to know that it took a lot of effort to get this shot, adjusting the muzzle and so on, but in the end I didn't hit the target.

The angle is high.

There is no choice but to continue adjusting.

This time it happened just right, and the anti-aircraft shell did hit it, but it was just as the gunner said.

The Type 94 75mm mountain gun is mainly equipped with high-explosive shells for use against earthworks, but when equipped with armor-piercing explosive shells, it can penetrate 500mm homogeneous steel plates at a distance of 40 meters.

There are no armor-piercing bullets on the Chinese battlefield.

They are all high-explosive bombs.

"Unable to penetrate? How is that possible?" The Japanese squadron leader looked dully.

"Sir Captain, there is no way to penetrate the enemy." The gunner looked helpless. He had already said that without armor-piercing bullets, it was impossible to penetrate the enemy.

"Try again!" The Japanese squadron leader refused to believe it.

However, before they were ready to fire the second shot, the M4 tank had already aimed at them and fired a shot.

In an instant, the 75mm infantry gun went silent. Seeing this, the Japanese soldiers who were still preparing to counterattack felt their scalps tingling.

run!

Fortunately, facing the threat of death, the Japanese soldiers wised up and ran directly towards the mountain.

Now your tank can't catch up.

As for whether there will be a siege later, it doesn’t matter.

Just save your life first.

At this time, the tanks fired more unscrupulously in the area. The roar and the sound of machine gun fire were like a nightmare to the Japanese troops.

There were even suicide attacks by the Japanese army, which caused the M4 tank to stop firing, but did not affect its ability to turn left and right and fire.

The Japanese army was now completely desperate, and their formation was completely disrupted.

The M4 tank was like a sharp sword, easily cutting through the Japanese positions. The subsequent infantry took the opportunity to expand the results of the battle and pounced on both wings.

For a time, the Japanese army suffered heavy casualties.

"Baga, you're definitely coming for me." Lieutenant General Takahashi Tagaji cursed angrily.

All the staff officers in the command center lowered their heads, not daring to speak, and they didn't dare to believe it.

It actually broke through the defense lines of two regiments in succession.

If we hadn't evacuated in advance, we would be in trouble now.

"Order the front-line troops to stop the Chinese army's attack." Lieutenant General Takahashi Takaji roared with a gloomy face.

"Hai!"

"Also, send a telegram to the China Expeditionary Army Headquarters to request reinforcements, especially aviation. We need fighter planes, otherwise the Third Division will cease to exist."

After a series of orders were issued, Lieutenant General Takahashi Tagaji looked into the distance with a gloomy face. This was all he could do now, and the rest was up to God.

At the same time, he felt a little sad and angry. Could it be that the troops he led were really made of paper? The heavily guarded position was easily breached.

In Changsha City, Xue Yue looked at the latest battle situation and murmured.

"The victory is decided!"

This battle was beyond his expectations and the speed was too fast. Only five hours had passed since the general attack.
Such a great result was achieved.

Two regiments have been surrounded, and the headquarters of the 3rd Division has not been found yet.

But it should be soon.

As long as the headquarters of the Japanese 3rd Division is destroyed.

Then this battle would be perfect.

All that remains is to wait for the arrival of the Kwantung Army.

"With more than 100,000 Kwantung troops, it's not that we can't fight. All we need is more tanks and heavy artillery." Xue Yue's voice was very soft, but Meng Fanle heard it clearly and couldn't help rolling his eyes.

Still want tanks and heavy artillery?

"Commander Xue, our commander said before we came that there will be a batch of fighter planes to support the Ninth War Zone. As long as Commander Xue can stop the Kwantung Army, we can provide more support." Meng Fanle said with a smile.

"Don't worry, I will never let a single Japanese soldier pass through Changsha." Xue Yue's eyes suddenly lit up.

General Shunroku Hata of the China Expeditionary Force Headquarters looked at the telegram sent by Lieutenant General Takahashi Tagaji with a confused look on his face.

The Third Division is going to be gone?
How can this be?

You know, he just woke up.

Is this gone?

Wasn't everything fine yesterday?
Why is it gone today?
Are you sure you're not kidding me?

General Hata Shunroku repeatedly flipped through the telegram, apparently to confirm its authenticity.

(End of this chapter)