Chapter 177, Making Dumplings
"I plan to gather the tank companies of all the combat battalions in the brigade. More than fifty tanks will form an armored fist and, under the cover of artillery fire, smash hard into the center of the enemy's defense line."
"After the breakthrough is achieved, our mechanized and motorized troops will quickly follow up. We must open a 30-kilometer-deep wound in the enemy's position within at least one day, so that we can create conditions for a breakthrough and encirclement for the friendly troops that follow up."
Pobov told his old partner about his plan.
After listening, Leroy thought about it and didn't have any objections.
This is really Perbov's style: rush forward and cut through the enemy.
"If you have no objection, then let's do it. We will set out tomorrow morning. The troops have had two days of rest, which is enough time. I hope that the new recruits who have just arrived can be of use and nothing goes wrong."
…
As it turned out, the new recruits did not disappoint Perbov. Compared with the veterans who had participated in many brutal battles, these new soldiers were a little immature, but their military skills were definitely sufficient.
The next morning, at daybreak, the First Brigade set out.
The deafening artillery fire covered the enemy's position.
The soldiers and leaders of the anti-Governor's alliance were stunned by the fierce artillery fire.
Before this, they had experienced the power of the Union artillery when fighting against the 7th and 8th Divisions. But at that time, the two divisions combined only had about 50 guns.
But it was precisely because of the existence of these fifty heavy artillery pieces that the 70,000 to 80,000 anti-Governor allied forces were unable to make any progress.
It would be fine if they just defended, relying on fortifications and anti-gun holes, they could barely resist; if they took the initiative to attack, lacking artillery countermeasures and armored cover, the fifty heavy artillery pieces would be enough to make their attacking forces be defeated as many times as possible.
After losing some lives, they realized that they couldn't fight like this anymore.
But before they could come up with some new ideas, the iron fist of the alliance arrived first.
At this moment, the rebel troops were squatting in anti-gun holes and various fortifications as usual, and then the artillery fire came.
They thought that this was just like the bombardment they had endured every day for the past half month. Although it was uncomfortable and could kill people, it would pass after a while.
But in reality, it is not the case at all.
This time the bombardment was much more intensive and prolonged than before.
This is definitely not the effect that fifty cannons can produce!
This is exactly the case.
At this moment, a total of ten artillery battalions can be mobilized from the five divisions, and more than three hundred artillery pieces are firing at the same time!
Almost all the artillery units of the five divisional and brigade-level units were concentrated and utilized. The joint artillery positions focused on the direction where the Xifeng Brigade was about to launch an assault and bombarded it indiscriminately.
In one hour, 100 rounds of 30,000 155mm howitzers were fired, hitting the enemy's position in the center of the area, which was about 8 kilometers wide. On average, there was a 155mm howitzer shell every 30 centimeters - there was no room for shells!
What happened to the anti-gun hole?
If it is hit directly, if the hole dug to prevent artillery fire is a little shallow, it will be blown down; if you are lucky and not hit directly, the shaking ground will cause soil to fall down; if it is hit countless times, the hole will be shaken down.
Not to mention, it is impossible for all soldiers to have anti-artillery holes to stay in. Some can only stay in trenches or even in foxholes.
If a shot like this hits the target, a large number of people will lose their lives.
And these 30,000 artillery shells were just the prelude to the attack.
When the artillery fire stopped, an officer of the anti-Governor Allied Forces walked out from a concrete bunker built and half-buried in the ground in the trench.
He was dazed, deaf, and even had dried blood hanging from his ears.
Just now, at least ten heavy artillery shells fell near the bunker.
Fortunately, no shells hit the bunker directly, otherwise he would have lost his life; unfortunately, the trenches leading to the two exits of the bunker were hit by artillery fire, which deafened his ears. The flying shrapnel killed several staff officers around him and cut off one of his arms.
He covered his bleeding arm and walked out of the bunker. What caught his eyes were the bodies scattered all over the trenches. Some people were wailing, but there were also many people who couldn't even wail. There were even some people whose bodies could not be found.
He staggered and crawled onto the firing pedal, looking in the direction of the Alliance army.
He saw fifty steel monsters, arranged in a scattered formation at a distance of about twenty to thirty meters, advancing towards the trench with great momentum.
Following behind these steel monsters with gun barrels were so many infantry fighting vehicles that he couldn't even count them.
Further back, in the distance, were many trucks loaded with infantry, which were even less clear.
He shouted loudly to the soldiers, asking them to come out and fight to stop the enemy's attack, but even he himself could not hear the sound of his words - he was deaf.
No one responded to his call.
At least in the small area where he was, there were no survivors.
What to do next?
His head was dizzy and he hadn't figured out what was going on yet when he saw a tank with its gun barrel turning and pointing at him.
He stared blankly at the black muzzle of the gun. A burst of orange light flashed, and then everything went black before his eyes, and he knew nothing.
…
Following the charge of the troops, Lieutenant Colonel Perbov, who was about several hundred meters away from the front-line tanks, risked sticking his head out and observing the battlefield with a telescope.
He happened to see what happened just now.
He cursed, "Damn it, you're going to shoot a cannon at a mosquito, right? Cannonballs don't cost money, right?"
He looked a little depressed.
It's not really because the tank soldiers wasted shells, but...
"Damn it, the artillery has done all my work! What should I do?"
He slumped back into the car, not very happy.
Leroy, who was standing next to him, of course understood what kind of person his old partner was. He smiled and patted Perbov on the shoulder, comforting him: "If a problem can be solved with artillery shells, don't use human lives to solve it. I think this is a good idea. Besides, if you want to fight, it's not like there is really no war to fight. Although the artillery brothers are capable, can they really finish all the work?"
What Leroy said certainly made sense.
Less than 30 centimeters per shell is an exaggeration. The enemy's position is not just one line, and no matter how amateur or stupid the opposing commander is, he knows that he needs to build a deep defense line.
The bombing was indeed devastating, but it was not so severe that there were only a few soldiers left on a front line that was eight kilometers wide and at least three kilometers thick.
In fact, the Xifeng Brigade still encountered resistance.
The enemy began to show up. Some lucky ones who survived the bombardment, under the strong orders of their officers, emerged from bunkers, fortifications, and anti-gun holes and launched a counterattack against the attacking enemy.
However……
The force of this counterattack is like tickling.
I don’t know if the artillery positions of the anti-Governor Alliance were destroyed by the 30,000 heavy artillery shells before. Anyway, they were nowhere to be seen at this time.
The soldiers did have some weapons that could barely be considered anti-armor, such as rocket launchers and explosive packs, but they were not numerous enough and not powerful enough. Rocket launchers, whether used to attack a Ramblers or a Challenger tank, were just scratching the surface, unless they were fired at close range and accurately hit the thinnest parts of the tanks' tracks, wheels, and buttocks armor.
The explosive pack requires someone to get close to it.
But that is difficult. In order to ensure accuracy and power, you must get very close to the armored units. However, their tanks and infantry fighting vehicles are not turtles. They run faster than humans and have more powerful firepower. Not to mention the cannon barrels, the machine guns on the tanks, the machine guns on the infantry fighting vehicles, and the explosive machine guns are all explosive damage to light infantry. Without firepower cover, relying solely on light infantry, they will be destroyed before they get close.
If there is someone who is really lucky or tenacious enough to wait until the tank passes and then suddenly rush out, then success... is also basically impossible.
The Xifeng Brigade's tactics of infantry-tank coordination and armored charge are its forte.
The Confederate infantry are not vegetarians.
This time, the infantry-tank coordinated tactics adopted by the Xifeng Brigade were armor-guided assaults, with tanks in the front, mechanized infantry fighting in the middle, and infantry fighting vehicles in the back. On both sides and rear of each tank, there were usually one or two infantry squads. The guns in their hands would educate those enemies who felt that the tank gun barrels were not rotating fast enough and wanted to attack from the side. At the same time, the infantry fighting vehicles further back served as the main firepower support for the infantry.
At the same time, tank troops will not make the mistake of being out of touch, and often maintain a distance of 20-100 meters from the infantry. After occupying a position, the tanks will stop for a while and wait for the infantry to come up.
After the infantry comes up, they will complete the occupation and clearance of the surrounding areas. The tanks will then set out again, break through a section of the position, and the infantry will follow.
And so on.
After the motorized troops behind catch up, they will carry out the final cleanup work on the enemy troops that have been scattered.
This tactic is difficult to defend against even an enemy position with a tight defense line, let alone the current group of anti-Governor coalition forces.
They were originally a mob of people gathered from various settlements, and their equipment, morale, training, experience... all had visible differences. After being plowed by 30,000 artillery shells, there were not many people left alive, not to mention that even those who were still alive had already reached the point of collapse in morale.
To be honest, if we had not been forced to resist by the officers, we would have run away or hidden ourselves waiting for surrender.
But... aren't these officers of the Anti-Governor Allied Forces afraid of death?
Obviously he is afraid too.
In some places the soldiers broke and fled, and the officers tried to call the soldiers back, but it was useless, so they just ran after them;
Some officers, after calling on the soldiers to go out and resist, escaped first;
Some officers simply ran away with their soldiers.
In general, these anti-Governor coalition forces were able to organize the remaining people and launch a certain degree of counterattack after suffering terrible artillery bombardment, which was considered very good considering their status as a mob.
But under the impact of the armored forces, this little resistance was quickly crushed.
If the fleeing soldiers ran to the sides, Perbov's soldiers would not pay much attention to them and would not have the time to take care of things on both sides of the battle line; if they panicked and ran backwards, they would be chased by the armored troops all the way, which would obviously be very bad. Two legs cannot outrun wheels.
Especially after the enemy's resistance became increasingly weak, Perbov adopted bold and radical tactics. He no longer required the infantry and armored forces to maintain close coordination, and tactical discipline was abandoned, with more emphasis on impact speed.
The infantry fighting vehicles began to overtake the slower Challenger tanks and moved to the front; the engineering battalion also quickly caught up in the armed trucks. When they encountered places that they could not pass through, the engineers got off the trucks to fill the trenches and build temporary roads.
This is actually very dangerous, but there is no danger.
Just two hours after the Xifeng Brigade officially entered the battle, the entire force broke through the central area of the enemy's defense line.
It was eight kilometers wide and four kilometers deep and was completely destroyed.
At this point, Commander Yan's "center blooming" strategy can be considered a preliminary success.
The enemy's line, which was about fifty kilometers wide, had now been "broken up" in the middle, creating an eight-kilometer-wide bulge in the middle.
All this, from the artillery bombardment to the armored assault, happened in just three hours.
Next, it’s time for the next stage of the center-blooming strategy: making dumplings.
The purpose of creating a salient was, of course, to prepare for the complete annihilation of the enemy.
After breaking through the defense line, the Xifeng Brigade did not stop. After crossing the difficult trench area where the enemy was resisting, the road ahead was even smoother. The mechanized troops of the Xifeng Brigade ran at a very fast speed on this smooth road.
Five hours later, the vanguard of the Xifeng Brigade had advanced fifty kilometers.
At this time, only eight hours had passed since the shelling began.
Eight hours was not even enough for the anti-Governor coalition forces, which were divided into two groups, to mount an effective response.
But Yan Fangxu's subsequent attack plan has already followed.
The 2nd Motorized Infantry Division quickly followed the salient created by the Xifeng Brigade, leaving part of the troops to defend the central salient, while the rest of the troops, together with the Xifeng Brigade, encircled the enemy from the north and west.
This was the retreat route for the two separated enemy forces.
At the same time, the 3rd Beast-Slaying Independent Regiment and the 7th and 8th Garrison Divisions, with the support of artillery, began to launch a full-scale offensive.
The enemy's forces began to waver across the board.
The center was breached, the two sides lost contact, the rear was outflanked, and the front was drowned by fierce artillery fire...
Under attack from all sides, they became dumpling fillings.
It took Yan Fangxu half a day to make the center of the dumpling bloom, and another day to make a solid dumpling.
The skin is thin and the filling is large, but the meat filling inside does not have the ability to break through the seemingly small dumpling skin.
They held out under siege for three days.
No supplies, no ammunition, no reinforcements...
A bunch of rabble, expecting them to fight until they run out of ammunition and food and all their men are killed?
Unrealistic.
By the fourth day, the enemy began to surrender on a large scale.
At this point, the dumpling with thin skin and large filling is cooked.
————
Happy Dragon Boat Festival!
Yesterday, some content was missing, about Lacroxia's promotion to military rank, just two sentences, I don't understand where it crossed the line, the reviewer deleted it for me...
This is the second time my content was deleted without my knowledge. It’s very annoying.
Already refilled.
(End of this chapter)
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