HCB Chapter 251: The Final Battle of Mandalay (6) Li Mingcheng's Battle Group VS Ishizu Takuma'
Chapter 251: The Final Battle of Mandalay (6) Li Mingcheng's Battle Group VS Ishizu Takuma'
On the road to Meiktila, silence enveloped the muddy land between the rainforests beside the road, as if the whole earth held its breath, waiting for some drastic changes to happen.
The railway bridge over the Madeya River has broken apart and turned into a twisted scrap of steel.
The faint roar in the sky makes people feel uneasy, as if a storm is brewing quietly in the distance.
"The enemy's air force blew up the railway bridge over the Madeya River?" Colonel Takuma Ishizu, who was hiding in the woods, was extremely surprised to hear the news. After repeatedly confirming with his staff, he had to accept the news.
At this moment, he did not know that he had stepped into the trap prepared by Zhang Chi, and was still leading the Shijin detachment towards Meiktila.
Although the railway bridge over the Madeya River was already behind the troops, Colonel Ishizu knew that there were still a large number of infantry troops that had not crossed the Madeya River.
Ishizu Takuma immediately called over the messenger and gave him instructions: "As soon as it gets dark, dispatch the engineering corps to build a pontoon bridge over the Madeya River."
As the troops gradually approached Mandalay, the air raids by the Anshun Air Force became more frequent. Therefore, Ishizu Takuma's armored troops could only rest in the woods during the day to avoid air raids and march at night.
Not long after, the sun gradually set. Seeing that the sky was beginning to darken, Ishizu Takuma immediately organized his troops to leave the woods and come to the road to prepare for the march.
Although a hint of uneasiness had already arisen deep in his heart, Takuma Ishizu was still full of fighting spirit at this moment.
He served as a military observer in the Wehrmacht of the ally Hans for a year, witnessed firsthand how the Hans armored forces fought, and gained a wealth of experience and tactics.
Leading this mecha unit of nearly 5000 soldiers, he believes that he will be able to display his strengths and achieve some results.
Of course, it would be nice without those annoying air raids.
"All troops, attack!" Takuma Ishizu took the lead and boarded a state-of-the-art Type 1 medium tank equipped with a high-power radio. He put on headphones, picked up the intercom and issued orders.
He was so blindly confident that he didn't realize that as the sun set, most of the Japanese soldiers in his unit would never see the sun again tomorrow.
Under the setting sun, countless Japanese soldiers in shit-yellow short-sleeved military uniforms started their vehicles, started their engines, and drove them onto the road one by one with a rumbling sound.
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On the other side, Lieutenant Colonel Li Mingcheng, who served as the vanguard, was also speeding on the road with his armored combat group.
At the front of the team were jeeps and Lynx vehicles equipped with heavy machine guns and recoilless rifles leading the way.
Behind them was a formation of various types of tanks. They were driving on a winding road, and their tracks rolled over the muddy ground, making a dull "clicking" sound.
Under Zhang Chi's command, all armored vehicles and vehicles capable of carrying out missions of the 11th Motorized Brigade and the 13th Brigade were concentrated to form three regimental-level battle groups.
Two of them advanced westward to the border to prevent Mutaguchi Ren'ya's 15th Army from launching a counterattack.
The third battle group, that is, Lieutenant Colonel Li Mingcheng's battle group, acted as the vanguard and charged directly at Ishizu Takuma's armored forces from the front.
Since the Anmin Army had completely mastered the air superiority, even if Ishizu Takuma chose to hide during the day and move at night, his large armored force would still not be able to hide its whereabouts.
And today, after blowing up his retreat route, the railway bridge over the Madeya River, is the day Zhang Chi chose for Ishizu Takuma's death.
The roar of an aviation piston engine was heard in the sky. Li Mingcheng opened the hatch above his head, half of his body stuck out of the turret of the M4 Sherman tank, looked up at the sky behind him, and saw a very shocking scene.
Under the orange sunset, countless P-47 fighter planes carrying bombs and air-launched rockets formed a formation like geese and flew over his head in low altitude one after another.
The low-flying fighter jets not only brought huge noise, but also brought strong winds.
The storm-like airflow hit Li Mingcheng's face, taking away the stuffiness and sweat.
He reached out to cover the tank soldier's soft hat on his head that was blown around by the strong wind, whistled arrogantly, his face full of anticipation.
He knew that these fighter planes would go and give the Japanese tanks a good beating, especially the Type 1 gun tanks that posed a huge threat to his armored forces, and the Air Force would deal with them in advance.
The Type 1 gun tank developed by the Japanese (the author says the picture is at the end of the chapter) has an overall configuration similar to Hans's Weasel tank destroyer. An open fighting compartment was built on the chassis of the Type 97 medium tank and it was equipped with a 75mm main gun.
Although the Japanese army has not yet developed the technology branch of wind-capped armor-piercing shells, the Type 1 artillery tank is still using traditional armor-piercing grenades, and its armor-piercing ability is slightly weaker than Hans's 75mmL48 and White Eagle's 76mmM1 main gun.
但其在10米距离上穿深依旧可以达到104mm，500米距离穿深下降到92mm，1000米则是82mm。
Although it can only threaten the upper armor of the M4A3 (105) Sherman at very close range, it can easily penetrate various types of armored vehicles equipped by the other Minutemen at all distances.
（31吨多的M4A3（105）谢尔曼差不多就是勃固地区交通能承载的极限了，为保证能通过各类桥梁、浮桥，安民军大量装备的还是M5A1、M22、M24等轻坦）
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The Grim Reaper suddenly appeared in the sky, and Takuma Ishizu, who was planning how to attack Meiktila next, suddenly realized that something was wrong.
He looked at the rapidly approaching group of planes in the distance, suddenly came to his senses, and shouted loudly: "Enemy air attack! Everyone, prepare anti-aircraft fire to intercept!"
The situation was beyond Ishizu Takuma's expectations. In his memory, the Anmin Army's fighter planes had never launched an air raid in the evening.
"Aren't they worried that it might get completely dark during their return flight and they wouldn't be able to land?"
Unlike the B-25 bomber, the pilots of the P-47 fighter had not received any specific training for night landings, but Zhang Chi, who had the system, also had his own way.
'Deep blue...'
No, it's 'System, buy a new one.'
A brand new P-47D can be purchased in the system for only 38,000 Silver Lions, so Zhang Chi ordered that those who were confident in landing at night should return, and those who were not confident should simply fly to the vicinity of the airport and abandon the plane and parachute, just to save the pilot.
As long as he could wipe out the last of this Japanese army, the liberation of the entire Pegu would be just around the corner. He could quickly make back the small loss of Silver Lions by sending the Air Force to bomb more Japanese in other Southeast Asian regions.
Ishizu Takuma, who was unaware of this, ordered the convoy to stop quickly. The Japanese soldiers hurriedly jumped off the trucks and began to deploy machine guns for air defense.
As for other types of tanks and artillery vehicles, they retreated hastily into the woods, trying to hide.
However, the hasty preparations were obviously unable to withstand the violent storm that came from the sky.