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Chapter 212 Infantry, Tanks, and Artillery

Although the artillery of the 88th Army was powerful, the Japanese heavy artillery was not weak either, especially the Meiji 45-type 150mm cannon, which was the Japanese city defense artillery. It was usually fixed in the defense fortresses of large cities and had a range of more than 20 kilometers.

We didn't know before that the Japanese had gone to so much trouble to transport heavy artillery from Taiyuan, which resulted in heavy losses when we broke through the Japanese's third line of defense.

Unless the Japanese heavy artillery was eliminated, the artillery brigade's artillery positions would not dare to move forward easily, so Zhu Zhaolan came up with a plan to lead the 9th Tank Company to destroy the Japanese heavy artillery through the weak point of the Japanese defense.

When the bomber brigade in the air learned of this news, the pilots couldn't help but curse, and even the instructor who was flying with them was no exception.

The Japanese heavy artillery appeared only half an hour ago, and they happened to be replenishing their aerial bombs at the airport.

Logically speaking, the ammunition depots, transportation supply lines, artillery positions, etc. behind the Japanese are all within the mission scope of the bombers.

Even though there is no explicit regulation, it is tacitly accepted by the military forces of countries around the world.

After all, these places are behind the battle line and a little distance away from the front line, just to deliberately avoid the firing range of the enemy's artillery.

However, this situation did not apply to the 88th Army. The tanks could rush up directly under the artillery fire and aim their tank guns at the artillery positions just a few hundred meters away from the artillery positions.

Moreover, if it were not for the need to prevent accidents that might damage their own artillery, the self-propelled artillery regiment could have directly opened fire with rocket-assisted projectiles.

This is another combat style of the 88th Army. I would rather waste 1 or 10 artillery shells to hit one enemy gun, just to ensure that my side suffers no losses as much as possible, even if one soldier is injured or killed.

The pilots angrily cursed the army for being shameless for taking over the jobs when they were away.

Is this something you can do? Can't you wait for half an hour? And you didn't even inform me of the heavy artillery position after you had already bombed it?

Are you, the Army, doing this to make our Air Force look stupid?

But the pilots were helpless. Strictly speaking, the Air Force had not yet been formally established, and even the current squadron was a temporary organization.

There is nothing wrong with not having a say.

Now that the Japanese's eight heavy artillery pieces have been destroyed and the artillery brigade has also been pushed up, it's time to start covering the Japanese's last line of defense with firepower.

Just after Zhu Zhaolan and others withdrew from the Japanese positions, the Type 4 66mm howitzers from the four battalions of the artillery brigade and the 152st Artillery Regiment of the Armored Division opened fire together. The shells used were all high-explosive bombs with amazing power.

At the same time, the bomber brigade flew over the sky again, this was the third time. After dropping a bomb, they ran back to Yuncheng Airport to reload bombs. This was because the airport's ground equipment was not yet complete, and the speed of mounting hundreds of kilograms of bombs was slow, otherwise, the flight distance of more than 200 kilometers would have taken at least five round trips.

The first two times, they returned after dropping the bombs, but this time they didn't leave after dropping the bombs.

"Damn it, all squadrons, lower your altitude to 2000 meters and fire rockets at me!"

The temporary squadron leader Dongfang Bubai shouted angrily, unable to bear this.

The pilots were stunned for a moment, then they were overjoyed and began to descend in squadron form.

No rockets were fired in the previous two rounds because the Japanese did not have many tanks and armored vehicles, and they were relatively scattered.

In order to ensure the absolute safety of the bombers, they all maintained an altitude of 5000 meters and used bombing radars to drop bombs in parallel.

The maximum range of the Type 57-1 rocket is 5000 meters, which is just at the limit and is used for air combat. In addition, the number of Japanese tanks and armored vehicles is not only small, but also sparsely distributed. If it is launched, the hit rate is almost zero.

If used to deal with clusters of Japanese infantry targets, with a 57mm caliber and a warhead containing just over 1 kilogram of explosives, the lethality would not be that great.

So it has not been launched before.

But now Dongfang Bubai doesn’t care anymore. He has to charge forward to win some face for the Air Force.

Otherwise, the army will have something to laugh at in the future, saying that more than 10 bombers of the Air Force cannot destroy a single artillery position of the Japanese, and they even have to use tanks to charge into battle.

He, a member of the system, felt ashamed, let alone these new pilots.

Besides, the risk of lowering the altitude is not great. The front and rear cockpits of the H-5 are equipped with thickened bulletproof glass, and the fuselage can withstand small-caliber bullets. In addition, the weight of the H-5 is greatly reduced after dropping bombs, allowing it to perform afterburner flight.

At a speed of 1145 kilometers per hour, even the Japanese's crappy manual anti-aircraft weapons can't hit it.

Just like that, in less than half a minute, the 12 H-5s had lowered their altitude by more than half, and the sound of them breaking through the air caused a stir in the ears of the Japanese.

Nice and harsh.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh...

Dense rockets fell from the sky with tail flames, leaving a thin trace of smoke wherever they passed.

At the same time, the two 5mm cannons on the nose of the H-23 also opened fire. These were no longer bullets, but small artillery shells, the kind that could kill a big friend with one shot.

In an instant, the Japanese soldiers who had just faced the intensive artillery fire of the 88th Army had no time to react before they were hit by a series of rockets and machine gun fire, and half of the last line of defense was once again covered in dust.

"What the hell are these bombers doing? Who told them to fly so low? Contact them and fly up for me!"

Liu Quanhua looked up at the sky and shouted, he felt heartbroken. Bombers are good things. You should just drop bombs in the sky. Why are you flying down?

What if you bump into something?

Before the armored division could get in touch with the bomber brigade, the bomber brigade had already raised its altitude and then disappeared...

Yes, we are back...

I think Dongfang Bubai knew that he was acting on his own this time, so he thought it was okay to have fun for the sake of excitement, but he must not get addicted to fighting.

"Forget it, come back and don't contact me anymore!"

Liu Quanhua had no choice but to call back the operations officer he was about to contact. Then, an idea flashed in his eyes, and he kicked another operations officer and shouted:

"What are you still standing there for? Since the Air Force is so kind and willing to clear the area for us, we can't let them down! Quickly pass on my order. Extend the artillery fire and strike the enemy in depth. Push both armored regiments forward and take the position within an hour!"

"Yes!" The staff officers responded, and then each picked up the phone to convey the order.

A moment later, the cluster artillery adjusted its range and bombarded the rear of Luowangzhuang, cutting off the retreat route of the main force of the Japanese.

Subsequently, two armored regiments, two mechanized infantry regiments, and one self-propelled artillery regiment, with infantry, tanks, and artillery advancing in coordinated fashion, the Battle of Luowangzhuang finally reached its climax.

This was a large-scale battle between the Japanese and the 88th Army, and it was also the first time that the 88th Army's mechanized forces demonstrated their true strength to the world.

This battle overturned the Tang army's understanding of warfare.

It turns out that we can also chase and fight the Japanese ourselves.

Many people now understand why Nazi Germany was able to capture most of Europe in a short period of time!