During the war, since the French artillery was difficult to match the German army, they learned the flesh-and-blood lesson of "all offensives must be wide frontal attacks". That is to say, the width of the attack should be at least more than twice the range of the German howitzer, that is, the frontal must exceed fifteen kilometers. Only in this way can the protruding part not be subject to the covered shooting of German howitzers from both sides; considering the traffic of the protruding part and the troops stationed, the width of this protruding part often exceeds twenty kilometers, or even twenty-five kilometers.

In this way, this width is not something that several divisions can open up. It requires more than 100,000 troops to be invested in a region. If so many troops are gathered, it will inevitably be discovered by the German reconnaissance planes. With the long time for artillery preparation, when the French army starts to attack, the German army on the opposite side is already on high alert, and the war will eventually fall into a long stalemate.

The French army's experience can indeed help the Expeditionary Force to some extent, but this time it is obvious that these experiences are not useful. After Xu Shuzheng, the chief of staff of the 11th Army, persuaded him with kind words, he sent Colonel Bertrand away with a general word of "our army can act on cameras". At this time, he hoped that Wu Peifu, the first brigade of the 33rd Division, could arrive outside the city of Baldic quickly after receiving the telegram. If he took it there, all the problems would be solved.

From watching at the breakthrough point to receiving an offensive telegram from the rear command, Wu Xiucai reacted quickly. He had previously concentrated the artillery regiments of the entire division to the breakthrough point of the chariot battalion and waited for the order of attack. At this time, as soon as he received the telegram, he handed over the defense line to the division commander Cao Kun, and led the remaining regiment of the brigade and half of the artillery regiment to attack Baldic along the road opened by the chariot battalion. He fully understood that the key to the entire war now was whether the city could be successfully captured.

The distance of sixteen kilometers was not too far, and it took less than two hours to march. However, in just over an hour, the armored troops in front had already been deployed with the German troops at the outer stronghold of the city of Baledik.

The armored troops, which had been unstoppable, hit the wall several kilometers outside the city, were different from the field artillery. The artillery in the city had solid bunkers, and the planes could affect the normal operation of the field artillery. However, for the city artillery in the cement bunker, they would buzz around them at most. So, three kilometers southeast of the city of Baldic, a series of howitzers hit the armored troops. Several tanks running in the front were immediately beaten to the top of the armored plate. The flames and shrapnel of the shell explosion burned and pierced the captain and gunners and others through the cracks. The remaining crew members in the car were also dizzy. The power of the 150 and 105 howitzers were amazing, and these bombed tanks could not move on the spot. One of them caught fire and exploded.

Major Zhang Liuji, who was commanding the battle, guessed that there was a German artillery observation post nearby. While ordering the vehicles to release smoke and retreat, he ordered several tanks in front to conduct fire reconnaissance. Sure enough, as soon as the front machine gun of the tank fired, the Maxim machine gun also began to fight back in the German fortifications more than a thousand meters away. The bullets hit the front armor plate of the tank, but it was not injured. Only when the flames appeared, several shells came from the opposite side and exploded beside the tank, Zhang Liuji felt that this should be a key blocking site for the German army.

What to do, fight or not? If you don't fight, the attack will be delayed by the German army. When the Germans behind are ready, the battle will be even harder to fight. If you fight, then under the attack of German long-range artillery fire and anti-war cannons in fortifications, you will suffer heavy losses if you are not good.

Thinking of this question in my mind, but holding a map in my hand. Compared with the mileage he drove, Zhang Liuji felt that he had arrived at a place called Savoniedwanba outside Baldic, which was three kilometers away from Baldic, and there was a stream on the way not far ahead.

"Architecture, Immediately find a place to set up the cannon." Zhang Liuji made up his mind to attack and ordered the self-propelled artillery battalion to start unfolding. This place is already very close to the city, and the artillery firepower can only be fired directly when moving forward.

Taking advantage of the launch of the artillery battalion, Zhang Liuji called the second company commander Meng Qingshan and said, "Take your company around the west. Attack on the flanks, be careful! We will attract the attention of the enemy here."

When Zhang Liuji spoke, the German howitzer group that lost its specific target due to smoke still hit the ground like a hammer. Every explosion trembled. "Who should I take?" During the break of an explosion, the second company commander hurriedly asked.

"Take the 33rd Division's people." Zhang Liuji did not dare to consume the infantry of the Moban camp too much, so he had to use the 33rd Division's people to make up the numbers.

"I understand." The second company commander Meng Qingshan didn't say anything. He immediately took a company of 19 steel chariots and carried a company of the 33rd Division around from the west.

When he was acting, the remaining chariots could only fire violently at the German positions opposite to them, to show that they were still in the smoke. However, the range of the on-board machine guns and artillery was two kilometers. The German howitzer shells, which could not determine the target distance, were scattered in the smoke between the chariot and the German fortifications, and the troops were not damaged.

Taking advantage of the second company's detour, the mechanics company drove his life to drag back the chariots that were broken by howitzers in the smoke. Company commander Mi Fangtian reported on another channel on the radio: "Battalion Commander, the first company commander has died!"

"I'll fuck him!" Zhang Liuji, who stuck out of the turret, punched the armor on the roof of the car. He wiped his face hard before calming down. He continued, "Where are the others? Can the car be repaired?"

"Five others were sacrificed, either injured or dizzy, and there was no way to fight." Mi Fangtian was from Fujian, and could barely hear the explosion of howitzers. "Two chariots were completely destroyed, and the other three could be repaired!"

"Then make a quicker!" Zhang Liuji reminded, and then called Erlian on the channel. He said to himself without waiting for Meng Qingshan to speak: "Old Fei has sacrificed, you are fucking wanting to avenge him!!"

Meng Qingshan didn't understand the battalion commander's meaning at first, but when the battalion commander cut off the radio, he felt a sudden slap in his heart. He remembered that the one who rushed to the front was Fei Yushu's company. With the habit of old Fei's command, his body must be outside the car when the howitzers came.

"Ma, suck! Comrades, the first company commander has died, everyone wants to avenge him!" Meng Qingshan shouted at the radio, and his voice reached the other eighteen chariots of the Second Company through the on-board radio. "Er Dezi and Russians are not good birds, they are also the masters who take advantage of the situation! Don't be ruthless this time, and beat them hard!"

After Meng Qingshan mobilized the team, he opened the turret hatch at the risk of being hit by a cold gun and looked at the infantry carrying outside the vehicle. He shouted to the infantry company commander of the 33rd Division who was a little unknown: "Get out of the car and fight... Follow the chariot later,... Follow closely! Pay attention to the enemy's cross firepower! Be sure to pay attention to cross firepower!!"

The company commander understood the order of "get out of the car to fight", but judging from the subsequent battle performance, he obviously did not understand. But there was no time to explain in detail on the battlefield. Seeing that the infantry of each car had gotten out of the car, Meng Qingshan ordered the twelve wolves in the company and his command chariot to form a geese formation to aim at the German positions.

For the Germans stationed here, it was extremely panic for a large number of enemy tanks to suddenly appear on the right flank, because the smoke on the front did not cover the entire battlefield, and the tanks on the right flank must have circled a long way to detour to the flank. Although the sudden appearance of the chariots can also give clear shooting targets to the howitzer group in the city. However, the distance between the enemy and us was only about one kilometer at this time. Even if the howitzer group in the city calibrated the shelling parameters in various places in advance, it was still too late.

Therefore, with the orders of the battlefield commander here, some light machine guns and mortar fire were first transferred to the flanks, but the distance was so close that except for the machine guns that could strafuse the chariots and infantry behind the chariots, the panicked mortars were unable to hit the target for a while. The defense tried its best to stop them, but the thirteen chariots that could exert all the firepower under the Yanxing formation opened fire one by one. In the smoke, each chariot first used machine gun tracer bullets to shoot the German machine gun positions according to the smoke. Once the tracer bullets were hit, the gunners would snatch the shells and clearly see the shells hitting the shooting holes of the bunkers one by one. Each time they hit, fire and smoke burst out from the bunkers, and then the machine guns were silenced.

When the distance was only more than four hundred meters, several 77mm anti-war chariot field guns that had finally moved over began to fire at the chariots, but although the distance was close, the charge of the chariots that spit out light and fired in the smoke made the German gunners frightened, and the two guns at the beginning did not hit. Although there was no loss on his side, the light belts brought out when the 77mm shells were shot made Meng Qingshan very anxious. The artillery of this caliber was fighting a chariot at this distance, which was simply a killing knife. While ordering each vehicle on the radio to eliminate the anti-war chariot cannon immediately, he opened the turret cover regardless of danger in order to better aim at the target. He poked his head out.

"Aim at the tracer bullet!" Meng Qingshan picked up the machine gun on the roof of the vehicle and fired it angrily to point the gunner in a direction, and shouted loudly: "Armor Piercing Bullet!"

The company commander personally calibrated the target. The gunner Zhou Zhiqiang used the tracer bullet to operate the directional aircraft and high and low aircraft of the main gun, aiming the muzzle at the target. Then he shouted loudly like the company commander, "Armor Piercing Bullet!"

The loader Yang Arong had already been waiting for the armor-piercing projectiles. When he heard him shouting armor-piercing projectiles, he immediately stuffed the shell into the barrel. As the bolt cracked, he also shouted loudly: "Armor-piercing projectiles are in!"

‘Bong!’ The chariot seemed to jump, and a red fireball flew out of the muzzle. What’s strange is that the shell only drew a green light above the shield of the field cannon. The green light flashed away. Meng Qingshan, who was watching, shouted anxiously: “Damn! Jump! Look down and set it off!”

After hearing the company commander shouting for a jump, Zhou Zhiqiang really wanted to shoot his head. The jumping means he was hitting high. While spitting, he adjusted the high and low machine slightly. When his loader Yang Arong stuffed another armor-piercing bullet into the barrel chamber and shouted "Center!" again, he pressed his right index finger and fired it. With a "dong!", the chariot jumped rapidly, and another red fireball shot out.

"Ma, shit! Fight again!" Meng Qingshan outside the car pounded the roof armor vigorously. He was really anxious. The first jump shot hit the mud on the side of the 77 gun. What was this going on? You know, Zhou Zhiqiang is the magic gunner in the company; and just now, the 77 gun shot hit the turret of Car No. 081. The armor at such a close distance was immediately penetrated. After a violent explosion, the turret of 081 was blown away on the spot!

"Armor Piercing Bomb!" The loader Yang Arong stuffed the third armor-piercing Bomb into the cannon chamber. This time, Zhou Zhiqiang aimed accurately and the fireball hit the front shield of the 77th gun. Although the German gunner survived a few, the cannon was considered useless. At this time, the chariot had rushed to within 200 meters of the enemy's formation. Meng Qingshan had no time to command the artillery bombardment, but turned back and looked back. It was fine if he didn't look at it. He saw that there were only dozens of people left in the nearly 200 infantrymen following him. He was vomiting blood.

"Attack! Attack immediately!" Meng Qingshan no longer cared about cursing and getting angry. At this moment, the most important thing was to let the infantry rush forward to sweep away the remaining enemy troops.

Infantry coordination in the inchman must follow the chariots and start to cooperate well. However, after the German 77 anti-chariot field cannon was transferred to this direction, the command vehicle that led the speed of the Yanxing array unconsciously began to accelerate. The vehicles in the company concentrated their firepower against the 77 anti-chariot field cannon under the command of Meng Qingshan, and ignored each other. The crossfire formed by some temporarily missed Maxim machine guns suddenly killed most of the infantry that did not follow up in time. We really have to hold them accountable. This was due to the miscommand command of Meng Qingshan and failed to allocate the firepower of each car. In addition, the 33rd Division infantry company and infantry were not aware of the coordinated combat and failed to follow the chariots.

Only the living people have the opportunity to summarize their experience. The officers and soldiers of the 122nd Chariot Company in the battle had no time to get their bad hit rate. They all increased the accelerator and rushed through the trench to crush the German soldiers. This rush swept the German position, which was four kilometers long and less than one kilometer wide. The German soldiers who saw the enemy chariots rush into their own formation had no time to organize resistance. They were either swept down by the chariot machine gun while running away, or put down their guns and raised their hands to surrender. Fifteen minutes later, this small town called Savoniedwangba was completely occupied by the 122nd Chariot Company.

"Boom...boom..." After comprehensively cleaning the entire battlefield, Meng Qingshan took the troops and German prisoners out of the town ahead of the enemy. He thought that the civilized German army would not treat his comrades as cruelly as the Japanese army, but obviously his caution was very necessary. A few minutes after the troops left the town, the German army's howitzers came over in the city.

"It's so fucking disgusting!" The armored vehicle was hidden in a vineyard with leaves falling from outside the town. Although facing the battalion commander, Meng Qingshan couldn't help but curse.

"I lost three cars... and lost 113 infantry... and lost so much?" Major Zhang Liuji ignored his subordinates' curse on the Germans. He just couldn't understand why the infantry suffered such a huge loss.

"It's my fault!" Meng Qingshan reluctantly grabbed the chariot cap on his head and scratched his head. He reviewed deeply, "I only visited the 77th field cannon in front. I leaked a few machine guns on the side. It should be the first time that the 33rd Division implemented sporting vehicle coordination in actual combat. The follower was too loose, and the German machine gun fired sideways and fired...

"Why don't you let them follow closely? Pay attention to the crossfire of German machine guns?!" Hearing that the cause of the loss was like this, the major's face changed suddenly. But then he restrained it. He sighed, "Forget it, this is a lesson for the past, I am also waiting for the crime. You should start thinking about the content of this accident report now, remember to use five analysis methods to find the root cause of the accident."

"I understand, sir!" The battalion commander was greedy for rapid assault, so he asked the troops to follow the highway and not pay attention to dispersing the formation within the range of enemy howitzers; while he only focused on the front and ignored his back in the battle. He knew that the 33rd Division was not a qualified sporting sporting sporting team, but did not pay more attention and guidance to them. This performance was just a qualified chariot company commander, not a qualified armored force commander. The mistakes of both of them killed many people. From this point of view, they were really a crime.

"Battery Commander, why should I stop here?" Reducing the guilty thoughts, Meng Qingshan was a little puzzled by the battalion commander's order to stand by here.

"If we can be attacked by German howitzers, it means that the German artillery in the city has not been suppressed by our air force. It is already three kilometers away from Baldic. If we go out of the vineyard, we can see our traces on the bell tower of the church in the city. We should not take this risk before we are fully prepared." Zhang Liuji said.

"Full preparation?" Meng Qingshan and the third company commander Song Desheng were a little confused.

"The 1st Brigade of the 33rd Division has arrived and is about to arrive. If we really want to attack Baldic, we have to wait for them, and the infantry we pulled down. In addition, Brigade Commander Wu also brought half of the artillery regiment of the 33rd Division. With a gun battalion that we already have, we should be able to suppress the German artillery in the city under the guidance of the aircraft." Major Zhang Liuji judged, "There are still two divisions of 31 and 32 that have begun to move. Although they are just restraining the German troops on other defense lines and not allowing them to reinforce Baldic, that's enough."

As he was talking, the Warrior Off-road Vehicle that was coming from afar suddenly braked, and Wu Peifu jumped out of the car. Without saying a word, he saw Zhang Liuji and said, "Major Zhang, Wu is here to obey your command. As long as you say a word, the 33rd Division will be dead today, and he will also defeat Baldic."

Wu Peifu was pleased, and Zhang Liuji was not polite. He did not take Wu Peifu's words and just said, "When will the artillery battalion you brought to complete the development?"

"It has been deployed, and it can be fired at most an hour. Is it too late?" As the saying goes, artillery is the guts of the infantry. As the commander of the 33rd Division's artillery regiment, Wu Peifu understood the importance of artillery to infantry very well. Before he rushed to Zhang Liuji, he had already ordered the artillery regiment to unfold.

"How many howitzers are there more than 100?" Zhang Liuji asked.

"I have brought all the 105th howitzer battalion in the division. The other battalion is 75 field cannons, with a total of 30 cannons, and the shells are also carried in full, with three bases." Wu Peifu said.

"Okay!" Zhang Liuji felt even more at ease when he heard that he had brought all the howitzers. In the city, only one division of the 86th German Division was stationed. According to the organization, it should have fifty-four guns, half of which were more than 100mm. And he added the newly arrived twelve 105s, and there were a total of twenty-two large-caliber howitzers, plus another twenty-four 75 field guns. As long as the aircraft observes accurately, there would be no problem suppressing the German army.

This is the comparison of artillery fire between the enemy and us. In the infantry, although the opponent has a division's strength, he has fifty-nine taels and a brigade's strength. Based on combat effectiveness, if a rifleman's combat power index is one, the combat power of that wolf-type chariot is six hundred, and jackal-type chariot is two hundred..., while urban street fighting will reduce the offensive efficiency of one's own side by twenty%, but the air supremacy advantage can increase by ten percent...

The combat effectiveness index from the book "Guide to Modern Warfare" was repeatedly calculated in Zhang Liuji's mind. Facing a pure infantry division, he felt that his combat effectiveness index had about three times the data advantage compared to the garrisoned 86th Division. Although it could not achieve the "five attacks" mentioned in military strategy, as the party that holds the initiative, he could "severe the difference", but the attack must be fast!

Major Zhang Liuji, who thought of this, said to the map of Baldic spread on the ground, "The attack plan is like this. Erlian, accompanied by a platoon of six wolf chariots, a self-propelled artillery company, and an infantry battalion. From here, cross the Ornan River and detour to the northeast of Baldic to start the attack. This will not only allow the defenders to divide their troops, but also cut off the railway line from the rear."
Chapter completed!