GBP Chapter 583: Fierce Battle on Sumatra Island
Chapter 583: Fierce Battle on Sumatra Island
"Order! All heavy artillery, 120mm cannons, 150mm howitzers, are absolutely not allowed to open fire or counterattack without authorization." Goto gritted his teeth and gave the order, feeling unwilling and humiliated.
"All artillery teams, break up into smaller groups and disperse to conceal themselves at the designated ambush points. Anyone who opens fire without my orders will be punished by seppuku!"
He knew that his heavy firepower was far inferior to that of the Nanyang people in both quantity and quality.
If used in a concentrated manner, they will only become sitting ducks for enemy artillery and air forces.
The only hope is to scatter these precious heavy artillery and hide them in the jungle and on the hills, waiting for the Nanyang tanks and armored vehicles to approach, and then launch a decisive attack, perhaps overturning a few Nanyang heavy tanks and delaying the opponent's offensive.
"Hai!" The adjutant took the order and left, his face full of despair.
The split deployment of heavy artillery meant the complete abandonment of long-range fire support. The Japanese infantry could only passively take the beating and hope for a final ambush.
This battle was so frustrating!
However, the more frustrated the Japanese were, the more it proved the strength of the Nanyang Defense Army.
In Goto's telescope, the smoke from the rocket launcher had not yet dissipated when he saw even larger amounts of dust rising at the end of the road.
Steel figures appeared in the smoke and dust, becoming clearer and clearer.
The round-headed M4 "Sherman", the light and swift M24 "Chaffee", and those ferocious M10 "Wolverine" tank destroyers.
They formed an attacking formation, their tracks rolling over the bumpy road surface, and they rushed forward with an indomitable momentum!
A hint of madness flashed in Major General Goto's eyes, and he suddenly grabbed the phone:
"I give the order! The first line of defense, the 'Vanguard Squadron', attack. Kill them, tie them up, and mess with those damned Nanyang infantry and tanks!"
The so-called "Volunteer Corps" was just a part of the thousands of native puppet troops that were brought in.
They only had simple bamboo spears and machetes in their hands. A few of them were holding old bolt-action rifles or even flintlock rifles. They didn't even have a decent military uniform.
The so-called "friendship" and "common prosperity" that the Japanese once advocated have now become a thing of the past. These natives have just discovered that the Japanese have never regarded them as human beings, and now they are using them as cannon fodder and shields.
Under the threat of the Japanese machine guns and bayonets, these pale and skinny natives with numb eyes, like a flock of driven sheep, let out desperate howls and rushed out of the trenches and woods in a disorderly manner, rushing towards the rolling torrent of steel.
-----
"Battalion Commander, the Japanese are driving the natives towards us."
The commander of an M4 Sherman tank shouted over the radio with a hint of disgust in his tone.
Lieutenant Colonel Chen Qiming, commander of the 3rd Tank Battalion of the 1st Armored Division, sat in his command tank, looking coldly through the telescope at the harmless crowd of people swarming in like ants.
He picked up the radio, thought for a moment, and finally gave the order:
"Attention, all crews! A large number of unarmored targets are appearing ahead. They are suspected to be civilians or puppet soldiers being driven out. Maintain formation and do not slow down. Machine gunners, fire freely! Infantry, take cover to prevent the Japanese from sneaking in and launching a surprise attack. I repeat, maintain the momentum of the attack. This is a battlefield. Show no mercy and run over them."
Orders were issued quickly.
The M24 "Chaffee" tanks and M4 "Sherman" tanks that were in the front, the coaxial machine guns on the front of the vehicle body and the .50 caliber heavy machine guns on the top of the turret were the first to spit out flames.
“Da da da da da—!”
“Dong dong dong dong——!”
The hot metal storm instantly swept over the natives who were rushing in the front.
The 7.62mm and 12.7mm bullets are like the Grim Reaper's scythe, easily tearing and shattering the fragile human body.
Blood mist exploded in balls, and the screams were drowned out by the deafening roar of gunfire.
The natives fell in droves like mown wheat, their bamboo spears and machetes looking ridiculous in the face of steel.
An M24 "Chaffee" tank rushing in the front was too lazy to even fire its machine gun when faced with several natives waving bamboo spears and howling as they rushed towards them.
The driver slammed the accelerator, the tank roared, the tracks accelerated, and it rushed forward without slowing down, carrying its several tons of steel body!
"Pfft——!"
There was a teeth-grinding sound of bones and flesh breaking, and the natives were rolled under the tracks like rag dolls, and instantly turned into a pool of blurred flesh and blood.
The tracks were covered with dark red debris and mud, but they continued to rumble forward. The native puppet soldiers behind them witnessed this hellish scene, and their remaining courage instantly collapsed.
They screamed in extreme terror, dropped their crude weapons, and fled in all directions crying, ignoring the machine gun fire from the Japanese supervisory team behind them, which disrupted the Japanese's own weak defense line.
"Baga! No retreat! Shoot! Shoot!" The Japanese lieutenant supervising the battle roared in frustration, and machine gun bullets swept at the fleeing natives, but this only created more chaos and death, and could not stop the advance of the Nanyang steel torrent.
"Now!" Major General Goto saw that the Nanyang tank group was slightly blocked by the fleeing natives and their attention seemed to be attracted. A trace of morbid enthusiasm flashed in his eyes, and he suddenly shouted into the phone: "Order all ambush artillery groups, target, leading Nanyang tank unit, open fire freely!"
About 800 meters to the right of the road, at the edge of a carefully camouflaged dense forest, a Japanese Type 94 75mm mountain gun that had been disassembled and reassembled suddenly roared.
"boom!"
The shells whizzed out and flew towards a Sherman painted with a tiger head.
"when--!!!"
With a deafening bang, the shell accurately hit the front armor of the M4 "Sherman" tank in the front.
Flames flashed and thick smoke filled the air.
"Hit! Yay!" The Japanese artillery crew in ambush let out a suppressed cheer.
However, when the smoke cleared, the Sherman that was hit just paused, leaving a shocking dent and charred marks on the front of the vehicle, but the armor... was not penetrated.
It shook its head (the turret turned a little), as if it had just been hit by a sledgehammer, and the tracks continued to turn. Soon the crew locked the approximate location where the Japanese artillery was hidden, and the coaxial machine gun fired wildly in the direction of the shells.
"What?! This is impossible." The Japanese artillery crew was stunned and couldn't believe it.
They didn't know that the M4s of the 1st Armored Division of the Nanyang Defense Force were all M4A3E8 models, with 63.5mm frontal armor and a 47° inclination.
Even if the 75mm mountain gun fires armor-piercing shells, it is still extremely difficult to penetrate the front of the gun at a distance of 800 meters.
"Japanese anti-tank gun spotted! Direction XXX, distance 800!" The attacked crew immediately used the radio to call for support from other crews.
Soon, the concentrated fire from several tank main guns sent the hidden Japanese mountain artillery crew, along with their guns, into the sky.