Chapter 107 Homemade Reactive Armor

The Japanese army was so determined this time that they sent out five tanks that had been modified by the locals.

The artillery fire had not stopped yet.

After the tanks and infantry were sent out, they were still firing with all their might.

It seemed that they wanted to empty the Third Division's inventory.

In fact, after the war, statistics showed that on the morning of the 28th alone, the 36th Infantry Regiment fired 1,500 rounds of various artillery shells at the Sihang Warehouse, far exceeding the artillery shell reserves that an infantry regiment should have.

The Third Division had to allocate 600 rounds of artillery shells from the division artillery regiment to the front line of the Sihang Warehouse.

And such an intensity of artillery fire, in the Battle of Songhu, was absolutely unprecedented for a regiment-level battlefield, without the assistance of heavy artillery and naval guns.

In particular, the 200-meter-wide ruins in front of the Sihang Warehouse were almost blown into rubble, and there were no more broken walls and houses that had not completely collapsed, just like the demolition team hired by real estate developers ninety years later.

The light and heavy machine guns in the warehouse couldn't fire at all. Not only did the infantry artillery shoot stubbornly, forcing them to temporarily avoid it, but the thick smoke made it impossible for them to see the position of the Japanese army. How could they fight?

Shooting by feeling was useless except for wasting ammunition.

It was not until the Japanese army arrived 200 meters in front of the warehouse that the Japanese artillery completely stopped firing and used grenade launchers to throw grenades and smoke bombs to continue suppressing the Japanese army.

The lookout on the roof could barely see the Japanese army's movements.

About four infantry squads of Japanese infantry, led by two 89 medium tanks, approached the Sihang Warehouse in two directions.

In the middle, a tank with thicker sandbags and dozens of Japanese infantry stopped 250 meters away, and three 94 light tanks also snaked in the ruins.

This was obviously to use 57mm tank guns and 7.7mm heavy machine guns as mobile fire points to suppress the fire points behind the sandbag fortifications on the front of the warehouse.

It seems that the troops invested are not as good as the last battle yesterday, but perhaps only soldiers like the lieutenant colonel of the army will know that the Japanese have spent a lot of thought and money, and the battlefield situation is more dangerous than yesterday.

The current formation of the Japanese army looks like a feint attack on the front, with the two wings as the key breakthrough direction, but as the battlefield changes, it may become a three-way main attack at any time.

Because the civil engineering work of the Japanese army on the front has been newly invested.

The Japanese engineers are like hardworking little ants. Taking advantage of the moment when their own side does not stop bombarding, they actually dug a 300-meter-long trench 100 meters in front of the previous field trench, only 400 meters away from the warehouse, and even within the range of rifles.

Needless to say, there must be at least one infantry squadron of Japanese soldiers hiding inside, ready to enter the attack state at any time.

I think this is more or less due to the fact that they were stabbed hard by Chinese soldiers before dawn. While constantly building trenches and pressing the front-line positions step by step, they can also greatly compress the Chinese side's activity space at night to avoid similar incidents.

The trenches that were getting closer and closer were like ropes around the necks of the Chinese defenders, suffocating them.

However, the Japanese army was fully prepared, and the Chinese side had already made corresponding adjustments.

Four Type 89 tanks were more than 200 meters away from the building. The 57mm tank guns were firing well, and the walls that had been mottled by mountain guns, infantry guns, and grenade launchers were bombed into more potholes. The mortars on the roof began to speak.

However, this time, there were not only four guns as before, but six.

And this time, they did not pick the soft persimmons to hit the Japanese infantry, but fired at the Japanese tanks.

Six shells in one round of artillery fire, 15 seconds, enough time for six guns to fire at least twenty shells, and the sudden dense artillery fire enveloped the two Type 89 tanks on the left wing in a sea of ​​fire.

But obviously, unless the mortar hits the roof of the Type 89 tank, the damage caused by the explosion around the tank, whether it is shock waves or shrapnel, is completely ineffective against the 12-ton steel behemoth.

Even if the front armor is hit by a shell, the Type 89 tank will at most shake its body, and it will still move forward firmly in the flames and smoke.

Perhaps the only effect is to make the infantry behind the tank fall a little further away.

"Sure enough, the Chinese still hide their firepower!" Wakiban Jiro's eyes burst into cold light.

"There are two more mortars. Isn't it too late to take them out now?" Yin Teng Zhongji showed disdain for this. "Order the grenade launcher team in front to suppress the Chinese on the roof of the warehouse with all their strength."

More than 12 grenade launcher teams of the Japanese army reacted and desperately fired grenades above the roof. The grenades flew to the roof one by one, and the six mortars that fired several rounds were forced to withdraw from various fortifications to the building.

The order they had originally received was that each gun should fire four rounds at a rapid pace, and the artillery teams followed the order and retreated after firing. The 82 mortar, the gun carriage and the chassis weighed a total of 70 kilograms, and two strong soldiers could carry it and run away.

But even so, three artillerymen were still hit by flying grenade fragments, two of them were slightly injured and one was seriously injured.

Seeing that the Chinese mortars were silent, the tanks continued to move forward with their engines roaring, and the Japanese infantry also appeared from their hiding places, intending to continue the attack behind the tanks.

Then, the Japanese soldiers on the left wing saw that two shooting holes about two feet long and wide suddenly appeared on the wall facing them in the Sihang Warehouse.

Such a large shooting hole was naturally not prepared for machine guns, but was obviously used exclusively for the terrifying Suloton machine gun.

As the infantrymen's balls shrank suddenly, the two shooting holes emitted a muffled "dong dong dong dong" sound that also made the Japanese tankers' hair stand on end.

However, the tankers still gritted their teeth and did not drive the tanks to dodge, but continued to move forward facing the machine gun shells.

It was not that they became braver, but that the two layers of sandbags covering the front armor of the tanks could reduce the kinetic energy of heavy machine gun bullets by 90% after shooting tests. No matter how powerful the machine gun shells were, they could only reduce the kinetic energy by 30%.

The Japanese tankers obviously forgot that they had just rushed out of the shelling area where six mortars were concentrated.

The shock wave of the mortar was not enough to tear open the armor, but it should not be difficult to blow up some sandbags.

Soon, the Type 89 tank that had been stubbornly fighting was really stubborn.

The two machine guns used nearly 20 rounds of concentrated fire, most of which missed, and a few landed on the front of the tank. Some of the shells that hit were blocked by sandbags that had not yet completely scattered, and then left terrible dents on the steel plate, and finally did not really penetrate.

Unfortunately, there was still one shell that unfortunately hit the exposed front armor.

Then, it penetrated with one shot.

The tank engine was still roaring and driving the tank forward, but the direction was already off.

It ran wildly towards the river.

It continuously crashed into several low walls and a severely damaged house, but it did not stop its crazy pace.

Finally, in the terrified eyes of the Japanese infantry, it plunged into the Suzhou River.

Another tank, the dead soul was flying.