The War of Resistance: My Expedition, My Country

Chapter 117: Battle of Kursk in East India (5)

At the command of the company commander, four mortars opened fire on the infantry and armored vehicles behind the Japanese Panther tanks. One of the rocket launchers immediately attacked the two Panther tanks. The area where the Japanese attacked was surrounded by dense artillery fire.

The soldiers of the second platoon had already taken refuge in anti-artillery holes and hidden tunnels. The sulfurous fumes from the explosion made most of them breathless. Chen Qiaode coughed violently while comforting the soldiers who had taken shelter with him.

As soon as the explosions stopped, the soldiers rushed out, searching for the remaining Japanese troops and annihilating them. The Japanese Panther tanks were truly indestructible, belching smoke and stumbling backward. Not far away, a Type 97 tank had its tracks blown off. Several tank soldiers quickly climbed out, scurried behind the Panther, climbed aboard, and fled after it.

The 2nd Platoon used all its firepower to attack the fleeing enemy. One soldier climbed onto the Type 97 tank with broken tracks and threw a Molotov cocktail into it. The soldier's bravery did not bring him luck. A distant Japanese machine gun shot him down as he set the enemy tank on fire.

The enemy's retaliatory artillery fire came very quickly and very fiercely. Many soldiers in the 2nd platoon were unable to react at all and were swallowed up by the merciless artillery fire.

The cruelty of war was fully exposed at this moment. The land ploughed by the artillery fire from both sides was barren, and burning tanks, mutilated human corpses, and blood and soil were ravaged together. The smoke of gunpowder lingered for a long time...

Chen Qiaode led the second platoon to retreat to the third line of defense. After counting the personnel, only more than 10 people were left. About three-quarters of the soldiers died on the battlefield in just a few dozen minutes.

The Japanese army was not much better off. Many tanks and armored vehicles were destroyed or severely damaged, and 3 to 40 infantrymen from the two following squads were killed. The rest, led by a lieutenant, were consolidating the occupied positions. A team of engineers also rushed over and began to fill the trenches dug by the enemy to clear the obstacles for the next attack by the tank and armored forces.

Lieutenant Colonel Okamura Sakutomo stood atop the turret of his Panther tank, surveying the relatively low enemy slope across the way through his binoculars. This was the location of his impending attack. As commander of the 4th Battalion of the 3rd Tank Regiment of the 7th Tank Division, his battalion comprised not only 24 Panther tanks but also two Marder tank destroyers, two self-propelled artillery pieces, 18 armored vehicles, and a squadron of mechanized infantry. Furthermore, a newly assigned 97/95 mixed tank squadron comprised 14 older tanks and a reinforced squadron of infantry.

He calmly observed the situation of the enemy's position. In the previous battle, he had lost 3 Type 97/95 tanks, 2 armored vehicles, and 2 Leopard tanks were severely damaged, one of which was unusable for a short time. Such losses were only exchanged for a front-line position about 1000 meters deep, which was obviously not worth it.

The enemy's main position is built on this hillside about 7 to 80 meters high. Several heavy mortars and multiple groups of multiple rocket launchers have been discovered, which pose a certain threat to their own tank columns. If they attack blindly, the next time, the losses are likely to be greater.

Gangcun decided to send the infantry forward in the next attack, with the tanks providing targeted fire support. Gangcun's orders called for a methodical attack, aiming for opportunities to seize key enemy defensive positions. However, the primary objective was not to capture the opposing positions, but rather to create a diversionary bluff. The main force of the 3rd Tank Regiment had already detoured to the northwest and was using bulldozers and other equipment to fill the enemy trenches, aiming to penetrate them and advance towards Haflon.

The Japanese army's actions were soon known to the Allies, and fierce artillery and air battles broke out between the two sides in the trench area. One side was trying its best to occupy the area around the trench and fill it up; the other side was trying its best to stop the other side's actions and continuously bombarded the enemy's engineering troops.

On the Haflon front, Zheng Dongguo and Kuang Zhengqi received an urgent report from the war zone. Shocked, they began urgently digging their positions. Kuang Zhengqi transferred a large amount of fuel from the Haflon train station's transit depot. Besides making Molotov cocktails, he dug anti-tank trenches in key areas and filled them with fuel, preparing to use tactics familiar from the Iran-Iraq War to set fire to Japanese tanks!

Zheng Dongguo and Kuang Zhengqi also shared the same idea as Sun Liren and Yang Hong, converting a large number of anti-aircraft guns into direct-fire guns to attack the Japanese tank clusters, leaving the main role of air defense to the Air Force.

The Indian Army was primarily equipped with American-made M3 medium tanks. The M3 medium tank resembled a cylindrical cake being eaten, being relatively tall and equipped with two guns. The main gun, a 2mm howitzer, was located on the right side of the "center section" and positioned in the middle of the tank. It had a small elevation angle, and left and right movement required the entire vehicle to move. The secondary gun, a 75mm cannon, was located on the top turret and could be freely rotated.

The M3 medium tank has very powerful firepower and good mobility. It has an absolute advantage over the Japanese 97/95 and armored vehicles. However, it is at an absolute disadvantage in firepower and protection against the Leopard, and its attack speed is greatly reduced.

The M3 wasn't completely without a chance against the Panther. Its 75mm main gun could penetrate the Panther's armor at close range, and its 37mm secondary gun could hit the Panther's flanks and tracks. However, the M3 was too tall and its armor was weak, making it difficult for the crew to escape once attacked. The M3's design and combat capabilities were currently ill-equipped for a head-on confrontation with German tanks.

Kuang Zhengqi carefully analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of the M3 tanks and decided to launch a surprise flank attack. Clearly, he wasn't prepared to adopt a passive defensive strategy. After surveying the terrain, he discussed with Zheng Dongguo the idea of ​​concentrating the tanks of three mechanized regiments, totaling 112 tanks, and preparing to ambush them in the jungle on one side of the defensive position, launching a surprise attack on the Japanese tank column.

Combined with some old "gas canister" artillery pieces and improvised "gas canister projectiles" prepared by the Indian Army for clearing jungle paths, these weapons were somewhat effective in frontline defense, and had a certain deterrent effect on the attacking Japanese tank units. However, the soldiers operating them would face the danger of local fire.

Zheng Dongguo and Kuang Zhengqi no longer had time to worry about so many things. Several engineering battalions quickly moved south with such weapons to join the frontal defense of Haflon!

With the advantage of a powerful armored cluster, the Japanese army finally broke through the northern defense and quickly detoured to the Haflon line. However, the complacent Japanese army never thought that Haflon would be the grave of the Japanese army's largest armored cluster!