The U.S. forces began to assemble and prepare for their departure after the evening. Comparatively speaking, Bradley was even less sure about the battle that would take place at night. He only knew that the regular army of the Tang Imperial Army was fortified near Volka, and whether he went to Port Macquarie or Tamworth, he had to pass through the defense line of the Tang Imperial Army. The most serious problem is that Bradley does not know the deployment of the Tang Imperial Army at all, that is, he does not know how many troops Gu Xunlei has, where the defense line is located, and how the armored and infantry units are deployed.

In the absence of air supremacy, the US military not only has difficulty moving an inch, but also has very little understanding of the situation on the battlefield. Bradley did not think about sending reconnaissance aircraft, the aviation had already retreated to the second line, and those small planes attached to the ground forces had long been withdrawn. His ground reconnaissance detachment was very careful during the day, and had to do so in order to avoid the bombardment, but as a result it was not able to advance far. Thus, when it got dark and Bradley had his troops move out of the forest, he still knew very little about the situation to the south.

MacArthur's order was sent in the afternoon, the Tang Empire's Marines had completely controlled Port Macquarie, and now there was a force of Marines attacking Squire, so MacArthur's order was also clear that Bradley's mobile forces must arrive at Port Macquarie on the 25th, and capture Port Macquarie on the 26th, that is, before the arrival of the second batch of landing troops of the Tang Empire, and then go south to Tari on the night of the 26th to sweep the beachhead of the Tang Empire Marines. And it is already the night of the 23rd, which means that Bradley must take Volka on the 24th, otherwise it will not be possible to take Port Macquarie on the 25th, and it will be impossible to complete the counterattack on the 26th.

Bradley had to get his troops on the road, and he had come to realize that the future of this counterattack was slim. The Tang Empire already had at least ten divisions ashore. After completing the task of capturing the landing field, the landing force of the Tang Empire had enough forces to expand the defensive line. Otherwise, it would not have been possible to take Port Macquarie and besiege Skun at the same time. By the 26th, at least twelve more divisions had come ashore, and by the time these troops arrived, there was no chance of defeating the landed Tang Empire ground forces. Therefore. The victory or defeat will be announced before the 26th, whether you can hold the Australian continent depends on the battle in the past few days, and this is mainly the battle of the mobile force!

With the main forces in the rear not yet arriving, Bradley had to attack. In order to ensure the success of the attack, he adopted a more conservative tactic, whereby the infantry advanced along the road line towards Volka, while the armored forces took cover to the south. Always ready for an encounter with the tank units of the Don Imperial Army.

It was truly an encounter. Just after nine o'clock, the vanguard of the American army encountered a tank battalion of the 1st Regiment of the 1st Cavalry Division about 20 kilometers north of Volka, and the battle lasted less than half an hour. The vanguard of the American army was completely routed. Upon receiving the news, Bradley immediately asked the tank units to accelerate forward. To defeat the Tang Empire tank force that was blocking the way, and at this time, Bradley believed that it was the main armored force of the Tang Empire Army, and the task of this force must be to prevent the American army from reaching the three-way junction of the highway and prevent the American army from advancing towards Volka. In order to strengthen the attack, Bradley also sent two nearby infantry battalions to cover the attack of the armored troops. Bradley didn't know that there were actually only three tank battalions standing in front of him, and Gu Xunlei's main armored force had not yet appeared.

Zhang Xiaolin received the news at about 10 o'clock. At that time, the battle was fierce, and he immediately judged that the main forces of the American army were advancing along the road line. And this is not much different from his previous judgment. Zhang Xiaolin immediately ordered three battalions of the 2nd Regiment to assault to the north and attack the flank of the American armored forces.

"Remember, you have to close the distance, and if you encounter a heavy tank of the US army, use high-speed armor-piercing shells at a distance of less than 800 meters!" Zhang Xiaolin once again resisted the commander of the second regiment, "Tell every tanker, let them keep this in mind, high-speed armor-piercing shells can penetrate the frontal armor of US heavy tanks at a distance of 800 meters." The assault should be decisive and fast, do not engage the enemy, take full advantage of our speed advantage, fire a few shots, and then turn around and charge, understand? ”

"Colonel, don't worry, we know how to fight!"

Zhang Xiaolin patted the second head on the shoulder and let him get in the car.

Nearly 100 tanks from the three tank battalions roared, and the battle orders were quickly transmitted, and the tank commanders were getting into the cars one after another. Zhang Xiaolin watched as the tanks left the assembly area one by one, and then headed north. The tank swarm soon disappeared into the night, leaving only the rumbling roar. After standing in the suddenly empty camp for a few minutes, Zhang Xiaolin walked towards the location where the third regiment was stationed.

"Immediately organize the guard company and prepare more ammunition." Zhang Xiaolin gave an order to the commander of the guard company next to him, "Wait until you gather at the third regiment, remember to prepare my tank." ”

"Yes!" The commander of the guard company immediately turned around and ran in the direction of the headquarters.

Not long after, Zhang Xiaolin came to the assembly camp of the third regiment.

"Third Commander, are you all ready?"

"Colonel, we've been ready for a long time, aren't we leaving?" The commander of the third regiment was discussing the battle with several of his battalion and company commanders, and when he saw Zhang Xiaolin rushing over, he immediately asked those battalion and company commanders to go back to their respective companies.

"It's almost over, the first regiment has already encountered the vanguard of the American army, so I let the second regiment set off." Zhang Xiaolin walked to the regiment commander's car, "Bring the map, if the US troops come out, then we will have to be busy tonight." ”

The commander of the third regiment immediately laid the map on the front armor plate of the tank's hull.

"The U.S. troops are attacking along the road line, not very fast, maybe they will attack the positions of a regiment." Zhang Xiaolin first marked the offensive line of the American army, "The second regiment attacked the armored forces of the American army from the flank, and our task was to go around the rear of the American army as quickly as possible and cut off their escape back to Armidale." ”

"Then we'll have to get around this forest." The commander of the third regiment nodded on the forest on the map, "It's too far, it will take at least a night to move around, and by the time we go into battle, I'm afraid the American army will have already been wiped out." ”

"So we can't take a detour, we have to find a shortcut." Zhang Xiaolin looked at the map for a while. "We'll go straight to the west of the woods, so we'll be to the north of the U.S. forces in three hours!"

"West? If the large force of the US army does not set out, then it is very likely that we will encounter the main force of the US army, even if it is a small force of the US army. Our assault will also be exposed, and there is a good chance that the US troops will turn around and flee back to Armidale! ”

"Then we have to speed up and resolutely not fight with the US army, even if we encounter the US army, we must resolutely intersperse the past, at most only part of the troops will be left to block the US army, and the main force must be able to advance north as quickly as possible." Zhang Xiaolin slammed his fist on the map, making him grit his teeth in pain. He forgot that the armor plate of the tank was underneath the map, "just do it, go find two motorized infantry battalions to ......"

"Our motorized infantry battalion has gone to the rear. Now there is no infantry on this side. ”

"Damn it!" Only then did Zhang Xiaolin remember that he had sent the motorized infantry battalion to the rear. "Then contact the motorized infantry battalion immediately and let them follow as soon as possible. It has now been determined that the U.S. troops are hiding in the forest during the day, and after we have penetrated through it, let the motorized infantry battalion establish a defensive line on the west side of the forest, and go deep into the forest to find the place where the U.S. troops are hoarding, and there may be a lot of gains. The main task is that the US military must not be allowed to return to the forest. We're going to settle the battle tonight! ”

"Then I'll contact immediately!"

"Go, half an hour later. The troops set off, my guard company followed behind the first battalion, you let the third battalion be the vanguard in the front, and the second battalion was behind, if it encountered the enemy, the third battalion should resolutely assault, and the battle to destroy the American army was left to the first battalion to be responsible, if the first battalion could not solve it, then let the second battalion clean up the battlefield, understand? ”

The third regiment commander nodded, and immediately went to convey the order.

Ten minutes later, Zhang Xiaolin's guard company rushed over. This company has two tank platoons and one motorized infantry platoon, which is actually Zhang Xiaolin's personal guard unit, equipped with a total of 8 tanks and more than 10 armored personnel carriers. The officers and men who can be incorporated into the divisional guard company are the best officers and men selected from the 1st Cavalry Division.

At 9:50, the 3rd Tank Battalion of the 3rd Regiment was the first to hit the road. Then Zhang Xiaolin's guard company also left the camp. And by this time, the battle on the western battlefield had already begun.

Immediately after the American army encountered a regiment of the 1st Cavalry Division, Bradley threw the main forces into battle. And this time Bradley sent three tank battalions up in one go, including one heavy tank battalion. According to Bradley's idea, the M26 should be able to easily take out those medium tanks of the Tang Empire, so these three battalions were able to tear through the defense line of the Tang Empire's tank troops, but the result was not so simple.

Three tank battalions and three tank battalions of the US army spread rapidly on the battlefield more than 20 kilometers north of Volka, and both sides lined up in standard combat vehicle queues, and the battle began when the two sides were about 1,500 meters apart when the lights from the rear artillery popped up in the sky.

The distance of 1500 meters is really too far, not to mention at night, even during the day, it is difficult for the best tankers to accurately hit targets beyond 1000 meters, and this is not determined by the quality of the tankers, but by the technology of the time, mainly the technology of artillery sighting equipment. It can be said that beyond 1000 meters, unless it is a static mutual shelling, it is almost always a chance to try, or a waste of ammunition, and in actual combat, no tank will stop and be beaten during the encounter, at most it will stop at the moment of firing, and immediately start moving again after firing the shell.

This kind of artillery battle with a little "greeting" nature has changed substantially from 1,500 meters to 800 meters. The artillery would fire several flares at intervals, and both sides knew that they could only destroy their opponents if they were spotted at night, so the artillery on both sides fired flares. In night battles, 800 is still a bit far away, especially when dealing with mobile targets, the tankers only have a few seconds, at most a dozen seconds to find the target, aim at the target, and shoot the shells, which is a test of the quality of the tankers on both sides. And on this battlefield, except for the group of officers specially recruited by Gu Xunlei, most of the tankers on both sides are actually of similar quality, almost all of them are recruits.

As the two sides approached 500, the battle changed dramatically. This is an extremely lethal distance for both sides, even a heavy tank like the M26 cannot block 500 80mm armor-piercing shells, and ordinary armor-piercing shells can tear through the frontal armor of the M26. And medium tanks such as the M4 and Type 25 are even more unlikely to block the enemy's shells at such a short distance. In other words, at this time, as long as you hit the opponent, then you can kill the opponent!

When Bradley learned that there was at least one tank regiment to the west and that the enemy's resistance was extremely fierce, he immediately realized that this encounter must be the main armored forces of the Tang Empire. Before ten o'clock, he had two other tank regiments maneuvered to the rear of the battlefield, and an infantry battalion had arrived to accompany the tanks. Bradley's idea was simple, since the armored forces of the Tang Empire were holding on to the west, it would prove that this was a hole in the defense line of the Tang Empire's army, that is, the place where he should break through with all his might. Of course, Bradley didn't know that the battle had just begun, this was just a prelude, Gu Xunlei's main force was still maneuvering, and only one cavalry division was put into battle, and the other cavalry division was still on standby outside the battlefield!

By half-past ten, the three tank battalions of the 1st Regiment of the 1st Cavalry Division had lost nearly a third of their tanks, while the American army had also lost more than 40 tanks, including about 10 M26s. Bradley also sensed that something was wrong. When he sent out two other M4 tank battalions, he had more infantry units transferred over and sent reconnaissance units south. But by this time it was too late.

By the time Bradley's reconnaissance unit moved south, the tanks of the 2nd Regiment of the 1st Cavalry Division had moved to the south of the American army, less than ten kilometers away from the American army. Three tank battalions have already been fully deployed and are advancing north at the fastest cross-country speed, which will be a decisive force!