When the attack aircraft group of the Anti-United Nations dumped all the ammunition they carried, they pulled up at high speed and reformed and left the battlefield. The 1st Brigade of Japanese Tanks, which was still majestic an hour ago on the ground, except for a few tanks that survived by luck, most of the tanks have completely turned into a pile of scrap metal.

Not only were the tank clusters almost completely destroyed, but the infantry and artillery of the Japanese troops dispatched to cooperate with the counterattack of the 1st Tank Brigade also suffered heavy losses. A brigade of infantry that cooperated was also bombed and corpses were scattered all over the field. Several artillery squadrons of the Japanese army used on the south bank of the Cao River were reduced to piles of parts and components with their guns. From the south bank of the Cao River to the foot of Baoding City, there are the remains of Japanese chariots, artillery and infantry everywhere.

PTAB bombs and various machine guns were highly lethal to Japanese tanks. For the Japanese infantry and artillery, the lethality was even more amazing. The bombs in a bomb box are enough to cover an area 200 meters long and 15 meters wide.

This is nothing less than a devastating disaster for an unprotected infantry group. The dense rain of bullets left the Japanese infantry with nowhere to hide. This bomb is almost pervasive, so you can't dodge even if you lie down, because no one can guarantee that such a dense rain of bullets will not land on your back and explode.

If it weren't for Liang Futang's fear of running out of ammunition, once intercepted by Japanese fighters, his troops would no longer have the ability to defend themselves. The attack planes, which strictly forbade the participation of various squadrons in the battle, used the 7.62 mm machine guns on board and continued to strafe the Japanese infantry below.

I'm afraid that even the commander of the 1st Tank Brigade of the Japanese Army, Major General Ano Yasuri and his command headquarters, are also in danger. It's just that although his command headquarters escaped because of the secret location, looking at the wreckage of tanks everywhere, Major General Ano Yasuri almost didn't have a nervous breakdown on the spot.

If it weren't for the adjutant grabbing him, he pulled out the pistol and was about to aim it at the head. I'm afraid that this dude, who is quite irritated, will shoot himself directly in the head to apologize to the emperor. For Major General Ano Yasuri, he could not accept the facts in front of him no matter what.

The main force of a complete tank brigade with two wings was completely defeated without firing a single shot, and before even seeing the face of the enemy. Hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles, as well as a large number of trucks and infantry, were wiped out by a single enemy attack group.

It was only a few dozen light attack aircraft of the enemy army that caused such a large loss to themselves. Where did the covered fleet of the promised Imperial Air Force go? Where is the air umbrella that is said to be good? A large number of enemy planes bombed themselves indiscriminately for a whole hour, but they did not see a single plane of their own.

It is also the first time that he has seen an enemy plane that has been hit by more than a dozen or even dozens of anti-aircraft machine gun bullets and does not care. What are these things? Could it be that these planes are stronger than their own tanks? After a battle in the open field, the first brigade of its own tanks was completely scrapped, but not even a single enemy plane was shot down.

This result undoubtedly caused Major General Ano Yasari, both mentally and physically, to suffer a double severe blow. Especially in this air-ground battle that lasted less than an hour, the battle losses paid by the two sides were extremely disproportionate, and the blockade was difficult for him to accept.

Although the pistol was snatched away by the adjutant, the spirit and will of Major General Ano Yasuri were undoubtedly completely broken. The enemy attack planes, who were afraid of going and returning, completely wiped out the remaining dozen tanks and cars. Rear Admiral Ano Yashiro, despite the resolute opposition of the Lieutenant General Yasushi Sakai, handed over the defense of northern Baoding to the infantry.

He was afraid that Lieutenant General Sakai Yasushi would jump out again to stir up the situation, so he commanded the remnants to not even enter Baoding City, and directly bypassed Baoding City and retreated to Shimen to rest. As for how Lieutenant General Yasushi Sakai reported to the North China Front and the base camp, it was his business. The 1st Brigade of Combat Vehicles, which has dried up its blood.

And the Il-2 attack aircraft group combined with the PTAB bomb produced a huge power. It was not only Major General Ano Yasuri who was dumbfounded. There is also Chen Hanzhang, an opponent who has set up an ambush circle on the other side of the Chaohe River and is waiting for his first brigade of chariots to take the bait. and the pair of opponents of Lieutenant General Yasui Sakai, who is currently in Baoding City and waiting for his good news.

PTAB cluster bombs are naturally no stranger to Chen Hanzhang, a former commander of the armored forces. During the autumn exercise, he had seen with his own eyes the power of such bombs. It was also with his participation that the special anti-tank tactics of the aviation forces were finally decided.

He knew that this bomb was still the production technology that No. 1 had personally introduced after painstaking negotiations with the Soviets before the war. Moreover, this kind of bomb is only 2.5 kilograms, which is basically about the same weight as a 60 shell. However, production is a bit complicated, and it still takes a lot of effort from introduction to mass production.

The power of such a bomb, he also saw it on the exercise ground. But I didn't think it was any more powerful than napalm against armored clusters. Because tank clusters are not stationary after all, they are waiting for you to fight. When tanks are in motion, they all have strict tactical requirements.

In the fight against the movement of the tank fleet, the marching sequence has strict spacing requirements, he believes that the accuracy of this kind of bomb is still too low, and the power of 2.5 kilograms is too small, far less powerful than a large piece of napalm that burns a large area. In addition, although this kind of bomb can form a dense rain of bullets, it needs a vertical angle to exert maximum power.

If you hit at the wrong angle, you will not be able to destroy the enemy's tank. For high-speed aircraft, in Chen Hanzhang's view, this is purely an element of luck. As a senior commander, Chen Hanzhang never believed in the saying that there was any luck on the battlefield.

But exercises and real combat are really two different things, and no one will really take a few hundred tanks to do experiments. At the moment, there were only four squadrons of attack aircraft, but it was a result that he had to pay a lot of money to achieve for his entire armored division. Although there were some things for a reason, this result still shocked him.

He didn't expect that such an inconspicuous bomb would be so powerful against the Japanese tank cluster and infantry cluster. The two wings plus the more than 160 tanks directly under it, even if you don't count the battle losses in the battle of Wangdu on the first day, there are still more than 130 tanks. Even if you send an armored division yourself, it will be enough to gnaw for a while.

Now it's only an hour, more than a hundred tanks, a large number of armored vehicles, artillery fighting vehicles, and a large number of trucks, artillery, plus infantry clusters. In such a short period of time, it turned into piles of scrap metal and corpses. In this hour-long offensive and defensive battle between the two sides, the aviation units invested by the Anti-United Nations can be said to have zero casualties.

And what has accomplished this result is not dozens of heavy bombers carrying bombs of several tens of tons, still less those high-explosive bombs or napalm bombs that can easily reach hundreds of kilograms. Rather, there were less than 100 attack planes with a bomb load of only 600 kilograms, and tens of thousands of small bomblets weighing only 2.5 kilograms. Whatever the special reason for this, this one can't help but feel terrifying.

Although No. 1 brought flying tanks such as the Il-2 attack aircraft from the Soviet Union, and also PTAB cluster anti-tank bombs. The Il-2 attack aircraft was modified with two 37-mm gun pods with limited anti-tank capabilities. But Chen Hanzhang still never thought that the plane would be a sharp anti-tank weapon.

In his opinion, hitting a tank in high-speed motion with a bomb requires luck and skill, and it is impossible to hit ten ** people. After the installation of the aircraft gun, the bomb load is small, not to mention, the power is still quite limited. The powerful cannon is too powerful for the fuselage. As for the rockets, the accuracy is simply too poor.

Therefore, Chen Hanzhang never thought that aircraft would play a major role in anti-tank operations. Unless strategic bombers such as B-17, B-24, and Stirling are concentrated, a carpet bombing is carried out. But that kind of bombing is a heavy burden for any army that it is difficult to bear.

Anti-tank warfare, after all, is not like a strategic bombing of a city. Using strategic bombers or medium bombers, loaded with hundreds or thousands of tons of high-explosive bombs or napalm, to deal with dozens of tanks, or even clusters of more than a dozen, is simply too ineffective.

However, this kind of PTAB cluster bomb is far more powerful than the exercise in actual combat. and the flexibility and power of the Il-2 attack aircraft when attacking the ground. A feeling suddenly rose in Chen Hanzhang's heart: "Could it be that in a future war, air superiority or not can really determine the direction of a battle?" ”

"Is it true that the fate of future wars will depend on the ability to master air superiority? Is the side that does not have air superiority in the war doomed only to the losing side? Is the mechanized combat mode of the large corps really inseparable from air cover? ”

This question hovered in Chen Hanzhang's mind for a long time, but in the end, he did not find an accurate answer. But whether he can find the real answer to this question or not. But for Chen Hanzhang, if the fighter created by the aviation force can't be caught, then it is not him Chen Hanzhang.

As early as the time when the Il-2 attack aircraft group dispatched by the air force took turns to rain bullets on the positions of the 1st Brigade of Japanese tanks. From the report of the observer at the front, Chen Hanzhang, who was keenly aware of the tactics he had originally formulated, and was afraid that he could only change it, immediately adjusted his deployment.

With the strength of two regiments and half of the artillery cover, with the support of a tank battalion, he forced his way across the Cao River from the front and launched another attack on the Japanese army north of Baoding. At the same time, an infantry regiment was concentrated, all self-propelled anti-tank guns were strengthened, and two tank companies were forced to launch a penetrating attack from the line of Longhua and Mazhuang at the junction of Baoding and Xushui to the area between Baoding City and Caoheji.

Chen Hanzhang's purpose was simple, to cut off the connection between Baoding City and the Japanese army cluster north of the city. Since the Japanese army took the initiative to meet the battle out of the city and created a rare fighter plane for themselves, they must not let the Japanese army retreat back to the city. No matter how many troops the Japanese army has left, they must not let him shrink back.

Because for Chen Hanzhang, solving the Japanese army in the north of Baoding will be more beneficial to his next strategic deployment. On the Baoding battlefield, the salient of the Japanese army that penetrated deep into his depth, he was still fully prepared and used it sufficiently. Such a big pit only attracted so many Japanese troops, and it was enough to consciously expose the weaknesses of the Japanese army at the beginning.

Although his own plan was completely annihilated by the air force attack aircraft group, the first brigade of the tank was completely annihilated, and the pace was disrupted to a certain extent. But Chen Hanzhang still wanted to test whether the Japanese army would really be willing to give up Baoding. Taking advantage of the crisis created for the Japanese army on the Baoding battlefield, more Japanese troops were attracted to this salient that "can threaten the frontal flank of the anti-coalition."