In the end, it was the strongest opponent Yang Zhen had encountered, and Okamura Ningji's hard work was not in vain. Although in the face of Matilda II, which they encountered for the first time, the armor thickness reached more than 70 millimeters, and even the running gear was protected by armor There was nothing they could do.

However, its highly targeted tactical coordination caused serious losses to the assault of the 1st Armored Brigade on the Northern Front of the Anti-Japanese Alliance, which was dominated by T26 tanks, and was also the main reason for the setback of the 1st Armored Brigade's offensive. In terms of tactical deployment in the direction of the Western Front, in fact, both sides are intentionally versus unintentional.

Okamura Ninji, who lacked effective intelligence support from the Anti-Japanese Federation, was still wishful thinking that the main tank of the Anti-Japanese Federation was still the T-26 tank according to the analysis of the international organization. It is not clear at all that the Anti-Union has already purchased several new tanks with performance far exceeding those of the T-26 tank. And the two of these tanks with the best defense capabilities were all transferred to the Western Front.

These tanks, which far exceeded the maximum power of the Japanese army's existing anti-tank artillery, formed a steel fist that would eventually fall on his North China Front. And it was precisely these two tanks that brought him the heaviest losses. As for the original target of his overall tactics, it was only a part of the huge tank cluster that the Anti-Union had thrown into the Western Front.

And the Anti-Japanese Union did not perceive that the preparations of the Japanese North China Front would be so detailed, and that there would be such great painstaking and determination in tactical preparations. In order to deal with the tank cluster tactics of the Anti-United Nations, two trophies of the same model were specially transferred from China and Nanjing, which were specially used to train anti-tank artillery.

Four of the ten tanks of the tank company that followed the northward assault in response to the attack of the 1st Armored Brigade were hit by Japanese anti-tank guns, either from the front or from the side, at the junction of the turret and the hull. Although the anti-tank weapons used by the Japanese army are generally not very powerful, once the position of the T26 tank is hit, it is the most lethal for the tank.

Two tank turrets were directly torn off on the spot, and all the occupants of the vehicles were killed. Moreover, the shooting accuracy of the Japanese shooters was enough to make anti-tank artillery all over the world feel ashamed. Even if you fire at close range, but in the case of tank movement, you can accurately hit such a small place, and this shooting accuracy is absolutely second to none.

The remaining six were lost except for one that was pierced through the front by a Japanese rapid-fire gun at a distance of 70 meters, and one triggered an anti-tank mine with a weight. Each of the remaining tanks also received at least three shells on both sides. Although they were not hit at the junction between the turret and the hull like their comrades, they were also the most vulnerable parts of the hull.

This tactic of the Japanese army gave the troops of the Anti-Japanese Union using the T-26 tank assault, bringing Yan zhòng losses. After this battle, 120 tanks from four tank battalions of the 1st Panzer Brigade, plus a separate tank battalion with a total of 150 T26 tanks, lost two-thirds of the tanks in this battle.

That is, in the battle of the frontal assault on the Western Front, not counting the losses of six Matilda II infantry tanks. The T26 tank alone lost more than 100 units. And this figure means that the four battalions under the 2nd Armored Brigade and 120 tanks have basically been lost.

By the afternoon of the 21st, the battle was faced with a setback in the development of the war situation on the northern front. The gap between the progress of the breakthrough in the north and south battlefields with the white flag is getting bigger and bigger, and Chen Hanzhang, who is worried that the prominent troops on the southern front will be surrounded by the Japanese army. After hesitating for a long time, he did not give the order to let the detour interspersed troops start the operation in advance.

Behind the 26th Division, there was a whole division of the Japanese army. The battle in front was so hot, but this Japanese division did not show any signs of sorting. The Japanese army mobilized a large number of automobile squadrons in the eastern direction of Chacha, which shows that the mobility capability of this division can be described as quite strong.

If the roundabout troops are put into the battlefield now, this division can go north at any time to quickly block the breakthrough and block the roundabout troops. And once the detour interspersed troops fall into the entanglement of the division, then I am afraid that all the hard work of the headquarters will be in vain.

Chen Hanzhang, who had repeatedly admonished himself to be steady, ordered the troops on the southern front, which was making great progress in the territory under the white flag, to continue to advance the assault. Two more battalions were drawn from the reserve and reinforced to the north of the white-flag breakthrough to strike northward. At the same time, all the flamethrowers of the Western Front cluster were concentrated in this direction. And a company of 14-mm anti-aircraft machine guns was transferred to strengthen to this side.

At the same time, a separate tank battalion equipped with Matilda II tanks was removed from the battlefield with a white flag, and a reinforced infantry regiment was added to form a detachment. Along the breakthrough that has been opened in the territory of the white flag, turn to the northwest to the junction of the yellow flag and the white flag. Carry out a shallow and deep detour, outflanking all the Japanese flanks and rear of the fierce battles in the entire territory of the White Flag and the Sunit Right Banner.

On the northern front, Liu Changshun was replaced by his chief of staff, Wang Minggui. At the same time, Yang Jicai, chief of the operations division, was transferred to the northern front to strengthen command. After Wang Minggui and Yang Jicai rushed to the northern front, facing the battle situation, after consulting with the commander of the 1st Armored Brigade and the commander of the 17th Division. According to the unfavorable progress of the battle situation, the original tactics were quickly adjusted. Evacuate the tank clusters, all from the front-line attack.

Instead of covering the infantry charge, tanks only used their mobility and protection to accurately fire Japanese machine-gun fire points from 300 meters away to support infantry operations. That is to say, instead of the original tank opening the offensive channel for the infantry, the infantry opening the offensive passage for the tank.

Divide all the positions of the Japanese army between the right banner of Sunit and the white flag on the map into four equal parts. Concentrate four infantry battalions on each side of the group. The previously disabled units were reduced to six independent platoons, each assigned to each battalion, and used its familiarity with the situation on the battlefield to cooperate with the attacking troops in each region.

At the same time, four infantry companies were concentrated, each reinforced with a flamethrower and a recoilless gun, regardless of the fire of the Japanese troops on the flank, concentrated mobile artillery groups to cover and directly penetrate the depth of the Japanese army. Seize the four commanding heights of the depth of the Japanese positions in front of them, Butu Yingji, Ganqihua, Hanggai, and Haragaitu.

The 76-mm cannon battalion of the 17th Division was dispersed and assigned to each battalion as a platoon. All recoilless guns and twelve-mm anti-aircraft machine guns were sent to front-line combat companies. A 76-mm cannon was used to accurately kill the Japanese machine gun fire point from a distance and with the tank.

Covering infantry approached with small-caliber direct fire such as recoilless guns and bazookas, and destroyed Japanese anti-tank fire points at close range. No less than one platoon of 76-mm cannons were moved to Maodu Baga in their own depth, and the altitude here was used to suppress the depth of the Japanese positions, especially the Japanese positions around Mount Haragatu in front of them.

In addition, the 14-mm machine guns of each regiment and the 23-mm antiaircraft guns of the division were all transferred to each battalion, and the battalion-level support firepower was increased. The two 155th howitzer batteries that were originally used by Liu Changshun to suppress the depth of the Japanese army, and the 107th Rocket Artillery Battalion directly under the division, had the same mission, taking advantage of their advantage in range to continue to suppress the depth of the Japanese army.

However, the original mountain artillery battalion and field artillery battalion, reinforced with a 155-mm howitzer battery, were changed to mobile firepower. Within 5,000 meters of the Japanese army, the firing boundaries were re-marked. That is to say, these four artillery groups have been suppressed by the original large group firepower to the tactics of small groups responsible for one direction.

At the same time, on the first day of fighting, the two battalions of the 1st Armored Brigade were combined into a battalion, and the strength of four infantry companies was drawn from the reserve of the 17th Division, plus the infantry of a reinforced battalion brought by himself, to form a regiment-level rapid interspersed detachment, which was commanded by Yang Jicai to carry out shallow and deep detours to the north.

After forcibly climbing over the not too steep Wuzhu Rihua Mountain, and implementing a rapid breakthrough from the northernmost point of the entire defensive area of the Japanese army under the Sunit Right Banner. Forcibly interspersed with the entire rear of the Japanese defensive positions of the Sunit Right Banner, to find and completely destroy the Japanese artillery positions.

Although Yang Jicai's offensive looks far less spectacular than Liu Changshun's original offensive, it doesn't seem to have a very strong impact. But this kind of small clusters like mercury pours, multiple ways to attack at the same time. and frontal assaults and flank detours, but they brought the greatest threat to the Japanese troops in front of them.

The battle lasted until the evening of the 23rd, and the stubborn resistance of the Japanese troops in the territory of the Sunit Right Banner was finally broken. From the north, the Japanese army did not consider the maneuverable mobile forces of Uzhu Rihua Mountain, which could be maneuvered by tanks, and forcibly detoured its mobile forces along the mountain plains to the first line of Ulannaoer, breaking up the second line of defense of the Japanese army from the flank and rear.

At this time, Chen Hanzhang was drawn from the southern front, and the troops that went north from the breakthrough finally arrived at the front line of Hanggai. The 3rd Battalion of the 51st Regiment of the 17th Division converged and divided the Sunit Right Banner with the Japanese troops in the northern part of the White Flag. With two battalions of the 17th Division and the last complete tank battalion of the 1st Armored Brigade, a fast detachment was formed to forcibly penetrate the territory of the yellow flag.

On the 25th, this fast detachment joined the reinforced detachment that had broken through head-on in the territory of the Yellow Banner and the Bayan Tara Sumu in the territory of the Yellow Banner to complete the complete division and encirclement of the 26th Division. The two iron pincers sticking out from the left and right flanks, together with the frontal breakthrough troops that had already entered the junction of the white flag and Huade on the front, had already gained the initiative in the war on the Western Front.

At this moment, the 110th Division, which is sitting on the front line of Huade and Shangdu, can no longer hold its breath. A tank wing, reinforced by the concentrated front, formed a detachment with two infantry wings to launch a counteroffensive on the territory under the white flag. At the same time, one wing, plus two artillery squadrons, was concentrated to launch a full-line counterattack on the front line of Bayantara Sumu with the Yellow Banner, trying to open a gap for the 26th Division to break through.

The dispatch of these three wings means that the Shangdu to Huade, including the line from Xinghe to Jining, all the forces of the Japanese army are left with only one independent mixed brigade that arrived before the battle began. It can be said that there was already a large gap in the strength of the Japanese troops on the second front in the entire Chadong area before new troops arrived.

An independent mixed brigade, even if the artillery deployment is strengthened, is simply not capable of defending such a large combat area. At least after the arrival of new reinforcements, the Japanese army was simply unable to cope with the defense of Suidong. Not to mention to the north, to defend the area north of the Yinshan Mountain Range.

Originally, according to Okamura Ningji's plan, even if the 26th Division of the 110th Division was completely annihilated, it would not be allowed to leave the line from Huade to Shangdu. The task of the 110th Division is to hold the second line of defense in the entire western battlefield, that is, the Chaxi and Suidong regions, and to ensure the security of the northern Shanxi, Suizhong, and Suixi regions.

However, Okamura Ninji's order was directly revoked by the commander of the Japanese Chinese Dispatch Army, General Shunroku Hata, who personally arrived in Beiping to supervise the battle. As the commander-in-chief of the Chinese dispatch army, he faced the unfavorable situation in Chadong. General Shunroku Hata was not as calm as Okamura Ninji, and strongly advocated the transfer of the 36th Division of the First Army to the nearest reinforcement.