Alien Arms Empire

 Chapter 696 696 The Second Attack

"The third one!" The sniper hiding in the corner held his G43 semi-automatic rifle and accurately knocked down a Dahua soldier who was holding the rifle and preparing to fire through the four-fold scope.

The opponent held his chest in the scope and knelt down on the ground. After struggling twice, he fell face down in the muddy water and disappeared without a trace.

 In the past, the Tang Army's standard sniper configuration was the 98K rifle, which was later upgraded to a G43 semi-automatic rifle. The caliber was consistent with the MG-42 machine gun, which simplified logistics and is still in use today.

Compared with the upgrading of heavy weapons, the weapons in the hands of soldiers are less urgent. They can kill people anyway, so we can only make do today.

However, after the G43 sniper rifle is equipped with a 4x scope, it has very good accuracy within a combat range of 200 to 300 meters, and its continuous fire capability is even better.

 Because the action of pulling the bolt is omitted, the sniper can calmly watch his target die before looking for the next target.

Soon, another Dahua soldier who stopped and prepared to raise his gun to shoot was discovered. Then the Tang Army sniper pulled the trigger again, and the Dahua soldier was shot and fell down in the next second.

This was simply a massacre. When the MG-42 machine guns deployed by the Tang army in the dark began to roar like the noise of tearing machines, Dahua's army couldn't stop retreating.

The charging Dahua soldiers heard the sound of the tearing machine and began to turn around and run wildly as if they were used to it. They didn't even bother to look at their wounded comrades and just withdrew from the battlefield.

The Dahua Empire's tank troops, which had several tanks destroyed by artillery shells from unknown sources, also began to reverse, leaving behind the burning remains of the tanks and covering the infantry as they routed backwards.

They left behind the wreckage of five tanks and killed about two hundred people. The battlefield was littered with the corpses of Dahua soldiers, and you could even hear the sad grunts of those who were not dead.

 In a battle that lasted less than 20 minutes, a tank battalion and an infantry battalion were almost crippled and lost their combat effectiveness, and this was just the beginning of the battle in Lijiacun.

Unconsciously, drizzle began to fall in the sky again, tickling people's faces, making it difficult to tell whether it was rain or the cold, wet wind blowing in front of them.

The soldiers of the Tang Army carefully cleaned the battlefield and dealt with the wounded Dahua soldiers who were still alive.

For the soldiers of the Tang Army guarding Lijiacun, these two days were a relatively relaxed time. If the Dahua army continued to attack, they could simply repel the opponent.

 The real test will come on the third or fourth day. The subsequent Dahua army will press from both sides, and those terrifying cannons will also join the battle.

 Once the artillery of the Dahua Army arrives, the battle will be no joke. The other party will definitely blow the entire Lijia Village to the ground, it is no exaggeration at all.

The frontline commanders of the Tang Kingdom still underestimated the enthusiasm of the Dahua Empire for this war-that night, the Dahua army pulled its 150mm howitzer onto the battlefield in the rain. And, there’s more than one!

Early the next morning, before the rain stopped, a roaring artillery shell fell in the village of Lijia Village. A building collapsed and the surrounding buildings were also seriously damaged.

The supply trucks parked in the village immediately began to be evacuated. The battalion commander of the Tang Army had to rush to the field hospital set up in the corner of the village in the rain to remind the doctors and nurses there to pay attention to safety.

The bombardment still had no intention of stopping. More than a dozen cannons continued bombarding for more than an hour. Hundreds of shells fell in and around the village. Many buildings collapsed. However, because of the rain, there was very little smoke and dust, which made the entire The battlefield looks very clean.

 Due to regulations, ammunition storage locations are dug bunkers, but many soldiers will still be stationed in housing areas for convenience.

 As the enemy's shelling began, the good days came to an end. The house is no longer safe, and most of the shelter from the rain is missing.

There is no other way. All the soldiers can only sleep in more secluded tents, spread out as much as possible, and be well camouflaged.

"Without aerial reconnaissance, we can't judge where the enemy's flank has advanced." Looking at the map, the battalion commander who had just returned from the field hospital shook off the water drops on his body and complained.

If the enemy starts to attack the flank, then he must prepare corresponding forces on the flank to deal with it, because the defense plan given by the regiment headquarters is a salient here.

This means that he will face the danger of being attacked from three sides - and this is also a bait for the Tang army, hoping that the Dahua Empire will focus on Lijiacun.

Relying on Lijiacun's continuous use of refueling tactics was Tiger's tactical design to defend Xicong. As long as he can attract the main force of the Dahua Empire in Lijiacun, he will have enough time to dig a bigger hole in Xicong. Defending Xicong is not the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal is to turn Xicong into a tomb for the Dahua army!

 So when Lijiacun was bombarded, the infantry division of the troops stationed in Lijiacun immediately supported its own troops with three assault guns and two additional Wildbee self-propelled artillery.

 At noon, the rain subsided slightly, and the Dahua army immediately launched a new round of attack.

 They are actually under pressure to attack, because there is basically no weather forecast these days, and everyone relies on guesswork to judge the weather conditions. There is no telling when the rain will stop. Once the Tang Air Force appears on the battlefield, no one can judge what the consequences will be.

 Clouds and precipitation offset the Tang Army's air superiority, so the Dahua Army was able to launch the attack so smoothly and deploy artillery calmly.

 If the rain period is missed, their attack will face greater difficulties, which is what everyone in the Dahua Empire hopes to see.

 Hence, accelerating the attack became their only option, although their transportation was also affected by the precipitation, and although they were unwilling to launch a large-scale battle in wet weather.

But Dahua's senior officials all knew that they must seize Xicong before the rainfall ends, cut off the transportation hub in the southern part of Tang State, and obtain the grain and other supplies that Datang had stored in Xicong.

At the same time, it can drive away the Tang Air Force deployed near Xicong, increase the Tang Air Force's attack distance, and weaken the Tang Air Force's impact on the battlefield.

All of this was discussed before the war. They are all established strategic goals, and they are things that the Dahua army must work hard to achieve.

 So they ignored the rain and weather and attacked desperately, even if the losses were heavy, they did not hesitate.

In this way, the second battle of the battle for Lijiacun broke out. This time it was still a frontal assault, and it was still the most traditional "human sea tactic". It's just that this time there is superior artillery cover, and there are dozens more tanks on the frontal battlefield.

“The enemy has so many tanks! And the quality is much better than before.” Looking at a Dahua 1 tank approaching our own defense line, the battalion commander frowned and sighed.

While he was speaking, the Dahua tank, which was trying to approach the Tang Army's defense line, was hit by a shell, burst into flames, exploded and was paralyzed in place.

 The No. 4 assault gun that has been hidden on the flank has destroyed many enemy tanks without being exposed at all by virtue of its low profile and good concealment layout.

 It destroyed five tanks in yesterday's battle. So far today, it has killed 7 enemy tanks. But even so, the Dahua army still had no intention of retreating.

 Obviously, the other side has also received a death order, and this attack will be carried out at all costs. Almost a battalion of Dahua infantry who participated in the battle suffered heavy losses, but another battalion pressed forward, stepping on the corpses of their comrades and continuing to advance.

 In fact, the more this happened, the more worried the battalion commander on Datang's side was about the flanks of his defense line. It was easy to say that there was another battalion's defense line to the south, but to the north there was only the remnant "detachment" that had been withdrawn from the front line.

Relying on the forest, a tank, a few armored vehicles, less than a company of soldiers... If the enemy makes a circle and attacks the forest first, they may actually succeed.

If he loses that piece of woodland, it will be like having a nail embedded in his flank. If he attacks Lijia Village from that piece of woodland, he can basically save hundreds of meters of attack distance.

This is no joke, maybe in order to defend the forest, he will have to retreat to Lijiacun and fight in the streets.

 But even if he knew that the enemy might attack the woods, he did not have the extra troops to support him. Just looking at the battlefield in front of him, he didn't dare to send even one platoon to sit in the woodland.

“We’ll see what happens at that time...” This was the biggest decision he could make. In a few hours, three more No. 4 assault guns from support would arrive. When the time comes, one of them would be dispatched...

Unknown to everyone, at this time, in the tank deployed in the forest, the tank commander had already looked through the gap in the observation window and saw the Dahua 1 tanks lined up in the distance.

 The commanders of the Great China Empire, which has sufficient troops, are not fools. They will naturally take advantage of their own strength.

When it proved that the attack was not very effective, they had already spread out their troops and extended them to the two wings, preparing to test the attack from both wings.

“Load armor-piercing rounds! Aim!” the commander ordered loudly. The loader pushes a shell into the barrel and closes the breech.

The gunner's eyes were attached to the sight, and through the ruler on the lens, he placed the crosshair on an advancing Dahua 1 tank.

"Fire when you're sure! There are too many enemies, and it's too dangerous to get close!" The commander didn't dare to take risks, because his tank's armor was not very good and couldn't withstand the opponent's 90mm short-barreled gun.

 (End of this chapter)