Munitions Empire-Chapter 584 - : Since I’m here already

Chapter 584: Since I’m here already

In fact, the battle at Luo Town had not completely ended when the 3rd Army of Qi Country was assembling. When Liu Guozhu climbed back onto his tank, the defensive forces of Qi Country had not yet given up their resistance.

Fierce gunfire continued within Luo Town, stretching from the train station all the way to the power plant in the east, with Qi Army soldiers persisting in combat.

Their resistance was ultimately suppressed by the 1st Armored Division, though. Wherever the tanks went, the troops of Qi Country simply had no ability to retaliate.

Tank No. 4, brought to a battlefield of World War I caliber, was just too powerful. The military of Qi Country basically had no way to counter this weapon and could only rely on valor to meet the enemy with their flesh and blood.

Even though at the train station, a Qi Country soldier armed with explosives ultimately managed to destroy one of the 4th company’s tanks, his efforts could not change the defeat and surrender of the Qi forces.

The 3,000 soldiers stationed at Luo Town from Qi Country were almost entirely wiped out, and the soldiers who barely survived chose to surrender honorably. They handed over their weapons and were then escorted by the Tang Army to the rear.

Immediately after, the Tang Army did not dare to slack off, judging from the combat effectiveness of the Qi soldiers who defended Luo Town and from the interrogation of Qi commanders, they learned that Qi Country had already begun to notice the importance of Luo Town.

Or rather, the Qi Army had realized that Luo Town was in grave danger and was trying every possible means to send reinforcements there.

All signs indicated that the Qi Army would certainly attempt to recapture Luo Town, so the Tang Army had to set up a sturdy defense line here to meet the imminent enemy forces.

“Move quickly! We have no time to waste!” a Tang Army commander urged while shoveling dirt, reminding his subordinates.

In the upcoming battle, a complete and robust line of defense was their only reliance to maintain combat effectiveness or, in other words, to save their own lives.

Fortunately, every Tang grenadier was equipped with a standard Engineer Corps shovel, enabling them to construct the defense line rapidly.

Each soldier dug a foxhole, which would soon be connected as construction progressed, forming trenches.

Real trenches differ from those in movies; to avoid artillery bombardment, they are often contorted and twisted, rarely straight.

Why don’t movies accurately reproduce real trenches? The reason is simple: real trenches offer poor lateral visibility, affecting filming, and they lack the imposing presence of straight trenches, so they make artistic compromises.

After connecting the foxholes to form trenches, the Tang Army began to construct more solid machine gun flanking positions on both wings of their trenches.

These flanking positions appeared to be unremarkable individual soldier positions when viewed from the front, but hidden machine guns lay in wait at a slant across from their own positions.

Once the enemy approached their main positions, the hidden machine guns would open fire from the flank, suppressing the enemy’s advancing forces and inflicting heavy casualties.

The crossfire from both wings is a tried-and-true classic setup, so most of the lower-level commanders graduating from the Great Tang Kingdom’s military schools would adhere to the book as much as possible.

Quickly, behind the collapsed buildings, mortar support fire from the company level had already determined firing angles and sectors.

Those with no immediate tasks were helping to unload ammunition from trucks, then distributing it as much as possible to the participating units.

Inside the train station, the Tang Army made some discoveries: they found an undestroyed Qi Army locomotive with a train car attached, filled with grain.

Clearly, it was a train that hadn’t been unloaded in time, carrying supplies of food intended for the front lines.

Everyone also found gasoline and ammunition in the warehouses of Luo Town—sadly, the Qi Army’s ammunition couldn’t supplement the Tang Army’s consumption.

Even the gasoline wasn’t quite the same: The Tang Army’s gasoline was clearly of higher quality and purity, burning better naturally.

However, the captured inferior gasoline of the Qi Army was not useless; it could be mixed with the Tang Army’s gasoline and used reluctantly.

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Unfortunately, this method would cause carbon buildup in the engine, a short-term solution that could lead to increased engine failure rates for the Tang Army, potentially aiding their sustained combat capability in the short run.

Such is war, where everyone does things that seem irrational but are very much based in reality.

While defending, Tang tanks could only serve as fire support points. The tank company that suffered the loss of one tank was left in the town with orders to act as artillery and machine-gun pillboxes to support the entire position.

Meanwhile, the other two companies of tanks from the 1st Battalion were ordered to move out of town, concealed in a depression north of the town, ready to counter-attack the Qi forces’ lines if necessary.

After setting up defensive positions, the Tang Army’s reinforcements were the first to arrive at Luo Town, boosting the morale of the Tang soldiers there significantly.

Although only a follow-up light infantry unit had arrived, their presence still strengthened the defensive force of the Tang Army.

The originally stretched thin two battalions of grenadiers had suddenly turned into four battalions, which filled the frontline commanders of the Tang Army defending this location with immediate confidence.

The alert troops had already dispersed, and they quickly sent back news of a Qi Army counterattack. A large contingent of the Qi Army was advancing towards Luo Town along the highway, the specific number of which was unknown.

Shortly afterward, the battle erupted, and the Tang Army units responsible for the perimeter alert created some minor troubles for the Qi Army during their retreat. The Qi Army suffered seven to eight casualties, which forced them to slow down their advance.

By evening, the artillery units of the Qi Army launched an attack on Luo Town. They fired hundreds of shells, damaging a train loaded with food that had not been dealt with in time.

The long-range artillery of the Tang Army didn’t bother to return fire, and as night fell, the Qi Army quieted down as well. Taking advantage of the darkness, the 3rd Army of Qi Country regrouped their forces and prepared for an attack at dawn the next day.

The Tang Army rested all night, and the Qi Army, having trekked all the way here, also rested for most of the night. Both sides were in a relatively well-rested state as they entered the combat of the following day.

Early on the third day, the two forces immediately became entangled. Forty Stuka Dive Bombers of the Tang Army arrived as scheduled, greeting the brash Qi Country artillery from the day before.

That ghost-like screaming sound echoing in the sky made the defending soldiers of the Tang Army listen with terror in their hearts.

Before the first wave of Stuka Dive Bombers had even departed, the second wave of B-17 bombers had already reached the battlefield.

These warplanes of the Tang Army seemed endless, circling above the Qi Army like a nightmare that refused to dissipate.

They kept dropping bombs, scattering the Qi Army troops trying to gather and launch a ground assault, hindering the enemy’s advance.

Because of the presence of these planes, the numerical advantage of the Qi Army’s artillery was completely nullified; half of their dozens of artillery pieces were either in hiding or destroyed.

The remaining half fared no better in the face of Tang Army fire. The commanders of Qi Country had not anticipated that the artillery of a single Armored Division of the Tang Army could exchange fire with all the artillery of their two or three infantry divisions.

For Qi Country, this wasn’t even the most troubling issue. The most troubling issue was their first exploratory attack had not been launched by noon.

After the fifth wave of Tang Army Stuka Dive Bombers arrived on the battlefield, the leaders of the Qi Army finally realized that the planes overhead might truly never leave.

Without having launched a single attack and already suffering over a thousand casualties, the commander of the 3rd Army of Qi Country finally commenced the first fierce offensive, gritting his teeth.

Ignoring their casualties, the Qi Army artillery once again launched an artillery assault. They fired dozens of rounds, enveloping Luo Town in thick smoke.

Afterward, the 3rd Division of the 3rd Army of Qi Country threw in an infantry regiment, a human wave surging towards the Tang Army’s position.

“Charge! The first to breach Luo Town will be rewarded with 50 gold coins!” A Qi Army commander waved his Mauser Bolt-Action Rifle, rallying the Qi Country soldiers moving forward with bayonets at his side.

It was easy to distinguish the soldiers of Qi Country without helmets; they looked quite different from the Tang Army soldiers wearing M35 steel helmets. The Tang Army soldiers were all equipped with tactical vests, while the Qi Army soldiers only had the most basic gear belts.

At the forefront of the position, the decoy machine gun nest enticing the Qi Army troops opened fire first. The MG42 machine guns, with their distinctive and menacing sound of tearing fabric, roared to life.

A barrage of bullets met the Qi Army soldiers head-on, and they fell in droves, unprepared. The remaining Qi soldiers immediately spread out further, hunched over as they inched forward.

“Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!” The Maxim machine guns covering the advance of the Qi soldiers also roared angrily, fiercely spraying bullets towards the origin of the tracer rounds.

The 3rd Army, under the third prince, truly was an elite combat unit. From the outset of the engagement, their combat discipline showed to be far superior to other Qi Army troops.

Their attack was more methodical, with machine gun cover and artillery support, clearly well-trained, and their commanders fully understood the performance of their weapons and equipment, combining them effectively to unleash greater power.

However, as impressive as they were, their performance was only exceptionally good by the standards of the First World War.

Very soon, the Tang Army’s mortars deployed in the town began to give the attacking Qi soldiers a taste of hardship. They were broken up by a barrage of fire, and the first probing attack quickly collapsed into a rout.

It was only at this point that Qi Army commanders seemed to remember, the Tang Army’s ease of penetrating defenses, slicing through them like cutting melons and vegetables, did not mean everyone could easily break through well-prepared defenses.

Without the cover of Air Force and Tanks, it seemed … the Qi Army couldn’t breach the defensive positions of the Tang Army the same way.

But they no longer had the option to retreat; after all, there’s a saying: since we’re here…

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