frightfiction Chapter 582 The Rapidly Advancing Nanyang Defense Force
Chapter 582 The Rapidly Advancing Nanyang Defense Force
February 14, 1945, on the road leading inland in the southeast of Sumatra Island.
The roar of steel drowned out the chirping of insects and birds in the tropical jungle.
A torrent of steel was surging unstoppably towards the northwest along the muddy road washed by rain.
Leading the charge was the 1st Armoured Division of the Nanyang National Defense Force.
Dozens of M4 Sherman medium tanks and the more agile and formidable M24 Chaffee light tanks, their tracks stirring up black and yellow mud, their massive gun barrels pointed directly at any possible threats ahead. Following closely behind were M3 half-track armored vehicles, Lynx assault vehicles, and jeeps loaded with infantry, their bodies painted with the newly adopted Golden Dragon emblem of the South Pacific United States Defense Force.
Further away are trucks towing 105mm howitzers and the powerful M44155mm self-propelled howitzers. They are like moving mountains, providing devastating firepower support on the battlefield.
Further behind, there were endless trucks and marching columns.
This is the land spear of the Nanyang Defense Force's "Operation Thunder" - a powerful armored assault group composed of the 2nd Infantry Division and the 1st Armored Division.
More than 3 highly motivated and well-equipped soldiers, more than 100 heavy artillery pieces with a caliber of 100mm or above, more than 200 tanks and armored vehicles, and nearly a thousand trucks constituted an unprecedented steel force on the Southeast Asian battlefield.
The sky above our heads is no longer the forbidden territory of the Japanese.
Several P-51D Mustang fighters, painted in the blue and white camouflage of the Nanyang Air Force, circled at low altitude. The sharp roar of their engines was the background sound that most reassured the Nanyang Army and most frightened the Japanese on this battlefield.
These warplanes, which took off from the newly occupied airport near Jiugang, belonged to the 2nd and 3rd Fighter Divisions of the 1st Nanyang Air Force and were faithfully carrying out air cover and battlefield interdiction missions.
At the airport further back, the B-25 Mitchell bomber group of the 177th Bomb Division was ready to take off, ready to pour death on the nodes where the Japanese were resisting stubbornly.
This is the modern army Zhang Chi has devoted his efforts to building. The navy, army, and air force work together like a torrent of steel, with air supremacy in hand.
The Nanyang Defense Force has been completely transformed. Every Nanyang soldier holds his head high, his eyes burning with the conviction of victory and the sense of mission to liberate Southeast Asia.
They knew that behind them was a powerful new country with a steady supply and strong firepower support.
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In the dense forest on the hills beside the highway, at the position of the Japanese 206th Independent Guard Regiment.
The air was hot and humid, and the only sound the Japanese soldiers could hear was the buzzing of flies circling over rotten food.
Under the dense tree canopy, a dozen Japanese soldiers and dozens of ragged, skinny native puppet soldiers huddled in the makeshift foxholes and crevices of tree roots like frightened moles.
They were covered in thick layers of rotten leaves and vines, trying their best to blend in with the surrounding environment.
In the sky, the heart-pounding sound of the engine, like the god of death sharpening his knife, came from far away.
Two P-51D Mustangs flew past almost brushing the treetops. The Chinese pilots' eyes scanned the jungle below, and the sunlight reflected a dazzling light on the silver fuselage.
"Baga... Don't move! Don't move!" A Japanese sergeant ordered in a low voice, his voice distorted by extreme fear.
The new recruits around him were shaking like leaves in the wind, their teeth chattering.
Everyone still remembers the tragic scene a few days ago.
A machine gun position that was not concealed well enough was discovered by a low-flying F4U Corsair, with only a slight metal reflection exposed.
The pilot didn't even waste precious bombs, just a graceful dive, with deadly tongues of fire spewing from under his wings.
The shells of the 20mm machine gun are not bullets at all, but small explosives.
The tree trunks as thick as bowls were torn apart easily, and the human body... the human body was like paper under that kind of firepower.
An unlucky Japanese soldier was hit directly in the waist and was instantly broken into two pieces. His upper body was still crawling in vain, making inhuman howls, with his intestines and internal organs dragging all over the ground. He wailed for more than half an hour before he finally died.
Another sergeant had both legs broken, his bones exposed, and blood gushed out like a fountain. No matter how he bandaged it, the bleeding could not be stopped. He slowly died in pain and blood loss, and his desperate cries still linger in the nightmares of the survivors.
How can this be called an airstrike? It's like killing pigs in a slaughterhouse...
In their eyes, the pilots from Nanyang are the most cruel "devils".
Being killed by a bomb might be relatively quick, but being strafed by this terrifying machine gun... that kind of death, just thinking about it is enough to make one mentally collapse.
At this moment, every Japanese soldier and puppet soldier hiding in the jungle covered their mouths tightly and even breathed as lightly as possible, for fear that the slightest movement would bring about destruction from the air.
"Hayaku! Get into position! The devilish infantry from Southeast Asia are coming up!" An officer's hoarse roar came from a distance, breaking the dead silence.
About five kilometers northwest of the highway, in a command post of the Japanese main position built on several rolling hills, Major General Goto, commander of the 162nd Special Brigade, was staring at the end of the highway through the telescope with his eyes through a pair of sweat-stained glasses.
He was once full of vigor and vitality on the battlefield of Daxia.
At that time, the Japanese regiment he commanded was an infantry charge followed by an artillery bombardment, and then an infantry charge after the artillery bombardment. A single regiment could chase down a Great Xia army division that lacked heavy firepower.
At that time, the sky belonged to the Empire's Zero fighters.
Now... things are changing.
“Rumble, rumble—!”
Without warning, a burst of intense and sharp roars echoed from the sky. Immediately afterwards, the earth shook!
"Artillery fire! It's a rocket launcher! Take cover!" A shrill howl sounded on the battlefield.
late.
Hundreds of rockets with orange-red tails lashed the Japanese front-line positions.
The dense explosions instantly created a sea of fire. Mud, rubble, broken barricades, and the limbs of hapless native puppet soldiers were thrown into the air by the violent airwaves. Thick smoke billowed, obscuring the view.
This is the "greeting" from the BM-13 "Katyusha" rocket artillery battalion of the Nanyang Defense Force Artillery Force before conducting fire coverage.
Major General Goto's heart sank to the bottom.
He was too familiar with the tactics of the Nanyang people. First, there was the covering rocket attack, which destroyed the surface fortifications and killed exposed personnel; then there was the precise bursts of heavy artillery, which eliminated the exposed firing points; and finally, there was the desperate torrent of steel, accompanied by infantry, which crushed all remaining resistance.