Chapter 1635: Chapter 1552: Tang Army Counterattack
On the pitch-black battlefield, a massive figure crushed the soft soil and fields of corpses. A flare shot up into the sky, illuminating the advancing steel beast.
The Dwarf’s machine guns opened fire, bullets hitting the armor of the Type 96 main battle tank, leaving only a slight mark, as the tank continued to advance unaffected.
It twisted its square turret and then aimed its main gun at a Dwarf Type 10 tank hidden in the distance. In the next second, terrifying flames erupted from the 125mm main gun barrel, with visible air currents spreading, blowing away the crouching Dwarf soldiers nearby.
After the deafening cannon fire, all that remained in the ears of the Dwarf soldiers was a buzzing sound. A shell hammered the turret of the Dwarf tank, deforming its turret armor.
A black jet-created punch hole remained on the tank, and then the Dwarf tank exploded, turning into a mass of blazing flames.
The flickering flames illuminated everything around, and some Dwarf soldiers hurriedly ran past the wreckage of this tank. Soon, the Tang Army tank that had just fired rolled over the Dwarfs’ defensive line and continued deep into the Dwarf troops.
The Tang Army Paratroopers following the tank advanced rapidly like a dragon entering the sea, quickly recapturing the positions they had held before. In less than an hour, the Tang Army once again occupied the area, turning the Dwarfs’ night-long efforts into nothing.
Despite how much the Dwarf officers shouted, those defeated Dwarf soldiers couldn’t stop their retreating footsteps; they retreated regardless of everything, frantically running into the distance.
A Dwarf soldier rushed towards the Tang Army tank in front of him, holding a hand grenade high. Before he could pull the pin, he was shot dead by the Tang Army Paratroopers fighting alongside.
Xiang Ziyu maintained a safe distance from the nearby tank; he didn’t want to be affected by the defense device on the side of the tank turret—that thing had many functions, like instantly emitting smoke to cover the tank’s offense or retreat, or electrifying to create a barrage to eliminate approaching enemy infantry.
This terrifying “defense device” necessitated the development of the technique of tank-infantry coordination. In the past, soldiers moved closely with the tanks; now, everyone had to maintain a relatively safe distance.
“Tat-tat-tat-tat!” The Tang Army machine gun team, which had just set up a forward base in a crater, began firing their machine guns; a row of tracer bullets flew over the advancing Tang Army soldiers and into the Dwarf troops’ position.
The other side was in disarray, and Xiang Ziyu knew they should seize the victory. Although his troops were extremely exhausted, he still issued the order to counterattack.
About 200 paratroopers participated in the offensive operation, keeping their distance while advancing from the side and rear of the tanks. They quickly expanded the tank’s achievements, creating a gap of more than 200 meters in the enemy’s frontline.
Although this width wasn’t sufficient, the paratroopers didn’t care. They continued attacking, constantly expanding the penetration distance until it extended over 500 meters.
This location was originally a high ground of the Dwarf defensive line, which the Tang Army hadn’t had enough troops to take down before. Now, as the fleeing Dwarfs disrupted their defense deployment, Xiang Ziyu immediately led his troops to seize this important high ground.
From there, the Tang Army could almost overlook everything around. The side of the high ground was full of Dwarf artillery that hadn’t had time to retreat, along with trucks transporting ammunition and various armored vehicles and tanks.
At this moment, Xiang Ziyu saw several Tang Army tanks advancing amid the enemy’s heavy weaponry. The machine guns destroyed trucks loaded with ammunition one after another, and the artillery took down tanks that weren’t prepared for battle one after another.
“They need support! Those who can move, come with me! Capture prisoners!” Xiang Ziyu ordered loudly, then charged down the high ground with his assault rifle, not caring how many people followed him.
He ran down the slope, awkwardly stepping over bodies and other obstacles, stumbling a few times before stabilizing his footing.
But he didn’t care, he just kept running forward, charging into the dense crowd of Dwarf soldiers, loudly shouting to surrender and be spared, and then continued forward without looking back.
The Dwarf soldiers, not knowing what was happening, were dumbfounded. They watched an officer from the Tang Country run past them, barely acknowledging them as he continued running forward, as if being chased by some monster.
Then they looked back at the direction he came from, and saw another group of fierce Tang Army Paratroopers rushing past, shouting vaguely, seemingly something about surrendering and being spared.
A Dwarf soldier dropped his weapon, figuring that everything was lost anyway: explosions were constantly occurring in the distance, enemy troops had reached their doorstep, and at this point, if they didn’t surrender, they were clearly risking their lives.
Xiang Ziyu was incredibly lucky; these soldiers weren’t elite troops from the Ice Cold Empire’s 1st Armored Division but Dwarf-garrisoned troops who had been fiercely battling with the Tang Army for a day and night nearby.
Upon seeing the 1st Armored Division’s defense line breached, these Dwarfs, who had long lost much of their morale, chose to hand over their weapons. They threw their rifles on the ground, raised their hands, and completed the surrender ceremony.
A young Tang Country paratrooper at the back pulled a sullen face, gripping his rifle, looking at the surrendering Dwarfs, and then looking at his comrades in the distance, now only visible as shadows, reluctantly stayed in place.
What choice did he have? They couldn’t leave the prisoners unsupervised, after all. Now it was just him left, as he was the slowest runner. So he stood there, facing a large horde of anxious Dwarf soldiers.
It wasn’t until the next morning that he realized how dangerous that moment had been: in front of him was a battalion of Dwarf infantry, equipped with mortars and trucks, seven or eight machine guns, and over three hundred rifles lying at their feet, uncollected…
If any of the Dwarfs regretted it and picked up the weapons at their feet, this Tang Country paratrooper might have been taken out in a surprise attack… but they didn’t do that. They just quietly gathered in place, waiting for daylight when they let the Tang Army take away their weapons.
And after dawn on the second day, the Tang Army’s counterattack gradually came to a halt because the attacking Tang Army tanks… quite simply couldn’t continue pushing against the Dwarfs’ defensive line anymore.
——
Perhaps exhausted from yesterday, not in form today; only two updates for now, additional updates delayed, sorry.