afterglow

Chapter 43 Brutal Street Fighting
Company C of Raigal Battalion entered the urban area from the south accompanied by tanks.

This is the basic operation of infantry and tank coordination in urban combat. The two cover each other and are indispensable. If the infantry is still timidly following behind the tank at this time, then the opponent may suddenly rush out from the buildings on both sides to attack the field of vision. Poor tank.

In fact, a more efficient tactic is for the infantry to lead the tank, that is, the infantry is in front and the tank is behind. The infantry gradually advances and clears the sides, and the tanks following behind bombard any exposed opponent's firepower points.

But this bold tactic requires the infantry to have bravery and high morale, which is obviously not available in the current British and Indian troops.

Nervous by the battles of the past few days, Company C is restless. Only three of the nine companies in the brigade can continue to fight, and at present, Company C has lost more than 30 people, including the company commander. Major Lay.

Now they are cautiously advancing slowly with the seven tanks, but the street is extraordinarily quiet?In addition to the roar of the tank engine, there is only the sound of footsteps.

"boom!"

"Da da da da-"

Suddenly there was a loud gunshot, and the Ming army ambushing on both sides of the oblique front opened fire together. Three heavy machine gun firepower points, six light machine gun firepower point and rifle grenades formed a fire net.

"Contact the enemy! Chinese infantry!!!"

Six or seven British and Indian soldiers were knocked down in an instant, and others hurriedly scattered to both sides to seek cover, but people were still being hit by bullets or fragments; some unlucky ones were shot on the armor of the tank and flew away. Knock it down.

The tank crews were also terrified when they heard the sound of ding ding dong dong hitting the armor. After all, no one knows when they will encounter anti-aircraft machine guns.

When the three smoke bombs fired by the Ming army landed in the middle of the tank column, the frontmost A9 cruise tank opened fire with a "boom", and the 2-pound high-explosive bomb immediately overturned a point of fire. The light machine gun team The two shooters fell in a pool of blood.

At this time, a battle defense gun team also opened fire, and the loud "dong dong" gunshot was like a fist hitting the heart, which was shocking.

Even if it is an armor-piercing incendiary bomb, the aftereffect of the anti-war gun is still relatively small. Even if it is connected with four holes, the turret of the cruise tank is still rotating and firing. This is why it is usually recommended that the anti-war gun be used intensively. for the sake.

The smoke released by the smoke bomb that just fell finally filled the air. It seems that the smoke mixed with the explosion of the grenade seems to be more effective?

"This street is a killing zone!"

"Beware, enemy crossfire!"

"Sergeant, get off the street! Into the housing block!"

The British and Indian soldiers hiding on both sides of the street were trembling with fear from the hail of bullets and the constant flying grenades, and they had to retreat into the adjacent housing area in a hurry.

But maybe this is the beginning of another nightmare?
In an alley, nine British and Indian soldiers walked forward cautiously with rifles... Suddenly, several figures appeared in the ruined walls next to them, followed by a burst of violent shooting.

Two Type 70 submachine guns and two Type 9.6 automatic guns spewed flames, and in just a few seconds, 30 rounds of 351mm pistol bullets and [-] rounds of .[-] Winchester rounds were poured out!

Caught off guard, the nine British and Indian soldiers had no room to react. The only thing they did was to turn around and raise their guns in the direction where the bullets were coming from. However, they were all shot dead before they could pull the trigger.

With their backs to the wall, close together, a whole row of dead?The British and Indian troops in this class seemed to have been executed collectively, but it was a bit like the line-up shooting 150 years ago.

The five Ming army soldiers in this close group left two guards, and the remaining three stepped forward quickly. Neither rifles nor bullets could enter their eyes. They only took Mills grenades from these corpses.

Now that it's turned into street fighting, the more grenades the better, and the first battalion's grenades are running out.

Unsurprisingly, the British and Indian troops who attacked in three directions also suffered head-on blows in three directions.

The concealed firepower points, floating firepower points, and close combat groups carefully arranged by the Ming army turned every block into a killing zone, and the British and Indian troops who broke into it would be killed by crossfire from four or five places.

Intense fighting continued into the afternoon, with the most brutal fighting near the Dmagee Hospital building.

The five cruiser tanks of the 2th Royal Tank Battalion were parked on the street outside the building, and the 7.7-pound tank guns and [-]mm machine guns never stopped.

Vickers heavy machine guns, Lewis light machine guns, Type [-] heavy machine guns, and Type [-] light machine guns. There are at least dozens of machine guns on both sides firing at each other. Maybe the raindrops of bullets can collide in mid-air?

Five QF 3.7-inch mountain guns are in the front, and eight QF 4.5-inch howitzers are behind. Hit the building body.

The broken concrete fragments flew in all directions, and the twisted steel bars were exposed. The entire west four floors of the building were devastated, full of bullet craters and holes.

The wreckage of two A9 cruiser tanks and three Carden-Lloyd ultralight tanks was burning, billowing black smoke rose into the sky, and at least [-] British and Indian soldiers in various shapes were dead around the building .

Unlike the siege of strongholds, the street fighting in other parts of the city was more brief.The British and Indian troops tried to penetrate deeply into the urban area in order to separate the Ming army in the city.

It seems that the city that has been bombarded and bombed into ruins by air strikes is more beneficial to the defender?In the narrow and complicated streets and alleys full of bricks and tiles, the Ming army's close-up teams equipped with submachine guns, automatic guns, and grenades can be described as a duck to water.

They use five or six people as a unit to hide in the enemy's only way, and then shoot at close range with automatic firepower; or several groups cooperate with each other, and when the enemy approaches, one group first attracts the enemy's attention, etc. As they turned to fight, another group attacked from behind.

Faced with a large number of bullets suddenly spewed by submachine guns and automatic guns, as well as grenades that kept falling at their feet, the British and Indian infantry units were almost beaten to the north.

How can the bolt-action Enfield No.1 rifle cope with the intense automatic firepower like a storm at a short distance of more than ten meters?
Moreover, the Ming army used grenades to arrange terrifying booby traps in many places. The [-]-style grenade and the captured Mills grenade were all based on the principle of pulling out the safety pin, flicking the safety handle and then igniting the fuze, which was very convenient for booby traps.

A thin wire is tied to the ring of the safety pin, and the grenade is buried on the side, and the enemy will tear off the ring when it encounters the thin wire; or directly pull out the ring, and put the grenade in the ready state on the ground to use The thing presses the handle, and if the enemy touches the thing, the handle will bounce off.

Company C of the Raigal Battalion, which entered the city from the north, lost another fifty or so people within four hours, leaving only 78 people in the company. It became the seventh company of the No. 16 Infantry Brigade to be disabled.

The elusive automatic weapon team, the ubiquitous and terrifying booby traps, and the street fighting tactics of the Ming army made the British and Indian troops bewildered and at a loss, and every step forward was in fear.

(End of this chapter)