Munitions Empire-Chapter 748 : 707 Xicong Battle

In fact, the day Fengjiang was bombed, several other areas in the Dahua Empire were also visited by Tang Country's planes, which were tactical bombers, not long-range strategic bombers.

The Butcher and the Stuka took off frequently, conducting reconnaissance and bombing on the northern-central border between Dahua and Tang Country, destroying every target they could find.

The humming sound of the Stuka Dive Bomber resonated in the sky, instilling immense fear in the soldiers of the Dahua Empire who were seeing this kind of plane for the first time.

It was also their first realization of just how deadly a dive bombing from the sky could be as they huddled in their trenches like mice hiding in their holes.

However, for them, the disaster passed quickly. The clouds thickened again, and the Tang Army's planes disappeared once more, making everything seem like it had returned to the day before.

The Dahua soldiers were jubilant. They repaired their demolished trenches and fixed defensive positions, and they also collected the bodies of their fallen comrades.

Commanders of the troops in the southern regions of the Dahua Empire also began to realize the severity of the problem. It was evidently less rainy than it had been in the previous days.

Now, the sky was always overcast, but it didn't rain as often, so they all knew that the Tang Country's Air Force, which was like a swarm of locusts, was about to start mobilizing again.

So they began accelerating their attack on Xicong, recklessly pushing their troops to the walls of the city. Two days after capturing Li Family Village, the vanguard of the Dahua Empire's forces reached the outskirts of Xicong.

Dozens of Dahua Type 1 Tanks were destroyed by the Tang Army's Assault Gun Mark IV en route, paralyzing them on the attack path. The Dahua military retreated about a kilometer, then launched their attack once more.

The Tang Army soon retreated to the suburbs of Xicong, where they deployed their defenses using the houses. The Dahua military rested overnight, and at the break of dawn the next day, they commenced their attack.

A battalion of the Dahua military cautiously approached the edge of the city under the cover of seven or eight tanks. This area was still covered with tile-roofed houses, but further away, the four- and even eight-story buildings of Xicong were visible.

Tang Army snipers, in coordination with the infantry, repelled this attack. The Dahua military left behind more than a hundred bodies and had no choice but to retreat to where their assault had begun.

However, by noon they had launched another attack, this time with about two regiments of soldiers, thousands of men under the cover of hundreds of tanks, once again nearing the urban edge of Xicong.

Unlike the previous probing attack, this time the Dahua military hoped to establish a beachhead on the edge of the city. They aimed to capture a section of the urban area to prepare for the upcoming street battles.

But they were repelled. Despite deploying an attacking force of over two thousand soldiers and using a regiment's worth of tanks, they still failed.

In the process of their attack, the Dahua military encountered a new piece of Tang Army equipment, a terrifyingly unreasonable magical weapon.

Right, their tanks, just as they were about to break into the city's edge, encountered a hidden Tang Army anti-tank position.

Or rather, it wasn't an anti-tank position but an anti-aircraft position... The anti-aircraft gunners, when faced with the enemy tanks charging at them, used the Bofors 40mm Anti-Aircraft Guns as direct-fire guns and aimed at the Dahua Type 1 Tanks.

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At a very close range, the anti-aircraft guns suddenly opened fire, and with anti-air capabilities began strafing. Twenty-some tanks didn't even realize where the enemy was before they were destroyed by the oncoming shelling from the side.

In about five minutes, the menacing twenty-some tanks were wiped out. The Dahua attacking force immediately lost the will to continue the fight and had no choice but to retreat from the battle.

The fierce battle continued in the afternoon. This time, the Dahua military deployed some artillery and once again sent two regiments, more than two thousand men, to launch the attack.

The two forces collided once again, and the Tang Army held their ground once more—if anyone thought that Tagg's carefully arranged defenses in Xicong would lose their outer defense on the first day, they would be greatly underestimating this Great Tang general.

After a day of intense assault without any results, Qian Jinhang, who had arrived at the front line of the Dahua Imperial command, realized that taking Xicong through sheer force was highly unlikely.

Therefore, he didn't rashly continue the attack the next day but waited for the subsequent reinforcements to arrive gradually. The number of Dahua troops was increasing, and so were their heavy weapons and equipment.

Just as Qian Jinhang felt that he had amassed enough troops and was ready to attempt another attack, the Tang Army's artillery fire precisely inundated the encampment of his forces.

With coordinates that had long been measured, combined with the precise parameter reports from the observation posts, the Tang Army's textbook artillery fire educated their Dahua counterparts.

Having witnessed the Tang Army's artillery fire first-hand, Qian Jinhang also intuitively realized the vast gap between the artillery capabilities of the two sides.

Although the Tang Army's display was not massive and the number of shells wasn't overwhelming, lacking that feeling of earth-shattering oppression, the precision of their shell impacts was incredibly accurate, and the coverage area was of high-value—it was like hitting the bull's eye with pinpoint accuracy.

After this round of artillery barrage, Qian Jinhang had no choice but to once again postpone the timing of the offensive. Only after waiting in place for two more days did they barely have enough resources to launch an attack.

The Dahua military had learned their lesson this time, as they lost dozens of tanks and vehicles, and over five hundred men were killed in the previous bombardment, which directly crippled two regiments... So they dispersed their forces, advanced covertly, and approached the Tang Army's positions before initiating the attack.

With over a hundred cannons covering them, three infantry regiments charged towards their target. The Tang Country's defenders quickly retaliated, and both sides exhibited their skills on the defensive lines at the city's edge. Eventually, the Dahua troops managed to capture a small piece of the rubble, securing an initial foothold in the outermost perimeter of Xicong city.

However, Qian Jinhang, who had been supervising the battle at the front line, soon realized that this might be a sinister trap set by the Tang Army.

Although the Dahua troops had captured an initial foothold, the efforts to reinforce this position and transport logistical supplies were heavily targeted by the Tang Army's firepower at both flanks.

If the Dahua military wanted to deliver a box of ammunition to this bridgehead, they would suffer the loss of seven or eight men, and possibly two boxes of ammunition!

Thus, with no alternative, Qian Jinhang had to steel himself and launch an offensive the next day to expand this bridgehead.

After losing a regiment, a casualty of thousands of men, Qian Jinhang finally secured the bridgehead's flanking defense positions, firmly establishing his ground.

But the subsequent barrage of fire that came with it inflicted heavy losses on the Dahua Empire's attacking troops!

For every step forward, the Dahua Empire paid a hefty price. Still brawling in the outskirts of Xicong, they had just captured a few dozen buildings and surrounding ruins, already incurring losses of over 4,000 men.

This was not good news; while the Dahua Empire's military held an absolute numerical advantage, such a rate of loss was simply unbearable.

In two weeks, the attacking Dahua troops had already suffered losses exceeding 40,000 men, a figure that nearly amounted to one-tenth of the total attacking force!

What did this mean? It meant that at least half of Qian Jinhang's men could be described with a word like "decimated"! These forces had barely any fighting power left and were desperately in need of reinforcements and arms and equipment.

And this was just the loss of soldiers, not to mention the vehicles, tanks, and artillery; Qian Jinhang felt even more troubled.

Since the beginning of the battle, the Dahua Empire had lost nearly 200 cannons of various calibers, some damaged by their own fire and others destroyed by the Tang Army.

The situation with the vehicles was similar, with over 500 of various models destroyed mid-journey, and an additional 200 barely operational with faults, at risk of breaking down at any moment.

The muddy roads forced the Dahua Empire's military to face a significant number of vehicles becoming damaged and immobilized. Their vehicles, already known for poor reliability, were now frequently paralyzed on the roads.

Not to mention tanks; in the battle for Li Family Village, the Dahua Empire lost over 110 tanks, excluding another 100 immobilized due to malfunctions on their path of advance. In the days near Xicong alone, the Dahua Empire lost 200 tanks!

Yes, this number represented the total tank strength of two Armored Divisions! In other words, two tank divisions in the Dahua army had unwittingly "evaporated."

At this rate of progression, before even catching sight of the Sishui River, Qian Jinhang felt he might end up as a commander without troops.

Yet he had no choice; the strategy set by the Dahua Empire was to capture Xicong. At that moment, Xicong lay before him; he had every reason to take the city.

So the Dahua troops launched another offensive, fighting desperately along the streets, driving back the Tang Army's flanking troops, and capturing more suburban buildings.

Each house had to be fought for, and each seemingly intact home was turned into a pile of ruins.

Grenades were hurled by soldiers from one house into the next, and after earth-shaking explosions, both sides shot at each other frantically through the walls separating the kitchens from the living rooms.

On the broad city roads, Tang tanks encountered the Dahua Empire's tanks in narrow conflicts. At one intersection, both sides fired and destroyed each other, leaving only the wreckage of two tanks burning in the middle of their respective paths.

The battle continued from morning until midnight, then paused for less than two hours before erupting again.

The Dahua Empire soldiers, who had just seized a block, had not yet stabilized their ground when the Tang Army's counterattack arrived. The Dahua troops were quickly driven out of the streets, and the Tang forces once more occupied the area.

The bullet-ridden flag of the Dahua Empire was tossed under the feet of Tang soldiers, and a Red Dragon Flag, riddled with bullet holes, was raised once again. And all of this was just the beginning!.