Munitions Empire

Chapter 591: Born in the late 1950s

"Thank God this damn radio is finally working!” The excitement in the platoon leader’s voice came through. The communication had been poor before, and finding the first platoon hadn’t been easy for him.

Liu Guozhu also sighed with relief and pressed the talk button, “My tank isn’t a command vehicle, and I can’t find tank number five, repeat, I can’t find tank number five.”

"Don’t you care about your comrades in tank number two?” came a resentful voice from the headset. “There are at least a hundred Qi Army prisoners in front of me… a big, dark mass.”

"Want a suggestion for tank number two?” Liu Guozhu grinned and laughed.

"What suggestion?” The commander of tank number two was immediately curious.

Liu Guozhu, smiling, responded with a press to his throat microphone, “I suggest you make them throw away their weapons!”

"That’s a good idea. Why didn’t I think of that?” The commander of tank number two was almost amused: “Do you think everyone is as foolish as you, daring to open the hatch and go out?”

"Hahaha!” The sudden silence on the battlefield made Liu Guozhu relaxed, and he laughed without any reservations.

"Hold your position! We’re right on your flank! I can even see your tank!” The platoon leader of the second platoon shouted excitedly over the channel.

"Over here, I can see some Qi Country military officers wearing different uniforms! They might be their headquarters!” Liu Guozhu reported, peering through the gaps of the viewing window at the tents scattered around, as well as maps and chairs.

"You’re really damn lucky!” The platoon leader of the second platoon cursed enviously, and then Liu Guozhu saw a number four tank bursting through a wooden cart and appearing to the north of his tank.

By this time, the Qi troops had completely collapsed, with hardly anyone returning fire. The only sounds were the faint gunfire and the piercing screech of the Stuka dive bombers in the distance.

"The battalion commander means, since we’ve paralyzed their artillery positions, retreating now is our best option,” the second platoon’s tanks approached, making the radio communication a bit clearer.

Accompanied by the interference of electrical current, Liu Guozhu agreed, “Leaving here is indeed a good idea. If the people from Qi Country knew we only had so few forces, they would definitely come back at us.”

"Without infantry cover, we can’t sustain a prolonged fight here,” the platoon leader of the second platoon continued. “We’ve run out of machine gun bullets, and we’ve used up a third of our shells.”

"You’re right,” Liu Guozhu wasn’t a fool, and he was aware of the fact that his tank’s machine gun ammunition was running low.

The machine gun atop tank number four wasn’t an MG-42 but its predecessor, the MG-34T with a circular barrel jacket. This machine gun was more complex to produce than the MG-42. Its advantage was that it could be mounted inside a tank.

This machine gun had no cooling holes on the barrel, and the barrel was thicker and cooled slightly better, ensuring that the machine gun could fire continuously for longer periods. Since it was mounted on a vehicle, the weight wasn’t much of a concern. RÁℕοВÊS̩

Inside the tank, the machine gun couldn’t use a belt feed, so the MG-34T used drum magazines. Total ammunition reserves inside the tank ranged from 3,000 to 3,500 rounds. Given the MG-34T’s rate of fire, it was easy to run out quickly.

To be able to combat continuously, armored troops always carried extra ammunition. Originally, tank number four was designed to carry 3,000 rounds of machine gun ammunition, but everyone tried to cram in as much as possible, sometimes carrying over 4,000 rounds.

Still, the roughly 3,500 rounds that Liu Guozhu and his crew had brought were now down to less than 500.

At this rate, if the Qi Army counterattacked, they would probably have to pull out of the fight due to a lack of ammunition.

Now that he had the protection of the surrounding tanks, Liu Guozhu could finally open his hatch and climb out of his tank to search for the war trophies he had secured earlier.

The several Qi Country high-ranking officers in their splendid uniforms were certainly dead, but their bodies were undoubtedly useful.

Soon, Liu Guozhu and the platoon leader of the second platoon were standing in front of his spoils of war, next to a collapsed white tent, which was easy to recognize.

However, the sight of the bodies on the ground made the platoon leader of the second platoon a bit uncomfortable. The sight of brain matter scattered everywhere and the blood-soaked flesh was indeed visually shocking and quite bothersome.

"You’re quite something with a hand over his mouth, still able to smell the blood and the scent of gunpowder, the pale-faced platoon leader of the second platoon gave his verdict.

He didn’t mind killing in a tank, but facing so much carnage was still disturbing for him.

"If it’s no good, just leave it here,” Liu Guozhu also thought handling the bodies would be disgusting, so he generously prepared to give up this merit.

"Are you crazy? Get these bodies on the vehicles, one on each! We’ll take them back for identification by the prisoners, take photos The platoon leader of the second platoon glanced at Liu Guozhu and suggested, “Hurry up and move. We’ll set off in five minutes.”

"My tank can’t fit anymore… How many are you taking?” Liu Guozhu looked at the company commander of the 2nd Company, somewhat reluctant to put those bodies on his own tank… because it was disgusting.

"Fine! The ones we haul away count as ours,” the company commander of the 2nd Company said, grinning, ready to take advantage of the situation.

"No problem then,” Liu Guozhu felt he was very good at dealing with people.

So a few minutes later, holding back their urge to vomit, the armored troops of Tang Country loaded a pile of bodies with smashed heads and rotten chests onto their tanks and then, taking advantage of the time before the Qi Army’s counterattack arrived, retreated along the same route out of the battlefield.

The surprise attack had thus ended, and the chaos in the 3rd Army of Qi Country persisted. One division was engaged in a tough battle ahead; most of another division had already collapsed, and yet another division was still setting up camp, utterly unaware of what had happened.

Following forces of the Qi Army were still converging on Luo Town, but the fierce artillery fire from the Qi Army that had filled the skies had eerily vanished.

…

Lack of communication, and the inability to extend it to all troops, sometimes had its advantages. At least most of the Qi Country’s troops still did not know that their headquarters had been taken.

They were each diligently carrying out the last orders they had received, like advancing or continuing the attack.

However, as more and more retreating troops passed on detailed intelligence to additional units, the Qi Country’s military still descended into confusion and wavering.

"What are these fleeing soldiers saying? A few deserters spouting nonsensical things, how can I believe them?” a Qi Country officer slammed his hat onto the hood of the car, irritatedly questioning.

"Commander, we’ve come a long way, without resupply and no new orders. We’re just blindly rushing to Luo Town His subordinate glanced at the disheveled, message-bearing deserters, then looked at his own commander and began to plead.

"What exactly are you trying to say?” The commander, who had a fiery temper, stared at his subordinate and directly cut off his rambling.

"Commander… the messengers we dispatched haven’t returned, I think it’s necessary to confirm what’s going on with the 3rd Army,” the officer cautiously suggested, afraid of angering his superior.

After a few seconds of silence, the Qi Army’s commander, who appeared to have a bad temper, also felt helpless and explained, “What can I do? I’ve sent out two messengers, none have returned. What can I do? Change orders on my own? Do I not want to live anymore?”

Sometimes, following the rules doesn’t guarantee that problems won’t arise. The battlefield is ever-changing, and anything can happen. Every decision a commander makes is their responsibility.

When their regiment set off, they had orders to reach Luo Town by nightfall, and at that time, the news of Luo Town’s loss had not yet reached the Qi Army.

Then the troops began to move, and communication became erratic: tens of thousands of troops were either still in their positions or on the move, and everywhere was chaos.

For their regiment, for example, since they started moving, they had basically lost contact with the western frontline headquarters. The headquarters couldn’t locate them, and they couldn’t find the headquarters.

It couldn’t be helped. The third prince was supposed to stay put, but he rushed to the front lines in a panic. As soon as he left, he left behind a huge mess.

Their regiment had not yet made contact with the headquarters since they departed. As the commander, he had sent out five messengers, none of whom had found their superior units.

The headquarters of their division also couldn’t be located, and even when trying to find the third prince’s command, there was no success.

Thus, he could only proceed toward Luo Town according to the original orders, and then encountered another regiment from a different division. They crowded together on the road, and it took them a whole morning to cover less than 7 kilometers.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to make contact, but he genuinely didn’t know where the hell the commanding officers were! His messengers could only ask around, groping blind in search, and whether they found anything or not, they would eventually be embarrassingly alerted to the fact that they did not know where their own troops had advanced to…

On the way, they were blindly searching. On their return, they couldn’t even find their way back… This was also why he was reluctant to send messengers—the more he sent out, the more were lost. What was the point of sending them if it was of no use?

"So, commander, we need to understand what’s happening. Are we just going to keep heading to Luo Town like this?” The officer under his command was becoming anxious, imploring with a sense of urgency, “If it’s been recaptured, all is well, but if not

"Then aren’t we just in time to recapture it?” The commander glared at him, then looked dissatisfied at the two deserters, “You said the Tang Army launched a surprise attack on the rear guard of the 3rd Army from the flank and broke into the artillery positions. Where is this happening?”

The north, about 4 kilometers One deserter vaguely pointed in the direction he had fled, not giving a clear answer.

"I’m not sure. I’m just a loader. When someone told me to retreat, I just ran,” the other deserter answered honestly.

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