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"Attention all battalions! Control the combat distance between 500 meters and 800 meters! Destroy the enemy tanks first, and then deal with the armored vehicles!" the brigade commander of the 20th Armored Brigade of the Chinese Army ordered! The tanks equipped by the Italian Army are basically the Panzer III tanks eliminated by the German Army and the T5 'Cheetah' medium tank originally sold to Germany by the Chinese Army. Its 57mm tank gun has a range of more than 500 meters. For the 'Panther' tank The 80 mm thick armor poses no threat! The armor used in the 'Leopard' tank is the latest armor developed by Chinese steel companies. It is an alloy synthesized by adding other elements, and its defensive power is quite strong! As long as they don't get within 100 meters, if the Italian Army's tanks want to penetrate the frontal armor of the Panther tank, it will be a manifestation of God!
However, when the 20th Armored Brigade of the Chinese Army was preparing to have a big meal, there were still people who were faster than them! The Q5 "Night Owl" attack aircraft hovering in the sky also discovered the armored troops of the Italian Army. They will not give up these Italian armored units to the Army's 20th Armored Brigade! Under the order of the squadron leader, 12 Q5 "Night Owl" attack aircraft circled down and launched an attack on the Italian Army armored forces!
"Boom! Boom!" Bombs were dropped one after another from under the belly of the aircraft. Although the 100 kilogram aerial bombs mounted on the attack aircraft were not as powerful as heavy aerial bombs, there was no problem in dealing with these tanks and armored vehicles. It's just that when bombs are dropped from the air, the accuracy cannot be guaranteed! However, as long as the bomb explodes within five meters of the target, it can basically destroy the Italian Army tanks! The shock wave produced by the explosion. Enough to overturn a tank weighing twenty tons. Those armored vehicles with weaker armor have only a dead end!
Under the attack of 12 Q5 "Night Owl" attack aircraft, the Italian Army's 2nd Armored Division once again lost dozens of tanks before engaging in a firefight with the Chinese Army's 20th Armored Brigade! The 37mm cannon of the Q5 Night Owl attack aircraft is not enough to penetrate the frontal armor of Italian tanks. But firing from above the tank can easily penetrate the weak armor above the massage department! One Italian tank after another was named. Start a fire and burn! The Italian tank soldiers, covered in fire, crawled out of the tank and rolled on the ground, hoping to extinguish the fire on their bodies. However, this is basically in vain, and in the end they are all burned to coke!
"Damn it! Those guys from the Army Aviation Corps, this is simply taking food from the tiger's mouth!" The tank crews of the 20th Armored Brigade. Seeing the Q5 "Night Owl" attack aircraft of the Army Aviation Corps continuously destroying the tanks and armored vehicles of the Italian Army, they all started shouting and cursing. They had already regarded the 2nd Armored Division of the Italian Army as the meat in the bowl, but the Army Aviation Corps stepped in!
Fortunately, the Q5 "Night Owl" attack aircraft does not carry many bombs and artillery shells, and it also used a lot when dealing with the Italian Army before. This caused them to ravage the Italian Army's 2nd Armored Division for a while before having to return to the airport because their ammunition was exhausted. The remaining tanks and armored vehicles of the Italian Army's 2nd Armored Division also did not get a good deal. The 20th Armored Brigade of the Chinese Army has arrived!
"1 o'clock direction. A T5 'Cheetah' tank! Fire!" A Chinese Army's 'Leopard' tank suddenly stopped, and a few seconds later, the tank gun opened fire! A 75mm armor-piercing projectile flew towards a T5 'Cheetah' medium tank 500 meters away at high speed. In the blink of an eye, the T5 'Cheetah' medium tank was hit. A large hole the size of a fist was penetrated in the frontal armor. The armor-piercing projectile exploded inside the tank, killing several tank soldiers inside. The entire tank burst into flames! Although. The destroyed T5 ¡®Cheetah¡¯ tank was also originally produced in China. However, the soldiers of the 20th Armored Brigade of the Chinese Army did not show any concern for these tanks!
The entire battlefield is almost one-sided! The tanks of the 20th Armored Brigade of the Chinese Army fired frequently at a distance of 500 meters to 800 meters! The tanks and armored vehicles of the 2nd Armored Division of the Italian Army were unable to fight back. One after another they were hit and burst into flames. In the end it became a pile of scrap metal!
Lieutenant General Rodolfo Graziani, commander of the 2nd Armored Division of the Italian Army, was stunned! Being able to become the division commander of one of the only two armored divisions in the Italian Army, he is considered extremely capable in the Italian Army. Lieutenant General Rodolfo Graziani knew very well the combat power of the 2nd Armored Division! In his opinion, the 2nd Armored Division was trained by German instructors. Among the Italian Army, it is definitely the leading force, even in the whole of Europe and even the world, it can be regarded as a powerful force. But now, on the battlefield, the Chinese Army's armored forces completely suppressed the Italian Army's 2nd Armored Division. To be more precise, this was a complete massacre! The tanks of the Chinese Army are constantly hunting the tanks and armored vehicles of the Italian Army, while the tanks of the Italian Army are difficult to hit.Even if they hit the target, the power of their tank guns seems to be too small and cannot cause fatal damage to Chinese tanks!
In just twenty minutes of tank battle, more than two hundred tanks of the 2nd Armored Division of the Italian Army were almost lost! Dozens of them were destroyed by the Chinese Army Aviation, and most of the remaining tanks were destroyed by the Chinese Army's 20th Armored Brigade. In this battle, the 2nd Armored Division of the Italian Army lost all its money! In panic, Lieutenant General Rodolfo Graziani issued an order to retreat. The remaining dozens of Italian Army tanks and armored vehicles turned around in confusion, trying to escape from the battlefield. However, their move exposed the tank's weak rear and sides to the Chinese armored forces. Faced with such a good opportunity, the Chinese Army's 20th Armored Brigade naturally would not let it go and opened fire on the tanks and armored vehicles of the Italian Army's 2nd Armored Division!
In this tank battle, the 20th Armored Brigade of the Chinese Army achieved brilliant results and achieved a great victory! Only a few of our own tanks were damaged, and the losses were basically due to malfunctions or track destruction. However, almost all the tanks and armored vehicles of the Italian Army's 2nd Armored Division were lost!
After the 20th Armored Brigade of the Chinese Army annihilated the 2nd Armored Division of the Italian Army, it continued to attack northward! The 124th Mechanized Infantry Division of the Chinese Army also caught up and cooperated with the Armored Brigade to launch an attack on the depth of the Italian Army!
Italian Army Commander Enrico Caviglia saw that the situation was not right and quickly issued an order to retreat. Hundreds of thousands of Italian troops immediately abandoned their positions and retreated toward Rome! However, at this time, the Chinese Army's 125th Motorized Infantry Division and 126th Motorized Infantry Division, which were executing a roundabout attack, rushed out from both wings, cutting off the Italian Army's retreat path and surrounding more than 100,000 Italian Army troops. To the south, the 20th Armored Brigade and the 124th Mechanized Infantry Division of the Chinese Army are also launching a fierce attack. The Italian Army is in danger of being completely annihilated!
A group of H9C 'Cang Hu' dive bombers and a squadron of F11B 'Vulture' fighter jets taking off from two aircraft carriers of the Chinese Navy's 32nd Task Force also rushed to the battlefield and bombed and strafed the Italian Army. This made the situation even more disturbing. The morale of the Italian Army suffered a heavy blow! A large number of Italian army officers and soldiers fled before the encirclement of the Chinese army was formed! However, the main force of the Italian Army could not escape and was surrounded by the main force of the Chinese Army's 20th Group Army that was gradually closing in.
By evening, there were more than 80,000 Italian Army soldiers surrounded. Although the Chinese army surrounding the Italian Army only has three divisions and one armored brigade, its strength is not as large as that of the Italian Army. But under the fierce attack of the Chinese army, the Italian army was simply unable to resist!
That night, General Enrico Caviglia ordered a breakout, hoping to break out and escape at night. However, several attacks were blocked. This caused the besieged Italian Army to gradually lose confidence!
The next day, that is, on the morning of January 11, the Italian army, which had lost confidence, surrendered to the Chinese army! General Enrico Caviglia surrendered to the Chinese army on behalf of the besieged Italian army and handed over his guns!
From the beginning to the end of the battle, in just half a day, a main force of the Italian Army was annihilated. The number of Italian troops who escaped was less than 20,000, which shows the weakness of the Italian Army and the strength of the Chinese Army!
After the Chinese Army's 20th Group Army won this battle, it continued to march towards Rome. The landing site in Naples will be guarded by the 8th Marine Division! With the assistance of the Chinese Navy and Air Force, the 8th Marine Division has enough strength to protect Naples!
The 20th Group Army of the Chinese Army marched towards Rome, which shocked the Italian government. King Vittorio Emanuele III of Italy even fled to Germany, leaving Prime Minister Benito Mussolini in Rome to preside over state affairs!
Germany also had to speed up its deployment. On the one hand, it stepped up its efforts to send troops into northern Italy to build a defense line. On the other hand, the troops entering the Austro-Hungarian Empire were ordered to increase their offensive intensity and capture the entire Austro-Hungarian Empire before the Chinese army landed in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, lest China use the Austro-Hungarian Empire as a bridgehead and pose a threat to the German mainland!
The German Army stepped up its offensive, which put the Kingdom of Austria¡¯s Army under tremendous pressure! Originally, under the attack of the German Army, the army of the Kingdom of Austria was struggling to hold on. As a last resort, Archduke Karl, the Crown Prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, had no choice but to ask for help from China again!