Chapter Seven

  Wang Mingyu's tank division, to a certain extent, can also be considered as new recruits, although they are all veteran soldiers who have experienced many battles. However, these veterans were infantrymen, and once they were asked to operate tanks against the Japanese, it was clear that from both experience and other perspectives, there was no guarantee of victory over the Japanese.

  Wang Mingyu supported twenty tanks to let Sun Liren escape, put it nicely that is called retreat. However, Wang Mingyu also knew that the next thing would be to test them. The Japanese 55th Division and 56th Division wanted to occupy Rangoon, while Wang Mingyu's tank troops had already begun to march towards this side.

  Originally thought to be overwhelmingly advantageous, Takeuchi Hiroshi now feels dizzy and disoriented. How can the enemy possibly have so many tanks? This is clearly unreasonable! Why do I say that? Because these tanks seem to have appeared out of thin air.

  In fact, all of these were exchanged by Wang Mingyu with a large amount of US dollars and penicillin for so many weapons. It's just that sometimes Wang Mingyu is not quite used to tank warfare yet. Once Wang Mingyu gets used to tank warfare, their pressure will be much greater, and they will often face the outcome of collapse.

  What is the advantage of Japan over China? Isn't it just planes and tanks, now they think they can slowly retreat to their own country with an overwhelming advantage over Wang Mingyu's troops. But looking at it now, it's not like that at all. Their tanks are better than ours, not to mention more numerous.

  When the Japanese army took out 400 tanks, they were full of morale and confidence, wanting to compete with Wang Mingyu's troops. But now? Their legs are a bit soft. They really can't face so many German tanks, these Germans seem to have an endless supply of steel at home! They actually built such thick tanks, it's simply heaven-killing!

  Matsuyama Yosuke said to Takeuchi Hiroshi, "Takeuchi-san, what should we do now? I didn't expect the 318th Army to have such strength. We've always underestimated them!"

  Takeuchi Hiroshi shook his head helplessly and said, "The Empire wants us to attack, but in this situation, who are we supposed to be attacking? It's clearly the other way around! This is really frustrating. I originally thought the Empire was being generous by giving us so many tanks, but it turns out they just wanted to make it easier for them to beat us!"

  Matsuyama Yosuke said, "I won't even mention the performance of this tank. Just look at the thickness of their steel plates and you'll know. These must be one of Germany's best tanks. The thickness of these steel plates is just too thick! I really don't know what to say, but the Imperial Army Ministry has already given us a death order. If we can't take down Yokohama, then we're free to disembowel ourselves!"

  Takeuchi Hiroshi was depressed, what's going on here? This group of people who only know how to talk, let them come and try fighting? Takeuchi Hiroshi knew that his greatest advantage, the tank, was now gone. So how could they fight now? However, Takeuchi Hiroshi still had another idea, which was that the training course for tank crew members wasn't something that could be done in a day or two. In the past, the 318th Army definitely didn't have tanks, so where did these tank crew members come from? They couldn't have been trained locally, could they?

  "Takeuchi Kōdō said: 'Matsuyama-kun, our tank's performance is definitely not as good as Germany's, but we have another advantage, if we can make use of it...'"

  Matsuyama Yuzo suddenly came to his senses and said, "What advantage do we still have now? What is the advantage? Please enlighten me, Mr. Takeuchi! If there really is an advantage, it would be a shame if we don't take advantage of it. Our current advantage isn't very clear!"

  "Ha ha, our advantage lies in the fact that our tank operators are much more experienced. You know, they've been on many missions before, and they're extremely seasoned. On the other hand, take a look at the opposing team's tank operators - although they seem to have a good grasp of things, can't you sense their awkwardness? That's where our opportunity lies. As you also know, there's a huge difference between a high-level tank operator and a low-level one."

  Matsuyama Yosuke naturally understood the pros and cons of this, and Takeuchi Hiroshi also seemed to have hit his soft spot. Matsuyama Yosuke said: "Takeuchi-san is indeed a meticulous observer! If it weren't for your words, I wouldn't have thought of such an aspect. However, Takeuchi-san is indeed a master of tank warfare, these are things that I couldn't see through, this is really quite elusive, haha!"

  "Takeuchi Hiroshi smiled and said: "How about it? Since that's the case, I think we might as well take this opportunity...", Takeuchi Hiroshi meant that with hundreds of tanks gathered together, it would be impossible to fight properly. In the end, only the ones in front could engage in a fierce battle, while those in the back might not even get a chance to fire, and might end up hitting their own tanks."

  So, when it comes to tank battles, it seems that hundreds of tanks can be mixed together, but in the actual combat process, this only exists in theory. In reality, it is impossible. Wang Mingyu naturally knows this point, but what is the purpose of arranging these tanks in a row? It's just to let these people know that they also have so many tanks. This is also to allow other troops to smoothly escape a part of them, and not to take out a tank for no reason.

  Takeuchi Hiroshi sent an electric signal to the opposite Wang Mingyu, with a simple purpose: they wanted to have a tank-to-tank showdown with Wang Mingyu's army. Three rounds, two wins! You can change personnel as you like, but each time only ten tanks will be deployed, and whoever destroys all ten tanks first will be the winner.

  Their bet was Yangon. This bet is a bit unfair, as there were many times to regret during the war, so Wang Mingyu didn't quite believe what the Japanese said either. However, although Wang Mingyu didn't believe what the Japanese said, in his impression, the Japanese seemed to have never failed to keep their promises.

  "Headquarters, these little devils don't speak accurately, can we still trust them? Anyway, I don't believe it." Wu Peilin said somewhat gloomily beside Wang Mingyu.

  "What's the difference between believing and not believing? Yangon has become a must-win for our army, whether or not the Japanese give it to us. And this time, the initiative is in our hands, what are you afraid of?" Wang Mingyu said irritably.

  "We're just suffering losses like this, if it doesn't work out we'll resort to force and see who can outdo whom in the end. What's going on now? Are they still competing with us? These people really think this is child's play." said Wu Peilin.

  Wang Mingyu said, "It doesn't matter if we participate in this competition or not. To be honest, our side has no experience, and the Japanese are taking advantage of that. But they have also given us an opportunity to constantly hone and practice, do you think there's anything better than that?"

  Wang Mingyu continued: "When speaking with the Japanese, do you think it's necessary to keep credit? Since we don't keep credit and they don't either, what's the point of this bet? The most important thing is that there won't be a large-scale conflict between the two armies for the time being. Moreover, although our tank operators are a bit younger in experience, you should know that our tanks are much better than those thin-skinned Japanese ones, haha!"

  "Wu Peilin said: 'General, so your meaning is that we want to play three games with Little Japan? Ah, this little Japan really has the guts!'"

  "Don't underestimate these Japanese tanks, although they are thin-skinned, but being thin-skinned has its advantages, that is, they can move fast and dodge easily. So we also need to grasp the rhythm well, but their shells falling into our hands are just junk, so we don't have to worry about how great our losses will be. Let them see the real power of German tanks, otherwise these little Japanese will always be frogs at the bottom of a well."

  What Wang Mingyu said is just nonsense, in fact the Japanese had already seen the gap between themselves and the Germans in terms of tanks, they just couldn't do anything about it. Moreover, at that time China didn't have any tank manufacturing industry, so they could be arrogant where there were no tanks, after all tanks can't be destroyed by human power.

  Of course, the weakest part of a tank is its tracks. No matter how strong the tank is, it can't overcome these tracks. They're not fixed, but moving, and need to be supported by wheels or something similar. So they are very easy to suffer devastating damage.

  As for the requirements put forward by the Japanese army, Wang Mingyu also did not know whether to agree to them or not. However, from the current situation, agreeing to them and not agreeing to them would make no difference either way.

  The tank itself is a master of melee, it's the king of land warfare with point-to-point impact. Wang Mingyu's eyes were filled with a smile, this smile looked rather sinister.

  "Send a telegram back to those little Japanese, since they want to play we'll accompany them to the end. And don't mention that nonsense about the stakes being Yangon anymore. Yangon is now in our hands, their stake is our thing, do you think it's interesting? Unless they bring out corresponding stakes, otherwise the matter of stakes is off the table."