Chapter 248: The Battle of Unification

1984年9月1号深夜11点，全解阵北方战区的第3重装合成采用摩托化行军的方式到达了密铁拉外围。

A more detailed investigation began immediately after arrival.

Two night reconnaissance drones were launched from two military trucks accompanying the troops. Boosted by small rocket boosters, they flew quickly to the enemy positions ahead.

After taking off, the multi-functional camera starts working. In addition to the infrared camera function to identify the enemy’s location, it also has low-light camera function and radar mapping function.

These two functions can capture the shape of the enemy’s position and the conditions of some weapons and equipment.

At this time, on the outskirts of Meiktila city, two divisions of Burmese government army officers and soldiers had hurriedly built a relatively solid defense line under the command of the military district chief.

With the desperate efforts of more than 2 soldiers from two divisions, the trenches were dug for about 7000 meters. More trenches were dug near some key points to form a certain depth.

Of course, because the rainy season had just come to an end, the trenches were very muddy and the excavated soil was very soft. Even if the soil piled on the enemy side was slapped hard, it was still easily penetrated by bullets.

Although the soldiers could only stay in the muddy trenches, fortunately it was not raining in Meiktila at this time, so they did not have to get wet in the wild.

其中的炮兵部队在防线后方12公里左右的位置设立了3个阵地，有两个阵地各放置了6门122毫米重炮，另外一个阵地放置了8门苏联D-30榴弹炮，
These heavy artillery pieces were covered with branches and grass to provide some camouflage.

However, these camouflages had nowhere to hide from the detection of the fully-powered night reconnaissance drones, and were marked one by one on the generated electronic map.

In addition, their tank troops also left the camp and ambushed near several key traffic arteries.

The method they used was still the same one used during World War II, half-burying the tanks in the mud and covering them with branches and straw.

However, infrared cameras and radar mapping were able to locate all of these British-made Comet tanks.

Chinese-made Type 63 armored personnel carriers also drove out of the camp garage and ambushed at the edge of the woods about 3 kilometers behind the position. It seemed that they were planning to defeat Quanjie’s attack and then use these armored vehicles to carry soldiers for a counterattack.

Because at this time, the chief of the Meiktila Military Region still underestimated the military strength of the All-China Federation of Liberation Army, and believed that they were able to capture Mandalay and Yangon by relying on missile decapitation tactics and sneak attack tactics, and that they were no match for his two divisions in a head-on confrontation.

“Brigade Commander, we have scouted all the enemy positions. The total number of enemy troops is more than 26000. They have a total of 16 British-made Comet tanks and 63 Chinese-made Type 86 armored personnel carriers. There are 12 Chinese Type 54 122mm howitzers and 8 Soviet D-30 howitzers on the artillery positions.

The enemy’s headquarters was also found. They did not understand electromagnetic warfare, so the communication antennas at the headquarters were very dense, the electromagnetic signals were very strong, and there were no other camouflage signals.

Their locations are marked on the electronic map, and you can use the electronic assistant to check them in your mind. “The captain of the squad responsible for battlefield reconnaissance reported to the commander of the 3rd Heavy Armored Combined Brigade.

“Very good, the reconnaissance planes continue to monitor the enemy positions in the air. Once the battle begins, the maps and the enemy’s troop strength and weapon locations must be updated at any time.” The brigade commander ordered.

After allowing the aerial reconnaissance to continue, the brigade commander reviewed the map uploaded to the computer at the Myitkyina headquarters in his mind while working out a detailed battle plan with the brigade staff.

About 10 minutes later, the battle plan was completed. After checking it carefully, he uploaded it to the command center in Myitkyina via the satellite communication system.

Wang Jiankun took a nap for a few hours on a camp bed in the command center in Myitkyina. At that time, the troops in the north and south battlefields were mainly marching and capturing fleeing government troops, so he did not stare at the computer all the time.

At this time, the troops from the northern battlefield arrived at the Meiktila battlefield and had formulated a battle plan. He clicked on the plan to take a look.

The battle plan shows that in order to train the actual combat capabilities of each unit, the tactics adopted this time are soldier against soldier, general against general.

The government forces on the opposite side had artillery, tanks and armored vehicles.

The heavy combined brigade also has corresponding equipment.

Previously, when the 1st Combined Brigade attacked Mandalay, only the armed helicopters and transport helicopters in the air contributed some strength. The ground troops did not get to fight much, and the gun barrels that had been filled with oil were not opened.

This time, let these weapons fire on the battlefield to give the soldiers some practical experience.

Although these technical soldiers have been implanted with brain-computer chips and have downloaded combat experience packages collected from the Persian and African battlefields, these people’s muscles and trunk nerves have never experienced this, so it is hard to say what the actual combat effect will be.

After receiving the combat plan of the 3rd Combined Brigade, General Peng immediately read it using the brain wave control helmet, and then agreed to the combat plan of the rd Heavy Armored Combined Brigade without making any changes.

At 1984 a.m. on September 9, 2, the Meiktila battlefield in the north officially began.

The first to open fire was the 155mm heavy howitzer of the Quanjie formation.

The 3rd Heavy Combined Armored Brigade carried a total of 12 guns, divided into three heavy artillery companies.

The soldiers of the heavy artillery company do not need to do paper work. The electronic assistant equipped with the brain-computer chip in their heads can calculate the artillery parameters within 2 seconds based on the shared electronic map and the positioning coordinates given to them by the navigation satellites in the sky.

Although it is to train the soldiers, they are not asked to use the enemy’s methods, but the combat methods that Quanjiezhen has trained himself.

The three heavy artillery companies were each assigned to an enemy artillery position.

After agreeing on the firing time, the three heavy artillery companies each fired their first shot.

Boom~, boom~, boom~, the sounds of three consecutive artillery shells firing rang out in the night sky of northern Myanmar.

The shells disappeared into the night in an instant.

7 or 8 seconds later, in the distance, on the land shrouded in darkness, three balls of brilliant flames bloomed in the night. That was where the first calibration shell landed.

After three flashes of fire, a low explosion was heard. That was because the landing point was 3 kilometers away from the launch site.

Two seconds after the sound of the artillery shell explosion was heard, the other three guns of the three heavy artillery companies fine-tuned the shooting parameters and then opened fire one after another.

At this time, on the heavy artillery position of Quanjie Formation, the roar of 12 guns continued.

The entire artillery position was very clear under the illumination of the muzzle flame.

The moist water vapor on the ground was vaporized by the high temperature of the muzzle flame, and the combustion gas carried the water vapor, covering the position.

Each gun stopped immediately after firing six shells, and then quickly moved to the next preparatory position under the pull of artillerymen and trucks.

Although they believed that with their own precise artillery fire, the enemy would have no chance of counterattacking them.

But there can be no luck on the battlefield, everything must be carried out in accordance with artillery tactical requirements.

At this time, the artillery positions of the Meiktila Military District fell into purgatory as expected.

The first shell landed and hit near the center of their position, destroying a 1mm howitzer on the spot, and the artillery on standby nearby was also smashed to pieces by shrapnel.

Before they could react, a series of 155mm heavy artillery shells hit them.

These artillery units were originally expected to have great success.

After these 122mm heavy artillery were purchased, some artillery officers went to Kunming for training.

According to these trained artillery officers, they can achieve 9% of the combat power of China’s artillery, and have no rivals in South Asia.

In fact, if they had not encountered a fully-exploded array of artillery that used a variety of high-tech artillery, they would still have the ability to fight back.

At this time, most of the world’s conventional long-range beyond-visual-range artillery battles require reconnaissance at the front line, and the artillery in the rear calculates the trajectory and shooting parameters based on the observation data of the front-line artillery observers.

Artillery radar is still a very expensive equipment, and most small and medium-sized countries cannot afford it or even buy it.

Even at this time, China only exchanged other technologies for a few artillery radars.

Therefore, if the artillerymen of the Meiktila Military Region encounter ordinary artillerymen, they can indeed fight the enemy a few times with the artillery skills they learned during training.

But under the attack of the high-tech artillery of the Quanjie formation, they had no chance to fire back, because before they could recover from the first calibration shell of the Quanjie formation, shells fell on the position one after another.

At this time, those who reacted quickly among them had to run away after just issuing a few commands, trying to avoid the heavy artillery shells.

When the first wave of artillery attacks by the Quanjiezhen Front ended, the three artillery positions of the Meiktila Military District were destroyed, and only six heavy artillery pieces were left intact.

The artillery units that could continue fighting could not even gather six gun crews.

The surviving artillerymen were still very brave. They formed temporary teams and began to operate the intact artillery pieces.

But before they could figure out the artillery positions to fully solve the formation, the second wave of attacks came.

At this time they were very desperate because the opponent did not give them any chance to fire.

A few clever ones quickly left the artillery operating table and ran to a bomb crater not far away. They put their hands on their heads to protect their ears and half-crouched at the bottom of the bomb crater.

They had heard from their Chinese instructors that it was very unlikely that two shells would fall into a crater. But to survive a heavy artillery attack, they could not lie on the ground in the crater as if they were avoiding gunfire, because that would be courting death, because the vibrations from the heavy artillery explosion could be transmitted through the ground into the human body, causing internal injuries and shattering.

Facts also verified the words of the Chinese instructor. Except for one clever one who was very unlucky, a heavy artillery shell did not fall into the crater where he was hiding, but it was still too close to him, only more than 10 meters away. Therefore, he was still seriously injured and vomited blood. The others were all intact, but their ears were buzzing.

The few Burmese government artillerymen who had managed to survive no longer cared about battlefield discipline. After the artillery fire from the Quanjie formation stopped, they fled to the rear of their positions in a hurry.

“General, it’s bad. Our artillery position is gone and now they can’t be contacted.”

“I know. I could hear the booming sound from a long distance away. The enemy’s artillery could fire so accurately in this dark night. Did they conduct reconnaissance in advance?

Now quickly mobilize the tank troops and charge towards the enemy position, and the armored personnel carriers should follow the tanks.

Everyone, get moving. We can’t just stay where we are and wait for the enemy to target us with heavy artillery. They can detect our artillery positions, and maybe our armored positions as well.”

“Yes, General.”

So, under the command of the chief of the Meiktila Military Region, the tanks and armored vehicles of the Myanmar government army drove out from their cover and advanced according to the general direction.

Although their “Comet” tanks were left over from World War II, they were modified and equipped with infrared headlights, allowing them to barely move in the dark.

The Chinese-made Type 63 armored personnel carrier is not equipped with night vision equipment and can only rely on the infantry’s individual night vision goggles to observe the ground conditions.

However, their actions were detected by the Quanjiezhen’s night reconnaissance aircraft, and their routes and speeds were quickly updated on the electronic map.

The 3rd Heavy Brigade had planned for this situation.

36 of the 24 light tanks started immediately, ready to destroy the enemy’s armored personnel carriers.

And 12 of the 8 heavy tanks also quickly drove out of the queue to confront the government army’s 16 “Comet” tanks.

About 6 minutes later, the 3 heavy tanks of the 8rd Heavy Brigade moved to a position about 3 kilometers ahead of the Myanmar government army’s “Comet” tanks.

The commanders of the eight heavy tanks had agreed on the move that each tank would be responsible for two “Comets”, and if they were not destroyed after two shots, the comrade who completed the task fastest would be free to shoot.

Although it was not yet at the optimal firing range of the heavy tank’s 120mm smoothbore gun, the night vision display showed that the 16 “Comet” tanks on the opposite side were divided into four teams and were moving forward at a low speed of 4 kilometers per hour, and judging from the way they were moving, they had not yet discovered them.

In order to hone their skills, each tank decided to launch the first wave of attack against the enemy head-on, and then move to the side to launch the second attack.

Time passed by minute by minute, and at this time the 8 tanks in the full-scale formation had reduced their speed to 10 kilometers per hour.

Then at a certain moment, the eight tanks fired the first armor-piercing shell at the same time.

From the perspective of a government tank driver who was driving in the front, eight dazzling lights flashed in the originally dark night sky, and then the sound of an antique tank engine was heard, which was loud enough to cover its own sound.

Before he could make an evasive move, he flew into the sky along with the tank turret, and then fell heavily to the land outside Meiktila.

This British-made “Comet” tank could not defend itself against a hit from a fin-stabilized armor-piercing projectile that could penetrate 1500 mm of homogeneous armor at a distance of 650 meters.

The eight Comet tanks in the front row were all knocked down in the first wave of attacks. Three of them were hit by the ammunition inside the tanks, and their turrets were blown several meters away by the explosion of the internal ammunition.

The 8 cars at the back suddenly panicked. Some accelerated forward, while others spun in place and then chose an unknown direction and rushed towards that direction.

“Hurry, the enemy is trying to run away. One person per tank. After firing the second shot, those who missed the target should stay aside and watch the others perform.” The captain of the tank unit said on the intercom.

So the 8 tanks of the Quanjie formation quickly divided the enemies and then tried to close the distance.

Although their heavy tanks are equipped with laser rangefinders, two-way stabilization systems and target solving computers, during training they are able to hit moving targets at a distance of about 1500 meters at night.

However, in order to defeat the enemy with one shot and not leave the fruits of victory that should have belonged to their comrades, they all decided to shorten the shooting distance and increase their hit rate.

Boom, bang, boom!
A few seconds later, the Quanjie formation side opened fire one after another. In this second wave of attack, two “Comets” escaped.

One of them was hit at the arc of the turret and the armor-piercing shell was bounced off.

One of the tanks was hit in a non-fatal position at the rear, but it continued to move forward, emitting black smoke.

They could not see the enemy one kilometer away because the night vision goggles they prepared were relatively old products that could only see positions within 1 meters and could not see any further.

Although they escaped, they would face an attack from six other tanks.

Boom~, boom~, boom~…

A series of six armor-piercing shells flew towards the two surviving tanks.

Four out of six shells hit the target. The two Comet tanks were hit by two 6mm armor-piercing shells each and then lay motionless on the ground.

The tank crew members inside were pierced by the metal jet, thick smoke came out from the broken hole in the tank, and an explosion occurred a few seconds later. The fuel and gunpowder inside were ignited by the high temperature.

“Should we withdraw our troops and return to the camp or go watch our little brother hunting?” the captain of the heavy tank unit asked in the communication channel.

“Let’s take a look from the outside and see how skilled our little brother is.” The team members said they wanted to see how the light tanks hunted down the armored vehicles of the Myanmar government forces.

They all drove towards the rumbling battlefield, and then slowly stopped 3 kilometers away.

Each of them was observing the battlefield in the distance through brain-computer chips and the night vision equipment on board their vehicles.

It’s really similar to hunting.

The light tanks of the full-scale formation are equipped with 105mm smoothbore guns, which can easily destroy the Type 63 armored personnel carriers at a distance of about 2000 meters.

However, in night combat, the hit rate of shooting at a distance of 2000 meters is still a bit low, only about 70%.

So one after another light tanks drove to a position about 1000 meters on both sides of the enemy’s marching column and fired grenades at the armored vehicles in the middle.

It would be a waste to use armor-piercing bullets at this time. In fact, because the penetration effect of armor-piercing bullets is too good, it may even penetrate the armored vehicles but fail to damage them.

The armored vehicle troops, which had already been unsteadily arranged due to the sound of the tank guns in front, began to flee in all directions in a disorderly manner after being hit by a barrage of grenades.

Of the 86 armored personnel carriers, 38 were still able to move. They had been stunned, with artillery fire flashing on both sides, but their individual night vision goggles could not clearly see the enemy’s position.

However, in order to disrupt the fully-disarmed tank formation, these armored vehicles did not care about the possibility of accidentally injuring their teammates, and they all used the 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine guns on the roof to roughly aim at the location where the artillery fire had been seen before and fired.

Their desperate attempt to die was met with even more intense bombardment.

24 light tanks continuously fired grenades. As long as they hit the target, the Type 63 armored vehicle that was spewing fire would be destroyed.

Ding ding ding~, ding ding ding~, poof~
“Luckily, our night vision goggles were damaged by anti-aircraft machine gun bullets.” The lens of the night vision goggles of one of the heavy tanks that was watching the battle was hit by flying anti-aircraft machine gun bullets.

“Third brother, you have such bad luck. You just shot one away, and now your wife got hurt while watching a show. You should ask the electronic assistant to calculate your fortune.”

“Yeah, let’s do the math, and then set up a few tables to get rid of the bad luck.”

“Just follow me back later. I’ll drive slowly.”

“Let’s go back. There are only a few cars left. We drive slowly, so we should go back early.”

At this time, the light tank troops had destroyed most of the armored convoys of the Burmese government forces.

Ten minutes later, the entire 10rd Heavy Combined Brigade attacked, with heavy artillery bombarding the enemy’s positions. Light and heavy tanks followed behind the shells, crushing any enemy who dared to resist.

The armed helicopters in the air blew up the enemy headquarters and several strong fortresses that had been marked long ago.

At this point, all the field troops of the Meiktila Military Region were taken away in one wave. Of course, the Quanjie formation was not bloodthirsty. All those who surrendered, regardless of how serious their injuries were, were accepted and given some treatment.

Because these are excellent labor forces, post-war Myanmar is about to carry out large-scale infrastructure construction, and these people can be invested in Myanmar’s construction at extremely low cost.

The battle of Meiktila ended in just one hour. The northern gate of Naypyidaw was opened, and the Quanjie formation could march straight in.

At this time, good news came from the Toungoo battlefield. All the enemy’s heavy weapons units were destroyed, and only a few enemies took advantage of the night and heavy rain to escape the attack of the Quanjie formation.

At this point, Naypyidaw had no strategic location to defend and no troops to rescue it, so it was just waiting for the Quanjie army to arrive.

(End of this chapter)