Sword of Light: Humanoid Self-Propelled Artillery

Chapter 305 Tanks Break Through Minefield

Despite expressing confusion about Smith's question, the staff officer consulted the warehouse manager before speaking:
"There aren't many anti-tank mines, only about two hundred!"

Upon hearing that there were two hundred anti-tank mines, Smith clapped his hands and exclaimed:
"Two hundred mines is great! In that case, we don't need to clear the mines. We can just drive our tanks over them!"

The advisor was naturally shocked by Chief Smith's idea:
"If you drive a tank over it, what will happen to the tank?"

Smith waved his hand and said:
"We still have about a hundred tanks left. If you include the other Lion tanks, there are definitely more than two hundred tanks. Besides, don't you know about our own anti-tank mines? A charge of just over two kilograms will only break the tank tracks and at most stun the crew inside. It won't damage the tank at all. At most, it will just damage the tracks, but it can still be repaired and used!"

Indeed, compared to anti-tank mines produced by other countries, the M1A1 anti-tank mine made by the United States is more like children playing house.

Putting aside other factors, the explosive charge of the Suguo anti-tank mine is 3.6 kilograms, while the explosive charge of the Deguo disc-shaped anti-tank mine exceeds 5 kilograms.

This is precisely why the US anti-tank mines have proven somewhat ineffective.

Two kilograms of explosives can easily sever a tank's tracks, but destroying the entire tank would be a different story.

Although the staff officer wanted to object to something, Smith was, after all, the Lion Commander, and most of Smith's decisions were correct, such as not increasing the marching speed despite the pressure from the Tenth Corps Commander and instead taking a steady and methodical approach.

That's why the reinforcements from Chaozhou didn't completely succeed in their night raid, and most of the troops managed to retreat safely.

For example, Smith's insistence on building Hagaru-ri Airport, despite its destruction, demonstrated his advanced strategic vision and combat intuition.

Therefore, Smith's method of using tanks to clear a path to create a minefield still received support.

With the tanks clearing the way, the mine traps made of pineapple grenades seemed so powerless. Although some were detonated by the tank tracks, these explosions had absolutely no effect.

Shrapnel from a grenade, which can be fatal to infantry, will only cause minor scratches when it hits the armor of a tank.

Even the weakest point of the tank's armor, the armor at the bottom of the tank, cannot be penetrated.

After all, even the armor on the bottom of a tank is still more than two centimeters thick.

In particular, the bottom armor of this Pershing tank, which is moving forward, is 2.5 centimeters thick.

However, the tank's arrogance didn't last long. With a loud explosion, the once-arrogant tank came to a standstill.

It's obvious that an anti-tank mine has been triggered. Although American anti-tank mines can't destroy American tanks, they can easily sever tank tracks.

Smith had clearly anticipated the breakdown of the tank, so he simply waved his hand, and the second tank that was ready immediately stepped forward and pushed the destroyed tank to the side of the road.

Of course, the tank that was pushed to the side of the road was not scrapped. Instead, the crew members, who were dazed and confused from the explosion, got out of the tank to carry out repairs.

Of course, replacing tank tracks is not an easy task, and removing tracks that have been blown off and deformed is not an easy task either.

It could take anywhere from one or two hours to most of the day, but unfortunately the US military had more than just one tank; it had two or three hundred.

Therefore, even if the tracks are damaged, they can be repaired slowly and there is no rush, since there are other tanks to take over and clear the way.

So after Smith adopted this method, the pace of the advance immediately increased significantly. At this rate, they should reach the Watergate Bridge by this afternoon at the latest.

The US military only lost some tank tracks, and didn't even lose any tanks.

Such a sight naturally made Wang Gensheng and others, who were observing from a distant mountain peak, grit their teeth. They never expected that the US army would be so arrogant as to use tanks to clear the way.

Wu Qianli, somewhat impatient, replied:

"Wang Siling, why don't we take advantage of the fact that the US troops haven't reached the Watergate Bridge yet and blow it up now!"

Otherwise, we won't have a chance to bomb it once the US troops arrive at Watergate Bridge!

However, Wang Gensheng responded to Wu Qianli's words with a displeased tone:

"What's the panic? If we bomb during the day, won't that just give enemy planes an opportunity to bomb us? Besides, we still have artillery shells and landmines! The US tanks haven't even encountered any artillery shells or landmines yet!"

That's right. In addition to the two hundred anti-tank mines, Wang Gensheng also brought fifty 155mm artillery shells weighing forty kilograms each.

Then, forty of the shells were turned into artillery shell mines and buried in the road every hundred meters.

The reason it's called a "shell head" is because the 155mm howitzer is different from smaller caliber howitzers. Due to its large caliber, the shell head alone can weigh up to 40 kilograms.

Therefore, if the propellant at the tail and the shell that encloses the propellant are included, the weight of a complete shell can reach 60 to 70 kilograms.

Such weight was obviously not easy for soldiers to carry and load, so it was changed to a split shell, that is, the shell head is one part and the propellant is another part, and the two are loaded separately.

Wang Gensheng did this because he was afraid that Smith would use a brute-force approach with tanks to break through his minefield.

As expected, Smith relied on his superior tank numbers and adopted a tank-centric, head-on approach.

Furthermore, while these anti-tank mines can hinder the advance of tanks, they cannot cause fatal damage.

That's how Wang Gensheng got his hands on artillery shells and landmines. After all, compared to the 2.7 kg explosive charge of an anti-tank mine, the explosive charge of a 155 mm howitzer was 10 kg, more than three times that of an anti-tank mine.

"Chief Lion, your idea is really good. You can break through the minefield set up by the reinforcements of Chaozhou with just some tank tracks."

Faced with the staff officer's praise, Smith calmly nodded and said:

"So fighting a war isn't just about marksmanship and physical strength; your brain is also very important. We're no longer in the era of cold weapons; in the era of firearms, your brain is more important than your marksmanship! By the way, how's the repair of those five tanks whose tracks were blown off?"

Upon hearing Smith's words, the staff officer immediately replied:
"We've already repaired one tank, but a complete repair of the tracks isn't feasible because the tracks of the bombed tanks are deformed in many places. If we use a patching method, we can probably repair the tracks of three tanks!"

"Alright, repair as many tanks as you can. As for the ones without tracks, we'll just have to wait for them to be airdropped! Of course, we also need to be wary of a sudden counterattack from the reinforcements, after all..."

Just as Smith was answering his advisor's question, an even louder explosion interrupted him.

(End of this chapter)