The expeditionary force began to dominate Southeast Asia by recruiting defeated soldiers

Platoon Leader Fan slapped his thigh and finally remembered his mission.

So he quickly adjusted the pace and ordered the artillery fire to slow down.

The slow bombardment of one round per minute gave Major Jiang Yuan, who wanted to abandon the high ground and escape, a chance to catch his breath.

He gained valuable time to adjust his deployment and launch a counterattack.

"With such a tall and wide hull, coupled with a 105mm howitzer, this tank must have some weaknesses in defense."

Major Jiang Yuan, hiding in the trench, used a periscope (similar to the gun scope used by Chu Yunfei, see picture) to carefully observe the four tanks on the opposite side.

The M4 Sherman tank, which is 3 meters high and 3 meters wide, does appear unusually tall on the battlefield.

Because of this, in tank confrontations, it is often discovered by the enemy first due to its huge size, and becomes a "live target" that is easy to hit, which makes it criticized by the armored troops of the White Eagle Country.

But for the hard-working infantry, which soldier would not want to have a tall and mighty tank accompanying him when attacking or defending?

Since several tanks of the Fuso Army at that time only had engines of about 100 horsepower, Major Jiang Yuan used his common sense to judge that the armor of the opposing tank would definitely not be too thick, otherwise the engine's horsepower would not be able to drive it.

You should know that Fuso's own developed Type 1 experimental artillery vehicle (pictured) with the same positioning and equipped with a short 75mm howitzer could not even be completely closed in order to ensure maneuverability, and it was still open-top.

The 105mm heavy artillery tank on the opposite side has a heavier gun and a fully covered turret, so the armor must be compromised to reduce weight, right?

Maybe it just looks scary, but the armor might actually be very thin?

Based on this judgment, he quickly gave orders and two Type 97 modified medium-sized combat tanks drove to the top of Hill 33.

另外2门37mm战防炮也被布置在了高地阵地侧翼，准备一起集火打击范排长的4辆M4坦克。（鬼子大队的2门九二步兵炮就是个平射迫击炮，一般不会用这个反装甲）

凭借着高达-15度的优异俯角，居高临下的2辆九七改中战车轻易将炮口指向了1.5km外的M4A3（105）。

On Platoon Leader Fan's side, he also saw two rectangular black silhouettes suddenly appearing on the top of the hill from the commander's mirror. He immediately determined that they were two Japanese tanks.

"Attention everyone, at 11 o'clock, 1500 meters away, there are two enemy tanks, preliminarily identified as Type 2 tanks." He immediately issued a warning on the radio.

Over the radio, another tank commander quickly responded: "Roger that. Loading anti-tank armor-piercing rounds?"

Platoon Leader Fan, remembering his experience at Kunlun Pass, decisively replied, "Negative! Continue loading high-explosive shells and prepare to fire!"

The reason why he chose not to use the M67 armor-piercing round is clear.

The initial launch velocity of the armor-piercing projectile is only 381m/s, and it takes at least 5 seconds of flight time to shoot at a target 1500 meters away.

Anyone who has studied basic physics knows that during this period, the shells will fall more than 100 meters due to the gravity of the Blue Water Planet, posing a huge challenge to long-range precision aiming.

In addition, armor-piercing shells are chemical energy anti-armor shells developed based on the Monroe effect. Their metal jets can only effectively penetrate the armor when they hit a certain point on the armor.

If the bullet's impact point deviates from the target tank by even a small amount, it will suffer almost no damage.

In comparison, Platoon Leader Fan knew better that the Japanese Type 97 tank used riveted armor, which was far less strong than welded armor.

High-explosive bombs are not only highly lethal, but their rectangular shock wave killing range means that even if the impact point is a certain distance away from the Japanese tank, the high pressure of the shock wave will still cause the rivets on the Japanese armor to collapse.

Once those flying rivets fly around inside the tank, they will become a deadly killer.

For the 105mm howitzer, which can only provide covering fire, this is the best way to threaten the Japanese tanks.

----

Soon, tanks on both sides roared and fired shells.

The long-distance shooting of 1500 meters is a test for tank soldiers on both sides.

（汉斯的虎式靠着精准的88炮、蔡司光学瞄准镜、经验丰富的成员组才能在1500米距离上首发命中T-34。1500这距离对于二战一般的装甲兵来说，试射个10轮都算少的）

The first round of shooting by both sides was very off target and did not achieve any results.

"Hold steady, hold steady, all vehicles retreat slowly, don't be impulsive." Platoon Leader Fan calmly commanded the entire platoon on the radio.

He was very afraid that some young tank crews would take advantage of the heavy armor of their tanks and charge directly towards the Japanese high ground.

If the Japanese ambushed an anti-tank gun on the flank, the Sherman's sides with only 38mm armor would not be able to withstand the close-range attack of small-caliber armor-piercing shells.

The Japanese on the opposite side had the same idea and remained restrained, only making small maneuvers on the high ground, with no intention of rushing down the high ground.

In this way, the tanks of both sides started firing at each other at a distance of 1500.

Since the trajectory of the 47mm Type 1 tank gun on the Type 97 medium tank is straight, the initial velocity of the armor-piercing grenade fired is as high as 808m/s, and the drop is very small.

The advantage of the 47mm shell being lightweight makes the Type 97 modified's rate of fire three times that of the M4A3 (105).

Therefore, after several rounds of exchange of fire, the Japanese artillery shells were the first to hit the target. A 47mm armor-piercing grenade whizzed in and directly hit the car where Platoon Leader Fan was sitting.

The 47mm shell warhead only left a shallow dent in the Sherman's thick frontal armor and could not advance any further.

Then the armor-piercing grenade with a shattered warhead triggered the explosives inside it. 14 grams of RDX exploded outside the front armor, scratching the camouflage paint that Platoon Leader Fan had carefully applied himself.

"Hit it!" The Japanese tank commander shouted excitedly, believing that he would definitely inflict heavy damage on the enemy.

However, when the smoke gradually dissipated, the Japanese saw that the M4A3 tank was still standing and reappeared in their sight unscathed.

"Nani? How is this possible?"

Looking at the enemy tank with flames still flashing from its muzzle, the Japanese tank commander was stunned for a moment.

"The armor-piercing round's fuse must have failed to trigger properly. Keep firing!"

The unconvinced commander continued to command the crew to fire.

However, this time the goddess of luck did not continue to favor him.

Just as they were about to open fire again, a 105mm high-explosive shell landed one meter in front of the left side of his vehicle. The high pressure caused by the shock wave directly broke the rivets on the turret and hull armor.

The high-speed flying rivet fragments turned into deadly weapons, turning all the Japanese crew members in the car into bloody gourds.

Even though the Type 97 modified tank looked intact from the outside, its motionless and unresponsive appearance gave the Japanese soldiers on the position a bad feeling.