Chapter 139: T28
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But these advantages cannot make up for the lack of defense of the Soviet T26 tank... 15MM thick armor, this is a layer of thin steel plate, a 12.7MM anti-aircraft machine gun can penetrate it at a distance of 100 meters, let alone anti-tank Cannon.
Therefore, the 25MM caliber anti-tank gun equipped by the Romanian army shows its advantages: light and flexible.
The anti-tank gun used by the Romanian army is an APX25MM anti-tank gun imported from France. It looks a bit like the SG43 Goryunov heavy machine gun of the Soviet army...a barrel is not thick, and a Small anti-shield, two small wheels for maneuvering under the anti-shield, with a total weight of 500 kg, can be pushed and maneuvered by manpower or even disassembled and deployed in a certain high ground or bunker.
Its weakness is its lack of armor-piercing ability. As Major Gavrilov said, it is difficult to deal with T26 at a distance of 300 meters.
The problem is that it is very difficult for the T26 to find the target at a distance of 300 meters in the rain, especially the 25MM anti-tank gun of Luo Jun is only slightly larger than the heavy machine gun, and even if it is camouflaged, it can be found at a distance of 200 meters or 100 meters. Neither is easy.
Therefore, the weakness of the 25MM anti-tank gun is no longer a weakness, but none of its advantages are lost.
Just like now, the T26s that drove forward were destroyed by the anti-tank guns of the Roman army and paralyzed on the battlefield. Some smoked, some were penetrated and the engine caught fire, and some even exploded Shells were blown to pieces.
The attacking Soviet army did not compromise easily. They seemed to want to use tank sea tactics to open a gap in the enemy\'s defense line...so tanks and infantry rushed forward one after another while suppressing the defense line of the Roman army with artillery.
The sounds of gunfire, artillery, and shouts of killing soon filled the entire battlefield.
Occasionally, a few tanks broke into the enemy\'s line of defense, but they all disappeared into the sea like mud cows, never to return.
Another advantage of Luo Jun\'s 25MM anti-tank gun is its fast rate of fire, 15 rounds per minute, which gives Luo Jun enough time to knock down one tank and then turn to another.
The battle lasted for more than half an hour, and the Soviet army reluctantly withdrew until the follow-up troops were separated by enemy artillery and the attack was interrupted. What remained on the ground were piles of corpses and wreckage of tanks.
"We should have tanks with thicker armor!" This was Shulka\'s first reaction.
This is normal, a large part of the competition between tanks and tank guns is the issue of armor thickness.
"We do have such tanks!" Major Gavrilov replied: "But they are still on their way!"
"On the way?"
"Yes!" Major Gavrilov replied: "T28 medium tank!"
Shuerka couldn\'t help but "oh" when he heard that.
I also have a little understanding of this tank Shulka, which is a tank widely used by the Soviet army on the Soviet-Finnish battlefield.
Its firepower is very strong, 76.2MM gun plus three DT machine guns: one coaxial machine gun, and the other two are located in two rotatable independent small turrets in front of the turret.
This unique three-turret structure requires six people to operate, and some even have five wonderful machine guns after modification (including anti-aircraft machine guns used for anti-aircraft outside the tank).
The number of machine guns and the amount of ammunition prepared can be described as "crazy".
Its armor thickness can barely meet the requirements, 30MM, and now it should have added additional armor to the front to reach 60 to 80MM.
This is enough to resist the 25MM anti-tank guns of the Romanian army.
(Note: The French APX25MM anti-tank gun has a 200-meter distance to vertical armor penetration capability of 30MM)
The problem is that this guy is too slow, with a top speed of only 19 kilometers per hour off-road.
This is still the second. After all, 500 kilometers from Kyiv to Odessa is not too far away, and it can be reached in a few days. The bigger problem is the high failure rate.
What is even more tragic is that this tank performed poorly in previous battles. At this time, the Soviet Union had decided to decommission it, so parts were not produced, and parts needed to be replaced in case of failure... Engineers often handed out a grenade.
As it is now, the T28 tanks incorporated into the 9th Army have two tank battalions with a total of 73 tanks, and only 31 tanks can be driven to Odessa. Take this thing to the battlefield, because it usually won\'t reach the enemy\'s defense line, unless you can take the engineer with you on the road.
At this time, after answering the phone, a staff officer reported to Major Gavrilov: "Comrade Major, our army lost 53 tanks just now!"
53 tanks, you must know that the 9th Army of the Soviet Union only has a total of more than 500 tanks, which has not been deducted and cannot be used if it fails.
Major Gavrilov frowned. According to this method of fighting, I am afraid that the mechanized unit of the Soviet 9th Army will be turned into an infantry unit before it gets dark.
"Can we block Transnistria?" Commissar Fomin asked.
Political Commissar Fuming\'s idea makes some sense. The Soviet army has command of the sea, so it can use the Black Sea Fleet to cut off the enemy\'s supply line.
But Major Gavrilov quickly dismissed the idea.
"Look at this!" Major Gavrilov pointed to the outlet of Transnistria Bay, and said, "This area is densely covered with hidden reefs, and there is only one entrance about 500 meters wide for ships to enter and exit. Blocking this channel with mines and artillery prevents our ships from entering Transnistria!"
Political Commissar Fuming nodded helplessly, this is not even counting the German bombers.
"If it is not time-critical!" Major Gavrilov said: "We can transport a batch of medium and heavy tanks from Kyiv... Our people are rushing to repair the railway, but it will take five days!"
"Odessa can\'t wait for five days!" Political Commissar Fumin said: "The Italian Expeditionary Force will arrive here in only three days!"
In fact, Shulka knew that it was difficult for the Soviet army to rely on railway transportation... Enemies are everywhere along the road. They only need to set up a few cannons and blast the Soviet engineers at the railway for a long time.
"They will continue to fight like this!" Major Gavrilov said: "Until all our tanks are gone!"
Gavrilov was right, because the second round of the Soviet offensive started as he was speaking... The tactics were still flat pushes with tanks as before, if anything, it was the modified Tanks are saved.
The Soviet army is often like this on the battlefield. They always use the same method to attack again and again, and sometimes even the attack steps have obvious rules.
This can be said to be due to the lack of quality and command experience of the Soviet commanders, or it can also be said that at this time the Soviet army one-sidedly emphasized the courage of the soldiers and did not pay attention to the use of tactics.
So, the hot potato was naturally passed to Shuerka again.
(end of this chapter)