Chapter 215: tank battle
However, Major General Schroeder still did not order a retreat.
Major General Schroeder is very aware of the Russian tank named T34...it has a great advantage over German tanks in terms of firepower and defense. German tanks must press 100 meters to pose a threat to it.
As an imperial soldier, a commander of an armored division, and a recipient of the Iron Cross with Silver Oak Leaves, Major General Schroeder has the calm wisdom that a commander should have.
He knew that if he ordered the troops to retreat at this time, it would only make the German tanks always outside the range of the enemy's T34 tanks, so the 79th Armored Division would collapse and be wiped out.
Therefore, Major General Schroeder resisted the urge to order "retreat", gritted his teeth and ordered in the walkie-talkie: "Soldiers, this is the enemy's last line of defense, and also the last barrier, as long as we break through it...Moscow is ours Already! Follow me, full speed forward!"
"Full speed ahead!"
…
The order was conveyed one by one, the motors of the German tanks "rumbled", and the tanks drove towards the Soviet defense line in the exhaust like thick fog, and then faster and faster …
Soviet tanks are of course on the defensive.
In fact, it cannot be said to be defensive.
As I said before, the tanks in this period basically have no chance of hitting when they are marching. At the same time, the T34 tank has a long-range advantage over the German tanks, so even a fool knows that it is time for the T34 to shoot. Block the Germans before rushing to the 100-meter danger line, so that the Soviet tanks can obtain the greatest results at the smallest cost.
So, following Katukov's order, one after another T34 fired shells at the German tanks.
The German tanks rushing ahead suddenly slowed down as if hitting an invisible wall, and then drove forward for a certain distance in inertia and finally stopped.
One of the tanks may have been exploded violently due to the detonation of the internal ammunition. In an instant, the turret was separated from the chassis of the tank. Red flames spewed out from every gap in the tank body like a burning furnace, and the falling The rain and snow around it were instantly baked in a stream of water vapor.
However, this did not deter the German army from advancing. Their tanks bypassed these wreckages and continued to advance, and the soldiers tried to keep up with the speed of the tanks...
Five hundred meters.
The German tanks fired in the direction of the Soviets as they advanced, both tanks and machine guns.
But everyone knows that this is just a deterrent... As the saying goes, "the difference is a thousand miles away", the barrel of the gun will swing up and down with the tilt of the tank body when firing on the move, even if the gunner tries hard to aim The target, but the moment the shell shoots out of the barrel, it will still deviate from the trajectory.
This deviation, even by a small amount, will eventually cause the shell to miss its target significantly.
So this firing is pretty much useless.
But the German tanks had to do this again, because they knew... At this time, even if they stopped and fired and hit the target accurately, it would not help, the German tanks could not penetrate the target armor at this distance.
Three hundred meters.
German tanks were destroyed one after another. There were all kinds of tanks. At the beginning, it was mainly "Number Four", because its cross-country speed was the fastest and it always ran at the forefront.
From a certain point of view, "No. 4" is used as advanced cannon fodder in this kind of tank battle. The reason is that its short-barreled gun has a weak armor-piercing ability. Difficult, but wanting to rush into the enemy tank group at a distance of 100 meters... This is almost impossible, because then the gunner does not need to aim at all, just point the barrel at the target and fire, and there is basically no miss.
The other is the "No. 1" and "No. 2" tanks. They are used as secondary cannon fodder, that is, they block the front to attract the enemy's firepower.
The main force is undoubtedly the "No. 3" tank.
Two hundred meters...
The "No. 3" tank finally got close to the firing distance.
Major General Schroeder seems to have seen hope again: at this time, the 79th Division still has 67 "No. 3" tanks. If these "No. 3" tanks can rush close to the T34 and "hand-to-hand" with them, then the German army can Relying on the superiority in numbers to open the gap and break through the siege, and even turn defeat into victory.
(Note: Katukov only deployed one tank battalion on the front, and another tank battalion was deployed on both wings to outflank. Major General Schroeder saw only one tank battalion with more than forty tanks at this time)
So, Major General Schroeder urged almost hysterically in the walkie-talkie: "Put your gas pedal to the bottom, go as fast as you can, and don't give the enemy any chance to block you!"
The "No. 3" tank group did exactly that. Even though bullets rained down on the armor, although there were wreckage of tanks destroyed by the enemy everywhere, they still kept their eyes on the front. T34 advances at the fastest speed.
This includes Major Millier.
Not long ago, he thought that this battle would be an "easy victory", as he said to his subordinates: "We will use the corpses and blood of the enemy to comfort the comrades who died last night and the tanks that were blown up, And of course, those dogs with dynamite on their backs!"
However, the situation turned too suddenly.
One second before the German army was still chasing the Soviet army, and the next second Major Miller realized that the entire army was surrounded by the Soviet army, which meant that there was no hope for revenge.
Not only is revenge hopeless, but they are also likely to become victims.
However, Major Millier still stuck to his post. He decided to lead his men to fight to the last moment, no matter what the outcome was.
"Hold on!" Major Millier ordered while observing the front through the periscope: "Hold on... don't fire without my order!"
This is the critical moment, he must wait for the tank to enter the effective distance of 100 meters before firing.
So, Major Millier nervously estimated the distance between the enemy tank and himself... This is calculated from the size of the enemy tank in the periscope, the closer the distance, the bigger the target.
Therefore, experienced tank commanders will memorize the length, width, and height data of various armored vehicles of the enemy, because the distance to the target can be quickly calculated from the ratio of these data to the size seen in the periscope, which is a battlefield victory. key.
"Get ready..." Major Millier ordered.
As soon as he was about to break a hundred meters, Major Millier's heartbeat couldn't help but speed up.
But at this moment, Major Millier's eyes went dark, and the tank fell into a deep pit.
(end of this chapter)