Chapter 613: fire attack
Because he commanded the tank unit to enter the building and found that except for his own armored vehicles shooting indiscriminately, there were almost no bullets fired at him.
To be exact, none at all, not even a shot.
Captain Orff, who was sitting in the armored car, noticed this... This is why Captain Orff chose the armored car instead of a tank.
Type 223 armored vehicles have radio equipment, and of course tanks also have them. The problem is that armored vehicles have better external perception and speed than tanks, which is especially important for a commander, especially a frontline commander.
The disadvantage of armored vehicles is that their defense is insufficient, but as a German commander, you should not think too much about personal safety.
For example, now, if Captain Orff hid in the tank and commanded, he might not even notice that the enemy's resistance was zero.
The next second, Captain Orff asked via radio: "Report the situation on the battlefield!"
Captain Orff thought there was another possibility, that is, the small number of Russian snipers had been wiped out by armored vehicles.
But the subordinate's answer made him feel bad:
"No casualties, the enemy is unknown!"
"No casualties, the enemy is unknown!"
…
It is normal for the enemy to be unknown, because the battle is fierce and the opponent is still a sniper hiding in the dark. It is really difficult to judge whether to kill the target in a short time.
But it is not normal if there are no casualties on one's own side.
Captain Orff hesitated, because there is another possibility, that is, the enemy retreated first when they saw the armored company attacking...that is to say, he successfully occupied this floor.
But Captain Orff thought that things would not be so simple, and his intuition told him that this was a trap, although he didn't know what the trap was or what the enemy would do to deal with these tanks and armored vehicles.
So, Orff immediately ordered: "Retreat, everyone, get out of here immediately!"
But it was too late.
At this time, at each entrance, after an explosion, several black things fell from the ceiling.
Orff and other German soldiers took a closer look, and found that it was an oil drum with several holes in it, and gasoline was "booming" pouring out at this time.
So Orff understood what the enemy's trap was.
This is indeed a trap arranged by Shulka. The best way to deal with German armored vehicles and tanks is fire attack.
The reason is that German armored vehicles and tanks are all gasoline engines.
But in fact, it doesn't matter anymore, because no matter whether it is a gasoline engine or a diesel engine, I am afraid that it will not be able to escape in this situation.
It is easy to do this, Shulka only needs to blow a few holes in the ceiling above the warehouse entrances, it doesn't need to be too big, just enough for the gasoline cans to roll down from above.
In order not to be discovered by the enemy early, the Soviet army also sealed the blasted openings with kraft paper and sprayed the ceiling color for camouflage.
Otherwise, the first batch of German troops entering the warehouse will find a few holes above the warehouse entrance and may become suspicious.
A letter like kraft paper, at least on the outside, looks the same.
Then, all the Soviet army needs to do is push the prepared gasoline barrels down the gap, and they will fall one by one to the entrance of the warehouse and block it.
Of course, these oil barrels are not just oil barrels, they can also turn into flames.
"Get out of the way!" Captain Orff shouted: "Get out of here immediately!"
But it was too late, as a match was dropped from the ceiling, a raging fire was ignited at the entrance with a "thump", and the fire continued to spread everywhere with the diffusion of gasoline.
Immediately, the screams rang out. Most of the German infantry gathered at the entrance of the warehouse. Many of them were immediately stained with gasoline...either they were splashed by gasoline or they couldn't avoid it and got gasoline on their shoes.
At this time, when the fire started, they were immediately ignited into fire men, and as these fire men ran and screamed, the fire soon spread to other places.
Captain Orff moved quickly. He avoided the fire at the first time and climbed onto a "No. 2" tank.
He knew that only tanks could rush out at this time.
This is because tanks are tracks and armored vehicles are tires. Those rubber tires will burn out in flames or blow out due to high temperature. Tank tracks don’t need to worry about this.
On the other hand, there are oil drums blocking the entrance to the warehouse...It is difficult for armored vehicles to push those oil drums away, which is not the case for tanks.
Of course, the tank's gasoline engine would likely have ignited, but at least by then it's out of the way.
"Turn around!" Orff ordered to the tank commander who leaned forward: "Rush out!"
The tank commander understood, and immediately ordered the crew to make a U-turn and rush towards the flames.
However, at this moment, there was a "boom", and the flame exploded... Before the oil drum was ignited, a part of the oil was released, and the empty part was a mixture of air and vapor gasoline, which was easily ignited and then a gas explosion occurred. There was an explosion, and gasoline flames flew around, and the entire first floor of the warehouse was soon surrounded by flames.
The "No. 2" tank commanded by Captain Orff did rush out, pushing a few burning oil drums.
The problem was that the tank itself was turned into a ball of fire, and none of the crew, including Captain Orff, was spared.
Major Paul was observing the battlefield with binoculars outside. The scene he saw was very simple... a dozen armored vehicles from an armored company rushed in with a large number of soldiers, and all of them were engulfed in flames.
Major Paul didn't even have a chance of getting them out.
For the Soviet troops in the building, such as Shulka, because the walls of the granary are thick and all reinforced concrete structures, the fire hardly affected other floors.
If anything, the basement is baked like a steamer.
However, they also considered this issue early on, so all the personnel in the basement have been evacuated.
"Major!" The communications soldier handed the phone to Major Paul and said, "General!"
The call was made by Major General Jonas. He saw the fire and thick smoke from the direction of the warehouse, and felt a little strange about it.
"What's the situation?" Major General Jonas asked: "Have you not occupied the warehouse yet? Fire attack is not good for us, Major, what we need is occupation!"
Jonas took it for granted that the fire was set by the German army.
"No, General!" Major Paul replied weakly: "We failed to occupy the warehouse, the enemy is attacking with fire, General!"
"The enemy is attacking with fire?" Major General Jonas asked suspiciously: "What do you mean? That is their own warehouse!"
"Our armor is in there!" Major Paul replied.
(end of this chapter)