USSR 1941

With a bang, the No. 1 car driven by Major Duden crashed through the wall and entered the target area.

Originally, Major Duden thought that what appeared in front of him should be artillery pieces and teams of panicked artillerymen, but unexpectedly, this was not the case, a black thing stood in front of his periscope.

At this time, the infantry from behind fired a flare in this direction. Under the snow-white light, Major Duden found that it was a tank. It was not smaller than the "Number Six" he was driving, but the barrel was smaller than the "Number Six". Much thicker tank. (Note: Major Duden mistook the self-propelled artillery for a tank when observing in the periscope)

"Tank!" Major Duden yelled, "At one o'clock, change direction, aim..."

Major Durden's orders were correct, it first informed the crew of the position of the enemy tank, then ordered the driver to change direction to interfere with the enemy's aiming and firing, and at the same time ordered the gunner to aim.

If it is on other occasions, self-propelled artillery or assault guns are against tanks, then self-propelled artillery and assault guns are not opponents of tanks at all.

This is mainly because the turret of the tank can be rotated, so it can be rotated while advancing to aim at the approximate direction...Accurate aiming usually requires stopping the vehicle body, but if it is a close combat and the target is very close, it can also be based on feeling.

Conversely, assault guns and self-propelled artillery can only be aimed by turning the body, which is much clumsier than tanks.

But this is not the case at this time. This is actually a trap set by the Soviet self-propelled artillery against the German tanks. They have even adjusted the angle of the muzzle to the position where the tank will appear...

The reason why it can be adjusted in advance is because the Soviet army has observers on the roof to observe the direction of the German tanks.

Even the self-propelled artillery can adjust its orientation and prepare in time according to the direction and position of the enemy tank.

Even Shulka is confused at this point, because the Soviet army’s communication equipment is very backward, and more importantly, it is in short supply. At this time, even the mainstay of the tank, the T34, can only be equipped with a radio in the command vehicle. Of course, the self-propelled artillery does not have a radio. .

That being the case, the coordination between the Soviet observers and the self-propelled artillery must pass through the infantry, that is, the observers first call the infantry, and then the infantry tells the self-propelled artillery the enemy's position.

Not only will there be a lag, but there may also be mistakes. For example, Alinsimovich may mishear or have to shout several times to hear clearly.

More importantly, the self-propelled artillery itself has the problem of coordination difficulties.

For example, aiming usually requires both the driver and the gunner to complete: the gunner controls the high and low shooting angles of the gun, and the horizontal displacement needs to be controlled by the driver. If there is a problem with one of the driver and the gunner, it will not be possible to aim at the target at all.

However, when Shulka observed from a high place, he found that the steering of these self-propelled artillery was very timely. The moment the German tank broke through the wall, the muzzle of the self-propelled artillery was facing the enemy tank.

It was later that Shulka learned that Captain Alinsimovich had a different coordination method... After the infantry received the blink, instead of yelling to inform the gunner, they used a flashlight to shine a bright spot on the wall, which represented The location of the enemy tanks on the other side of the wall.

As a result, the gunner and driver can turn in perfect coordination and almost simultaneously for the first time.

From this point of view, it is correct to let Captain Alinsimovich serve as the commander of this self-propelled artillery battalion.

It is precisely because of this that the fate of the German "Tiger" tank was determined.

"Speed ​​up!" Major Durden yelled.

This order is also correct, because the acceleration can get rid of the situation that the tank is locked by the enemy's muzzle faster.

But it was too late, only to hear a loud "boom", a shell escaped from the self-propelled artillery and hit the "Tiger" without accident.

It should be said that this shell was not fatal, at least on the surface.

The reason is that the 152MM caliber ML-20 artillery is a Soviet heavy howitzer with a range of 17.2 kilometers. In actual combat, it is towed by a heavy tractor, so the equipment used purely for long-range fire reinforcement has not yet developed the armor-piercing projectile it uses.

The results of grenade targeting infantry hitting tanks are often scary but actually cause little damage to tanks... Howitzer shells are hollow and contain explosives, which look like eggs when they hit the armor of a tank Like hitting a rock, the shell first shatters and then explodes.

This is one of the reasons why solid armor-piercing bullets should be used against tanks, otherwise the effect will not be ideal.

Therefore, the target of this 152MM caliber artillery is actually not a tank, or not just a tank... After the shell hit the tank and exploded, it was like a hurricane blowing around the tank, supplementing its flanks and rear with infantry The fight was staggering.

On the other hand, because the caliber of the 152MM artillery is too large, its shell weighs 43.6 kilograms. The shell of this weight is fired by the artillery at high speed and hits the armor fiercely, and then the explosives inside explode...Hiding in the tank Some people were immediately shocked to death or injury.

So the "Tiger" also lost its fighting power at that moment.

The SU76 hiding in the building made another shot on the flank at the right time... The 76MM artillery has armor-piercing shells, and at the same time, the SU76 is light in weight and fast. Captain Alinsimovich used it as a mobile force to fight against the German army.

Hearing a "boom", the "Tiger Style" swayed heavily and then stopped moving, and a wisp of green smoke could be faintly seen coming out of the flank.

This does not mean the end of the battle, but the beginning of the battle.

Submachine guns suddenly protruded from the buildings on both sides, and they fired wildly at the German army who was about to rush in through the gap in the wall.

The German army tried to attack inside at first, but a few minutes later, when the 152MM artillery reloaded and adjusted the muzzle to the gap, it was another "boom" shot... a burst of fire and smoke burst out immediately outside the wall, matching the The corpses of German soldiers flew up together, and it took a long time for pieces of stumps to fall from the sky like rain.

Because the first to be destroyed was the German command vehicle... Maybe it was luck.

Therefore, the "Tiger Type" in other directions still did not realize that this was a trap, and rushed in with infantry at full speed one after another.

As a result, needless to say, after the sound of the guns, the "Tigers" were paralyzed within the wall, and the corpses of German soldiers were scattered everywhere around them.

At this time, Colonel Doppler was still using the walkie-talkie to call again and again: "Major, report the situation, report the situation!"