USSR 1941

  Chapter 123 Pursuit

This is the standard coordination between tanks and infantry: tanks should position their main targets as enemy infantry, because it is much easier for tanks to deal with infantry; while infantry should position their main targets as enemy anti-tank guns and Tanks have threatening infantry, which are often difficult for tanks to deal with.

  Then the track of the tank "cracked" on the anti-tank gun, crushing it and deforming it and sinking into the mud... This is what tank crews like to do most, rolling their natural enemies into a pile of scrap iron.

As some tank crews described: "When the track runs over the anti-tank gun, I feel the 'expansion' of the steel below is broken, like crispy toast chewing in my mouth, there is nothing better than this !"

  In fact, this cannot be simply said to be "like". When tanks of this era face anti-tank guns, the best solution is often not to shoot or fire.

   Shooting, the bullets often cannot pose a threat to the anti-tank gun with the shield, unless the bullet happens to pass through the observation hole of the shield and hits the gunner behind it.

   Fire, tank guns are of course more than enough to deal with anti-tank guns.

  The problem is that the suspension system of tanks in this era is relatively backward, which means that most tanks have to stop for accurate shooting, otherwise they will just shoot blindly, and whether they can hit depends on luck.

   There are two types of tanks with representative performance and firing on the move during World War II:

  One is the American "Sherman", which is equipped with a vertical gun stabilizer so that it can fire with considerable accuracy while on the move.

The other is the British "Matilda", which has as many as 10 small-diameter road wheels on each side, which makes it very stable, and coupled with its slow speed, it also has a certain degree of accuracy when firing on flat ground .

  The vast majority of tanks are outside of these two models, and the T26 is no exception. Therefore, the result of parking and aiming at the anti-tank gun will often be hit by the anti-tank gun with a higher rate of fire and a wider field of vision.

So the better and safer way is to use the frontal armor to face the anti-tank gun and then rush towards the enemy's anti-tank gun position with full horsepower... On the one hand, it can make yourself less likely to be hit (fast moving targets are always harder Hit), on the other hand, the probability of hitting the enemy is almost 100%, no matter how bad the driver is, he will not fail to hit the anti-tank gun.

   If anything, it must be drinking too much Vodka.

  As it is now, with the cooperation of the infantry, the German anti-tank doors were knocked over or crushed by the tanks one by one.

The next thing was simple. A few Soviet tanks led the Soviet soldiers straight into the depths of the German positions as if entering no one's land, and knocked a gap in the defense line like a nail. There was blood and corpses everywhere.

In the end, even the ammunition of the machine gun on the tank was exhausted... The machine gun on the T26 tank was equipped with 3654 rounds of ammunition. This amount of ammunition is rarely used in a battle, but there are three in this battle. The tanks fired all the bullets, and in the end they could only bombard them with artillery and track them.

   At this moment, the main force of the Soviet army launched another attack.

   This time, the already chaotic German army was obviously unable to resist.

   What surprised Shulka was that although the German army knew that the defeat was certain, most of them still stuck to their positions and fired the last bullet.

  In Shulka's impression, this happened more on the Asian battlefield where "it is better to break the jade than to make it whole".

  However, the performance of the German army is not the same as the tragic and heroic rushing towards the enemy with grenades and explosives on the Asian battlefield. They raised their hands and surrendered at the last moment of the battle.

  Shuerka believes that this represents two meanings: fighting to the last moment is to live up to the mission of being a soldier, and raising hands to surrender is to live up to oneself.

   This allowed the Soviet army to carry out another strong attack and finally won the victory without paying a small price.

  This may be the difference between a well-trained team and a mob: the former rarely loses, and sometimes even reverses. The latter, however, tends to fail in one blow.

Shulka and his comrades chased for two miles before stopping. On the one hand, they stopped chasing because they were worried that they would be too far away from the rear troops and that they would be counterattacked by the enemy; Now there are only two tanks left... Of the six tanks that participated in the battle, two were destroyed by anti-tank guns, one was destroyed by anti-tank grenades, and one was damaged due to malfunction.

   But in fact, even if it wasn't like this, Shulka and the others couldn't catch up anymore.

  Perhaps they were still able to chase. During the battle, their whole bodies collapsed and they didn't know how tired they were. It wasn't until Second Lieutenant Davydov gave the order to stop the advance that the soldiers sat on the ground like slumped mud.

  But the soldiers still dare not relax... This is a battlefield, and there will be a few German deserters nearby from time to time.

   After sitting on the ground for a while, the actor suddenly laughed.

   "Comrade Platoon Leader!" said the actor: "At last we have a battle where we are not running but chasing the enemy!"

   When the actor said this, Shulka felt that it was true. Even the battle in Kyiv not long ago could be said to be a breakthrough. It seemed that he had been chased and beaten by the enemy all the time, and it was only now that he felt the feeling of chasing the enemy.

   "It makes no difference," Davydov gasped as he wiped the mud from his face: "Look around us, there are enemies everywhere!"

The soldiers nodded in agreement. The 9th Army actually plunged headlong into the enemy. If there is any direction that is not the enemy, it is the 5th Army that has been following the 9th Army. Similarly, breaking out only requires troops to rush out of the enemy's encirclement, while encircling requires consolidating the captured territory along the way in the rear and blocking the enemy's attack.

  In terms of military strength, the Southwest Front Army of the Soviet Army has this strength, because just one Southwest Front Army has nearly a million troops, and there is almost a steady stream of new forces in Kyiv.

  Second Lieutenant Davydov handed Shulka a cigarette, and then asked the assistant instructor beside him in a mocking tone: "Comrade Olga, will you report to the superior and punish us?"

  The deputy instructor was speechless.

  Pukarev added: "Do you still think we are cowards?"

  The surrounding soldiers burst out laughing with a "coax", and some even followed suit:

   "Comrade deputy instructor, a coward who has won a battle, what is that called?"

   "We are willing to accept punishment from our superiors!"

  …

  (end of this chapter)