USSR 1941

  Chapter 216 Anti-tank trenches

   That is an anti-tank trench, a hidden anti-tank trench.

  It is actually very simple to hide it, you only need to spread wooden boards on it and then a layer of soil... From a distance, it is no different from other places, and it does not even affect the passage of infantry.

  However, it is obviously unbearable for a tank weighing more than ten tons to roll over.

  It is a full 100 meters away from the Soviet tank defense line.

   In other words, the German army actually had no chance to approach the Soviet tank at a distance of 100 meters from the beginning.

Major General Schroeder should have thought of this long ago: If the Soviet army had enough time to build a tank bunker that could completely hide it in it for the 2.7-meter T34, then they certainly had time to build an anti-tank trench, although the surface Can't see it.

  But even if Major General Schroeder thought of this, it wouldn't change anything.

Just as he thought, if the 79th Armored Division retreats, it means that it will be followed by the Soviet army... This is actually just the wishful thinking of Major General Schroeder. Another tank battalion of the Soviet army has already outflanked it from both wings. And cut off their retreat.

   At this point, the German tanks and the soldiers following them were all dumbfounded.

  German tanks cannot advance, because advancing means falling into anti-tank trenches and waiting to be captured by the enemy.

At the same time, the German tanks were unable to retreat because they were too close to the Soviet tanks, only 100 meters... Retreating at this distance is no different from suicide, because it will completely expose the large side armor and weak rear armor under enemy fire.

   In fact, let alone ordinary officers and soldiers, even the experienced Major General Schroeder didn't know how to deal with this situation.

   "General!" The subordinates asked for instructions one after another through the walkie-talkie:

"what should we do?"

   "What is your order?"

   "We are blocked by anti-tank trenches and cannot move forward!"

  …

  Although the weather was cold, beads of sweat still oozed from the forehead of Major General Schroeder.

   After thinking for a while, Major General Schroeder ordered: "Shoot in place and destroy them!"

   "Yes, shoot in place!"

   "Shoot in place!"

  …

   It has to be said that the communication of the German army is still very efficient, and the orders are quickly conveyed layer by layer.

  Then, the surviving German tanks formed and lined up along the anti-tank trenches to start an artillery battle with the Soviet tanks.

This can hardly be called a tank battle, it is more like a battle in the era of medieval fuzzlocks... playing bagpipes and beating rhythmic battle drums, approaching in a neat formation, and then raising each other face to face at a distance of more than 100 meters gun shot.

  The difference is that it is not soldiers but tanks that shoot each other on the battlefield.

  With the sound of "booming" guns, thick smoke rose from the neat gun barrels of both the enemy and us, and the shells flew back and forth between the two rows.

   But it is obvious that the German tanks are at a disadvantage, although they have an advantage in numbers.

  T34 sloped armor has two advantages:

  First of all, shells are easy to bounce off after being hit... The armor-piercing projectiles commonly used in this period are pointed-pointed armor-piercing projectiles.

  As it is now, a shell hits the T34 but only makes a scratch on it, and the shell is thrown straight into the air or other directions, which of course cannot penetrate the armor and cause damage to the tank.

  Another advantage is that according to the armor-piercing projectile formula, the angle of inclination is constant, and the penetrating power of the armor-piercing projectile is proportional to the caliber.

   Therefore, when fired by German artillery, the armor of the T-34 tank with a thickness of 45 mm and a 60-degree oblique angle is nearly 90 mm thick.

  The equivalent thickness of this thickness basically made the German tank guns useless.

  So, even if the German tanks are superior in other aspects, even if the German gunners are well-trained, even if they hit the target accurately...But they can't pose a threat to the target at all.

  The disadvantage of Soviet tanks is that the 1941 version of the T34 has a two-man turret... This is because the turret space is too small for three people, so the T34 tank, which should have been controlled by five people, was compressed to four.

  The result is that the commander must be the gunner, and sometimes the loader or even the driver.

  For example, Kalashnikov is the driver and the commander.

  The consequence of doing this is that the response of the T34 tank is relatively clumsy... The part-time crew member must be dual-purpose or even several-purpose. On the one hand, he must complete his own tasks and be responsible for commanding and coordinating the entire tank crew.

  However, this problem is not so obvious here, because there is no difficulty in command, they only need to aim at the targets one by one and then fire.

As a result, one after another the German tanks were beaten up into black smoke and even burst into fireballs, while the Soviet tanks suffered almost no losses... If there was any loss, several tank tracks were interrupted by enemy tanks Yes, this may be the only damage that German tank guns can do.

   Colonel Katukov didn't even order the tanks to advance, because he thought it would be more beneficial for the Soviets to fight like this.

  The facts are indeed true. If the Soviet tanks advance at this time, even if they only advance a few tens of meters...in fact, it will give the German tanks a chance to destroy them.

  Finally, the German tanks collapsed. They retreated desperately, and then turned around to escape from the battlefield.

  In fact, at this time, Major General Schroeder also realized that the German tanks would only decrease one by one if they continued to fight like this, and their only role was to consume the enemy's shells.

  So, in desperation, they could only order a retreat.

  It was only then that Katukov ordered the troops to move forward... There were some gaps in the anti-tank trenches that only the Soviets knew, and Soviet tanks chased them one after another from these gaps.

When chasing, they stopped from time to time to aim, and then with a "boom", they smashed the fleeing German tanks into a ball of fire... Facing the enemy's weak rear armor, the Soviet tanks did not need to use armor-piercing projectiles. High-explosive grenades can penetrate it.

In this case, Soviet soldiers prefer to use high-explosive grenades, not only because it can save more expensive armor-piercing projectiles, but also because the high-explosive grenades have a higher probability of igniting the gasoline engine or igniting the target after hitting the target. Detonating explosives... Soldiers enjoyed the feeling of the target tank being ignited or exploded.

   Shulka, who followed the tank and advanced forward, looked at the wreckage of German tanks one after another, and knew that the outcome of this battle had been decided.

  Major General Schroeder on the other side also knew this, because he received a report from his front or rear subordinates:

   "General, a large number of enemy tanks have appeared in the north. They are T34! Our retreat has been cut off!"

  (end of this chapter)