Steel Soviet Union

"Damn it, doesn't this Russian tractor have any weaknesses? Why does it still have no effect if I hit it?"

The IS6 heavy tank is indeed a very well-designed armor layout among the Starling heavy tank family.

That is to say, there is no large turret front face like the IS2 that can penetrate the weak point area, and there is no bullet hole area in the turret front face left by the IS3 due to design flaws. The overall design of the armor layout is so excellent that it can even be compared with the "Ultimate Father" IS7 heavy tank.

But there is no tank without weaknesses in this world. Even the most powerful tank has its corresponding weaknesses.

The German army still failed to understand the real armor weaknesses of IS6 despite not having a thorough understanding of IS6 and being limited to just describing its weaknesses through word of mouth. It is true that the IS6 that was destroyed was penetrated from the gun root position, but the gun root position is also divided into left and right positions.

The IS6 only has armor reduction at the gun root position on the side of the gunner. It does not have symmetrical armor on the left and right faces like the King Tiger and can be penetrated by both.

The armor protection of the gunner's root area is only 150 mm in physical thickness, and the equivalent thickness is less than 200 mm even if it is tilted. It is indeed easier for the King Tiger's Long 88 to penetrate this position.

The corresponding gun root on the other side is protected by a solid 200 mm physical thickness homogeneous steel armor. Including the equivalent defense bonus caused by the curvature of the gun mantlet, it is no longer something that the Tiger King's Chang 88 can handle.

The German armored soldiers were confused and confused about this point, and many of them made useless efforts to hit the shells to the thicker side.

It is not easy to hit a moving target and hit such a small part of the gun root.

At the same time, both hands are used to control the turret steering machine and the main gun height and low position. It is also necessary to observe with the naked eye to predict the timing of firing, and finally accurately press the firing button. The complex operation is far different from the tank games of later computer games where you press the keyboard and flick the mouse. It's so simple, it's a normal thing that's easy to understand.

So it is true that a few German armor-piercing shells hit the gun root, but more armor-piercing shells missed the target and failed to hit the gun root. Either it missed the target directly, or the shooting accuracy was slightly off, and it scratched the curved armor on the front of the turret next to the gun root, scraping off a strip of paint and scratching the IS6 with its snow-white winter camouflage coating. Skin.

The bad news for the German army is over. Of course, there is also relatively good news.

For example, there were indeed two 88mm long armor-piercing projectiles that hit the only weak point on the front of the IS6 heavy tank, which was the weak area of ​​the gun root where the gunner was located.

One of the armor-piercing rounds hit a position slightly above the gun root. Although it caused a penetration effect, it failed to penetrate completely because the shooting angle was not completely straight and veered to the right. In the end, it was shot up and hit. A rather embarrassing semi-penetration.

A derivative result of this was that most of the IS6's gunner sighting system was destroyed.

The main gun sight was structurally deformed and completely shattered by the impact. On the mass-produced version of the IS6, it was stripped down and the gunner's wide-angle periscope was not installed. This meant that the gunner's field of vision was completely lost and he became blind.

In fact, the situation of the gunner himself was not easy. Even if the main gun sight was still intact, it would be impossible to continue fighting.

The metal fragments and glass shards shattered and splashed by the extremely strong kinetic energy of the armor-piercing projectile pierced the eyes of the gunner who was operating the main gun sight to observe the enemy's situation, and even spread all over his face even at a very close distance. He was instantly injured. The blood on his face couldn't stop flowing down, and he kept wailing in pain.

This IS6 can be declared to have lost its combat effectiveness and be forced to withdraw from the battle. This is an ironclad fact.

On the other side not far away, another IS6 was also penetrated by the weak point of the gun root, but it was not so lucky. It just lost its combat effectiveness and retreated from the battlefield.

In the worst case scenario, another IS6 was hit squarely and squarely in the weak point of the gun root. The homogeneous steel armor with a physical thickness of only 150 mm could not withstand the long-range 88's close-range shooting at a distance of 500 meters. It was on the spot. Then they were stabbed through each other and poured into it.

The armor-piercing projectile that hit the armor and shattered the hood and cover retained extremely strong residual kinetic energy and continued to advance along the established ballistic trajectory after penetrating the armor. Not only did it smash and destroy the entire optical sighting system in front of the gunner, but the gunner who was observing the situation in front of the main gun sight was headshot on the spot, directly turning it into a bloody pulpy object.

The armor-piercing projectile that hit one man's head still didn't stop there, and continued to rush forward to the rear of the breech block, close to the first ammunition rack at the rear of the turret, and at the position beside the commander's hand. Only when the armor-piercing delay fuse was successfully triggered, the charge of the projectile warhead exploded on the spot, causing fire to spread everywhere.

Such a close-range explosion was only 40 centimeters away from the first ammunition rack at the rear of the turret. The remaining eight rounds of 122mm projectiles neatly arranged on the first ammunition rack became the top priority for the unlucky ones together with the commander and the commander. object.

From ignition to explosion, the intense flames soared into the sky only in an instant, and there was no time to react with the naked eye or thinking.

The IS6 heavy tank, which exploded violently at the rear of the turret, was as fragile as a toy car stuffed into a firecracker by a kid.

The turret dome, the weakest armored part, was exploded from the inside out on the spot by the powerful force of eight 122mm projectiles and one 88mm projectile exploding almost at the same time, tearing away the armor as if it was disembowelled.

The aftermath of the explosion of the ammunition that was enough to destroy everything filled the turret. At the same time, it also quickly impacted the car body connected to the turret. It was also full of fire and power.

The propellant cartridges neatly placed in the vehicle body further increased the power of the ammunition. The IS6 was first blown open on the back of the turret, and then it sprayed out more intense flames like a volcanic eruption, shooting straight into the sky.

The ammunition exploded like dominoes in this chain reaction, and its power was beyond the imagination of many people. The IS6 heavy tank turret, with its head blown open, could no longer withstand the strong upward surge of impact energy at the third second of the explosion. It was lifted directly from the vehicle body just like the German Panther's ammunition exploded. go out.

No matter how heavy the turret is, it is just as light as a feather in the face of ammunition explosion. The IS6 is filled with 122 mm large-caliber projectiles and propellant. Once it explodes, it means complete destruction. The power is far greater than that of a German tank. Even this seemingly indestructible steel body will never be able to contain this terrifying impact and will be torn to pieces.