The decisive battle against the Third Reich

The reason why the PIAT infantry anti-tank projectile is called the "English Crossbow" is because it needs to pull the main spring every time it is fired to put it in a ready-to-fire state... The tension of its main spring is very large, reaching 900 Newton.

To complete this action you must use both hands and feet:

The first is the standing position. Stand with your feet on the shoulder rests at the bottom, then hold the handle with both hands and lift it up.

The second is the lying position, with your hands holding the handle and your feet stepping on the shoulder rests while pushing down.

No matter which method is used, it is very similar to the ancient crossbow with strong pulling force, so it got the nickname "English crossbow".

Needless to say, its shortcoming is that the firing process is very troublesome. The force of 900 cattle requires considerable physical strength. If the soldiers are tired after a hard battle or hungry due to lack of supplies, they may not be able to draw this "bow" at all. crossbow".

In fact, not only is it ready to be fired, but also pulling the trigger is very laborious... The huge trigger is designed so that people can pull it with two fingers, but even this is not an easy task.

Its biggest advantage is that it frees the British army from the era of using anti-tank grenades or explosive charges to blow up enemy tanks at close range.

But Qin Chuan and others soon learned that this "English crossbow" had other advantages...

The tank drove into Alexandria in the gray sky. Qin Chuan found that this was not a good time to attack, because the buildings and land inside were almost the same as the sky, and everything was gray.

There was silence all around. The people may have heard the news that the German army was about to attack, so they hid in their rooms and did not come out to move.

But Qin Chuan knew that those hiding in the room were not necessarily the common people.

The tank rumbled forward, its tracks creaking as it moved along the stone-paved streets, making metal knocking sounds from time to time. When turning, the rotation of the tracks and the weight of the tank will grind out some pits on the ground. The sharp and harsh sound can be heard from miles away.

The soldiers followed the tanks nervously, aiming their rifles and machine guns at the buildings on both sides.

Any opening in a window or door, especially upstairs, is where bullets may be fired or a grenade may be suddenly thrown.

But the Germans were unable to prevent this from happening. Alexandria was too big, with a population of millions, and it was impossible for the 21st Armored Division to drive everyone out of the house like before, or to clear every room. Search it and capture it.

At the same time, the Germans did not have time to do this, because it was already getting light and the British reconnaissance planes were already hovering in the sky... If the Germans were still outside the city, they would probably be bombed by the British right now. .

Of course, the British army did not carry out bombings not because they were worried about the Egyptian people or their houses... When the British and American troops fought back to France, they did not consider the safety of the French people who were also white people, and of course they would not consider the lives of the colonized Egyptian people. and property in mind.

The reason why they did not bomb was because the German troops could easily hide before the bombing came, which would make the bombing ineffective. More importantly, the New Zealand Division's troops were also in the city, and the bombing would inevitably lead to accidental damage.

The tank turned along the street again. Qin Chuan caught a glimpse of an open window in the gap when the tank turned sideways, so he immediately shouted: "Stop, it's dangerous!"

But it was too late. There was only a sound of machine gunfire, and there was a "boom" in front of the tank, and then it stopped moving... The projectiles fired by the "English Crossbow" use hollow charge technology, and the high-speed metal jet formed by it is It can penetrate 75MM thick armor, while the "No. 3" armor is only 47MM.

Since the metal jet is liquid, it will scatter and splash inside the tank cabin after penetrating the armor. Therefore, most of the tank crew members inside cannot avoid being hit... If they are hit in a vital part and die on the spot, they are lucky, otherwise they will Feel the pain of high-temperature jets passing through your body and cooking and scorching the surrounding muscle tissue.

Gunfire soon started, and German soldiers leaned out from behind the wreckage of the tank and shot forward.

Qin Chuan did not do this. He pointed his rifle at both sides of the street... At this time, the most dangerous thing was obviously not the front but the two sides. At least there were tank wreckage in the front as cover, but there was nothing on both sides.

Sure enough, the next second the windows on both sides of the street suddenly opened with a bang... Qin Chuan aimed at one of them and pulled the trigger without thinking.

With a "bang" sound, a streak of blood shot out from the darkness of the window. The bullet obviously hit the target.

Then Qin Chuan pulled the gun bolt as quickly as possible and pointed the muzzle at another window again... A muzzle was protruding from another window, which was a Thompson submachine gun.

In this case, a submachine gun with a terrifying 100-round ammunition capacity is obviously more lethal than a machine gun. If it were allowed to fire, Qin Chuan's infantry platoon would become a pile of corpses in an instant.

Of course, Qin Chuan didn't let it go as he wished. After a gunshot, the submachine gun fell from the window. Then, a New Zealand soldier slowly appeared in the window, covering his neck. His body slowly lost strength and hung upside down on the window edge. On the wall, red blood flowed down the white wall.

At this time, the German soldiers suddenly realized something, so they turned their guns and aimed at both sides.

This also made the New Zealand Army's ambush completely bankrupt, because there were not many windows and doors... This was one of the reasons why the New Zealand soldiers could not deploy a large number of manpower.

When prepared, German soldiers could easily block these windows with fire... except for grenades.

The New Zealand soldiers seemed to realize this, and then threw down several grenades one after another.

Werner was waiting for this moment. Just like before, he grabbed the submachine gun and "expanded" it twice, skillfully knocking the two grenades away to the other side of the tank...

This is Werner's hobby, and many people find this unbelievable, because it is a grenade, and if you are not careful, you will lose your life.

But Werner's response was: "If you think of it as baseball, it's baseball!"

This is the truth. Werner is a professional baseball player. The speed of a grenade is much slower than the speed of a ball thrown by a baseball pitcher. The possibility of Werner making a mistake is actually very small, so as long as he relaxes his mind... it is actually a bad one. pitcher throws a baseball.

However, after all, there was only one Werner in the army, and there was also a grenade that was too far away to catch up.

The grenade fell into the crowd, and more than a dozen people were within its killing range.

At this critical moment, a German soldier rushed forward and pressed the grenade with his body...