The decisive battle against the Third Reich

"Bring up two Panzer IV tanks!" Colonel Slaine ordered.

Soon two Panzer IV tanks rumbled up, and Colonel Slain contacted the tank crew inside through the phone behind the tank.

"The enemy has armored trains!" Colonel Slain said: "They will appear at your ten o'clock position soon. Destroy them and attack the turrets first. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Colonel!" replied the tank crew.

This method seems feasible, because armored trains are mostly used to deal with guerrillas... The guerrillas do not have heavy weapons, and armored trains can be quickly deployed and effectively fight against the guerrillas to protect the railway.

Therefore, the armor of armored trains is generally not very thick...20MM on the sides and 15MM on the top.

If this is the case, then the "Four" tank is enough to cope with it.

But the actual situation surprised Colonel Slaine...

When the armored train slowly drove up and appeared at the corresponding position, the two "No. 4" tanks fired first and fired two rounds at the turret on the armored train, but the turret on the armored train did not respond at all.

The armored train immediately launched a counterattack. After a burst of artillery fire, one "Four" tank was destroyed. The reason why the other "Four" was safe was more due to the quality of the Soviet tank crews. Not high enough to hit the target.

"Damn it!" Colonel Slaine shouted: "Get back, get back!"

The surviving Panzer IV slowly retreated. The commander poked his head out of the tank cabin and reported with a pale face: "Colonel, we cannot destroy the target!"

"I saw it!" Colonel Slaine replied.

At this time, the commander of the 5th Armored Regiment, Olbridge, also drove up in a jeep. The jeep was parked far behind. Colonel Olbridge jumped out of the car and trotted up with his waist bent, asking :"what's the situation?"

"We encountered a hard guy!" Colonel Slain handed the binoculars over casually.

When Colonel Olbridge stuck his head out to observe, Colonel Sline introduced concisely: "There is an underground bunker more than a hundred meters away. It will hide in the bomber when it appears. The 'Four' tank The result of the confrontation..."

As he spoke, Colonel Slain raised his head towards the tank still smoking black in front and said, "Obviously, the Soviet armored trains are different from ours!"

Colonel Slain is right, the Soviet armored trains are indeed different from the German ones.

The German armored trains are mainly used to deal with guerrillas, while Soviet armored trains have basically no need to deal with guerrillas. They are used to fight the German army.

But the most important thing is not this.

This Soviet armored train is the "Fighting German Invaders". It has four forts, an air defense platform, a total of 20 machine guns of various types, and a coal-burning steam locomotive.

It was built urgently in early 1942, which means that it has only been a few months since the construction started.

Although it is not difficult to modify armored trains, for example, steam locomotives can use existing locomotives, and armored carriages can use existing train carriages. All that needs to be done is to re-armor them, but it is still quite difficult... Installing a turret .

This cannot be accomplished in a few months.

But the Soviets came up with a rather creative way. They drove the T34 tank directly onto the train carriage and then fixed it and converted it into a turret.

Therefore, the turret is not actually a turret. Each turret should be regarded as a reinforced T34 tank. There is even 30MM thick reinforced concrete in front of the armor... The Soviet Union is a wide-gauge train, and the internal space is larger than that of the German armor. The train is much bigger.

"We can blow up the rails!" said Colonel Olbridge.

"Good idea!" Colonel Slaine agreed.

Then they quickly devised a plan of attack.

This offensive plan is actually very simple, but of course it requires the cooperation of various arms, but this is almost not difficult for the German army.

First, the Air Force bombers forced the Soviet armored train back... This was not difficult. Six "Stuka" bombers circled in the sky and took turns dive bombing. The armored train had no choice but to temporarily hide in the bunker.

However, bombers cannot hover at low altitude for a long time. The Soviet anti-aircraft firepower will not allow them to do so... Generally speaking, the anti-aircraft firepower of port cities is not weak, and Karachi is no exception.

Then the German army launched a charge. Under the cover of tanks and infantry, the mortarmen entered a suitable position and smashed piles of shells into the rails where the armored train was expected... There were towering buildings near the train station, making it difficult for long-range artillery. Smash the cannonballs onto the lower, narrow rails.

"Well done!" Colonel Slain couldn't help but praise as he looked through the telescope at the clouds of smoke exploding from the railroad tracks.

But before Colonel Slaine finished speaking, he saw the armored train driving out of the thick smoke again, and then another hail of bullets drove the German troops back.

"What's going on?" Colonel Slaine yelled.

"They must have considered this situation!" Qin Chuan put away the telescope and replied: "I think they have prepared several railway tracks!"

"Go to hell!" Colonel Slaine cursed fiercely.

"We can force the assault under the cover of bombers!" Adjutant Lucas made a simple and crude suggestion: "I mean, if a bomber appears, it will retreat to the bunker..."

"Do you think they didn't think of this possibility?" Colonel Olbridge interrupted Lucas: "The armored train will suddenly come out of the bunker when we rush up... Then we will only be It’s for the massacre!”

Colonel Olbridge was right. The advantage of the armored train was its high speed. The German infantry and tanks seemed to be no match for it. At the same time, the ground was still filled with smoke. In addition, the smoke deliberately created by the Soviets made it very difficult for the German pilots. It is difficult to accurately bomb the armored train in the melee between the two armies.

"Can we go around it?" Colonel Slain asked.

Colonel Olbridge turned over the map and quickly rejected the plan.

"The left wing is the Don River!" Colonel Olbridge said: "The right wing is a tributary of the Don River. The only iron bridge nearby has been blown up, unless we intend to cross that river..."

Although crossing the river is feasible, because the tributaries of the Don River are only more than a hundred meters wide, and the current is not fast.

But this obviously cannot be done in a short time, because there is enemy defense on the other side and the German army is still an armored division. It will take a lot of time to transport the tanks one by one.

The German army did not have that much time, because they were fighting a blitzkrieg and what they needed was speed, otherwise there would be more and more Soviet troops waiting for them in front.