The decisive battle against the Third Reich

"Yes, a personal weapon, general!" Qin Chuan explained: "But it cannot be regarded as a personal weapon. We need a team of 8 people to control it. It is a bit like...a rocket launcher, but the range is increased!"

"Theoretically, the range can reach two thousand meters!" Colonel Slain added: "It's just that the hit rate is lower at two thousand meters!"

"How much armor penetration?" Colonel Olbridge asked.

"150MM!" Qin Chuan replied.

This data shocked both General Strike and Colonel Olbridge.

"Did I hear you right, Lieutenant Colonel!" General Strike said: "You mean, it can penetrate the armor of any Soviet tank, including their KV heavy tanks?"

The frontal armor of the KV heavy tank reaches 110MM, which is even thicker than the 102MM of the Tiger's frontal armor.

"Yes, General!" Qin Chuan nodded confidently: "As long as it hits, there is no doubt that it can penetrate!"

At this time, two soldiers came in from outside. Colonel Slane motioned for them to come in and introduced: "General, Colonel Albridge, I know you must really want to see it, so..."

As he spoke, he nodded to the two soldiers, who quickly opened it in the bunker and set it up.

"As you can see!" Colonel Slain said: "It's called ME63. It's divided into two parts. The total weight is only 22.6 kilograms. Soldiers can carry them and run around the battlefield. Theoretically, two people can control it. , one shooter and one controller, but you know, we also need cover and assist personnel!”

General Strike squatted down with interest, looked at the gadget on the ground, then shook his head and said: "It's unbelievable, it can penetrate 150MM armor!"

"Don't doubt this, General!" Colonel Slain said: "We have tried it. Its warhead is a rocket. After hitting the target, it will shoot out a high-speed, high-temperature jet. So, you don't want to try it here. of!"

General Strike and others couldn't help laughing.

After asking the soldiers to put away the ME63 and leave, Colonel Slain continued: "So, they sent us here to surprise the Soviets!"

"That's right!" General Strike nodded and said, "If this ME63 is as perfect as you say...it's time to give the Soviets a surprise!"

Qinchuan knew that the ME63 was not perfect, but it should be enough to deal with tanks of this era, especially those of the Soviet Army.

The ME63 came into play the next day.

This was chosen by the German army because before that, the German 48th Armored Corps was stopped at 11 kilometers by the 5th Soviet Guards Tank Corps... The 5th Soviet Guards Tank Corps assembled at 16 kilometers and was in the second position. between the first line of defense and the third line of defense.

Moreover, the Soviet army chose a good blocking terrain. If the German 48th Armored Corps wanted to continue to advance, it would have to pass through a two-kilometer-wide wilderness in front of it. There was no cover there and it was completely exposed to the artillery fire from the opposite side.

Therefore, the German 48th Armored Corps did not dare to act rashly.

On the one hand, this is due to terrain reasons, and on the other hand, it is because our own tanks are much fewer than the opponent's. If we divide our forces and take a detour, the Soviet army will take the opportunity to launch a counterattack against the German army from the front or defeat them one by one.

To put it simply, "all conspiracies and tricks are vulnerable in the face of absolute strength."

This was true before that, but after the 1st Infantry Regiment arrived...the 5th Soviet Guards Tank Corps actually no longer had absolute strength, but they didn't know it.

Therefore, Kravchenko, commander of the 5th Soviet Guards Tank Corps, was a little surprised when he learned that the German army planned to bypass the Kovo Plain.

Kravchenko was an officer who grew up in the war. He graduated from the Frunze Tank School and participated in the worst war...the Soviet-Finnish War.

At that time he was just a colonel staff officer in the mechanized force.

But because he fought bravely and commanded well in the subsequent wars, he is now a major general and commands the most elite tank force in the Soviet Union... the 5th Guards Tank Corps.

"The Germans will actually be divided into two parts?" Kravchenko looked at the telegram and said in disbelief: "Don't they know how many tanks we have?"

In terms of division of troops, of course the side with more troops has the advantage.

Political Commissar Andrevich replied: "The Germans are too arrogant. They think they can defeat us with their existing strength! Or, they have no choice but to do this!"

There is some truth in what Andrievich said, because the German army was engaged in interspersed operations, and if they were not blocked, they would be dead. Therefore, it is better to fight against the Soviet army than to wait for death.

But Kravchenko intuitively felt that things would not be that simple.

"Did the enemy have any ambush?" Kravchenko said, "I mean, did they receive reinforcements last night?"

Andreevich searched for it in the telegram, and then replied firmly: "No, there is none. Comrade Kravchenko, we have placed scouts along the transport road to monitor them, and they did not find any tank reinforcements from the Germans. , only cars!”

Kravchenko nodded.

He believed that this information was accurate, because there was only one road for the Germans' transportation line. Although the Germans controlled this road, it did not prevent the Soviet scouts from approaching for reconnaissance.

In fact, this road is 11 kilometers long. The Germans cannot block the entire road airtight in a short time. If necessary, the Soviet army can even blow up these roads to cause some trouble for the German engineers.

Therefore, the Soviet army could even know how many and even what models of German vehicles entered the war zone last night, and of course they would not miss the tanks.

But Kravchenko was still worried. He thought for a while and said to Andrevich: "Comrade Political Commissar, I think we should send a plane to conduct reconnaissance. Maybe they will get reinforcements from other directions!"

Andrevich made no objection.

In fact, it was Kravchenko's cautious style that prevented him from being defeated as badly as other tank units during the confrontation with the German army... On the Soviet-German battlefield, the Soviet tank units were often not so defeated. Misfortune can be said to be a kind of victory.

However, the results of the reconnaissance were still the same. No German reinforcements were found. The German army detached an armored division from the Svka Highway in an attempt to go around to the side of the 5th Guards Tank Corps. It seemed that they wanted to attack the 5th Guards Tank Corps' rear path. .

After getting the news, Kravchenko no longer hesitated.

"The Svka Highway is not suitable for tank operations!" Kravchenko ordered: "The 6th Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade headed towards the Svka Highway to delay the German troops, while other units crossed the Kovo Plain to launch a counterattack!"