The decisive battle against the Third Reich

When Colonel Slain conveyed to Qinchuan that "the Soviets were attacking the supply line of the 48th Armored Corps," Qinchuan knew that the Soviets had been fooled again.

Although plain areas are suitable for tank troops to fight, if both sides are tank troops, whoever enters this area first will suffer.

The reason is simple. Tanks entering this area will inevitably suffer considerable losses due to exposure to enemy fire.

This is one of the reasons why the Soviet and German armies faced off at both ends of the Kovo Plain.

However, if the Soviet army is far stronger than the German army, or the Soviet army thinks that their strength is far stronger than the German army, like now...the German army is divided into only more than a hundred tanks, while the Soviet army has more than 400 tanks. , then the Soviet army will not care about this loss.

The Soviet army can rush across the Kovo Plain to defeat the enemy in front of them, and then drive the German army out of the defense line along the German offensive route, then outflank the rear path of the German 2nd SS Panzer Army...Then the Soviet army can achieve a complete victory. victory.

Even the "Elephant" ("Tiger" tank) that the Soviet army cannot withstand will not be a problem... If the transportation and supply lines of the 2nd SS Panzer Army are cut off, then they will soon face no fuel and no artillery shells In such a desperate situation, the "Elephant" cannot exert its firepower no matter how thick its armor is.

It's a pity that all of this is just an illusion, a beautiful blueprint drawn by Qin Chuan for the Soviet commander.

In fact, from the beginning... Qinchuan made the Soviet army mistakenly think that the 48th Armored Division was a soft persimmon, making them think that they would definitely win on this side but had no reserve troops or defensive measures.

"Armored troops, advance!" Colonel Olbridge ordered over the walkie-talkie.

He personally boarded a "No. 4" tank to command this battle, not only because this was a decisive battle, but also because he needed to command the tank troops on site to coordinate with the ME63.

Tanks started up one after another, and then drove forward through the thick snow. The team launched an offensive front several kilometers wide from west to east, heading towards the Kovo Plain in a mighty way. Drive away.

This is another point that the Soviet army missed. In fact, the main force of the German armored forces never left. It was only an infantry division that outflanked the Soviet army from the right wing, that is, the Svka Highway. They used the same trick to "make" them with canvas, wood, etc. A group of fake tanks advanced.

Real tanks are actually always located south of the Kovo Plain.

The tank was advancing at a speed of five kilometers per hour, and several fighter planes flew overhead from time to time, flying in the direction of the Soviet army. The walkie-talkies kept transmitting instructions and intelligence from the headquarters:

"keep going!"

"The Soviets are four kilometers directly ahead, heading in our direction!"

"We have air superiority!"

…

This is the only time since the beginning of the war that the 48th Panzer Corps has received full coordination from the Luftwaffe... Before that, they had been hovering over the 2nd SS Panzer Corps.

Obviously, this time the situation is special.

Because everyone knows that the 48th Armored Corps will have a head-to-head confrontation with the enemy tank troops. Without air superiority, it will obviously suffer a big loss.

A few minutes later, the tank troops arrived at their destination, the Kovo Plain.

One by one, the tanks stopped at the border of the plain to prepare for battle... This is the defensive position carefully chosen by Colonel Olbridge.

The defensive position of a tank is different from that of an infantryman.

Infantry usually choose high ground. Needless to say, the reason is that standing high can see farther and it is easier to hide.

But tanks tend to die faster at high altitudes... A tank as big as a tank stands there like a target on high ground, waiting for enemy artillery and tanks to fire shells at it.

What's more serious is that because the tank gun's firing range has a certain range, especially the downward shooting angle is very small, and the high ground is often uneven, this will make it impossible for the tank to aim at the target and shoot on the high ground.

Therefore, a good tank position should have a relatively flat and wide terrain like here, which facilitates tank shooting and maneuvering. At the same time, most of the targets on the opposite side should be within the tank's shooting range. If there is a blind spot, there should be one or several A layout that can suppress dead angles, such as manually digging out several combat slopes.

However, the problem of blind spots does not exist here, because the Kovo Plain in front of them is empty and the entire snow-white world. Only the small bushes and highlands covered under the snow two kilometers away block the sight of the German soldiers.

It was very quiet all around, with only the mountain wind howling over the plains. From time to time, a few tornado-like snowflakes were rolled up on the plains and danced crazily in front of the German troops, seeming to laugh at these soldiers shivering in the cold wind. Is trying to escape them.

Finally, there was a faint "rumble" of a motor from the opposite side, and then it got closer and louder. The snow on the branches was shaken and fell down.

Then, with the sound of trees crashing, a T34 tank appeared in front of the German soldiers, then another, and another... Soon, there were Soviet tanks everywhere on the opposite side, with red flags flying on the tanks and The red five-pointed star on the turret looks particularly obvious in the snow.

Eberhard, who was next to Qin Chuan, put down his telescope and said, "The Soviets don't know how to hide themselves!"

"This is a good thing for us!" Qin Chuan said, "Especially the ME63 controller!"

"Of course!" said Eberhard.

Before he finished speaking, a dense whistling of artillery shells came from the sky, and then rows of artillery shells exploded in the German position.

The battle started instantly. The German artillery immediately suppressed the Soviet artillery. While the air force dropped bombs and fired at the Soviet artillery, it also sent some fighter planes to swoop and shoot at the Soviet tank group.

These fighters are HS-129 ground attack aircraft, a newly invented equipment of the German army, mainly developed to deal with large-scale Soviet tanks... It is equipped with a 30MM caliber cannon, which can attack the weak armor on the top of Soviet tanks from the air and will It was destroyed, so it got the title of "tank can opener".

However, as the armor of Soviet tanks became thicker and thicker, the caliber of the artillery they carried became larger and larger, and finally a 75MM anti-tank gun was moved on.

"Tank can openers" deserved their reputation. As soon as they swooped down, several T34 tanks emitted black smoke and caught fire under their firepower, and some even exploded on the spot.

Therefore, under the threat of such ground attack aircraft, the Soviet tanks immediately launched an offensive.

Suddenly, the entire Kovo Plain was filled with Soviet T34s.