The decisive battle against the Third Reich

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In this case, the Soviet army was helpless. To be precise, the Soviet tanks were helpless.

The reason is that their chassis are located in tank fortifications and are difficult to move.

They can actually move, because this kind of tank fortification is more about digging a hole in the ground. After the tank is driven in, it is stacked with sandbags rather than actually buried... This is so that in case of emergency, these tanks can still move from Maneuver out of the fortifications.

But they dare not act rashly. Moving means that the target is larger and easier to be destroyed by the enemy.

So they can only stay where they are.

They wanted to fight back, but the visibility inside the tank was too poor. It was still dark at this time, not to mention that the enemy was still completely covered in white camouflage and could not be detected.

If there is ever a time when the enemy's position can be detected, it is the moment when the ME63 flies towards the tank after being launched.

But at this time, the tank crew was more concerned not with adjusting the muzzle to the target, but whether the rocket would hit them.

If you're lucky, the rocket misses, and when the tank crew comes to their senses and adjusts the muzzle, it becomes pitch black again and they can't find the target.

As a result, the Soviet tanks could only wait in place, waiting for rockets one after another to fly over their heads with flames, or to explode near the tanks... If they hit the tanks, they would not No more waiting required.

Some Soviet tank crews finally couldn't hold it any longer, and started the tank with a "boom" sound to break free from the fortifications in the hope of escaping from this hopeless battlefield... But this would only speed up its destruction...

With a few "whoosh" roars, the tank was blown up in the wake of ME63 and burst into flames. The effect it can play is that the fire and subsequent violent explosions affect the operator's sight for a period of time and thus reduce the hit rate.

In desperation, the Soviet army even organized a counterattack against the German army.

This is indeed a method, because the German army conducts "fixed-point clearing" in the form of commandos, so there are not many troops entering the position, except for the ME63 group, which are some engineers.

However, the German army had already prepared cover troops below the high ground. Light and heavy machine guns fired at the high ground. In addition, the commandos were still equipped with STG44, so a dense rain of bullets soon swept over the high ground. They fell to the ground row by row, and soon there were corpses of Soviet soldiers everywhere in front of the position. Some even slid along the slope and snow layer to the German soldiers who were ambushing in the snow.

Qin Chuan looked at the battle situation with a telescope and said, "We can withdraw the troops!"

"But Lieutenant Colonel..." Eberhard asked doubtfully: "There are still some tanks that have not been cleared out!"

"That's not important, Major!" Qin Chuan said: "The remaining Soviet tanks no longer pose much of a threat to us! What's important is our ME63!"

"You mean..."

"Yes!" Qin Chuan nodded: "The reason why the Soviets launched a counterattack like this is more importantly, they hope to capture a few ME63s. If they are lucky, they can capture a few prisoners back, so that they will know about the ME63s. Weaknesses can even be used to imitate it, do you understand?”

Eberhard's expression changed, he responded hurriedly, and then gave the order to retreat.

Qinchuan was right. The Soviet army did intend to capture several ME63s, and this order was personally issued by the commander of the front army, General Vatugin.

His original words were: "Seize the enemy's new weapons at all costs, even if it means sacrificing a regiment or even losing the entire line of defense!"

As a general who is good at commanding tank troops in combat, Vatutin is well aware of the disadvantages of this weapon that can track tanks, change their trajectory and accurately hit the target.

Therefore, after thinking about it for a while, he believed that what was important now was not the defense lines, troops or even tanks, but the secret of this new German equipment.

If you don't know the secrets of this new equipment and formulate targeted tactics, then this battle will inevitably fail... because the enemy can suppress your own tanks at will but you have nothing to do.

Then, the infantry will just be slaughtered in front of the enemy tanks.

Vatutin's idea is right, and it can even be said to be more far-sighted than Stalin's idea of ​​holding the third line of defense.

But it is a pity that Vatutin did lose the third line of defense and also lost a division, but he did not get the secret of the "new weapon"... In the early morning of the next day, the German 21st Armored Division was surrounded by fighters and bombers. Under the cover of the enemy, they launched an attack on the Soviet defense line.

Since the anti-tank guns and a considerable number of tanks had been cleared, the battle was fought easily. It took the Germans more than half an hour to break through the Soviet defenses and capture more than 3,000 Soviet soldiers, including even There were also more than thirty tanks buried in the fortifications... They had no time to get out of the fortifications and escape, so they were left where they were by the tank crews. Most of them were not destroyed, that is, they fell into the hands of the Germans intact.

In fact, the Soviet tank soldiers at this time abandoned their tanks at every turn. Another reason was that they believed that their tanks were just targets for the enemy.

If that's the case, what's the point of keeping or driving these tanks into battle? It's just an iron coffin!

As a soldier, perhaps the most helpless thing is losing confidence in your equipment.

While the 21st Armored Division was following the Soviet army in pursuit and fighting, the 4th Armored Army headquarters changed direction.

Kirchner glanced at Walter with a proud smile, straightened his back and loudly reported to General Holt: "General, the 48th Armor has broken through the enemy's defense line and is expected to arrive at Yakovlei in three hours. Wo Highway!”

General Holt looked at the map, then nodded: "Very good, you are even half a day ahead of schedule!"

Then General Hoth turned to Walter and asked: "Where is the 2nd SS Panzer Army now?"

"Still on the third line of defense, general!" Walter replied with a slight embarrassment: "We are in a difficult situation in Bekovka. The enemy's defense is very tight..."

"Lieutenant General!" General Holt interrupted Walter: "As far as I know, the 48th Armored Corps has encountered many more enemies than you. The Soviets even mobilized an entire elite tank army to deal with them. And all you face is the defense line... It only took the 48th Armored Corps one night to break through, but you were delayed there for several days!"

Walter looked pale, but had nothing to say, because the fact was before his eyes that the equipment of the 2nd SS Armored Corps was much better than that of the 48th Armored Corps.

At this moment, Lieutenant General Kirchner asked again: "Lieutenant General Walter, do you need us to reinforce you? I think my subordinates still have enough strength!"