The Rise of the Third Reich

At the same time that the German troops commanded by Skorzeny invaded the Port of Carbonear and started street fighting with the American defenders.

There was a rumble of artillery in the distance, which indicated that the American armored forces coming from the east had launched an assault on the defensive positions deployed by the German paratroopers!

The shells fired by the M12 self-propelled artillery (155mm caliber) and M7 self-propelled artillery (105mm caliber) fell on the loose German front lines, and violent explosions made the earth tremble. Everyone, including Brandt and Mitterrand, was huddled in the foxholes, holding their helmets on their heads with both hands, enduring what seemed like endless artillery bombardment.

However, the American artillery fire was not accurate, and most of the artillery shells landed at the front line of the German front. This was because half an hour ago, the American leading troops stepped on landmines there. The main purpose of the artillery attack now is actually to Clear the minefields laid by the German army and open a channel for the tanks to advance.

Perhaps because the U.S. armored forces that trekked through the night did not carry many artillery shells, their first bombardment ended in less than 15 minutes. Brandt knew that after the artillery attack, there must be a charge by armored and infantry groups. So regardless of the ringing in his ears, he jumped out of his hidden foxhole and ran along the battle line while shouting: "Prepare to fight, report losses!"

The German paratroopers who had not been killed in the previous shelling responded loudly.

"No loss!"

"No loss!"

"An M2 machine gun is damaged!"

"Someone is hurt!"

"Oh, God, help me..."

"Oh my god, it seems like Carl can't move. He's dead..."

Losses and casualties have already occurred. One M2 heavy machine gun captured from the Americans was lost, 2 people were seriously injured, and 1 person was killed. For a paratrooper platoon of less than 40 people, this loss is not light.

"Rescue soldiers, rescue the wounded..."

While the Germans were busy preparing for battle and rescuing the wounded, an American M4A3 medium tank appeared in front of Brandt's position under the cover of night. Three more M4A3 tanks roared in, followed by more than ten or twenty American infantrymen behind these four tanks.

The A3 model of the M4 tank is a fairly mature model. Although it is a medium tank, it has a total combat weight of 33.65 tons, which is far more than the German medium tank Type 4 H. Moreover, the M4 tank was developed relatively late, and it is not the first medium tank in the United States (the No. 4 is Germany's first medium tank, so there are many flaws in the design), but the M4 tank is based on the M3 Grant Lee medium tank. Developed on the basis of), the design is very good and all indicators are very balanced.

The A3 improved model of the M4 is a more excellent medium tank than the original model. It has an M1 76mm L/52 gun that is quite powerful. When using sub-caliber high-explosive armor-piercing projectiles (similar to pointed tungsten core armor-piercing projectiles) At that time, the vertical penetration depth at a distance of 500 meters can reach 208mm (homogeneous steel plate), and the vertical penetration depth at a distance of 1,000 meters can reach 175mm (homogeneous steel plate), which can theoretically penetrate the front armor of the E-50A heavy tank !

In addition to satisfactory firepower, the defense of the M4A3 tank is also quite good. The 47-degree inclined armor on the front can provide a large inclination effect, which is equivalent to a 90mm armor steel plate installed at a right angle. And due to the use of quite good bulletproof steel plates, the actual protection capability exceeds that of 100mm homogeneous steel plates. The M4A3's turret front has 89mm of vertical armor. Although it is not as good as the Tiger and E-50, it far exceeds the turret front armor of the Type 4 H tank.

If this type of balanced M4A3 encounters German armored soldiers and armored grenadiers, it will not actually be able to exert much power. Because after the baptism of the Soviet-German war, the German Wehrmacht Army, which owns most of Europe's production capacity, has comprehensively upgraded their armored forces. E-50 tanks, E-25 tank destroyers and Jaguar tank destroyers have become the main equipment. They are not enemies that medium tanks can deal with at all. But now it is the paratroopers with relatively weak firepower who have to fight against the M4A3 tanks. It is obvious that they have a hard battle to fight.

Brandt put down the night vision telescope in his hand (including a monocular night vision telescope and an infrared spotlight mounted on the telescope), bent down on the battle line and ran to the emplacement of the captured 57mm gun, and placed himself The night vision binoculars and the battery on his back were handed over to the temporary gunner. Then he pointed to the tank at the front and said: "Open fire in a moment. Use the Americans' own pointed armor-piercing bullets. Fire from 400 meters. You must hit the target!"

The United States is not yet able to produce discarding sabot armor-piercing projectiles in large quantities because this type of artillery shell was developed by the British and was not completed before the fall of the British mainland, so the Americans have not obtained this technology. It was not until the Soviet Union provided the United States with captured German sabots that the Americans began to imitate them. However, trial production has just been completed and mass production has not yet been completed.

However, the American pointed armor-piercing projectiles (Americans call them sub-caliber high-explosive armor-piercing projectiles) are still very good. The 57mm pointed armor-piercing projectiles can also penetrate vertical 91mm homogeneous steel plates at a distance of 1,000 meters, and can threaten the United States at a distance of 400 meters. People have their own M4A3 tanks.

This distance was a little closer when fighting during the day, but now it is late at night. For the German army with night vision equipment, 400 meters is just right - the night vision equipment used by individual soldiers can now be guaranteed to be at a maximum distance of 400 meters. See the outline of the tank clearly.

The gunner nodded and immediately directed his artillerymen to stuff a pointed armor-piercing bullet produced by the Americans into the barrel of the gun.

Brandt continued running and arrived at a mounted MG42 machine gun on the side of the battle line. Now the German paratrooper machine gunners are also equipped with night vision devices (as are the company commanders and platoon commanders), which can accurately attack 400 people at night when visibility is extremely poor. Target within meters.

"Are you ready?" Brandt asked loudly.

The machine gunner nodded, and Brandt ordered: "Aim at the tank at the front! Don't fire yet, wait until the Yankee tank crew comes out before firing."

"Understood." With the help of night vision goggles, the machine gunner pointed the muzzle of the MG42 at the tank at the front, but did not fire.

"boom!"

At this moment, the M1 57mm anti-tank gun opened fire. However, at a distance of 400 meters, night vision devices are available, and the American-made M1 anti-tank gun is a complete copycat of the British 17-pounder gun. It is also equipped in the German army. German paratroopers have learned how to use it, so there is no such thing as shooting. Possibility of not winning.

The shell hit the front of the American M4A3 tank at once, and then a ball of fire flashed out. It seemed that it penetrated the armor. The American tank moved forward one or two meters based on inertia, and then stopped. However, the damaged tank did not fire a big explosion. The hatches on the turret and the top of the body were then pushed open, and four shocked crew members climbed out.

It turned out that the 57mm pointed armor-piercing projectile penetrated the armor plate on the front of the tank and then hit the tank's gearbox - the gearboxes of this era were very large, and most of them were installed on the front of the tank body, which just blocked the tank's driver. . The explosive power of the 57mm pointed armor-piercing projectile is limited and cannot shatter the huge and strong gearbox. Instead, the explosive power is absorbed by the gearbox. So except for the driver who was stunned, the other four crew members all ran out. Of course, the damage to the vehicle is not serious. It only needs to replace the front armor steel plate and gearbox before it can be used normally.

However, the battle-hardened German paratroopers had long expected this situation. Just when the feet of the four tank crew members who were about to escape from the battlefield landed on the ground, continuous, ear-piercing gunfire, as if tearing linen cloth, suddenly rang out. The bullets from the MG42 machine gun flew towards the four poor American tank soldiers like locusts, and they hit them very accurately, knocking them all down at once and turning them into corpses covered with blood holes.

The sudden attack by German paratroopers obviously frightened the Americans - most of them were on the battlefield for the first time and were easily frightened - not only did the three tanks that were not hit by bullets did not dare to move forward, even the tanks that followed them The infantry behind also stopped moving forward. But facing the German machine guns firing in the dark, these American freedom fighters did not dare to rush out from behind the tanks and fire back. Instead, they all huddled behind the tanks.

However, the three M4A3 tanks that had stopped moving began to fight back. The first one to fire was the 7.62mm machine gun on the front of the vehicle, and then the 76.2mm main gun began to fire violently. Several mortars placed behind the attacking US troops began to fire illumination bombs, illuminating a large battlefield as if it were daytime.

As for the German paratroopers, the 57mm anti-tank gun had completed loading and aiming again, and fired again. The shell flew in the direction where the muzzle flash kept flashing in the night, and then there was a loud "bang" sound. The shell hit the armored steel plate on the front of an M4A3 tank, but it did not penetrate!

"Damn it, it didn't penetrate." Brandt heard the sound of the shell hitting the steel plate and knew it didn't penetrate. He immediately realized that this American tank was not easy to deal with and was probably stronger than the Soviet T-34 series.

"Boom! Boom!"

The American 76.2mm artillery shells fell continuously around the German 57mm anti-tank gun. It was obvious that they had discovered the artillery and were now trying to destroy it with 76.2mm grenades.

Just as the impact point of the American shells was getting closer and closer to the 57mm gun, Brandt suddenly heard a low but powerful motor roar coming from behind. It turned out that an E-25 tank destroyer and a Type 4 H tank drove up to support the German paratroopers in the battle.