The Rise of the Third Reich

"Boom! Boom!"

The German E-25 tank destroyer and Type 4 H tank both opened fire. Whether it was the 70-caliber 75mm gun of the E-25 tank destroyer or the 48-caliber 75mm gun of the Type 4 H tank, they were both powerful. It is not comparable to the 57mm gun. The former fires tungsten core armor-piercing projectiles that can penetrate the front of the Soviet IS-2 heavy tank at a distance of 1500mm, and the M4A3 tank cannot resist it at all. The latter carries only two types of ammunition: armor-piercing shelling and high-explosive ammunition - this is a special configuration to enhance the combat capabilities of the Type 4 H tank of the Air Assault Army. It also has enough firepower to destroy the Type 4 H tank. .

Since the tank soldiers who joined the 1st Air Assault Corps are all veterans, and the firing range is not far away, within 1,000 meters (because of the use of night vision equipment, they can hit targets within 1,000 meters at night without the use of flares), so E The shells fired by No. 25 and No. 4 H-types both hit. Two more M4A3 tanks were destroyed in front of Brandt's position, but these two tanks also did not explode. Like the one destroyed by the 57mm gun before, they just stopped there and stopped moving.

Two tanks were lost at once, and the attacking Americans were obviously frightened. The last tank did not dare to fight anymore, but roared backwards. The American soldiers who originally followed the four tanks also fled together.

Seeing the Americans retreating, the German paratroopers also stopped firing. On the one hand, it was because the night was too dark to see the target (because they had night vision goggles, the German paratroopers did not fire flares, but when the opponent withdrew their night vision goggles Once the effective range is reached, the target cannot be seen clearly); on the one hand, it is to seize the time to transfer positions - as soon as the American tanks and infantry withdraw, the artillery bombardment will definitely begin! This time they will definitely not be stingy with artillery shells, so they cannot just stay in position and get bombed.

So they retreated back like the Americans. This brief round of firefight did not cause casualties to Brandt's platoon, but the previous shelling cost Brandt three men. On the American side, the losses were not very large. Three tanks were abandoned after being shot (they can be repaired), and a dozen tank crews were lost.

However, these loss figures are not on the entire front. The losses of the German and German armies are only on the 700-meter front that Brandt was responsible for. Firefights of the same scale occurred on the entire front, and the exchange ratio between the two sides was similar to that on the front where Brandt was responsible, which greatly favored the German army. After all, German paratroopers are experienced veterans, while most of the U.S. troops are recruits who are fighting for the first time.

But the comparison of firepower between the two sides is extremely disparate! Therefore, the German troops who had won the first battle retreated about 1,500 meters across the board. Although they escaped a fierce shelling during this retreat, they also lost their position. Because the defense was deployed too hastily, the German paratroopers did not have time to dig a few trenches. They only dug some foxholes and built some simple firepower points, but now they have all been discarded.

However, in a battle between mechanized infantry and armored forces, a solid position is not a necessary condition for a decisive victory.

After abandoning their defensive positions, the German paratroopers obtained some more landmines and took advantage of the American shelling to bury them in front of the new line of defense. These mines could be used to delay the pursuit of the US military.

At the same time, 29 E-25 tank destroyers and No. 4 H tanks all drove to the front line. However, they did not spread out for cold shots, but concentrated in the center of the battle line. After the previous test fire, the German army It is basically determined that the focus of the US military's attack will be on the center. So now we can concentrate our armored forces to give the Americans a hard blow!

29 tanks and tank destroyers pulled out a line of less than 1,000 meters. More than a hundred 57mm guns (captured) and 105mm recoilless rifles were loosely placed on both sides of the defense line.

Second Lieutenant Brandt and more than 30 of his men have now become "armored grenadiers" covering armored group operations, and are attached to the "Schwarzenegger Group". This is a regimental-level armored battle group named after the surname of Lieutenant Colonel Gustav Schwarzenegger, commander of the 101st Air Assault Battalion. In addition to 29 tanks and tank destroyers, there are more than 20 wheeled armored vehicles and command vehicles, including artillery "Puma" armored vehicles.

Brandt's platoon was assigned to a tank destroyer platoon with four E-25 tank destroyers. With the help of the dim night, Brandt observed this seemingly low-looking steel behemoth. Its appearance is somewhat similar to the "Stalker" and the "Oliga Hammer", but it is obviously "fatter" and the main gun is longer, reaching 70 times the caliber - which means stronger penetration ability !

In addition, each E-25 tank destroyer is equipped with two blackened searchlights. Brandt knew that these were infrared searchlights, which allowed the German army using infrared night vision telescopes to see targets 1,000 meters away in the dark!

Now four E-25s are lined up in a row, and all eight infrared headlights have been turned on. With the help of these eight infrared headlights, Brandt can use his night telescope to see farther targets.

Soon the U.S. armored forces' attack began again, and this time the Americans seemed to be serious about it. As soon as the shelling stopped, Brandt heard the roar of tank engines in the distance. After a while, Brandt saw through the eyepiece of the night vision telescope several big tanks that looked obviously different from M4 tanks - the turrets and main guns of these tanks looked very large, and they looked very big from a distance. It looks a bit like the Soviet JS-2 "Stalin" tank!

Brandt immediately put down the night vision binoculars in his hand, turned around and ran to an E-25 tank destroyer with the top hatch open, and looked at an SS second lieutenant who was half leaning out of the hatch on the top of the body. Shouted: "Lieutenant Schmidt, did you see it? American heavy tanks!"

"I saw it, it's their T-26 tank." The SS second lieutenant surnamed Schmidt was also observing through a night vision telescope clamped on the top of the vehicle, "But they are unlucky when they encounter the E-25... …The E-25 was built to deal with big guys like this.”

"But there seem to be a lot of them!" Brandt was worried.

What is now appearing on the battlefield is the M-26 "Pershing" tank (an improved version of the T-26), with a total combat weight of 41.9 tons, equipped with a 90mm cannon with a caliber of 70 times, and the ability to destroy E-E-2 at a distance of 1,000 meters. 50 tank strength.

In fact, this kind of heavy tank was developed to deal with the E-50, but what they encountered tonight was the E-50's little brother, the E-25. If it were daytime, the E-25 with a total combat weight of only 27 tons would definitely not be able to deal with the huge M26. Fortunately, it is night.

"Don't be afraid of more," Lieutenant Schmidt said. "It's night now. We have night vision equipment, but they don't!"

"Ta-ta-ta..."

The conversation between the two was interrupted by a burst of piercing gunfire. The fire was from the coaxial machine gun of an E-25 tank destroyer. The tracer bullet was like a shining chain, slamming into the front of the huge tank, causing a shower of sparks. . Then there was a "boom" sound, and a 75mm-caliber pointed tungsten core bullet slammed into the 120mm-thick upper armor plate on the front of an M26 tank more than 800 meters away, and penetrated effortlessly. The shell exploded inside the vehicle body. Although there was no explosive ammunition, the seemingly indestructible tank still lost its combat effectiveness in an instant.

The E-25 that opened fire first was personally controlled by Lieutenant Colonel Schwarzenegger, and was the signal for all to open fire.

Seeing the first hit, the remaining E-25 tanks and No. 4 H tanks also opened fire immediately. Bullets from the coaxial machine gun and 75mm armor-piercing bullets were fired out like raindrops. The seven or eight "Pershing" and "Sherman" tanks rushing in front were immediately enveloped in them, and they were hit by bullets and burst into flames!

Perhaps the effortless destruction of the "Pershing" tank frightened the US military, and all American tanks on the battlefield stopped advancing at the same time. Then a row of flares came over, illuminating the center of the battlefield and the surroundings of the German tank group as if it were daytime.

"Boom! Boom! Boom..."

German tanks/tank destroyers continued to fire, and several more "Pershings" and "Shermans" were hit, and two of the tanks exploded, igniting fires. The remaining American tanks had used the light of flares to find the position of the German tanks and began to rotate their turrets.

"Smoke bombs! Fire up the smoke bombs!" Lieutenant Colonel Schwarzenegger, standing in a Steyr command vehicle, shouted into the communicator.

His order was not given to paratroopers like Brandt, but directly to various types of tanks on the battlefield. It turns out that smoke launchers are installed on armored combat vehicles such as the E-25 tank destroyer, No. 4H tank, and Puma armored vehicle, and the smoke grenades can be directly controlled by the vehicle commander.

In fact, this design existed in the early days of World War II. However, at that time, German armored vehicles had an advantage on the battlefield and did not encounter many threats, so they hid this design to avoid being copied by their opponents. It was not until the end of the Soviet-German War that the German Wehrmacht Armored Command installed the smoke launchers that had been hidden away for several years on tanks and armored vehicles, preparing to use smoke to cover tank transfers in the subsequent battles in the Americas.

Therefore, it was the first time that the American tank soldiers encountered a smoke-emitting tank on the battlefield. Facing the battlefield that suddenly became filled with smoke, they were a little dazed and didn't know where to fire their guns.

Taking advantage of the opponent's daze, Schwarzenegger immediately issued an order to retreat - the capital in his hand was too small and it was impossible for him to fight head-on with the Americans. As long as it can be delayed until the main force of the 1st Air Assault Army captures Port Carbonear and Port Grays, it will be considered complete.