The Rise of the Third Reich

"Go forward, go forward, go forward! Members of the Bolshevik Party, members of the Youth League, and Comrade Stalin's Red Army soldiers, we are going to destroy the evil Nazis!" Colonel Qiuxin, commander of the 1st Tank Brigade of the Soviet Red Army, stood on his T-shirt with high spirits. Inside the -34 command tank, he shouted loudly at the infantry commandos advancing on foot. Hundreds of T34 tanks of the 1st Tank Brigade followed closely behind the heroic tank brigade commander, advancing rapidly against the Polish wheat fields with their tracks.

"Speed ​​up the pace, victory will belong to the Soviets!" Colonel Qiuxin raised his fist high at the infantrymen assigned to the 1st Tank Brigade.

"Ula! Ula!" the soldiers cheered enthusiastically. They are all the most loyal Soviet soldiers and belong to the glorious 1st Tank Army.

Just look at the numbers and you will know that the 1st Tank Corps and the 1st Tank Brigade are definitely reputable teams in the Soviet Red Army. Their glorious history can be traced back to the 1st Cavalry Corps, the ace force during the Soviet Russian Civil War. The foundations of the 1st Tank Corps and 1st Tank Brigade were all the automobile corps of the 1st Cavalry Corps.

In the more than 20 years after the Soviet Civil War, as Stalin's own people (the First Cavalry Army was Stalin's old subordinate), he was always loved and cared for, even during the Great Purge era. Even the indicators of reactionary elements were not exempted. It is much smaller than other units, and the officer corps has remained stable. Therefore, the morale and combat effectiveness of the unit have always been the best in the Soviet Red Army.

During the Battle of Wovomin during the day on June 10, the arrival of the 1st Tank Brigade and the subsequent flanking of the German army became the key to reversing the situation on the battlefield. To this end, the Political Commissar of the Western Front Ponomarenko also signed a commendation order calling on all front forces to learn from the glorious 1st Tank Brigade.

Therefore, the 1st Tank Brigade is now at its peak momentum. No one realizes that they are about to face the most powerful and deadly armored force in the world!

"The morale of the Soviet people is very high!"

"So what? At the beginning of the war, the morale of the Poles, British and French was very high, but it didn't work when they encountered our German armored forces."

The armored command vehicle of Major Rudel, commander of the 501st Heavy Armored Battalion, was parked next to a Tiger heavy tank. The top hatch of the Tiger tank was open, and half of Captain von Nodel, commander of the 1st Heavy Tank Company of the 501st Battalion, leaned out and was talking to Major Rudel.

Both of them were veteran tank soldiers of the German Wehrmacht. They graduated from the tank soldier school two years before the outbreak of the world war and joined the 1st Armored Division and the 3rd Armored Division. Since then, we have fought all the way from the Polish Campaign, the Western Front Campaign, and the Balkan Campaign without suffering a single defeat. Now that he has become the commander of the powerful 501st Heavy Tank Battalion, of course he will not take Soviet tanks in his eyes.

And the troops they command today are indeed powerful, with the core being 55 Tiger tanks drawn from three heavy tank companies.

The Tigers in their hands are slightly different from the Tigers in history. The difference is mainly in armor protection. It's not vertical armor, but 45-60 degree inclined armor. The protection capabilities are even better. Not only are the Soviet tanks unable to penetrate their fronts, but even the armor on their flanks cannot be dealt with by the Soviet 76.2mm tank guns. The Tiger's 88mm Kwk36L/53 tank gun, when using capped armor-piercing projectiles (Pzgr39), can penetrate (50% probability) a 100mm thick homogeneous steel plate placed at an angle of 30 degrees at a distance of 1,000 meters. If a high-speed armor-piercing projectile with a tungsten core is used, it can penetrate a 138mm thick homogeneous steel plate placed at an angle of 30 degrees at a distance of 1,000 meters. There are few known tanks/assault guns with frontal armor capable of reaching the Tiger.

It can be said that except for its less than ideal mobility and a lot of various glitches, the Tiger tank is a very ideal tank.

However, these are only data on paper. How good the Tiger tank is still needs to be tested through actual combat.

"Major Rudel, the Soviet tanks are still advancing. They seem to be bypassing our left flank." The voice of Major Bernhard Schwandt, commander of the 505th Battalion, came from the earphones. The 1st Company of the 505th Battalion is also a Tiger tank company, deployed on the left flank of the 1st Company of the 501st Battalion. If the Soviet 1st Tank Brigade bypasses the left flank of the 1st Battalion, 505th Battalion, it can attack the back of the entire Steiner Group.

"Sir, we can't let them go around. Going around is the position of three smoke launcher regiments," Captain von Nodel immediately reminded Major Rudel, "So we must attack!"

The original plan was for 55 Tiger tanks to ambush the Soviet tanks, but the Soviet tanks made a big circle. It didn't look like they were going to attack the German flank, but they looked like they were going to spank the Germans.

Major Rudel quickly made a decision, "The 1st Company of the 501st Battalion, the 1st Company of the 505th Battalion, the 1st Company of the 503rd Battalion (actually only half a company of 11 Tigers), the SS 'Finland' armored grenade The bombardment battalion followed me forward, while the other troops stayed to continue guarding the line."

The movement of the 55 Tiger tanks made a lot of noise, and Colonel Qiushin, who was commanding the Soviet 1st Tank Brigade to make a detour, quickly received the report.

"Dozens of tanks? Great, the Nazis were fooled." Colonel Qiu Xin said happily.

It turned out that Major General Sokarov, commander of the 16th Mechanized Corps, had expected that the German armored forces would arrange escort tank units on their sides. If the 1st Tank Brigade charged hard, it would probably suffer heavy losses. So Sokarov played a clever trick and asked the 1st Tank Brigade to take an extra detour and pretend to make a big outflank, so that he could draw the German tanks out to fight.

"Attention, commanders of all tank battalions and tank companies," Colonel Qiu Xin used the radio on the T-34 command tank to issue an order to the battalion commanders and company commanders of the 1st Tank Brigade, "All companies turn to the left, charge formation , fight against the Nazi tanks! Comrades, attack for the cause of communism!”

"Ula!"

A cheer of "Ula" sounded in Colonel Qiuxin's earphones as the comrades responded to him. Then all the T-34 tanks completed the turn in a short period of time, from a company-based marching column to the simplest offensive line, and then scrambled to launch a fearless charge towards the German Tiger tanks.

Colonel Qiu Xin's tank and several other tanks belonging to the brigade company were marching behind the charging T-34 tanks. Qiu Xin looked at the hazy back of the T-34 tanks in the night, and his mood was extremely excited. Although the German tanks have powerful firepower, it is very difficult to hit a target 1,000 meters away at night when visibility is poor. It is considered good to be able to hit a target 300-500 meters with the help of flares.

For the T-34, this distance is just the blink of an eye. Once the T-34 and German tanks get close to each other for a melee, the T-34 can completely win with its advantages in numbers and mobility.

As long as these dozens of tanks are eliminated, the flanks of the German armored group will be completely exposed! Today's daytime victory in Wovomin will be repeated in Legionovo.

"Boom! Boom! Boom..."

Several illumination bombs were shot out by mortars by the Soviet infantry following the T-34 tank. In the blink of an eye, they exploded over the German tank group, emitting a pale white light and illuminating the majestic body of the lowered Tiger tank. .

"Oh my God, what kind of tank is this?" Colonel Qiu Xin was startled by the German tanks in front of him.

This is not the No. 4 tank! Not only is it much larger, but it also has sloped armor similar to the T-34, as if it were an enlarged version of the T-34 tank...

The German tanks formed a standard battle formation. Two companies of Tiger tanks were separated on the left and right with dozens of meters in between, forming two charging clusters. Behind the two charging groups was half a company of Tigers, forming a horizontal formation. Behind them was the headquarters of the 501st Battalion, and finally there were 6 No. 3 assault guns acting as rearguards.

Two German tank companies advancing side by side stopped less than 500 meters away from the Soviet T-34 tanks. Then, six No. 3 assault guns holding the line fired illumination flares, indicating the target for 44 Tiger tanks. Then these Tiger tanks fired a beautiful salvo. 44 capped armor-piercing rounds screamed through the air, exploding a fireball in the charge formation of the Soviet tanks.

These tank crews operating Tiger tanks are the elite of the elite. Although it is night, they can still achieve a very high hit rate with the help of flares. Eighteen T-34 tanks were shot in response. The penetration power of ordinary 88mm capped armor-piercing bullets at this distance cannot be resisted by the T-34. The shell easily penetrated the turret shield and frontal armor and exploded inside the vehicle body, instantly turning the seemingly indestructible T-34 tank into a huge burning fireball.

However, far beyond the expectations of the German tank soldiers, this group of brave Bolshevik tank soldiers were not intimidated by the sudden appearance of the huge tank and the power of the 88mm tank gun, and still charged at the German tanks at full power. It seems that it wants to rush to the Tiger tank and hit the thick "tiger skin" with the 76.2mm gun at close range.

However, the rapid and accurate shooting of the Tiger tank's main gun soon caused the brave Soviet Bolshevik warriors to pay a heavy price. The second, third, and fourth rounds of tank gunfire started in the blink of an eye, and the charging T-34s on the battlefield turned into burning fire cabinets.

The glorious 1st Tank Brigade of the Red Army suffered unprecedented heavy losses tonight!