USSR 1941

In the early morning of the third day, Shulka and others were sleeping soundly in the private house, snoring one after another, especially Uncle Alek, who was sleeping in the tank cabin, and he could snore even through the armor of the tank... …the fact that the tank doesn't have the hatch on, it's also kind of like a big amplifier making the snoring louder.

Suddenly, a shell exploded in the village.

No one paid attention to it, even if they were awakened, they turned around and continued to sleep. The reason was that it was not uncommon for stray bullets to enter the village these days, and the soldiers were used to it.

And then another shot, and another shot...

At this time, Shulka felt that something was wrong. The interval between these shells was very rhythmic. They were not like stray bullets but artillery test firing.

He sat up and listened sideways, and the old soldier woke up and looked at Shulka.

But there was no movement for a while, and the two thought they heard it wrong.

But at this time, there was a whistling of shells in the air, followed by a series of bombings. The shock waves of the shells made the tiles above the head "cough cough", and the dust on the wall fell down "swish".

"Ready for battle!" Shulka yelled.

In fact, there is no need for Shulka's order, the soldiers have already moved spontaneously... All they have to do is the infantry come out of the tank cabin and the tank soldiers return to their positions. After failing to get out several times, Fedosiev and another tank soldier dragged him out from left to right in a hurry and threw him to one side.

This made Uncle Alek a little dissatisfied, cursing, but at this time no one cared and he couldn't hear him scolding amidst the sound of gunfire.

Soon the fighters were ready.

However, they soon discovered that there was no need to be so anxious, because the enemy was fighting the infantry of the 316th Division on the outer line of defense.

The soldiers only heard the roar of artillery outside, and the sound of fighter planes diving from time to time, especially the unique whistle of the Stuka bomber diving.

Shulka and the instructor looked at each other, and then looked out through the window... The situation was not good, the rain stopped at some point, it seemed to be frozen in the sky, and the snow on the ground was not obvious enough, they The wet ground soon becomes half-thawed, and only the roof is covered with a thin layer.

This improves visibility, and the white-painted tank will look awkward if it is driven out.

Shulka immediately called Major Gavrilov.

Major Gavrilov also realized the seriousness of the problem.

"The weather is getting better!" said Major Gavrilov. "It's not a good thing for us!"

"Major, we should have the artillery battalion make some preparations!" Shulka said. "Let them spread white cloth on the ground or something!"

"Good idea!" Major Gavrilov replied, and hung up the phone immediately.

Soon the artillery battalion in the village did as Shulka said.

The Soviet army had a lot of white cloth, which was used to camouflage the troops, and was transported from the rear to the front line by car.

Moscow may lack equipment due to the encirclement and annihilation of a large number of troops, but there is no shortage of things like white cloth, and mobilizing workers can quickly mass-produce them.

Then……

The firewood piles, stones, mounds, and even the bushes were covered with white cloth, and the whole village soon became a piece of snow.

But at this time the German army still did not appear in front of the soldiers, and the sound of gunfire and artillery on the outer defense line was still fierce.

"Those infantrymen!" said the old soldier, "they fought hard!"

"How many are there?" the actor couldn't help asking.

"A battalion!" Shulka replied.

This situation also surprised Shulka. According to the previous practice, the Soviet infantry should collapse quickly under the impact of the enemy's armored forces.

Later, Shulka learned that apart from the bravery of the 316 Infantry Division from Kazakhstan, another reason was that they were equipped with PTRD anti-tank guns... The German armored divisions were also equipped with many "No. 2" tanks in the early days. It makes up for the lack of front-line tanks, and in the muddy ground, the Germans prefer to use the lighter "No. 2" tanks for assault, because they are worried that the "No. 3" tanks will be stuck in the mud and cannot move.

This gives the PTRD anti-tank gun a chance to play.

This anti-tank gun can penetrate 25MM thick vertical armor at a distance of 500 meters, while the side armor of the "No. 2" tank is only 16MM thick.

Although the "No. 2" tank has 30MM frontal armor, the PTRD anti-tank rifle can still penetrate it from the front at about 200 meters.

This is definitely a tragedy for the German armored forces... The enemy only needs to set up a gun and a rifle. Although it is two meters long and weighs 17 kilograms, it needs two people to carry it one after the other, but it is after all. A gun that can maneuver quickly.

The bullet it fires can open a hole in the tank and disable the tank, which is unacceptable in any case.

In particular, the soldiers of the 316th Infantry Division also adopted a tactic... They combined several anti-tank guns to attack the same target, so that the probability of destroying the target could be increased exponentially.

As a result, the "No. 2" tanks were paralyzed on the way to attack. The German army didn't even know the reason for a long time, thinking that the tanks were malfunctioning.

The "No. 3" tank advanced hard in the mud, but was blocked by the "Katyusha" rocket and defeated.

But the PTRD anti-tank gun has some weak successors...

First of all, it is basically ineffective against the "No. 3" tank, and it cannot penetrate its 37MM frontal armor at any distance.

Secondly, the recoil force of this anti-tank gun is too large, and the shoulder feels like being kicked by a donkey at the moment of firing.

In the case of a shooter, it is usually to fire a bullet with the right shoulder, then switch to the other shoulder and fire a bullet with the left shoulder, and then switch back to the right shoulder and fire again.

After three bullets, the human body has basically reached its limit, and the shooter is unable to fight and should go to the hospital to recuperate.

Therefore, after about twenty minutes, when the German army launched the second wave of offensive, the troops of the 316th Division gradually became exhausted.

Colonel Katukov was leading the battle from Tver... He had to be in Tver, and only he could fool the others in Tver.

As soon as he heard the report, he ordered the antiaircraft artillery battalion to retreat to the line of defense.

Then he made a phone call to the 316th Division headquarters.

"You should retreat!" Colonel Katukov said: "Withdraw the troops on the outer defense line!"

"I'm about to send reinforcements there!" Panfilov, the commander of the 316th Division, replied: "We can't lose there!"

"Don't worry, Comrade Panfilov!" Katukov replied: "We will not lose ground, you can prepare the reserve team to counterattack!"

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