USSR 1941

The Cossack's injury was not a hindrance, but Shulka's kick was not light, which made him walk with a limp.

But that's all, this is hardly an injury on the battlefield, especially in the Soviet army.

The bigger problem is that the bridge deck was blocked by enemy artillery fire, and several tanks were destroyed on the road when they drove up. After a while, the bridge deck was full of tank wreckage and the corpses of Soviet soldiers.

Major Zakhakovic and Major Gavrilov ran up from behind, leaned out with their binoculars and looked at the opposite side for a while, and then retreated.

They called Shulka before hiding in a section of ruins.

"It's an armored train!" said Major Gavrilov.

"And it is equipped with an 88MM anti-aircraft gun!" Major Zaha Kavic added: "Only this kind of gun can penetrate the T34 at a distance of 300 meters!"

Armored trains... Shulka was no stranger to the term, but he hadn't given it much thought.

Because Shulka knows that this is a kind of backward equipment, just like battleships are slowly being eliminated.

Needless to say what the reason is, it relies too much on the railway, and it is too large and difficult to hide. In the absence of air supremacy, it is basically the target of the enemy's air power.

Battleships are almost in the same situation... Before the advent of aircraft carriers, naval battles basically depended on warships themselves, so the thinking of "big gun ships" was correct.

However, with the development of aircraft carriers, naval warfare has become a battle between the enemy and our carrier-based aircraft. The cannons of battleships are almost useless, and the heavy armor is not much different for bombers. Become the target of the bombers.

As a modern person, Shulka is habitually ignoring those things that will be eliminated.

But being a warrior of this era, Shulka found it impossible to ignore them.

For example, now, the German army has air supremacy and uses it to guard the bridge deck, so this armored train has become a sharp weapon.

"See how many knots it has?" Major Gavrilov asked.

"Twelve festivals!" Major Zahakavic seemed to have studied this. He used a flashlight as a light source, and then introduced while drawing: "A armored train like this usually puts the power locomotive in the middle.

This can reduce the risk of being attacked by the enemy and lose power. Next to it, there will be a tender tank to store coal, water and supplies. Further outside, there will be a command car, an anti-aircraft fire car and an anti-armor car. It is usually symmetrical on both sides to facilitate back and forth combat and command! "

The last sentence is more difficult to understand. Simply put, if the two sides are symmetrical, it is the same for the armored train to go one way or the other way, and the combat units are the same, so the command will not be so complicated.

"Can it be blown up with artillery fire?" asked Major Gavrilov.

"It's very difficult!" Major Zahakavic shook his head and said, "They are all covered with armor, and it is difficult for shells to damage them... If it doesn't directly hit the power compartment, it can be activated in principle! "

Shulka understood what Major Zahakovich meant.

The train is composed of carriages. The other carriages are not critical. It doesn’t matter if they are hit or even penetrated. At worst, the whole carriage can be thrown away. The other carriages still have combat effectiveness when they are connected together. They can also stop the fourth tank brigade. Can't move forward.

"What's more!" Major Zakhakovic continued: "The armored train is a mobile unit, and it is difficult for us to grasp its position and destroy it!"

Major Gavrilov nodded in agreement. For example, before he could see clearly just now, the armored train retreated into the building and disappeared under his nose.

If this is covered by artillery fire... it can only be a blind attack without a target.

"Comrade Zakhakovic!" At this moment, the messenger reported: "The attack on the No. 2 bridge was blocked, and they found the enemy's armored train!"

Major Zahakavic looked at Shulka and others, and then said: "This is the advantage of the armored train. It can block two bridges in two fronts with its own speed!"

"What if we attack both bridges at the same time?" asked Major Gavrilov.

Major Zahakavic shook his head and said, "Unless we can break through the enemy's line of defense within a few minutes!"

Minutes...it's almost impossible.

First of all, the narrow bridge deck is only more than 20 meters wide, which can barely accommodate three tanks advancing side by side.

In fact, when attacking, you don't dare to attack with three tanks side by side, because it will easily block the bridge deck and cause trouble for yourself.

Therefore, the impact of the Soviet offensive was obviously insufficient.

Secondly, the German army does not rely entirely on the 88MM anti-aircraft guns of the armored trains... They will definitely deploy many anti-tank guns on the bridgehead on the opposite bank, and these tank guns are aimed at the bridge deck from all directions. Concentrate on destroying it.

After thinking about it, Shulka said, "If it is difficult to destroy the armored train, can we consider destroying the rails?"

We all know that armored trains rely heavily on rails, starting from the rails is to hit it seven inches.

But this idea was quickly rejected by Major Zaha Kavic.

"It's possible to destroy the rails!" said Major Zakhakovic. "The problem is that the Germans know that too, so they must have spare rails, and probably more than one!"

Major Gavrilov agreed: "It is conceivable that they may have engineers and lumber to build the rails, and the engineers will repair the rails while the armored trains use the spare rails, and so on... We will be blocked here until dawn. !"

Needless to say, what will happen at dawn, the German "Stuka" bombers will swoop down one by one and blow up the Soviet T34.

Then, Major Zahakovic, Shulka and others thought of a solution but were quickly overthrown one by one.

For example, Major Zakhakovic reported the situation to Rokossovsky, hoping that the 32nd Army could flank the Germans and put pressure on them.

But the reply he received disappointed everyone.

"The 32nd Army is already attacking the enemy!" Rokossovsky replied: "But they are running out of ammunition, and it is difficult to break through the enemy's defenses to help you!"

Before that, the 32nd Army could not break through the enemy's defenses, and it is certainly impossible to do so now.

Another example is that Major Gavrilov suggested building a pontoon bridge to attack from elsewhere... But not to mention the time limit, the pontoon bridge can easily be blown up by enemy artillery fire.

Not to mention that the pontoon bridge was blown up by artillery fire, it is very dangerous to cross the tank itself on the pontoon bridge, not to mention that when the pontoon bridge was erected, the German army could also erect the rails to the opposite side and block it with armored trains.

So the battle situation fell into a dead end.