USSR 1941

Tanks drove into the pocket array set up by the Russian army one by one.

Of course, this is not what the German army saw. What they saw was that their tanks successfully broke through the enemy's defense line under the cover of T34, and there was a wilderness in front of them where tanks were allowed to gallop.

Just as Major General Funk ordered, the German infantry followed closely from behind, using the weapons in their hands to wipe out the remaining enemy infantry in trenches and bomb craters.

What surprised the German soldiers was that the resistance they encountered this time seemed to be much weaker than before. For example, they didn’t see many Molotov cocktails. Of course, it will not do much damage to the tank, but the German infantry should pay attention to avoid it.

But this doesn't seem to be surprising, because this is the main force of the 7th Armored Division, and there are still a few T34s ahead, and those Ivans obviously didn't expect to face their own tanks.

Therefore, Colonel Eden, the head of the 25th Armored Regiment, ordered loudly in the walkie-talkie: "Keep in formation and keep up with the T34 in front!"

At this time, Colonel Aiden seemed to have some understanding of what the Russian tank troops were doing. The few tanks without communication equipment could almost be said to be units other than the attacking force... They didn't consider the "three" behind them at all. No. 1" and "No. 4" tanks have been left by them for a long distance.

(Note: The tracks of T34 are nearly 50 cm wide, which is 38 cm wider than that of "No. 3" and 40 cm of "No. 4". Therefore, although T34 is heavier than "No. 3" and "No. 4", it has poor off-road and passability better)

But that didn't seem to matter much, Colonel Eden thought, since the fighting was now over and it remained a matter of where the Russians could stop the 7th Armored Division.

However, at this moment, a "T34" stopped with a loud "boom" and smoke.

"Anti-tank gun!" Colonel Eden shouted: "Two hundred meters, one o'clock!"

Colonel Eden saw a puff of smoke rising from that position.

Immediately, three tanks stopped, adjusted their muzzles to aim at the position, and then "boomed" a few grenades.

Then they realized how stupid they were. The camouflage was blown away after the flash of the grenade... It was not an anti-tank gun at all, but a turret of a tank, and it was also a turret of a T34 tank.

They actually used grenades to shoot at the enemy T34 tanks!

"Tank, that's a tank!" Colonel Eden shouted: "Enemy T34, change to armor-piercing shells, and shoot at close range! Command Captain Daniel..."

Captain Daniel is the company commander who commanded the captured T34. Colonel Aiden hopes that they can go up and destroy the target.

But as soon as Colonel Eden shouted, he realized that he could not command, because Captain Daniel in T34 could not hear his orders at all.

But to Colonel Aiden's relief, Captain Daniel spontaneously led the T34 towards the target.

That's one of the reasons why Colonel Eden put a captain and company commander in command of the five tanks...Daniel knows what to do in times of danger.

Then, the results left Colonel Eden dumbfounded.

Just listening to a burst of "booming" cannons, the T34s led by Captain Daniel were destroyed one after another.

Colonel Eden thought the enemy was in the front, but when he saw an armor-piercing projectile fired into the T34 armor from the side and punched a big hole in it,

He realized that his troops had fallen into an ambush carefully laid by the enemy.

"General!" Colonel Aiden immediately reported to Major General Funk: "This is a trap, we are surrounded by the enemy..."

"How many tanks do they have?" Major General Funk asked.

"I don't know!" Major Aiden replied while nervously observing the outside with the periscope: "They are camouflaged with the same color as the snow, and we can hardly find them!"

"Rush up!" Major General Funk ordered, "I will let the Air Force support you!"

Major General Funke did exactly that and asked the Air Force to support the tank regiment.

But the Air Force's answer disappointed Major General Funk.

"We saw no enemy tanks!" replied the Air Force. "We saw our tanks being destroyed one by one!"

"Find the enemy tanks and destroy them!" Major General Funk ordered involuntarily: "You can search in the direction where our tanks are firing!"

This seems to be a good idea, the ground tanks are easier to find the target, but it is very difficult to operate, because the ground is full of tank wreckage, flames and black smoke, and even the snowflakes floating in the sky will become obstacles to the pilot. One of the factors of line of sight.

However, the Soviet tanks were painted white, and even the tanks were covered with snow and only a turret was exposed inside the tank bunker... This made the German bombers turn around in the sky but couldn't start, and occasionally dropped a few shots. The bombs were also targeted.

The 25th Armored Regiment on the ground is suffering a catastrophe.

Colonel Eden, who was in it, had the deepest experience. He didn't even find a few targets, or even if he found the target, he was out of the attack range... German tanks can only enter the effective attack range when they enter 100 meters. This is the 25th. One of the reasons why the armored regiment fell into total passivity.

Afterwards, the surviving Colonel Aiden said with lingering fear: "I don't know how to command this battle in history. Advance, outflank, and retreat...it seems impossible. It seems that all we can do is stay where we are. Watching our tanks being destroyed one after another!"

"Retreat!" Then Colonel Aiden finally couldn't hold on anymore, and he ordered loudly: "Retreat! Repeat the order and withdraw from the battlefield immediately!"

Then all the tanks turned around and turned back along the way they came from as fast as possible.

Of course, tanks were constantly destroyed along the way, even when crossing the defense line... Some tanks were placed at the mouth of the pocket, and the German tanks were already within range of them when they entered, but they did not fire.

In the end, only thirteen of the fifty or so tanks escaped successfully, and several of them returned with injuries.

This is mainly due to the fact that the T34 tank can't pursue it...to do so you have to get out of the tank cover, which exposes itself to enemy bombers.

On the other hand, the quality of Soviet tank gunners is not very good... The tanks of the 4th Tank Brigade lost too much. After a few battles, almost all the tanks were replaced. Only a few tanks were veterans left over from the original training. , Most of the rest are recruits who came in as reinforcements.

However, even so, the lessons of this battle for the German army are profound enough.