USSR 1941

Smoke filled the battlefield.

However, these smokes are more likely to interfere with the tank gunner's line of sight... It is difficult for tank soldiers to observe the target with a periscope or observation hole in the tank. If it is disturbed by the smoke, it will be difficult to aim or even judge the distance of the target.

For infantry, because the tanks are tall and big, their position can be seen clearly even if there is smoke interference.

That's what the Germans seemed to want, as they wanted to engage the Soviets in close combat.

It's just that what they don't know is that for the Soviet army in front of them, what they should guard against is the infantry...

The tanks on both sides fired while advancing, but the irony is that both the enemy and the enemy are helpless against the other's armor.

German tanks have superior firepower. The problem is that the frontal armor of the "Matilda" is too thick for its tank guns to penetrate.

"Matilda" has an armor advantage, but it is precisely because of its heavy armor that the artillery cannot increase the caliber, so it also cannot penetrate the German "Panzer III" tank.

Historically, the "Matilda" tank was called the "Four Heroes Tank" by the Soviet Army.

"Four Heroes" is a commendatory term, but it is actually a derogatory term... because the Soviet army usually uses it to cover infantry attacks, that is, to thicken the armor and use it as a shield in front of infantry.

It is conceivable how terrifying it is for the tank crew to drive it: the tank drives forward slowly, even if they know that there are enemy anti-tank or even 88MM anti-aircraft guns that can destroy them, they can only bite the bullet Go forward.

They even had to walk in a straight line, because if the tanks avoided it, they would expose a large number of infantry in the rear to enemy fire.

Therefore, the Soviet infantry naturally called the four tank soldiers driving the "Matilda" the "Four Heroes", and "Matilda" became the "Four Heroes Tank".

"They have thickened their armor!" The subordinates reported to Major General Kubil: "We can't penetrate them at close range!"

"Of course!" Major General Kubile replied, "As I said, it's not the 'Matilda' you met in France, it's an improved version!"

"No, Major General!" the subordinate replied, "I mean, the Soviets added armor to them!"

Major General Kubiler looked at the opposite side through the periscope, and he found that a layer of armor was added to the front of the "Matilda" tank, which made the armor bullets fired by the German tanks fail to play a role.

Some armor shells were even embedded in the additional armor, making those tanks look like soldiers fighting with wounds.

"I saw it!" Major General Kubil said, "But it won't affect our plan. What we want to attack is their side armor and rear armor! Speed ​​up and get among them!"

"Yes, General!" The German tank soldiers responded, and simply stopped firing, and stepped on the gas pedal to the bottom and rushed towards the Soviet tank group.

However, at this moment, a "No. 3" tank burst into flames and then burst into black smoke and was paralyzed in place.

"No. 391 has been destroyed!" The subordinate reported to Kubil.

"What did they use to destroy it?" Major General Kubil asked.

"I don't know!" the subordinate replied: "Maybe it was an anti-tank gun, but I didn't see anything..."

"Go ahead!" Kubiler ordered.

He didn't take the destruction of the tank to heart, because he thought it was just a coincidence...There are many such coincidences on the battlefield, such as shells hitting the tank's observation port and even anti-tank guns hitting weak parts can cause the tank to be paralyzed .

But what Kubiler didn't know was that the Soviet army on the other side was already cheering loudly.

The tank just now was penetrated by a rocket launcher.

This can be said to be an attempt. The first batch of eight rocket launchers launched at the same time to attack the same target. As a result, two rounds hit the target at a distance of about 100 meters.

The Soviet army did not know which of the two rockets was effective, or that the two were effective at the same time. They only knew that the tank was indeed paralyzed, which also meant that the rocket launcher was effective in actual combat. of.

If at this time, the German tanks can retreat in a torrent, there may be a way out. They can use the smoke and high mobility to escape.

However, the German tanks did not find any abnormality at all, and they continued to advance towards the Soviet army as before, and the result was naturally to fall into a trap set by the Soviet army with rocket launchers.

The bazooka shooters quickly dispersed, some hid behind the tanks and some hid in the crater, waiting for the orders of the company commanders.

They are all commanded by the company commander... This is determined by the different speeds of the tanks. Some German tanks are fast and some are slow.

So there is nothing to do with Shulka at this time, the company commanders and even the platoon leaders can follow the steps during training.

Then, first the mortarmen fired a row of mortars, and then the submachine guns and rifles suddenly emerged from behind the tanks and hit the open space between the German tanks... The soldiers often did not find the target, so It is suppressed by bullet rain.

The 1st Guards Tank Brigade had two to three submachine guns in each squad, plus a squad machine gun and a sniper team. He could only follow closely behind the tank without even daring to poke his head.

At this moment, the bazooka shooters leaned out from their hiding places one after another...

The downside of the bazooka is that it has to be fired at close range and out of the way.

Even because it is carried on the shoulders, the entire upper body must be stuck out of the bunker.

To make matters worse, it required a secondary shooter to reload and then aim.

This firing action is almost equivalent to suicide on the battlefield, and the bazooka shooter will become a good target for enemy infantry or snipers.

However, the German army was basically suppressed at this time, and even if some German troops found the Soviet army leaning out, they didn't know what it was, so they didn't stop it in time.

So, just hearing a "whoosh" scream, rockets were launched from the rocket launcher with a long trail.

"Boom!" After bursts of explosions, the tanks were paralyzed on the ground and did not move.

"General, we are under enemy artillery fire!" The German army reported to Major General Kubiler: "A batch of my tanks were destroyed by the enemy!"

The Germans didn't know what it was, and they didn't even know that they were destroyed by the rocket launcher in the smoke, so they immediately judged that they were fired by enemy artillery but blocked the shooting.

Therefore, Major General Kubil gave an order without even thinking about it: "Go ahead! If you rush into their ranks, the artillery fire will be useless!"