USSR 1941

Halftrack training began immediately.

Rather than calling it training, it is better to say it is fun, because this kind of training does not put any pressure on the soldiers.

The infantry of the 1st Guards Tank Brigade are all mechanized infantry. They have been trained to drive a car before that, so they can almost drive a car.

Ten half-track vehicles, each of which can carry 12 people is a class... In fact, if it is crowded, it can take more people, but it is necessary to reserve some space for the soldiers to fight and carry fuel and ammunition, otherwise they will raise their guns , It is difficult to turn around.

The latest training is of course three consecutive.

They drove half-track vehicles galloping in the snow, while the soldiers sitting behind them cheered loudly against the cold wind, enjoying the pleasure of this long-lost speed, especially in the "Matilda" that had been used for so long. "After holding my breath.

"It's just in time!" said the instructor. "With it we don't need those wagons anymore!"

"It's not as simple as transporting ammunition and supplies like a horse-drawn cart, Comrade Instructor!" Shulka replied.

"I know, it can transport more troops!"

"Not only that!" Shulka said: "If you put a machine gun or a rocket launcher on the front of the car..."

The instructor couldn't help but "Oh", and then his eyes lit up: "It can almost be said to be an armored vehicle!"

Shulka nodded, and then shouted to Pukarev who was directing the convoy to circle back and forth: "Comrade Lieutenant, we should go for a walk!"

"Yes, Comrade Captain!" Pukarev knowingly ordered the convoy to stop.

"Get ready for battle!" Shulka ordered: "Bring what you should bring!"

"Yes!" The soldiers responded and got out of the car to replenish ammunition for themselves.

At this time, there were many remnants of the German army scattered outside the Rzhev line of defense. Shulka wanted to use them to test the combat capability of the half-track vehicle.

After a while, the soldiers of the first company were ready to return to the half-track vehicle, and Shulka also climbed into the No. 1 vehicle with a rifle and loaded a few grenades.

Without Shulka's confession, a DP machine gun (turntable machine gun) was mounted on the roof of each car.

Then with an order, the convoy drove west, which is the direction in which the Soviet army pursued the German army.

Half-tracked vehicles can run fairly smoothly on the snow, after all, most of them are in contact with the ground by the large-area tracks.

So it is conceivable that it will drive in muddy ground much better than wheeled vehicles.

Like other Soviet equipment, most of them were not equipped with radio equipment... At this time, the Soviet army could not even equip tanks with radios, let alone half-track vehicles.

Only the command car, car 1, had a radio.

But this problem is not very big.

On the one hand, the space of the half-track vehicle is relatively spacious. If necessary, Shulka and others can completely move the radio used by the infantry to the rear compartment for use.

On the other hand, the upper half of the half-track vehicle is open, so that vehicles can communicate with each other with semaphore very conveniently.

This is why Shulka did not propose to directly develop a modern closed full-track armored vehicle.

Modern closed full-track armored vehicles may have many advantages, such as better protection, stronger mobility and off-road performance,

It can even be used amphibiously.

The problem is that the industrial production capacity of the Soviet Union is very tight at this time, and most of the tracks have to be used on tanks instead of armored vehicles. Another important reason is that fully enclosed armored vehicles will only be a nightmare when communication equipment is insufficient...they are mutually It is difficult for them to perceive each other and carry out effective coordination.

Half-track vehicles do not have this problem, or this problem can be solved to some extent.

Even in order to facilitate the connection between the rear compartment and the cockpit, they also connected a telephone between the two, just like a tank telephone.

"Comrade Captain!" Uncle Alek yelled through the microphone in the driver's cab, "I've never driven such a nice car, I mean...it looks safe, and I can even turn the windows down if I need to." Put the guards on the top down! They stop bullets, don't they?"

"Yes!" Shulka replied: "The front steel plate is 12.7MM thick, it can block 12.7MM machine gun bullets!"

The side and rear armor is only 7MM, which is almost the law of all armored vehicles.

"So, Comrade Captain!" Uncle Alek asked, "Can I call it a tank? If so, can I be treated like a tank driver?"

"But... Uncle Alek!" Only then did Shulka realize Alek's intention in saying these words: "You have already got double the water plus ration!"

"Forget it, Comrade Captain!" Uncle Alek replied: "Everyone knows that my double ration is due to you giving me your own...I don't want to keep pretending to be confused like this!"

The soldiers couldn't help laughing "haha" when they heard this.

At this moment, Pukarev yelled: "Enemy, ten o'clock direction!"

Looking in the direction indicated by Pukarev, he saw a few figures stumbling and running in the snow with guns in their hands.

"Surround them!" Shulka ordered: "Pay attention to conceal yourself, the armor next to you is used to block bullets for you, understand?"

"Understood!" The soldiers lowered their bodies in response, and the driver put down half of the front baffle, relying on the lower half and the observation hole on the baffle to drive.

The orderler, on the other hand, used the signal flag to communicate Shulka's orders to other vehicles.

Soon, the convoy divided into two parts and outflanked the suspicious positions of the German remnants like two long snakes.

"Bang bang..." Gunshots rang out quickly, and the desperate German soldiers lay down on the ground and shot at the convoy, but of course the bullets couldn't penetrate the armor of the half-track vehicle, and they hit the armor like popping beans." slap" sound.

The soldiers couldn't help laughing out loud, and the veteran exclaimed, "It works, doesn't it? They should have invented this sooner!"

"Let them taste this!" As he said that, the Cossack mounted the DP machine gun on the roof of the car, and then fired a burst of bullets at the position where the German army was hiding, immediately suppressing the German army's firepower.

Then the battle was over, because the Soviet army had completed the siege, and the remnants of the German army realized that they could not escape in this situation, so they raised their hands and surrendered.

This made the soldiers a little disappointed, and they hoped that the Germans would resist for a while.

The convoy stopped, and Shulka let people get out of the car to receive the prisoners.

But at this moment, two gunshots and faint gunshots were heard from a distance.

"Tank No. 3!" The veteran judged from the sound of the guns: "There are at least two of them!"