USSR 1941

Especially at this time the Germans also used a new equipment... the No. 3 assault gun.

The No. 3 assault gun was proposed by Manstein. After the German army attacked Poland, they found that their armored forces lacked a weapon to support infantry in attacking bunkers.

Tanks are indeed capable of this task at this time, but using tanks as infantry to attack the enemy's permanent fortifications is actually a serious waste...It doesn't actually take much to attack the enemy's fixed and immovable bunker fortifications Mobility, it only needs to slowly move the artillery to the forefront to support the infantry, and it does not require the artillery to have a full range of firing angles, because the bunker is there and it will not move.

On the contrary, what is needed more when attacking the bunker is thicker armor in order to resist the attack of the enemy's anti-tank equipment in the bunker.

From these aspects, the tank is not suitable for such tasks, because its high mobility and rotatable turret are completely wasted, and the thickness of the armor has to be sacrificed for high mobility and firing angle.

So the No. 3 assault gun came out. It basically uses the chassis of the No. 3 tank and adds a cannon... The assault gun is the category of artillery, and its cost is about four-fifths of the No. 3 tank, but It can play a greater role in attacking bunkers, machine gun bunkers, trenches or enemy anti-tank artillery positions, because it can thicken the armor more freely. (Note: The No. 3 assault gun thickened the front and side armor to 50MM, and even thickened to 80MM in the middle and late stages, and the gun body is lower and difficult to be hit)

This kind of assault gun was put into the battle to attack the "Stalin's Line of Defense". With the advantage of armor, they drove to the Soviet bunker calmly, and there was a burst of perforation according to the perforation of the Soviet bunker.

Of course, it is still very difficult for the shell to directly enter the perforation. After all, it is a perforation with a depth of 1.5 meters. Any deviation or trajectory deviation will explode around the perforation.

However, the machine guns and artillery in the Soviet bunkers would undoubtedly be suppressed, and the German engineers took advantage of this moment to rush forward, and then threw explosives, grenades, etc. into the perforations.

Information soon reached Colonel Ovich's headquarters.

"Comrade Colonel!" The staff officer reported to Colonel Ovich: "Our defense line has suffered heavy losses under the attack of enemy tanks, and the first layer of defense has been breached!" guns, so they are simply called tanks)

A layer of cold sweat broke out on Colonel Ovich's forehead when he heard this.

At this time, it was only more than an hour before the German army launched an offensive. They broke through the first layer of defense in such a short time. According to this speed, they will be able to break through the defense line and march towards Kyiv in more than ten hours, that is, before dark. According to Colonel Ovich's original estimate, it would take the Germans at least a month to do it.

In fact, one month is what Colonel Ovich said when he asked his superiors for more equipment and troops. He knew that only by saying so could he get more people and things.

The real thought in Ovich's heart was that he thought it would be a trench warfare during World War I, that is, the enemy and us were stalemate in front of the defense line, and no one could do anything to the other.

Obviously, Colonel Ovich's thinking is still stuck in World War I, which is one of the reasons why he disdains the use of "log cabin camouflage".

But now... Ovich thought about all kinds of possibilities, but he didn't expect this situation to happen. He didn't even know how to solve it, because all his defense ideas were based on the system with the fortification as the support point. The bunkers they rely on are vulnerable to the German attack, and the whole system will collapse.

Seeing Colonel Ović in a daze, the staff officer added: "Colonel...we have a position to block their attack!"

"Which position?" Colonel Ovich's eyes regained some strength, because if someone can stop the German attack, it means that others can too.

The staff officer hesitated,

Then he replied: "It's the 333rd Regiment, Comrade Colonel!"

"No, that's impossible!" Colonel Ovich said. "They're just putting on a little camouflage in front of the bunker..."

"Yes, Comrade Colonel!" the staff officer replied: "But it is this camouflage that makes it difficult for the Germans to tell which is a bunker and which is a wooden house. More importantly, they cannot see the perforations before attacking, so they cannot allocate firepower in advance." Make a plan of attack!"

"No, that might just be a coincidence!" Colonel Ovich said, "Their position is not the main direction of the German attack!"

The staff officer did not answer wisely, he knew that he should not speak at this time, because it might directly affect his official career.

But the staff is not smart enough, otherwise he should have replied: "Yes, Colonel. That is obviously not the main force of the Germans!"

It's just that the staff officer couldn't say something like this contrary to the facts, so he chose to remain silent.

Colonel Ovich then understood the meaning of the silence.

He looked at the staff officer with disbelief, and asked, "The Germans used their main force to attack the 333rd Regiment's defense zone?"

"It can be said to be offensive, or it can be said not to be, Comrade Colonel!" The staff officer replied: "The Germans may regard it as a gap in the defense line, you know, all they see is a wooden house, even aerial reconnaissance, so... They launched a storm with two armored battalions of more than seventy tanks!"

"And then?" asked Colonel Ovich.

"The Germans suffered heavy casualties!" The staff officer delivered a telegram to Colonel Ovich, saying, "This is a report from Major Gavrilov. They destroyed 25 tanks and killed and wounded more than 300 tanks." enemies!"

Colonel Ovich looked at the staff in shock. This result was an astronomical figure for the Soviet army that was fleeing all the way at this time, but the 333rd regiment easily achieved it in one battle.

Immediately, Colonel Ovich regretted it too much. If he had done what Major Gavrilov said, then not only the defense zone of the 333rd Regiment had such results, but his 79th Division, and even the 79th Division. The 27th Army and even the entire defense line have achieved such results.

But Colonel Ovich changed his mind and said to the staff: "It's nothing, Comrade Futoriak, this is just an ambush by the 333rd regiment. They successfully ambushed the Germans. But this does not mean that Their tactics are right! Once the Germans realize it's an ambush, it's not an ambush, understand?"

"Yes, Colonel!" replied the staff officer.

Although the staff did not agree with Colonel Ovich's attitude, he felt that what he said made sense. It is impossible for a German to be fooled once after being fooled once.