Chapter 121: Strangling Yelnia (Part 3)

The BR-350B type wind cap armor-piercing grenade with a muzzle velocity of up to 650 meters per second instantly opened a bowl-sized hot penetration hole at the edge of the hill without any suspense.

After penetrating a full 40 centimeters of soft soil, the wind cap armor-piercing grenade did not trigger the armor-piercing delay fuse and detonate the warhead charge as Malashenko expected. Although the armor-piercing grenade with a flight speed of less than 500 meters per second had its wind cap broken and its flight resistance increased greatly, the remaining kinetic energy of the shell still pushed the shell forward and continued to fly straight forward.

Bang--

Accompanied by the huge impact sound of the 76mm armor-piercing shell colliding with the hydraulic elevation machine on the upper part of the 88 gun breech, the German 88 gun crew, which was still busy reloading at the gun position, was stunned for a moment. What exactly this dull shell impact sound meant was almost self-evident.

"Keep loading the ricochet bullet! Quick! The Russians' shells ricocheted, don't be afraid! Destroy them before they fire again! Quick!"

The broken cap of the bullet and the force and compression of the soil layer itself caused the straight trajectory of the capped armor-piercing grenade to be slightly changed after it pierced the soil layer.

The 76mm BR-350B capped armor-piercing grenade that should have accurately hit the German 88 gun barrel unfortunately missed it. The high-speed flying piercing bullet only rubbed a series of sparks on the hydraulic elevation mechanism on the upper part of the German 88 gun barrel and was instantly bounced away. The too narrow angle of incidence of the bullet made the gun steel with a defense coefficient far inferior to that of homogeneous steel armor naturally produce a ricochet effect.

In his own tank commander's periscope sight, he saw that the armor-piercing bullet of his own side, dragging a silver-white tracer, was bounced straight into the air behind the hill.

Realizing that the armor-piercing shell attack did not cause any substantial damage, but ricocheted, Malashenko was not discouraged.

On the contrary, such a result just proved that Malashenko's plan was feasible. The capped armor-piercing grenade that penetrated the weak soil layer at the edge of the hill could indeed damage the German 88 gun body hidden behind without triggering the armor-piercing delay fuse. Such a result was enough for Malashenko at the moment.

"Kirill, load the armor-piercing shell! Continue!"

"Iushkin, adjust the gun mirror position to the right two degrees, the same penetration point! Another shot!"

"Understood, comrade commander!"

After gently shaking the turret steering wheel held in the palm of his hand, the main gun was recalibrated. The black hole of the 76mm muzzle burst into a burst of hot flames again after Lieutenant Iushkin lightly stepped on the firing pedal.

After passing through the soil again, the 76mm wind cap armor-piercing grenade had calibrated the firing direction according to the test results of the previous round. At this critical moment that was about to decide life and death, the German 88 gun crew, which had also manually loaded and sent another armor-piercing shell into the breech block, fired again.

"One o'clock direction, Soviet heavy tank! Fire!"

Boom--

Two armor-piercing shells of different calibers that almost brushed past each other in mid-air immediately flew towards their respective targets with the blast.

After passing through the soil again, the 76mm wind cap armor-piercing grenade finally hit the gun carriage of the German 88 gun accurately. The 80-centimeter-thick gun steel at the gun carriage had already exceeded the trigger thickness of the armor-piercing delay fuse of the BR-350B wind cap armor-piercing grenade.

After penetrating the gun carriage, the 76mm windshield armor-piercing grenade instantly exploded at the 88 gun position, and immediately blew away and swept down all the German 88 gun crew members within a few meters. After suffering such a close-range explosion, the 88 gun was also severely damaged and distorted. Even if another team of gun crew came up, it would be useless.

At the same time, the PzGr windshield armor-piercing shell fired by the German 88 gun at the last moment before it was destroyed also hit its target. This heavy tank with a huge size and majestic appearance, which was obviously different from other KV1s around, was the Malashenko improved KV1 command vehicle numbered 177!

At a shooting distance of less than 100 meters, the 88mm armor-piercing shell, which was enough to tear through the maximum 145mm thick vertical homogeneous steel armor, hit the upper armor plate of Malashenko's vehicle like a heavy hammer.

After contacting the 25mm additional armor on the front of Malashenko's vehicle, the 88mm armor-piercing bullet cap was the first to crack and shatter. The second layer of the cap provided a normalizing effect, which perfectly played its due role and avoided ricocheting, offsetting the 31-degree inclination of the armor on the front of Malashenko's vehicle, and then began its real armor-piercing process.

The outermost 25mm additional armor attached to the front of the vehicle was penetrated first, and the 88mm armor-piercing bullet continued to move forward with kinetic energy and no intention of stopping. The 75mm main armor belt of the KV1 heavy tank itself soon ushered in a real test.

Ding-bang——

"Shit! I got hit again!"

The huge sound of the shell hitting the ground was like a huge bell covering the whole person. Malashenko felt his vision and consciousness begin to blur. He shook his forehead vigorously. After making sure that he was not hurt at all, Malashenko raised his almost deaf head and blurted out.

"Everyone, report the situation! Now!"

The short few seconds of waiting time seemed like a century to Malashenko at this moment. Fortunately, the crew members who were injured because the vehicle did not have a substantial penetration quickly responded to Malashenko.

"Driver Seryosha, I'm fine!"

"Nikolai, not injured!"

"Kirill is fine!"

"Iushkin is fine, it seems that the Germans failed to penetrate us, comrade commander."

The front upper armor of the vehicle body received a 88 gun armor-piercing shell and remained intact. This result seemed incredible to Malashenko.

You know, the 88 gun used by the Tiger tank, which is considered the most famous heavy tank in the history of human warfare, is actually a slightly modified version of the 88 anti-aircraft gun. Except for the new armor-piercing shells newly developed for the Tiger tank in the later period, the firing kinetic energy and muzzle velocity of these two guns are almost the same.

When he thought about how he had used a 1941 improved KV1 heavy tank to take a head-on attack from an armor-piercing shell of the 88mm anti-aircraft gun, which was almost as powerful as the Tiger tank, without any damage, Malashenko, who couldn't figure out the reason for this, couldn't help but wonder in his heart.

"Is it that the German shells were mixed with sand or was my armor blessed by my father Stalin?"