Chapter 71: Head-On Confrontation (Part 1)

The dull sound of metal rubbing against the gearbox gears and the torsion bar of the drive shaft echoed in the narrow combat room. Wittmann was holding the periscope in front of him and scanning the village where gunshots were heard not far away. Soon, Further orders were received from Lieutenant Heizenauer.

"Sergeant Michel, bring your assault gun platoon and follow me immediately! Our infantry was ambushed by the Soviets in the village and needs heavy fire support. Act immediately!"

Wittmann, who had already notified the driver in advance to start the car in first gear and move forward at a constant speed, had already expected that Lieutenant Heizenauer would issue such an order. Wittmann, who was not surprised, pressed the throat communicator and immediately spoke. In reply.

"Order confirmed, Lieutenant Heizenauer. The assault gun platoon is on the move and we will follow you, over."

After saying this, he put down his right hand on his throat and patted the gunner Klink's shoulder directly in front. Wittmann, who had been waiting for this moment for a long time, immediately said loudly.

"Keep your eyes and hands ready, Klink. I have a hunch that the Ivan T34 tank in the village is an opponent worth fighting. It is my mission to take him down!"

As the German armored forces roared with gasoline engines and black smoke exhaust all the way, they were rushing slowly. Finally, with the tank troops as the forerunner and the assault artillery unit as the rear row, they arrived at the entrance of the village, joined their own infantry, and prepared to go into battle. At that time, Malashenko, who had been hiding behind a long row of wooden houses used for large gatherings in the village and watching the battle from his commander's position, immediately threw away the almost burned out cigarette butt in his hand.

"Kirill, reload armor-piercing ammunition! Seryosha's vehicle is ready to maneuver! It's time for these fragile German tanks to understand the philosophy of life."

Following Malashenko's order but before he finished speaking, in another corner of the village, Lieutenant Diakov, acting battalion commander of the Soviet infantry battalion, who had moved from the heavy machine gun position to the anti-tank gun position, was rushing toward The anti-tank gun crews beside him gave orders.

"Makayev, it's your turn to perform. Captain Malashenko previously ordered us to give priority to the Germans' smaller anti-infantry tanks. He said that this thing poses the greatest threat to us. Yes, that’s right, I’m talking about the little one in the lead now, aim at him, quickly!”

Yu saw through the telescope in his hand that the leading German Panzer II tank was basically the same shape as what Malashenko had described before. This tank was equipped with a 20mm machine gun and a 92mm coaxial The anti-infantry tank with its machine gun was now moving forward in front of the German infantry, outputting crazy firepower.

The hull and turret front of the Panzer II tank are equipped with homogeneous steel armor ranging in thickness from 30 mm to 45 mm, although it is no longer able to withstand the attack of conventional Soviet anti-tank artillery during the current Barbarossa invasion.

However, no matter how weak the No. 2 tank is, it is still a genuine active tank of the German armored forces. It is still very unrealistic to destroy this small anti-infantry tank from the front with only the light weapons in the hands of infantry.

Even the Deshka heavy machine gun equipped with an armor-piercing incendiary bomb chain cannot destroy the No. 2 tank with its 25 mm homogeneous steel armor penetration at a distance of 500 meters.

The German Panzer II tank, which was on full throttle and rushed to the front line, started to output crazy firepower as soon as it arrived around the German infantry. The tracer barrage fired by the KWK38 55 times caliber 20mm cannon immediately Like a tongue of fire, it swept away all the hidden Soviet firepower points along the way.

These No. 2 tanks equipped under the elite SS Guardsmen Division are also equipped with the rather luxurious 20-meter 40-type tungsten-core armor-piercing ammunition magazines. The 20-mm tungsten-core armor-piercing ammunition with a muzzle velocity of up to 1050 meters per second is enough to It can penetrate 60 centimeters of vertically homogeneous steel armor at a distance of 100 meters, and this is simply a blink of an eye for the fighting distance between the Soviet and German armies, which is almost close to hand-to-hand combat.

Bullets rained across, sawdust flew.

Hiding behind wooden houses that could withstand attacks from ordinary rifle bullets and submachine gun bullets, these Soviet infantrymen who were pouring firepower towards the German infantry never expected that the German Army's mobile and flexible Panzer II tank would suddenly kill them halfway. out.

The 20mm Type 40 tungsten core armor-piercing projectile with extremely strong penetration power effortlessly tore apart all the wooden huts along the way. The Soviet infantry who were hiding in the houses and using them as bunkers howled directly. Then it turned into a ball of blood mist or was directly beaten into two parts.

The scattered sawdust fragments were like cactus stuck all over the body of the Soviet soldier's body under the powerful impact. The angry Soviet Deshka heavy machine gun that had been tilting towards the German infantry a moment ago was also hit by two The No. 1 tank directly swept down the entire wooden house and wiped it out. The scale of victory that was firmly in the hands of the Soviet army just half a minute ago has now begun to gradually reverse.

Facing this veritable "mobile gun bunker" brought by the German army, Lieutenant Diakov, who had heard the description of the German Panzer II tank from Malashenko, quickly identified it based on the actual battlefield conditions. There is no doubt that this difficult guy is the No. 2 Tank.

After initially appreciating the powerful destructive power of the German anti-infantry weapon through the telescope, Lieutenant Diakov, who had deployed one of the only two anti-tank guns in an inconspicuous hut on the left side of the main road in the village according to Malashenko's order when deploying defenses in the village earlier, immediately gave the order to open fire. This old 1902/30 76mm anti-tank gun inherited from the Russian Tsarist Army during World War I immediately flickered under the gunner's operation.

The No. 2 tank, whose hull and turret side armor thickness is 15mm homogeneous steel armor, could not withstand such a fierce thunderbolt. Although this old 76mm anti-tank gun, which was directly inherited from the former Tsarist Russian Army by the Soviet Red Army after the Soviet Red Army adopted the doctrine of taking things from others, is outdated, its power to ensure that it can penetrate the maximum 70mm thick vertical homogeneous steel armor within a distance of 500 meters is still unstoppable for the No. 2 tank.

Boom——

The armor of the Type 2 tank was penetrated after being hit on the side of the vehicle. It was immediately detonated by the warhead of the 76mm windshield armor-piercing grenade in the vehicle body during a shaking.

Needless to say, the 150 grams of TNT explosion equivalent naturally detonated all the hundreds of 20mm machine gun shells stored in the Type 2 tank. After breaking through the vehicle armor, the 20mm warheads splashed in all directions with the explosion flames, instantly sweeping down a large number of unprepared German infantry around. The scales of victory began to waver again as the battle progressed.