According to the prior arrangement, after the tank battalion eliminated the enemy, it should immediately return to the small village to continue hiding to avoid being shelled or air raided by the Germans.
After the guard battalion cleaning the battlefield returned, Sokov raised his binoculars again and looked at the destroyed German tanks and armored vehicles. While watching, he smiled and said to Yakov: "Yakov, if there are two more victories like this, it is almost equivalent to killing a German armored regiment... What the hell is that?"
Yakov was startled and asked hurriedly: "Misha, what happened?" As he said that, he also raised his telescope. "What do you see?"
"The tank battalions have all been withdrawn," Sokov pointed into the distance and said through gritted teeth, "But why does that spherical tank still stay on the battlefield?"
Yakov held up the telescope and searched for a moment, and sure enough he saw the spherical tank that performed well, still staying on the battlefield. However, he observed carefully for a moment and found two people squatting next to the tank, seeming to be repairing something, so he said in an uncertain tone: "Misha, is there something wrong with that tank?"
Sokov did not observe anymore, but asked the radio operator to contact Bely. When he heard Bely's voice coming from the earphones, Sokov asked angrily: "Comrade Colonel, didn't I order all the tanks to return to the small villages immediately after completing their combat missions? Why did Valianla The lieutenant’s spherical tank is still on the battlefield at this moment?”
"Comrade Brigadier, please listen to my explanation." Bely replied unhurriedly: "When we returned, the spherical tank malfunctioned, and Lieutenant Valenla was leading people to conduct maintenance. Once it is repaired tanks and they will return to the village immediately."
"Why don't you send someone to help repair the tank?" Sokov felt panicked when he saw the spherical tank in the distance: "If the enemy carries out artillery fire or bombing, that tank will not be saved."
"Don't worry, Comrade Brigadier." Seeing that Sokov was so worried about the safety of the spherical tank, Bely comforted him and said: "The target of a tank parked on the battlefield is very small, unless the German army launches artillery fire on that area. Cover, otherwise the chance of being destroyed is very small.”
"What about the air strike?" Although Bely said that artillery could not accurately destroy the spherical tank, Sokov still asked uneasily: "If it is discovered by an enemy plane, it may still be destroyed."
"You don't have to worry about air strikes." Bely said with a smile: "Look, there are so many burning tanks and armored vehicles on the battlefield. The thick smoke they produce will block the pilot's sight, making them unable to see clearly. Targets on the ground.”
Bely's explanation made Sokov feel a little more at ease, but he still said into the microphone uneasily: "Comrade Colonel, tell Lieutenant Valenla to act quickly and make sure to launch a new revolution in the German army." Before attacking, repair the ball tank."
"Don't worry, Comrade Brigadier." Bely replied: "The reason why I let Lieutenant Valenla drive this tank was because he has rich experience in mechanical maintenance and can eliminate all kinds of problems that occur in spherical tanks in a timely manner. A malfunction."
After ending the call, Sokov threw the microphone and earphone to the operator, and then said to Yakov: "Yakov, you are right, the spherical tank is indeed malfunctioning, Lieutenant Valenla They are making repairs."
After listening to Sokov's words, Yakov raised his hand and looked at his watch, and asked with a worried look: "Almost an hour has passed since the end of the battle. The enemy may launch an attack at any time. Lieutenant Valenla and the others Can the tank be repaired in time?”
Sokov sighed and said with a wry smile: "Under the current circumstances, we can only resign ourselves to fate."
The new round of German attacks came faster than expected. Before Valianla and the others could repair their tanks, enemy tanks and armored vehicles appeared in Sokov's field of vision. Seeing this, Sokov stamped his feet anxiously. He quickly ordered the radio operator: "Hurry up and inform Colonel Bely that enemy tanks and armored vehicles are coming, and let him be ready to attack."
"Wait a minute, Misha." Yakov heard what Sokov told the operator and quickly stopped him: "The enemy only has three tanks and seven armored vehicles. There is no need to dispatch a tank battalion hidden in a small village... …”
"Yakov, in addition to the armored vehicles, the enemy also has three tanks. The spherical tank cannot deal with so many enemies." Sokov said anxiously: "If I don't order Colonel Bely to attack, I can only watch helplessly." The spherical tank was destroyed by the enemy."
"Misha, the situation is not that bad." Yakov said cautiously: "According to my observation, there should be no problem if one ball tank is against three. As long as Lieutenant Valenla and the others can kill three of the enemy's tanks. tanks, then the remaining armored vehicles won’t be a concern.”
Yakov's words reminded Sokov that the spherical tank had been hit by a German tank during the battle, but due to the curved armor of the spherical tank, the armor-piercing projectile became a ricochet. Although the Germans have three tanks today, they are not necessarily opponents of the spherical tank. Thinking of this link, Sokov no longer asked the radio operator to contact Bely. Instead, he raised his telescope and quietly observed the situation on the battlefield.
The spherical tank, which was parked in place and did not move, waited for the German tank to enter a range of 500 meters and opened fire first before the other side stopped firing. The two tank guns aimed at one of the tanks and fired simultaneously. One shell missed, but the other shell accurately hit the track of the tank. The tank, whose tracks were broken, quickly circled on the spot and did not continue to fire back at all.
Taking advantage of the opportunity of the German tanks to spin in place, the gunner of the ball tank reloaded, and once the enemy tanks stopped, they fired again. This time, both shells hit the tank with broken tracks. After the high-temperature jet of the armor-piercing projectile penetrated the armor, it produced a splash effect in the tank body, killing the tank crew inside and causing the shells inside the vehicle to explode. Explode. In an instant, the German tank turned into a fireball and burned on the spot.
After killing a German tank, the ball tank adjusted its shooting direction again and opened fire on another tank that was speeding towards it. However, Lieutenant Valianla and the others did not seem to have just enough luck, as both shells were empty. Before they could complete a new round of loading, they were hit by an armor-piercing projectile fired by another German tank. Fortunately, the armor-piercing projectile just rubbed against the surface of the curved armor and bounced away, without causing any damage to the spherical tank. What substantial harm.
Valianla and the others seemed to have been accustomed to such a result. They did not pay attention to the tank at all, but continued to aim at the target and continue shooting. This time, they finally succeeded in destroying the enemy tank.
Seeing Valianla and the others destroying two tanks in succession, Sokov couldn't help but applaud. He knew very well that for a spherical tank, the remaining German tank was nothing to worry about. As long as all the enemy tanks are eliminated, those armored vehicles will definitely be frightened and flee.
The ball tank successfully destroyed the third German tank a few minutes later. But the situation that followed did not develop as Sokov imagined. The armored personnel carrier loaded with soldiers did not turn around and escape after seeing that the accompanying tank was destroyed, but rushed towards the spherical tank. Facing the overcoming armored vehicles, the spherical tank fired several more shots, but the shells failed without exception.
"Damn it," just as Sokov secretly breathed a sigh of relief, he heard Yakov next to him exclaiming: "The spherical tank has run out of shells."
Sokov was startled and quickly raised his binoculars to look at the spherical tank in the distance. I saw the German armored vehicles approaching the spherical tank quickly, but the spherical tank stayed in place, neither firing nor moving. Maybe it was like Yakov said, there were no shells.
"What to do?" Seeing this situation, Sokov felt a little panicked. If there were anti-tank crews on these armored personnel carriers, they would be able to destroy the spherical tanks without infantry cover. Because they were too far away, even if they wanted to save him, they were out of reach. Sokov secretly asked himself: "Do we need to let Colonel Bely and the others attack?"
"Misha, you must not let Colonel Bely and the others attack." Yakov saw Sokov's thoughts and quickly reminded him: "If there are anti-tank fighters on those armored personnel carriers, they will let Colonel Bely attack." The tank battalion suffered heavy losses."
Sokov heard Yakov's voiceover. He gritted his molars and said, "So, we can only allow the spherical tank to be sacrificed?"
"Misha, as a commander, you must know how to make choices." Yakov said with a solemn expression: "Even if Colonel Bely is allowed to attack at this moment, it is a bit too late. Once they rush up to encounter the German anti-tank fighters, it will be too late. We will lose more tanks then. Do you understand?"
"I understand." Sokov was heartbroken at the thought of the spherical tank being about to be blown up by German anti-tank fighters. But in order to take the overall situation into consideration, he could only harden his heart and prepare to watch this tank with many merits being blown up by the enemy.
German armored vehicles surrounded the spherical tanks, and the machine guns on the vehicles began to fire. The soldiers jumped out of the vehicles, and some of them lay down on the ground and shot at the tanks. Some soldiers who were obviously anti-tank fighters were approaching the spherical tank on their knees.
Under the cover of numerous firepower, the German anti-tank crews quickly arrived thirty meters away from the tank, and they threw the anti-tank grenades without hesitation. The grenades with tail fins flew towards the spherical tank from different directions. After a series of loud bangs, the tank was enveloped in smoke.
When the German soldiers surrounding the tank saw the tank shrouded in smoke, they immediately stopped shooting and cheered on the spot. According to their thinking, no matter how powerful the armor is, a tank will turn into a pile of burning scrap metal after being hit by so many anti-tank grenades. Unexpectedly, when the smoke cleared, they saw that the spherical tank parked there did not catch fire, but some places on the surface armor were scratched by shrapnel.
Just as the German officers and soldiers were stunned, the four machine guns of the spherical tank opened fire at the same time. Those anti-tank soldiers who stood up to check the results of the battle were the first to bear the brunt and fell to the ground one after another. The machine gunner on the armored vehicle quickly fired desperately at the spherical tank. The bullets hit the armor plate like hailstones, splashing countless sparks.
When the spherical tank was shrouded in smoke, Sokov's heart sank suddenly. He thought the tank must have been destroyed. Who knew that when the smoke cleared, not only the spherical tank was intact, but also several machine guns on the vehicle were shooting wildly at the surrounding German officers and soldiers. He couldn't help but smile on his face.
"Misha, did you see it?" Yakov shouted excitedly when he saw this scene: "Those anti-tank grenades thrown by the Germans did not cause any damage to our spherical tanks. It seems that the Germans It’s going to be difficult now.”
The spherical tank fired for a while, and probably found a lot of blind spots, so it started to circle in place in order to eliminate the blind spots and eliminate more enemies. The German soldiers thought that the spherical tank could actually spin in circles like a top, and the four machine guns on the body were like the scythes of death, constantly taking the lives of German officers and soldiers.
In just a few minutes, all the German officers and soldiers around the tank were killed or wounded. The spherical tank stopped rotating, and after pausing on the spot for a moment, it suddenly rushed towards an armored personnel carrier directly in front. After a loud "boom", the armored personnel carrier was hit and rolled over several times, knocking the machine gunner half to death.
One blow worked, and the spherical tank followed suit, constantly turning in its direction and wildly hitting other armored personnel carriers. After three of them were knocked over in a row, the remaining armored vehicles faced the spherical tank that rushed over. Where did it go? He dared to stay where he was and wait for death. He turned around in a panic, ignored the officers and soldiers, and fled back at full speed.
Seeing that the armored personnel carrier carrying them had run away, the remaining German soldiers raised their hands and surrendered, knowing that they would die if they continued to resist. But they never dreamed that Valianla received Sokov's order to take no prisoners, so whether they surrendered or not, the fate waiting for them was the same.
Seeing that the spherical tank could kill three German tanks, four armored personnel carriers, and fifty or sixty soldiers so easily, Sokov began to think to himself: I never expected that this kind of spherical tank would be used on the battlefield. With such a powerful tank, should Yakov propose to Ustinov to open a tank production line specifically to produce such tanks?
"Misha, did you see it? We won, and the enemy's attack was repulsed." Yakov only saw that the spherical tank had won, but he did not realize that Sokov had something on his mind, but was minding his own business. He said: "If we have more tanks like this, maybe victory can come faster."
