Don't look at the melting snow, which has made the roads muddy. But at the edge of the forest, there are still roads that can barely pass tanks. In order to prevent enemy armored forces from using this road to break into the defense area, Belly will drive the tank himself every now and then, patrolling these areas with two other tanks.
The three tanks drove to the edge of the forest and stopped. The road ahead was muddy. If they continued to drive forward, they might get stuck in the mud and be unable to move.
Belly opened the top cover of the tank, leaned out half of the turret, raised his telescope and looked around. At this time, the roof of a tank parked not far away also opened. A tank lieutenant stuck his head out and asked loudly to Bely, who was observing the environment: "Comrade Colonel, have you discovered anything?"
The speaker was Lieutenant Alitai, a tank company commander under Bely. He was originally Sokov's subordinate, but because Bely's troops suffered heavy losses in the battle to defend Stalingrad, he was retained by Bely. After coming down, he continued to serve as company commander in the tank brigade.
Beilei shook his head and said, "No, I didn't see anything."
"Comrade Brigadier," although Bely is still serving as the deputy commander of the 41st Guards Division, Alitai still likes to call him Brigadier when calling him: "I think we are making too much of a fuss. How could the enemy do this?" What about emerging from the forest? If they really entered the forest, they might not be able to drive a few kilometers before they would get stuck in the mud and be unable to move."
"No, even if the enemy won't come from this way, we can't take it lightly." Bely put down his telescope and said to Alitai: "You know, the enemy can use this road to bypass the 125th Regiment's defense line and charge directly. To the division headquarters. Once the enemy armor gets close to the division headquarters, it will be bad."
While the two were talking, there was suddenly a low roar of an engine. Bely's first reaction when he heard this sound was that another tank from his own brigade was coming up from behind. But soon, he discovered a snow-covered short-barreled tank heading towards his location.
After Belen was stunned for a few seconds, he immediately understood that it was a German tank. Because the body was covered with snow, he didn't notice it when he looked at it just now. He quickly shouted to Alitai: "Lieutenant, the enemy tank is coming, hurry up and get ready for battle." After shouting, Bely retracted into the tank and closed the hatch cover.
Before Bely could get the tank crews ready to fire, the German tanks had stopped and fired a shot at the location of the three Soviet tanks. This shot was fired in a hurry and did not hit the target at all, but the splashed mud and flying shrapnel still made the tank body jingle.
Three Soviet tanks started firing one after another, but the German tank crew was very cunning. After firing, he immediately rushed forward at full speed. As a result, the three shells fired by the Soviets all hit the spot where the German tanks were originally parked.
The German tank quickly fired a second shot, this time accurately hitting a Soviet T-34 tank. The tank immediately burst into flames after being hit. The tank crews who escaped from the tank turned into pyrotechnics. They quickly threw themselves on the ground and rolled on the spot, trying to extinguish the flames on their bodies.
Through the observation hole in front, Bely could clearly see that in addition to the German tank rushing toward him, there were several more behind him. He couldn't help but feel a thump in his heart, and quickly called the brigade headquarters through the car radio: "I am Colonel Bely. We encountered a German tank that suddenly appeared at patrol point 2. We are requesting immediate support."
The deputy brigade commander who received the distress signal quickly replied: "Comrade brigade commander, don't worry, I will immediately lead my troops to reinforce. You must resist."
The battle was still going on. The rapidly approaching German tank was hit by Bely's tank and immediately stopped moving forward, burning on the spot. Unfortunately, the tank in which Alitai was located was also hit by the enemy's armor-piercing projectile. Although it did not burst into flames, the driver and loader unfortunately died.
"Comrade Brigade Commander," Alitai, who was slightly wounded, quickly reported to Bely: "My tank was also hit, and the driver and loader died."
Belly went out on patrol today, and there were three tanks in total. It was the T-34/75 that was destroyed, but it was the T-34/85 that Bely and Aritai flew. Not to mention that the opponent only had a few Panzer III and IV tanks, even if more came, Bie Lei would not be frightened. He calmly directed the gunner to lock on to the target.
Don't look at the German tanks appearing on the opposite side at this time, there are already five of them. But Bely was not worried at all. He knew very well that the opponents were all Panzer III and IV tanks, but he was driving the most advanced T-34/85 tank, which was not at the same level as the opponent at all.
At the same distance, he could blow away the German tank turret with one shot, but the enemy tank might not even be able to penetrate his own front armor. Therefore, he was confident that he would win without being outnumbered.
A shell landed in front of the vehicle and exploded. The rising soil covered the observation port in front of the tank, making it difficult for Bely to see the location of the enemy tank. He stood up and was about to go out to clean up the dirt, but was stopped by another tank soldier: "Comrade Brigade Commander, it's too dangerous outside. It's better for me to go out and clean up the dirt covering the observation board."
After being reminded by the tank soldier, Bely immediately realized that he was now the commander of a brigade, and thousands of commanders and fighters in the entire brigade were still waiting for his command. If something unexpected happened to him, the troops would become leaderless. So he agreed with the soldier to go out and clean up the dirt.
A few minutes later, the tank crew climbed in from the outside and reported excitedly to Bely: "Comrade Brigadier, the soil has been cleared and we can fight back against the enemy."
Seeing that the soil on the observation port had been cleared by the tank soldiers, Bely immediately ordered the tank soldiers to shoot at the moving German tanks. This shot was very accurate and directly hit a moving No. 3 tank. The exploding ammunition immediately lifted the turret into the sky and fell heavily to the ground, creating a huge crater.
A tank following closely behind had no time to brake and crashed directly into the turret that had just fallen to the ground, and was immediately blocked on the road. As soon as the tank stopped, it was destroyed by an armor-piercing projectile fired from the tank where Alitai was located.
Even though Bely and Aritai were driving new tanks, the German tanks had a numerical advantage. Although Bely and Aritai had high hits, they quickly destroyed five or six enemy tanks. But there were too many enemy tanks. In less than a quarter of an hour, they were surrounded by German tanks from all directions.
Seeing this situation, Bieley felt a little desperate, wondering if he would die here today?
