A German Panzer III tank located on the left side of the Bely tank opened fire. Even though it was only equipped with a 37mm cannon, the German tank soldiers in the car felt that they were completely sure to penetrate the opponent's target when firing from a distance of more than 40 meters. Side armor, and they've had this before.
However, what happened next caused the German tank soldier's smile to freeze on his face. After the armor-piercing bullet fired concentrated on the side armor of the Soviet tank, it actually turned into a ricochet, leaving only a white mark on the armor plate.
The German commander carefully observed the concentrated area through the lookout in front and found that there was only a small white pit there. He murmured: "Oh my god, firing at such a close range can't penetrate the side armor of the Russian tanks."
Belly, who was sitting in the car, said to his gunner: "First kill the Panzer III tank that fired at us, and then deal with the other German tanks."
After completing the rapid reload, the gunner opened fire on the German Panzer III tank. The armor-piercing bullet accurately hit the turret, instantly punching a hole in the middle of the turret. The metal jet formed by the armor-piercing bullet produced a splash effect after penetrating the armor, splashing everywhere in the tank body, killing the tank crew inside one by one. .
Seeing that the tank was motionless, Bely directed the tank to select a new target and continue the attack. Although Bely's tanks were constantly hit by bullets during the attack, the damage that the German Panzer III and Panzer IV tanks could do was limited. On the contrary, Belly's tanks can immediately destroy the enemy's tanks as long as they select the target and fire.
Alitai on the side was not to be outdone. He commanded his men and successfully destroyed three tanks, thereby narrowing the number gap between the enemy and our tanks.
The German commander saw that the more than ten tanks under his command, except for destroying one Soviet T-34 tank at the beginning, the rest of the time, although they had a numerical advantage, they could not do anything about the remaining two. tank. On the contrary, nine of our own tanks were destroyed.
Thinking that out of the fifteen tanks he had brought out, only less than half of them were left, the commander became a little anxious. He quickly ordered his subordinates through the radio, "Come up, rush up, get close to the Russian tanks and fire. I don’t believe that it can’t penetrate the Russian tank armor at a distance of two or three meters.”
However, just as the remaining German tanks rushed towards Belly and Alitai's tanks in an attempt to carry out a close attack, a moving Panzer IV tank exploded from within. Amidst the continuous tongues of flames, A tank soldier covered in fire crawled out, jumped down screaming, and rolled desperately in the snow, trying to extinguish the flames on his body. However, his efforts were unsuccessful. After rolling for a long time, he finally lay motionless on the ground.
The German commander commanding at the rear saw seven or eight Soviet T-34s approaching in the distance. Knowing that continuing to fight would definitely lead to a dead end, he quickly conveyed an order to his subordinates: "Retreat, retreat quickly. !”
Tank combat is different from infantry combat in that the retreating party will be chased and beaten by the victorious party. Seeing that the German tanks began to retreat, the Soviet tanks launched a pursuit, stopping from time to time to fire at the German tanks.
After a battle, of the fifteen invading tanks, only the German commander and another Panzer IV escaped. The rest were destroyed by Soviet tanks at the edge of the forest.
Seeing that the German tanks were repulsed, Belly climbed out of the tank and inspected it carefully. If you don’t know it, you will be shocked when you see it. There are actually as many as fifteen bullet points on the tank body. In other words, if what they encountered today was not the German Panzer III or IV tank, but a Tiger tank, they would have been hit long ago. It was destroyed fifteen times.
Seeing this, Bely felt lucky in his heart. If he and Alitai were driving not the new T-34/85, but the old T-34, they would have been destroyed by the Germans by now. Although the German tank troops were repelled now, who knew whether they would come back again. He felt it necessary to report this to Sokov.
When Bely came to Sokov's headquarters, Sokov, who was talking to Vitkov and Lunev, was startled. He came to Bely and asked in surprise: "Comrade Colonel, what happened? Why do you look so embarrassed?"
Bie Lei raised his hand and wiped it on his face. Not only did he not wipe his face clean, it actually looked even dirtier. He smiled bitterly and said: "When I went on patrol today, I encountered a German tank."
After hearing what Bely said, Vitkov immediately asked nervously: "How many tanks do the Germans have?"
"15 cars."
"What about us?"
"3 cars."
"What, our three tanks versus fifteen German tanks?" Lunev asked in surprise: "Comrade Colonel, I want to ask, how did you escape?"
"Comrade Military Commissar," Bely replied: "When we encountered German tanks, one T-34/76 was destroyed. Fortunately, the remaining two were both T-34/85 tanks, tilted at 49 degrees. The 45mm side armor at the corner is equivalent to 100mm. The enemy's Panzer III and Panzer IV tanks cannot hit us at all. But we can easily destroy the enemy's tanks as long as we fire."
Sokov noticed that Lunev's eyes were on him and knew that he was not familiar with the tank model, so he explained to him: "Comrade Military Commissar, the earliest T-34 tank is equipped with a 76mm gun, and the latest tank The equipment is an 85 mm caliber gun, and the armor has also been strengthened. Therefore, when facing the enemy's Panzer III and Panzer IV tanks, the chance of survival of our tanks has been greatly improved."
After listening to Sokov's explanation, Lunev finally understood what was going on. He nodded and said, "Not only that, you used three tanks against fifteen German tanks. This is an amazing victory." , I think it should be reported to my superiors immediately.”
"Comrade Military Commissar, I think there is no need to report such a small victory to the superiors." Sokov did not quite agree with Lunev's statement, so he said euphemistically: "I think we should wait until we win. If you want a greater victory, it’s not too late to report to your superiors.”
Sokov turned to Bely: "Comrade Colonel, do you think we should take any measures recently?"
"Comrade Commander, in order to prevent the enemy from carrying out sneak attacks on our army through the trail next to the forest, I think anti-tank forces should be deployed in that direction."
"Anti-tank force?" Sokov asked with interest: "Comrade Colonel, what are you going to do?"
"I feel that in addition to placing a tank company there, we also need to deploy at least two groups of anti-tank fighters." Bely said confidently: "With them there, if the enemy tanks want to sneak over like this, there will be no So easy.”
"In addition to tanks and anti-tank crews, I think anti-tank mines should also be placed." Vitkov interjected: "If possible, even anti-tank tripods should be placed."
Regarding Vitkov's proposal, Sokov smiled and shook his head and said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I think Colonel Bely's arrangement is very reasonable. If we really laid out minefields and deployed anti-tank triangles there, It means we have to deploy infantry there for defense."
"The enemy has very little time to come out from that direction. I think there is no need to deploy infantry for defense." Vitkov insisted on his point of view: "I think it is enough to lay mines and install anti-tank tripods."
"Chief of Staff, this won't work." Sokov shook his head and said to Vitkov: "If we are laying mines or laying obstacles in the area and do not have infantry nearby for defense, then the Germans can send out their engineers, Taking their time to lift the mines we had laid, clear the tripods that were blocking the way, and create a passable path for their tanks."
"Comrade Commander makes sense." Lunev agreed with Sokov's statement: "I feel that after placing tanks and anti-tank crews there, there is no need to lay mines or place anti-tank personnel. Tank tripods. Because these things not only hinder the enemy's advance, they also cause inconvenience to our actions."
"Comrade Military Comrade is right." Bely agreed: "If we lay minefields, it will limit our scope of activities. In this way, our defense will become passive defense."
"Okay." Seeing that his opinion was opposed by everyone, Witkov felt disappointed and could only choose to compromise: "Then I will arrange two groups of anti-tank fighters there to be on duty day and night." He He turned to Bely and said, "Comrade Colonel, you are responsible for how many tanks are arranged there."
After Bely left, Lunev asked Sokov: "Comrade Commander, tell me, will the Germans bypass our army's defense line through that hidden road and rush directly to the headquarters?" "
"Comrade Military Commissar," Sokov King Khrunev said: "It is possible. The Germans find that it is not easy to succeed in attacking from the front, and they will definitely choose other roads to try to bypass our army's defense line and sneak attack on us. the rear."
Knowing that there might be a German attack here, Lunev was frightened. He quickly said to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, do you think we should strengthen the defense work near the division headquarters?"
"It stands to reason that there is nothing wrong with deploying troops to strengthen the defense of the headquarters. However, the current situation is complicated and confusing. How long we will stay here is also unknown." Ding Rong explained to Lunev: "If we spend a lot of Manpower and material resources have been built near the headquarters. But if they are useless, they have to be transferred to other places. Isn't this a waste? I have no right to let my soldiers and the residents of the city do such useless work. "
…………
While Sokov and members of the Army Headquarters were discussing whether necessary defensive measures should be deployed near the headquarters, Hausser received a call from Etling, commander of the 17th Armored Division: "Your Excellency General, I have I have bad news for you. I sent a fast column of 15 tanks to try to bypass the Russian defense lines from the forest. But unfortunately, when they came out of the forest, they collided with the Russian tanks. Encountered.”
“How many tanks do the Russians have?”
"3 cars."
"Three?" After hearing the number of Soviet tanks, Hausser showed a proud smile on his face: "Our army has 15 tanks, but the Russians only have 3. It means that five tanks will hit one of them. But that’s really weird.”
"Your Excellency General, we lost." Etlin said timidly: "And after a battle, only two tanks escaped back, and the rest were destroyed by the Russians."
"What?" Hearing the news, Hausser couldn't help being shocked: "What are you talking about? Our 15 tanks fought against three Russian tanks, but only two escaped back. What on earth is going on?"
Etlin quickly explained: "Your Excellency General, we dispatched Panzer III and Panzer IV tanks. During the battle, our heroic tank crews successfully destroyed one T-34 tank, but the remaining two tanks were not only Even if we hit it, we can't destroy it. I think the Russians must have introduced a new tank."
Knowing that the Soviet army might have launched a new tank, Hausser's expression became serious. He asked cautiously: "General Etling, do you know what kind of tanks the Russians use?"
"Listen to my men," Etling replied: "From the outside, it looks similar to the original T-34 tank. The caliber of the gun was larger at that time. I guess it is an improved version of the T-34 tank. Since our Panzer III and Panzer IV are equipped with 37 and 57 mm enemy artillery, which makes it difficult to penetrate the armor of Russian tanks, but they can destroy our tanks with just one shot."
"Then is there any way to deal with them?"
Knowing that the Soviet army's new tanks were so powerful, Hausser seemed a little flustered.
"Don't we have Tiger tanks?" Ettlin replied: "I think with Tiger tanks, it is possible to destroy Russian tanks at long distances."
"Okay, General." Hausser replied: "I will report this matter to Field Marshal Manstein immediately and ask him to send Tiger tanks to your division to deal with the new Russian tanks."
After explaining the call with Etling, Hausser did not call Manstein. Instead, he called Simon, the acting commander of the Skeleton Division: "Mr. Colonel, now I have a task for you."
"General Hauser," Colonel Shimon heard what Hauser said and quickly asked respectfully, "I wonder what tasks you plan to assign to us?"
"The probing attack launched by General Etling's 17th Armored Division against the Red Army Village has ended in failure. I now order you to immediately send a small team to the Red Army Village to conduct reconnaissance, and to find out the Russian defense situation as soon as possible .”
"Understood, General Hauser, I will make arrangements immediately."
