The German tanks "rumbled" forward, and each tank was followed by a large number of soldiers... This was the largest German attack. There were estimated to be three companies, and each company had a tank to cover the advance. They obviously hoped
Take the fortress in one fell swoop to end this battle.
"Demolition team!" Major Gavrilov gave the order, and several organized demolition teams jumped out of the trenches and headed in the direction of the German tanks under cover of fire.
The demolition team usually consists of 5 people.
The three of them are demolitionists. In addition to carrying rifles, they mainly carry a large amount of explosives, such as explosive bags, blasting tubes, cluster grenades, etc... Some even do not even carry rifles in order to facilitate movement.
The other two are cover personnel, carrying ppd submachine guns to provide fire cover for the demolition team. If necessary, they can take over the demolition team's explosives and continue the mission.
Of course, these members need extraordinary courage and military quality, otherwise their feet will become weak when they see the tank, and they will not have the courage to rush forward.
Shulka was recognized as a "coward"... Later Shulka found out that he had the nickname "coward" at this time.
But this doesn't seem to be a bad thing, because it will definitely not be his turn to blow up the tank.
Shurka observed the movements of the demolition team through the crosshairs. They were obviously veterans of the army. They were very flexible and used the craters to sometimes lie down and hide and sometimes jump forward quickly. The rows of bullets fired from the direction of the German army did not even rise.
How effective was it... Only three soldiers were hit during the leap, and the remaining thirty or so soldiers successfully moved out of the trench and dispersed and hid two hundred meters away.
This put a lot of pressure on the German army, and the tank's forward speed immediately slowed down.
The German army's reaction was correct. This does not mean that tanks are afraid of infantry, but that tanks have very limited external perception capabilities. The Soviet army sent out blasters carrying large amounts of explosives and scattered them in front of the trenches like spreading beans. They hid in craters or
They are in blind spots, and some are even mixed with dead bodies, making it difficult to tell whether they are real or fake. It is difficult for tanks to find these targets.
It is not difficult to imagine that if the tank continues to move forward, there will soon be explosive bags stuffed into the tracks or cluster grenades stuffed into the chassis and then explode...
The Germans didn't do that. They chose to play it slow and steady, and they were very good at it.
A "Type III" tank adjusted the angle of its gun barrel, and then with a "bang" a shot blasted a Soviet Maxim machine gun position into the sky.
Several Soviet machine gunners were lying on the side covered in blood, uncertain whether they were alive or dead. The machine guns were blown into parts and scattered around.
The Soviet-made Maxim M1910 heavy machine gun has a water-cooled sleeve on the barrel like a barrel, and there is also a steel baffle on the rear of the gun body, which makes it very conspicuous on the battlefield, so naturally
It will become the first choice target for German tanks.
The other two "Plank 3" tanks also stopped and took aim. Without exception, their targets were the machine gun positions in the Soviet positions.
This seems a bit unreasonable... When facing the Soviet demolition team, the tank actually turned its target to the machine gun position in the Soviet trench.
In fact, this is the brilliance of the German army: tank guns are more suitable for dealing with relatively distant targets that are gathered together, rather than individual infantry scattered in front of them.
"Da da da!" A burst of gunfire passed by, and several Soviet soldiers who took the risk of rushing towards the tank with explosive bags were quickly knocked down in a pool of blood.
The German tanks advanced unhurriedly. Every time they advanced a certain distance, infantrymen would use bullets and grenades to test and clear obstacles. They would not miss every corpse or crater. Sometimes, the tanks would even turn to avoid the Soviet "blasting".
"Group"'s key defensive location.
At this time, there was another scream in the sky, and two German fighter jets swooped down from the sky. Machine gun bullets poured like raindrops into the Soviet trenches. A bloody storm and screams broke out in the trenches.
Shurka quickly put away his rifle and rolled towards the corner of the "Z" shaped trench. Several machine gun bullets flew past Shurka with a "swishing" sound. The stones stirred up by the bullets even hit Shuulka.
Erka's face was sore.
Looking back, there were already several corpses where Shulka was just now...or it couldn't be called corpses, because their hands and feet were still twitching.
Although Okunev was among them, he was very lucky not to be injured. He was pale and breathing heavily, and Shulka noticed that his lips were even trembling.
"Are you okay?" Shulka asked.
"It's okay...!" Okunev replied with difficulty, and then looked at Shulka doubtfully, as if he was wondering how Shulka could react so quickly and know where to hide.
This is actually not something difficult to understand:
For enemy pilots, they usually keep their fuselage parallel to the target trench and fly in a straight line, so that when they dive and shoot, the bullets will shoot into the enemy trench in a series. The same is true for bombing, which can exponentially increase the bomb investment.
Chances of trenches.
Therefore, to avoid their attacks, you must choose a place with your back to the aircraft and where there is cover... Bullets travel in a straight line, and you can easily judge the direction of the bullets in advance with a little imagination.
Of course, this was not a good time for Shulka to explain this to Okunev.
Shulka dragged Okunev out of the pile of dead people, then stuck his head out and looked out.
Under the almost perfect coordinated attack of German infantry, tanks and air, the Soviet army was in a very serious situation: the firepower in the trenches was completely suppressed by German tanks and aircraft. This gave the German infantry an absolute advantage in firepower, so they safely explored
The origin provided cover for the tank, and then the tank moved forward...
The offensive routine remained unchanged, but what changed was the increasing number of corpses of Soviet soldiers on the battlefield and the increasingly shorter distances... The Soviet "demolition teams" simply could not stop the German army from advancing. At this time, they were almost all
The army was destroyed.
The reason why I say "almost" is because there may still be some members of the "demolition team" holding cluster grenades or explosive packets hiding in craters or dead bodies. This is also one of the reasons why the German tanks did not dare to let go of their speed and move forward.
However, it is conceivable that this will not last long. The tracks of the German tanks will soon ruthlessly roll over the Soviet trenches, followed by a large number of muzzles and cold bayonets.
what to do?
Shulka asked himself, if this continues, the Soviet defense line will soon collapse.
Shulka thought about escaping. In fact, some Soviet soldiers had already done so, including Valery, who had laughed at Shulka before... Shulka saw him drop his rifle and stumbled
ran towards the rear.
However, when he thought of the instructor's cold eyes, Shulka gave up the idea.
Escape is obviously not a good option. It may even cut off your own way of survival. By then, the Germans, Soviets and even the whole world will become your enemies, and you will have nowhere to stay.