"Comrade Company Commander!" Shulka raised his head forward as he followed the tank and said, "Have you seen that anti-tank trench?"
"Yes!" Davydov asked: "What's the use of that?"
"Smoke bombs!" Shulka said: "Then we hid inside and pretended to be dead when the enemy attacked. I mean our company, including the tanks..."
"Comrade Shulka!" the deputy instructor interrupted Shulka angrily: "As a sergeant, you actually said such a thing, pretending to be dead? And asking the whole company to pretend to be dead? This will harm other comrades.
, will lead to the failure of the entire attack!"
There is some truth in what the deputy instructor said, because this attack involved an infantry battalion plus two tank companies that were not fully equipped with 29 tanks. (Note: full strength is 32 tanks)
If Davydov, who is Sulka's team, deserts, this may very well mean the entire attack.
The deputy instructor then used this to threaten Davydov: "Comrade company commander, you cannot agree to do this. This is surrender, rebellion, and disobedience of orders. You will be responsible for possible failure!"
As for what kind of responsibility he has to bear, Shulka knows it and so does Davydov.
Davydov hesitated for a moment, and then asked Shulka: "Pretend to be dead, and then what?"
"Then when Germany thinks we are retreating and relaxing our alert, launch an attack!" Shulka replied.
Davydov nodded, and then asked the deputy instructor: "Isn't this surrender?"
"But comrade company commander!" the deputy instructor said: "This is still disobeying orders and will cause serious consequences. No one can bear this responsibility..."
"That's enough, Comrade Olga!" At this time Pukarev squeezed forward and said: "Our goal is to defeat the enemy alive, not to obey orders just to obey orders!"
"Yes!" A senior officer next to him agreed: "This is not a fear of death, it is just a change of tactics!"
The deputy instructor wanted to say something else, but was interrupted by Davydov.
"If there is any problem, I will be responsible!" Davydov said, "Because I gave the order!"
After speaking, Davydov stopped hesitating and ordered: "Pass the order, target anti-tank trench, lurk!"
"Target anti-tank trench, lurk!
…
In fact, everyone knows what "lurking" means, and it is still in front of the enemy's position.
But Davydov was worried and added: "After arriving at the anti-tank trench, you are not allowed to charge with other troops and pretend to be dead!"
This order didn't even seem like an order, but later I realized that it was necessary because many recruits didn't even know the meaning of "lurking".
The tank continued to advance, approaching the enemy's defense line step by step.
Because of the rain, Shurka could not see the enemy and could only vaguely see a trench a few hundred meters away.
Shulka could almost imagine the German soldiers lying in the trenches, aiming their rifles at the tanks that were gradually becoming clearer, motionless despite the heavy raindrops hitting their helmets with a soft thud.
.
Of course, there are also machine guns and anti-tank guns.
Although the German army was poorly prepared, they still believed they could repel the Russian army in front of them, because... they fought all the way from Poland to here, and barely encountered any Russian army that could stop them for hundreds of kilometers, which gave them strong confidence.
, or it can also be said to be underestimating the enemy.
Shulka's guess was correct.
Stationed here is a German regiment, commanded by Colonel Marcus.
Colonel Marcus did not think that the Russian army could break through his defense line because he found that the Russians were using light tanks...
"These light tanks will do nothing!" Colonel Marcus said to the adjutant: "Our artillery will blow them to pieces! So, if the Russians are smart enough, they should take a detour!"
"Of course!" the adjutant replied: "But taking a detour is not a good option, because we will appear in front of them to block them before they get around!"
Then the two of them laughed.
This may be said to be arrogant, because the German army only has one infantry division, while the Soviet army has two armored divisions and one motorized division.
But if we look at previous battle examples, it is not considered arrogant, because the German army has been defeating more with less since the beginning of the war. As for the Soviet armored forces... they are usually vulnerable, except for the heavy armor of heavy tanks.
Except for some headaches.
But of course, in this case, it was impossible for the Soviet army to bring heavy tanks.
But what Marcus and the other German soldiers didn't expect was that they were not facing the Soviet army they thought they were.
In fact, Colonel Marcus has noticed it, because in the previous attacks, the Russians had used tanks to cover the infantry to launch charges... Before, the infantry and tanks were usually mixed together and rushed forward in a swarm. The tanks and infantry were almost separate.
There is no coordination at all when fighting each other.
But after repelling two attacks by the Soviet army, Marcus felt relieved again.
"That's all!" Colonel Marcus said: "I can't believe they used this kind of tank to break through the 6th Army's encirclement!"
"They put in heavy tanks when they broke out!" the adjutant replied.
Colonel Marcus said "Oh".
Looking at the advancing Soviet tanks, Colonel Marcus put down his binoculars and coldly ordered the adjutant beside him: "Order the artillery to fire!"
"Yes, artillery fire!"
"Fire!"
…
The shells whizzed over with a disgusting and weird sound. Shulka didn't like this sound very much. It was like two trains passing by with their whistles blowing. It started with a "whining" sound, and soon became louder and louder.
Soon it turned into a scream of "Wow".
The difference is that the trains will pass by each other, but the shells will explode in pieces around them, just like trains slamming into each other...
The surrounding area soon became a mess. Soldiers were lifted into the air by shells, tanks sank into mud pits due to panic, and new recruits were hiding from each other due to nervousness.
Under the orders of the officers, more people accelerated and charged towards the enemy's defense lines.
This is common sense. As long as you get close enough to the German defense line, your artillery will be rendered useless.
The problem is that the German army was prepared for this. Anti-tank guns quickly destroyed the tanks that broke through the blockade... The armor of the T26 is only 15mm thick, even the pak36 anti-tank gun (that is, the Soviet 1930-type 37mm
anti-tank guns) can easily penetrate it.
At this time, the high rate of fire of the pak36 is reflected: 13 shells per minute, one more than 4 seconds.
In other words, within a few minutes of the Soviet tanks rushing towards the German defense line, the German Pak36 anti-tank had enough time to use up its ammunition reserves, if necessary.
This caused the Soviet tanks to be destroyed one after another in front of the position.
What the Germans didn't know was that these were actually only part of it...