Major General Schroeder realized immediately that he had been fooled. His armored division fell into an ambush carefully laid by the enemy, and it was an ambush that they could not break through.
However, Major General Schroeder still did not order a retreat.
Major General Schroeder knew very well that the Russian tank named T34...it had great advantages over German tanks in terms of firepower and defense. German tanks had to be pushed 100 meters away to pose a threat to it.
As an imperial soldier, an armored division commander, and a recipient of the Iron Cross with Silver Oak Leaves, Major General Schroeder possesses the calm wisdom that a commander should have.
He knew that if he ordered the troops to retreat at this time, it would only keep the German tanks out of the range of the enemy T34 tanks, and the 79th Armored Division would collapse and then be annihilated.
Therefore, Major General Schroeder resisted the urge to order a "retreat", gritted his teeth and ordered over the walkie-talkie: "Soldiers, this is the enemy's last line of defense and the last barrier. As long as we break through it... Moscow is ours."
Yes! Follow me and move forward at full speed!"
"Full speed ahead!"
…
The order was passed on loudly, and the motors of the German tanks rumbled. One tank after another drove towards the Soviet defense line in the exhaust like thick fog, and then got faster and faster, faster and faster.
…
Of course the Soviet tanks were on the defensive.
In fact, it cannot be said to be defensive.
As mentioned before, tanks in this period had basically no chance of hitting when shooting while traveling. At the same time, the T34 tank had a long-range advantage over the German tanks, so even a fool knows that now is the time for the T34 to shoot. It is best to be in front of the German tanks.
Stop the German troops before they reach the 100-meter danger line, so that the Soviet tanks can achieve maximum results at the minimum cost.
So, following Katukov's order, one T34 after another fired shells at the German tanks.
The German tanks that rushed ahead suddenly slowed down as if they hit an invisible wall, then drove forward for a certain distance due to inertia and finally stopped.
One of the tanks had a violent explosion, perhaps because the internal ammunition was detonated. In an instant, the tank was blown apart and the turret was separated from the chassis. Red flames were spitting out from every gap in the tank body like a burning furnace, and the falling tanks were blown away.
The rain and snow around it instantly burned into a stream of water vapor.
However, this did not deter the German army from advancing. Their tanks bypassed the wreckage and continued to advance forward, while the soldiers struggled to keep up with the speed of the tanks...
Five hundred meters.
As the German tanks advanced, they opened fire in the direction of the Soviet troops, both tanks and machine guns.
But everyone knows that this is just a deterrent... As the saying goes, "a slight difference can make a thousand miles". If the gun barrel is fired while moving, the barrel will swing up and down with the body of the tank, even if the gunner tries hard to aim.
target, but the cannonball will still deviate from its trajectory the moment it exits the barrel.
Even if this deviation is just a little, it will eventually cause the projectile to miss the target seriously.
So this kind of firing has almost no effect.
But the German tanks had to do this because they knew... Even if they stopped to fire and accurately hit the target, it would be useless. At this distance, the German tanks could not penetrate the target armor at all.
Three hundred meters.
The German tanks were destroyed one after another, and there were all kinds of tanks. At first, it was mainly the "No. 4" because it had the fastest cross-country speed and always ran at the front.
From a certain perspective, the "No. 4" is used as advanced cannon fodder in this kind of tank battle. The reason is that its short-barreled gun has weak armor-piercing ability, even if it can penetrate the T34 frontal armor within 100 meters.
It is difficult, and it is almost impossible to rush into the 100-meter distance of the enemy tank group, because then the gunner does not need to aim at all, he only needs to aim the barrel at the target and then fire, and there is basically no chance of missing a target.
In addition, there are the "No. 1" and "No. 2" tanks, which are used as secondary cannon fodder, that is, they block the front to attract enemy firepower.
The main force is undoubtedly the "Plank 3" tank.
Two hundred meters...
The "Plank 3" tank finally got close to the range where it could fire.
Major General Schroeder seemed to have seen hope again: at this time, the 79th Division still had 67 "Plank 3" tanks. If these "Plank 3" tanks could rush close to the T34 and engage in "hand-to-hand" combat with them, then the German army would be able to
Relying on the numerical advantage to open a gap to break through the encirclement, or even turn defeat into victory.
(Note: Katukov only deployed one tank battalion on the front, and another tank battalion was deployed on both wings to outflank. Major General Schroeder saw only one tank battalion with more than 40 tanks at this time)
Therefore, Major General Schroeder urged almost hysterically on the walkie-talkie: "Press your accelerator to the bottom, as fast as possible, and don't give the enemy any chance to stop you!"
The "No. 3" tank group did exactly this. Even though the bullets were hitting the armor like raindrops, and although the wreckage of tanks destroyed by the enemy were everywhere in front and behind, they still stared closely at the front.
t34 moves forward at the fastest speed.
Among them was Major Millier.
Not long ago, he thought that this battle would be an "easy victory," as he said to his men: "We will use the enemy's corpses and blood to comfort our comrades who died last night and the tanks that were blown up.
And, of course, there are those dogs carrying explosives!”
However, the situation changed too suddenly.
One second the German army was still chasing the Soviet army, and the next second Major Millier realized that the entire army was surrounded by the Soviet army, which meant that revenge was hopeless.
Not only is there no hope of revenge, but they are also likely to become victims.
However, Major Millier still stuck to his post and decided to lead his men to fight to the last moment, no matter what the outcome.
"Hold on!" Major Millier ordered while observing the front through the periscope: "Hold on... No gunfire is allowed without my order!"
This was the critical moment. He had to wait until the tank reached an effective distance of 100 meters before firing.
Therefore, Major Millier nervously estimated the distance between the enemy tank and himself... This was calculated based on the size of the enemy tank in the periscope. The closer the distance, the larger the target.
Therefore, experienced tank commanders will memorize the length, width, height and other data of various enemy armored vehicles, because the ratio of these data to the size seen in the periscope can quickly calculate the distance to the target, which is the key to victory on the battlefield.
key.
"Get ready..." Major Millier ordered.
Seeing that he was about to break into 100 meters, Major Millier's heartbeat could not help but accelerate.
But at this moment, Major Millier's vision went dark, and the tank fell into a deep pit.