There are always unexpected dinner parties. There is only one chapter today, sorry!
*********
The German 2nd Armored Division collapsed soon after, and more than 60 tanks that entered the village were wiped out before they could even react.
The reason why they were annihilated so quickly was that in addition to the contribution of the T34, the anti-tank rifle also played a role.
As mentioned before, the 4th Tank Brigade is also equipped with 30 anti-tank rifles. They are all assigned to higher floors with better sightlines, shooting condescendingly through the windows.
Although it cannot deal with the Panzer III and Panzer IV tanks, it is still very effective against the Panzer II, 38t and armored vehicles equipped by the German army. This will reduce a lot of interference to the T34 and infantry.
Although the "No. 2" tank cannot pose a threat to the T34 at close range, it is a very good equipment for dealing with infantry...a 20mm machine gun with a firing rate of 100 rounds per minute, plus two machine guns, and the infantry's
Small arms cannot pose a threat to it.
This makes it impossible for the T34 tank to ignore them.
But with the anti-tank rifle, there is no need for the T34 to take care of this. They only need to aim the muzzle at more important targets and destroy them one after another.
The battle in the village lasted only ten minutes, and then T34 rushed out of the village.
The German army did not retreat because Major General Eick ordered them to stabilize their position and build a line of defense outside the village.
"Block them!" Major General Ike ordered: "Then indicate the positions of the air force and artillery!"
Major General Eicke's order may be right, because as long as the German army can build a line of defense to confront the enemy, or it can be said to distinguish between ourselves and the enemy, then German fighter planes and artillery fire can carry out carpet bombing in front of the line of defense.
But Major General Ike obviously underestimated the Fourth Tank Brigade...
First of all, it is not easy for tanks to organize defense in mud. Although the German tank soldiers are well-trained, they still cannot ignore the objective factor of the battlefield environment. Several tanks ventured into the mud outside the road and immediately got stuck in it.
Secondly, the whole battle developed too fast and the Russian army left too little preparation time for the German army. In just ten minutes, the T34 cleared the tanks that fell into the village and chased them out while running over the fleeing German army.
Again, the Russian tanks were firing smoke grenades all the way forward.
So, the imagination is beautiful but the reality is cruel.
Major General Eicke hoped to use his air superiority and artillery superiority to slightly block the German attack, but the result was that it once again developed into a melee that was unfavorable to the German army.
Moreover, such a melee was more detrimental to the German army than a melee in the village.
The reason is that the melee distance in the village is too close and each other can penetrate each other. For example, the Russian army also lost 7 tanks at that moment.
However, in the battle outside the village, the T34 tank deliberately kept the distance between the enemy and ourselves at a distance of 100 meters, so it immediately developed into a situation where the T34 could destroy the German tanks, but the German tanks were unable to penetrate the T34.
The "No. 3" tank driven by Colonel Becker has been destroyed, but he was lucky enough to escape from the tank... This is mainly because the Russian army only focuses on tanks and turns a blind eye to the escaping soldiers.
One eye is closed.
"General!" The disgraced Colonel Becker reported to Major General Ike through the walkie-talkie: "I think we should retreat, otherwise we will not be able to save even the last tank!"
While Colonel Becker was reporting, there were explosions of German tanks and clouds of flames coming from behind.
Objectively speaking, it is not that Major General Ike did not understand this. According to common sense, the moment he knew that he was ambushed, he should withdraw his troops.
A large part of the reason why Major General Ike did not do this was because he was unwilling to fail... They were the 2nd Armored Division. The 2nd Armored Division had won victory after victory on the battlefield and was about to open the road to Moscow.
The impressive victory that the gate won was evaporated in an instant.
Major General Eicke was unwilling to do this. He hoped that a miracle would happen and at least the German army would still have air superiority.
But in the end, Major General Ike was disappointed... The miracle did not happen, and they had one less tank every second that passed.
Major General Ike gritted his teeth and chose to accept reality.
"Retreat!" Major General Ike ordered.
However, it seemed that it was too late to order a retreat at this time. With the bombardment of artillery fire and rockets, the Soviet army's cry to kill came from another direction... The 316th Infantry Division's counterattack began.
In this battle, the German 2nd Armored Division suffered heavy losses, losing 113 of its 150 tanks. In addition, the Soviet army captured 30 anti-tank guns and a large number of artillery shells.
This was a treasure for the Soviet army, which was in dire need of anti-tank guns. They only needed to turn the muzzle to use these anti-tank guns against German tanks.
The news reached von Bock's headquarters, but Bock held the telegram for a long time without responding.
"Encountered an ambush by the enemy T34 in Volokolamsk? Where did they get the T34?!"
"The information we got from the Intelligence Bureau is that it is the Fourth Tank Brigade!" the adjutant replied.
"No, the 4th Tank Brigade is in Tver!"
"No, Marshal!" said the adjutant: "Obviously they deceived us into thinking so, but in fact the 4th Tank Brigade has been hiding in houses in Volokolamsk! Our soldiers saw their tanks
Rush out of the houses and destroy our tanks one by one!"
Bock couldn't believe what he heard, but he had to believe it when the facts were in front of him.
On the other hand, the Western Front Command was in a completely different situation when it received the news. The staff officers, communications troops, and guards all cheered for the victory.
General Zhukov breathed a sigh of relief, and then he said to Bulganin: "The facts prove that I was right. Our counterattack will make Volokolamsk a dangerous bottleneck area for our counterattack force. It will be easily attacked."
Until the enemy attacks!"
"But we have blocked the enemy's attack, Comrade Zhukov!" Bulganin replied.
"What?" Zhukov felt a little incredible: "The Germans will not just give up. They will gather more troops to attack!"
"Since the 4th Tank Brigade is in Volokolamsk, it seems we don't need to worry about this!"
"That's just a brigade after all!" Zhukov protested: "And even in such a great victory, they still lost tanks. At the same time, all our reserve forces and mobile units are in Tver, and we have no troops to reinforce them... We must attack special forces.
Weir's troops pull back!"
"Maybe we can capture Tver before they do!" Bulganin said: "Do you know what this means? Opening up the railway line from Leningrad to Moscow means that we will have more tanks. Fourth
trip!"
Zhukov couldn't help but be speechless, which made him know that this dangerous situation would continue.