However, the smoke is more likely to interfere with the tank gunner's sight... It is already difficult for the tank soldier to observe the target with a periscope or observation hole in the tank. If the smoke interferes with it, it will be difficult to aim and even unable to judge the distance of the target.
For infantry, because tanks are tall and large, their positions can be seen clearly even if there is smoke interference.
The German army seemed to want this, because they wanted to fight the Soviet army in close combat.
But what they don't know is that for the Soviet troops in front of them, what they should be more prepared for is the infantry...
The tanks on both sides opened fire while advancing, but the irony was that both the enemy and ourselves were helpless against the other's armor.
German tanks have a firepower advantage, but the problem is that the frontal armor of the "Matilda" is too thick and its tank guns cannot penetrate it.
"Matilda" has an armor advantage, but it is precisely because of its thick armor that the artillery cannot increase its caliber, so it is also unable to penetrate the German "Plank III" tank.
Historically, the "Matilda" tank was called the "Four Hero Tanks" by the Soviet army.
"Four Heroes" is a complimentary term, but in fact it is derogatory... because the Soviet army usually used it to cover infantry attacks, that is, thickening the armor and using it as a shield in front of the infantry.
You can imagine how terrifying it is for tank crews to drive it: the tank drives forward slowly, even if they know that there are enemy anti-tanks and even 88mm anti-aircraft guns ahead that can destroy it, they can only bite the bullet
Push forward.
They even had to move in a straight line, because if the tank avoided it, it would expose the large number of infantry in the rear to enemy fire.
Therefore, the Soviet infantry naturally called the four tank soldiers driving the "Matilda" the "Four Heroes", and the "Matilda" became the "Four Heroes Tank".
"They have thickened their armor!" his subordinates reported to Major General Kubil: "We can't penetrate them at close range!"
"Of course!" Major General Kubile replied: "I said, it is not the 'Matilda' you encountered in France, this is an improved version!"
"No, Major General!" the subordinate replied: "I mean, the Soviets added armor to them!"
Major General Kubile looked at the opposite side through the periscope, and sure enough he found that a layer of armor was added in front of the "Matilda" tank. This caused the German tanks to fire armored bullets one after another, but none of them had any effect. Some armored bullets even
Embedded in those additional armors, those tanks are like soldiers fighting with wounds.
"I saw it!" Major General Kubile said: "But this will not affect our plan. What we want to attack is their side armor and rear armor! Speed up and get into the middle of them!"
"Yes, General!" the German tank soldier responded, simply stopped firing, stepped on the accelerator to the bottom and rushed towards the Soviet tank group.
However, at this moment, a "No. 3" tank suddenly burst into flames and then emitted black smoke and became paralyzed in place.
"No. 391 has been destroyed!" his subordinates reported to Kubil.
"What did they use to destroy it?" Major General Kubile asked.
"I don't know!" the subordinate replied: "Maybe it's an anti-tank gun, but I didn't see anything..."
"Keep going!" Kubil ordered.
He didn't take the tank's destruction to heart because he thought it was just a coincidence... There are many such coincidences on the battlefield, such as a shell hitting the tank's observation hole or even an anti-tank gun hitting a weak part, which will paralyze the tank.
.
But what Kubil didn't know was that the Soviet troops on the other side were already cheering loudly.
The tank just now was penetrated by a rocket launcher.
This can be said to be an attempt. The first batch of eight rocket launchers were launched at the same time to attack the same target. As a result, two rounds hit the target at a distance of about 100 meters.
The Soviet army didn't know which of the two rockets was effective, or whether both were effective at the same time. They only knew that the tank was indeed paralyzed, which also meant that the rocket launcher was effective in actual combat.
of.
If the German tanks could retreat with the rapids at this time, there might be a way to survive. They could use smoke and high mobility to escape.
However, the German tanks found no abnormalities at all and continued to advance towards the Soviet army as before. The result was naturally that they fell into a trap set by the Soviet army's rocket launcher.
The rocket launcher shooters quickly dispersed, some hiding behind tanks and others hiding in craters, waiting for orders from the company commanders.
They are all decentralized and commanded by company commanders... This is determined by the different forward speeds of the tanks. Some German tanks advance faster and some slower. This will lead to different contact between the enemy and ourselves in various parts, which means that the appropriate attack opportunities are different.
So there is nothing to do with Shulka at this time. The company commanders and even the platoon commanders can just follow the training steps.
Then, first the mortars fired a row of mortars, and then submachine guns and rifles suddenly appeared from behind the tanks and hit the open space between the German tanks... The soldiers often did not find the target.
It was suppressed by a hail of bullets.
Each squad of the 1st Guards Tank Brigade had two to three Bobosha submachine guns, plus a squad machine gun and a sniper team. At that moment, dense bullets "swish" poured directly on the heads of the Germans, overwhelming the Germans.
I could only follow closely behind the tank without even daring to peek my head.
At this moment, the rocket launcher shooters came out of their hiding places...
The disadvantage of the "Bazooka" is that it must be fired at close range and you must lean out.
Even because it is shoulder-mounted, the entire upper body must be stretched out of the cover.
What's worse is that it requires a secondary shooter to reload and then aim again.
This firing action is almost equivalent to suicide on the battlefield. The rocket launcher shooter will become a good target for enemy infantry or snipers.
However, the German troops were basically suppressed at this time, and even if some German troops found the Soviet troops leaning out, they did not know what they were, so they did not stop them in time.
So, just hearing a "whoosh" scream, one rocket after another was launched from the rocket launcher with a long trail.
After bursts of "boom boom" explosions, the tanks became paralyzed and motionless on their positions.
"General, we are under enemy artillery fire!" The German army reported to Major General Kubile: "A group of my tanks were destroyed by the enemy!"
The Germans didn't know what it was. Even in the smoke, they didn't know that they were destroyed by a rocket launcher. So they immediately judged that they were blocked by enemy artillery fire.
Therefore, Major General Kubile ordered without thinking: "Keep moving forward! If you rush into their ranks, the artillery fire will be useless!"