However, Lucas's desperation speculation certainly could not become reality.
Not only could it not become a reality, the reality was contrary to their speculation... Although the accuracy of the rocket launcher was indeed weakened at night, it was certainly more accurate during the day than at night.
But this weakening is negligible for infantry, and can even be compensated for with illumination bombs if necessary.
As for the tanks of this era, the night combat capability, especially in the city, can almost be described as "none", because even if there is a figure shaking in front of the tank, the tank crew is not sure whether it is the enemy or one of their own, so they do not dare to open easily.
gun.
As a result, the night battles organized by Lucas failed again and again, and they were even counterattacked by the 1st Guards Tank Brigade and suffered considerable losses.
Needless to say why they were counterattacked... The Soviet soldiers carrying rocket launchers had a small target. They could easily penetrate the German positions through the cover of buildings and ruins and launch an attack unexpectedly.
The only good thing about this result is that Hitler finally believed that the "new equipment" used by the Russians in Tver was real and not a lie told by the frontline generals in order to retreat.
"We think it is a weapon similar to an anti-tank grenade!" the staff reported to Hitler: "The Russians mounted the anti-tank grenade on a rocket propeller, so that it can be launched at about 100 meters and destroy our tanks!
"
Hitler couldn't help but raised his head from the map after hearing this, and then said angrily: "What a simple and effective idea. We have rockets and anti-tank grenades, but we don't know how to combine them! Our scientists don't know how to combine them."
They are idiots, complete idiots, who have made us completely passive on the battlefield!"
In fact, the Germans are leading the world in rocket research, which can be traced back to 1910. Even Soviet rocket technology was shared with the Soviet Union under the Rapallo Agreement.
The problem is that the rockets of this era have many shortcomings, such as poor accuracy, short range, unstable ballistics, and they produce a large amount of smoke when launched, which is easily discovered by the enemy.
Therefore, the Germans who pursue accuracy and precision use rocket technology more to launch smoke grenades...Launching smoke does not require too much accuracy, and a similar position is enough to meet the requirements.
At this point, they do not have the Soviet thinking at all: if the accuracy is not enough, you can use numbers to make up. In the face of huge numbers, any accuracy is ignored.
It wasn't until the Soviet-German war that the Germans encountered the "Katyusha" and they suddenly realized it and hurriedly developed their own rocket launchers.
"I will let them develop similar anti-tank equipment!" the adviser said: "But, Your Excellency, the Führer! What should we do now? Admiral Hoppner once again sent an emergency telegram..."
Hitler raised his hand to stop the staff officer from continuing.
He knew the difficulties of the Fourth Tank Army, so he did not want to waste any more time in this regard.
After thinking about it, Hitler replied: "Tell General Hoppner to hold on until tomorrow. We will solve the supply problem after dawn tomorrow!"
"Yes, Your Excellency the Head of State!"
The staff did not dare to ask further questions, but Hitler already had a plan.
At night, he transferred a flying group of more than 40 fighter planes to the direction of Tver to be on standby, and at the same time asked Kubil to formulate a new attack plan.
Of course the Soviet army did not know these arrangements of the German army.
The German army's resistance and tenacity were somewhat beyond Shurka's expectations.
Shulka originally thought...the German army was already on the verge of collapse due to lack of preparation due to cold weather. Now coupled with the Soviet army's all-out counterattack, and at the same time the 1st Guards Tank Brigade cut off the supplies of the Fourth Tank Army, then the German army should
It will collapse soon.
But now the sky is getting brighter, and it has been twenty hours since the Soviet army occupied the Tverskaya Bridge and cut off the German transport lines, but the German army still shows no sign of collapsing and retreating.
The cooking soldiers distributed rations before dawn because everyone believed that there would be a new battle after dawn.
"Eat them all!" the cook said: "We may be able to eat German food for the next meal!" (referring to the German retreat)
The soldiers couldn't help laughing.
The rations are canned American stew, one can is for eight people, a large smoked fish, two slices of sweet bread for each person, two pieces of sugar and a little salt... This is used to replenish the sugar and salt lost by the body.
This is a pretty good ration, especially when supply was difficult during the defense of Moscow.
Only the 1st Guards Tank Brigade had such enjoyment during combat.
I don’t know who started it, but several soldiers quarreled during the meal, including Fedosiev.
Shulka listened carefully and then seemed to understand something.
"Come on!" Fedosiev said: "The infantry is nothing without the support of tanks!"
"Oh, really?" the veteran responded: "So where have you been these past few days? While we were destroying enemy tanks!"
The actor responded: "What's the use of you? Tanks have their own tasks, and so do the infantry. If you want to break through the German trenches, the tanks will either get stuck or drive directly into the trenches. A tank without infantry is like a blind man!"
"That's because we are using those broken tanks!" Fedosiev replied: "If we were driving T34..."
The Cossack directly took the rocket launcher in his hand and patted it, interrupting Fedosiev: "Do you think the T34 can block its attack?"
The soldiers around him couldn't help but burst into laughter.
This period was perhaps the most depressing time for the tank crews in the 1st Guards Tank Brigade.
As the tank crews of the tank brigade, they were originally supposed to be the protagonists of the unit. The infantry, artillery and even the air force all existed to cover them.
But now, with the advent of the rocket launcher, the status of the tank has been reduced exponentially... It was originally the equipment of the king of land warfare, but it only needs one cheap rocket to fix it. If one shot doesn't work, just two.
Shulka interjected while chewing the smoked fish in his mouth: "You think we don't need tanks anymore, right?"
"Captain!" the veteran said: "If the battle is like this, we really don't need tanks!"
Veteran refers to street fighting.
"So!" Shulka raised the lunch box in his hand: "You plan to fight the enemy infantry face to face?"
Everyone was silent, because the current Soviet army really used rocket launchers to deal with enemy tanks, and then used tanks to crush enemy infantry.
But of course, these are actually jokes among soldiers. No one would think that tanks are unimportant, even with rocket launchers.