Especially at this time, the Germans also used a new piece of equipment...the No. 3 assault gun.
The No. 3 assault gun was proposed by Manstein. After the German army attacked Poland, they found that their armored forces lacked a weapon to support infantry in attacking bunkers.
Tanks are indeed capable of this task at this time, but using tanks as infantry to attack the enemy's permanent fortifications is actually a serious waste... Attacking the enemy's fixed, immobile bunker fortifications actually does not require much speed.
For mobility, it only needs to slowly move the artillery to the forefront to support the infantry. It does not require the artillery to have a full range of shooting angles, because the bunker is right there and it will not move.
On the contrary, what is needed when attacking a bunker is thicker armor to withstand the attack of the enemy's anti-tank equipment inside the bunker.
Considering these aspects, the tank is not suitable for such a task, because its high mobility and rotatable turret are a complete waste, and the thickness of the armor has to be sacrificed for high mobility and angle of fire.
So the No. 3 assault gun came out. It basically used the chassis of the No. 3 tank and added a cannon... The assault gun is a category of artillery. Its cost is about four-fifths of the No. 3 tank, but
It can play a greater role when attacking bunkers, machine gun bunkers, trenches or enemy anti-tank gun positions because it can thicken the armor more freely. (Note: The No. 3 assault gun thickens both the front and side armor to
50mm, and even thickens to 80mm in the middle and later stages, and the gun body is lower and harder to hit)
This type of assault gun was used in the battle to attack the "Stalin Defense Line". Relying on the advantage of armor, they calmly drove to the Soviet bunker, and fired a fierce bombardment according to the perforations of the Soviet bunker.
Of course, it is still very difficult for artillery shells to directly penetrate the perforation hole. After all, it is a 1.5-meter-deep perforation hole. If it is tilted a little or the trajectory is deflected, it will explode around the perforation hole.
However, the machine guns and artillery in the Soviet bunkers would undoubtedly be suppressed. The German engineers took advantage of this moment to rush forward and throw explosive bags, grenades, etc. into the perforations.
The information quickly reached Colonel Ovech's headquarters.
"Comrade Colonel!" the staff reported to Colonel Ovich: "Our defense line has suffered heavy losses under the attack of enemy tanks, and the first layer of defense has been breached!" (Note: The Soviet army could not distinguish between tanks and assaults at this time!
guns, so we simply call them tanks)
Upon hearing this, Colonel Ovich couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat on his forehead.
At this time, it was only more than an hour before the Germans launched their attack. They broke through the first layer of defense in such a short time. At this speed, they would be able to break through the defense line and march towards Kiev in more than ten hours, that is, before dark.
According to Colonel Ovech's original estimate, it would take the Germans at least a month to do it.
In fact, one month is what Colonel Ovich said when he asked his superiors for more equipment and troops. He knew that only by saying this could he get more people and things.
What Ovich really thought was that it would turn into trench warfare like World War I, where the enemy and we were stalemate in front of the defense line and no one could do anything to the other.
It was obvious that Colonel Ovitch's thinking was still stuck in the First World War, which was one of the reasons why he disdained the use of "log cabin disguise".
But now...Ovich has thought about various possibilities, but he just didn't expect this situation to arise. He doesn't even know how to solve it, because all his defense ideas are based on a system with bunker fortifications as the support point. Now as
The bunkers they relied on were vulnerable to the German attack, and the entire system collapsed.
Seeing Colonel Ovich in a daze, the staff officer added: "Colonel... we have a position to block their attack!"
"Which position?" Colonel Ovitch regained some strength in his eyes, because if someone can block the German attack, it means that others can too.
The staff officer hesitated for a moment, and then replied: "It's the 333rd Regiment, Comrade Colonel!"
"No, this is impossible!" Colonel Ovech said: "They just put some disguise in front of the bunker..."
"Yes, Comrade Colonel!" the staff officer replied: "But just this camouflage prevented the Germans from distinguishing which was a bunker and which was a wooden house. More importantly, they could not see the perforations before attacking, so they could not allocate firepower in advance.
Make a plan of attack!”
"No, that might be just a coincidence!" Colonel Ovech said: "Their location is not the main direction of the German attack!"
The staff officer Zhiqu did not answer. He knew that he should not speak at this time because it might directly affect his career.
But in fact, the staff officer is not smart enough, otherwise he should answer: "Yes, Colonel. That is obviously not the main force of the Germans!"
It's just that the staff officer couldn't say anything contrary to the facts, so he chose to remain silent.
Then Colonel Ovitch understood what this silence meant.
He looked at his staff with disbelief and asked: "The Germans are using their main force to attack the 333rd Regiment's defense area?"
"You can say it's an attack, or you can say it's not, Comrade Colonel!" the staff officer replied: "The Germans may have regarded it as a gap in the defense line. You know, all they saw was a wooden house, and even aerial reconnaissance was the same, so...
They launched a strong attack with two armored battalions and more than 70 tanks!"
"Then what?" Colonel Ovitch asked.
"The Germans suffered heavy casualties!" the staff officer handed Colonel Ovich a telegram and said: "This is a report from Major Gavrilov. They destroyed twenty-five tanks and killed and wounded more than 300 people.
An enemy!"
Colonel Ovich looked at his staff in shock. This result was an astronomical figure for the Soviet army, which was fleeing all the way. However, the 333rd Regiment could easily achieve it in one battle.
Immediately, Colonel Ovich regretted it. If he had followed what Major Gavrilov said, then now it would not only be the 333rd Regiment's defense zone with such results, but also his 79th Division and even the 79th Division.
The 27th Army and even the entire defense line had such results.
But Colonel Ovich changed his mind and said to the staff: "This is nothing, Comrade Ftoriak, this is just an ambush by the 333rd Regiment. They successfully ambush the Germans. But this does not mean that
Their tactics were correct! Once the Germans realized it was an ambush, it wasn't an ambush anymore, understand?"
"Yes, Colonel!" the staff officer replied.
Although the staff did not agree with Colonel Ovich's attitude, he felt that this was reasonable. The Germans would not be fooled again after being fooled once.