With a "bang", the No. 1 car driven by Major Duden crashed through the wall and entered the target area.
Originally, Major Duden thought that what appeared in front of him would be artillery pieces and groups of panicked artillerymen. Unexpectedly, this was not the case. A black thing stood in front of his periscope.
At this time, the rear infantry fired a flare in this direction. Under the snowy white light, Major Duden discovered that it was a tank. It was no smaller than the "No. 6" he was driving, but the barrel was larger than the "No. 6".
A much thicker tank. (Note: Major Duden mistook the self-propelled gun for a tank when observing through the periscope)
"Tank!" Major Duden shouted: "One o'clock position, change direction, aim..."
Major Duden's orders were all correct. He first informed the crew of the location of the enemy tank, then ordered the driver to change direction to interfere with enemy aiming and shooting, and at the same time ordered the gunner to aim.
If on other occasions, self-propelled artillery or assault guns face tanks, then self-propelled artillery and assault guns are no match for tanks at all.
This is mainly because the tank turret can be rotated, so it can be rotated while traveling to aim in a rough direction... Accurate aiming usually requires stopping the vehicle, but if it is close combat and the target is very close, you can also rely on feeling.
On the contrary, assault guns and self-propelled artillery can only rely on rotating the body to aim, which is much clumsier than a tank.
But this is not the case at this time. This is actually a trap set by the Soviet self-propelled artillery against the German tanks. They have even adjusted the angle of the muzzle to align it with the location where the tanks will appear...
The reason why it could be adjusted in advance was that the Soviet army had observers on the roof constantly observing the direction of the German tanks.
Even the self-propelled artillery can adjust its position and prepare accordingly according to the direction and position of the enemy tanks.
Even Shulka was confused at this point, because the Soviet army's communication equipment was very backward, and more importantly, it was in short supply. At this time, even the mainstay of tanks, the T4, could only be equipped with a radio in the command vehicle. Of course, the self-propelled artillery did not have a radio.
.
In this case, the coordination between the Soviet observers and the self-propelled artillery must go through the infantry, that is, the observer first calls the infantry, and then the infantry tells the self-propelled artillery the enemy's position.
Not only will there be a lag, but there may also be errors. For example, Arinsimovich may have misheard the call or may have to shout several times before he hears it clearly.
More importantly, the self-propelled artillery itself has problems with coordination difficulties. For example, aiming usually requires the driver and gunner to complete: the gunner controls the high and low shooting angles of the gun, and the horizontal displacement needs to be controlled by the driver. If one of the driver and gunner
If something goes wrong, you won't be able to aim at the target at all.
However, when Shulka observed from a high place, he found that these self-propelled artillery turned in a timely manner. For example, the German tank turned a corner on the other side, and the self-propelled artillery in the wall also adjusted its muzzle... So, when
The moment the German tank broke through the wall, the muzzle of the self-propelled artillery was facing the enemy tank.
Later Shulka learned that Captain Arinsimovich had a different coordination method... After receiving the instant message, the infantry did not inform the gunner by shouting, but used a flashlight to shine a bright spot on the wall. This bright spot represented
The location of the enemy tank on the other side of the wall.
As a result, the gunner and driver can coordinate perfectly and turn almost simultaneously at the first time.
From this point of view, it is correct to let Captain Arinsimovich serve as the commander of this self-propelled artillery battalion.
It is precisely because of this that the fate of the German "Tiger" tank was decided.
"Speed up!" Major Duden shouted.
This order is also correct, because accelerating can get rid of the situation where the tank is locked by the enemy's muzzle faster.
But it was already too late. There was only a loud "boom" as a shell came out of the self-propelled gun and hit the "Tiger" without any accident.
It should be said that this shell was not fatal, at least on the surface.
The reason is that the 15MM caliber ML-0 artillery is a Soviet heavy howitzer with a range of 17.0 kilometers. In actual combat, it is towed by a heavy tractor. Therefore, the armor-piercing projectiles used for equipment purely used for long-range fire reinforcement have not yet been developed.
The result of a grenade targeting infantry hitting a tank often looks scary but actually does not cause much damage to the tank... Howitzer shells are hollow and contain explosives. When they hit the tank armor, they look like eggs.
Like a cannonball hitting a rock, it first shatters and then explodes.
This is one of the reasons why solid armor-piercing bullets should be used against tanks, otherwise the effect will not be ideal.
Therefore, the target of this 15MM caliber artillery is not actually a tank, or it is not just a tank... After the shell hit the tank and exploded, it was like a hurricane blowing around the tank, supplementing the infantry on its flanks and rear.
He was beaten up and down.
On the other hand, because the caliber of the 15MM artillery is too large, its shells weigh 4.6 kilograms. A shell of this weight is fired at high speed by the artillery and hits the armor hard, and then the explosive inside explodes... Hide in the tank
The people were immediately shaken to death or injured.
So the "Tiger" also lost its combat effectiveness at that moment.
The SU76 hiding in the building fired another shot on the flank at the right time... The 76MM artillery had armor-piercing projectiles, and the SU76 was light and fast. Captain Arinsimovich used it as a mobile force to fight the Germans.
Just hearing a "boom", the "Tiger" shook heavily and then stopped moving. A wisp of green smoke could be faintly seen coming from the side.
This does not mean that the battle is over, but it is the beginning of the battle.
Submachine guns suddenly popped out of the buildings on both sides and fired wildly at the German troops who were trying to rush in through the gap in the wall.
The German army initially tried to attack in, but a few minutes later, when the 15MM artillery was reloaded and the muzzle was adjusted to the gap, another "bomb" shot... As soon as the wall was erected, a burst of fire and smoke exploded, and
Also flying up were the corpses of German soldiers. After a while, pieces of stumps fell from the sky like rain.
Because the first one to be destroyed was the German command vehicle... maybe it was luck.
Therefore, the "Tiger" in other directions still did not realize that this was a trap, and rushed in with infantry at full speed one after another.
Needless to say, the result was that after the gunshots were fired, each "Tiger" was paralyzed inside the wall, and the bodies of German soldiers were scattered around it.
At this time, Colonel Doppler was still calling again and again on the walkie-talkie: "Major, report the situation, report the situation!" (To be continued)