Chapter 1069 Three Tigers

As the leader of the Tiger tank platoon, Wittmann received the order to lead his own platoon of three Tiger tanks, bring a company of infantry, and approach the Soviet position from the flank to try to create some pressure on the opponent. At the same time, he had to take on the task of fire support and use the 88mm cannon to kill the most difficult opponent in the field of vision in time.

If conditions permit, it would be better to rush to the enemy's position. If you can't rush up, it doesn't matter, because this is not Wittmann's main task.

So although it sounds like there are many tasks at first glance, there is a lot of room for maneuver if it is really implemented. No one asked Wittmann to rush up and fight with the Russians on the position. This is more like a task of fire reconnaissance and close support, which can be said to be a very easy job.

If it were an ordinary tank commander, he might feel fortunate or even smile, but Wittmann, who always frowned, didn't think so. Wittmann's keen war intuition and sixth sense, which had been honed through thousands of trials, told him all the time that the Russians on the opposite side were not simple.

The wreckage of their own tanks was scattered all over the ground in front of the Russian position. Through the higher-end observation periscope on his commander's tower, Wittmann could even see that some of the black wreckage of the tanks was still emitting a wisp of green smoke.

God knows when the flames of these tank wreckages will be extinguished, but it will definitely not be too long.

As the commander of the earliest batch of Tiger tanks, Wittmann knew the power of his vehicle. The Tiger tank is a very precise and excellent war machine. In all the past battles since its equipment, it has shown unparalleled combat performance and has no rivals in the whole field. The Russians' broken tractors can only be beaten to the ground in front of the Tiger.

With curiosity and the mentality of evaluating whether his vehicle had been surpassed, Wittmann had boarded the latest Panther tank that the Guards Flag Division had just replaced before the Second Battle of Kharkov to find out.

After a sightseeing tour and internal experience, Wittmann came to a not-so-good final conclusion with a little disappointment.

If we ignore the high failure rate of new equipment and the performance of the whole vehicle that needs to be adjusted, the performance of the Panther tank in the three elements of firepower, mobility and protection is indeed better than that of its own Tiger heavy tank.

This copycat of the Russian T34 medium tank has surpassed the Tiger, which is a pure German bloodline, in all three elements of tank indicators since its birth.

Such an embarrassing situation once again made Dr. Goebbels's statement that "the German nation is the best in the world and has the best bloodline in the world" fall apart in the face of facts.

If what Dr. Goebbels said was true, then the Panther tank, which was inspired by the T34 design, has better overall performance than the Tiger tank, which is a pure continuation of the German bloodline. How can this be explained?

The work of a group of "inferior nations" who can only make shabby tractors is actually superior to the painstaking masterpiece of the "best nation"!

What does this mean?

Is the German elite inferior to the Slavic barbarians? Or is Germany inferior to the Soviet Union?

The hypocritical rhetoric of the eloquent words seems pale and vulnerable in the face of the ironclad facts.

Recalling that when the Panther tank was just delivered to the Guards Flag Division where they were, many people still had resistance to this tank that looked like an enlarged version of the Russian T34. They would rather continue to drive the No. 3 and No. 4 or wait in line for the Tiger tank, and they also declared that they would never drive a counterfeit of inferior Russian tractors. But in the end, no one could escape the law of true fragrance after they started to operate it.

Wittmann smiled bitterly and shook his head, replaying the memory scene not long ago in his mind. Today, there is no need to regard Dr. Goebbels's high-sounding words as the supreme truth, even if he is the "most trustworthy and loyal person" personally touted by the head of state.

What kind of words are superior races, inferior races, born to be rulers and conquered, etc., now it seems that they are all bullshit!

From the initial three months of conquering Moscow, to now, it has been nearly three years and still wandering around Kursk.

After countless brutal battles, Wittmann is no longer the rookie who is easily fooled. Although his faith and loyalty are still there, he has more calmness and rationality in thinking. After all, a brainless fanatic cannot survive to this day.

"Everyone, cheer up, open your eyes, and keep an eye on the pile of smashed Panther wreckage in front of the opposite position."

"The Russian tanks on the opposite position are not easy to deal with. Don't treat them as the KVs and T34s we encountered in the past. Otherwise, the Skeleton Division would not have been dealt with so badly, and the superiors would have to allocate us to come and help. If you don't want to die, do as I say. The shells that can penetrate the Panther can also penetrate our armor. Do you understand?"

At the critical moment of the war, Wittmann used to cheer up his crew members in the past, but this time it was completely different.

The four crew members, two people in the turret and two people in the body, all looked at Wittmann with some surprise. Today's tank commander always has an indescribable strange smell.

But out of trust in Wittmann's always sensitive and accurate sixth sense, none of the young SS armored soldiers who were originally talking and laughing finally refuted. Even if they had any opinions in their hearts, they just pursed their lips and swallowed the words back.

Karl, the gunner who had the best relationship with Wittmann, couldn't help but start thinking, if what Wittmann said was true and he really expected the Russians to be so powerful, then could his group's vehicles defeat this powerful opponent?

"It must be possible. The new weapons promised by the Führer to give us will not be worse than the Russians' tractors! After this battle, we can continue to advance towards Moscow, and the war will definitely end before Christmas this year! It must be so!"

Almost everyone was thinking about different things in their hearts. The Tiger tanks moved forward in silence until Wittmann, who was also silent, raised his hand and pressed the throat microphone to give an order.

"Remos, stop!"

The order from the commander did not need a reason. As a member of the crew, the driver only needed to do it.

The remaining two Tiger tanks, with Wittmann's platoon leader command vehicle as the core, also stopped. The SS infantrymen who were either climbing or sitting behind the Tigers got off the vehicles and met with their comrades who were walking and jogging all the way beside the tanks, gathering and waiting.

Wittmann crawled out of the turret and looked around. He saw that the commanders of the remaining two Tiger tanks under his command also leaned out and looked at him, obviously waiting for his next order.