Chapter 1144: Prelude to a Death Battle (Revised)

The first wave of offensive led by Lavrinenko was fierce. All 8 heavy tanks and 12 T-70 light tanks belonging to the vanguard reconnaissance unit were dispatched, accompanied by half a battalion of infantry troops who arrived in the form of cavalry riding on the tanks.

These infantry soldiers all had light weapons with them, and were not equipped with any heavy weapons that were inconvenient to carry. The only thing they could rely on was the steel chariots that accompanied them.

This reconnaissance unit, which was on par with the armored forces of the German army in the village and even had fewer infantry, was all the troops that Lavrinenko could use, but even such a Lavrinenko was not without advantages.

The command vehicles of Kurbarov and Lavrinenko were the most elite in the entire Soviet Red Army tank force at the moment, and were equal to the vehicles of Malashenko, the commander of Stalin's First Guard Heavy Tank Brigade: two of the three IS6 heavy tank prototypes built by Kotin.

In addition, those selected by Lavrinenko to lead the reconnaissance mission were either the brigade escort vehicles directly under Malashenko or the front-row vanguards of the first battalion of Kurbarov's main tanks. It is no exaggeration to say that they are all elite crews.

The only shortcoming is the 12 T-70 light tanks equipped by the reconnaissance company directly under the brigade. Lavrinenko knows very well that these small tanks can only perform firepower reconnaissance missions. Not to mention facing the Germans' most advanced Black Panthers, even if they encounter the Germans' long-barreled No. 3 and No. 4, they have no advantage at all.

But at this critical moment, there are no extra soldiers available and they must give their all. Lavrinenko's order is to divide the 12 T-70 light tanks into two groups, using the mobility advantage from the left and right wings to open up the distance and flank the German positions facing the enemy, and form three sharp knives with the heavy tank troops in the middle as the backbone to directly penetrate the enemy's vital points.

This type of tactic was often used in conjunction with the BT series fast tanks in the early days of the Great Patriotic War in 1941, in order to cooperate with the T34 medium tanks, which were the backbone of the army at that time.

But that was all in the past. Lavrinenko, who had commanded his T34 to beat the Germans in the first few months of the Great Patriotic War, has now become a brigade-level deputy commander of the heavy tank unit.

Although the types of combat vehicles have changed, the old successful tactics can still be used.

The speed advantage of the T-70 light tanks allows them to maintain a parallel offensive posture after opening up the horizontal distance with the heavy tank units, neither fast nor slow, without any lag or rushing too hard, leaving the heavy tank units behind, which is exactly what Lavrinenko wanted.

The Soviet offensive forces rushing in parallel from three directions forced the SS garrison troops, who had not yet gained a foothold in the village, to make a choice.

For the SS, the opponent's tactics were already quite obvious. The offensive deployment of rushing in three directions simultaneously was not a waste of manpower or a brain twitch, but forced the SS to disperse its defensive firepower, or to choose a priority defensive direction to concentrate its firepower.

No matter which choice, it was not good for the SS. Either all three directions were lost and could not be defended, or only one was taken care of and the other two were riding on the face. Of course, this was only the possible result considered in the worst case.

No matter how fragile the armor of the T-70 light tank was, no matter how weak it was in front of the German armored forces, it still had to use standard anti-armor heavy weapons to deal with such an enemy. After all, the Soviet tanks were not the Japanese tanks that could be easily penetrated by machine guns. How to allocate the limited anti-armor firepower was the most decisive factor in the success or failure of the battle.

Lavrinenko could see a group of SS soldiers at the entrance of the village busy deploying anti-tank guns. The SS anti-tank gunners who carried their self-defense weapons on their backs were busy, and Lavrinenko, who was marching at full speed, was also ready.

Soon, the first German Type 40 sub-caliber tungsten core armor-piercing shell came out of the barrel and hit the gun shield armor of Lavrinenko's car with a loud bang.

Ding bang--

"We are hit, comrade commander!"

"Don't worry, keep moving forward! The Germans don't have weapons that can penetrate our frontal armor at this distance, coaxial machine guns fire! Aim at those German anti-tank gun positions and hit them hard!"

The coaxial machine gun installed in the gun shield on one side of the main gun began to spray fire and suddenly sounded, and the crimson tracer bullets splashed towards the German anti-tank gun positions that had already opened fire and exposed their targets.

The tank cavalry hiding behind the low turret of the IS6 as a cover were not idle either. The strong Red Army machine gunners knelt on the engine compartment, spread their legs, stabilized their lower body, and forced to open the human stabilizer posture while moving at high speed.

The DP light machine gun with the bipod opened was directly mounted on the turret, and it began to shoot together following the guidance of the coaxial machine gun tracer bullet barrage. The rapidly rotating ammunition tray was accompanied by the spitting out of the hot shells to vent the suppressive firepower to the greatest extent. The remaining soldiers lowered their postures and tried their best to hide in the protection range of the projection area behind the turret, waiting for the moment to get off the car and charge at any time.

"Shoot! Shoot! Shoot quickly! The Russians are coming!"

"Shoot!? What should I shoot? The Russian heavy tanks!?"

"Idiot! Hit the infantry on the tanks, sweep them down! Fire!"

Many times in life, people will always encounter things that sound simple but are actually difficult to do, such as using the MG42 general-purpose machine gun in hand to shoot down the Soviet infantry who are almost all covered by the flat, low but unusually wide turret of the IS6.

Chidongdongdongdongdongdong——

When the MG42 fired, the unique gunshot that could be instantly distinguished from a kilometer away suddenly rang out, and the green tracer bullets that were like tearing linen instantly hit the armor of the Soviet tanks that rushed to the front, sparks flew, and ricochets flew.

But this action, which was only slightly better than wasting bullets and firing blanks, was almost useless. There was no devilish and random ricocheting magic blessing on the earth. The machine gun bullets that hit the upper front armor either ricocheted into the sky or bounced diagonally downward into the soil. Almost none of them could hit the Red Army soldiers hiding behind the turret.

The process of continuing to charge forward lasted less than half a minute. Lavrinenko, who had no intention of rushing directly into the village, finally waited for the real enemy.

The leading Panther tank, which was painted with summer camouflage stripes, had already appeared in the periscope and slowly drove out of the blind spot at the entrance of the village with surging engine black smoke.