Chapter 1257 End of the Battle

The defeat came too fast, so fast that the German front-line headquarters in the rear did not even have time to react.

The German command did not expect to be able to resist the Soviet offensive with the outermost line of defense, which was not only unrealistic but also impossible.

But it took only a little over ten minutes from the end of the artillery preparation to the Soviet tanks rolling onto the position. This was too outrageous and unbelievable in any case!

The German high-level had anticipated and made sufficient preparations for the Soviet large-scale attack. During the preparation time of these months, a large number of anti-tank guns were added to the front-line positions. A considerable part of them were the latest heavy anti-tank guns, which were very powerful and powerful enough to deal with any known Soviet tank target, that is, the PAK 43 Long 88 that was given high hopes.

How did the position fall so quickly? Did those anti-tank guns really have no effect at all? Or did the Russian shells have eyes and killed all the German soldiers on the position during the artillery preparation stage?

No one knew the reason or the truth. The entire headquarters fell into a brief silence, which was terrifying.

The German division commander, holding the disconnected microphone, almost trembled as he gritted his teeth and squeezed out a vicious order.

"Contact the headquarters and report our situation here! Just say that the Russians have invested an unimaginable strong offensive force. We are constantly losing positions, but we will continue to hold on. We need rapid support from all technical equipment and arms, preferably immediately!"

The German headquarters in the rear was in a mess because of the unexpected situation. Malashenko, who had just broken through the German position on the front line, was in a completely different situation.

From the moment Malashenko's No. 177 IS4 heavy tank rushed to the position first, the failure of the German army was actually a foregone conclusion.

The tank cavalrymen quickly rushed into the position along with the heavy tank cluster attack. The German army, which was firmly suppressed by the powerful direct firepower of the heavy tanks, could not raise their heads at all. As long as any machine gun firepower point that could effectively intercept the infantry cluster charge showed up, the DShK heavy machine gun barrage would instantly hit them like water.

The MG42, which relied on the firing rate, was not enough in front of the DShK that could tear even light armor at will. The unreasonable 7mm bullet could not only break the flesh, but even penetrate the frozen soil of the trenches where the German machine gunners were taking cover, and the German machine gunners who were mostly in the trenches were broken in half on the spot.

Some German machine gunners who did not believe in evil even fought back at the beginning, trying to eliminate the enemy tank soldiers who were operating heavy machine guns on the tank turrets.

But such actions often lead to more violent retaliation. Once a German machine gunner dares to try to do so, what awaits him next is not only the crimson tracer bullets of heavy machine guns, but also the 122mm high-explosive grenade that will hit him in the face and explode instantly, completely annihilating everything in a burst of flying sand and rocks.

After several rounds of direct shooting between machine guns and tank guns, there were almost no remaining German machine gun fire points on the position that dared to show up.

The Red Army soldiers holding bayonets, Mosin-Nagants and PPSh submachine guns continued to pour into the trenches, relying on the cover of the terrain to advance step by step and steadily, clearing out any enemies that appeared within the field of vision and resistance that refused to surrender.

There was no hope of escape in the situation of being outnumbered, and the actual control range of the positions still in their hands was shrinking, and the casualties that continued to soar exponentially were almost despairing.

At the 23rd minute after the artillery preparation, the remaining German troops on the battlefield finally couldn't stand it anymore and chose to surrender. The French flag and French military salute without any artistic rendering were immediately offered.

"We have laid down our weapons and demanded reasonable treatment as prisoners of war. Please stop shooting at us."

Under Malashenko's suggestion, the new IS4 heavy tank further optimized the gunner's sighting system. On the basis of the original only high-magnification, narrow-field main gun sight, an additional low-magnification, wide-field wide-angle sighting system was added.

And this second gunner wide-angle sighting system is mechanically linked to Malashenko's commander periscope.

As long as Malashenko controls his commander periscope to point to a fixed direction, Ivushkin's gunner wide-angle periscope will also be guided to the same direction and see the same field of view and scene. However, it is limited to the approximately 120-degree fan-shaped field of view directly in front of the turret. Beyond this area, it is the blind spot of the gunner's wide-angle periscope, and only Malashenko's own commander's periscope can see it.

Although the function is limited and it is not the independent sighting tower with a 360-degree field of view of later generations, it still plays an extremely important role in communication, cooperation and coordination in combat. It is a detail improvement that looks inconspicuous but has great significance.

Some of Kokin's design inspiration came from the earlier captured Tiger tanks, and finally a more complete upgrade and improvement was made under the guidance of Malashenko's suggestions.

Of course, if necessary, Ivushkin can also adjust the field of view of the wide-angle periscope by himself and see what he wants to see, and can change it in real time according to the different needs of the battlefield situation.

This set of knowledge sounds a bit high-end. The linked optical sighting system will naturally increase the cost. However, since Kotin positioned the IS4 heavy tank as "high-end and high-end" from the beginning, it is reasonable that it is stronger than the mass-produced IS6 heavy tank in hardware equipment configuration and comprehensive combat power.

This is like the ceramic ball composite armor used by the T80U main battle tank, which is more advanced than the rubber sandwich composite armor used by the T72. Cost is one thing, but the positioning of the tank itself is the main problem. There is no problem in using better equipment and materials on more advanced and high-end tanks. Malashenko also agrees with Kotin's bold attempt.

Now, Ivushkin, who is operating the wide-angle periscope, can see very clearly that the German soldiers who are chattering and shouting something have walked out of the trenches one after another with their heads down. Their raised hands and the small white flags in their hands look so ironic and ridiculous.

"Is this all the Germans are capable of? I thought they would fight to the death for a longer time. At least in this respect, those SS scum are much better than the Wehrmacht garbage."