Chapter 1721 Long Live the Tiger King!

The minefields were no longer reliable, and the only thing left to rely on was the defensive forces on the positions.

But a realistic problem was that the 122 heirlooms equipped on the Red Army's heavy tanks could not pose much of a threat to the Tiger Kings.

Ordinary full-caliber armor-piercing shells hitting the thick-skinned Tiger Kings were like scratching an itch, unless the Germans approached close enough or the Red Army tanks drove out of the positions and took the initiative to attack, shortening the distance between the enemy and us to the point where they could penetrate the main armor belt on the front of the Tiger King turret, otherwise all full-caliber armor-piercing shells would only be useless.

Unless you were sincere in your intention to attack the tracks just to break the Germans' legs, the existing anti-armor firepower in Malashenko's hands was not enough to stop these huge and bulky Tiger Kings from continuing to crush you.

Even though he had the last trump card in his hand: the first batch of experimental armor-piercing discarding sabots developed by Kotin, Malashenko really felt that the role this thing could play was too limited.

The accuracy was too poor at a slightly longer distance, and the trajectory was completely random like peeing, so there was nothing to say. What was even more annoying was that the stock of this thing was too small, and there were not many rounds in reserve. Every round used was one less round.

After intermittent fighting until now, the number of this thing on hand has almost fallen below 100 rounds.

The last time they fought against the Jagdtiger, the bastards under his command only cared about having fun and didn't stop the brakes for a while. The precious armor-piercing discarding sabots were wasted a lot in the first actual combat due to the fierce bombardment of excessive firepower. Comrade Ma is really angry when he thinks of this dog-blood thing.

But it's useless to be angry. The most urgent problem at the moment is still to quickly get rid of the group of Tiger Kings in front of him who are slowly pressing towards the position. At this moment, Malashenko can't care about anything else.

Should we use armor-piercing discarding sabots now?

This thought flashed through Malashenko's mind. Judging by the naked eye, the German tanks ahead were at least 500 meters away from the position.

Recalling the touching accuracy of the last time he used armor-piercing discarding sabots, Malashenko, who was instantly disappointed, finally shook his head and gave up the idea that had just sprouted.

At a distance of 500 meters, even if it was against a monster like the Tiger King that was wide and fat and easy to aim, the accuracy of the armor-piercing discarding sabots would probably "touch the Soviet Union".

And now there are not enough armor-piercing discarding sabots to waste at will. We must ensure that this thing is used to its full potential and can cause sufficient and effective damage to the enemy. Waiting to use it is the best decision at the moment.

"All crews immediately load high-explosive shells! Wait for my order and be ready to switch to armor-piercing shells at any time!"

An armor-piercing shell will only make a shallow pit and a simple sound, but if it is called a high-explosive shell, it may be able to use AOE damage to blow off the German's tracks, damage the German's gun barrel, and destroy the fragile sighting equipment. In short, achieving any of these can make the German's broken car lose its combat effectiveness and be forced to withdraw from the battle. ˜”*°•.˜˜.•°*”˜

If you are lucky enough, you can even use the overpressure damage of the face-to-face explosion to penetrate the gap and drill into the car, causing substantial damage to the German crew members.

However, to achieve such an effect, it is relatively more dependent on luck. At the very least, you have to send the high-explosive shell to the front of the German turret to explode, and rely on the power of the overpressure shock to spread downwards, drill into the car from top to bottom to kill the German armored soldiers.

If a bullet hit the strongest front armor plate of the Tiger King, then sorry, the Tiger King's front armor, which is a solid iron plate without even a weld, is not susceptible to overpressure impact. Being lucky enough to blow off the track is the best result that Malashenko expected.

After receiving the order from the division commander, the crews in combat immediately took action. The crews that had loaded armor-piercing shells immediately aimed and fired, emptied the gun barrels, and the loaders took down the high-explosive projectiles according to the order conveyed by the commander, and loaded them together with the propellant cartridges, ready to go.

The crews that just had no ready-to-fire shells in the gun barrels directly skipped the first process of emptying the gun barrels. The loaders put down the armor-piercing projectiles and directly changed to high-explosive projectiles.

Soon, the high-explosive projectiles with strong destructive chemical energy in the flames roared towards the Tiger Kings that were relying on thick armor and slowly driving in a show of force.

Boom boom boom——

The violent explosions were heard one after another. The German army, which had not expected the Russians to suddenly change their ammunition, was caught off guard.

As the saying goes, the first bird to stick its head out gets shot.

The Tiger King at the front of the team became the target of the seven Red Army gunners' concentrated fire.

Six of the seven 122mm high-explosive shells were successfully hit at the first shot at a shooting distance of 500 meters, and the remaining one exploded on the ground next to the Tiger King's tracks. It was barely a near miss and could still cause some damage. The huge flames instantly covered the huge German tank, almost completely enveloping it and disappearing.

After firing a shot, the Red Army gunners stared at the target through their main gun sights, waiting for the result that would soon appear.

When the flames and smoke from the instant explosion slowly dissipated, the hideous steel behemoth shrouded in it finally revealed its true appearance again.

One track was blown off, and the front armor was covered with several shocking holes. The anti-magnetic coating on the front of the entire vehicle was almost completely destroyed and fell off in the huge explosion. Even the muzzle brake on the narrow gun barrel like a fishing rod had disappeared. The entire Tiger King was like a drunk homeless man lying on the roadside, motionless.

Obviously, the six 122mm high-explosive shells that hit the target did cause unimaginable damage to this thick-skinned Tiger King.

It is true that the armor was not penetrated and there was no fire or explosion, but this does not mean that this Tiger King can continue to fight.

The muzzle brake was blown away and one track was damaged, which was enough to force this Tiger King to withdraw from the battle, not to mention that the life and death of its crew members was still unknown.

But the situation of this most unfortunate Tiger King cannot represent the experience of all Tiger Kings after being beaten.

Just as Malashenko had guessed before, some Tiger Kings that were only hit by bullets on the upper front armor were still able to continue moving forward and engage in battle after the explosion and flames dissipated. The chemical energy explosion damage failed to penetrate the heavy upper front armor of the Tiger King, and due to the deviation of the bullet impact point, it could not destroy the track or the walking device. It only blew out a shallow pit and caused partial armor collapse.

The German armored soldiers in the car did suffer a great impact from the explosion. They felt that their whole body was limp and their ears hurt. The car was like a baby rocking car under the fierce bombardment of the Russian cannon.

But fortunately, their Tiger King still had combat effectiveness and could continue to move forward. This unprecedented powerful heavy tank did provide them with the capital they had always dreamed of fighting the Russians. A cry of "Long live the Tiger King!" best represents the true mood of most German armored soldiers at this moment.