Chapter 222: Only Speed Can Break

The main guns fired back and forth only achieved a tactical effect of equalizing the two sides.

The three T34 tanks that were heading to intercept the German 38T light tank had not yet intercepted their opponents, and two of them were destroyed on the spot by the whistling German armor-piercing shells from the more vulnerable sides of the vehicle body. Some of the surviving crew members who abandoned their vehicles and escaped were obviously no longer able to perform the tasks assigned to them by Malashenko.

The last surviving T34 tank finally intercepted the four 38T light tanks that were trying to bypass it in a wild and dusty race.

The 38T, which was like a small bean in front of the T34 tank, was obviously not the same heavyweight opponent as it. Knowing that its advantage was in mobility rather than firepower, the German 38T tank commander immediately ordered a maneuver to bypass the single-handed T34 and tried to attack from the side and rear to cause some trouble to the T34 or even destroy it.

But the T34 tank, which was known for its mobility among the medium tanks in 1941, was not a bulky behemoth like the KV1 heavy tank.

The T34 tank, which was driven by a 500-horsepower diesel engine and had a combat weight of 28 tons, had a thrust-to-weight ratio of 8, which was very impressive among medium tanks in 1941.

In comparison, the combat weight of the German light tank, which had been reinforced due to the needs of the war, had increased from the original model of the light tank's 9 tons to more than 10 tons, but its engine was still the original 125-horsepower Praga EPA gasoline engine without any changes.

The increase in armor defense and the intact inheritance of the engine further reduced the mobility of the light tank. Its 125-horsepower engine had a maximum output power of only 5 when compared with a combat weight of 10 tons. As a light tank, it was even lower than the 8-thrust weight ratio of the T34 tank, which was a medium tank.

The inferior mobility greatly limited the battlefield performance of these light tanks, which were supposed to pursue high-speed mobility.

Halfway through the detour, the German 38T tanks rushed in and killed them. In a panic, the German 38T tanks kept firing at the Soviet T34 tanks, trying to destroy the Soviet steel monster that was only tens of meters away from them.

Unfortunately, the 37mm tank gun equipped on the 38T light tank was still powerful when dealing with armored vehicles or bullying infantry.

But once it encountered the T34, a Soviet main medium tank that even the 50mm tank gun of the Panzer III tank was quite weak, this poor 37-inch main gun could only hit the thick inclined armor of the T34 tank and make a sound.

The 38T tanks, which relied on their numerical advantage and began to maneuver and circle around the T34 tanks, were like mice pulling turtles, doing useless work like crazy.

The T34 tanks, whose hull and turret armors were hit like table tennis balls, were not penetrated at all. The turret and hull sides of the T34 tanks, which were designed for comprehensive defense, also adopted armor protection with a slightly smaller inclination angle.

The 38T tank's small water-tube main gun, which had poor armor-piercing power, could not penetrate the T34 tank from the side even at a shooting distance of only a few dozen meters, and could only sigh in vain.

"Calm down, comrades! Those German small tanks can't do anything to us. They can't penetrate our armor! Load armor-piercing bullets to destroy them, quickly!"

The calm and composed commander of the Soviet T34 tank had a good idea of ​​what kind of enemy weapons could threaten his vehicle. The T34 tanks, which still needed to go all out when facing the Type 3 and Type 4 tanks, would undoubtedly be beaten by the 38T, a light tank that was already relatively outdated in 1941.

With an average reload speed of 8 seconds per round, the turrets were turned and fired at the German 38T light tanks that were running around like rabbits.

Even the main German tanks No. 3 and No. 4 could not withstand it within the regular combat distance. The 76mm BR-350B hooded armor-piercing grenade hit the 38T light tank as easily as cutting melons and vegetables.

The 38T light tank, which was as small as an armored vehicle, was easily penetrated by the 76mm armor-piercing grenade and exploded into parts and completely disintegrated. As for the crew members abandoning the vehicle and escaping, it became nonsense.

This short armored confrontation between one and four ended with the T34 tank winning almost unscathed.

Unlike tank games where the attack damage can be distinguished between high and low, so that the enemy's health bar can be exhausted and slowly worn down, the tank confrontation in the real world can only be distinguished between being penetrated and not being penetrated.

Failure to penetrate armor means zero damage, which is meaningless. Even if the enemy tank is hit repeatedly dozens of times, it is just a futile effort.

In front of the 38T light tank, the T34 tank, which is almost equivalent to turning on the invincibility plug-in, relied on the absolute crushing advantage in the quality of armor defense performance to complete such a feat of annihilating the enemy army in a situation of one against four.

When the 38T tanks that tried to outflank and go around to the rear of the tank company led by Malashenko were annihilated, the main German tank group that was unable to penetrate the front armor of the Soviet heavy tanks and advanced at full speed to flank the weak position finally successfully approached the flank of the Soviet heavy tank unit after paying a considerable price.

The KV1 heavy tank, which directly applied the transmission system of the civilian Hongqi tractor, does not have the ability to turn on the spot. When changing the direction of the vehicle, it can only maneuver by rotating one track forward or backward and locking the other track, which is a very inefficient way.

It is easy to imagine how difficult it is for the KV1 heavy tank, which weighs 47 tons, to turn the vehicle body in this maneuvering method in an off-road state.

The several KV1 heavy tanks that were approached by the German tank group on the left and right roads at high speed had no time to destroy them all before the German tank group completed its tactical intention. The off-road distance of less than 600 meters was a snap for the German No. 3 and No. 4 tanks, which were not bad in mobility.

The German tank commander who adopted the tactic of dividing the troops into two routes on the left and right roads completely calculated the absolute disadvantage that the number of KV1 heavy tanks led by Malashenko was less than his own.

The four-fold increase in the number of tanks allowed the German commander to fully exercise his tactical thinking. The plan to force Malashenko to make a choice between the left and right attack directions was a naked conspiracy.

Choosing one of the attack directions to turn and intercept would inevitably cause the German tanks in the other direction to attack the exposed side and rear armored weak points of the KV1 heavy tank.

The KV1 heavy tank, which had difficulty turning its body, could not quickly turn its body to the strongest frontal position to face the enemy behind it in time at such an extreme distance. The inevitable choice between the fish and the bear's paw left Malashenko with little time left.