Chapter 225: Cavalry Charge

The sharp 40-type tungsten core armor-piercing bullet was blunted and deformed under the powerful kinetic impact force the moment it hit the vertical side armor of the KV1 heavy tank.

The tungsten alloy bullet core wrapped in the central part of the bullet body suddenly rushed out from the blunted and deformed bullet body and continued to move forward to penetrate the armor. The tungsten alloy bullet core wrapped with the broken side armor fragments of the KV1 heavy tank still retained huge residual kinetic energy even after penetrating the 75 mm vertical side armor. The tungsten alloy armor-piercing bullet core with a flight speed of more than 500 meters per second instantly hit the fragile human body like a rifle smashing a watermelon.

The tungsten alloy armor-piercing bullet core shot vertically from the side of the vehicle body directly below the turret first penetrated the waist of the vehicle commander. The tungsten alloy armor-piercing bullet core splashed with human flesh and organ fragments in the blood splattering, but still had no intention of stopping.

After instantly cutting the Soviet tank commander in half, it then shot diagonally into the gunner next to the commander, breaking the head of the good man under the black tank cap into a lump of red and white paste like breaking an egg without mercy.

The armor fragments that were penetrated at the side of the vehicle body with a slightly slower flying speed followed closely, and a metal storm of death was immediately set off inside the relatively narrow space of the KV1 heavy tank.

Under the attack of the Type 40 tungsten core armor-piercing projectile, the loader who survived by chance because he avoided its flight trajectory had not yet reacted. The armor fragments that were scattered and bounced wildly inside the tank almost hit his head, arms, thighs and other places at the same time. The tragic wailing sound suddenly came out from the closed tank immediately after the scattered and bouncing fragments stopped.

The body of the commander, which was cut in half, and the headless body of the gunner exuded a disgusting bloody smell. The driver and the mechanic who were in the front of the chassis had a lucky escape.

After realizing that the commander and the gunner had been killed at the same time, the driver and the mechanic who had lost the combat capability of the crew immediately pulled up the loader who was seriously injured and bleeding, opened the tank hatch and abandoned the vehicle to escape.

Although the Type 40 tungsten core armor-piercing projectile without warhead charge could not detonate inside the tank and cause a secondary explosion, its high-speed flying tungsten core armor-piercing projectile and the scattered fragments caused by penetrating the armor could also cause huge and unbearable damage to the crew members inside the enemy tank.

The KV1 heavy tank, which had only a hole less than the size of a fist on the side armor of the vehicle, was intact on the outside, but two of the five crew members were killed and one was seriously injured. As a result, this powerful steel behemoth had to withdraw from the battle due to serious internal injuries. From a tactical point of view, it was no different from being completely destroyed.

The destruction of the first KV1 heavy tank was just the beginning.

The Soviet KV1 heavy tank, which was approached by the German tank group and charged to a position only tens of meters away, began to gradually expose the defect of difficulty in turning due to the poor tractor transmission system.

The engine output power was accelerated to the maximum, and the Soviet tank driver desperately pushed the joystick in his hand to drive the heavy tank body to turn the course, trying to keep the KV1 heavy tank, whose side armor was dwarfed and as brittle as thin paper under the attack of the German Type 40 tungsten core armor-piercing projectile, facing the enemy head-on.

However, the transmission system originally designed for the Red Flag tractor was already overloaded and difficult to operate when driving the KV1 heavy tank with a combat weight of 47 tons. It was even more frustrating to achieve the operation from a stationary parking state to a turning maneuver in an off-road state.

The KV1 heavy tanks, whose body turning speed could not keep up with the speed of the German tanks' roundabout maneuvers, roared and roared like a steel beast deeply bound by iron chains, and roared with diesel engines.

One track was locked and the only track left to change the body's course was still extremely slow, like a 100-year-old man who was worried and helpless.

The body turning with the engine output at the maximum broke the tank's stationary state. The gun mirrors in front of the Soviet gunners who had maintained the maximum firepower output against the German tanks began to shake constantly. The rugged off-road road was simply the natural enemy of the old tanks without gun stabilizers.

"The shaking amplitude is too large, I can't aim accurately! Those German tanks run as fast as mice, damn it! Damn it!"

"Move, move! Damn it!"

The aiming field of the gun mirror in front of me was shaking like a person with epilepsy and could not aim accurately. The constantly maneuvering German tanks required the Soviet gunners to take into account the manual rotation of the turret steering machine and the tracking of the gun mirror at the same time. This difficult hand-eye coordination operation that only experienced gunners can complete caused great difficulties for the Soviet tanks to fire and attack.

On the other hand, the driving joystick, which lacked auxiliary means such as hydraulic power assistance and relied solely on manpower to push the mechanical structure for operation, had to use all its strength to drive the tank to complete the body turning in the off-road situation. The legend that the drivers of the Soviet heavy tanks were all Slavic strongmen with strong arms was not groundless.

The serious difficulties encountered by gunner Iushkin and driver Seryosha at the same time were just a microcosm of the current dilemma of the Soviet heavy tanks.

The Soviet KV1 heavy tanks, which were attacked by the German Type 3 and Type 4 medium tanks, immediately exposed the serious and fatal defects of inconvenient steering and difficult operation due to design problems.

The Soviet heavy tanks, which had difficulty in keeping the solid frontal armor of the vehicle body facing the enemy, were played around by the Germans like a stupid bear.

Seeing the difficulties encountered by the gunners and drivers in his crew and remembering them in his heart, Malashenko, who gritted his teeth and was ruthless, knew that if he continued like this, he would only be played around by the Germans and slowly exhausted. A seemingly crazy order was blurted out from his mouth immediately.

"All crews! Go at full speed! Stop those Germans' fragile little tanks and then get close to fire and destroy them! Let them pay the price for playing tricks on us!"

The almost crazy fearless charge is not the exclusive skill of the Red Army infantry. There is nothing that the Soviet tank soldiers who are forced into a desperate situation dare not do.

The heroic and fearless scene of the T34 tanks colliding with the Tiger tanks, which was supposed to happen only in the Battle of Kursk, happened two years earlier under Malashenko's order.

"Crash these fascist running dogs to death! Comrades, Ura!"