Chapter 256 Hound and Rhino

How to destroy the T34 medium tank, which is also Soviet-made equipment, from the front. This is an extremely troublesome problem for Malashenko, who is encountering such a situation for the first time.

The Soviet armor-piercing grenade did not have a cap that was welded on the front end of the projectile like the Germans did. Instead, it only had a projectile cap that was used to reduce wind resistance and increase the flight speed of the artillery shell. A large part of the reason for this was due to the need for steel torrent to facilitate large quantities during wartime. Consider the production plan.

Although the Soviet standard armor-piercing grenade has the advantages of large charge and sufficient explosion damage, when faced with sloped armor, its penetration depth is extremely poor due to the lack of the capping effect, and its ricochet probability is even worse. It is far more than several times higher than the German hooded armor-piercing bullets of the same period.

Under normal circumstances, German tanks that adopt vertical armor as a general design concept for body protection do not have high-inclination sloping armor at all, and this just corresponds to the fact that the Soviet hooded armor-piercing grenade lacks a positive cap and is not good at dealing with slanting The weakness of the armor is equivalent to invisibly cooperating with the Soviet tank troops to meet actual combat needs.

The Soviet 76mm tank cannon, which can pierce the vertical armor of German tanks as easily as piercing a cream cake, has many models and is widely equipped on all T34 medium tanks and KV1 heavy tanks, and the shells are also interchangeable. In Barbaro After Operation Sa was launched, despite the unfavorable battle situation, it still destroyed a large number of German tanks in successive defeats, and even caused the Gudrij Armored Group, which suffered heavy losses, to have a fierce quarrel with Hitler over the issue of tank replenishment.

But this situation was completely reversed when faced with Soviet-made tanks captured by the German army.

The KV1 heavy tank and the T34 medium tank, which widely use large-angle sloped armor, are both rough-skinned and thick-bodied tanks with high defense values, which are enough to make the German tanks welded with projectile caps to provide the shell deflection effect incapable of doing anything. .

When dealing with steeply inclined armor, Malashenko, who was worse than the Germans because the shells were not capped, was completely miserable.

The upper armor of the T34 medium tank body with a physical thickness of 45 mm and an equivalent armor thickness of 90 mm at an angle of 45 degrees is enough to be immune to 76 mm Soviet-made armor-piercing grenades attacking from the front without being damaged, even if the angle of incidence is not large if you are lucky. Producing a ricochet will only leave an unpenetrated crater and be a waste of effort.

But in contrast, the German captured T34 medium tank, also equipped with a 76mm tank main gun, was also unable to threaten the KV1 heavy tank unit led by Malashenko from the front.

The KV1 heavy tank, whose physical armor thickness is even higher than that of the T34, is equipped with a high-angle armor layout and becomes a rough and thick steel beast. It can't even penetrate the front armor of the T34 medium tank. The Soviet-made 76mm tank gun is even less capable of penetrating the KV1, which is a heavy tank.

The final result after a battle and exchange of fire was that neither the German armored forces nor the troops led by Malashenko could do anything to each other.

The German armored soldiers who first used the T34 medium tank to deal with the KV1 heavy tank quickly realized the problem. The T34 was enough to penetrate the German tanks from the front without any suspense, but it was still not enough to threaten the KV1. If it cannot do it from the front, it comes from the side. The truth of war He was quickly counterattacked by the German armored soldiers with flexible tactics.

"Comrade Commander, those Germans have started running towards both sides of us. What are your orders?"

Seryosha, who served as the driver, was particularly sensitive to the maneuvers of the German tanks and shouted on the spot. Malashenko, who also witnessed this scene with binoculars in his hands, naturally knew those who drove Soviet-made tanks. What on earth do the German armored soldiers in tanks want to do?

Knowing that he was also unable to destroy the Germans from the front and captured the T34 tank, Malashenko immediately decided to use his tactics to hunt down the Germans who were trying to use the high mobility of the T34 to seek opportunities to bypass them. Armored soldiers.

"Seryozha, prepare to turn! Keep the front armor of the tank pointed at the leading German guy closest to us. As long as we are not within a hundred meters, our tank's turning speed can keep up with those T34s. Maneuver!"

"Understood, Comrade Commander! Let's do it!"

Seryosha, who received the order from Malashenko, immediately began to use all his strength to pull back the driving joystick beside him, and at the same time stepped on the accelerator pedal to increase the engine's reversing output to the maximum.

The KV1 heavy tank, which was originally stationary and firing, immediately shuddered and roared, turning with one track locked and one track inverted. The single-stream transmission system drove the heavy body weighing 47 tons to slowly turn backwards.

Steering in reverse gear not only avoids the shortcoming of the KV1 with a single-flow transmission system being too slow when turning the car body at zero speed, but also improves the car body steering efficiency with the extra speed given by the engine in reverse gear.

At the same time, the KV1 heavy tank whose gearbox is only equipped with one reverse gear can only reverse at a snail's pace of 6 kilometers per hour at full speed. However, it can be regarded as a disguised way to keep up with the German T34 tank that is attacking from the side. way of distance.

No matter how much it is better than nothing, it is still better than standing still. This is undoubtedly crucial for the KV1 heavy tank, which is extremely heavy and not good at close combat.

After receiving the order from Malashenko, the other KV1 heavy tanks of the battalion also started to follow suit at full speed. The huge and slow steel body improved its steering efficiency by accelerating in reverse. As Malashenko said, it was enough to keep up with the full cross-country speed of the T34 medium tank at a distance of 100 meters.

The KV1 heavy tanks, which basically remained stationary, always aimed their strongest frontal armor at the German army that was trying to bypass them. The German tank commander, who realized that the Soviet tank commander of the opponent had realized his tactics, had to further change his strategy and issued the extremely dangerous order that hit Malashenko's heart.

"Keep approaching the side of those Ivans. Their turning speed will not be able to keep up with our full-speed maneuver as long as they are within 100 meters. Seize this opportunity to attack their side armor!"

The German T34 tanks that are maneuvering around the side at full speed naturally cannot always face the enemy like Malashenko who is unchanging in the face of change. As the initiator of the tactics, the German tanks have already completely exposed their side armor during the full-speed maneuver around the side.

Because the turning and reversing of the vehicle body will cause a lot of shaking and interfere with the main gun's hit rate and aiming, Malashenko has not ordered to open fire before.

But now the tall body target of the German T34 tank, which has approached the 100-meter mark, has filled the entire four-fold magnification of the main gun sight. In this case, even in the reverse turning, it can ensure a very high firing hit rate. Malashenko's entire set of tactics is to wait for this moment to come.