Chapter 257 Annihilation

Realizing that the time had come, Malashenko did not hesitate at all. He immediately grabbed the walkie-talkie beside him and spoke loudly to the surrounding crew members who were on standby.

"Now, open fire! Aim at the side armor of those T34s and destroy them!"

The Red Army gunners who had already put armor-piercing grenades into the barrel of the gun on standby did not hesitate at all. The already tall T34 tank had already filled the main gun sight with four times magnification at a distance of 100 meters. The entire field of view is filled. Under such circumstances, even if the sight keeps shaking with the main gun, it can still achieve an almost perfect hit rate of the main gun.

Boom boom boom boom——

The four KV1 heavy tanks, including Malashenko's vehicle, opened fire almost simultaneously and immediately sprayed out hot muzzle flashes, enveloping the 76mm hooded armor-piercing grenade with high-temperature burning propellant in the barrel, hitting them accurately in almost the blink of an eye. On a very close target.

The T34 tank body and turret side armor with a physical thickness of 40 mm and a horizontal inclination of 40 degrees can only provide an equivalent armor thickness of 50 mm of defense on the horizontal ballistic attack route, which can ensure penetration at a distance of 100 meters. For the Soviet-made 76mm tank gun with 70mm vertical homogeneous steel armor, it is simply a piece of paper.

The 76mm L-11 tank gun, which fired directly at an extremely close range, killed four T34 tanks on the spot without any suspense. The T34 tank used large areas of sloped armor and sacrificed the space inside the vehicle to enhance the tank's defense. The interior is extremely narrow, which is simply adding fuel to the fire for Soviet-made armor-piercing grenades, which are already known for their high explosive charge and large damage effects.

The 76mm armor-piercing grenade detonated instantly after triggering the armor-piercing delay fuse in the narrow space of the vehicle body. It immediately burst out into an extremely hot and dazzling fireball, unleashing its devastating power.

The broken projectile fragments flew at a speed of more than 400 meters per second, easily tearing the fragile human body protected only by basic uniforms into a bloody thing, followed closely by the burning fire dragon that rushed over and forced it into the wound. The human body was raging wildly, and the powerful chemical energy explosion shock wave rushed to the finale and tore the bodies of the four dead German armored soldiers into mottled pieces of flesh.

A tank with strong armor like a mobile fortress can indeed provide strong battlefield protection to the flesh and blood crew members, but the tank itself is a mobile explosive with dozens of rounds of ammunition sitting under the buttocks. After being penetrated by Soviet armor-piercing grenades filled with the largest amount of charges in the projectile warhead, the survival rate of the German tank crew was almost 1 out of 10.

The four T34 tanks, whose side armor was penetrated almost at the same time, turned into blazing steel crematoriums like champagne on the spot amid the fire and explosions. The German armored vehicle group that had tried to approach Malashenko and his party just five seconds ago was all killed on the spot, and no one left the vehicle alive.

There is never a good thing in this world that can have its cake and eat it too.

Although the T34 tank, which sacrifices almost all the internal space of its body, can dominate for a while due to its strong defensive power of its sloped armor, the consequences once its armor is penetrated by an armor-piercing projectile are so terrible. The narrow space of the vehicle body is like a popcorn pot, providing the best environment for releasing the devastating explosion power. The T34 tank with extremely poor human-machine efficiency has no possibility of allowing the crew members inside to escape alive. out.

After witnessing all four friendly tanks being destroyed on the spot by a single salvo, the last remaining captured T34 tank immediately braked suddenly and stopped its frantic progress.

"What to do with Hermann? What should we do? Wolfe, Clark, and Heitsom were all killed! Oh my god, why do the Soviets know so clearly about the T34's weaknesses!? We are in trouble. Their trap!"

After hearing the extremely idiotic words of his own crew member, the German commander rolled his eyes in anger and horror.

Why do the Soviets know so clearly the weaknesses of the T34? This is basically someone else’s own tank, isn’t it? ? Don’t you understand where the weak points of the armor of Panzer III and IV tanks are? How on earth did the instructors at the Armored Forces School teach such idiots!

The commander, who was complaining in his heart, didn't bother to speak up and scolded his idiot loader. The Soviet-made 76mm tank gun, which uses a whole 76mm shell to be loaded in one piece, is very convenient to load. It can be operated by a skilled and strong loader. If he were holding a ready-to-fire bomb, it would only take less than five seconds to close the breech and prepare to fire. The German commander, who was still pointing the side armor of his vehicle at the muzzles of four KV1 heavy tanks, had no time left. Not much left.

"Reverse! Quick! Klein, reverse immediately! Aim the front armor of the car and the front of the turret at those Russian KV1s, otherwise we will all die here!"

The German tank commander who had fought so far no longer dared to hope for a way to destroy the Soviet heavy tank force from the side. The five T34 tanks that he finally gathered were beaten in an instant until he was the only one left. He regretted himself. The German commander who was hiding behind the bushes just now to provoke these steel behemoths really wanted to get himself beaten up.

"This is simply an asymmetric tank battle! We should really bring those idiots who sit in the office drinking coffee and combing their hair to the battlefield to see it for themselves! This is what they call a clumsy and useless heavy tank. I really don't know what kind of idiot can sign his dog name on the report on the poor combat performance of the Ivan heavy tank!"

The German tank commander was furious as if a huge wave had been set off in his heart. He only hated why the German army did not pay attention to the development of heavy tanks earlier before the war.

Since the beginning of the war, this German tank commander who has served in the Northern Army Group has followed his troops all the way to this place. The Soviet KV series heavy tanks have extremely thick skin and terrible defense like an unyielding wall. They are simply invincible in front of ordinary German tanks with poor armor-piercing ability!

Many comrades around me, including myself, always sigh in their spare time when chatting, and feel how good it would be if they could personally experience the Russian KV1.

Although the rare German armored soldiers who have already driven the captured KV1 always complained that the operability of this thing is a piece of shit compared to the German tanks. But when it really goes to the battlefield, who will give up the precious KV1 for such a little acceptable difficulty in operability?

Compared with throwing their lives in the German Panzer III and IV tanks whose armor protection is almost useless in front of the Soviet army, what is the point of using all their strength to operate the KV1 heavy tank without any power assist device?