Chapter 380 Walter's Plan

"The battle summary mentioned in the telegram cannot be regarded as useless nonsense. The fifty Russian tanks should at least be real. There may be slight differences in the tank models. Those infantry have reported the Russian T34 as KV1 more than once or twice."

With such a conclusion in mind, Lieutenant Colonel Walter remained silent. After throwing the telegram in his hand into the storage box next to the seat, he immediately picked up another palm-sized notebook.

This small notebook records all the contents of Lieutenant Colonel Walter, including daily meetings and tactical thinking summaries, as well as the Istrian war zone map that he had just completed and drawn by himself a while ago.

The contour map of the battle zone and the notes on the position deployment drawn with a few pencil marks were extremely sloppy. In the words of gunner Weidlin, except for Lieutenant Colonel Walter himself, even the German Chief of Staff could not understand this thing. Fortunately, Lieutenant Colonel Walter did not forget the specific meaning of these handwritten traces in front of him.

"What would I do if I were the commander of that Russian armored unit? It might be the best choice to press forward directly. After all, the anti-tank guns in the hands of those infantrymen are not worth mentioning at all. With a numerical advantage of fifty, there is no need to worry about the problem of lack of follow-up caused by war damage. Besides, the Russians should be like crazy now and want to retake Istria, right?"

Gently rotate the pencil in his hand, quickly sketch a few strokes on the sloppy notes, and then close it immediately.

As for what tactics the opponent he is about to face will use to attack his defensive positions, he has already made a relatively clear and sure judgment. Lieutenant Colonel Walter, who had been used to taking one step and looking three steps ahead since graduating from the Armored Forces Academy, had already made a basic plan for the next response tactics of the armored regiment he led.

Lieutenant Colonel Walter raised his right arm and put his right index finger on the voice button at the Adam's apple. Lieutenant Colonel Walter, who connected the communication channel of the entire armored regiment, immediately spoke calmly and decisively in an unquestionable tone.

"Heinrich, take your battalion to encircle the right wing and distance yourself from us. After the battle begins, directly attack the flank of the Russian armored forces. For the time being, ignore those attacking infantry with only light weapons in their hands. Your task is not to destroy a certain number of Russian tanks, but to prevent them from concentrating their main forces while fighting on two fronts at the same time. Do you understand?"

It is often difficult to launch a traditional frontal attack against the Soviet tank forces with extremely strong frontal armor defense. After fighting with the Soviet tank forces many times, the German armored soldiers gradually changed their strategy and began to use more and more roundabout tactics of starting troops and dividing into two routes.

The main reason for using the two-pronged tactic to conduct a roundabout outflanking was that the Soviet tank units, which were fighting on two fronts at the same time, could only keep one of their strongest tanks' frontal armor facing the enemy.

In this way, the two German armored troops, which were divided into two groups and acted separately, could support each other in the attack. The German armored troops of Group A could take the opportunity to attack the Soviet tanks that were facing the frontal armor towards the German troops of Group B, thus exposing the weakness of the side armor of the vehicle body, and destroy the Soviet tanks from the weakest side armor part in one fell swoop.

Similarly, the German tanks of Group B, which were in a situation of crossfire mutual support, could also provide fire support to the German tanks of Group A. The Soviet tanks that faced the frontal armor towards the German armored troops of Group A would inevitably expose the weak side armor to the German troops of Group B, which were acting separately in another direction, thereby creating battlefield conditions favorable to the German army and eventually destroying them.

This set of outflanking tactics, which was summarized by the German armored troops based on the actual combat experience on the front line, has been tried and tested, and perfectly avoided the embarrassing dilemma of the Soviet tanks' almost invincible frontal armor defense in a very clever way.

The side armor parts of the Soviet tanks, which are also very vulnerable, are always exposed to at least 50% of the direct firepower coverage of the German tanks. The so-called concept of forcing the Soviet tank troops to fight on two fronts at the same time is just like this.

However, it is not without prerequisites to successfully achieve such tactics on the battlefield.

First of all, the number of tanks of the German armored forces that adopt this set of outflanking tactics must be no less than the number of Soviet tanks they face, and at least the number of both sides must be equal to have a 50% chance of winning. Otherwise, even the most advanced tactics cannot save the German armored soldiers who are at a double disadvantage in both quantity and quality.

Any battlefield tactical arrangement that seems to be as luxurious as art is based on a battlefield comparison where the gap in strength between the two sides is not as big as the difference between heaven and earth.

Just like the Middle Eastern guerrillas who mastered advanced and sophisticated guerrilla warfare tactics in the future, they could never defeat the American army. The gap in strength that was so huge that it was like heaven and earth could not be made up by tactical skills. The traditional truth that a good cook cannot cook without rice also applies to the cruel battlefield.

In addition, the poor communication between Soviet tanks was also one of the important reasons why the German army's outflanking tactics were successful.

The Soviet tank soldiers who used signal flags, messengers and shouting as inter-vehicle communication methods would often lose their footing immediately once they were caught in a two-front battle situation where they were outflanked by German armored forces.

Fighting on their own is just like a daily routine. Some Soviet tanks are so panicked that they don't know which direction to face the enemy with their front armor. It seems that the battlefield is full of armor-piercing bullets fired by the Germans. This is the truest portrayal of the chaotic Soviet tank soldiers.

In such a situation, even if the commander of the Soviet tank unit reacts to what tricks the Germans are using, it is too late. In the battlefield where bullets are flying, even the battlefield communication between the members of the same vehicle is already very difficult in the loud shouting. In this case, who can care about the order issued by you desperately waving the signal flag in your hand at the risk of your life.

For this set of mature tactics that has been tried and tested and defeated many Soviet tank units, Lieutenant Colonel Walter, who is a little self-righteous, is also unaware of the corresponding situation.

The Soviet tank troops he was about to face were not the same as the previous Soviet tank troops whose communications were poor and prone to chaos. This was an elite Guards Heavy Tank Regiment fully equipped with wireless communication stations for vehicle-to-vehicle communications. They had opened their mouths wide and were waiting for these German armored troops to come to them.