Chapter 436: Changes in the World
"Aim!"
"Are you sure?"
"Maybe."
"Then fire!"
A group of ordinary German infantrymen who were second-rate in operating anti-tank guns could not even be sure whether they had aimed. The gunners, who were under great psychological pressure, sent the armor-piercing shells in the breech block out of the barrel with a rapid breath that was not completely sure. The 40-type tungsten core armor-piercing shells with a muzzle velocity of more than 1,000 meters per second immediately rushed towards the Soviet tanks that were already in sight.
The final sprint distance of less than 500 meters was fleeting for the 40-type tungsten core armor-piercing shells with a muzzle velocity of up to 1,000 meters per second. The 40-type tungsten core armor-piercing shells hit the solid upper armor plate of the T3457 tank, and immediately collided with a burst of intense friction sparks that bounced away.
The Soviet tank crew driving this T3457 tank had no other problems except for the slight tremor and huge echo of the tank.
The Type 40 tungsten core armor-piercing projectile, which has a very high ability to penetrate vertical armor, is powerless against inclined armor. The extremely high vertical armor penetration value is useless in front of inclined armor. The Type 40 tungsten core armor-piercing projectile, which does not have the effect of being capped, is once again completely immune to the T34 tank as always.
Since the launch of Operation Barbarossa, the German soldiers are very clear about how abnormal the T34 tanks in the hands of the enemy Soviet army are. Sometimes, in order to destroy such a basic medium tank commonly equipped by the Soviet army, it is even necessary to repeatedly fire more than a dozen shots or even more. The German temporary artillery group, which is not shocked by the ricochet of the armor-piercing projectile, immediately began to reload.
"These Russian tanks are simply monsters. Why can they always deflect our armor-piercing shells?!"
He was busy loading the guns and complained in a bad tone. He couldn't understand why the Soviets, who were regarded as inferior races by the German propaganda department, could build such amazing tanks. These ordinary German soldiers who knew nothing about the principles of tank attack and defense were full of complaints and puzzlement.
"Reload, reload quickly! There is no time for nonsense. If one shot doesn't work, keep firing. We can definitely destroy those Russian tanks!"
He was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot, but he didn't forget to cheer up his own soldiers.
The German infantry squad leader holding the MP40 submachine gun also couldn't understand what was so good about the Russian tanks. The professional terms used by the armored soldiers sounded like the Bible to him, a military academy graduate of infantry. The reason why the German infantry squad leader hadn't blurted out the term was that he had already blamed the serious dereliction of duty of the domestic weapons engineers.
The PAK38 anti-tank gun, which had been reloaded in a hurry, once again sprayed out hot muzzle fire. The Soviet tank group that rushed towards the German position did not counterattack but tried to continue to defend with its solid armor.
The T34 medium tank, which was far more mobile than the KV1 heavy tank, had a strong forward speed.
The gunner of the T3457 tank was shaking in the sight of the cross-country snow field as if he had Parkinson's syndrome. In this off-road driving at full speed, firing at random would be a waste of ammunition without any hit rate. Iushkin, who was shaking as if he had been electrocuted, had no intention of firing back before stopping.
The German soldiers who kept popping out in twos and threes from the mottled positions like ground rats began to find more and more relatively intact anti-tank weapons and began to enter a defensive posture.
Not to mention how much blocking effect these anti-tank guns with missing arms and legs and even one of their tires blown off could have, the Soviet aircraft group hovering in the sky and constantly launching rounds of attacks on the ground soon noticed this situation.
Daring to attack the tank soldiers on the ground under their own noses, this behavior was seriously regarded by the bad-tempered Soviet pilots as an undisguised slap in the face.
Before taking off, most of them drank some vodka to warm their bodies and resist the severe cold in the air, and to boost their courage. Facing the on-the-spot slapping of the German troops on the ground, the drunken Soviet pilots chose to take up their weapons and roared to death at the German anti-tank gun group that was coming rapidly.
Dongdongdong——
Da Dada——
Almost at the same time as the roar of the 20mm Schwarz cannon equipped by the Il-2 attack aircraft, a group of German fighters dived rapidly from the sky, announcing their emergency appearance with the flames of the opponent's Soviet fighters.
They were urgently summoned by the almost wailing telephone calls for help from the German ground forces.
This group of German Air Force pilots, who had just finished the ground support battle this morning and barely returned to the airport to rest, were so busy that they didn't even have time to drink two sips of hot water, and received an order to go out urgently again.
The German BF109F2 fighter group, which was speeding along with full throttle, was the first to engage in battle at an extremely fast level flight speed.
As soon as they arrived at the airspace of the war zone, they saw that their own ground forces were being bombarded. The anxious German fighters had no time to fight with the Soviet fighters that had an absolute energy advantage in the sky for air supremacy on the battlefield. The most important thing at the moment was to rescue their own ground forces from the brink of collapse. This was also the order received by these German fighter pilots who always looked down on the ground forces and looked down on the sky.
Unprepared for the barrage of firepower that swooped down from the sky at six o'clock behind them, the Soviet attack aircraft group that was launching another round of ground attack was immediately shot down by the dense firepower and fell headlong towards the earth that was coming in an unrecoverable posture.
The reason why the Soviet La 3 fighter group hovering in the sky did not join the ground attack was to wait for this moment to come.
The Soviet fighter formation, which was evenly matched, pushed the throttle valve to the maximum without hesitation, and dived down from the blue sky with absolute altitude energy advantage. Compared with the MiG-3 fighter, the La-3 fighter, which was better at low-altitude combat, immediately fought fiercely with the German BF109F2 that had succeeded in one strike.
Berezin and Schwark rang at the same time, and the MG151 and MG17 were the same color in the sky.
The Soviet and German fighter formations, which had been fighting fiercely since the beginning of the battle, did not hold back at all. The scattered tracer bullets almost completely ignited the air below a thousand meters. A life-and-death battle between air and ground finally ushered in the climax of the grinding of flesh and steel.