Chapter 549 Tiger (Part 2)

Having been authorized to inform the Waffen SS armored soldiers who had received the mission of the specific mission, Major Heinkel cleared his throat and then spoke to the four Waffen SS crews neatly arranged in front of him.

"According to the original plan, this operation should be carried out by the Wehrmacht armored units."

"But for some reasons, this batch of Tiger VI tanks that have just come off the production line has been handed over to your Waffen SS Guards Division for actual combat testing. The first point to emphasize is that you four crews must make your division famous in the upcoming battle. As for why, I believe you should be able to guess."

After hearing these suggestive words, Wittmann seemed to understand something. Thinking of the number of the "Adolf Hitler" Guards Division of his unit, Wittmann, who gradually understood the hint in Major Heinkel's words, nodded quietly.

Looking at the thoughtful and enlightened expressions of the four SS crews in front of him, Major Heinkel, with his mouth slightly raised, quickly continued to speak with his hands behind his back.

"Your mission is very simple! There will be a Russian tank patrol passing by the designated mission area, unaware of the danger. These are the tanks that the Russians rushed to transport into the city when the ice was the strongest after Lake Ladoga was completely frozen last winter."

"After having more tanks, these Russians began to belittle themselves and tried to expand their actual control range to break our encirclement. It sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? But these Russians are so whimsical."

Major Heinkel, who was quite humorous, summarized the mission report in an almost sarcastic and joking way, which made Wittmann, who was used to the serious style of his superiors, feel a little uncomfortable.

"Although the fighting in the encirclement is generally calm, with only occasional sporadic exchanges of fire that have not caused any major problems. However, if this Russian tank patrol is not eliminated, it will cause certain troubles for our future offensive. No one wants to suddenly encounter a team of Russian tanks coming out of the corner when attacking the city."

"For a month, we have been paying close attention to the specific movements of this Russian tank patrol, but their actual route is erratic and is roughly fixed in a circular area with a radius of about 20 square kilometers. They have fought seven consecutive raids in a month and pulled out a After they had attacked some of our guard posts, they immediately retreated. It seemed that an experienced and smart Russian was in charge. "

"After you arrive at the area where they may appear, you need to wait patiently for them to appear, or you can make on-the-spot changes based on your speculation and the actual situation you see. In short, we need to hunt down this Russian tank patrol to test the actual anti-armor power of our new Tiger VI tanks. You must know that those Russian tanks are the most troublesome."

After giving priority to all the important situations, Principal Heinkel breathed a sigh of relief, and the rest of the last words came out immediately.

"Reconnaissance intelligence and eyewitness feedback indicate that this Russian tank patrol is mainly composed of T34 medium tanks, with a small number of KV1 heavy tanks, totaling about 13 to 15. But I am curious how those Russians transported these nearly 50-ton monsters into the city. Can the ice surface of Lake Ladoga withstand such weight? Oh, whatever, who knows."

"The details of the mission are roughly like this. All you have to do is to eliminate this Russian armored patrol. You may face an armored encounter with an enemy four times your size, so try to take advantage of the preemptive sneak attack. The Russians were caught off guard, and they knocked down as many Russian tanks as possible before the real battle began. "

"Believe me, although I don't really understand the way your armored troops fight, this is the best advice I have gotten in the past year outside Leningrad: never underestimate the Russians in this city."

After hearing the "sincere advice" given by Major Heinkel, Wittmann didn't know what to say. After walking around the map twice, Wittmann roughly figured out where he was going, and then followed the other three crews beside him to get back on the tanks and head to the mission area.

The four Tigers, which consumed a lot of fuel, drank enough fuel for the battalion's cars for a month at Major Heinkel's battalion headquarters before they set off, leaving Major Heinkel, who was quite surprised, helpless.

The snow that fell on the outskirts of Leningrad had basically melted away. The muddy road made the four brand new Tigers look like garbage trucks in a short time. Wittmann, who had just taken over the new tanks, frowned and seemed a little angry.

"These Russians really never know how to build roads."

The planned ambush range pointed out by Major Heinkel was next to a muddy dirt road.

Intelligence pointed out that two days ago, patrolling German soldiers saw the dozen Soviet tanks on this road. This was the closest eyewitness report to the current time point. And no one saw the Russian tanks all day yesterday, and there was no report of any forward guard post being attacked.

As far as the current situation is concerned, waiting for the bear next to this dirt road is the best choice for Wittmann and his team.

After arriving at the designated location, Wittmann first assigned Berndt, the radio operator of his tank, to conduct reconnaissance. He ran to a place one kilometer away with a telescope to keep alert and pay attention to the Soviet tanks that might arrive at any time.

On the other side, Wittmann, along with the remaining crew members and three other crews, chose a low-lying place that could cover the tank body to hide most of the front projection of the Tiger tank.

He also used several helmets that almost no one had ever worn to scoop up a few helmets full of mud and picked up a lot of dry branches, trying his best to hide the huge Tiger tank in the best state.

Snap——

Using half a wooden board to scoop up a large lump of mud from the helmet and paste it on the turret of the vehicle, the gunner Klink, who always felt that this was a bit of a waste of resources, couldn't help complaining to Wittmann.

"Michel, this is our new car, don't you think it's too much?"

Wittmann, who was decorating the gun barrel with dry branches in his hands, didn't even turn his head and didn't seem to agree with what his gunner said.

"If you want to be seen by those Russians, just stop. It will dirty the car, but at least it will reduce the chance of you dying here."