Chapter 63 The Fox and the Hound (Part 1)

When the smoke overflowing from the muzzle quickly dissipated with a cold morning wind, the F-34 2mm tank gun protruding from a seemingly inconspicuous dilapidated stable at the end of the village was filled with black holes. The muzzle of the gun finally appeared in the eyes of Wittmann, who had been staring closely.

"Found it! Klink, in the dilapidated stable at the end of the village two hundred meters away at one o'clock, there is what looks like a Soviet tank. Load high-explosive bombs and blast him out of the bunker!"

"As you wish, boss."

"One high-explosive round, load it!"

Accompanied by a loud roar from the loader from the rear of the crew, Klink, who quickly turned the main gun steering gear and the height adjustment wheel in his hand, almost in one go, aimed the muzzle at what Wittmann described. direction.

"Good luck, Ivan."

Click——

In the soft whisper, a 75mm Type 34 high-explosive round suddenly rushed out of the barrel and shot straight towards the target. This round came from the 24 times caliber 75mm on the Type 3A assault gun commanded by Wittmann. Although the high-explosive shells fired by the short-barreled howitzers only have a muzzle velocity of 550 meters per second, at the current shooting distance of less than 200 meters, it can be said that they are fleeting and hit immediately when fired. It's nothing to worry about.

boom--

The 75mm grenade containing 680 grams of TNT high-explosive charge in the warhead was immediately blown away by a burst of fire and the entire dilapidated stable was blown away. Along with the burning withered grass that the flames could not completely burn out, slowly rose from the mid-air. Falling down, a T3476 medium tank numbered 177 was completely exposed on the battlefield after losing the cover of the stable.

"Nice shot, Klink! Prepare armor-piercing ammunition, we can't let this T34 slip away from us like this!"

Before Wittmann finished speaking, the extremely bad words from Lieutenant Heizenauer suddenly rang out from the communicator next to his ear.

"Damn it, Sergeant Michel! I told you that your assault gun platoon should not open fire and enter the battle without my order, don't you understand!? Fall back immediately and let the tanks and infantry take care of these Ivans! When I need fire support, I I'll call you, do you understand?"

""

After hearing the terrible curse that suddenly sounded in my ears, I felt speechless for a while. I never thought that my order to fire would disrupt the battle plan that Lieutenant Heizenauer had already formulated. He had a strong fighting spirit in his heart but had to do it. After forcibly suppressing it, Wittmann had no choice but to obey the order.

"Understood, Lieutenant, I will do as you are told."

"Attention, assault artillery platoon, stop firing and stay put, pay attention to make way for the infantry!"

The four No. 3A assault guns located at the rear of the entire mechanized battle group stopped advancing immediately under Wittmann's order.

At the same time, the SDKFZ251 half-track personnel carriers located in the center of the entire battle group immediately opened their doors under the command of Lieutenant Heizenauer. The SS soldiers holding Mauser 98K and MP40 submachine guns immediately began to assume an attack posture under the leadership of their respective squad leaders, following the cover of their own tanks and personnel carriers and rushing towards the small village that was already within easy reach. .

"Armored company, armor-piercing bullets suppress that Soviet T34 tank! Aim at its tracks and try to paralyze this guy in place!"

Lieutenant Heizenauer, who is in charge of leading the attack here, wants to paralyze the enemy T34 tank that has scored the first kill, but Malashenko, who is currently in the commander's command position in the turret, also understands the tank The importance of mobility.

"Seryozha, reverse the car! Back up at full speed and get us out of here!"

"Nicolai, the machine guns are suppressing the German infantry. Try to keep them behind the tanks and don't let them rush over and move around!"

Da da da--

Following Malashenko's order to direct his crew members, the knowing Seryosha immediately used all his strength to pull the joystick in his arms and drove the 28-ton armored tank slowly towards the Back away.

At the same time, Nikolai, the electromechanical technician who also received the order from Malashenko, also began to pull the trigger in his hand, manipulating the 62mm DT light machine gun located at the front of the T34 tank body, and fired at those who were about to The SS soldiers who came towards this lonely T34 tank fought back.

"What are you doing!? Wolf! That damn Ivan tank is reversing and escaping to beat our infantry. If you don't fire, how long are you waiting for!?"

As Lieutenant Heizenauer from the commander's position asked loudly, the gunner who was struggling to shake the turret steering gear in his hand to rotate the turret immediately responded with a tense face.

"He's reversing! Heizenauer! I've tried my best, but it's not easy to aim at a moving target. Give me some more time!"

The Panzer III tank's turret steering gear, which relies solely on manpower for manual driving, is driven as fast as an old cow pulling a broken car even if it uses all its strength. The Panzer III tank itself, which does not have a dual-flow transmission system, does not support the in-situ hull. The steering is used to assist in accelerating the rotation of the turret. The Panzer III tank is relatively fast when aiming at a stationary target. Once it hits a moving target and wants to accurately aim, it will undoubtedly make things worse.

Taking advantage of the golden opportunity of those Panzer III tanks with slowly rotating turrets that had not yet completely turned their muzzles, Malashenko, who had already pointed the muzzles at the Germans due to launching a sneak attack from the dark, immediately after Kirill finished loading, Then he stepped on the launch pedal again.

"Try this! Hans!"

Boom——

Another BR-350B hooded armor-piercing grenade flew out of the barrel with flames in an instant, accompanied by Malashenko's low roar. However, because the driver Seryosha was manipulating the vehicle body to reverse at full speed of 6 kilometers per hour, there was no future high-tech equipment such as the main gun bidirectional stabilizer, which caused the main gun to shake continuously with the vehicle body during off-road reverse. Malashenko, who missed the first time, was unable to hit the target accurately again like before.

Ding bang——

The huge noise after the shell rubbed the outer armor of the turret and finally bounced and hit the ground, raising dust, echoed in the narrow turret like a big bell in the ear. Lieutenant Heizenauer, who realized that he had just walked through the gates of hell, couldn't help but jump in his heart. Heizenauer, who found that the gunner operating this T34 tank was definitely not easy to deal with, immediately shouted loudly and gave orders again.

"Damn it, Wolf! If you don't fire, I'll take over! Those Ivans have put the Grim Reaper's scythe on our necks!"

"Shut up! Stop pushing me! The more you push me, the more chaos I'm in! I know what to do, just let me focus on aiming, okay!?"

As the commander and the gunner argued loudly, Wolf, who desperately turned the steering wheel in his hand, finally aimed the black muzzle at the target.