Chapter 73: Head-On Confrontation (Part 2)

"At this time, you still want to straighten the body to face the enemy head-on? It's too late, Hans."

Facts have proved that the Type 3 tank, which only has a single-stream transmission system and can only rely on the mechanical and rigid method of "one track turns and the other track does not turn" to turn the body, is not enough to support the Type 3 tank to straighten the body before being destroyed and defend the enemy head-on when it encounters the Soviet T34 tank with high-speed mobility and fast reloading speed.

After Kirill's loud reloading report, he stepped on the firing pedal again. When the last German Type 3 tank only turned the body to half of the degree to defend the enemy, the BR-350B capped armor-piercing grenade that announced the annihilation of the four German Type 3 tanks exploded instantly in the body and completely ended everything.

Seeing the burning German Type 3 tanks in his gun scope, all of them had been annihilated. Malashenko, who had taken a long breath, did not bother to make too many repairs, and immediately commanded his car to bypass the enemy's flank again.

At the other end of the village, the remaining German troops led by Lieutenant Heizenauer had begun to gradually advance the counterattack.

"11 o'clock, 180 meters away, Soviet machine gun position, high-explosive bombs ready!"

"Loading completed!"

"Fire!"

Boom--

Amid the flames, the muzzle roared, and a 75mm high-explosive grenade specially used to attack soft targets instantly flew out of the barrel of a Type 3A assault gun.

The Soviet DP28 light machine gun, which was originally set up at the window of the wooden house and was firing wildly at the German infantry, could not withstand such an attack at all. The 680 grams of TNT warhead charge in the German 75mm Type 34 high-explosive grenade immediately lifted the entire wooden house into the air amidst the flying sand and rocks. The light machine gun firepower point that had just roared and put a lot of pressure on the German army was directly destroyed by the direct firepower of the No. 3 assault gun.

Wittmann saw that the Soviet firepower point was directly hit by his car in his car commander's periscope sight. He was quite satisfied and then reached out and gently patted the gunner Klink's shoulder in front of him.

"Well done, Klink! Keep working hard, we'll get the medal soon!"

"I want to have a good rest and sleep for a day more than the medal. You have to apply for it for me to the battalion commander, Michel."

Just as Wittmann was about to speak again to reply to his gunner, Lieutenant Heisenauer, who was in the center of the team and had basically reassembled the main force of the SS in the village, immediately issued further orders.

"Attention all crews and units, assemble and continue to sweep into the village. The armored forces will lead the way in front, and the infantry will follow up to cover. Sergeant Michel, your assault gun platoon will follow behind and be ready to provide fire support at any time according to my orders."

Hearing the order from Heisenauer again in the headset on his head, Wittmann, who straightened the throat communicator and spoke immediately, immediately responded.

"Order confirmed, Lieutenant Heisenauer, we will act now."

When the main force of the German army, which had regrouped, eliminated some of the Soviet infantry who were facing the enemy in front and began to prepare to move deeper into the village, another T34 tank that had been lying in ambush behind a thatched straw less than a hundred meters away had been waiting for too long with battered breath.

"Okay, comrades, those German armored forces are close enough to us. According to the order given to us by Lieutenant Malashenko, our crew must fire the first shot, everyone get ready!"

The Soviet commander who was giving orders to the crew members at his command position at this moment was none other than Lieutenant Iushkin, who sat around the campfire last night and asked Malashenko whether he would feel scared and terrified during the battle.

According to the phased combat deployment made by Malashenko before, the Soviet army, which had the deep defense of the entire village as a favorable terrain, had no need to fight the German army head-on at the entrance of the village.

When the Soviet army responsible for the first wave of attack defense suffered some losses and began to pretend to retreat into the village, the German army, which was pursuing the victory, would definitely not miss this opportunity to continue to advance.

By then, the regrouped German army would once again fall into a bad situation where the enemy was in the dark and we were in the light. Compared with the more complex structure and terrain of the village entrance, it would be more conducive to the ambush of the Soviet army's second line of defense. The second ambush launched again in the dark would further inflict greater casualties on the German army.

And this T34 tank commanded by Iushkin was a crucial part of Malashenko's second defensive operation plan.

According to the order conveyed by Malashenko to Lieutenant Iushkin, this T34 tank commanded by Iushkin must eliminate as many German armored forces as possible in the dark while firing the first shot.

At this point in the battle deep into the hinterland of the village, the German mixed attack force can be said to be completely relying on the armored forces to advance alone into the village.

Once these mobile defensive barriers with anti-tank capabilities were lost, the remaining SS infantrymen, who were in a desperate situation, would either die under the Soviet army's concentrated fire from all directions or surrender. There was no possibility that they could be pulled out in time like they did at the village entrance.

When Iushkin, who already had a certain degree of rich combat experience, was sure that he had aimed the main gun in his hand at the leading German Type 3 tank, the second lieutenant, who also had the decisiveness and firm belief that a grassroots officer should have, immediately stepped on the firing pedal without hesitation.

The shells whistled in the roar of fire.

This BR-350B windshield armor-piercing grenade fired by Lieutenant Iushkin from behind a haystack hit the leading vehicle of the German mechanized mixed column accurately just after a breath.

Although the leading Type 3 tank was slightly deviated by Lieutenant Iushkin's attack due to the moving target, it was not penetrated by the side of the fighting compartment of the vehicle body, but was hit into the engine compartment by this armor-piercing grenade.

However, the engine that followed was shut down on the spot and the gasoline supply pipeline ignited by the shell immediately caught fire in the engine compartment at the rear of the vehicle. Feeling the high temperature flames burning so close, the five-man crew of the German Panzer III tank did not dare to be negligent and immediately, led by their commander, shouted loudly and abandoned the tank from various positions.