Chapter 628 Oil

Half an hour later, Soviet tanks rumbled up again.

Perhaps because the Soviets had figured out the position of the German defense line in the last attack, they actually used large-caliber mortars to prepare for a ten-minute artillery fire this time... The mortars have a short range and low power, so the Soviets are not too worried that it will damage the refinery.

These ten minutes of artillery fire caused some casualties to the Germans. The mortar shells had a large angle, and some shells coincidentally fell directly into the trenches and exploded, so screams and calls for medical soldiers rang out in the trenches.

However, the German soldiers were used to this. Casualties were inevitable in war, even for veterans who had experienced hundreds of battles.

This is the difference between war and other things... For other skills, as long as you master its rules or work hard to learn its principles and understand them thoroughly, it will be within your control. But war can never reach this level, because it is irregular to a certain extent, and you can't know where the shells will explode in the next second and who will die as a result.

After the sound of the artillery passed, a large number of tanks appeared about 500 meters in front of the position.

"I can guarantee it!" Werner shouted: "This time they are sending out the main force!"

"We all have eyes, Werner!" The baker replied.

They were actually talking about another thing, that is, it was time to release oil.

They didn't need to worry about this, because under Manstein's order, the German artillery had begun to pour shells on the Soviet army... There were howitzers and mortars captured from the Soviet army.

This method of attack was somewhat different from the last attack by the Soviet army, and of course the purpose was also different: this time it was to use the sound of artillery to cover up the "gurgling" sound of oil flowing out.

The Soviet army did not suspect this at all, and Chernov, who was observing the battle situation later, even felt a little proud, because he thought that the Germans saw so many tanks and fired randomly... He did have reason to think so. Howitzers could not penetrate the armor of T34 tanks, and mortars could pass over tanks and cause some casualties, but they also could not stop the Soviet army from advancing.

What's more...

Chernov ordered: "Order the artillery to suppress the enemy artillery!"

"Comrade Chernov!" the staff officer asked: "It is possible that the refinery will be bombed by mistake..."

"Let them aim and shoot!" Chernov interrupted the staff officer: "A blind man can see the fire from their gun muzzles!"

"Yes!" the staff officer responded.

But in fact, it is very difficult to do this, not because it is impossible to calculate the distance of the target... Artillery observers can easily do this, that is, using the triangulation method, two groups of artillery at a certain distance observe and measure the same target at the same time, and the distance of the target can be calculated from the measured angle and the distance between the two using the knowledge of trigonometric functions.

The difficulty lies in the fact that the artillery used by the Transcaucasian Front is the relatively backward M1910 artillery (at this time, the more advanced artillery of the Soviet Army is the M1938, but it is mostly equipped with front-line troops).

This kind of artillery has an offset of hundreds of meters at about five kilometers, and the German army is close to the refinery, so no one dares to guarantee whether the shells will hit the refinery.

But the artillery still opened fire as ordered, and fortunately, the refinery was not bombed... They didn't know that this was exactly what the Germans wanted.

When the Soviets and Chernov focused on the tank charge and artillery suppression, the oil flowed from the oil pipeline to the trench, and then overflowed from the trench to the Soviet direction.

Because they were advancing in the dark, the Soviets knew nothing about the oil flowing to them, especially the tanks... The tanks had poor external perception, and at this time they focused on the German defense line, so they didn't pay attention to anything unusual on the ground, so they drove into the oil field one after another, and what was even more tragic was that these tanks were still in the front.

The infantrymen following behind them soon discovered the problem. The reason was that oil was a viscous liquid. It felt wrong when they stepped on it, so they shouted in panic:

"What is this?"

"It's oil!"

"They are going to light a fire, retreat, retreat quickly!"

...

The infantry retreated in panic, but the tanks knew nothing and continued to advance at full speed until the commander of the tank brigade received a warning and panicked and ordered: "All tanks, retreat immediately, turn around!"

The commander of the tank regiment, Vladimir, who was in charge of the front line among the charging tanks, was a little puzzled when he heard this order. Why did they admit defeat and retreat before the battle even started?

However, he still passed the order down: "Retreat immediately, turn around!"

But it was too late at this time. Suddenly, a blazing fire appeared in front of the observation window. To be precise, it was not a fire but a fire. The whole battlefield became a sea of ​​fire.

Vladimir seemed to understand something and shouted into the walkie-talkie: "Retreat, retreat immediately!"

In some ways, tanks are not very afraid of fire. On the one hand, it is because of its height and distance from the ground, which allows its turret to avoid being affected by the fire. On the other hand, its thickness can separate the fire for a short time.

The main problem is the tank's engine... The engine is already in a high-temperature combustion state and is located very low. Once it is burned by the burning oil, the engine will soon malfunction or even explode due to overheating.

So the tanks drove in the flames for a while and then stopped one after another.

In the sight of Qin Chuan and the German soldiers, panicked tank crews emerged from the turrets one by one, and then looked helplessly at the sea of ​​fire around them, and the sea of ​​fire even continued to flow towards the Soviet army, continuing to submerge the tanks in the rear that had no time to turn around and escape.

The shrill screams soon rang out, and some tank crews were inevitably ignited.

Some tanks exploded, and it was not known whether the shells exploded under high temperature or the soldiers inside chose this way to end their lives. If it was the former, they were still lucky, because their fate was already determined, and it would be more painful to end it with their own hands.

But most tank crews had to choose the latter, and they either used pistols or grenades to put the final end to this battle.

Chernov stared at the scene in front of him in amazement. He had thought that the tank brigade would suffer heavy casualties, but he had never thought that it would be this way... They were annihilated before they even reached the enemy's defense line.

After a long pause, Chernov loudly ordered: "Fire, fire at the enemy!"

"Where is the target, Comrade Chernov?" the staff officer asked.

"The refinery, blow up the refinery and those fascists!" Chernov screamed hysterically.