Chapter 650 Armored Train

"Send two Type 4 tanks up!" Colonel Slaine ordered.

Soon two Type 4 tanks rumbled up, and Colonel Slaine contacted the tank crew inside through the phone behind the tank

"The enemy has an armored train!" Colonel Slaine said: "They will appear at your ten o'clock position soon, destroy them, and attack the turret first, do you understand?"

"Yes, Colonel!" The tank crew replied.

This method seems to be feasible, because armored trains are mostly used to deal with guerrillas... Guerrillas do not have heavy weapons, and armored trains can be deployed quickly and effectively against guerrillas to protect the railway.

Therefore, the armor of armored trains is generally not very thick... 20MM on the side and 15MM on the top.

If this is the case, then the Type 4 tank is enough to deal with it.

But the actual situation surprised Colonel Slaine...

When the armored train slowly drove up and appeared at the corresponding position, two "Panzer IV" tanks fired two shells at the turret on the armored train, but the turret on the armored train did not react at all.

The armored train immediately launched a counterattack. After a burst of "boom boom" gunfire, one "Panzer IV" tank was destroyed. The reason why the other "Panzer IV" was safe and sound was more because the Soviet tank crew was not of high quality and failed to hit the target.

"Damn it!" Colonel Slaine ordered loudly: "Retreat, retreat!"

The surviving "Panzer IV" tank slowly retreated, and the commander poked his head out of the tank cabin and reported palely: "Colonel, we can't destroy the target!"

"I saw it!" Colonel Slaine replied.

At this time, the commander of the 5th Armored Regiment, Olbrich, also drove up in a jeep. The jeep stopped far behind. Colonel Olbrich jumped down from the car and trotted up, asking, "What's going on?"

"We encountered a tough guy!" Colonel Slaine handed over the telescope.

When Colonel Olbrich stuck his head out to observe, Colonel Slaine briefly introduced: "There is an underground bunker more than 100 meters away. It will hide in it when the bomber appears. The result of the "No. 4" tank confrontation..."

Speaking of this, Colonel Slaine raised his head towards the tank in front of him that was still emitting black smoke, and said, "It is obvious that the Soviet armored train is different from ours!"

Colonel Slaine was right. The Soviet armored train was indeed different from the German one.

The German armored train was mainly used to deal with guerrillas, while the Soviet armored train basically had no need to deal with guerrillas. They were used to fight against the German army.

But this is not the most important thing.

The Soviet armored train is called "Strike the German Invaders". It has four gun platforms, an anti-aircraft platform, 20 machine guns of various types, and a coal-fired steam locomotive.

It was built urgently in early 1942, which means that it has only been a few months since the construction started.

Although it is not difficult to transform armored trains, such as steam locomotives can use existing locomotives, and armored carriages can use existing train carriages, all you have to do is to armor them, but it is still quite difficult... Installing turrets.

It will not take a few months to do this.

But the Soviets came up with a creative way. They drove the T34 tanks directly onto the train carriages and fixed them to be converted into turrets.

So, the turret is not actually a turret. Each turret should be regarded as a reinforced T34 tank. There is even a 30MM thick reinforced concrete reinforcement in front of its armor... The Soviet Union is a wide-gauge train, and the internal space is much larger than that of the German armored train.

"We can blow up its rails!" said Colonel Olbrich.

"Good idea!" Colonel Slaine agreed.

Then they quickly formulated an attack plan.

This attack plan is actually very simple, but of course it requires the cooperation of various arms, but this is almost no difficulty for the German army.

First, the air force bombers forced the Soviet armored train back... This is not difficult. Six "Stuka" bombers circled in the sky and dive-bombed in turn. The armored train had no choice but to temporarily hide in the bunker.

However, the bombers could not hover at low altitude for a long time. The Soviet air defense firepower would not allow them to do so... Generally speaking, the air defense firepower of port cities is not weak, and Karachi is no exception.

Then the German army launched a charge. Under the cover of tanks and infantry, the mortar gunners entered the appropriate position and threw a pile of shells at the estimated railroad track of the armored train... There were towering buildings near the train station, and it was difficult for long-range artillery to throw shells at the low and narrow railroad tracks.

"Well done!" Colonel Slaine couldn't help but praise the smoke that exploded on the railroad tracks through the telescope.

But before Colonel Slain finished speaking, the armored train came out of the thick smoke again, and then another hail of bullets drove the German army back.

"What's going on?" Colonel Slain cursed.

"They must have considered this situation!" Qin Chuan put away the telescope and replied: "I think they prepared several railroad tracks!"

"Fuck it!" Colonel Slain cursed fiercely.

"We can force the assault under the cover of bombers!" Adjutant Lucas made a simple and crude suggestion: "I mean, if a bomber appears, it will retreat to the bunker..."

"Do you think they didn't think of this possibility?" Colonel Olbrich interrupted Lucas: "The armored train will suddenly come out of the bunker when we rush up... Then we will only be slaughtered!"

Colonel Olbrich was right. The advantage of the armored train is its fast speed. The German infantry and tanks seem to be no match for it. At the same time, the ground is full of smoke. In addition, the smoke deliberately created by the Soviets makes it difficult for German pilots to accurately bomb the armored train in the situation of a melee between the two armies.

"Can we go around it?" Colonel Slaine asked.

Colonel Olbrich opened the map and quickly rejected this plan.

"The left wing is the Don River!" Colonel Olbrich said: "The right wing is a tributary of the Don River. The only iron bridge nearby has been blown up, unless we plan to cross the river..."

Although crossing the river is feasible, because the tributary of the Don River is only more than 100 meters wide, and the water flow is not fast.

But this is obviously not something that can be done in a short time, because there are enemy defenses on the other side and the German army is still an armored division. It will take a lot of time to transport tanks one by one.

The German army did not have that much time because they were fighting a blitzkrieg and speed was what was needed, otherwise there would be more and more Soviet troops waiting for them ahead.