Chapter 830 Firepower Pocket

But Stalin's order was like this, whether it could be held was another matter.

Only Vatutin knew the hardship. The Voronezh Front had many more tanks than the Germans, with a total of more than 1,700.

However, the Voronezh Front was defending a line of defense of more than 200 kilometers south of the Kursk salient. If the more than 1,000 tanks were divided along this line, there would not be many left at each place. The only mobile force that could be used was the 5th Guards Tank Army.

Originally, there would be no problem with such an arrangement, because the 5th Guards Tank Army was an elite force, and it also had more than 400 tanks. The number of these tanks was no less than any of the two German armies that broke into the defense line, and their performance and strength were even better. Vatutin was not sure about this battle, but he was 70% to 80% sure.

But who would have thought that the facts were not so... Vatutin's elite tank army was seriously injured in just one battle and lost more than 300 tanks. Only the 22nd Guards Tank Brigade survived because it did not rush forward in the rear.

"Defend? How to defend!" Vatutin paced anxiously in front of his desk. He also knew the importance of the third line of defense. It was the last support of the Soviet army. If the Germans broke through, the German armored forces would break into the rear of the Soviet army, and the consequences would be disastrous.

"Comrade Vatutin!" Lieutenant General Kazakov suggested: "Can we... build fortifications for tanks like in the Tomarovka direction to delay the Germans' actions?"

Vatutin stopped, then nodded and said: "Immediately order the troops to build fortifications on the spot!"

The German 21st Armored Division advanced along the road. Perhaps because of the shock of the German army's new weapons, the Soviet army's high ground or support points along the road could not stop the German army's ten-minute attack...

The German army only needed to drive the tanks up and fire a few shots at the Soviet army to kill a few people, and then charge up to knock the Soviet army down.

To be precise, the Soviet army fled from the other side before the German army rushed to the high ground.

The positions were full of bullet boxes, shell boxes, supplies scattered all over the ground, helmets, and Maxim, Guoliunov, anti-tank guns, etc. that could not be lifted.

This made the German army a little unbelievable because these firepower and ammunition were enough to block the German army on the high ground for several hours.

"This reminds me of when we first attacked the Soviet Union!" Dominic said, "The Soviet army was like this at that time!"

Dominic participated in the Barbarossa Plan. At that time, the Soviet army was a group of rabble and was easily defeated.

"So you are lucky, sergeant!" The baker threw a helmet aside, picked up a pack of cigarettes below, looked at it and put it in his pocket.

"We are lucky now, aren't we?" Dominic said these words while glancing at the pile of guns and ammunition left by the Soviets.

If it was in the past, the German soldiers would see these as treasures, because they would pick out the PPSh submachine gun or rotary machine gun and their ammunition and carry them with them.

But now...the equipment of STG44 makes them completely lose their appetite for these weapons.

"It's only temporary, Dominic!" The baker replied, "It would be a good thing if it could continue like this, but they were just scared by the ME63!"

"Yes, ME63!" Werner said, "You must not have noticed the expression on their faces when they saw that the rocket could turn... It was like seeing a ghost!"

"I saw it!" Yakop said, "I captured several prisoners, and they kept asking one thing from beginning to end, 'God, how did you do it?'!"

"How did you answer them?"

"I told them!" Yakop replied, "We beat them out with baseball bats!"

The soldiers couldn't help laughing.

"Assemble!" Eberhard's voice and whistle came from not far away: "Keep moving forward, we have to reach the Soviet third line of defense before dark!"

The soldiers immediately sorted out their equipment and some useful things they had just picked up and walked quickly towards Eberhard.

In fact, it didn't need to be dark at all. At around 3 pm, the 21st Armored Division reached the Soviet third line of defense.

General Strike immediately ordered an attack on the Soviet Army's third line of defense, because he thought it would catch the Soviet Army off guard.

But this time it didn't seem so easy to deal with...

The Soviet Army deployed the firepower pockets that General Walter mentioned before on the defense line.

Both charges were beaten back.

"We lost three 'Type 4' and five 'Type 3'!" General Strike said: "They used the same tactics against the SS to deal with us!"

Colonel Olbrich explained: "Their tactics are to bury the tanks in the soil with only the turrets exposed, so that we can't or it is difficult to aim and penetrate them!"

"But we can get close to them!" Colonel Slain said: "As long as the distance is close enough, we can still destroy them!"

"That's right!" Colonel Olbrich said: "But they deployed anti-tank guns on both wings. These anti-tank guns are carefully camouflaged, and it is difficult for us to detect their existence. And they will hide and not fire until our tanks advance here..."

Colonel Olbrich pushed the two tank models forward and continued, "At this time, our side armor was facing the anti-tank guns, and they took action... until our tanks were destroyed, we didn't even know where their anti-tank guns were!"

"They call this a 'fire pocket'!" General Stryker said, "The 2nd SS Panzer Corps suffered heavy casualties in this 'fire pocket', because even the 'Tiger' tanks, their side armor could not withstand close-range anti-tank guns! They lost five 'Tiger' tanks for this, and were blocked in front of the third line of defense and dared not launch an attack easily. !"

"Then..." Colonel Slaine asked again: "Why don't we avoid their frontal attack and attack their anti-tank guns on the flanks!"

"Because they have flanks on their flanks, Colonel!" Colonel Olbrich then placed a few anti-tank gun models on the table and said: "Their entire line of defense is arranged like this. No matter where we attack, the flanks of the tanks will be exposed to their anti-tank guns!"

This is indeed a very difficult tactic to deal with. The key point is that the anti-tank gunners deployed in front of the position must have good psychological qualities, because they have always been facing the German army from the side.