Chapter 840 Counterattack
That’s exactly what the Soviets did.
Of course they had to do this, because it was directly related to their lives.
So the importance of the driver immediately rose sharply... The secondary weapon of the T34 was two machine guns, one on the turret controlled by the gunner, and the other on the right side of the cockpit controlled by the driver.
But the coaxial machine gun on the T34 turret was basically useless.
Mainly because the identity of the gunner or it can be said that it had too many things to do... The early T34 had a very small turret space due to the turret inclination problem, and could only accommodate two people: the gunner and the loader.
This directly led to the tank crew serving as the commander of the T34 tank, mostly the gunner.
Therefore, the gunner was not only responsible for the coordination and command of the entire vehicle, but also had to control the artillery and the machine gun at the same time.
In a tense battle, it is unimaginable that one person can complete so many tasks. It is precisely because of this that the firing rate of the T34 artillery will not be slower than that of the German tanks, but the actual firing rate is only one-third to one-quarter of the German "Panzer IV" tank.
It was not until the end of 1943 when the T34/85 was developed that the turret was modified to be three-man and the commander was separated.
In fact, these are not important. The most important thing is that the coaxial machine gun needs to rotate the turret when aiming at the target... This will make it react clumsily. By the time the coaxial machine gun finds the target, the "tracking rocket" may have hit the tank.
Therefore, the responsibility of suppressing the "tracking rocket" fell on the driver.
Rotmistrov even ordered: "Once the tank driver finds the trail of the rocket, don't hesitate, and immediately shoot all the bullets in that direction, even if you don't see anything!"
This order did work on the battlefield, or to be precise, it played a part of the role.
Every time the German anti-tank team fired an ME63, several machine guns would immediately "scream" and shoot bullets in this direction... This is another kind of firepower coverage, and this kind of firepower coverage cannot be solved by dispersed defense.
As time went by, the casualties of ME63 operators also increased, while the Soviet tanks were getting closer and closer, and were about to approach the German defense line.
At this time, General Stryk issued an order that surprised everyone: "Armored troops, move forward! Destroy them!"
Move forward and fight with the enemy?
This is not a good choice for German tanks, but if it cannot be avoided, the German armored troops will not retreat.
So the next moment, the German tanks started, and with General Stryk's order, the German tanks jumped out of the hiding place one by one and rushed towards the Soviet tank group at full speed.
In an instant, the "steel torrents" of both sides met and collided with each other.
If we only analyze it from the perspective of combat effectiveness and quantity comparison, the German tanks doing this is undoubtedly suicide... As mentioned before, German tanks in close combat do not have any advantages, and they are at an absolute disadvantage in terms of quantity.
But war is not just a simple comparison of data, but also psychological and tactical advantages and disadvantages.
The Soviet tank crews had never expected the Germans to do this, so the first batch of people who had no reaction missed the opportunity to fire at close range... This was also closely related to the two-man turret of the T34 tank. The gunner had to command the members and control the gun at the same time, so the reaction would inevitably be a little slow.
And it was this slowness that prevented the Soviet tanks from seizing the opportunity to fire at close range and let the German tanks pass by.
The Germans did not have such a problem...
The command of the three-man turret was very smooth, and at the same time, the tank crews were all well-trained veterans. The tanks in their hands were very flexible as if they were controlled by one person. When passing by the enemy tanks, the turrets followed and rotated sideways, and when passing the flank of the enemy tanks, they fired a high-explosive armor-piercing shell with a "boom".
One Soviet tank after another exploded from the inside, and the turrets separated from the body in the flames, spinning high into the air and then falling back to the ground.
And this was just the beginning.
After that, the German tanks actually rushed into the Soviet tank formation, firing here and there, and the Soviet tanks were beaten horribly and in chaos.
Afterwards, Qin Chuan believed that this situation occurred in part because the Soviet tanks did not have the smooth command of the German tanks, and the backward communication equipment made the Soviet tanks generally clumsy.
But more importantly, the Soviet tanks focused too much attention on suppressing or even countering the "tracking rockets", so they basically ignored another terrible opponent... German tanks.
Although the number of German tanks was small, they were all elite, especially the 21st Armored Division, which was fought on the battlefield in Africa.
Even if some of them were still outdated "Panzer III" tanks, they could still play a role at this time... The "Panzer III" tanks had been replaced with short-barreled 75MM guns that were eliminated from the "Panzer IV" tanks. This type of gun could penetrate 43MM armor within 700 meters when firing armor-piercing shells. Although it was not able to deal with the 45MM inclined armor on the front of the T34, it had no problem dealing with the relatively straight armor on the side of the T34 at close range.
The German infantry also followed closely, using anti-tank grenades, rocket launchers, etc., and all that could be used was used.
Soon, the Soviet army finally reacted and hurriedly slowed down and put down the Soviet soldiers on board to join the battle.
Thus, a chaotic and tragic tank melee began in the plain.
Hundreds of tank engines and tracks were strangled with artillery and machine guns. Sometimes soldiers and sometimes tanks passed by the tanks, some were enemies and some were their own. This made the gunners and machine gunners not know when to choose to shoot or fire... They were worried that the bullets or shells they fired would not hit the target but would accidentally injure friendly forces.
In fact, such accidental injuries were common in such melees. The German army and the Soviet army had them, but it was obvious that the Soviet army had more accidental injuries. The reason was still as mentioned before, their command was not smooth and flexible.
The sky was soon covered by black smoke, and a large number of tanks that were hit were burning like torches in the snow. Prokhorovka was in a fierce battle with blood flowing, flames spreading, and steel torn apart.
The war was full of bizarre horrors. Some Soviet tankmen screamed as they climbed out of their tanks in the flames. Out-of-control tanks crashed into each other. Some tanks were unable to change direction in the snow in time and crushed the escaping tankmen or infantrymen into meat paste. The burning soldiers rolled and struggled in the snow, gradually losing their last bit of strength. Near them lay charred corpses.