Chapter 708 Atlantic Strangulation War (17)

"I see it, I see it, it looks like a Tiger tank..." A sharp-eyed staff officer exclaimed while holding a telescope. When a flare went down, one of the Tiger tanks was shrouded in light. He even saw his own side. An M10 tank destroyer hit the opponent with a 76.2mm gun, but it was of no use. The Tiger's thick armor easily bounced the shell away, and then its counterattack fire came quickly and fiercely. After two rounds, it was Killed this M10.

Seeing the German army repeatedly killing their own armored vehicles at a distance of about 1,400 or even 1,500 meters, everyone took a breath of air. This was completely relying on superb precision and technology to fight sniper battles. I had always heard that German snipers were powerful, but I didn't expect it. Using the Tiger as a sniper tank is even more eye-catching.

"M6 tank!" Collins shouted. Although heavy machine guns and mortars were firing at the Tiger tank, and even several 75mm anti-tank guns were firing in a hurry, this did not bring enough damage to the opponent. Threat, on the contrary, these firepower points that dared to take the initiative to expose were shot and killed by the Tiger without mercy.

Perhaps after hearing Collins's call, two M6 tanks bravely stood up and started shooting at the Tiger tank. Because the flares kept exploding over the head of one of the Tiger tanks, the tank could not be used again. The night is hidden, so we can only slowly retreat while using constant maneuvers to change positions and always ensure that the frontal armor faces the US defense line - engineers have said more than once that no US tank can damage the Tiger's frontal armor 1,200 meters away. Threat, this is the biggest life-saving capital of the crew members. They clearly remember that as long as they retreat 70 meters further, they can enter the ruins of the shore artillery battery, where the huge body of the Tiger can be easily covered.

This statement soon ceased to hold true after the M6 ​​heavy tank entered the war, because the U.S. military imitated the German army and equipped the M6 ​​with the M3 90mm tank gun, which evolved from an anti-aircraft gun. The use of high-speed armor-piercing projectiles within 1,200 meters can ensure the destruction of all Tiger positions. However, because the Tiger continued to retreat after its position was exposed, the distance between the two sides widened to more than 1,600 meters, and it continued to widen.

In order to pursue the enemy, these two brave M6s began to highlight the front and pursue the Tiger. Seeing two huge American tanks rushing towards them, with shells constantly exploding near their vehicle, the No. 2 Night Fighter Tiger crew was a little in a hurry and fired back twice in a hurry. As a result, the shells fired hit the turret of one of the tanks. But it didn't destroy the other party.

The gunner's heart sank suddenly: Is this the enemy's new heavy tank? The armor seems pretty good?

An emergency call was made to No. 1 for reinforcements, but No. 1 reported that he was also being chased by three tanks and could not move for the time being. Bright flares continued to explode overhead, and anti-tank guns, mortars, and M6 shells continued to explode next to them. The firepower became more and more intensive, which made people feel a little nervous.

But the commander seemed unmoved and calmly ordered: "Hold on, don't be afraid, tungsten core bullets...".

With a "clang", a PzGr.40 tungsten core armor-piercing bullet was quickly loaded, "1675 meters..."

"emission!"

With a "boom", it directly hit the front armor of an M6. After flying nearly 1,700 meters, the hard tungsten core still tore through the M6's defense with strong penetrating power. The US tank soldiers fled in panic.

"Ha...continue!",

Collins never expected that Link's use of the Night Fighting Tigers to make his side miserable was only the first part of tonight's night attack. Two Tiger tanks had thrown the beachhead into chaos and attracted most people's attention. At the same time, Link received a telegram: "Our troops have arrived at the designated location and the assault begins!"

Seeing the beachhead turned into a mess and approaching quietly, Major Heine, who had been lurking in the distance, showed a smile, "These idiots, it's time to charge, Formation A, charge!"

Following his order, the four S-boats on the left wing suddenly turned their engines to maximum power, bursting out with powerful energy and rushing like arrows in the night toward the beachhead and artificial pier full of fire and lights. . In order to prevent S-boats from attacking the fleet, the US military deliberately moved the entire artillery fleet's position to the deep sea. In the shallow sea area, only a small number of torpedo boats and small escort boats were performing warning missions.

The U.S. military has a small number of torpedo boats, all of which are PT boats. As an opponent of the same level as the S-boat, the PT boat is smaller in size and volume than its opponent, but it has 4 torpedo tubes. The frigate is a newly built Evarts-class frigate in the United States. It has a displacement of more than 1,300 tons and is mainly equipped with three 76.2mm naval guns and two 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns. It is mainly responsible for escorting and anti-submarine tasks for transport fleets. These frigates are an important part of the U.S. Navy's escort force.

Navy Lieutenant Johnson-Kennedy is commanding the PT-109 patrol out of boredom. Before taking over this torpedo boat half a year ago, he had the triple identities of a millionaire heir, a socialite and the son of the US ambassador abroad. After taking over, he became a Navy captain. However, he was not sent to the Pacific theater as historically. Instead, he followed the main fleet to Cape Verde.

Although he was determined to help the night battle that suddenly broke out on the beachhead, he only had one torpedo boat under his command, which could not help him at all. He could only continue to carry out the orders given by his superiors and patrol carefully to guard against submarines. Suddenly he heard a violent roar. Voice.

"Which lunatic is racing at night?" This voice is very familiar to Kennedy. He said it subconsciously, and then immediately reacted. This is at sea, where does the racing sound come from? This is clearly the sound of a motorboat. There is no such lunatic on our side. The only explanation is the enemy.

He quickly asked his men to fire a warning shot, but it was too late. The four S boats rushed from a distance like heavy knights rushing forward. While moving forward at a high speed, they fired fierce quadruple 38-type 20mm machine guns. The poor PT boats only had the 12.7mm machine gun as their treasure, and their firepower was no match for the enemy. "Thump, thump, thump" the metal storm blew past, and Kennedy only felt a group of limbs rushing towards him. The companion who was operating the 12.7mm machine gun just now was beaten into pieces, splashing him with blood and broken limbs. If the opponent's machine gun deviated a little bit, he would go to see God.

After breaking through the outer patrol circle, the S-boats quickly collided with two Evarts-class frigates. Although the tonnage of the poor frigates was nearly 8 times that of the S-boats, they had no advantage in firepower. The three 76.2mm naval guns were useless in the close-range intensive exchange of fire, and the two 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns that fired at the air were lowered in a hurry and found that the depression angle was not enough to hit the S-boats that were close at hand. Only a 20mm Oerlikon machine gun and several machine guns could barely fight back.

But the S-boats didn't care about that. They rushed directly to a place only more than 50 meters away from the frigates, shooting from bottom to top, sweeping the superstructure and personnel of the frigates with terrifying and intensive firepower. In terms of firepower density, the two frigates could not be compared with the S-boats with four 20mm machine guns on the front and rear decks. What was even more terrible was that the two 40mm self-propelled anti-aircraft guns were the same as the Whirlwind self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, and they were very flexible whether they were sweeping or shooting upward. The four S-boats made the two frigates scream continuously - the frigates could not be sunk, but after the sweep, the decks were completely washed away, and there were no survivors at all.

Within a few minutes, the PT boats gathered near the artificial dock were set on fire by the S-boats, and the frigates were riddled with holes. Even more tragic was the freighters and landing craft that were unloading supplies, which were completely beaten without any ability to fight back. This was not the most despairing thing. The most despairing thing was that the four S boats opened their torpedo tubes in unison and fired the killer H9 torpedoes, heading straight for the obvious artificial dock and the surrounding transport ships. For this battle, they specially adjusted the torpedo depth to only 2-3 meters.

Not to mention ordinary cargo ships, even 10,000-ton treaty heavy cruisers could not withstand the destruction of 800 kilograms of high explosives. 12 torpedoes exploded one after another. The violent explosion turned the entire artificial dock upside down, leaving almost no pieces. The long-legged Toms, jeeps, and even heavier armored vehicles and tanks parked on the dock were all blown up by the powerful explosion shock wave, flying up and splashing into the sea, smashing up water columns. .

What was even more tragic was that after the torpedoes were used up, the S boats were still unwilling to give up. They rushed to the sea in unison and harvested the American soldiers on the defensive positions from behind with 20mm machine guns at close range. The 32 machine guns were even more effective against soft targets such as infantry. The bodies of all the infantrymen who were swept were broken into pieces, just like wheat being neatly cut by a huge harvester.

All the defensive firepower of the US military was used to deal with the German army in the front. They did not expect that there would be attackers behind them. When the shocking explosion broke out at the dock, these soldiers were still shocked and leaned forward to prepare for rescue. They did not expect that the S boats would be so brutal in sweeping the sea. The beachhead was red, and the blood dyed the coastline for several kilometers red.

Seeing the movement on the beachhead, the destroyers and frigates outside the fleet patrol circle in the distance knew that something was wrong and rushed over immediately. A few anxious sailors instinctively wanted to fire back, but were severely stopped - most of the people there were their own people, what should they do if they were injured by mistake?

Major Heine laughed as he saw the pier and the beach fall into chaos under his own attack. When he used radar to capture the U.S. military's outer warning ships approaching one after another, his smile became even more intense: Colonel Link's third attack in a row was about to be launched...