Chapter 907 Soviet Counterattack (8, 4800 Votes Plus Additional Content)

"The whole company is free to hunt and shoot..."

Half a minute after Michel Wittmann issued this order, he used the Tiger 2 tank to knock out a Sherman that sneaked its head out at a distance of 1,800 meters. The huge power of the 88mm/L71 tank gun directly hit the tank. Blast the opponent and the entire chariot quickly burns into a fireball. Although the U.S. emperor provided the Red Army with a conscience version of diesel, and the probability of being killed was much smaller than the Ronson lighter (gasoline version of Sherman), which "fires every time, every time it is hit," diesel still has a high engine operating temperature. Will explode.

He was one year older than Piper. He only held the rank of SS captain and served as the commander of the 3rd company of the 101st SS heavy armored battalion. Since the Wehrmacht established 12 heavy armored battalions and achieved good results, the SS also established its own heavy armored battalion system, starting from the 101st, a total of 6 were organized. Wittmann, as an experienced Tiger tank commander The first batch was selected and promoted to company commander. Open the way for the entire attacking group on the right flank during today's armored breakthrough.

This standard tactical collaborative play cannot bring out Wittmann's strengths. After the deep pursuit and the disbandment of the queue, the moment of free hunting that he is best at finally arrived.

He does not have a high military rank, but his reputation is not small. He and Otto Karius of the 502nd Heavy Armor Battalion of the Wehrmacht are the most famous grassroots armor commanders on the Eastern Front. They both won the Knight's Cross with Silver Oak Leaves and two Swords and the Head of State. receive.

Although the accumulated points of tanks, tank destroyers, self-propelled artillery and anti-tank guns destroyed by the crew of the two men are not the highest, they all have brilliant and legendary records: Karius' crew encountered 7 Red Army T-43 tanks on a narrow road. , within a distance of less than 200 meters, he relied on his superb psychological quality and effective tactical use to destroy all enemy tanks without being harmed; although Wittmann did not have the Battle of Pokaki in this time and space, in the summer of 1943 During a large-scale attack, he, who was still a platoon leader at the time, led three tanks to attack from a long distance and destroyed 70% of a newly installed Red Army tank brigade in one go.

These two stories were absorbed into the feature film "Legend of the Tiger" by Goebbels, and the two immediately became household war heroes. Out of the desire to protect war heroes, Hoffman ordered the two men to be recalled to the country to serve as tactical instructors. Karius refused. Although Wittmann was ordered to be an instructor for three months, everyone could see what he was thinking. And aura is not about teaching - just like Marceliu returned to China as an instructor within 4 months before he couldn't stand it anymore and finally went to the front line again, some people are destined to belong to the battlefield.

"At 1 o'clock, a big-headed T-43, 2,400 meters."

"Charge forward at full speed! Prepare tungsten core bombs!"

With a "clang" sound, a cannonball was pushed into the barrel.

The opponent seemed to have noticed the approaching Tiger 2 tank, but did not choose to fire - at this distance, he had no chance to penetrate the opponent. The T-43 faced the enemy with frontal armor while trying to find a reliable shelter - —For example, a crouching hill with prominent landmarks.

"2200 meters! Shoot!" Wittmann noticed his opponent's intention. Just when the opponent was about to adjust his angle and shrink in, he decisively ordered to fire.

"Boom!" The shell was fired quickly and penetrated the big head of the T-43 in an instant - this is the image name of the T-43/85 by the German tank crew. Watching the Red Army tank crew climb out in embarrassment , Wittmann nodded with satisfaction and turned to look for the next target. He had no interest in killing the opponent's crew.

What satisfied Wittmann most about the Tiger 2 tank was not only the thickened armor, sharper cannon and more powerful engine, but also an inconspicuous gadget - the gun vertical stabilizer.

German tanks originally did not have stabilizers. They had always fired with short pauses, using their accuracy and the world's most powerful sighting system to kill enemies. After capturing a large number of Sherman tanks, designers began to focus on the vertical stabilization of the Sherman. This system can help the tank keep the muzzle pitch angle stable when passing through uneven ground. In other words, it can fire the gun while traveling, which greatly enhances its strike capability.

Of course, the system on the Sherman cannot be used directly, because the Sherman's main gun is very light, and the required strength and adjustment angle cannot be compared with that of the Tiger. The Tiger requires more force, but the adjustment range is smaller - not only is the Tiger turret heavy so the shock angle is small, but the Tiger's unique staggered and overlapping road wheels themselves will reduce road bumps by an order of magnitude.

After repeated verification, the vertical stabilization system suitable for the Tiger was finally developed, and the first batch was used on the Tiger 2 tank. In order to take care of experienced gunners - they will make advance corrections based on experience and feel, this system is also thoughtfully equipped with a shutdown function. After practice, it is found that the machine is not always the best, but most of the time it is better than manual labor. , especially for novices with average experience.

Once entering the free hunting state, the Tiger 2's advantage was quickly unleashed. In less than 15 minutes, Wittmann had already achieved results of annihilating 3 tanks and 2 tanks. He was only hit by 2 shells. It was hard and thick. The cold-rolled forged nickel alloy steel armor easily blocked these two attacks-Germany now not only has sufficient nickel resources, the entire European production line is running at full speed, and there is no threat of strategic air strikes, so it is not damaged by that little armor steel. brain.

On the evening of May 25, the Red Army headquarters received news: the German army broke through three of its defense lines in Dontsk on the Volga River, tearing open a gap more than 10 kilometers wide. The supply lines of the two armies besieging Rostov were cut off, and they were forced to detour to Chernyakhovsky's attacking forces. The two are currently separated by more than 100 kilometers, and the troops of the Kleist Group are sandwiched in between - at least 5 infantry divisions.

"How did Comrade Rotmistrov fight? The so-called most elite 5th Guards Tank Army was defeated by the enemy in one day?" Zhukov was furious, "No, they must immediately block the gap, otherwise the consequences will be disastrous."

"Comrade Rotmistrov died..." Vatutin was speechless for a long time, and finally added a sentence.

"Sacrificed?" Everyone looked at each other, what happened? Even Zhukov was surprised: How could an army commander, who was also the commander of the most elite tank army, die so quickly?

After the Germans broke through the preset positions of the 5th Guards Army, General Rotmistrov mobilized 6 tank brigades to block and fight against the Germans.

He thought that the German tanks were only the 300 or so tanks during the attack. After the two previous lines of defense, the Germans lost more than 70 tanks (60% can be restored) for various reasons, and the number was reduced to less than 300, which was less than the Red Army. The Germans had fought a bloody battle, and their fuel, ammunition and armored troops were all at a low point, so he wanted to take this opportunity to win.

But he never expected that Peip and Meyer each had two Panther armored battalions in their hands. When all these troops rushed in, the situation suddenly reversed. What made the Red Army even more difficult was that they found that the Germans had equipped new tanks: a tank similar in appearance to the Tiger, but with obviously better defense and sharper artillery appeared on the battlefield. It could easily destroy the T-43/85 at a distance of about 2,000 meters. The latter had to rush within 1,000 meters to have a chance to kill the opponent; as for the Panther, although its defense was inferior to the Tiger, its mobility was better than the T-43, and its artillery was not bad. Its ability to circle made the Red Army dizzy.

In a fierce battle in the afternoon, the Germans lost more than 50 tanks (half of which were repairable), while the Red Army lost more than 200 tanks, and more than 40 of them were killed by 88mm/L71 tungsten core armor-piercing bullets at long distances. Seeing that the situation was not good, Rotmistrov called for a retreat. Unexpectedly, the German Fw-190F ground attack aircraft roared in and killed Rotmistrov's armored vehicle with a 250 kg bomb just as the tank formations of the two sides that had just been entangled separated.

In fact, it was his bad luck. If he had escaped in a tank, his luck might not have been so bad. He had to take an armored vehicle. After the fierce steel collision, even the tank could not be guaranteed to survive. A mere armored vehicle with a bright antenna ran away. Isn't it telling the opponent that this is a command vehicle? If not you, who should be bombed?

"The 5th Guards Army has lost half of its tanks and is currently retreating to Littenyakovo. The situation is not optimistic. I have asked Comrade Moskalenko (General) to take the 38th Army to meet and coordinate the command." Vatutin's forehead was full of sweat. The 5th Guards Tank Army was repelled in an afternoon. What would happen if Comrade Stalin knew about it? So he didn't care about other aspects and sent out the vanguard of the 38th Army directly. He originally wanted Rokossovsky to send troops to support him, but the latter had two armies isolated on the periphery and was anxious to get through the connection. How could he have spare energy?

Bad news came one after another: the 4th Panzer Army under the Southern Army Group launched a sharp attack. Like the 1st Panzer Army, the army had a powerful assault force including the 3rd, 10th, 16th, 17th and 4th Panzer Grenadier Divisions. A mechanized army and an infantry army of the Red Army were surrounded and destroyed overnight.

As if the bad news was not enough, news came from the direction of Orenburg at night that the main force of the German Eastern Army Group turned south, and the leading 5th and 8th armies besieged Orenburg, and the rest of the armored forces bypassed the city. The garrison of Orenburg was no more than 40,000. Once the place was lost, the Ural River would be cut off, which meant that the southern wing of the war zone would not be replenished with materials from the Ural Industrial Zone in the short term.

Zhukov's face suddenly turned pale...