In the early morning of the third day, Shulka and the others slept soundly in the private house, snoring one after another, especially Uncle Alek, who slept in the tank compartment and could hear the snoring even through the armor of the tank...... The fact that the tank was not covered with a hatch was also a bit like a large megaphone that made the snoring louder.

At this moment, a sudden whistle of cannonballs exploded in the village.

No one paid attention to it, and even if they were awakened, they turned around and went back to sleep, because it was not uncommon for stray bullets to enter the village these days, and the soldiers were used to it.

Then another shot, another shot......

At this time, Shulka felt that something was wrong, the interval between these shells was very rhythmic, they were not like stray bullets but artillery test firing.

He sat up and listened, and the veteran woke up and looked at Shulka.

However, there was no movement for a while, and the two thought they had misheard.

But at this moment, there was a whistling of cannonballs in the air, followed by a series of bombardments, and the shock wave of the cannonballs shook the tiles overhead, and the dust on the walls fell down.

"Ready for battle!" Shulka yelled.

In fact, there was no need for Shulka to give an order, the fighters had already moved spontaneously...... All they had to do was for the infantry to get out of the tank compartment and the tankmen to return to their positions, and Uncle Alek, who was drunk, did not know whether he was flustered or weak, and he failed to get out several times, Fedosyev and another tankman dragged him out in a hurry and threw him out of a piece.

This made Uncle Alek a little dissatisfied, and he scolded, but at this time no one cared and at the same time, he couldn't hear what he was scolding in the sound of the cannon.

Soon the fighters were ready.

However, they soon discovered that there was no need to be in such a hurry, because the enemy was fighting the infantry of the 316th Division of the outer defensive line.

The soldiers only heard the sound of artillery outside, and from time to time there was the sound of fighter planes diving, especially the whistle characteristic of Stuka bombers.

Shulka glanced at the instructor and then peered out the window...... The situation was not good, the rain did not know when it stopped, it seemed to be frozen in the sky, and the snow on the ground was not obvious enough, they were quickly semi-melted on the wet ground, only the roof was covered with a thin layer.

This improves visibility, and tanks painted white can look abrupt if driven out.

Shulka immediately called Major Gavrilov.

Major Gavrilov was also aware of the seriousness of the problem.

"The weather is getting better!" Major Gavrilov said: "This is not a good thing for us! ”

"Major, we should get the artillery battalion to prepare!" Shulka said, "Let them spread a white cloth on the ground or somewhere else!" ”

"Great idea!" Major Gavrilov replied, and then immediately hung up.

Soon the artillery battalion in the village did as Shulka said.

The Soviet army had a lot of white cloths, which were used to camouflage the troops, and were transported from the rear to the front line in truckloads.

Moscow may be short of equipment because of the large number of troops encircled and annihilated, but there is no shortage of things like white cloth, and the mobilized workers will soon be able to produce them in large quantities.

And then......

Pyre, stones, mounds, and even bushes were covered with white cloth, and the whole village was soon turned white.

But at this time, the Germans still did not appear in front of the soldiers, and the gunfire and artillery on the outer defense line were still fierce.

"Those infantry!" The veteran said: "They fought tenaciously!" ”

"How many of them are there?" The actor couldn't help but ask.

"A battalion!" Shulka replied.

This situation also surprised Shulka a little, as was the previous practice, the Soviet infantry should quickly collapse under the onslaught of the enemy's armored forces.

Later Shulka learned that in addition to the combat bravery of the 316 Infantry Division from Kazakhstan, there was also a reason for the fact that they were armed with PTRD anti-tank guns...... The German Panzer Division was initially equipped with a number of "No. 2" tanks to make up for the lack of front-line tanks, and the Germans preferred to use the lighter "No. 2" tank for assault in the mud because they feared that the "No. 3" tank would be stuck in the mud and unable to move.

This gave the PTRD anti-tank gun the opportunity to play.

THIS ANTI-TANK GUN WAS ABLE TO PENETRATE 25MM THICK VERTICAL ARMOR AT A DISTANCE OF 500 METERS, WHILE THE SIDE ARMOR OF TANK NO. 2 WAS 16 MM THICK.

ALTHOUGH THE "TWO" TANK HAD 30 MM OF FRONTAL ARMOR, THE PTRD ANTI-TANK RIFLE WAS ABLE TO PENETRATE IT FROM THE FRONT AT ABOUT 200 METERS.

This was an absolute tragedy for the German armored forces...... The enemy only needs to set up a gun, a rifle, although it is two meters long and weighs 17 kilograms, and it needs to be carried by two people in front of the other and behind it, but it is a gun that can move quickly.

The fact that a bullet can disable a tank by making a hole in it is unacceptable in any case.

In particular, the fighters of the 316th Infantry Division also used a tactic...... They had several anti-tank guns combined to attack the same target, which increased the probability of destroying the target in stages.

As a result, the "No. 2" tanks were paralyzed on the way to the offensive, and the Germans did not even know what the reason was for a long time, thinking that the tanks were malfunctioning.

The "No. 3" tank advanced with difficulty in the mud, but was stopped and defeated by the "Katyusha" rocket artillery.

But the PTRD anti-tank gun had some weakness......

FIRST OF ALL, IT WAS BASICALLY INEFFECTIVE AGAINST THE "THREE" TANK, UNABLE TO PENETRATE ITS 37MM FRONTAL ARMOR AT ANY DISTANCE.

Secondly, the recoil of this anti-tank gun is too great, and the shoulder at the moment of firing is like being kicked by a donkey.

The shooter's situation is usually to shoot one bullet from the right shoulder, then another bullet from the left shoulder, and then another shot from the right shoulder.

After three bullets, the limit of the human body is basically reached, and the shooter will not be able to fight and should go to the hospital to recuperate.

Therefore, after about twenty minutes, when the Germans launched a second wave of attacks, the troops of the 316th Division gradually became exhausted.

Colonel Katukov commanded the battle in Tver...... He had to be in Tver, and only he could deceive anyone else in Tver.

As soon as he heard the report, he ordered the anti-aircraft artillery battalion to retreat into the defensive line.

Then he made a phone call to the headquarters of the 316th Division.

"You should retreat!" Colonel Katukov said: "Withdraw the troops on the outer line of defense!" ”

"I'm about to send reinforcements there!" The commander of the 316th division, Panfilov, replied: "We can't lose there!" ”

"Don't worry, Comrade Panfilov!" Katukov replied: "We will not lose positions, you can prepare a counterattack in reserve!" ”

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