Shulka was right, it was indeed the "Tiger" tank.

It was originally scheduled to enter service on April 20...... It was Hitler's birthday, and it would show Hitler its performance on that day and pay tribute to him at the birthday ceremony.

However, the situation on the Eastern Front made it impossible for Hitler to wait any longer.

He yelled at his subordinates: "Our equipment is for fighting, if we have already lost the war, what do we need this equipment for?" So, now is the time when they are needed, now! ”

The Führer's stubbornness was unshakeable, so in the end, despite the opposition of many, because it still had many problems that had not been resolved, in the end the "Tiger" tanks were secretly and urgently transported to the Eastern Front.

Manstein had intended to use them for the offensive on the Kerch Peninsula.

After all, it was its first time in battle, and it was still technically experimental, so it was not very well prepared, so it was not suitable for a battle that was too intense (at that time, Manstein thought that victory on the Kerch Peninsula was a certainty).

I didn't expect the situation to change so quickly, and the "Tiger" was lost before it reached its destination, the Kerch Peninsula.

Not only that, but the Russian army even went straight to Zhankoi in an attempt to blockade and encircle the German forces entering the Crimean Peninsula.

As a result, Manstein had no choice but to urgently order the "Tiger" tank battalion to be deployed in Zhankoy.

"What kind of tank is that?" Sponek asked the commander of the tank battalion, Major Mekel.

"Actually, I don't know, General!" Major Merkel replied: "It's only been fifteen days since we got this tank!" ”

"Fifteen days?"

"Yes!" Major Merkel replied: "Even on the way to the transport, we have been trained with models before this!" ”

What Major Mekel did not say was that due to the tight schedule, the "Tiger" tank was still welding parts even on the flatbed truck that was transported here, and the first debugging was carried out only after the tracks were replaced...... and the "Tiger" tank was too wide because the body was too wide, and the narrower tracks needed to be replaced when getting on the flatbed, and the original tracks were replaced back after getting off the vehicle.

"Can it deal with the enemy's T34?" Sponek asked again.

Major Merkel hesitated, then replied, "If you look at the numbers...... It can, General. Because it has an 88mm caliber tank gun, it can destroy an enemy tank at a distance of 1,000 meters, and the enemy tank may not be able to penetrate its front armor within 200 meters! ”

"Then what are you hesitating about?" Sponek noticed Major Merkel's unnatural expression: "Is there anything wrong with it?" ”

"High failure rate, General!" Melk replied very dryly: "Especially when it is starting, after all, it is an immature new tank!" ”

Sponek nodded, looking at the behemoth in front of him and said, "Perhaps, we can avoid this!" ”

Lieutenant General Sponek's method was to keep the tank from moving as much as possible...... If it's prone to malfunction, this is a good idea.

Because obviously, if it only stays in the tank bunker and aims at the target, all it has to do is adjust the gun tank, and the functions used are only part of it, of course, it can reduce the probability of failure in stages.

That's what Lieutenant General Sponek did.

He even organized people to build several railroad tracks, and then transported the Tiger tank into the tank bunker on a flatbed truck.

The "Tiger" tank at this time could not even be called a tank, since it actually relied on rails to maneuver.

Lieutenant General Sponek told the maintenance crews who came with the tank: "You just need to make sure that it can still aim, and the rest will wait until the battle is over!" ”

Lieutenant General Sponek then had mines, barbed wire, and barricades laid in front of the trenches.

The most important thing is anti-tank trenches.

The anti-tank trench may seem to be doing little to stop the T34 from advancing, but its purpose is to slow the T34 down while providing accurate range for the Tiger gunner's aiming...... They can measure the distance between the tank bunker and the anti-tank trench in advance, and the "Tiger" uses the nottorially sophisticated Carl Zeiss TZF9B scope, which allows them to have a high hit rate on the battlefield.

As it turned out, four "Tigers" showed their might on the battlefield, one after another destroyed the Soviet T34 near the anti-tank trench, and in this charge alone, 16 T34s were destroyed.

The point is not so much the question of how many were destroyed, but the question of how helpless the T34 tank could do about it.

In other words, if you continue to fight like this, this situation will still repeat.

"The trouble is that it's a tank!" "If it's an anti-tank gun or an anti-aircraft gun, we can destroy it with a mortar or even a tank!" said Lieutenant Colonel Zakhakavich! ”

Shulka and Katukov could understand what Lieutenant Colonel Zakharovich meant.

Anti-tank guns or anti-aircraft guns only have a shield in front of them, and the top is open, so that mortar shells can pass through the shield to kill and injure those behind them, and their shields usually do not block direct fire from tank guns.

But the tank is different, it is all-round protection, and the front can withstand T34 armor-piercing shells, then it can almost be said to be invincible.

If anything, it could destroy it, one was a direct hit from a large-caliber howitzer, and the other was an airplane.

But at this time, it was in the dark, and the target was still hiding in a tank bunker, so the probability of a direct hit was very small.

As for airplanes, it is difficult to find tanks that blend in with the snow even during the day.

"Can we get around Zhankoy?" Lieutenant Colonel Gavrilov came up with a proposal: "I mean to say...... Attack the Isthmus of Perekop! ”

This seems to be the solution, because the Perekop Isthmus is the passage connecting the Crimea with the Ukrainian mainland, and the direct sealing of the isthmus means that the strategic purpose of blockading the Crimea can also be achieved.

However, there are some things that seem strategically feasible but not tactically.

Colonel Katukov shook his head, pointed to the map and said: "Zhankoy is on the east side of the isthmus, and it is a transport hub, if we bypass it and attack the isthmus directly...... They will expose their flanks to Zhankoy, and when the enemy reinforcements arrive tomorrow and cut us off, the 1st Guards Tank Brigade will be a lone army surrounded! ”

This is the encirclement of the two armies by each other, although the Soviets can encircle the Germans from a large aspect, but the Germans can encircle the 1st Guards Tank Brigade at the isthmus.

It is obvious that the 1st Guards Tank Brigade will be annihilated first.

It would be different if Dzhankoy was captured, the Soviets could reinforce Dzhankoy from Feodosia, and at the same time send supplies to Dzhankoy from the Sea of Azov.

In other words, Zhankoy is a city that cannot be bypassed.