The rain was falling overhead, and the shells exploded nearby, always sending patches of mud and blood flying around.

A fighter plane broke through the rain curtain and swooped down from the sky, "da-da-da" shot a row of bullets, and the rain of bullets provoked a burst of screams and bloody rain among the Soviet soldiers, and the plane raised its nose and roared away...... To do this on a rainy day, you had to be an ace pilot of the German army, who judged the altitude of the plane almost by feeling or a vague shadow on the ground and then attacked.

However, is it necessary to launch an offensive against the infantry at such a great risk?

At this time, Shulka didn't care about this, because his attention was already focused on the rain curtain in front of him, and the "rumble" of tank motors was also heard on the opposite side.

Unlike the previous tank battles, the German armored regiments were unavoidable at this time...... Because their task is to hold off the army that Kyiv may break through.

Of course, this is a bit misaligned in terms of command, or task specificity:

Admiral Kleist gave this order when he thought that the Soviet 9th Army was not in Kiev.

If this is the case, then this order is certainly correct, because the 11th Panzer Regiment is more than capable of holding back any army that breaks through, including the 5th Airborne Brigade of the Soviet Army, which is combat-ready.

The problem is that this is the 9th Soviet Army, a Soviet 9th Army with more than five hundred tanks.

If Admiral Kleist had known this, he would certainly not have let the 11th Panzer Regiment defend head-on, and he would have taken advantage of the high mobility of the German Panzer Corps to adopt flexible tactics as before.

It's a pity that Kleist was commanding the 1st Panzer Group on the east bank of the Dnieper River at this time to pursue the Southern Soviet Front and advance towards Romne, and he had not yet received a report on the situation from Kiev.

Colonel Eberhard is not Kleist, he only knows that his task is to beat back all the Russians who dare to break through, otherwise he will be humiliated by his mission.

Thereupon......

An armored battalion of the German army with a battalion of infantry bravely met the Soviet troops in sight, they did not know how many people there were, only that the sound of the motors of the opposing tanks was coming towards them like a tsunami.

The exact figure is 43 tanks of an armored battalion of the German army against 112 tanks of the 131st Soviet motorized division.

In the other direction, the 2nd Panzer Battalion, which was rushing to reinforce it, was stopped by 200 tanks of the 35th Tank Division, which had broken through from the southwest.

In Shulka's eyes, it was the black barrels that gradually stretched out from the rain curtain, and then the German tanks appeared in the sight of the Soviet soldiers.

"Stop!" Captain Venyakov shouted.

"Stop!"

"Stop!"

……

This order was quickly conveyed by the entourage to the Soviet tanks, and one by one the Soviet tanks stopped in front of the position in a neat steel line.

This would have been unimaginable before, although it was just a simple command.

The German tank crews seemed to notice this, so they became nervous for a moment, and several tanks opened fire without waiting for orders, and then other tanks also opened fire on the Soviet tanks.

With a burst of artillery fire, shells flew from the German camp.

"Boom" a few times, several Soviet tanks were pierced and paralyzed on the spot, and even one tank was detonated, and the entire turret was blown away, and the tank that originally looked like an iron shield had turned into a pile of scrap metal and flames, and the Soviet soldiers who followed it were staggered by the parts and iron pieces that flew out of the explosion, and a few were also ignited by the splashed fuel, screaming and rolling in the rain.

Shulka secretly said lucky.

The T26 light tank of the Soviet army fought against the German "No. 3".

In terms of performance, the T26 is certainly not as good as the "Three".

THE FORMER HAS ONLY 15MM THICK FRONT ARMOR AND A 45MM CALIBER GUN, WHILE THE "NO. 3" TANK HAS 37MM THICK ARMOR AND A 50MM CALIBER TANK GUN, WHICH CAN BE SAID TO BE SIGNIFICANTLY SUPERIOR TO THE SOVIET T26 IN TERMS OF PROTECTION AND FIREPOWER.

IF IT IS IN CLEAR WEATHER AND GOOD SIGHT, THE T26, WEIGHING ONLY 10.5 TONS, IS CERTAINLY NOT AN OPPONENT FOR THE "NUMBER THREE" WITH A TOTAL WEIGHT OF 20 TONS, WHOSE 50MM GUN CAN PENETRATE 500MM VERTICAL STEEL PLATE AT A DISTANCE OF 78 METERS, AND CAN BE SAID TO HAVE NO PRESSURE ON THE T26'S ARMOR WITH ONLY 15MM.

Here's the problem...... THE VISIBILITY AT THIS TIME WAS LESS THAN 100 METERS, WHICH WAS AN ADVANTAGE FOR THE T26, AS ITS 45MM TANK GUN COULD ALSO PENETRATE THE ARMOR OF THE "NUMBER THREE".

THIS IS ONE OF THE REASONS WHY THE SOVIETS USED THE T26 INSTEAD OF THE T28 MEDIUM TANK: UNDER THE FIRE OF THE ENEMY'S TANK "THREE", THE THICKNESS OF THE ARMOR OF THE T28 MEDIUM TANK 30MM MADE LITTLE DIFFERENCE.

So, only to hear the order: "Fire!" ”

"Boom!" After a burst of explosion, several tanks on the opposite side of the "No. 3" tank also emitted black smoke as soon as the body of the vehicle shook.

Although the quality of the Soviet tank crews was low and the hit rate was not high, they had a large number of tanks, and they did not suffer a loss in the situation of "casting a wide net and fishing more".

This already made the Germans a little desperate, because everyone knew that the same casualties would mean defeat for the Germans in the case of a numerical disadvantage.

But what makes them even more desperate is yet to come:

With the waving of the signal flag, the Soviet tanks were divided into three parts...... The frontal confrontation with the Germans continued, while the tanks on the left and right flanks continued to advance with the infantry and outflanked the German flanks.

This surprised the German commander, Colonel Eberhard, who, in his experience, could not effectively command and coordinate with Soviet tanks, but at this time they were able to flexibly divide their forces and outflank them, and even the infantry and tanks could be closely linked...... If it weren't for these familiar tank models, he could hardly believe that this was the Russian tank unit he had defeated.

"What's going on?!" Colonel Eberhard asked on the walkie-talkie: "The Russians seem to know how to fight all of a sudden!" ”

"We're underestimating, Colonel!" The adjutant replied in another tank: "This is a well-trained unit, and there are many more tanks than ours!" ”

"What about the second battalion?" Colonel Eberhard asked.

"The second battalion is in battle!" The adjutant reported: "They are entangled by the enemy and cannot get out!" ”

This was a mistake in German intelligence, and the second battalion was not entangled by the enemy, but surrounded by more Soviet troops.

"We're going to be surrounded!" The gunners shouted at Colonel Eberhard: "Your order, Colonel! What are we going to do? ”

Colonel Ebelhard couldn't help but sweat beads on his forehead, he knew that retreat was impossible at this point, because unless the reverse gear was used, a U-turn of the tank would mean exposing his weak rear armor to the enemy, which would be almost equivalent to suicide.

After thinking about it, Colonel Eberhard ordered: "Everyone, full speed ahead!" Repeat the order and attack the enemy head-on! ”