After half an hour, the Soviet tanks "rumbled" up again.

Perhaps because the Soviets found out the location of the German defense line in the last attack, this time they actually used large-caliber mortars to prepare for ten minutes of artillery fire...... The mortar had a short range and little power, and the Soviets were not too worried about the damage it would cause to the refinery.

The 10 minutes of artillery fire caused some casualties to the Germans, and the mortar shells had a large angle, and some of the shells coincidentally fell directly into the trenches and exploded, so the trenches resounded one after another with screams and the sound of medics.

However, the German soldiers were accustomed to this, and casualties were inevitable in battle, even among veterans of many battles.

That's what sets war apart from anything else...... Other skills, as long as you master its rules or work hard to learn its principles to understand it, it will be in your mastery. But war can never be done to this extent, because it is somehow irregular, and you have no way of knowing where the shells will explode in the next second and who will die as a result.

After the sound of artillery had passed, a large number of tanks appeared about 500 meters in front of the position.

"I promise!" Werner shouted: "This time they are the main force!" ”

"We all have eyes, Werner!" The baker replied.

What they're talking about is actually another thing, which is that oil should be released.

There was no need for them to worry about this, because under Manstein's orders, German artillery had begun to rain shells on the Soviet troops...... There were howitzers captured from the Soviets, as well as mortars.

This is a somewhat different style of play from the last time the Soviets attacked, and of course the purpose is different: this time it is to use the sound of artillery to mask the "whoosh" of oil flowing.

The Soviets did not suspect this at all, and Chernov, who was observing the battle later, even felt a little proud, because he thought that it was the Germans who saw so many tanks and opened fire indiscriminately...... He did have reason to think that howitzers could not penetrate the armor of the T34 tank, and mortars could pass over the tanks and cause a few casualties, but they could not stop the Soviet advance either.

Not to mention......

Chernov ordered: "Order the artillery units, suppress the opponent's artillery!" ”

"Comrade Chernov!" The staff officer asked: "Is it possible to blow up the refinery by mistake......"

"Let them aim and fight!" Chernov interrupted the staff officer: "Blind people can also see the fire from the muzzles of their guns!" ”

"Yes!" The staff officer responded.

But it is actually difficult to do this, and it is not because it is impossible to calculate the distance of the target...... Artillery observers can easily do this, that is, using triangulation, two groups of artillery observation at a certain distance to measure the same target at the same time, and the distance between the two can be calculated using the knowledge of trigonometric functions from the measured angle and the distance between the two.

The difficulty lies in the fact that the artillery used by the Transcaucasian Front is the relatively backward M1910 artillery (the more advanced artillery of the Soviet army at this time is the M1938, although it is mostly equipped with front-line troops).

The offset of this artillery at about five kilometers is casually hundreds of meters, and the Germans are close to the refinery, so no one dares to guarantee whether the shells will hit the refinery.

But the artillery still opened fire as ordered, and fortunately did not reach the refinery...... They didn't know that this was exactly what the Germans wanted.

When the Soviets and Chernov focused their attention on the tank charge and artillery suppression, the oil flowed from the pipeline to the trench, and then overflowed from the trench to the direction of the Soviet army.

Advancing in the dark, the Soviets knew nothing about the oil that poured into them, especially tanks...... The tanks had a very poor perception of the outside world, and at this time they focused on the German defense line, where would they pay attention to anything unusual on the ground, so they drove into the oil field one after another, and what was even more tragic was that these tanks were still driving ahead.

The infantry who followed behind soon noticed the problem, because the oil was a viscous liquid, and it didn't feel right when you stepped on it, so they shouted in panic:

"What is this?"

"It's oil!"

"They're on fire, retreat, retreat!"

……

The infantry retreated in a panic, but the tanks did not know anything and continued to advance at full speed until the commander of the tank brigade received a warning and ordered in a panic: "All tanks, retreat immediately, turn around!" ”

Vladivich, the commander of the tank regiment who served as the front-line commander in the charging tank, was still a little inexplicable when he heard this order, and before the battle began, he admitted defeat and retreated.

However, he still conveyed the order: "Retreat immediately, turn around!" ”

But it was too late, and as soon as he "soared", a raging fire suddenly appeared in front of the observation window, not one but one to be exact, and the entire battlefield became a sea of fire.

Vladivich seemed to understand something and shouted at the walkie-talkie: "Retreat, retreat immediately!" ”

In some ways, the tank is not very afraid of fire, partly because it has a height and a distance from the ground, which allows its turret to avoid fire, and partly because its thickness allows it to block fire for a short time.

The main problem lies in the engine of the tank...... The inside of the engine was originally in a state of high temperature combustion and the position was still very low, and when the burning oil was baked, the engine quickly failed or even exploded due to overheating.

So the tanks drove in the flames for a while, and then stopped one after another.

In the sight of Qin Chuan and the German soldiers, panicked tank crews came out of the turret, and then looked helplessly at the surrounding sea of fire, and this sea of fire even continued to flow in the direction of the Soviet army, continuing to drown the tanks in the rear that had no time to turn around and escape.

Screams soon rang out, and some of the tank crews were inevitably set on fire.

Some tanks exploded, and it is unknown whether the shells were killed in the heat or the soldiers inside chose this way to end their lives. If it was the former, they would be lucky, because their fate was already sealed, and it would be more painful to break it with their own hands.

But most tank crews had to choose the latter, and they either ended the battle with pistols or grenades.

Chernov stared at the scene in front of him dumbfounded, he had thought that the tank brigade would pay heavy casualties, but he did not think that it would be a casualty in this way...... They were wiped out before they could even reach the enemy's lines.

After being stunned for a long time, Chernov gave a loud order: "Open fire, fire at the enemy!" ”

"Where is the goal, Comrade Chernov?" The staff officer asked.

"Oil refinery, blow up the oil refinery with those fascists!" Chernov shouted hysterically.