The frontal assault of the tank is solid, flexible, and equipped with a position covered by sufficient anti-tank fire, which is a real hard-fought competition, but today it was the Soviet Red Army that won the victory on the railway front!

In the smoke of gunpowder, the cheers of "Ula" gradually subsided, almost everyone felt that their strength had dropped a lot after the cheers, except for those who were still rescuing the wounded, the other fighters sat on the ground and rested, and the long tense and fierce firefight drained their physical strength and energy, and once they relaxed down, they felt a little unable to hold on!

However, the officers did not have to catch their breath and counted the number of men who were still alive: Shuklin was somewhat sad to find that the four anti-tank guns under his command were still there, except for the two who were wounded in the battle and sent down. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

The artillery positions were in disarray, and Shuklin, with Valekin and Glebov, took two canvas pockets and cleaned up the bodies of his comrades on the positions. In fact, it is difficult to say that it is a corpse, and had to use the pocket, because the most complete piece they found was half a thigh!

It was no longer clear who was who, some of the corpse fragments were blown out dozens of meters away, but the infantry found several relatively intact bodies of artillery soldiers, all of which were blown up to the edge of their trenches!

The stretcher team arrived again, and on the street of the railway station on the north side of the station building, several ten-wheeled trucks pulled up a batch of ammunition, and then the carriages were loaded with tools and bags of soldiers' bodies and sent back!

It's too broken to pick up, to be exact, "too much to pick up"! There are so many that you can see the minced flesh of the human body after being blown up everywhere on the ground!

Granov did not participate in the work of cleaning up the remains of his comrades because of his rib wounds, but checked the cannons: the one he operated himself was okay, but the other three were in a bad situation!

The two on the far right were completely reimbursed for direct hits by German shells, while the sights of the other ones were completely cut off by shrapnel, and the rest was quite complete. The sights of the fourth cannon, tilted on the ground, were inspected and found to be functional, and Granov removed it and attached it to the second cannon.

As soon as he finished commissioning, Shuklin, who was covered in mud and still had some blood on his uniform, walked over, stepped into the cannon bunker, sat on the big rack and asked the sergeant, "Can it still be used?" ”

"There are two more, but there are not enough gunners."

There are only 6 gunners left when the two cannons are full, and although they can ensure rapid fire in an emergency, there are no reserves, and in the event of another casualty, these two cannons are basically furnishings.

Shuklin stood up and leaned out half of his body to see a sergeant commanding several men, standing on the tank and dragging the dead bodies out of the German tank.

"Sergeant, can you lend us a few people later, we don't have enough gunners, just be able to carry shells."

"Okay, is four enough? I didn't have many people, and I had almost half of the casualties. The sergeant turned his face and replied to Shuklin.

"Enough, it's better to know some cannons."

All of Tozich's men had the most basic ability to use old 45mm anti-tank guns, and they had been trained once or twice during training in Siberia, at least they would not mess around with the artillery, and four artillery lieutenants were assigned to carry the shells.

Tozic's subordinate Sasha got into the turret of the tank, pulled out a charred corpse, cursed and cursed, and the people above dragged the corpse out - the new German tank was hit by an armor-piercing shell and the ammunition did not explode: if it was martyred, the nearby Red Army soldiers would be unlucky, and it rushed into the Red Army position!

It was because they rushed into the middle of the position again and took two more ******, and those German tankmen were either killed casually by the piercing armor-piercing shells, or smoked out a small amount of flames, and then were beaten into a hornet's nest by bullets!

In fact, the Red Army soldiers did not have to ****** "two bullets" at that time - it was already out of control when it was hit by an armor-piercing bullet, but those two ****** increased the risk of ammunition detonation! However, at the moment of life and death when the tank rumbled into the position, who would study whether the tank was hit or not, and the fighters completely smashed the ignited ****** onto the German tank!

"Damn, it stinks!"

Tozić kicked the German corpse off the tank and poked his head into the turret, "Have you found it all?" ”

"The first two, the three, all came out. I saw that the tank was not broken, so I made a hole in front of the driver's position. Sasha said to the sergeant, "I guess it still works, but it smells a little bad." ”

The body of the German tank driver was dragged out in half, and the body was divided by armor-piercing shells, and the thigh of a German tanker behind was amputated at the moment of hit! However, the driver's dead tank drove dozens of meters forward, and the engine stalled only after crossing the first trench - the telegraph operator also died in his position, killed by armor fragments falling in his back as the armor-piercing bullet pierced through the armor.

"There are still 60 rounds of shells, if you don't let the comrades of the artillery come to see this iron guy, the shells seem to be 88 mm."

Hearing Sasha's words, Tozić stood up straight and shouted to the artillerymen: "Lieutenant, come and see, this tank seems to be still working." ”

During the interval of the battle, everyone was first concerned about how many people were still alive around them, then to check the corpses of their comrades, then to the problem of ammunition, and finally to think about the situation of the opponent.

"Let's go, Lieutenant, and see what the hell that hell that tank is made of!" Shuklin didn't pay attention and didn't hear Tozic's words, but Granov did. Granov had been busy with his own business just now, otherwise he would have wanted to see how those damn tanks were made!

150 meters, the psychological pressure caused by this is too great, and such a situation will obviously not only be encountered by him in the future, but also by all ZIS-3 artillery crews!

Shuklin and Granov stepped over the mud wall together and walked to the tank - it was very tall, big! The stocky shape, the thick and long barrel, and the exaggerated width of the tracks, all look so big than the T34 I've ever seen!

"Lieutenant, it is estimated that this guy weighs more than 50 tons! How the Germans were made! ”

Granov first looked at the bullet hole in the lower half of the armor in front of the hull, which was thick with a slight slope and the upper part was vertical, but with a baffle about two centimeters thick on the base armor. Granov counted the position of the impact point on the front of the tank, "One, two, three, four, five, five were hit by armor-piercing shells five times!" ”

There was also a perforation in the baffle, but after the baffle was penetrated, only a deep crater indentation was left on the base armor, and it was obvious that the projectile was affected by the low baffle, so it is not known how far this impact point was caused.

Squinting his eyes, he gestured with his finger again, and exhaled a big breath: "It's a monster, at least 100 mm thick!" He also kicked the thick front armor, "This steel plate is of very good quality, even better than ours!" ”

The piercings were very neat, and there were almost no signs of armor cracking - it was not only hard, but obviously very tough!

The thickness is amazing, and the toughness is so close to 150 meters that it is penetrated by a high-speed armor-piercing projectile fired by the ZIS-3 cannon! Looking up and knocking on the thick barrel, Granov is now glad that he is an anti-tank gunner, not a tanker of the T34 tank - what if he encounters this German monster in a battle between tanks and goes head-to-head?!

"This is a German 88-mm anti-aircraft gun, and the length of the body should be more than 50 times the caliber, it may be an improvement of those anti-aircraft guns of theirs, it may be 56 times the caliber, the Germans generally designed it this way. 88mm, the accuracy is amazing! ”

Granov and Shukelin had one idea - everyone understood how sharp the Germans were with armor-piercing shells against tanks! In the early stage of the outbreak of the war, the almost seemingly invincible T34 encountered the German flat-firing 88-mm anti-aircraft artillery positions that were hidden and waiting, and even destroyed them at a distance of more than 2,000 meters! In addition to those extremely high-precision German observation and sighting systems, even if you rush to battle, you can cleanly kill the opponent at least 1500 meters away, and what distance can the main force of the Red Army armored forces T34 be reimbursed for it?!

German anti-aircraft guns were considered a "side business" and could only be regarded as defensive weapons, and if an offensive weapon with thick armor was equipped with an 88-mm gun with amazing armor-piercing power and super high accuracy, it would not be good news for the Red Army!

With the help of others, Granov boarded the hull and measured the welding marks on the wide tank gun shield and turret with his hands: "The thickness of the gun shield is more than 130 mm, and the armor thickness of the turret front itself is at least 100, phew!" …..”

It is obvious that it is almost impossible for an ordinary anti-tank weapon to penetrate the turret of such a tank from the front, let alone its own ZIS-3, even if it is an 85-mm tank gun at zero distance with any ammunition, do not want to penetrate its turret front! It is not known whether the "Stalinist type" will have an advantage in the confrontation with it.

There is a burn mark on the gun shield, which is the penetration mark left by a ПГ-7В rocket fired by a РПГ-7 (that is, RPG-7) - theoretically it should penetrate the rolled homogeneous armor to a thickness of 300 mm, but in real combat it was found that this ideal data was not at all reached!

The tests in the factory cannot be directly applied to the actual combat, the theory is always the theory, and the ammunition manufacturing process used for the test is basically very sophisticated. As soon as the war broke out, the demand for ammunition was astronomical, and the factories and supervision departments all produced them according to a standard of "what works", and now the weapons obtained by the troops are "effective" rather than "elaborately carved."

If you make ammunition according to the elaborate carving, the troops will curse the mother! Of course, if it is a defective product, not only the troops will scold their mothers, but many people will die, not only on the front line.

Although the ПГ-7B pierced through the gun shield with a thickness of more than 130 mm, through the narrow gap between the gun shield and the turret, Granov found that the turret itself was blackened by the metal jet, leaving only a faint burn mark.

The theoretical armor-piercing thickness of that rocket is 300 mm, and it seems that it is still possible to penetrate 200 mm in actual combat. However, it is not enough to expect bazookas and tanks to fight each other, and the range is limited.

"It's time for armor-piercing bullets." Granov said, but this armor-piercing bullet is not omnipotent, for a simple reason - is its accuracy higher than that of an armor-piercing bullet?

As a cannon aimed, Granov did not realize at this time that he was looking at a new type of armor that the Germans had inadvertently created and was very effective against armor-piercing shells - spacer armor!

The high-temperature metal jet was interrupted by the gap, and the penetration ability was weakened all of a sudden, not to mention the terrible thickness of the shield, and the armor at least 100 mm thick at the back, even if the two ends were thinner, the armor-piercing warhead rockets could not do anything against them!

"We should report what we have found here, and once the German army has a large number of new tanks, it will be a great shock to us, especially for our armored forces."

"Sergeant, you have to ask someone to check on the other vehicles, but beware of the German shelling, I'll call the division headquarters and ask the tank unit to send a few people."

"Okay lieutenant."

Saying that Shuklin had jumped out of the tank and ran to the unrecognizable railway station building, he did not know whether the telephone line with the division headquarters had been blown up and had been reconnected -- he wanted to report the discovery of the new German tank after the battle, but the telephone line was completely broken, and it was impossible for him to leave here and go to the church square.

Now it seems that it has reached the point where it has to be reported, the threat of that steel monster is too great! If the Germans were heavily equipped, it would be a nightmare for the armored forces of the Red Army!

Except for a small number of "Stalin-type", Shuklin can't think of any tank that can compete with that monster at a normal engagement distance, and the T34 is a one-sided slaughter at a slightly longer distance on the plains!

Bypassing the craters and the collapsed walls, Shuklin found a few signal soldiers who were tidying up the telecommunications room, "Have you been in contact with the division headquarters?" ”

"Yes, yes."

Shaking the phone handle, "Hey, pick me up from the 284th Division, I want to find Comrade Division Commander, I'm Lieutenant Shuklin." ”

The switchboard was at the headquarters of the city hall, where the telephones were very busy, and the operator told the lieutenant to wait a while, and the five telephones in the division headquarters were all temporarily busy.

"Be quick, comrade, I'm very urgent here!"

"Okay Comrade Lieutenant, I'll take you in as soon as it's free."

Shu Kelin waited for about half a minute, and the phone was finally answered, "Hey, I'm Lieutenant Shu Kelin of the 820th Artillery Regiment, I'm looking for the division commander, it's an important situation!" ”

"I'm Batyuk, you say."

On the other end of the line came the answer of Comrade Colonel.

"Hello Comrade Division Commander, in the battle just now, we destroyed about 40 German tanks at the front of the railway station position, 8 of which were heavy tanks of unknown new types, with amazing armor thickness, and our ZIS-3 cannon could only destroy it within 150 meters, using new armor-piercing shells. It was armed with 88 mm tank guns..... pairs, division commanders, just like their usual anti-aircraft guns, and it was very difficult for our rockets to destroy it. Division commander, can you let the comrades of the tank unit come and take a look, this new tank poses a very big threat to us. ”

"I understand, Comrade Lieutenant, I immediately ask the tank unit to send someone to you."

"Okay, there's one that seems to be still working, and my guys are checking it. Goodbye, Comrade Division Commander. ”

Here Ba Tyunin hung up the phone, thought for a few seconds, and picked up the phone, "I'm Ba Tyunin, pick up the 237 Tank Regiment." ”

Hearing the report from the division headquarters, the commanders of the tank regiment were a little hard to believe, because they all knew how powerful the ZIS-3 76.2 mm cannon was with the new high-speed armor-piercing projectile, and if it was really one hundred and fifty meters, this data was too amazing!

The tank regiment was deployed in the western part of the city to deal with the German tank cluster that might appear from that direction, at least as the intelligence room showed, but I didn't expect the Germans to kill it from the south direction first!

After discovering the German tank cluster in the direction of the railway station, the city defense command did not let the tank cluster attack, and Batyunin estimated that the troops at the railway station alone, with the cooperation of the rear artillery, should be able to repel the German attack - the armored forces at hand should be used as surprise troops, rather than throwing them all in and consuming them now.

If the German commander had known how much artillery support the Red Army would have received in the direction directly south of Vilnius, he would have waited a little longer, and instead of forty tanks killed with the cooperation of three mechanized battalions, the tanks would have come even more!

After the battle, Batyunin's prediction was correct, and all forty German tanks were reimbursed, including nearly a thousand German troops, but what the colonel did not estimate was that the Germans rushed to the southern position of the railway station!

An armored car arrived at the front of the railway station position more than 20 minutes later, and the tank officer was shocked when he saw the destroyed German tanks in the distance! Not because I saw clearly the new tanks that were a bit exaggerated, but because of the situation on this battlefield!

The entire vast open field was littered with still burning German tanks, corpses and craters could be seen everywhere, and on the side of the Red Army position, it could almost be said that it had been plowed by bombs, and those buildings that were originally quite strong were basically reimbursed, and there were broken walls everywhere!

Street Chopin almost disappeared, and a little further south, several German tanks had already stormed their positions, and apparently the infantry comrades carried out an almost daring anti-tank attack!

The armored car approached the position, and a lieutenant saluted a major and several lieutenants who quickly got out of the car, and pointed to the tank in the distance: "That is, follow me." ”

Passing through the trench bunker, the major gasped as the officers approached the tank at close range!

Insiders look at the doorway, the German tank in front of him he thinks is a big trouble at a glance, but for many people it is an out-and-out big baby!

Moscow will "love to death" it!

The two younger tank officers couldn't wait to run up, and Shuklin said to the tank major, "I have four guns plus six people left, but fortunately, we met first." ”

"Thank you!" The major replied only with such a short sentence. (To be continued.) )