At the same time that the Germans under the command of Skorzny entered the port of Carbernier and engaged in street fighting with the American defenders. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

The rumbling of artillery was heard in the distance, which signaled that the American armored forces coming from the east had launched a surprise attack on the defensive positions deployed by the German paratroopers!

The shells fired by the M12 self-propelled guns (155mm caliber) and M7 self-propelled guns (105mm caliber) landed on the loose German front, and the earth trembled with violent explosions. Everyone, including Brandt and Mitterrand, was now huddled in the foxhole, their steel helmets in their hands, enduring the seemingly endless cannon bombardment.

However, the artillery of the Americans was not accurate, and most of the shells fell on the front line of the German front - this was because the vanguard of the Americans had stepped on mines there half an hour earlier, and now the main purpose of the shelling was actually to clear the minefields laid by the Germans and open a passage for the tanks to advance.

Probably because the American armored units that had arrived overnight did not carry too many shells, their first shelling lasted less than 15 minutes before it ended. Brandt knew that the shelling would be followed by a charge of armored and infantry clusters. Therefore, regardless of the buzzing in his ears, he jumped out of his hidden foxhole and shouted loudly as he ran on the battle line: "Prepare for battle, report losses!" ”

The German paratroopers who had not died in the shelling just now replied loudly.

"No losses!"

"No losses!"

"An M2 machine gun is damaged!"

"Someone is hurt!"

"Oh God, save me......"

"Oh my God, Carl doesn't seem to be moving, he's dead......"

Losses and casualties have already appeared, the loss of an M2 heavy machine gun captured from the Americans, 2 more seriously wounded, 1 killed, for a paratrooper platoon of less than 40 people, this loss is not light.

"Ambulance soldiers, rescue the wounded......"

While the Germans were busy preparing for battle and rescuing the wounded, an American M4A3 medium tank appeared in front of Brandt's position under the cover of night. Immediately after that, three more M4A3 tanks roared out, and behind these four tanks, they were all followed by a dozen or twenty American infantrymen.

Type A4 of the M3 tank is a fairly mature model. Although it was a medium tank, it had a total combat weight of 33.65 tons, far exceeding the German medium tank Type 4H. Moreover, the M4 tank was developed later, and it was not the first American medium tank (No. 4 was the first German medium tank, so there were many flaws in the design, but the M4 tank was developed in the M3 Grant. Li medium tank was developed on the basis of the tank), so the design is very good, and all indicators are very balanced.

The A3 version of the M4 is a much better medium tank than the original model, and it has an M1 76mm L/52 gun that is quite powerful, and when using sub-caliber high-explosive armor-piercing shells (similar to pointed tungsten core armor-piercing shells), the vertical penetration depth can reach 208mm (homogeneous steel plate) at a distance of 500 meters, and the vertical penetration depth can reach 175mm (homogeneous steel plates) at a distance of 1000 meters, which can theoretically penetrate the frontal armor of the E-50A heavy tank!

In addition to satisfactory firepower, the defense of the M4A3 tank was quite good. The frontal 63.5mm 47-degree inclined armor provides a large inclination effect, equivalent to a 90mm armor plate mounted at a right angle. And due to the use of fairly good bulletproof steel plates, the actual protection capacity exceeds that of 100mm homogeneous steel plates. The M4A3 has 89mm of vertical armor on the turret front, which is not as good as the Tiger and E-50, but far exceeds the turret frontal armor of the No. 4H tank.

If this balanced M4A3 meets the German Panzer Corps and Panzergrenadiers, it will not actually be able to exert any power. Because after the baptism of the Soviet-German war, the Wehrmacht Army, which has the production capacity of most of Europe, has fully upgraded their armored forces. The E-50 tank, the E-25 tank destroyer and the Cheetah tank destroyer became the main equipment, and they were not at all an enemy that medium tanks could deal with. But now it is the paratroopers with relatively weak firepower who have to fight against the M4A3 tanks, and it is clear that there is a hard battle to be fought.

Brandt put down the night vision binoculars in his hand (including a monocular night vision binoculars and an infrared spotlight mounted on the telescope), bent over the battle line and ran to the gun position of the captured 57mm gun, and handed over his night vision binoculars to the temporary gun commander along with the battery on his back. Then he pointed to the tank that rushed to the front and said: "Fire in a moment, hit with the Americans' own pointed armor-piercing shells, fire at 400 meters, you must hit the target!" ”

At present, the United States is not able to mass-produce shelling armor-piercing shells, because this kind of artillery shell was developed by the British and was not completed before the fall of the British mainland, so the Americans did not have access to this technology. It was only after the Soviet Union supplied the United States with captured German shell-piercing shells that the Americans began to imitate them. However, trial production has just been completed, and mass production has not yet been completed.

But the American pointed armor-piercing projectile (the Americans call it a sub-caliber high-explosive armor-piercing projectile) is still very good, and the 57mm pointed armor-piercing projectile can also penetrate the vertical 91mm homogeneous steel plate at a distance of 1000 meters, and it can threaten the Americans' own M4A3 tank at a distance of 400 meters.

This distance was a little closer during the day, but it was late at night, and 400 meters was just enough for the Germans with night vision equipment - the night vision equipment used by individual soldiers now ensured that the outline of the tank could be seen at a distance of up to 400 meters.

The artillery commander nodded, and immediately instructed his artillery to stuff a pointed armor-piercing projectile of American's own production into the chamber of the gun.

Brandt continued to run, and came to the side of the battle line next to a mounted MG42 machine gun, and now the German paratrooper machine gunners were also equipped with night vision devices (company commanders and platoon commanders also had them) to accurately attack targets within 400 meters at night with extremely poor visibility.

"Are you ready?" Brandt asked loudly.

The Heavy nodded, and Brandt ordered, "Aim for the tank at the front!" Don't fire yet, wait for the Yankees' tank crews to come out before firing. ”

"Understood." With the help of night vision, the machine gunner aimed the muzzle of the MG42 at the tank that was rushing to the front, but did not fire.

"Boom!"

At this moment, the M1 57mm anti-tank gun opened fire. However, at a distance of 400 meters, there are night vision devices available, and the American-made M1 anti-tank gun is completely a copy of the British 17-pounder gun, which is also equipped in the German army, and the German paratroopers have learned how to use it, so there is no possibility of missing the shot.

The shell hit the front of the American M4A3 tank at once, and then it flashed a ball of fire, which seemed to penetrate the armor, and the American tank moved forward by inertia a distance of one or two meters before stopping. However, the damaged tank did not fire a large explosion, and the turret and the hatch on top of the body were then pushed open, and four frightened crew members climbed out.

It turned out that the 57mm pointed armor-piercing projectile pierced the armor plate on the front of the tank and then hit the tank's gearbox - the gearbox of this era was large, and most of them were installed in the front of the tank body, just blocking the tank's driver. The explosive power of the 57mm pointed armor-piercing projectile was limited and could not shatter the huge and sturdy gearbox, and the explosive power was absorbed by the gearbox instead. So except for the driver who was stunned, the other 4 crew members all ran out. And the loss of the vehicle, of course, is not serious, only the front armor plate and gearbox need to be replaced.

However, the battle-hardened German paratroopers had long anticipated this situation. Just as the feet of the four tank crew members who were about to flee from the battlefield fell to the ground, a continuous, piercing gunfire suddenly rang out, as if tearing linen. The bullets from the MG42 machine gun flew like locusts at the 4 poor American tank crews, and they hit them accurately, knocking them all down at once, turning them into corpses covered in blood holes.

The surprise attack of the German paratroopers apparently frightened the Americans, most of whom were easily frightened by the fact that most of them were on the battlefield for the first time - and not only did the three tanks that had not been shot dare to move on, but even the infantry following the tanks stopped moving forward. But in the face of the German machine guns firing in the dark, these American freedom fighters did not dare to rush out from behind the tank and fire back, but all shrank behind the tank.

However, the three M4A3 tanks that had stopped moving forward began to return fire, firing first at the 7.62mm machine gun on the front of the body, followed by the 76.2mm main gun and starting to bombard it violently. A few more mortars placed behind the attacking American troops began to fire flares, illuminating a large area of the battlefield as if it were daylight.

On the German paratrooper side, the 57mm anti-tank gun had completed another reloading and aiming, and fired again. The shells flew in the direction of the muzzle flames that kept flashing in the night, and then there was a loud "clang", and the shells hit the armor steel plate on the front of an M4A3 tank, but they did not form a penetration!

"Hell, it didn't penetrate." Brandt heard the sound of a cannonball hitting the steel plate and knew it hadn't penetrated. He immediately realized that the Americans were not easy to deal with and could well be stronger than the Soviet T-34 series.

"Boom! Rumble! ”

The Americans' 76.2mm shells fell in succession around the German 57mm anti-tank gun, and it was clear that they had spotted the gun and were now trying to destroy it with 76.2mm grenades.

Just as the Americans' shells were getting closer and closer to the 57mm gun, Brandt suddenly heard a low but powerful motor roar coming from behind. It turned out that one E-25 tank destroyer and one No. 4H tank had come up to support the German paratroopers in the battle.