By the night of May 15, 1943, more than 1,800 tanks/assault guns had been deployed on the unnamed plain south of the Dobrush Forest (which would later become known as the Tank Plains). Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

One of the largest tank battles since World War II is about to begin.

The decisive battle took place on a 50-kilometer-wide stretch of flat land, with forests to the north, south, and west, and the Desna River, a tributary of the Dnieper, to the east. In the middle are large wheat fields, each belonging to three collective farms in three different states. But now it's not tractors that appear in these wheat fields, but tanks and artillery that strike.

The German battle positions were placed on the north side of the plain, near the Dobrusch Forest, and during the day until dusk on the 15th, tank/assault artillery belonging to the 1st, 2nd, 6th, and 10th Panzergrenadier Divisions, the 1st Panzergrenadier Division, and the 5th SS Viking Division fought fiercely with hundreds of tanks/assault artillery belonging to the 1st and 2nd Soviet tank armies.

Due to the superiority of German tanks and assault artillery in quantity and quality, but also had strong air superiority. As a result, more than 550 Soviet tanks and artillery pieces were destroyed and captured, and less than 100 tanks were able to exit the battlefield.

However, they did not go far to join the Vatutin group, which had been heading north since dusk, and then returned to the battlefield again. They were now in formation about 10 kilometers from the German front, preparing for a final counterattack.

"Hans, do you look at the current situation on the battlefield, does it look like a battle in the era of smoothbore guns?"

Standing in a Cougar wheeled armored command vehicle, General Mackensen looked at the tanks, various high-impact artillery and armored vehicles under the moonlight, and suddenly turned his head and asked Hans, the chief of staff, who had only one left arm (wounded and amputated in World War I) beside him. Valentine. Feng. Lieutenant General Baron Hube.

"It's very similar," nodded Lieutenant General Hubey, who seemed to have something in mind, "Marshal, your words remind me of a tactic of the British in the days of smoothbore guns. ”

"The tactics of the British?" "You mean the crazy tactic of advancing thirty or forty meters in front of the enemy and then firing?" ”

"It's crazy, but it's also very effective, and the British Army has won a lot of battles with this trick." Lieutenant General Hube said, "We can do the same tonight!" ”

"What?" Mackenson was stunned, "Let the Soviets' tanks fire first?" ”

"Yes." Lieutenant General Hube smiled, "Let the Soviets fire first, and we will fire later!" Because it was night, visibility was not enough to support long-range shooting, so it was necessary to plan for close combat. So I wanted to simply let the enemy fire first to expose the target, and our tanks advanced against the enemy's fire, closing the distance and then fighting. ”

"How close are you going to get to?" Mackenson asked.

"Within 500 meters!" Hube said.

"So close? Our Tiger tanks could not stop the Soviet 85mm and 57mm guns at a distance of 500 meters. ”

In previous battles, the Germans also captured and tested many Soviet 85mm anti-aircraft guns and 57mm anti-tank guns.

In the case of ordinary armor-piercing shells (AP shells), these two guns could theoretically penetrate the frontal upper armor of the Tiger tank G (Shrinking Tiger) at a distance of 700 meters (82mm at a 45-degree inclination). If you close the distance to within 500 meters, it will be a stable penetration.

"You can put the grizzly bear at the front." Lieutenant General Hube pondered, "The frontal armor thickness of the Grizzly assault gun is 100mm, and there is a 40-degree inclination, which is equivalent to vertical armor in the early 130mm, and the best nickel-chromium-manganese rolled steel is used, which is enough to block the 85mm and 57mm guns of the Soviets at a distance of 500 or even 400 meters." ”

"I understand, let's put the 'Grizzly' in front to attract shells, and create a chance for the 'Tiger' tank to destroy the hostile enemy!" Admiral Mackensen immediately understood what Lieutenant General Hube was up to.

Lieutenant General Hube wanted to take advantage of the lack of visibility in the dark to use the "Grizzly Bear", which was heavily armored on the front and looked quite large at night, as a target for sucking shells - normally, the tank commander/gunner in battle would not immediately switch targets just because a single shot did not destroy the enemy tank, but would fire repeatedly at the same target.

Moreover, even if the tank crews of the Soviets found out that they were facing the Grizzly assault gun, they would never dare not attack. Because the "Grizzly" assault gun can also fire armor-piercing shells, there is no problem for a 150mm caliber armor-piercing projectile to penetrate the homogeneous armor steel of 150mm thickness, even if the armor steel of the KV-85 is theoretically unbearable!

So the "Tiger", which was following the "Grizzly Bear", could calmly open fire at this time and use the 88mm gun to give the Soviets' tanks and assault artillery a little name.

……

"Comrades, I am the commander of the 1st Tank Army, General Vatutin!" The commander of the 1st Tank Army, who was also the commander-in-chief of the "Vatutin cluster", Nikolai . Fedovich. At this time, Vatutin was already sitting in a KV-85 heavy tank, and made a pre-battle speech through the American radio on the tank.

He is well aware that the cause of GCISM has reached its most dangerous moment! If he and his men do not win tonight's decisive battle, then the Soviet Union is in danger of extinction.

As a loyal GC fighter, he is ready to personally go into battle and lead the team to fight - if he can't win, then he will die as a warrior!

And the plan he made for tonight's decisive battle was simple and brutal, led by the most powerful KV-85 tanks, followed by Su-85 and T-35/57, and finally the light tanks of the T-34/76 and T-60/70 series, which were not very anti-tank. And the Su-122 assault gun, on the other hand, did not participate in the charge of the tank cluster, but remained in the rear impulse self-propelled guns.

At the same time, there were a large number of infantry with "red iron fists" directly operating tanks into battle (of course, Panzergrenadiers also entered the battle on the side of the Germans).

In addition, hundreds of Katyusha rocket launchers will also take part in the battle, which will be used to attack the infantry that accompanied the German tank clusters.

Such a simple and crude plan was formulated, not because Admiral Vatutin did not know how to use calculations, but because the accuracy of Soviet tank guns was really not high, and he was afraid that he would miss the target if the distance was too far. So Vatutin simply put his strongest tank in front and gave the enemy as much as possible a head-on attack.

"Now is the most dangerous moment for the great Soviet Fatherland and the cause of GCISM, if we fail here, the Nazi bandits will ravage the lands of Ukraine and Russia, the flames of war will burn under the city of Moscow, and our families and compatriots will face the bayonets and whips of the Nazi bandits!"

Admiral Vatutin was not good with words, but he still said something inspiring at this moment.

In the end, he exclaimed: "Comrades, for the sake of our beloved family and motherland, let each of us dedicate our whole life and all our blood!" Let's throw our blood on the land of the Soviet Fatherland! I will lead you in the charge against the evil Nazi bandits! If I die in battle, tread on the ground red with my blood until you take over the enemy's lair!

Long live the USSR! Long live the Bolshevik Party! Red Army tanks, forward! ”

The tank's motor began to roar, and the KV-1 tank, in which Admiral Vatutin was riding, rumbled forward. Instead of cowering inside the sturdy tank, he leaned out half of his body so he could get a better view.

Although the tank he was riding in was a sturdy KV-85, it did not rush to the front, but mixed with a group of T-34/57s, in the second line of the Soviet tank cluster, and in front of it were nearly 100 KV-85s lined up. This tank had frontal armor up to 100mm thick with a large angular inclination. The Soviet Union's own 85mm and 57mm guns, which could not be bombarded at a distance of 500 meters, were the most powerful weapons of the Soviet Red Army. Theoretically enough to fight the German Tiger tanks!

"Boom, boom, boom......"

The self-propelled guns of both sides were fired first, with the Germans firing on the Vespa 150mm self-propelled howitzers, while the Soviets returned fire with Su-122 assault guns.

The shells landed in the tank formations of both sides, exploding a cloud of fireballs, but they were not particularly dense, so Vatutin did not retract into the tank turret, but observed the enemy situation in front of him with the help of the fire of the shell explosion.

The Germans threw in a large number of tanks, posing a wide front, which should have a numerical advantage. However, their tanks were very slow, about a dozen kilometers per hour, and the tanks in the first row seemed to be very tall, probably Tiger tanks.

As the tank clusters on both sides grew closer and the intensity of the shelling increased, Soviet infantry in tank advances jumped out of the tank and followed behind the tank. Vatutin also shrank back, knowing that the dense German rocket artillery was coming soon. Waiting for the rocket artillery to finish, the tanks at the forefront of both sides will almost enter the stage of "lining up to fire", and then the self-propelled guns in the back will have flares.

Unlike the Soviets' commander, Vatutin, who charged personally, the German General Mackensen and his chief of staff, Lieutenant General Hube, followed behind the German tank cluster in an armored command vehicle converted from a Cougar armored car.

When the rocket artillery of the two sides exchanged shells, the vehicles of General Mackensen and Hu Beizhong drove up a high slope with a better view.

And at this moment, the KV-85 tanks in the front row of the Soviet tank cluster in front of them first stopped advancing and began to shoot the "Grizzly" assault guns, which were still advancing with their heads covered with their 85mm cannons. (To be continued.) )