Old Hemstra diligently wiped down his car, the No. 888 T-54 tank. The tank followed him from Ukraine into East Poland, then to East Prussia until it returned to Russia, and then into Belarus and Ukraine. After half a year of fighting, the tank lost four tracks, two engines, and hit more than 100 rounds. As for the number of hits by small and medium-caliber machine gun shells, it is even more innumerable.

The No. 888 was no longer as eye-catching as it had been when it first appeared, and the turret was riddled with pitted holes in the upper armor, and even the lower armor was shot through once, and that time it also led to the death of the pilot.

In fact, the crew of the old Hemstra has changed a lot, including the radioman, and the only one who has followed the old man to fight so far is the loader. And the comrade-in-arms who died recently was the gun commander of the old Hemsstra, a young man who had just turned 20 years old.

The old man sometimes feels angry, and feels that God really doesn't have long eyes, and old bastards like him don't accept them, but they only accept those eighteen or nineteen-year-old Chaoyang. The old man is really not afraid of death, and his greatest wish in life is to die vigorously on the battlefield, he doesn't want to live on the hospital bed like other old immortals.

The problem is that he can't die if he wants to die, and those who don't want to die have frequent accidents. Especially since the beginning of this siege-breaking operation, the 1st Guards Mechanized Army has really not been smooth. The old man struggled in the mud for the first half of the month, but he was still playing in the mud for the second half of the month.

For an armored soldier like him, this was really a great shame, just when the old man was holding back his strength and vowed to break through the defense line of the German devils. As a result, the order was given from above. Let them move to the defense on the spot. As for what flavor Kiev has lifted? There's nothing to do with you.

Such a result was naturally unacceptable to the old man. The real soldier attaches the most importance to the sense of honor, and from the day the old man entered the Guards unit, he thought that his unit was a well-deserved NO.1 in the Soviet Red Army, and now the NO.1 was defeated by a nobody who had never heard of it. It's the equivalent of smacking it in the face, and you say he's comfortable.

When the Military Commission awarded Zhukov the title of the 10th Guards Mechanized Army of the Independent Mechanized Army, the old man's teeth rattled, and he really had an expression of wanting to eat people. At that time, the whole company knew that the old man was on the verge of madness, and he couldn't get an accident!

However, the old man did not explode directly, but chose to accumulate strength in silence. He silently began to wipe the car, wiping every inch of armor and every part of No. 888 shiny. Where is he wiping the car, he is sharpening the knife!

Yes, the elder Hemstra is actively preparing for the fight, and he is working hard to prove himself. But to tell the truth, the 1st Guards Mechanized Army is not in good shape now, and after the fierce assault of the previous section, the consumption of this army is quite large, and half of the tanks and armored vehicles are out of the battle. And at this time, the German counterattack fell exactly on the head of the army.

"There was light snow that day, and a few comrades and I were shivering and hugging each other to keep warm. Just as we were boredly waiting for the shift change, the German counterattack began. An overwhelming rain of bullets fell. Explosion after explosion hit our eardrums, and huge waves of air and impact burst into the sky of muddy water and blown away everything that was not fixed. Whether it's people or anything else, they'll be torn apart by this storm! ”

"The shelling lasted forty minutes, which was more difficult than four hours, and we clung to the ground of the trenches, and mud and stones continued to fall on our heads, and in a few moments they covered a layer. The muddy water and gunpowder smoke rushed into my nostrils, choking on me and making me want to sneeze. But I didn't dare to look up at all, so I had to bury my head deep in the mud like an ostrich, for fear that if I looked up, I would be blown up. ”

"The shelling stopped, and those who survived looked at each other, and it is not difficult to imagine how embarrassed we were at that time, all our comrades were like mud monkeys, their clothes and skin were covered with mud, and only white eyeballs could be seen."

"I cautiously poked my head out and observed the situation on the position, and what I saw was shocking, a considerable part of the fortifications had been destroyed, large sections of the trenches had collapsed, and I could see comrades struggling for help in the ruins of the fortifications or in the buried trenches. But we barely have time to save people, the German devils have already come up! ”

"I have to say that the infantry and artillery coordination of the German devils did a pretty good job, and the artillery bombardment covered the advance of the infantry until it reached a position a few hundred meters in front of our position. If we were us, I'm afraid we wouldn't have been able to do it so well. ”

The battle broke out, and on the first day of the counterattack, the Germans boldly engaged in the attack, and the spearhead of the attack was directed at the 1st Guards Mechanized Army, of which the 163rd Mechanized Division suffered the main attack. The division was besieged by nearly three German divisions and was cut off from its brother units at one point.

It was this division that the elder Hemstra was in, and at the first moment of the battle, the old man and his crew were ordered to go to the first line of support, and about thirty German tanks surrounded them.

"Four o'clock, steady! Fast! Reload, one more shot! ”

The old man quickly entered the fighting state, and in that state he did not look like an old grandfather who was almost 80 years old, and he was more energetic than an eighteen-year-old young man. All the time, the old man's roar could be heard in the headphones of the crew members.

"Speed, idiot! Hurry up! ”

"How the hell are you aiming, are you aiming with your asshole?"

"XX's, you masturbated too much last night! Hurry up and reload! ”

The battle went on very fast, with shells passing across the battlefield every second, explosions sounding every second, and although the shouts of killing could not be heard, the roar of the engines could completely replace everything.

Bang!

When the head of tank No. 3 exploded into the sky, the elder Hemsstra would shout with excitement like a child, and when his comrades were unfortunately hit by the enemy, the elder Hemsstra would spit out angrily. The old man is like a rampaging Tyrannosaurus rex, just so oppressive!

It's not just the old man who has oppressive power, but in fact, the oppressive force of the 163rd Mechanized Division is also very strong, even if the German army is attacking them now. But they were also able to put the Germans under sufficient pressure on their defense.

"Another tank No. 3 was destroyed. Damn it. The Russians' tanks are too strong, look at that T-54, it has been shot more than 3 times, but it is still alive. And our tank No. 3 is like a can made of tinplate. We need better tanks, otherwise with this attrition ratio to continue fighting, the armored forces will soon be depleted! ”

This was written by Guderian in his war diary, and although he had written similar words many times before, this time he felt it most directly. Who made the 1st Guards Mechanized Army the best equipment?

This army is not equipped with a single BT series tank, and as for the T-26, it is even more unheard of. The most inferior tanks of the army are the T-35 and T-34, and the number of equipment of the T-54 accounts for 50% of the total number of tanks. Let's put it this way, Tukhachevsky sent all the T-54s produced after October 1941 to Petrovsky, and their superiority in equipment was overwhelming in the face of the tattered German army. If it weren't for the damn weather and terrain that restricted the performance of the 1st Guards Mechanized Army, the Germans would have had a much harder time.

Even the inferiority of the German army in tanks attracted the attention of the mustache, and the Führer, who claimed to be an artist and designer, personally intervened in the development of the new tank, and he strongly demanded that the armor must be thicker, the firepower must be stronger, and the absolute superiority of Germany in armor technology must be regained.

At the request of the Führer, the pace of development of the Panther and Tiger tanks was significantly accelerated. Walk off the drawing board and go into production at a speed unimaginable to ordinary people. At the end of February, for example, 15 pre-production Panthers rolled off the production line (a few months later in history). According to the original plan. These tanks should be handed over to the troops for trial testing, and after identifying design problems, they should be put into full-scale production.

However, the Führer couldn't wait, and with his personal intervention, 15 Panther A pre-production models (later called Panther D1) were sent directly to Ukraine in packing trucks.

To be honest, it was rather rushed, as an example of the 51st Tank Battalion, which received the Panthers, which had no previous contact with the Panthers and had previously only been able to use the No. 4 tank to complete part of the off-road driving and design subject training in the tactical tutorial.

For example, Vilna of the battalion. Private First Class Krierg recalled: "In January 1941, just after completing the basic training of the armored corps, I was assigned to the 1st Company of the 51st Tank Battalion at the Grafenville base for four weeks of special driving training. The training was extremely rigorous, not only because of the tight schedule, but also because of the mysterious urgency that can be felt at all times. ”

"I still remember the stern tone of my boss during the roll call on the first day of the course - no one was allowed to mention the model of the trained tank and the specific course name outside the scope of the course, and it was not allowed to take pictures of the tanks in the name of private collection, including taking pictures with the tanks in any form; No notes should be taken with pen and paper, and all lectures must be memorized. Our instructors were not even allowed to leave any paper behind during the lesson, especially during the theoretical lesson. It is difficult to transfer knowledge between instructors and trainees only in words, which causes considerable trouble for our learning. Of course, the serious expression of the superior was funny, because we hadn't even seen what he said the tank looked like! ”

The first time Krierger saw the panther was on the train, and the panther wrapped tightly in canvas, although he couldn't see the details, was very different from the tank he had driven before, in his words: "It's a beautiful big guy!" ”

Krierger's first encounter with Panther A was in Belarus, where he was part of the 51st Tank Battalion 1st Company had five Panther A, and according to his recollection, these Panther A were significantly different from the later Panther D and Panther G. Although these D1 models can be counted as D-types, the muzzle brakes are similar to the F2 type of the No. 4 single-chamber brakes. And the original Panther has a decent wading ability, as the rear of the hull is equipped with a large telescopic snorkel on the roof armor plate of the engine compartment, with a range of three to four meters.

However, to Krielger's dismay, although there was a snorkel and the instructor explained the principle and use of the diving device, they had never actually used the device. Later battles also proved that this set of submarine crossing equipment was a waste at all. To use them, you need to adjust the engine frequently, which is not the case on the battlefield.

At the same time, the poor reliability of the Panther tank's engine and mechanical systems was also exposed during training. There were several spontaneous engine combustion accidents during training (which really doesn't match the traditional impression of sophisticated German goods).

In fact, the reason is very simple, it is entirely due to the fact that the fuel is not fully burned in the combustion chamber. A considerable part of the oil and gas mixture is discharged directly into the exhaust pipe. It then ignites on its own when it accumulates in the engine compartment to a certain concentration. The fire source is also readily available. The high temperature of the engine and the electrical sparks generated by the electrical wiring joints during operation.

According to Krierger's recollections, this problem was not resolved until they went into battle. It is common to see intermittent orange flames erupting from the exhaust pipe of the Panther, and the red-hot exhaust pipe is easy to target the Red Army tankmen in the dark, which makes the Panther, who is on the battlefield for the first time, hardly have any battlefield concealment to speak of.

The Germans not only invested in the Panthers, but also in a large number of improved No. 4 tanks (reinforced armored model), after all, the number of Panthers tanks is limited, and it is unlikely to play a decisive role, and this time the Panthers are actually more of a test. German armored experts, including Guderian, were not very optimistic about how much of a role the production Panthers would play.

In fact, it is also the case, the crew training of the Panther tank is too little, the tactical training is not straightened out, and the Panther tank has a large dead weight, which is lame in this muddy battlefield, and more importantly, the Panther is too immature, and the engine reliability is quite terrible. All of this restricts its play.

However, the German tankers still welcomed the arrival of the Panther, because the Panther looked "powerful", and he felt at ease when he looked at his physique. And for the German tankers, this psychological comfort was too much needed. Because since the beginning of the war, they have been tortured by the tanks of the Red Army. They desperately wanted a tank that could stand up to the Red Army's armored monsters, and the Panthers at least had that effect.

But fighting a war is not about appearance. There's no denying that the Black Panther is a beautiful tank, but if you want to say how awesome it is, you can only say it. Is the overall design of the Black Panther strong? Not really, the Germans, as always, like to waste weight, and as always superstitious about so-called high technology.

The gearbox was front-mounted, resulting in a long propeller shaft running through the body, forcing the tank to become very tall, and the tall one had to pay the price of weight. The added weight, in turn, creates problems for the engine and suspension. The Germans had to dig out their way to increase the power of the gasoline engine, and had to use cascading load wheels that made people hurt the eggs. And these can create a lot of headaches for repair and maintenance.

Let's put it this way, the tank divisions of the Germans were made for engineers, and the tanks of the Red Army were made for ordinary tankers. It is true that the former seems so high-tech and tall, but once something goes wrong on the battlefield, there is no 4S shop to help you fix it.

Not only is it a hassle to repair and maintain, but for a country like Germany, which does not have abundant resources, high-precision weapons also mean greater resource consumption and man-hour consumption. Once the German territory gets smaller and smaller, production will be in trouble, and higher working hours will mean limited production capacity. This also means that against a bug country like the Soviet Union, which has a large land and a highly centralized economic form, it will definitely be exploded.

Quantity is also quality, and when quantity reaches a certain peak, it can also crush the enemy with a quality advantage. What's more, at this time, Germany has neither quantitative nor qualitative advantages, so it really has to be double-exploded.

In fact, there are people on the German side who understand, for example, the chief of staff of the 47th Panzer Army, Major General Merinzin, said before the war: "...... As far as I know, the new Panther tank is still in the development stage, and a number of technologies are immature. The engine is quite fragile and very susceptible to spontaneous combustion. Even an ordinary engine overheating can cause the vehicle to catch fire and burn. Secondly, the fragile fuel system and lubricant system are prone to leakage, which will also lead to vehicle fires and burns, and finally lack sufficient tactical literacy for junior officers and skilled tank crews. These problems will limit the role of the Panther tank......"

Not only did Major General Merlinzin say this, but even Guderian believed that there was a problem with the Panther: "After firing several shells from the main gun, the turret will be filled with propellant exhaust, and turning on the turret smoke device will interfere with the communication in the car." The artillery scope bracket is too fragile, and it is easy to loosen after severe turbulence or turret is shot, which seriously affects the accurate aiming of the gun commander, and it is also necessary to add a periscope for the gun commander. In addition, in view of the fact that the weapon in the front of the hull was only a submachine gun held by an electromechanical man, which had a short range and low power, it was necessary to add a machine gun. There are many problems for the driver and mechanics to enter and exit the hatch cover when the side rotation is opened, and once the hatch shaft is deformed, the driver and the mechanics will not be able to escape. The troops suffered from it during training! In addition, the turret rotation mechanism was too complex to break down, and the front-line troops simply could not repair it. ”

Truth be told, these are all minor problems, but what really shocked Guderian was the engine problem, which Tank Monster wrote: "Engine failures are the most headache and the most frequent, much higher than the manufacturer's guaranteed mean time to failure." In addition to the problems caused by insufficient driver training, the root cause is that there are serious problems in engine design, and some vehicles will have problems such as engine power drop, lubricating oil burning, cylinder piston blockage, slow cylinder valve action, cylinder wall cracking, and spark plug loosening soon after driving. Driving at high speeds will inevitably lead to overheating of the engine and dry shifting. ”

All in all, for the Germans, the Panther was just a picture that looked good, but in fact was temporarily embarrassed...... (To be continued......)

PS: Bow and thank you to hzwangdd and Comrade Juventus!