81_81266If you ask the German Army what unit is the most fascinating, some people might say that it is the hammer of the armored troops, some people may say that the Panzergrenadiers are invincible in a day and thousands of miles, and some people will think that those snipers who are ruthless and surprisingly victorious.

Even if someone thinks of the obscure infantry and the artillery, they will never think that in the German infantry divisions there is such a group of people who support a piece of the sky of the German infantry with their obscurity.

Unlike other countries, which had large numbers of infantry tanks scattered among their infantry units, German tanks, from No. 3 to Leopard to Tiger, were tailor-made for the centralized use of armored units, and these tanks were never distributed to infantry units because German commanders considered it a waste.

So all along, the ordinary infantry units of Germany were World War I-level infantry that lacked armored cover. All they could rely on was a gun in the palm of their hand. And what changed this state was the armored self-propelled artillery units directly under the jurisdiction of the infantry division.

In the process of developing the No. 3 tank, Germany encountered technical difficulties in the lightweight of artillery, and around 1923 there was no way to install the short-barreled 75 mm caliber cannon that Accardo preferred on the No. 3 tank, and the No. 3 tank with a turret was overweight and could not meet the weight requirements of the Anglo-German "New Versailles Treaty" for German tanks.

So the No. 3 assault gun came into being. Because this armored self-propelled gun has no turret and does not need to fire from the side, it can withstand greater artillery recoil, has a low profile, and is equipped with the world's largest caliber 75 mm caliber tank gun at that time, and is fully capable of playing the role of "front-line support artillery" to support infantry operations. This new type of tank, which was a new and improved version of the turretless tank No. 3, was named the No. 3 assault gun by the Führer. In fact, it was also the first large-scale equipment "tank" in the Wehrmacht era, replacing the No. 2 tank as the backbone of the Wehrmacht's armored forces in one fell swoop.

It's just that with the entry into service of the No. 3 tank, this cheap assault gun without turret was gradually eliminated by the armored forces, but who would have thought that the Leopard tank would later become the new favorite of the German armored forces, and the production of the No. 3 tank gradually declined, or even close to being discontinued, but the older No. 3 assault gun was replaced with vitality in the infantry unit.

This assault gun turned out to be quite capable of fully satisfying the tasks of covering the infantry, providing close artillery support. With the continuous advancement of time, this low-profile and powerful old equipment has become the favorite weapon of infantry commanders because of its cheapness, rapid production, mature technology, reliability and durability.

Of course, the original 75 mm caliber short-barreled artillery has been updated to a long-barreled 75 mm caliber cannon, and the original infantry support weapons have gradually developed into a multi-functional fire support platform, and the annual output is even comparable to that of the Leopard tank.

Manipulated by the infantry's elite assault gun crews, this weapon became a lethal killer, costing the enemies of the German infantry dearly.

There is a famous saying in each ** team: "Recruits are afraid of artillery, veterans are afraid of light machine guns." "The shelling is fierce, but the light machine gun positions that are hidden and move at any time are the more lethal threats. And the British veterans who really fought with the Germans found that the more common No. 3 assault gun was the more troublesome role than the German tank armored forces.

At this moment, behind the pile of rubble, the commander of the No. 3 assault gun was standing on the hatch of the engine, looking into the distance with a telescope in his binoculars, which had lifted all the armor shields above it and leaked out of the entire combat compartment.

And this assault gun had just fired a shell at a high elevation angle and hit the British offensive area about two kilometers away. The commander of the company defending that direction on the radio was reporting the results of the shelling.

The enemy infantry was repulsed. The headset came the news of the front-line defenders: "The second shell hit the crowd of the opposing attacker, and about 20 enemy soldiers were killed, and it was a beautiful fight." ”

"Correct another 5 meters! The next shell will hit the corner of the building, and the next time it will probably kill a big fish. Holding the binoculars, he saw the black smoke rising from his shelling, and the commander commanded the cannon commander under his feet.

After he finished the order, he adjusted the channel and said to the infantry company on the front line: "Call Company Commander Kyle, the next time the other party attacks to the corner, you give a signal, and we will open fire!"

"That's no problem!" said with a smile in the headphones, "If you don't mind, you can fire now!"

"Fire!" the commander commanded loudly, putting down his binoculars. "Boom!" the chariot shook backwards, and the long-barreled 75 mm cannon fired another cannonball, and the smoke made the commander frown, reached out and fanned the dust in front of his face, and then spat at the bottom of the car.

Then he picked up the binoculars again and looked at the target in the distance, and sure enough, a black smoke rose from the place he expected, and half of the building next to it also collapsed, making a loud rumbling noise, and more dust and smoke rose at the point where the shell landed, which looked magnificent.

"Beautiful! Good fight!" In the headset, the German company commander on the front line let out an exclamation, accompanied by the roar of machine guns, the front line side of the fight seemed to be very fierce, from the frequency of artillery support on their side, you can feel it, the British seem to be trying their best to attack.

"Hey, Rald!" a dozen grenadiers with various weapons passed by the rubble, the dust on their bodies making them look a little scruffy. The Germans stopped in front of the assault guns, and a platoon commander led by them climbed up the rubble and shouted to the captain standing on the car: "Do you have any cigarettes? Give me two ......."

"To the front, didn't you just get down?" asked the commander who called Rald to put down the binoculars in his hand and frowned.

"No way, there is a problem on the 3rd Company's side again, the battalion reserve team has gone to the front, and we are the only ones left, who will go if you don't go?" The platoon commander smiled bitterly and pointed to his subordinates behind him: "If any of these people can come back, you can't help but give it to you if you want cigarettes!"

"Okay!" the commander nodded his head, threw most of the pack of cigarettes to the young platoon commander, and replied loudly: "If you don't have it, you will ask for it, you will give me more!"

"Let's see your luck! I heard that the British attacked very fiercely over there, and there were not many people left after three consecutive fights. The platoon commander took the cigarette with a smile, shook it in his hand and shook it at the commander, then took out one and put it in his mouth, waving his hand: "Goodbye!"

It wasn't just that there weren't many people left in the fight, and it wasn't until the young platoon commander rushed to the position smoking a cigarette that he realized how badly the fight had been here. Of the 120-man company, less than 60 are still alive, and there are hundreds of corpses of British soldiers lying in front of the position, and there are even two destroyed M3 tanks.

On a machine-gun position not far away, a G42 machine gun was firing at a British machine-gun position 100 meters away, and tracer bullets swept in a straight line on the breast wall where the dirt had piled up, sending black dirt scattered in all directions.

"Corporal, what about your company commander, I have been ordered to bring men to support him!" he asked, finding a grenadier in one of the craters who was shooting at the British.

"What are you talking about? Be louder! My ears have been broken by shells! I can't hear clearly!" shouted the other man.

"I!I ask you, where's your company commander?" the platoon commander continued to ask loudly.

"In the back! See the collapsed villa? There's a crater over there!" replied the corporal loudly as he continued to fire his G43.

"Wells, you have someone to stay behind and help!Cook, follow me!" the young platoon commander shouted, and then jumped out of the crater and bent down towards the position of the 3rd Company headquarters, and behind him, Cook, who had not run a few steps, was hit by a bullet and fell to the ground, without moving.

Running all the way to the edge of the crater, the young platoon commander jumped into the crater with a sliding shovel, then held his steel helmet with his hand and shouted: "3rd Company Headquarters?"

"Yes!" replied one of the second lieutenant company commanders in a loud voice, "I have asked for reinforcements three times, and you have finally been sent alone?"

"My men are already fighting back over there, who says I'm alone? Cook, Cook......" the young platoon commander shouted back, then poked his head out and looked in the direction he was running from, and saw the body lying on the ground.

He retracted his head and said regretfully to the commander of the 3rd Company beside him: "I brought 13 people here, and now there are 12 left." ”

"You take five men and go to the left flank! The machine-gun position over there has been destroyed, and they need help. The company commander pointed to a position with black smoke not far away, and said loudly: "A few minutes ago, they were hit by British artillery!"

"No problem! I'll deal with it! But you'd better think again!" The young platoon commander lying at the front of the position raised his eyebrows and said, "Are you sure you can handle the guy on the other side by yourself?"

Following his gaze, the commander of the 3rd Company saw a British tank coming under the cover of the infantry, not a huge number of American-made M3 tanks, but a British behemoth, the heavily armored Matilda tank.

"Anti-tank men, prepare for battle!" shouted the commander of the 3rd Company: "British tanks! Watch out! Machine gun squad...... Shift positions!"

"It's really not easy to open the way without armored troops in front. The young platoon commander sighed, grabbed his MP-44 assault rifle, and said with a wry smile: "Don't call for support? It's not so easy to deal with this." ”

"You're here, and it's already good. The company commander of the 3rd Company said with a smile: "What's more, although we are not noticed, we infantry still have our own pride!"