Chapter 187: railway raid

Chapter 187 Railway Raid

Shuerka took out a letter from the pocket of his long-legged jacket, a letter rolled up and wrapped in a tarpaulin... If you don't do this, the letter will not be preserved until it is sent.

This former comrade-in-arms can't say anything now, the blood poured out from his throat, staining his chest bright red. He just lay on the ground, and then it was over.

Shuerka always cares about the comrades in the unit he grew up in, that squad, that platoon...even though he is now a company commander, there are already three platoons with more than one hundred soldiers under him.

But this seems to be normal, for those who don't know, the casualties are more just a number.

Shuerka didn't dare to think too much, because he knew that he was fighting at this time, and the enemy was rushing up like a tide.

Usually, the German infantry would have an advantage against the Soviet infantry, because the German mortars were better, then the machine gunners were responsible for suppressing enemy infantry fire, and then the infantry charged with their rifles.

But this time, the German infantry's attack was not so smooth.

The reason is that there are traps one after another in front of them, invisible traps.

So the German charging infantry ran and then fell into the trap with a "boom", and fell into the pit with a "boom" when they leaped forward.

This seriously affected the speed of the German leap forward, because they were not sure which piece of mud ahead was a trap.

What's worse is that if the rifle falls into the trap, the mud will seep into the bolt soon, and even if he gets up, the rifle will probably fail to fire.

This forced the German infantry to rush forward around the limited routes concentrated in the pits... These routes proved to be safe because of the footprints left.

But the result of this is that the Soviet army only needs a few machine guns or submachine guns or even rifles to block their offensive.

Shuerka did not expect this situation... These traps are actually dual-purpose, they can deal with both enemy tanks and infantry.

Admiral Schweppenburg on the other side was not surprised by this. From the beginning, he did not expect to be able to break through the enemy's defense line without the cover of tanks. If this is the case, then the enemies in front of him are not worth his use what tactics.

Seeing that the situation was almost over, Admiral Schweppenburg waved his hand, and a tank unit that had been ready for battle rushed up murderously... This tank unit has a total of forty-five tanks, which is a heavy tank battalion. All are composed of "No. 3" and "No. 4" tanks.

Driving ahead are five "Pan 4" tanks.

This is a tank that the German army only entered service last year.

Although its defense is insufficient... the armor thickness is only 30MM, which is not even as good as the Panzer III's 37MM, but its 75MM caliber short-barreled artillery has a strong lethality to enemy infantry and fortifications when firing high-explosive shells.

More importantly, its off-road speed can reach 40 kilometers per hour, which is much faster than the 23 kilometers off-road speed of the Panzer III.

Admiral Schweppenburg hoped that these "Panz. 4" tanks could take advantage of this advantage and break into the enemy's defense line along the railway with lightning speed, causing chaos, and then the "P.3" tanks followed to fight. And win.

As Admiral Schweppenburg said to Captain Daniel, the commander of the tank battalion: "The enemy will definitely target you with anti-tank guns. Don't worry about this and don't worry about others. Forget about all dangers and tactics. What you have to do There are only two things: put on the gas and fire!"

"Yes, General!" Captain Daniel actually knew what to do, because he had done it before, and more than once.

So he's pretty experienced with it.

Insufficient armor protection?

Don't worry about this, the speed of "Number Four" can rush into the enemy's anti-tank guns before they destroy them, and this is the most important thing: speed!

When receiving the order to attack, Captain Daniel exposed half of his body outside the turret, holding up the walkie-talkie and ordered: "Listen to my command and move forward!"

Under the command of the commander, more than forty tanks drove onto the railway in an orderly manner. After the tracks rolled onto the rails, there was a "clang" sound of steel collisions, just like warriors striking with their swords before charging. The shield demonstrates to the enemy.

At the same time, Admiral Schweppenburg ordered the artillery to implement fire cover... The purpose of this was to interfere with the sight and attention of the Soviet anti-tank firepower, because the smoke and evaporated water vapor from the shells would further affect the sight.

If it weren't for the fear that the tank driver could not see the railway and the enemy, Admiral Schweppenburg would still shoot smoke bombs.

A row of bullets hit the armor of the "No. 3" tank on which Captain Daniel was riding, making a "popping" sound like popping beans.

This made Daniel realize that the enemy had noticed their actions, so Captain Daniel retracted his head and closed the hatch while ordering: "All units, cover the hatch!"

This is not the time to be a hero, and Daniel knows that.

He was a little puzzled, some tank commanders always like to poke their heads out of the tank to command operations... This may be a symbol of courage, and it is true that they can better perceive the external environment and quickly indicate the target for the tank.

But at the same time, this will also make the commander a target for enemy snipers or machine gunners.

"That loses the value of the tank!" Captain Daniel commented on this approach: "The biggest function of the tank is that you hide in it and shoot at the enemy, but the enemy has nothing to do with you!"

What Captain Daniel didn't expect was that this time the battle was completely opposite, that is, the enemy shot at him, but he had nothing to do with the enemy.

"One company!" Captain Daniel ordered: "Speed ​​up!"

The first company is the leading troops, including the five "No. 4" tanks that lead the battle.

"We are already using the fastest speed, Captain!" The first company commander replied.

"Not fast enough!" said Captain Daniel. "You know, there are probably several anti-tank guns aimed at you. If you slow down, their shells will penetrate your armor and smash your tanks into a ball. Fireball!"

"That's what I find strange, Captain!" The first company commander reported: "Until now, no anti-tank guns have been fired at us!"

Captain Daniel also felt something was wrong.

Because the infantry had already cleared the roadblocks before, and the rail foundation was solid, the tank was running forward at a speed of 40 kilometers per hour and was approaching the enemy's defense line...

The enemy should have fired back with anti-tank artillery, but until now there has been no movement.

But Captain Daniel didn't think much about it, he ordered: "You don't need to worry about these, Second Lieutenant, all you need to do is two things: step up the gas pedal and fire!"

(end of this chapter)