Chapter 239 Cover up
In the early morning of the third day, Shulka and others were sleeping soundly in the private house, snoring one after another, especially Uncle Alek, who was sleeping in the tank cabin, and he could snore even through the armor of the tank... The fact that the tank doesn't have the hatch on is also a bit like a big amplifier making the snoring louder.
At this moment, a shell exploded in the village.
No one paid attention to it. Even if they were awakened, they turned around and continued to sleep. The reason is that it is not uncommon for stray bullets to enter the village these days, and the soldiers are used to it.
Then another shot, another shot...
At this time, Shulka felt that something was wrong. The interval between these shells was very rhythmic. They were not like stray bullets but artillery test firing.
He sat up and listened sideways, and the old soldier woke up and looked at Shulka.
But there was no movement for a while, and the two thought they heard it wrong.
But at this time, there was a whistling of shells in the air, followed by a series of bombings. The shock waves of the shells made the tiles above the head "cough cough", and the dust on the wall fell down "swish".
"Ready for battle!" Shulka yelled.
In fact, there is no need for Shulka's order, the soldiers have already moved spontaneously... All they have to do is the infantry come out of the tank cabin and the tank soldiers return to their positions. He failed to get out every time, and Fedosiev dragged him out from left to right with another tank soldier in a hurry and threw him into a piece.
This made Uncle Alek a little dissatisfied and cursed, but at this time no one cared and he couldn't hear him swearing amidst the sound of gunfire.
Soon the fighters were ready.
But they soon discovered that there was no need to be so anxious, because the enemy was fighting the infantry of the 316th Division on the outer line of defense.
The soldiers only heard the loud sound of artillery outside, and the sound of fighter planes diving from time to time, especially the unique howling sound of the Stuka bomber diving.
Shulka and the instructor looked at each other, and then looked out through the window... The situation was not good, the rain stopped at some point, it seemed to be frozen in the sky, and the snow on the ground was not obvious enough, they were The wet ground was soon half-thawed, and only the roof was covered with a thin layer.
This improves visibility, and the white painted tank will look awkward if it is driven out.
Shulka immediately called Major Gavrilov.
Major Gavrilov is also aware of the seriousness of the problem.
"The weather is getting better!" Major Gavrilov said, "This is not a good thing for us!"
"Major, we should make the artillery battalion prepare!" Shulka said: "Let them spread white cloth on the ground or something!"
"Good idea!" Major Gavrilov replied, and then hung up the phone immediately.
Soon the artillery battalion in the village did as Shulka said.
The Soviet army has a lot of white cloth, these white cloth are used to camouflage the troops, and they are transported from the rear to the front line by car.
Moscow may lack equipment due to the encirclement and annihilation of a large number of troops, but there is no shortage of things like white cloth, and workers will be able to mass-produce them soon.
Then…
The firewood piles, stones, mounds, and even the bushes were covered with white cloth, and the whole village soon became a piece of snow.
But at this time the German army still did not appear in front of the soldiers, and the sound of gunfire and artillery on the outer defense line was still intense.
"Those infantrymen!" said the veteran, "They fought hard!"
"How many are there?" the actor couldn't help asking.
"A battalion!" Shulka replied.
This situation also surprised Shulka. According to the previous practice, the Soviet infantry should collapse quickly under the impact of the enemy's armored forces.
Later, Shulka learned that apart from the bravery of the 316 Infantry Division from Kazakhstan, another reason was that they were equipped with PTRD anti-tank guns... The German armored division was also equipped with many "No. 2" tanks in the early days. To make up for the lack of front-line tanks, and in the muddy ground, the Germans prefer to use the lighter "No. 2" tanks for assault, because they are worried that the "No. 3" tanks will be stuck in the mud and cannot move.
This gives the PTRD anti-tank gun a chance to play.
This anti-tank gun can penetrate 25MM thick vertical armor at a distance of 500 meters, while the side armor of the "No. 2" tank is only 16MM thick.
Although the "No. 2" tank has 30MM frontal armor, the PTRD anti-tank rifle can still penetrate it from the front at about 200 meters.
This is definitely a tragedy for the German armored forces... The enemy only needs to set up a gun and a rifle. Although it is two meters long and weighs 17 kilograms, it needs two people to carry it one after the other, but it can be done after all. A quick and maneuverable gun.
The bullet it fires can open a hole in the tank and disable the tank, which is unacceptable by any means.
Especially the fighters of the 316th Infantry Division also adopted a tactic... They combined several anti-tank guns to attack the same target, so that the probability of destroying the target could be increased exponentially.
As a result, the "No. 2" tanks were paralyzed on the way to attack. The German army didn't even know the reason for a long time, thinking that the tanks were malfunctioning.
The "No. 3" tank advanced hard in the mud, but was blocked by the "Katyusha" rocket and defeated.
But the PTRD anti-tank gun has some weak successors...
First of all, it is basically ineffective against the "Pan 3" tank, and it cannot penetrate its 37MM frontal armor at any distance.
Secondly, the recoil force of this anti-tank gun is too large, and the shoulder feels like being kicked by a donkey at the moment of firing.
The situation of the shooter is usually to shoot a bullet with the right shoulder, then switch to the other shoulder and shoot a bullet with the left shoulder, and then switch back to the right shoulder and fire another bullet.
After three bullets, the human body has basically reached the limit, and the shooter is unable to fight and should go to the hospital to recuperate.
Therefore, about twenty minutes later, when the German army launched a second wave of offensive, the troops of the 316th Division gradually became exhausted.
Colonel Katukov commanded the battle in Tver... He had to be in Tver, only he was in Tver to deceive others.
He ordered the antiaircraft artillery battalion to retreat to the line of defense as soon as he heard the report.
Then he made a phone call to the 316th Division headquarters.
"You should retreat!" Colonel Katukov said: "Withdraw the troops on the outer defense line!"
"I'm about to send reinforcements there!" Panfilov, the commander of the 316th Division, replied: "We can't lose there!"
"Don't worry, Comrade Panfilov!" Katukov replied: "We will not lose our position, you can prepare the reserve team to counterattack!"
(end of this chapter)
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