Chapter 354 Melee
Of course Kubiler and von Funke didn't know that it was a tank unit formed by elites. They took it for granted that the Soviets were unwilling to give up the tanks aided by the British and Americans, so they randomly arranged some tank soldiers to kill They are sent to the battlefield.
So, they can also deduce that the training of this unit is insufficient, because they don't have much time to train and are not even familiar with the use of these British and American equipment.
There are even other problems such as improper maintenance, inability to coordinate the two tanks, and so on.
Therefore, they believed that the German armored forces could easily defeat this armored division.
They did exactly this, so when the battle against the 2nd Russian Guards Tank Brigade was a foregone conclusion, they separated the 7th Armored Division to deal with the "British and American armored divisions".
"Do you know?" Major General Von Funk shouted excitedly to his subordinates on the walkie-talkie in the tank: "We are dealing with British and American tanks, yes, these guys gave the tanks to Russia Man. Know where these tanks have fought our armies? Africa! Our Afrika Korps have beaten them time and time again...We can do the same!"
Then, during the march, Major General von Funk gave a brief introduction to the appearance and performance of various tanks to all the tank crew.
Many of these German tank soldiers are actually no strangers to the "Matilda" tank. The reason is that the British army stationed in France once equipped "Matilda" and fought against the German army, and the 7th Armored Division just fought against the British army. battle troops.
"Its armor is very thick, but its speed and firepower are weak!" A subordinate replied: "We fought this tank in France!"
"That's the 'Matilda 1'!" von Funke reminded: "The British improved this tank after Dunkirk, and they called it the 'Matilda 2', but you said By the way, although it has been improved, its performance characteristics are just like what you said, thick armor and insufficient firepower, so we have to use speed to attack their flanks!"
"Or melee them!"
"Yes, or melee them!" Von Funk agrees.
The reason is simple. It is not easy to attack the target tank in tank battles, even against the slow "Matilda".
Because when the German tanks turned around and turned to the side, the "Matilda" tank only needed to turn a corner to change its direction, so the frontal armor faced the German tanks again.
Even in extreme cases, the "Matilda" tanks can form a circle like a hedgehog, so that any part is an impenetrable front.
So, if it weren't for the fact that there are many more tanks than the enemy and they have an inherent advantage... just now, two German armored divisions faced a Soviet tank brigade, plus a beautiful ambush, so the Soviet army had no time to react. It can attack the side and rear armor of the T34.
But now it is an armored division that is not full of organization against a tank brigade, and the Soviet army is still ready.
If you want to attack the armor on its side, you can only fight in melee, that is, break into the enemy tank group to start a melee... This kind of battle is beneficial to the German army, because the German tanks are fast and the tank crews cooperate well with each other. The infantry and tank coordination is also better. .
At least von Funke thinks so.
So, von Funk has made up his mind at this time, if it is not so easy to threaten his rear, he should choose melee immediately.
"Target found!" At this time, the vanguard driving ahead reported to Major General von Funk: "One thousand meters away, one o'clock!"
Major General von Funke got out of the turret immediately, and then raised his binoculars to look in the direction reported by the vanguard.
Sure enough, he saw a tank troop slowly approaching them, he carefully differentiated, and then he was completely relieved... Those were indeed "Matilda" tanks, not T34.
At this time, he already has a psychological shadow on T34. As long as it is not T34, von Funke thinks it will not be a problem for his armored division.
What's more, these British and American tanks are all defeated by Rommel. If Rommel can defeat them, of course he can also defeat them!
"Go ahead!" Von Funk ordered loudly.
The Soviet army on the other side also discovered the German tanks at the same time, so the whole team immediately became tense.
"They are coming!" Lieutenant Colonel Gavrilov shouted: "Stay in formation and fight as you did during training!"
Lieutenant Colonel Gavrilov was obviously nervous because he never ordered like this before... a regiment commander, he should be commanding the whole unit or letting the battalion commander pass the order down, but now he is yelling at the soldiers .
But this does not seem surprising, because this is the first time that the 1st Guards Tank Brigade used British and American tanks to fight against the enemy. Although this tactic is theoretically feasible with the bazooka, no one has really verified it.
After waiting for a while, the M3 medium tank opened fire following Lieutenant Colonel Zahakavic's order.
It's not that Lieutenant Colonel Zahakovic was nervous, but it was originally planned... The 75mm gun of the M3 medium tank has a long-range advantage, and its speed is faster, even if it stops firing. On "Matilda".
"Boom" With a burst of gunfire, several rows of shells flew towards the German tank group.
The Soviet army, including the Soviet tank soldiers, did not have hope for these shells, because they were not easy to aim (the 75MM gun has a narrow shooting range, and it can only be aimed at the enemy), so the M3 medium often needs to adjust the body orientation Aim at this process again, and at this time the target is likely to have escaped the shooting range again.
But to everyone's surprise, two German tanks were destroyed by thirty-five M3 shots.
This also surprised Major General Feng Funke.
"It's not as simple as we think, folks!" Von Funke said into the walkie-talkie: "I know what the **** they're up to, the 'Matilda' tank has strong defenses, and the 'General Grant' 'The number has a 75MM gun!"
"Yes, General!" The subordinate replied: "If we fight them at a long distance, we will face the armor of the 'Matilda' and the artillery of the 'General Grant' at the same time!"
"I have to say..." Major General von Funke said: "I am a little surprised by these Ivans, but this does not change the fact that they are about to fail!"
Speaking of this, Major General Funk paused, and then immediately ordered: "Fire smoke bombs, we will fight with them!"
"Yes, General!"
Soon, several smoke bombs hit the middle of the battlefield.
At that moment, Shulka knew that the German army had been fooled.
(end of this chapter)
