Chapter 723 Embarrassed
However, this can be said to be a good thing or a bad thing.
The good thing is that Shulka and Trufanov finally got the German army they wanted to see, and it was a German army with good combat effectiveness... This can be seen from the fact that the German army has a large number of 88MM anti-aircraft guns.
These anti-aircraft guns caused a lot of trouble for the Soviet army to attack, especially the German army deployed them in buildings and even bunkers to shoot flat, which made it impossible for the Soviet army to knock them out with artillery and fighter planes. However, the advancing tanks of the Soviet army were destroyed one by one under these anti-aircraft guns.
It is said that it is not a good thing, because of the new political commissar.
This new political commissar is called Shevchenko. Unfortunately, Trufanov told him that he is just a commander who will desperately urge the troops to charge again and again... Maybe this is why the Supreme Command will send him The reason for coming to "assist" in command of the 51st Army.
"According to our intelligence, the enemy has only one armored division, one armored division!" Shevchenko yelled at a group of Soviet officers at the meeting, including Shulka.
"And what about us?" Shevchenko said, shaking his fists: "We have an entire army group with nearly nine times the strength of the enemy, but we can't do anything to the enemy's defense line?! What's the problem? It's because we didn't fight resolutely enough! You guys Knowing that our mission is to penetrate and surround the enemy! The ridiculous thing is that we were blocked by a division of the enemy..."
"Comrade Commissar!" Trufanov said: "The enemy has occupied a favorable terrain, and the defense is very tight!"
"So what?" Shevchenko asked rhetorically: "Did the 51st Army fight every battle when the enemy was unprepared and the terrain was unfavorable? If not, how did the previous battles win? of?"
After a pause, Shevchenko ordered in an unquestionable voice: "Attack, understand? Unless you have my order, never stop your offensive steps!"
"Yes, Comrade Political Commissar!" Trufanov replied helplessly, while turning his gaze to Shulka and shaking his head slightly.
Thus, teams of soldiers were sent to the battlefield to charge the German defense line, and teams of soldiers were beaten back.
The German defense was completely set up against the Soviet tank troops. There are two anti-tank trenches in front...the reason why there are two anti-tank trenches is because the 88MM anti-aircraft gun has a long range, and it can penetrate from the front at a distance of one kilometer. Soviet T34 tank.
Because the 88MM anti-aircraft gun has such a powerful armor-piercing ability, it is necessary to build two anti-tank trenches...Anti-tank trenches are usually used with the firepower of anti-tank guns.
The reason is needless to say, the anti-tank trench is dead, if it is not matched with artillery fire, it will be easily filled by enemy engineers and then unimpeded.
But if the anti-tank trenches are equipped with mortars, howitzers or even anti-tank guns, the situation is different.
Enemy engineers will be killed by mortars and howitzers as soon as they come up to fill the trenches.
At this time, the enemy needs to use tanks to cover the engineers and suppress the opponent's artillery fire for construction, and then the anti-tank guns will work. With a few "booms", the tanks that were blocked in front of the anti-tank trenches as human shields will be blown into the sky.
This will make the enemy have nothing to do, or pay a lot of casualties but only achieve very small results. If they attack by force, they will have to fill up those anti-tank trenches with corpses.
Of course, this requires anti-tank trenches to be built according to the range of anti-tank guns.
If the anti-tank trench is built too far, the anti-tank gun cannot penetrate the frontal armor of the enemy tank at this distance, it is basically the same as no anti-tank gun.
So usually, the German army built an anti-tank trench about 200 meters in front of the trench. Only at this distance can the PAK38 anti-tank guns equipped by the German army be able to penetrate the Soviet T34 tank. (Note: PAK38 can penetrate 88MM vertical armor at a distance of 300 meters, and T34 frontal armor is 90MM)
Two hundred meters can be said to be the limit, because if it is closer, the shovel mortars equipped by the Soviet army can suppress the German anti-tank guns, which is unbearable for the German army, so the anti-tank trenches will be lost. significance.
Of course, it doesn’t make sense if it’s far away, because anti-tank can’t penetrate.
Similarly, the German army usually does not need to build two anti-tank trenches, because the far one will not play much role.
But it is different now. The German army is equipped with a large number of 88MM anti-aircraft guns, which can penetrate the front of the tank from a distance of one kilometer...So the German army boldly built two anti-tank trenches in front of the defense line.
The first road is built at 400 meters, and the second road is at 200 meters.
When the Soviet tanks advance to 400 meters, they will be hit by German anti-aircraft guns. Even if the Soviet engineers and tank soldiers risk their lives to fill up the anti-tank trenches, they will then encounter another anti-tank trench... Here, they will encounter a double blow from anti-aircraft guns and anti-tank guns.
As a result, in just half a day, the defense line was full of Soviet tank wreckage and corpses.
Trufanov took some time to find Shulka. As soon as he saw Shulka, he said, "I take that back, Comrade Shulka! You'd better find a way for us to break through this line of defense!" "
Shulka shook his head and replied: "Comrade Trufanov, I don't know how to break through this line of defense. Besides, if we break through this line of defense, you know what will be waiting for us ahead!"
"I know!" Trufanov said: "But is there any difference between us now? It will only take a few days if this continues, and our 51st Army will be wiped out!"
Shulka didn't know how to answer.
But Shulka knew that even as Trufanov said, the 51st Army would not be able to break through the line of defense, because that would be just a few more days, and the 51st Army would soon be driven by Manstein Because of the 11th Army surrounded.
What's the point of living a few more days?
This is tantamount to drinking poison to quench thirst, he shouldn't be so impatient.
But from a certain point of view, what Trufanov said is right. Rather than dying at the gunpoint of the enemy for no apparent reason, it is better to kill a lot, at least to draw a few Germans. People put their backs.
At this time Shulka's phone rang, and Denisokov answered the phone and told Shulka: "It's Comrade Khrushchev!"
Shulka glanced at Trufanov, and Trufanov's eyes showed some weirdness... Everyone knows what Khrushchev called to find Shulka at this time.
Sure enough, when Shulka answered the phone, Khrushchev said on the other end of the phone: "Comrade Shulka, the battle in the direction of Stalingrad is very tense. Grow! We need you and your troops to fight!"
(end of this chapter)
