Chapter 369: Soviet-Finnish War (21)

Although the Maus tank (for convenience, I won't give it another name, it won't survive more than two chapters anyway) was paralyzed 800 meters away from the Mannoheim Line and couldn't move, it was not completely useless.

It was invulnerable to weapons and served as a fixed turret there to support the Soviet army's charge, which was quite disadvantageous to the Finnish army.

The Finnish anti-tank guns had to move their positions quickly after firing at most two rounds, otherwise they would be bombarded by the Maus tank's 152mm or 2mm tank guns. In a short time, the Finnish army had lost eight anti-tank guns, which was an unprecedented loss.

As a result, the anti-tank efficiency was greatly reduced. If it weren't for the Finnish soldiers holding the Panzerfaust 150 to fight to the death, the Soviet steel torrent would have almost broken through the Finnish defense line several times.

The fierce battle lasted until nightfall, and both sides were exhausted before it calmed down a little.

The Maus tank, which was still paralyzed and unable to move, was a bit awkward. The Soviet army could not leave it alone, so they could only set up camp not far away.

The two sides stared at each other a few hundred meters apart.

Lavrenkin in the Maus tank sighed deeply. After some investigation, they found that an important component in the motor was damaged. This component had to be shipped from the factory, and it was quite troublesome to replace it. Even if they worked all night, it would take until tomorrow morning to repair it at the earliest.

In fact, all of them knew that such a super tank was a useless existence. Instead of building such a time-consuming, labor-intensive and costly big guy, it would be more cost-effective to build a few more ordinary tanks.

But this was a task personally issued by the great leader Comrade Stalin. They could only bite the bullet and dare not have any complaints or objections. Even if they did, they could only keep it to themselves for the sake of their own lives and the lives of their families.

The people in the Finnish defense command were also depressed. If the big tank came closer, they might be able to destroy it with the Panzerfaust 150, but it just stopped at a distance and acted as a fixed artillery position, causing them heavy losses. It had destroyed 17 anti-tank guns and several bunkers that day. If this continued, the defense line would not be able to stop the Soviet army's steel torrent in less than two days.

"How about sending a death squad to destroy it tonight?" someone suggested.

"I don't think it will succeed." Lieutenant Colonel Hans shook his head. "The Soviets are obviously also prepared for this move. They dug a trench in front of the big tank to guard it. Sending people over will only increase casualties."

Just as everyone was racking their brains to discuss countermeasures, an order came from the Finnish Army's highest command, asking the front-line troops to fire flares near the big tank half an hour later.

"Great!" Everyone was immediately overjoyed. It seemed that the superiors had already thought of a way to destroy the damn big tank, so they immediately ordered the front-line positions to prepare to fire flares.

Half an hour later.

"Bang-bang-bang" Several flares were fired into the sky, and the front of the Finnish position was suddenly illuminated by the dazzling light as if it were daytime. The flares not only have a sustainable burning illuminant, but also are equipped with a small heat-resistant parachute. The small parachute will open at a preset height to extend the flare's air time. One flare can burn for about a minute and illuminate the target within a radius of 1 kilometer.

Faced with the sudden light, the Soviet soldiers on the opposite side did not know what the Finnish army was going to do, and they were on alert in a panic.

Originally thought that the Finnish army was going to attack, but after staring for a long time, there was no big movement in the Finnish position on the opposite side, just firing flares into the sky from time to time.

After a few minutes, suddenly heard the rumbling sound of the engine behind the Finnish defense line.

"It's an enemy plane! Prepare for air defense operations!!"

The Soviet army hurriedly set up anti-aircraft machine guns, and the roar was getting closer and closer. With the light of the flares, they saw that it was an Il-2 attack aircraft. Although the Soviet bomber group destroyed most of the Finnish airports as much as possible at the risk of terrible losses, you have to know that during World War II, airplanes could take off as long as there was a relatively flat open space or grass.

"Fire!" The anti-aircraft machine guns on the ground fired at the attack planes frantically, and the sky was full of tracer bullets. However, the shooting of these machine guns at night only played a little interference role.

The flight formation composed of six Il-2 attack aircraft directly ignored the anti-aircraft firepower on the ground, flew directly over the Maus tank, and began to drop bombs. Each attack aircraft was equipped with 5 100 kg napalm bombs. Bombs fell near the Maus tank one by one. Because it was a low-altitude bombing, the accuracy was relatively high. The closest one was only one meter away from the tank.

"Boom boom boom!" With the sound of violent explosions, a dozen meters high fire columns splashed near the tank, and the flames splashed and smoke rose to the sky. The raging fire instantly engulfed the entire Maus tank.

Ordinary aerial bombs will stop after they explode, but napalm bombs will continue to burn after they explode, just like volcanic lava flows. More importantly, the explosives in them will explode the napalm into flying fire blocks.

Fire blocks like ointment fell on the bodies of nearby Soviet soldiers. The severe pain caused by the burning of the fire blocks on their bodies made those soldiers desperately slap them with their hands, but the more they slapped, the bigger the fire became. Some soldiers with flames all over their bodies tried to roll on the snow to put out the fire, but it further increased the fire and made their whole bodies burn. Some of them, because there were more fire blocks on their bodies, threw the fire blocks on their comrades around them when they struggled, causing further secondary casualties.

"Ah..."

The burning napalm and human fat burned, and countless firemen screamed heartbreakingly, struggling and running. The flames kept falling on other soldiers as they struggled. The firemen who still had a trace of consciousness often rushed to crowded places to seek help from others, but instead attracted the flames to more people.

"Quick, run..."

When the Soviet soldiers saw their comrades being set on fire while trying to rescue their comrades, and saw a comrade rushing towards them, they immediately screamed loudly and fled in the opposite direction.

If they could choose, they would not be willing to abandon their comrades and run away like this, but now, they were stunned by everything in front of them.

Finally, after an unknown amount of time, everything was over. When those struggling firemen fell down one by one, the Soviet soldiers who were hiding far away dared to approach cautiously. They found that not everyone was burned to death. Many people were still alive. In those human-shaped "charred" heads, pairs of white eyes still revealed deep pain, and hoarse shouts still came from their throats.