Chapter 794 German-Soviet War (93)

Moscow.

"..." Stalin in the underground office smoked his pipe silently, and on the table in front of him was a telegram that had just been sent from Stalingrad, which urgently needed medicines. In fact, there was no shortage of medicines in the rear, especially in Moscow; the medicines produced by the Soviet Union itself and supported by the Americans were piled up like mountains; although there was no magic medicine like penicillin, the rest, such as sulfonamide drugs, were very abundant.

But the problem was that they could not break through the encirclement of the German army outside Stalingrad, and even if they stockpiled more supplies, they could not enter Stalingrad.

Stalin would naturally not easily give up the city named after him. They tried various methods, such as airdrops. But the German army deployed mobile radar vehicles near Stalingrad, and all aircraft that entered the airspace within 50 kilometers around Stalingrad would be shot down without exception.

Another example is the use of the Volga River, but the banks of the Volga River had long been occupied by the German army, and the German army had laid dense mines in the river, making it impossible for surface ships or underwater submarines to pass. Moreover, at night, the searchlights set up by the German army on both sides of the river would illuminate the river surface as if it were daytime.

Before they could come up with a way to support Stalingrad, bad news came from the front line. The German troops that had besieged Smolensk began to advance towards Moscow after resting for more than half a month.

On the outskirts of a town more than 100 kilometers away from Smolensk, the German vanguard encountered the Soviet army and immediately launched a fierce battle. This Soviet army was a pure infantry team. Lacking heavy weapons, they had no power to fight back against the German tanks. The bullets fired hit the armor of the jackal tanks, and had no effect except making crackling sounds and scraping off some paint.

The German steel behemoths crushed these Soviet troops mercilessly.

After easily destroying the Soviet troops on the periphery, the German army, which was about to attack the town, suddenly saw several heavy tanks slowly driving out of the town.

"Hey! It's the Soviet IS-1 heavy tank!!" As early as when the Soviets made the IS-1 prototype, the detailed data of this tank had been distributed to the German tank troops, so they recognized the big guys on the opposite side at a glance. Knowing that these IS-1 heavy tanks are equipped with 85mm artillery, the initial velocity of the tracer high-speed armor-piercing projectile is 1030 meters/second, which can penetrate a 130mm thick vertical armor plate at a distance of 1000 meters; the initial velocity of the tracer armor-piercing projectile is 800 meters/second, which can penetrate a 102mm thick vertical armor plate at a distance of 1000 meters. In other words, at a distance of one thousand meters, these heavy tanks are enough to pose a threat to their side, but their number is a little small, only five.

"You want to stop with just these few..." Before he finished speaking, the corners of the German tank company commander's mouth twitched slightly. Behind these five IS-1 heavy tanks were BT-7, T-26, KV-1, KV-2, and even American M3 light tanks and M3 "Grant/Lee" medium tanks, etc.; one after another, seemingly endless.

"Hey, these guys, get ready to fight!" He was not a coward, and he could not run away without firing a shot. He had to destroy these IS-1 heavy tanks. But before he finished speaking, he saw an IS-1 heavy tank on the opposite side suddenly stopped, and then a puff of black smoke came out of the muzzle.

"Tsk tsk, these idiots!" The company commander sneered. At this time, the distance between the two sides was about 1,500 meters. He did not believe that the Soviet artillery shells could cause them any harm. Sure enough, the shell fell far away on the earth slope behind the German tank, splashing a piece of mud.

Soon, the distance between the two sides was reduced to 1,200 meters, and the company commander gave a loud order. "Stop! Fire!"

"Boom!"

The driver immediately stepped on the brakes. While the car was stopping, the gunner had already prepared and stepped hard on the trigger. With a loud bang, the whole tank shook, and a 75mm armor-piercing shell flew out of the muzzle and headed straight for the IS-1 heavy tank opposite. However, contrary to everyone's expectations, the shell did not hit the Soviet tank, but flew over the tank and fell into the town behind.

"Beck, you idiot! Aim and shoot again!"

"Boom!"

The second shell was fired, and this time it accurately hit the front armor of the IS-1 heavy tank, but this shell obviously did not penetrate the armor. The tank shook twice and continued to move forward.

"Hey, what the hell! Switch to armor-piercing shells!"

Because the tungsten core armor-piercing shells of our side have been invincible and unbeaten so far, armor-piercing shells with discarded sabots have almost no use; plus its high cost, each tank only carries about five.

Although most of the later generations fired armor-piercing shells with large-caliber smoothbore guns, the rifling of armor-piercing shells not only did not play any role, but also dragged down the stability of the shells and brought unnecessary resistance. Fortunately, the stubborn British held on to their rifled guns and figured out a way to fire armor-piercing shells with rifled guns. As a result, this time and space benefited Yannick and the German tank troops.

The loader quickly stuffed the armor-piercing shell into the barrel and reported loudly. "Loading completed!"

"Stop, fire!" Following the company commander's order, the tank fired the armor-piercing shell. Not disappointing Yannick's advance deployment, this armor-piercing shell showed its powerful penetration ability, easily penetrating the front armor of the IS-1 heavy tank, and the entire tank exploded, and none of the Soviet tankmen inside could escape.

The remaining four tanks were also destroyed one after another.

"Prepare to fire smoke bombs." Looking at the Soviet tanks rushing over, the company commander felt a little scared. Although he was not a coward, he was not a reckless man. Just when he was about to fire smoke bombs and get away, suddenly a dense stream of rockets covered the attack area of ​​the Soviet tanks. With the explosions one after another, several Il-10 attack aircraft flew across the sky.

After firing rockets, the Il-10 attack aircraft formation did not rush to leave, but circled in the air. After the smoke on the ground dissipated slightly, it dived down again and fired fiercely at the remaining Soviet tanks. The 20mm machine gun tracer bullets were connected in a straight line, hitting the Soviet tanks they locked on with sparks. Another huge explosion was heard, and a Soviet tank exploded, and the turret flew far away.

"Haha! This support came just in time! Everyone, attack forward! Destroy these ignorant bastards!" The attack of the attack aircraft reduced the number ratio of the two sides from the original 5:1 to less than 3:1, which made the German tank soldiers excited and immediately rushed towards the Soviet tank group.

(Sorry, one chapter today)