USSR 1941

  Chapter 119 Playing Dead

   "Comrade company commander!" Shulka raised his head forward while following the tank, and said, "Did you see that anti-tank trench?"

   "Yes!" Davydov asked: "Is that of any use?"

   "Smoke bomb!" Shulka said: "Then hide in it and play dead when the enemy artillery attacks, I mean our company, including tanks..."

"Comrade Shulka!" The deputy instructor interrupted Shulka angrily: "As a sergeant, you actually said such a thing, pretending to be dead? And let the whole company pretend to be dead? This will harm other comrades in arms , will lead to the failure of the entire attack!"

  The deputy instructor made some sense, because this attack involved an infantry battalion plus two tank companies with 29 tanks. (Note: 32 vehicles in total)

  If Davydov, that is, Shulka's company, deserts, this is likely to mean the entire offense.

  The deputy instructor then threatened Davydov with this: "Comrade company commander, you cannot agree to do this. This is surrender, mutiny, and disobedience to orders. This is responsible for possible failures!"

  As for what kind of responsibility to bear, Shulka knows it well, and so does Davydov.

  Davydov hesitated, and then asked Shulka: "Play dead, and then what?"

   "Then when Germany thinks we are retreating and letting our guard down, attack!" Shulka replied.

   Davydov nodded, and then asked the assistant instructor: "Is this not a surrender?"

   "But Comrade Company Commander!" The deputy instructor said: "This is still disobeying orders, which will cause serious consequences. No one can bear this responsibility..."

   "Enough, Comrade Olga!" At this moment Pukarev squeezed up and said: "Our purpose is to defeat the enemy alive, not to obey orders for the sake of obeying orders!"

   "Yes!" A big man beside him agreed: "This is not greedy for life and fear of death, but just a change of tactics!"

  The deputy instructor wanted to say something, but was interrupted by Davydov.

   "If there is any problem, I will be responsible!" Davydov said: "Because I gave the order!"

   Speaking of Davydov, he no longer hesitated, and ordered: "Pass on the order, target the anti-tank trench, and lie in wait!"

   "Target anti-tank trench, ambush!

  …

  In fact, everyone knows what "lurking" means, and it is still in front of the enemy's position.

   But Davydov was worried, and added another sentence: "After reaching the anti-tank trench, you are not allowed to charge with other troops, pretend to be dead!"

   This order is a bit like an order, but it was later realized that it was necessary, because many recruits have no idea what "lurking" means.

  The tank continued to move forward, approaching the enemy's defense line step by step.

  Because of the rain, Shulka couldn't see the enemy, and could only vaguely see a trench a few hundred meters away.

Shulka could almost imagine German soldiers sprawled in the trenches, aiming their rifles at the tanks that gradually became clear, and they remained motionless despite the bean-sized raindrops hitting their helmets softly .

   Of course, there are also machine guns and anti-tank guns.

Although the German army was not prepared enough, they still believed that they could repel the Russian army in front of them, because... they fought all the way from Poland to here, and they hardly encountered any Russian army that could stop them for hundreds of kilometers, which gave them great confidence. Or it can be said to underestimate the enemy.

   Shulka guessed right.

   Stationed here is a regiment of the German army, the commander is Colonel Marcus.

  Colonel Marcus didn’t think the Russians could break through their defenses, because he found that the Russians were using light tanks…

   "These light tanks are useless!" Colonel Markus said to the adjutant: "Our artillery will blow them to pieces! So, if the Russians are smart, they should detour!"

   "Of course!" the lieutenant replied: "But detours are not a good option, because we will appear in front of them and block them before they go around!"

   Then the two laughed.

  This may be said to be arrogant, because the German army has only one infantry division, while the Soviet army has one army, two armored divisions and one motorized division.

But if you take the previous battles as examples, you can’t be considered arrogant, because the German army has been winning more with less since the beginning of the war. As for the Soviet armored forces... they are usually vulnerable, except for the heavy armor of heavy tanks. Headache outside.

   But of course, in this case, it is impossible for the Soviet army to bring heavy tanks.

   It's just that Marcus and the other German troops didn't expect that what they were facing was not the Soviet army they thought.

In fact, Colonel Marcus has already noticed it, because in the previous attacks, the Russians have used tanks to cover the infantry and launched a charge... Before, the infantry and tanks were usually mixed together and rushed forward, and the tanks and infantry almost fought separately. There is no coordination at all.

  But after repelling the two Soviet attacks, Marcus let go of his hanging heart again.

   "But that's it!" Colonel Marcus said: "I can't believe that they used this kind of tank to break through the encirclement of the Sixth Army!"

   "They broke out with heavy tanks!" replied the adjutant.

   Colonel Marcus said "Oh".

  Looking at the approaching Soviet tanks, Colonel Marcus put down his binoculars, and coldly ordered the adjutant beside him: "Order the artillery to fire!"

   "Yes, the artillery fires!"

   "Fire!"

  …

The cannonballs roared with a disgusting sound, which Shulka did not like very much, like two trains passing by with their whistles blowing. It didn't take long before it turned into a whoop of "wow".

  The difference is that the trains will pass by each other, but the shells explode in pieces, just like the trains smashing into each other...

   Soon there was a mess around, the soldiers who were thrown into the air by the shells, the tanks stuck in the mud because of panic, and the recruits who were running around because of nervousness.

  More people, under the order of the officer, accelerated their speed and charged towards the enemy's line of defense.

   This is common sense, as long as you get close enough to the German defense line, you can disable its artillery.

The problem is that the German army is prepared for this, and the anti-tank guns will soon destroy the tanks that break through the blockade... The armor of the T26 is only 15MM thick, even the PAK36 anti-tank gun (that is, the Soviet 1930 type 37MM anti-tank gun tank guns) can easily penetrate them.

   At this time, the high rate of fire of the PAK36 is reflected: 13 shells per minute, one round every 4 seconds.

   That is to say, during the few minutes when the Soviet tanks rushed to the German defense line, the German PAK36 anti-tank had enough time to finish the ammunition reserve, if necessary.

  This caused the Soviet tanks to be destroyed one after another in front of the position.

  What the Germans don’t know is that these are actually just a part of…