USSR 1941

  Chapter 82 Water mist

   Those are the German "No. 1" and "No. 2" tanks. These tanks are indeed lighter and more suitable for attacking in mud.

  But light tanks often bring thin armor. For example, the No. 1 tank is only 5.4 tons, and its frontal armor is only 13 mm.

  This armor thickness is obviously outdated, the Soviet 37MM and 45MM anti-tank guns can easily penetrate their armor.

The problem is that the line of sight will be affected under the heavy rain... Just like now, after a burst of artillery fire from the German army, a cloud of water mist was created around the position. scattered.

  The German army then fired mortar shells and formed a heavy mist, as if it was a smoke bomb.

  This makes the visibility very low, and you can barely see the front more than ten meters away. Even the tank has only a vague shadow.

   On the other hand, the quality of Soviet gunners is not high... There is no doubt about this, the army is full of untrained recruits, even artillery is no exception.

   This was mainly caused by the fact that the Soviet army was beaten and retreated as soon as the battle started by surprise: the troops left a large amount of equipment and a considerable number of casualties during the retreat, so the equipment and organization were in varying degrees of confusion.

  For example, the Soviet Army’s 37MM anti-tank gun was actually decommissioned a month ago, that is, it was moved back to the warehouse to replace it with a 45MM anti-tank gun, but because of the outbreak of the war, the 37MM gun was moved out again due to insufficient equipment.

   Another example is the establishment of the 333rd Regiment, which was previously incorporated into the 79th Division and is now incorporated into the 78th Division for various reasons.

   And there are many cases like this, which means that many troops are actually put together by various troops.

As a result, the Soviet anti-tank guns hidden in the fortifications fired at the target one after another, but the German tanks kept pushing forward with a "cracking" sound. At the same time, the machine guns and machine guns on the turret were still Pieces of bullets were fired at the Soviet trenches with a "squeak".

The quality of the German army is obviously much better than that of the Soviet army. Even in this situation, they can accurately hit the target... There is a 45MM anti-tank gun position more than ten meters behind Shulka. There was a "clang clang" sound on the shield, followed by a scream.

   Apparently, the machine gun bullet pierced the shield of the anti-tank gun and wounded the gunner hiding behind it.

   "How did they do it?" The actor lying next to Shulka asked suspiciously.

   Although the actor did not elaborate, Shulka understood what he meant.

  If the Soviet gunners had difficulty hitting the German tanks due to poor visibility, then the same should be true for the German tankers... The water mist around the position can't distinguish the enemy or their own.

   But even so, the Germans were still able to hit the target, but the Soviets were not.

Just now Shulka attributed it to the issue of "quality", but after thinking about it, he felt something was wrong... If you can't see the target, no matter how good the quality is, it will not help, not to mention that the Soviet anti-tank artillery positions are well hidden .

It should be said that anti-tank guns still have advantages against tanks. This is not only because it has a wider field of vision and makes it easier to spot enemies, but also because it has a low body and can be camouflaged. It is difficult for enemies in tanks to Discover the anti-tank guns hidden in the positions.

   But now the fact is the opposite.

   After observing for a while, Shulka soon knew that he had found the reason.

   "Water vapor, Okunev!" Shulka said: "Water vapor when the cannon was fired!"

  The actor quickly understood... After the anti-tank gun fired, the hot shell would form a trajectory made of water vapor in the rain. Although this trajectory can only exist for a few seconds, it was enough for the German army.

   "Report to Comrade Second Lieutenant!" Shulka ordered the actors: "Don't let the anti-tank guns fire indiscriminately, this will reveal their position!"

   "Yes!" The actor replied, then turned around and ran towards the company.

   After a while, the Soviet anti-tank troops were quiet for a while... Only then did Shulka feel relieved, because the actor's report had worked.

The reason why I say rest assured is because the communication equipment of the Soviet army is very bad. Shulka reports to the company commander, the company commander has to call the regiment headquarters, and then the regiment headquarters informs the artillery, and the artillery then conveys the order... Among them If there is a problem in any link or if any commander disagrees, Shulka's suggestion cannot be implemented.

   But now it seems that this situation does not exist, and there is a response in only two minutes, which is quite fast for the Soviet army.

What Shulka didn't know was that as soon as Major Gavrilov heard that it was Shulka's report, he immediately ordered the artillery to stop firing... Major Gavrilov knew the army better than Shulka, he knew It would be much easier to order to stop firing at this point.

   Then, Major Gavrilov explained slowly to the commander of the artillery battalion on the phone.

  After the anti-tank guns stopped firing, the German tanks lost their target.

  At this time, a strange scene happened: the battlefield suddenly fell silent, and both the enemy and us were waiting for the enemy to fire but did not dare to fire easily, because firing the bullet would mean exposing one's position to the enemy.

   Soon, the Soviet army gained the upper hand.

  Because the water mist near the position gradually dissipated, the German tanks gradually became clear, especially when the exhaust exhaust of the tanks would be shrouded in a cloud of water vapor behind...

   After a few "boom booms", several anti-tank guns fired at the target at the same time, and soon saw a plume of black smoke, and then burst into flames.

  The fire illuminated the nearby German army again, and the Soviet army immediately fired a bunch of bullets and shells to suppress it.

  In the light of the fire, Shulka noticed that German soldiers jumped out of the anti-tank trench ahead.

This surprised Shulka, because it means that the German infantry has passed the tank and approached the trench... This is indeed a good idea, even the tank itself is used to attract the attention of the Soviet army, and then the German infantry touched the Soviet army In front of the position, and then after a row of grenades, use the advantage of MP38 to launch a charge.

  Shuerka didn't think much, and immediately shouted: "Grenade!"

   After giving an order, the soldiers put down their weapons, ignited the grenade, and then slammed it towards the front of the position... The way to deal with the grenade attack is to throw the grenade in front of the enemy first.

  Shuerka guessed right. Amidst the bursts of "booming" explosions, there were screams of German soldiers in the mist.

  The other Soviet troops suddenly came to their senses, only then did they realize that the Germans had reached them, and hurriedly threw the incendiary grenades forward.

  (end of this chapter)