Chapter 1214 Pershing Tank

"Boom! Boom!"

The German E-25 tank destroyer and the Type 4 H tank both opened fire. Whether it was the 70-caliber 75mm gun of the E-25 tank destroyer or the 48-caliber 75mm gun of the Type 4 H tank, they were both powerful. It is not comparable to the 57mm gun. The former fires tungsten core armor-piercing projectiles that can penetrate the front of the Soviet IS-2 heavy tank at a distance of 1500mm, and the M4A3 tank cannot resist it at all. The latter carries only two types of ammunition: armor-piercing shelling and high-explosive ammunition - this is a special configuration to enhance the combat capabilities of the Type 4 H tank of the Air Assault Army. It also has enough firepower to destroy the Type 4 H tank. .

Since the tank soldiers who joined the 1st Air Assault Corps are all veterans, and the firing range is not far away, within 1,000 meters (because of the use of night vision equipment, they can hit targets within 1,000 meters at night without the use of flares), so E The shells fired by No. 25 and No. 4 H-types both hit. Two more M4A3 tanks were destroyed in front of Brandt's position, but these two tanks also did not explode. Like the one destroyed by the 57mm gun before, they just stopped there and stopped moving.

Two tanks were lost at once, and the attacking Americans were obviously frightened. The last tank did not dare to fight anymore, but roared backwards. The American soldiers who originally followed the four tanks also fled together.

Seeing the Americans retreating, the German paratroopers also stopped firing. On the one hand, it was because the night was too dark to see the target (because they had night vision goggles, the German paratroopers did not fire flares, but when the opponent withdrew their night vision goggles Once the effective range is reached, the target cannot be seen clearly); on the one hand, it is to seize the time to move the position - as soon as the American tanks and infantry withdraw, the artillery bombardment will definitely begin! This time they will definitely not be stingy with artillery shells, so they cannot just stay in position and get bombed.

So they retreated back like the Americans. This brief round of firefight did not cause casualties to Brandt's platoon, but the previous shelling cost Brandt three men. On the American side, the losses were not very large. Three tanks were abandoned after being shot (they can be repaired), and a dozen tank crews were lost.

However, these loss figures are not on the entire front. The losses of the German and German armies are only on the 700-meter front that Brandt was responsible for. Firefights of the same scale occurred on the entire front, and the exchange ratio between the two sides was similar to that on the front where Brandt was responsible, which greatly favored the German army. After all, German paratroopers are experienced veterans, while most of the U.S. troops are recruits who are fighting for the first time.

But the comparison of firepower between the two sides is extremely disparate! Therefore, the German troops who had won the first battle retreated about 1,500 meters across the board. Although they escaped a fierce shelling during this retreat, they also lost their position. Because the defense was deployed too hastily, the German paratroopers did not have time to dig a few trenches. They only dug some foxholes and built some simple firepower points, but now they have all been discarded.

However, in a battle between mechanized infantry and armored forces, a solid position is not a necessary condition for a decisive victory.

After abandoning their defensive positions, the German paratroopers obtained some more landmines and took advantage of the American shelling to bury them in front of the new line of defense. These mines could be used to delay the pursuit of the US military.

At the same time, 29 E-25 tank destroyers and No. 4 H tanks all drove to the front line. However, they did not spread out for cold shots, but concentrated in the center of the battle line. After the previous test fire, the German army It is basically determined that the focus of the US military's attack will be on the center. So now we can concentrate our armored forces to give the Americans a hard blow!

29 tanks and tank destroyers pulled out a line of less than 1,000 meters. More than a hundred 57mm guns (captured) and 105mm recoilless rifles were loosely placed on both sides of the defense line.

Second Lieutenant Brandt and more than 30 of his men have now become "armored grenadiers" covering armored group operations, and are attached to the "Schwarzenegger Group". This is a regimental-level armored battle group named after the surname of Lieutenant Colonel Gustav Schwarzenegger, commander of the 101st Air Assault Battalion. In addition to 29 tanks and tank destroyers, there are more than 20 wheeled armored vehicles and command vehicles, including artillery "Puma" armored vehicles.

Brandt's platoon was assigned to a tank destroyer platoon with four E-25 tank destroyers. With the help of the dim night, Brandt observed this seemingly low-looking steel behemoth. Its appearance is somewhat similar to the "Stalker" and the "Oliga Hammer", but it is obviously "fatter" and the main gun is longer, reaching 70 times the caliber - which means stronger penetration ability !

In addition, each E-25 tank destroyer is equipped with two blackened searchlights. Brandt knew that these were infrared searchlights, which allowed the German army using infrared night vision telescopes to see targets 1,000 meters away in the dark!

Now four E-25s are lined up in a row, and all eight infrared headlights have been turned on. With the help of these 8 infrared headlights, Brandt can use his night telescope to see farther targets.

Soon the US armored forces started attacking again, and this time the Americans seemed to be serious. As soon as the shelling stopped, Brandt heard the roar of tank engines from a distance. After a while, Brandt saw several large tanks that looked obviously different from the M4 tanks through the eyepiece of the night vision telescope - the turrets and main guns of these tanks were very large, and they looked a bit like the Soviet JS-2 "Stalin" tanks from a distance!

Brandt immediately put down the night vision binoculars in his hand, turned around and ran to an E-25 tank destroyer with its top hatch open, and shouted to a SS lieutenant who was half out of the hatch on the top of the vehicle: "Lieutenant Schmidt, did you see it? The American heavy tank!"

"Yes, it's their T-26 tank." The SS lieutenant named Schmidt was also observing through a night vision binoculars clamped on the top of the vehicle, "But it's bad luck for them to encounter the E-25... The E-25 is made to deal with such a big guy."

"But there seem to be a lot of them!" Brandt was a little worried.

Now appearing on the battlefield is the M-26 "Pershing" tank (an improved version of the T-26), with a combat weight of 41.9 tons, equipped with a 70-caliber 90mm cannon, and has the ability to destroy the E-50 tank at a distance of 1,000 meters.

In fact, this heavy tank was developed to deal with the E-50, but they encountered the E-25, the little brother of the E-50 tonight. If it were daytime, the E-25, with a combat weight of only 27 tons, would definitely not be able to deal with the huge M26. Fortunately, it is night now.

"It's not a big deal," said Lieutenant Schmidt, "It's night now. We have night vision equipment, but they don't!"

"Tatatata..."

The conversation between the two was interrupted by a sharp gunshot. The coaxial machine gun of an E-25 tank destroyer fired, and the tracer bullet was like a flashing chain, lashing the front of the huge tank, splashing a spark. Then there was a "boom" sound of artillery. A 75mm caliber pointed tungsten core bullet slammed into the 120mm thick upper armor plate on the front of an M26 tank more than 800 meters away, and penetrated it effortlessly. The shell exploded inside the vehicle body. Although there was no sympathetic ammunition, it still made this seemingly indestructible tank lose its combat effectiveness instantly.

The first E-25 to fire was controlled by Lieutenant Colonel Schwarzenegger himself, which was the signal for all to fire.

Seeing the first round hit, the remaining E-25 tanks and No. 4H tanks also opened fire immediately. The bullets of the coaxial machine guns and the 75mm armor-piercing shells were fired like raindrops, and the seven or eight "Pershing" and "Sherman" tanks in the front were immediately covered by them, and they were hit and caught fire one after another!

Perhaps the effortless destruction of the "Pershing" tank scared the US military, and all the US tanks on the battlefield stopped moving at the same time. Then a row of flares came over, illuminating the center of the battlefield and the surroundings of the German tank cluster like daylight.

"Boom! Boom! Boom..."

The German tanks/tank destroyers continued to fire, and several more "Pershing" and "Sherman" were hit, and two of them exploded and caught fire. The remaining US tanks have found the location of the German tanks with the help of the light of the flares and began to turn the turrets.

"Smoke bomb! Fire the smoke bomb quickly!" Lieutenant Colonel Schwarzenegger, standing on a Steyr command vehicle, shouted into the communicator.

His order was not given to Brandt and other paratroopers, but directly to various types of tanks on the battlefield. It turned out that the E-25 tank destroyer, the No. 4 H tank, the Puma armored vehicle and other armored combat vehicles were equipped with smoke launchers, which could be directly controlled by the commander to launch smoke bombs.

In fact, this design existed in the early days of World War II, but at that time, German armored vehicles had an advantage on the battlefield and did not encounter too many threats, so they hid this design to avoid being copied by opponents. It was not until the end of the Soviet-German War that the German Wehrmacht Armored Forces Command installed the smoke launchers that had been hidden for several years on tanks and armored vehicles, preparing to use smoke to cover the transfer of tanks in the next American operations.

So it was the first time that American tank soldiers on the battlefield encountered tanks that could emit smoke. Facing the battlefield that suddenly became smoky, they were a little stunned and didn't know where to shoot.

Taking advantage of the opponent's daze, Schwarzenegger immediately issued an order to retreat - he had too little capital in his hands, and it was impossible to fight the Americans head-on. As long as we can delay until the main force of the 1st Airborne Army captures Port Carbonier and Port Grace, the mission will be accomplished.