Chapter 699: Encirclement-Fearless

The current Soviet Red Army does not have T-34/85, nor the IS series of heavy tanks named after the great leader Stalin. The most effective tank killer in their hands is the T-34/57 tank.

However, since this tank was not mass-produced until after the outbreak of the world revolution, and the 57mm main gun is difficult to process because of its caliber times of 72.9, the output has always been low, which greatly restricts the output of the T-34/57 tank.

More than three months after the outbreak of the world revolution, the Soviet Red Army had less than 800 T-34/57 tanks, which was not much more than the Tiger tanks owned by the German army.

But now, this very scarce T-34/57 tank has appeared in large numbers in the sight of Yakov. Zhugashvili, with more than 200 tanks!

Obviously, the commander of the Belarusian Front, Vasilevsky, has now made the greatest determination to fight a vigorous tank battle with the invading German invaders between Rakov and Zaslavl. But can victory be achieved with just over 200 T-34/57 tanks?

The Red Army armored group that was approaching aggressively included not only T-34/57 tanks, but also more T-34/76 and KV-1 tanks. They were driving on the road in a mighty manner, and even the edge could not be seen.

Seeing this scene, the soldiers of the 9th Motorized Anti-Tank Artillery Regiment who were setting up blocking positions cheered: "Ura! Ura!"

However, Yakov Zhugashvili took a deep breath. Although he only attended military school for one year and could not even be considered a truly qualified professional officer. But he had experience in the Warsaw battlefield after all, and knew that the ZIS-2 anti-tank gun was not as sharp as advertised when fighting against the German Tiger tank.

It could only threaten the Tiger at a distance of about 500 meters, and because the destructive power of the 57mm armor-piercing shells was insufficient, although it could damage the Tiger tank, it was difficult to destroy it to the point where it could not be repaired. In addition, probably because the gearbox of the German tank is front-mounted (the gearbox of the tank is large and heavy at this time), it provides additional protection for the crew members. Therefore, Yakov often saw the crew members of the Tiger and Type 4 tanks crawling out of the tanks hit by the 57mm gun and escaping intact on the battlefield of Warsaw.

The crew can run and the tank can be repaired. Such a "defeat" is just a matter of replacing a steel plate and a gearbox for Germany. For the Soviet army, once their T-31 and KV-1 tanks were destroyed by the German 75mm or 88mm guns, it is very likely that the car will be destroyed and the people will die!

Therefore, in the battle between the tank forces of both sides, the real exchange ratio is very unfavorable to the Soviet Union. So Yakov. Djugashvili really has no confidence in the upcoming tank decisive battle.

"Victory to the world revolution! Ura!"

"Defend the Soviet motherland! Ura!"

"The Red Army of Workers and Peasants! Ura!"

Just when Yakov was wavering in the prospect of the inevitable victory of the GCist cause, the morale of most of the Red Army commanders and fighters on the battlefield reached its highest point in an instant because of the massive reinforcement of the tank troops and the encouragement of the political cadres.

Their cheers spread across the battlefield that had just quieted down and reached the ears of the German officers and soldiers who had finished their formation and were preparing to launch another charge.

"The Soviet reinforcements have arrived! It seems that there are quite a lot!" Major Schwarzenegger muttered. He had heard such cheers more than once on the battlefield in Warsaw. After such cheers, if it did not happen before their large-scale offensive, it must mean that a large number of reinforcements had arrived.

The Soviet counterattack was impossible now, because the German advantage was too great, so there must be a large number of reinforcements arriving.

Obviously, the breakthrough in the Rakov area had long been expected by the Soviet high-level officials!

While Major Schwarzenegger was guessing randomly, the order to attack was issued again. I don’t know if it was because when they broke through the first line of defense of the Soviet army, they encountered an ambush by T-34/57 tanks hiding behind the mound.

So this time, the attack was first launched by the "Rhino" tank destroyer. On the battle line of more than ten kilometers, 11 battalions of "Rhino" tank destroyers (a total of 362 vehicles) rumbled to an area less than 3,000 meters away from the enemy position, and then used the 88mm guns on board to aim at any object suspected of being a "tank bunker" on the Soviet position and bombarded it fiercely.

After a while, another 10 battalions of "Wasp" self-propelled howitzers (105mm caliber) and No. 3 assault guns rumbled from the rear to the front, joining the chorus of artillery fire launched by the 88mm gun. The targets of the bombardment were no longer limited to the "mound", but expanded to various positions suspected of being front-line artillery positions, machine gun bunkers and front-line command posts. The Red Army soldiers who were rushing to the front line from the reserve position were also bombarded, but the situation was critical and they could not retreat. The motorized infantry of the 9th Mechanized Army could only bite the bullet and continue to move forward. People were constantly killed or injured by the shells that fell and exploded in the communication trenches!

The T-34/57 tanks, T34 tanks and KV-1 tanks that were lining up behind the Soviet front were now also in trouble. As soon as they came out of the hidden assembly area, they were spotted by German reconnaissance planes hovering in the sky. During the march, they were bombarded by Do217 medium bombers with a huge bomb load. Although the losses to the tanks were not large, many vehicles carrying ammunition and fuel, as well as some lightly armored armored vehicles and maintenance vehicles were damaged. The infantry also suffered heavy casualties.

When these tanks began to line up, Br.703 attack aircraft equipped with 50mm cannons and Hs129 attack aircraft equipped with 47mm cannons also came to the battlefield in groups.

These attack aircraft with strong belly armor are not afraid of ground firepower. They can hover at a height of tens of meters or even lower, and use the cannon hanging under the belly to fire high-speed armor-piercing projectiles to attack the tank's weak rear and top armor.

For these two aircraft, which are similar to the Il-2, but have far more firepower than the Il-2, the Soviet Red Army has no way to deal with it. In addition to increasing the anti-aircraft firepower of the tank brigade, it is to concentrate on P51 and Yak-1 to desperately provide air defense. support. However, the German Fokker Zero and the French D.550 are both excellent mid- and low-altitude fighters, capable of controlling the skies above the battlefield.

As for higher altitudes, the powerful Fw-190A-4 has long become the master of the air!

The Soviet tanks that had lost their air supremacy now had no choice but to bite the bullet and continue to move forward, or to hide themselves in the woods that covered the battlefield.

At this time, Yakov Dzhugashvili discovered that the battlefield he was on was originally covered with small woods, and there were places to hide everywhere. Obviously, the front army headquarters carefully selected this place as the battlefield for the decisive battle with the German armored group.

At this time, the close-range bombardment launched by German tank destroyers, assault guns and 105mm self-propelled artillery had ended, and the Tiger tanks and No. 4 tanks began to advance step by step. The Soviet artillery group, which had been suppressed since the outbreak of the decisive battle, opened fire with all its strength regardless of the threat from the air. The artillery shells fired a high wall of artillery fire at the front of the Soviet second line of defense, unbiased, and blocked right in front of the German tank group. However, for the German armored troops advancing in tanks, the firepower of howitzers and rocket launchers was not fearful at all.

Major Schwarzenegger's half-track armored command vehicle had no roof, but it still faced the Soviet artillery fire without fear. The heat wave and the choking smell of gunpowder smoke poured into the compartment from the open top of the vehicle. Major Schwarzenegger put a helmet on his head and leaned against the steel plate on the side of the compartment, praying silently in his heart.

I don’t know whether it was God showing his power, or whether German and French bombers suppressed the Red Army artillery group. Anyway, the Soviet artillery fire gradually became sparse after a few minutes. Major Schwarzenegger immediately stood up, holding on to the armored baffle of the carriage and looking left and right. In the smoke, he could only see the surrounding vehicles still rumbling forward.

He looked back again and saw a lot of burning vehicles scattered around the area that was shaped like the surface of the moon by artillery fire from both sides! Most of them are half-track armored vehicles. These light armored vehicles without roofs are still easily caught on fire in the face of intensive Soviet firepower. I wonder what happened to the people riding on them?

He finally turned around and looked forward, only to see that the leading Tiger tanks and No. 4 F tanks had rushed to only a thousand meters away from the Soviet position, and the vehicle-mounted machine guns were about to exert close-range suppression. Suddenly, a ball of fireworks burst out from the bottom of one of the Tiger tanks, and then the entire tank jerked forward a few times before coming to an abrupt stop. Then another No. 4 F tank encountered the same thing and stopped after smoke came out from the bottom.

Obviously, such a coincidence could not be a mechanical failure, and Schwarzenegger did not see any muzzle flash from the Soviet position. Then the only possibility is: anti-tank mines!

Schwarzenegger thought to himself: "The land ahead has been bombarded repeatedly by artillery fire, and there are still landmines. If it weren't for two particularly lucky landmines, it must have been the Soviet engineers who risked their lives during the shelling just now. The bravery of these Bolsheviks who rushed out of their positions to lay mines was far greater than that of the French and British!”

At this time, the German tank group did not stop advancing because it encountered a landmine. All tanks, assault artillery, and armored vehicles still maintained their original formation and rolled forward menacingly.

The distance between the two sides was getting closer and closer, but there was no counterattack firepower on the Soviet position.

Have the Soviets given up? Just when Major Schwarzenegger felt strange, someone suddenly shouted in his earphone: "Soviet tank clusters discovered! They are coming, right in front of us! There are many, maybe hundreds or thousands of vehicles!" "