Battle of the Third Reich

The blocking shot of the "Fenris" tank sniper gun group caused serious losses to the French tank group. In the first four volleys, eight "Fenris" destroyed 19 ft17 in one fell swoop, more than half of which were on the spot It was blown into pieces, and the rest were burned into a ball of fire.

However, the French tank groups that suffered such a blow did not stop their charge. The French tankers continued their assault with firm fighting beliefs. The front tank was hit and exploded, and the rear tank immediately bypassed the pile of debris and quickly replaced the sacrificed comrade.

The number of French tanks invested in offensive is really too large. Although the "Fenris" attack is fierce and effective, it has not been able to have any substantial impact on the attacking formation of the French tank group for a while.

The German soldiers stared dumbfounded at what was happening in front of them. In the eyes of the German infantry, the French tanks seemed to be endless as if they came out of the magic box. Whenever a French tank was destroyed, there would be another immediately. The tank appeared in that gap.

The German soldiers watched the group of small tanks with brown and yellow camouflage lined up in a neat formation and slowly pressed them towards themselves, suddenly in their hearts the feeling that those French tanks may never be eliminated.

"Fenris" is still struggling to shoot, but the sequelae of continuous high-speed shooting have begun to show.

Although those gunners are strictly trained veterans, human physical strength is limited, and high-intensity continuous shooting quickly consumes the physical strength of German gunners.

Although the German gunners continued to work hard with a firm fighting will, as the French tanks continued to advance, the firing speed and accuracy of the "Fenris" fell slowly.

The French tank has advanced to a position less than 800 meters from the German position, and the German anti-tank artillery unit deployed in the first position of the German army finally began to fight.

Since the 50mm anti-tank guns in the German army are not the latest equipment, and they are all supplied to the first-line combat troops according to Xu Jun’s order, the 37th anti-tank battalion in the Headquarters Guards Regiment is still the kind of 37. Mm anti-tank gun.

Although this small-caliber anti-tank gun has proved difficult to damage the heavy tanks of France and Britain in active service in the previous stage of the battle, this artillery is still a very effective weapon if it is used against some lightly armored targets.

According to Xu Jun’s idea, use these ready-made equipment first, and then replace the more powerful weapons when conditions permit. If he really encounters a target that this artillery cannot deal with, he still has "Fenris". Ace card.

Although the 37mm anti-tank gun can't deal with heavy tanks, it is still very confident to deal with the old tanks produced during the First World War.

The 37mm anti-tank gun can penetrate the front armor of the ft17, which is only 22mm thick, a thousand meters away. However, in order to ensure the shooting accuracy, the cautious battery company commander only fired after the French tank advanced to 800 meters.

Twelve 37mm anti-tank guns joined the battle and greatly reduced the pressure of "Fenris". As one ft17 after another was torn into pieces or burned into scrap iron, the advance of the French tank group was finally blocked by suffocation. Although those French tanks were still charging forward, they could no longer push forward.

The area between 800 meters and 500 meters before the German position became the death zone of French tanks. No tank could surpass this distance. In just a few minutes, this area was filled with burning tanks. wreckage.

But the nightmare of the French tank group was not over. Just as they were being massacred by German anti-tank firepower, the German heavy artillery units began to bombard them.

Since the front-end commander judged that the French tanks must be followed by French infantry, Dougan asked Xu Jun to use division heavy artillery to bombard the French offensive cluster.

Xu Jun agreed with Dougan’s request without hesitation, because the heavy artillery required a long preparation time before the shelling, and the result was that it would not join the battle until this time.

But what I didn’t expect was that the frontier commander’s judgment was wrong. In fact, I can’t blame him. When the tank attacked, the infantry was always followed by the German army’s combat laws. How could he think that the French did not do this, they Only tanks were dispatched without infantry following.

If he knew this, he would not require the use of artillery troops to bombard the enemy, because for the German team in defense, excessive firepower is a waste, especially now that this must save ammunition Situation.

However, because of his misjudgment this time, the German artillery gave the French tanks a fatal blow at a critical moment and in a critical position.

Four 1918 75mm infantry artillery guns directly under the infantry regiment's artillery company, four 1933 150mm heavy infantry guns, plus 24 1928/29 105mm light howitzers of the division artillery regiment with 8 1918/40 The intensive bombardment of a 150mm heavy howitzer added a new wound to the already tragic French tank cluster.

Countless shells exploded in the blocked tank group, which should have been calculated by the artillery commanders to follow the position of the enemy infantry behind the tank group.

If it is directly hit by this large-caliber shell, the tank can be said to be destroyed rather than blown up. If it happens to hit the tank turret, the captain of the Renault tank may have been too late to feel the pain of the bullet and has been smashed into a pancake with the small turret. Even if it does not directly hit the tank, it is close to what happened when the bomb was missing A huge shock wave is enough to lift this seven-ton small thing upside down.

An artillery forward observer swore afterwards that he saw a French tank blown up by shells more than ten meters high, and then fell down and smashed another tank.

Since the battlefield after the war was filled with various wreckage, many of which could not be recognized, so it was impossible to find conclusive evidence to confirm his words.

Although the soldier's words may be a bit exaggerated, the intensity of the artillery and the sight of the French tank trembling in the barrage did indeed impress all the German soldiers present.

The attack on the French tank group by the artillery force was devastating, and the tank group completely collapsed.

No army can continue to maintain their offensive momentum after such a fierce fire attack, and no brave force can bear such a heavy loss.

French tanks dropped the burning steel wreckage and began to retreat. After the German artillery chased and fired, less than ten ft17s fled back to the starting position.

The German infantry who had not fired so far finally breathed a sigh of relief, looking at the burning wreckage in front of them. The soldiers felt a little shudder.

The fighting will of the French tank drivers makes everyone who sees their attack can't help but awe. If these tank drivers drive not this old and broken tank but the new tank with heavy armor, and their own There is no "Fenris" here, so this attack will have a completely opposite ending.

The flames on the wreckage of French tanks have become more and more prosperous as the car ammunition is exploded.

But none of the Germans admired the scene before them, because every German soldier knew the expensive price behind these fireworks.

The black smoke from the burning of the tank wreckage obscured half of the sky, making the darkened battlefield even more bleak due to the hazy weather.

Since the German position was now facing the sun, the position covered by the smoke became as dark as evening.

At this time, something happened that surprised everyone. Before the German soldiers recovered from the stimulus brought to them by the last fierce offensive and defensive war, the French squad launched an offensive again.

The sharp whistle almost overwhelmed the ammunition and the explosion of the munitions, and the German soldiers felt the ground begin to tremble slightly again.

"God! The French are crazy, and they dispatched the tank again!"

An artillery observer exclaimed loudly. Although the wreckage and smoke obscured his vision, he was sure that the rumble he heard from the French position was definitely the roar of the tank engine.

"Attention, the French have attacked again! Prepare for battle!"

The commander of the anti-tank gun position commanded his subordinates loudly.

The gunners quickly kicked and pulled the men who had just sat down to take a breath and returned to their respective positions.

A group of tired bombers hung the kettle just before they opened the lid and took a sip of it, then carried the shells towards the cannons.

The gunners pulled apart the still hot breech bolts and filled armor-piercing shells into the gun barrels.

The aiming hand puts the eyes on the eyepiece of the sight, and the hands hold the revolver handles of the height machine and the direction machine.

The tired German anti-tank gunners stared at the position shrouded in black smoke, and everyone waited for it, waiting for the enemy to appear.

"It looks bad, it's really bad!"

Major Rawls withdrew his gaze from the front of the artillery mirror, then frowned and said to his staff.

"I can't see anything, it's all covered by smoke."

The staff member put down the telescope in his hand and answered anxiously.

"Our current vision can only reach 500 meters. The French have successfully built a smoke barrier with their tank." Rolls said with a shake of his head.

Now the "Fenris" tank sniper battalion commander has completely calmed down from the excitement of destroying the French tank group in front.

The French would have launched a second attack so soon after suffering such a loss, which he did not expect anyway.

Thick smoke from the burning of hundreds of French tanks created a smoke barrier for France. Of course, this cannot be the purpose of the French's previous attack. If this is the case, it is really terrible.

Now this situation can only be said to be an accident, but it can also be said that those French tankers gave their comrades a final gift at the cost of their lives.

"You can't see anything 500 meters away! It seems that these tanks can still burn for half an hour, and now the wind is not strong, we don't expect these smoke to disperse soon."

Then Rawls ordered to the staff: "Immediately report the situation here to the headquarters and order the battery company to be in charge of the front position according to the fan-shaped shooting angle. No matter what the French sent over, as long as it came out of the smoke, we Just fly it!"

"Observe, sir!"

"Order the artillery to immediately stop the shooting, from 104 to 170, the artillery was covered."

Dougan put down the phone and walked quickly to the observation window. The sight in front of him made him very worried.

The German ** team has poor vision. If the French now launch a tank assault of the same size as the last time, they are likely to be able to break through the anti-tank guns and artillery and rush into their positions.

As soon as he thought of the consequences of this situation, Dougan's heart froze.

"Huh? Colonel, what sound are you listening to?"

A staff member suddenly said in doubt.

"What?" Daogen asked back, puzzled.

"There is a voice in the sky, won't it be our plane."

"Airplane? This is impossible." Dougan looked up into the air, the thick clouds layered very low, and the thick smoke shrouded half the sky.

"The cloud height is only three hundred meters today, and our aircraft is completely unable to provide close support. Our own reconnaissance aircraft cannot take off because the runway is too soft. There should not be any German aircraft in the air now." Another staff officer came by and said.

"It is indeed the sound of the plane, and there is more than one."

Dougan carefully discerned the direction from which the sound came.

"See, there! Sir!"

The former staff member suddenly yelled at the front of the position.

Dougan quickly looked in the direction of the officer's finger, and he was stunned by the sight in front of him again.

"Si... Spade type seven..."

Dougan recognized at a glance what was drilled out of that smoke wall. He almost moaned and said to his staff: "It was a French fighter, and it was the best in France in the last war. Fighters, antiques from twenty-two years ago. I really want to understand which museum the Frenchman must have looted before attacking us."