The sound of the tank's tracks became louder and louder, and after firing a few flares, I saw a group of Soviet troops advancing under the cover of the tank at a distance of a thousand meters in front of the position.

Qin Chuan could easily tell from their movements that these were experienced veterans...... Compared with other recruits of the Soviet army, they knew how to protect themselves, as the saying goes, "Only by protecting yourself can you destroy the enemy better", so this was a problem for the German army.

However, it is clear that this time the Soviets are simply using tanks as shields...... The tanks did not dare to open fire, the reason is that, as mentioned before, the Germans are behind the oil refinery, and the Soviets want to take the oil refinery back completely, otherwise they will not be able to give an account to General Tyulenev, who in turn will not be able to give an account to Stalin.

What the Soviets didn't know was that Qin Chuan took advantage of them precisely this.

In this respect, Qinchuan actually only needs to set the oil fields and refineries on fire to achieve the goal, and the problem is that the Germans also want to save the refineries.

"Boom" several shells exploded in front of the position.

THAT's THE 37MM MORTAR OF THE SOVIETS...... THIS LIGHT MORTAR WAS MASSIVELY ARMED IN THE ELITE UNITS OF THE SOVIET ARMY, AND AS PREVIOUSLY STATED, IT WAS SIMILAR TO THE GERMAN 50MM MORTAR.

IN FACT, THE SOVIET 37MM MORTAR IS STILL A PIECE OF EQUIPMENT WITH A LOT OF PERSONALITY IN THE SOVIET ARMY...... It is a combination of a sapper shovel and a light mortar: it can be used as a sapper shovel in normal times, but if it is reversed and the shovel head is folded at an angle to become a base, and the shovel handle is opened to open the dust cover to be used as a barrel, then it becomes a mortar.

Its disadvantage is its short range, which can barely hit three hundred meters.

The two shells fired by the Soviets were apparently used to measure range, and they wanted to know how far they were from the German lines.

The point of the shells made both sides aware that the two armies were still 400 meters apart.

In a way, the Germans should have opened fire at this time.

Because the range of the German 50MM mortar is 500 meters, if the enemy breaks into the range of 300 meters, it loses the range advantage.

But Manstein didn't do that.

Manstein made the right decision...... The theoretical range of Soviet mortars is 300 meters, but it is very difficult to hit targets 300 meters away in actual combat, especially when it is still dark at this time.

And even more important: the MP43 used by the First Infantry Corps had a range of only 350 meters, and firing at 400 meters was outside its range.

Therefore, the armament should also be matched or can also be said to be systematic, for example, the German army's previous firepower configuration is k98k plus 50MM mortar, there is no problem, and the two can easily hit a firepower wall at about 400 meters to make the Soviet army's 37MM mortar ground method play a role.

BUT THE MP43 WITH THE 50MM MORTAR DOES NOT DO THIS.

However, in this battle, neither K98K nor MP43 could stop the Soviet army, and the reason was simple...... The Soviets had tanks and the Germans did not, and the Germans had only rocket launchers with a range of 160 meters.

Therefore, the Germans still let the Soviet army continue to advance.

400 meters.

The Soviet tanks turned on the headlights without any scruples, and at this time they had already figured out the performance of the German anti-tank equipment, that is, the bazooka, so they knew that the tanks could almost be said to be invincible at this distance.

350 meters.

The tanks moved slowly, followed by Soviet troops pulling one after another. As soon as the Soviet officers gave the order, they loaded their rifles with military spurs one after another.

Their tactic was simple, like the German attack, to bombard the enemy's line with mortars at a distance of about 300 meters. Then continue to advance under the cover of tanks, and at the last 100 meters, make a 100-meter dash into the enemy trenches and engage the enemy in hand-to-hand combat......

300 meters.

THE SOVIETS FIRED A FEW MORE SHELLS, AND THIS TIME THEY WERE SURE THAT THEY WERE WITHIN RANGE, BUT AS MENTIONED BEFORE, THIS WAS NOT THE IDEAL FIRING RANGE FOR A 37MM MORTAR, SO THEY HAD TO KEEP GOING.

The Soviet soldiers were calm and seemed confident that they would be able to defeat the Germans.

This may stem from the fact that they have tanks in their hands...... With tanks versus without tanks, it's usually a massacre, and they believe this one will be no exception.

Perhaps it is also a kind of confidence in their impending hand-to-hand combat...... The Soviets were more willing to fight hand-to-hand because of their large numbers, while the Germans were the opposite.

Finally, the Soviet troops advanced to a distance of 250 meters.

Just as the Soviets were setting up mortars, Manstein gave an order: "Fire!" ”

There was a burst of fire, and mortars from both sides opened fire almost simultaneously at the opposite side.

The battlefield was bustling with the sound of shells and machine guns everywhere.

At this distance, the Germans still had the upper hand, on the one hand, because the German soldiers were well-trained and accurate in firing shells, and on the other hand, the MP43s in the hands of the First Infantry Corps were able to suppress the Soviet mortars at the same time.

As a result, the Soviet artillery fire quickly died down, and occasionally a few rounds were fired from behind the tanks at a curved angle, but the German mortar gunners were all veterans, and they could roughly judge the position of the enemy gunners just from the fire from the muzzles and the landing points of the shells...... This is a bit of a miracle, because the goal is to hide behind a tank and not see anyone at all, but a soldier who is used to mortars can shoot shells by feeling and kill them with precision.

Qin Chuan just used a sniper rifle to knock out the tank's headlights one after another.

For now, the headlights of tanks are more threatening than those of the Soviet troops.

But the Soviets did not retreat because of this, but shouted and rushed over the tanks towards the German lines, and the tanks also accelerated at full power......

In other cases, the Soviet charge did break through the German lines: the infantry and tanks were mixed together, the distance between us and the enemy was only 200 meters, the infantry rushed to the front of the line and threw a row of grenades to disable the German rocket launchers, and the tanks covered the infantry to follow the German lines, and then the battle was almost over.

But this time the situation is completely different.

Several flares hit the air, and rows of bullets rained down on the charging Soviet troops...... The MP43 is the best weapon for attacking at close range, as it not only has the rate of fire of a submachine gun but also has considerable penetration. (Note: Although the submachine gun has a fast rate of fire, it cannot penetrate the first target, and when several targets overlap, it can only kill the first target, but the intermediate power bullet can penetrate the human body and shoot several targets after it)

As a result, the Soviets fell in front of the German positions like harvested rice, and no one could rush to the distance of throwing grenades, let alone hand-to-hand combat.

The Soviet infantry was killed and wounded in large numbers, and the tank was like a target in front of the bazooka shooter, and with a few screams of "chirp", the tank was blown into a pile of scrap metal.