66_66280However, the situation of the Haus Panzer Group on the front line was much worse than Guderian had predicted, and they were now facing the most ferocious defensive vehicles that the German Panzer Corps had encountered since its inception. Almost ahead of an era, the tank gun made Tank 4 a piece of paper. Although the German tanks were more numerous, in the eyes of the defenders they only needed to shoot a few more times. "I see them! There is a target at 2 o'clock 400 meters away! That's it, something like a turtle shell. "Wittmann spotted a hidden Type 29 tank destroyer from the commander's conning tower on top of the tank. Under his guidance, the gunner quickly turned the turret to the target, and at a distance of 400 meters, the elite German tankmen would definitely not miss!

With a bang, accompanied by the sound of the cannonball being loaded, the gun commander put the target in the middle of the crosshair, and with the vibration of the hull, a 75mm armor-piercing bullet pierced the opponent like a sharp sword. "The opponent is very slow to steer, and the engine power should not be very sufficient." Wittman muttered to himself as he looked at the smoke rising from the explosion in the distance. From the time the target was discovered to the time the attack was completed, it took about 30 seconds for Wittmann's crew.

"Beautiful, the first result of the day." Wittman patted the gun commander next to him in celebration. "Huh?!" But the joy on his face had not yet disappeared, and the gun commander's face was like eating a fly. Then, the roar of the artillery from the direction of 2 o'clock made Wittmann shudder! The Type 29 tank destroyer that had just been hit simply ignored Wittmann's No. 301 tank. Instead, he fired an armor-piercing round into the side of another tank No. 4. After a flash of light, the No. 4 tank was instantly torn apart by the violent explosion!

"Hurry up, go on!" Steammann urged the loader to load a new armor-piercing shell into the chamber, and 15 seconds later, the second shell smashed into the front of the Type 29's fighting compartment, and with the sound of the warhead shattering, the shell did not go further than its predecessor. Only a small pit was left behind.

"We were stupefied. Really, we never thought that the opponent would be able to block our attack from a distance of 300 meters. We operated the vehicle to continue to approach and fired a third shell. This time we specifically avoided the opponent's frontal armor, but this shell hit the inclined fighting compartment. It's a ricocheting! Just when we were at a loss, I saw the top hatch of this tank open, and a black-haired Chinese tankman poked his head out of it, and then looked around suspiciously, and after seeing us, the other party glanced at the crater on the front of the tank and smiled at us. As if to forgive us for our offense, he got back into the chariot. Then the terrible monster began to turn its body and turn its deadly 90mm cannon towards us! When Wittmann and his crew were released from the prisoner of war camp, he recounted the scene. This story, which seems to be a bit of a chatter, makes many people feel very incredible.

Although it is not certain whether the other side demonstrated in a mocking posture. But one thing that can be confirmed by the teammates next to him is that Wittmann's No. 4 tank has hit the opponent at least 3 times, up to a distance of no more than 450 meters, and one of the shots also hit the side armor. But not a single armor-piercing round tore through the thick armor of the opponent. This gap between attack and defense almost collapsed all the German tankers who participated in the war at that time. Wittmann and his crew were also one of them, dropping the tank before the other side opened fire, and then frantically searched for cover.

Perhaps it was the favor of the gods of luck that the other side destroyed their tanks and did not have machine guns to eliminate the missing personnel. Wittmann, who eventually returned home, became a staunch advocate of heavy tanks, and eventually became a Tiger commander and then a platoon commander. Finally, he was promoted to company commander. And with his subordinates, he made a name for himself in World War II. Of course, this is a later story, so I won't mention it for the time being.

In less than 10 minutes, at least 28 No. 4 tanks were smashed to pieces. In addition to this, a large number of infantry fighting vehicles and armored transports were destroyed. Accompanying mortars began to release smoke grenades and grenades. The former is to cover the retreat of the tanks, while the latter is expected to get away with destroying the opponent's walking equipment. But alas, in the face of the Type 29 tank destroyer, which was equipped with crony armor and protected by bunkers, the impact of shelling of this intensity was not great.

Many Type 29 tank destroyers even drove out of cover and launched a counterattack towards the target like heavy cavalry. They covered each other, using lethal 90mm guns to name Tank 4 as they tried to evacuate or detour. In vain, the Germans fired armor-piercing shells and watched as the shells were blocked by armor. "Even with tungsten alloy armor-piercing bullets, we still can't penetrate them. There's little we can do about these steel monsters. A German official said indignantly. In fact, his statement is biased. In actual combat, the 75mm sub-caliber armor-piercing projectile of the No. 4 tank had a case of penetration at close range, but the distance was within 400 meters. And the angle also had to be good, so only 2 Type 29 tanks were penetrated in the whole battle. One of them still had a half-pierced bullet and couldn't get in.

The House armoured group was stunned by the sudden attack. Fortunately, however, Colonel House's command was still very high. Realizing that something could not be done, he decisively asked the tank units to retreat and at the same time let the 88mm self-propelled anti-aircraft guns deployed on both flanks advance. "Tank No. 4 can't help you, the L45 anti-aircraft gun can always beat you through, right?" House muttered through gritted teeth. The German armored forces relied even more on the 88mm anti-aircraft gun than the No. 4 tank. According to a veteran armorer, this kind of artillery never disappointed the Germans, and no matter what kind of opponent, the powerful anti-aircraft gun could knock through the thick armor of the opponent.

But it seems that this time the anti-aircraft artillery disappointed House! The agility of the tank destroyer was still not comparable to that of the tank, and the visibility was also a little worse, and when the Type 29 tank destroyer was killing the No. 4 tank in front of it, they did not immediately spot the self-propelled anti-aircraft guns that detoured to the sides. The Germans succeeded in seizing the position, the first enemy spotted the first enemy and opened fire, and the shells of the hatred and anger of the German armored soldiers spun and flew out of the barrels and crashed into the distant target.

Boom, a loud bang. The left cheek of a Type 29 tank was slapped on the opposite side of the brick. The tank, which was about to pursue, came to a halt as if it had been struck with a wooden stick. Half a minute later, the smoke cleared. The low-stature restarted, the car turning back and forth, as if looking for which bastard had just given him a look. The tense German gunners quickly loaded another armor-piercing shell into the breech, and a dozen seconds later the second shell flew to the target. The cannon also hit the opponent's frontal armor, but it still couldn't penetrate it. But what is unexpected. The shell that was bounced off actually hit the barrel of the tank destroyer. The long barrel was cut into two sections.

Although this self-propelled anti-tank gun successfully forced a Type 29 tank destroyer to withdraw from the battlefield. But other colleagues did not have such good luck, the distance of the self-propelled anti-aircraft guns on both sides was already long, the straight-line distance was about 1000 meters, the poor accuracy was one aspect, and the power of the shells was not as powerful as the 75mm guns that fired at close range. Although the vision of the tank destroyer is poorer, it has other weapons to match. After identifying the target, the heavy howitzers deployed behind and the long-legged Tom on the other side of the river began to shell the retreating German Army. The overwhelming grenades had little effect on tanks, but they were devastating for unprotected infantry fighting vehicles and open-top half-track self-propelled anti-aircraft guns.

"The whole battlefield was like a hell of flames. Countless columns of smoke rose one after another on the ground. Shrapnel rained down across the battlefield. The enemy's artillery bombardment was very accurate, and the first round of shelling landed accurately in our offensive formation. Countless infantry were torn to shreds by the massive explosion, and powerful shockwaves threw corpse wreckage and weapon parts into the air. Our self-propelled anti-aircraft guns were not spared in this steel rain. Although there are armor plates to provide some protection, debris that misses the hull can easily destroy the suspension on the side of the hull and the engine in front of it. Quite a few gun trucks were forced to abandon because of the destruction of their running equipment. "After the war, when a German officer talked about the half-track self-propelled anti-aircraft gun under his command, he not only complained about the power of the artillery, but also questioned the survival of this weapon.

Under the blow of multiple firepower, the House battle group was on the verge of complete collapse. Just as the U.S. Army was preparing to launch a counterattack, the black dot that appeared from the southwest attracted the attention of both sides. "The bombers of the other side are coming, ready to gather troops and conceal, and there may be can openers in them." Bradley looked at the retreating Germans. I couldn't help but shake my head. The order to retreat was given decisively. No matter how powerful the tank is, there is no way to take the plane! Hube was coerced by the U.S. Air Force to let himself go, and now Bradley has no offense*. The Type 29 tank destroyer is his most trustworthy trump card, which cannot be easily broken.

"General. We were defeated, the House battle group was completely incapacitated, and there were less than 20 of the nearly 60 tanks of all sorts left. The 3 companies that supported them also lost more than half of their 88mm self-propelled anti-aircraft guns. In addition to tanks, infantry losses were heavy, with conservative estimates that we lost at least 500 more infantry. An officer looked at Guderian, who was pale, and said cautiously.

"So how many vehicles did we destroy each other?" It was only after a half-bang that Guderian spat out these words between his teeth. "I don't know, but according to the descriptions of the officers and soldiers on the front line, there should, probably, probably no heavy armored vehicles have been destroyed. However, we did take out some of the Sherman tanks and armored vehicles on the flanks. The officer observed Guderian's expression. He said cautiously.

"How is the Air Force fighting today?" After the House battle group withdrew from the battlefield, Guderian was in no mood to stay on the front line. So he returned to the headquarters first, but at this time he still had a glimmer of hope for the Air Force. At least since the start of the campaign, the support of the air force has been very good. So, that night, he also specially asked the Air Force liaison officer to understand the situation.

"It's not good, the anti-aircraft fire of the other side is fierce and unexpectedly accurate. It is difficult for our bombers to hit moving heavily armored targets, and even if they hit a close miss, they can only injure the opponent, and our reconnaissance planes have more than once found that the enemy is using trailers to tow away damaged combat vehicles, which are estimated to be repaired in a short time. We then put into use specialized tank attack aircraft. But the opposing air force is also in place. We couldn't find an opportunity to attack. The Air Force liaison officer replied.

Just kidding, the height at which a tank attack aircraft launched an attack did not exceed 200 meters. Isn't it looking for death to descend to such a height in the face of the opposing flying fox and P40 ax fighters? In fact, the Luftwaffe tank attack planes that arrived later were just wandering around the perimeter of the battlefield, hoping to hold out until the opponent ran out of fuel before attacking, this strategy could not be said to be ineffective, at least the P40 retreated after a stalemate. As for the Flying Bat fighters in Huaxia? Still cruising in circles in the air. Joke! The 250 gallons of oil in the Foxbat fighter will still be afraid that you will waste time?! The German BF109 fighters came on the field several times to try to disperse the opponent, but the Huaxia Air Force was always able to effectively defend under the guidance of radar, so the Luftwaffe finally realized that there was no way to do it today, so it would concentrate its forces and find the field again. So far, the Luftwaffe's record today has only covered the retreat of the House battle group, and there is nothing else to gain.

After listening to the report from the Air Force, Guderian realized what he meant when the army needed to learn to solve problems on its own. It's not that the Air Force doesn't cooperate, but sometimes the Air Force can't do anything about the other side when it cooperates. The Luftwaffe realized the superiority of the opponent in the air very early, but Guderian or some of the generals represented by him did not realize that as the situation changed, the opponents of the German Army became stronger. Tactical and speed superiority alone is simply not enough. After all, not all hard bones can be avoided. Even though Goodry was still a little resistant to heavy tanks, he had to admit that his armored forces needed these things to tear through the defenses and deal with the opponent's heavy vehicles.

Thanks to the book friend zhouyu1976 for the tip~~~, as well as the book friend anhei016's evaluation vote and the book friend lnwh's monthly pass support ~~~. (To be continued).