At the same time as the train artillery was powerful, the Americans were not willing to be lonely, and Tom also attacked the Germans' front-line howitzers from other directions, but the effect was much worse than that of the French, the shells of the 155mm howitzer were not very powerful, and a certain strength of civil fortifications had the hope of blocking the opponent's attack, and many German artillery units were tracked and had anti-shrunk armor. So unless these self-propelled howitzers are directly hit, it is difficult to inflict a devastating blow, and what makes the Americans even more depressed is that most of the counterattack fire left by the Germans in advance is still smashed on the heads of the Americans, no way, the French train shelling is too far, and if you can't reach the dead or alive, you can only take the Americans to open the knife, some hidden heavy artillery is activated, and the unilateral suppression of the Germans has become a confrontation between the long-range artillery of the two sides

The Germans have the advantage of firepower projection, while the French have the advantage of quality, and the end result is that neither side can help the opponent in a short time, the Germans need to watch out for the French train guns, the heavy artillery positions will not be long before they have to move their positions, and the French are faced with too many targets to deal with, the Germans have so many artillery positions that you can't hit where you are and the Germans soon began to hunt down the French observation posts and artillery school planes, And began to use smoke screens or other means to reduce the accuracy of the opponent's strike, but in general, the Germans suffered, because the time of the general offensive could not be delayed any longer, since the air force and artillery could not solve the problem, then the Germans had to use tanks and infantry to solve the problem

After the artillery fire gradually thinned out, huge figures pierced through the smoke of gunpowder, and the Tiger tank once again appeared on the battlefield as the spearhead of the German attack, in front of them was a debris of fortifications and obstacles that had been blown to the ground, burning flames, broken bunkers and messy stones gave people a sense of decay and dilapidation. On the face of it, it's hard to say that this place is associated with the French fortifications of an hour ago. It's hard for Brightany to imagine anyone in this situation surviving and blocking their own attack.

Behind the Tiger tanks are accompanied by infantry fighting vehicles and armoured transporters, which carry machine guns and infantry that are indispensable auxiliary forces for tank attacks, large-caliber machine guns and infantry assault rifles are the key to dealing with the ubiquitous anti-tank groups, and behind them are 105mm self-propelled howitzers and 120mm heavy mortars, as well as some engineering units. Such a fully functional assault force was the most powerful assault force that Germany could come up with at the moment, and it was invincible in previous battles, even in urban warfare. All the opponent could do was delay the attack, but not stop it completely, and as the vanguard of the armored forces, Bremani had realized that the battle would be very long and brutal. But in reality the situation was even worse than he imagined: under the attack of the Germans, the heavy firepower that the French had preserved was completely different from what appeared on the surface

The Germans began to attack in formation, and the wedge-shaped formation of Tiger tanks slowly advanced forward, and from time to time, the most elite land behemoths of the Third Reich used heavy artillery to kill exposed or suspected fire points. A short emergency stop was paired with a high rate of fire 88mm heavy gun. A company of Tiger tanks cleared at least 20 machine-gun fire points and some remaining artillery pieces as it advanced. As they got closer and closer to the enemy's core positions, a large number of infantry jumped from armored personnel carriers with their equipment. Under the command of the commander, the machine-gun group began to assemble the tripod and machine gun, while the support squad with 50mm mortars was erected behind the rubble. Panzergrenadier squads weave between vehicles, armed with STG assault rifles, carefully searching the battlefield in case an anti-armor squad suddenly emerges from somewhere. At least for now, the battlefield was very calm, and after some indiscriminate bombardment, the opponent's position seemed to be dead

"When you find that the battle is going more smoothly than you think, it means that disaster is not far away. It seems that the closer you are to victory. The more you need to be more careful," Bremani has recalled several times about his battle outside Saint-Nazaire, where a shrapnel shot left him in the hospital for at least two months, while about half of his comrades never saw him again

"What's that sound?" A piercing sound suddenly came from the rear of the French army, and then a series of continuous fires rose from the horizon, and then a few seconds later, a cloud of smoke shrouded the firing position "It's rocket artillery American rocket artillery" shells cut through the air and made a terrifying scream, these bullets rained down like the sickle of death instantly enveloped the entire second half of the German assault force, the range of the opponent's rocket artillery was not far, only about 7 kilometers, but the firepower was very sufficient. Shells rained down in a matter of minutes, and the short but fierce bombardment of hundreds of shells was a nightmare for infantry and lightly armored units. The expensive chariot was also blown into a pile of twisted iron sheets and splinters by a cheap whirlwind**. Only those infantry fighting vehicles and tanks, which were relatively well armoured, survived. The 105mm howitzers, located in the rear of the troops, tried to counterattack, but the opponent was also clever and quickly moved after a wave.

"Go on the offensive, our infantry units have suffered heavy losses, but our armored spearheads are still intact, and tanks can solve everything," Bremani asked if he was waiting for reinforcements. The order from above told him very clearly that the enemy's defenses must be breached, and with the guarantee that the new infantry could quickly follow, Bremani's Tiger tank force attacked again

It is difficult to fundamentally break up the German offensive in a small fight, and the damage and complete loss of armored combat units are completely two different concepts, the former can be pulled back for repair as long as he can control the battlefield, and maybe after a few hours he will be a good man again. As for the latter, I am afraid that the only thing that can be recycled is scrap steel, although the Americans' Bazooka bazookas and recoilless guns have brought great trouble to the German armored forces, but it is only trouble, these little guys can paralyze the opponent, but it is difficult to completely destroy them unless you are lucky, a rocket directly ignites the ammunition rack or other flammable and explosive materials, so the Americans prepared a terrifying 105mm anti-aircraft gun and a reinforced concrete fortress that is almost indestructible for the German armored forces, The reinforced concrete layer of the latter's frontage was 2.5 to 3 meters thick enough to make the 88mm heavy artillery desperate

"Boys, fight seriously, rest assured, those kittens' long pipes can't help our defense, the standard of these fortifications is originally to be prepared to deal with naval guns and bombs over 500kg," a U.S. ** officer shouted encouragement as he commanded his squad to stick a 105mml50 anti-aircraft gun out of the fort. The thick reinforced concrete layer of the fort really gave the American soldiers great confidence, just now. At least 3 rounds of 150mm grenades and 1 round of 250kg bombs fell on the roof of the fortress, and apart from the fact that the chandelier inside was dangling a few times, no other damage was caused, since the safety of life was guaranteed. The morale of the Americans, whose confidence has soared, has exploded

"Be careful, right flank," Bremanny spotted the huge barrel slowly sticking out of the forts, and he decisively pressed the handle of the smoke grenade fire. The disposable smoke bomb launchers on both ends of the huge Tiger turret fired several shells in an instant, and then the thick smoke screen covered the huge front of the Tiger tank, and then reversed the gear to find cover. A series of evasive actions are as smooth as their peers. After 8 seconds, a flash of light slashed past the tank, blowing an infantry fighting vehicle behind it to pieces.

However, not everyone had the luck and quality of Bremani, as a Tiger tank that was a little too far forward was hit by a 105mm armor-piercing shell at the junction between the turret and the bottom of the vehicle from 600 meters. The powerful armor-piercing projectile tore through the armor of the turret, and after grinding the two crew members into pieces, it crashed into the ammunition rack in the aft compartment of the turret, and then with a loud bang, a huge fireball erupted from behind the Tiger turret, followed by the explosion of the engine and the fuel compartment In just a few seconds, the war machine worth 140,000 marks and 5 lives turned into a huge torch

This was only the beginning, and the Allies deployed at least 10 105mm anti-aircraft guns and a large number of 90mm anti-aircraft guns here. The former can challenge the frontal armor of the Tiger tank at medium range. The latter was deployed in flank and reverse positions, and when the Tiger tank and the opponent's 105mm anti-aircraft guns were fighting, they would shoot black guns from the side or back, "Attack their firing holes and keep maneuvering, don't stop" Bremani commanded his own chariots to move around in the rubble and wreckage, and at the same time commanded other chariots to start from the opponent's firepower and approach the target.

But the Entente is not stupid, how can they leave you with such a strong defense system after they have wasted so much effort to build such a strong defense system? Maybe the defense is indeed weaker in some places, but it is not that the 88 gun of the Tiger tank can destroy in a hurry, the reinforced concrete front with a thickness of 2.5 meters is enough to withstand the repeated attacks of 88mm shells, Bremani hit at least 6 guns in a minute, and the heavy shelling peeled off layers of concrete and steel from the pillbox, in the light of fire and gunsmoke. The bunker made a twisting and crumbling sound,

But when the smoke cleared, Bremani found that the bunker was still spewing lethal fire, in addition to leaving a series of deep and shallow craters. Unless shells fly in from the firing port. Otherwise, such a fortress would be almost indestructible, "even if we could eventually drill a hole in the pillbox, the very small charge of armor-piercing shells would hardly guarantee the destruction of internal equipment and personnel, and these bulky ones would be a nightmare for the attackers," said the Germans after the war, after surveying the fortress outside the port of Saint-Nazaire.

Objectively speaking, when the Germans found out that they could not effectively destroy these fortresses, the outcome of the battle was already decided, and the confrontation between the two sides had entered garbage time. Germany was destined to be helpless against these big guys in a short time, but the stubborn and stubborn Germans still tried their best to attack, they used mortars to attack the top, 150 howitzers to bombard closely, and even under the cover of smoke bombs and artillery fire, using sappers to blast but unfortunately, these methods were thought of by the Allies. Around the main support points were a large number of machine-gun bunkers, the smallest of which could only hold three people, but with a large number of them, it was still possible to build impenetrable fire nets for the infantry, and the dense bullets like flying locusts crushed the efforts of the German sappers again and again. The multi-layered, heavily defensive, and high-firepower defense system made the tried-and-true breakthroughs of the Germans useless

It was not only Bremani's assault group that was frustrated, but the other assault groups also failed in the first round of attacks, and the most tragic assault group was even caught off guard by the suddenly rushing out Allied armored forces When the Tiger tanks and the fortresses in front of the Entente were slammed, a French B1 tank with a group of Sherman tanks with rocket launchers on the roof killed from the flank, and the salvo of rocket artillery disrupted the German rear in a short time, Then the B1 tank group went around the back of the Tiger tank and came hard. Although this tank force was wiped out by the German army that followed closely, but at the same time, there were nearly 15 Tiger tanks left on the battlefield forever and the number of damaged tanks was more, but the saddest thing was that while the Germans were reorganizing the front, the Americans did not know where to get 3 high-horsepower half-track trailers, and under the cover of other troops, they towed back a damaged and abandoned Tiger tank, which was the first time that the Tiger tank was captured in its entirety, and this loss obviously made the Germans worry more than other losses

In just a few hours of attack, the Germans lost no less than 80 tanks of various kinds, most of which were the Tiger tanks that the Germans were most proud of, and a whole heavy battalion was finished, although some of the tanks could be repaired and used again. Look at the breakthrough made, and then look at the thickness of the Entente defense line, everyone has to admit that even if all the German tanks are exhausted, I am afraid that they will not be able to penetrate the opponent's defense line, and the original complaints about the Tiger tank are too heavy and too big, and the firepower and protection are somewhat beyond the need for the sound is no more, the Germans now regret that they have not been able to install a cannon of a larger caliber on the Tiger tank or get a deformed Tiger Saint Nazaire equipped with a heavy mortar of more than 10 inches must be breached, and the German army did not flinch after the defeat in the first battle, Instead, the deployment was readjusted and prepared to attack this turtle shell again

Thanks to the book friend zhouyu1976 for the reward~~~, and the book friend kenhlxc chicken brother 2010sczboy Wang Baishi Chenxi and other book friends for their monthly ticket support ~~~. To be continued