With the increase in combat experience and the increasing familiarity with the 122 Heirloom main gun, the heavy tank crews of Stalin's 1st Guards Tank Division gradually discovered.
When dealing with German tanks that are not so thick-skinned, 122mm high-explosive grenades can often achieve quite good results.
For example, the German No. 3, No. 4, or even the Black Panther, as long as the 122 mm high-explosive grenade is used to hit some special shooting points, such as the lower part of the turret front armor near the turret seat ring. The charge is sufficient.
The 122mm high-explosive grenade can at least blow up the Kraut's turret steering gear on the spot and completely shatter the Kraut's main gun optical sight.
The German tank's neck was stuck, its eyes were blinded, and it turned into a waste that had lost its combat effectiveness and could only withdraw from the battlefield.
Of course, this is only the best case scenario for the Germans.
The real story that happened in the battle is that in most cases the German tanks were unable to withstand the fatal blow from 122mm high-explosive grenades to key points.
For example, the explosion of the 122 grenade penetrated the dome of the car body downwards, killing the electromechanical personnel and the driver in the car. The gun barrel exploded on the spot, making the cannon unable to fire anymore, and even the shock caused it to catch fire on the spot until the ammunition was killed.
Explosion is possible.
As long as you are hit by a 122 high-explosive grenade, there will be absolutely no good results. The reality is so cruel and real.
Therefore, even though the ammunition to be fired in the gun bore was a high-explosive bomb that had been loaded in advance, the Red Army gunners responsible for gunnery and shooting still chose to mobilize the steering gear and height machine in their hands to accurately aim at the German tank. They were sure that they could hit the target with one hit.
Then he instantly pulled the firing lever that he was holding tightly in his right hand, and the powerful 122mm high-explosive grenade was released amidst the blazing fire.
Boom boom boom——
The kinetic energy shock wave that instantly spread out from the muzzle brake stirred in the air, and even the small puddles under the muzzle after the rain pressed out small pits formed instantly, causing ripples.
The incoming 122mm high-explosive grenade hit the German machine gun fire points, anti-tank emplacements, and those unlucky tanks that were targeted by several IS6s at the same time.
The remains of machine guns and anti-tank guns were blown away by the shock wave, along with the bloody body fragments.
The German tank, which was accurately hit by several 122mm high-explosive grenades at the same time, was completely enveloped in the huge explosions and flames, and disappeared.
Wait until the fire light dissipates, the shock wave dissipates, and the instantaneous smoke and dust generated by the explosion gradually settles.
The German tank's face was beaten to pieces, and the miserable appearance of its entire face was finally revealed. The 122mm high-explosive grenade with a very reasonable charge left horrific traces of damage on the German tank.
However, all gunners who aim at German tanks have rich combat experience, and they often exchange their experiences with gunners from other crews in private. This is not the first time that they have used high-explosive shells to bombard German tanks.
Do.
Therefore, almost all of these 122mm high-explosive grenades coming towards the enemy were pointed and aimed in a targeted manner, and they were not just put on and fired randomly.
The upper part of the solid front of the vehicle, which is most likely to cause the useless effect of hitting it and making a sound, was completely avoided. Except for the one or two rounds that were not completely stopped due to the emergency stop, the main gun was slightly missed and hit other non-standard vehicles.
Except for the high-explosive shells on the lethal armor positions, all the remaining high-explosive shells hit the main armor belt on the front of the German tank's turret.
The Red Army gunners knew very well that the consequences of this would be fatal for German tanks. They would blow off the gun barrel, jam the steering wheel of the turret seat, damage the sight of the main gun, and knock downwards through the dome of the car body to kill the crew members.
Any of these damage effects are unbearable for German tanks, and at the end of the day, the German tanks will lose their combat effectiveness on the spot and be forced to retreat.
The combat effectiveness of the German armored soldiers without tanks is even worse than that of the infantry. The German infantry can at least have a big gun in hand. The German armored soldiers who have abandoned their tanks can't even get together a submachine gun. They only have a small pistol.
It's difficult to even protect yourself on a battlefield of this intensity.
None of the German tanks that had been severely damaged by high-explosive bombs had a good end.
The two No. 4 vehicles with the weakest defense were blown up and burned on the spot, and even the ammunition exploded on the spot. The narrow interior space of the vehicle body could not withstand the powerful damage of the 122 mm high-explosive grenade, and the dome armor of the vehicle body was shattered.
At that moment, the fate of destruction was sealed.
The fate of the last three Panther 1s was a little better. At least they were left with a relatively complete body. They were not like No. 4, whose heads were blown off and the car bodies were broken into parts. But at most they were just.
It's just a complete corpse.
The armor of the Black Panther 2 was also blasted through the dome of the vehicle body and burst open directly, just like a wooden floor that was smashed through by a falling lead ball, the wound was horrific.
The huge power of the 122mm high-explosive grenade also raised the barrels of these Panthers. The 75mm main gun barrel, which was as slender as a fishing rod, was blown into two pieces. Part of the barrel remained on the turret.
The wreckage was only about the same length as the barrel of the early Panzer IV tank with a 24x caliber short 75mm main gun, making it a veritable "pig-nosed leopard".
Using flammable gasoline as fuel, the early D-types could even run themselves up to the Black Panther, which caught fire and ignited spontaneously. After being bombarded by more than one 122mm high-explosive grenade, it was inevitable to catch fire.
Case.
Raging flames shot out from the inside out from the cracks in the armor and licked the pitch-black armor. However, not even a single crew member escaped in time from the stationary wreckage of the three Panther tanks.
Was he killed on the spot, or was he severely injured and lost the ability to escape on his own? He could only watch the fire spread and was burned alive in the car.
This kind of thing is no longer important now. Otherwise, after a loud explosion of ammunition, no one will care about how the several carbonized and charred corpses died in a pile of dark steel debris.
It's that simple.
With just one salvo, all the remaining German anti-tank firepower on the position was wiped out in an instant.
The German infantrymen, who were in a state of intense shock, had not even had time to recover from the deafening roar of the 122-gun salvo fired just now from an extremely close range. There was a terrible sound that all the German troops on the Eastern Front battlefield least wanted to hear.
Then it rang in my ears again.
"Comrades, destroy the German fascists! For the motherland, ulla!!!"
U-la——
When this roar, which is almost equivalent to the sound of the end of the war, is heard, whether the German army still has the courage to continue to resist after hearing it is of no importance to the final outcome of the battle.