"A cannon with a very large caliber? Or is it aimed directly at you???"
The news reported by the major made Malashenko frown. This actual situation was indeed unexpected by Malashenko.
Malashenko originally thought that it might be some kind of German self-propelled artillery deployed behind the defense line, causing heavy casualties to the attacking infantry with direct fire, but he never expected that it would be a direct-fire large-caliber artillery.
This time the problem is a bit more complicated.
"Could it be a German hunting tiger? Just like the one we met last time."
I don't know when I also followed him from the car. At this moment, Iushkin was standing next to Malashenko and telling his guess. What followed was Malashenko slowly shaking his head.
"It's unlikely. The Hunter Tiger is huge and has a straight trajectory. Its main gun has a high caliber. Although the caliber is large enough, if it wants to shoot directly at the infantry, it will definitely expose its big head.
This thing can't hit a straight trajectory, and its head will show up every time it fires. And do you think that if such a fat behemoth were to fire directly at the position, you wouldn't be able to see it?"
"..."
What Malashenko said makes sense. If a behemoth like the Jaeger, which is modified from the King Tiger body and chassis, shoots at close range or with direct aim, it will be impossible to hide its fat body. It is almost impossible to hide its fat body.
The front projection area of the combat room, which is as wide as the car body, cannot be hidden, and the battlefield concealment is almost zero.
Since it can't be a hunting tiger, could it be some kind of large-caliber self-propelled artillery that was fired from a distance? Could it be that these infantrymen made a mistake from the beginning?
Malashenko did have such an idea for a moment, but quickly rejected it.
Artillery is the natural enemy of infantry, especially various types of large-caliber deflection howitzers, which are absolute destroyers of infantry.
Large-caliber howitzers fired from long distances have very obvious characteristics: because the flight speed of projectiles is attenuated to subsonic speed by air resistance and friction, in most cases the projectiles of large-caliber howitzers fired from long distances are not visible.
The whistling sound comes first. The whistling sound of cannonballs propagating at the speed of sound will be transmitted to people's ears first, followed closely by the serious projectiles falling.
This is why when people suddenly encounter shelling, they will hear the roar first and have the final reaction time. The fast-moving old man will quickly lie down to avoid the shelling to save his life.
The Great Patriotic War has now entered its fourth year. Malashenko does not believe this, and the infantry battalion commander does not know how to distinguish between long-range direct-fire howitzers and short-range direct-fire cannons. This is a matter of just listening to the sound.
Simple situations that can be distinguished quickly.
If it was really a long-range direct-fire howitzer, the infantry battalion commander in front of him would not be able to distinguish this most basic thing.
Since he said it was a sudden shelling, it must be the effect of artillery firing at close range. Needless to say, high-caliber cannons fired at close range and directly, the muzzle velocity of the projectile is often more than twice the speed of sound, plus
If you get up close and shoot, you will definitely be bombarded before you hear the whistling sound of the shells.
Even if it is a howitzer, as long as the distance is close enough and the target is hit before the projectile's flight speed decreases and falls below the speed of sound, it can still create a situation where "people have been bombed before they hear the sound".
So no matter how you say it, whether it is a high-caliber cannon or a low-caliber howitzer, the only thing that can be confirmed is that it fires at close range and with direct aim.
Thinking of this, Malashenko also silently admired the major battalion commander in front of him. Even if this guy didn't see where the shells came from, he still passed the reality of "Before the sound comes, people are bombed first."
Based on the situation, it was judged that the enemy's hidden large-caliber artillery was approaching and firing directly. It is really rare to make this judgment quickly in an urgent and complex battlefield situation.
Thinking of this, Malashenko, who had basically sorted out his thoughts and made a basic judgment on the battlefield situation, continued to face the major and asked.
"So what now? What's the situation ahead now? Is the attack still going on?"
"It won't continue. At least when I led the people to withdraw, the attack was paused."
"Comrade the division commander ordered the division artillery to be mobilized to prepare for a retaliatory bombardment against the enemy. When we launched the attack, the division artillery was still setting up positions and could not catch up. Because it was only a trial attack with a small number of troops, we did not expect that the enemy would be like this.
The key hidden firepower will be exposed soon. In short... all kinds of unexpected things, Comrade General, our error in judgment led to such heavy casualties."
The situation reported by the major was basically consistent with Malashenko's conjecture. After all, these infantry divisions who were the first to attack were not completing a breakthrough, but trying to find out the reality of the enemy's new defense line within their capabilities, and laying the foundation for the subsequent Stalin Guards.
Preparations were made for a real onslaught by a tank division.
From this point of view alone, although the infantry of the battalion in front of them were maimed, they were meaningful and their sacrifices were by no means in vain.
Regardless of the reason why the Germans on the position ordered the concealed fire point to fire, in short, this concealed fire point can no longer be called concealed and has been exposed to broad daylight.
Dare to play with cannons in front of the Red Army, this is definitely an act of playing with a broadsword in front of Guan Gong.
Whether it is an open-top self-propelled artillery or a fully armored assault gun, the Red Army's field artillery will definitely deal a ruthless and devastating blow to these daring enemies who are trying to break ground.
More importantly, the direct-aiming heavy artillery ambushed by the Germans was exposed in advance, preventing the main force of the division led by Malashenko from suffering greater casualties in the subsequent real attack.
You must know that once Malashenko starts to play seriously, it is not a battalion-level charge that can solve the problem. Malashenko, who is in a hurry, intends to press the army from the beginning, use his true strength, and quickly deal with it.
Get rid of these stupid sticks blocking the road, and then quickly complete the task assigned to you by Vatugin.
Now that we know that the Germans have revealed their trump card, we have to change our battle plan and adjust our countermeasures.
"You guys should withdraw first and leave it to us to clean up these fascists. If you are interested, you can come and eat the smoking corpse of a German sitting on the battlefield for lunch. I promise you."
Looking at the back of Malashenko, who turned around and returned to his car without looking back, the young major stood there and was a little confused. How could the well-known and widely praised comrade general be such a humorous person?
?I have never heard of it before.
As soon as he returned to his command vehicle, Malashenko, who had already figured out how to arrange the group of German thugs, immediately picked up the radio transmitter at hand, pressed the call button and spoke directly to give orders.
? ? ?The second update is a little late, around 12:30. I rushed back to my hometown today and encountered a heavy rain. The traffic jam on the road took too long. Please forgive me, brothers.