Even though the opponent's number was only one-quarter of its own tanks, the commanders of the German armored forces, who knew that they were at an absolute disadvantage in the quality of tank equipment, still did not dare to take it lightly. These Soviet tanks were approaching after identifying their own intentions.
Whether it is kv1 or t4, they are powerful opponents enough to make the German armored soldiers feel like they are facing a formidable enemy.
"All tank crews, load armor-piercing shells and prepare to fight! The target is the flank of the Soviet tank column. They can only be destroyed from the flank. Attack in a roundabout formation!"
Even though the vertical armor arrangement is adopted to give a larger internal space to the vehicle body, thereby improving the advantages of man-machine efficiency, the inside of the fighting room and turret are still not very comfortable. The pungent smell of gasoline volatilization permeates the entire tank with turbid air.
The interior of the space lasts forever.
The radio communication command from the superior command vehicle transmitted from the headset heralded that a brutal head-on armored battle was about to begin. The driver, who had already accelerated the engine to combat gear, followed the large troops and rushed forward.
He spoke without looking back.
"What are your plans, Bolt, running right into those Russian tanks or something?"
The words that were not too loud were still clearly transmitted among the crew members with noisy engines thanks to the throat sounders and headphones. The hand of the German commander, named Bolt, was holding the commander's hand.
Periscope's calm expression seemed to others to be as calm and composed as if he were practicing.
"Relax, you just heard the order given by Derek Rucker, to outflank the flanks of those Ivan tanks. We must use our numerical advantage to make them ignore each other."
Even with Bolt's calm and calm demeanor as an example, the young driver, who had had many encounters with Soviet tank troops and was well aware of their horrors, still couldn't hide his panic. Those who were dancing with sparks all the way.
The t4 played and the kv1, which seemed to be invincible, really shocked this young heart.
"The great Reich Minister of Propaganda, Dr. Goebbels, kept repeating the same old tune on the radio all day long, saying that our heroic German soldiers are using the best weapons in the world to expand the territory of the Reich. Hmm, I hope he can personally
Come to the front and take a look at Ivan's tank before you draw any conclusions. This damn little Panzer IV is like a baby rocker in front of Ivan's monsters."
Turning a deaf ear to the sarcastic chants from the gunner next to him, Boult immediately issued the order after visually judging that the leading enemy tank was less than 600 meters away from his own vehicle.
"At twelve o'clock, the leading Soviet T4 tank aims at the joint between the turret and the body and fires!"
"You have the final say, boss."
Although the gunner kept complaining, he had actually adjusted the position of the main gun and aimed it with both hands.
Being able to sight the gun scope with the naked eye while simultaneously operating the hand-cranked main gun elevation and turret steering gear to complete the aiming of the main gun. This exquisite and difficult skill is obviously not something that a fledgling gunner can possess.
.
The reason why he ordered the gunner to aim at the joint between the turret and the body of the Soviet T4 medium tank was that Bolt had a very simple plan in mind.
The T4 medium tank, which uses 45 mm rolled homogeneous steel armor and arranges the front armor of the body at a 60-degree angle, can provide an armor defense of more than 90 mm equivalent thickness when faced with artillery shells that are level with the body.
.
And because of the large angle of the sloping armor, there is also a huge chance of ricochet, which is obviously not something that the 24-caliber short-barreled 75mm gun equipped with the early Type IV tanks can penetrate.
But even the most powerful weapons are by no means invincible. Since the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, the German armored soldiers, who have fought against the Soviet tank troops many times, relied on their rich combat experience to gradually sum up some skills that can barely deal with the Soviet T4
tank and cause it deadly trouble.
The T4 tank's turret, which has a very small frontal projection area, has a very conspicuous "neck" exposed on the front of the tank at the connection point with the hull below. The T4 medium tank's turret rotation direction machine is placed between this neck.
Inside.
If both luck and shooting accuracy are good enough, the German armored soldiers who hit the vulnerable neck part of the T4 tank with armor-piercing shells will have a chance of sending shrapnel into the steering gear in the neck of the T4 tank, causing its mechanical failure to paralyze.
and cannot rotate.
The T4 tank whose turret cannot move is almost equal to losing its combat effectiveness in the face of the German tanks with good maneuverability. The German tanks that cannot pose a threat to their frontal armor can take this opportunity to outflank the Soviet tanks with relatively weak armor.
Attack from the side and rear.
The T4 tank that has lost the ability to rotate its turret is almost like a fish to be slaughtered in this situation. It can be said that there is no room for fighting back.
This kind of response method, which can hardly be called an effective method, can be said to be a temporary emergency work devised by the German armored forces who were forced to come up with no choice but to change the disadvantages of existing equipment.
The early Type IV tank equipped with the KK7-L24 short-barreled 75mm tank gun had a short main gun barrel, which severely restricted the acceleration of the exiting shell in the barrel.
Not only does the muzzle velocity of the armor-piercing projectiles it fires is only a pitiful 410 meters per second, but the flight trajectory of the entire projectile is also like a parabola, which is unacceptable. The aiming accuracy of the main gun is also greatly reduced due to the influence of the shorter barrel.
It's like a "piss cannon".
Bolt's No. 4 tank, which is moving forward at a low speed in combat gear, is still not sure that it can hit the fragile but projected T4 tank, even if it is close to a relatively close shooting distance of less than 600 meters.
Hit the small area of the neck.
The 75mm kgrrotpz capped armor-piercing projectile that escaped from the barrel still dropped seriously even though it had a flight distance of less than 600 meters.
The armor-piercing projectile, whose accuracy was greatly reduced due to this, eventually hit the lower part of the fast-moving T4 tank's front armor and was instantly bounced away. This was a reasonable and extremely frustrating result.
The gunner of Bolt's car punched the breech block next to him and cursed loudly.
"This is the so-called good equipment in the hands of our German soldiers! Why not modify this damn shabby car and use it for the Berlin Fire Brigade to put out fires? This kind of terrible rags will only make the Soviets opposite us laugh at us even more