After all, the exchange of main gun fire between you and me only had an evenly divided tactical effect.
The three T34 tanks that were heading towards the German 38t light tanks had not had time to intercept their opponents. Two of them were destroyed on the spot by roaring German armor-piercing shells from the sides of the more fragile tanks. Some of the surviving crew members abandoned the vehicles and escaped. The members are obviously no longer able to carry out the tasks assigned to them by Malashenko.
The last surviving T34 tank was racing wildly and dusty all the way, and finally intercepted four 38t light tanks that were trying to get around behind.
The 38t, which looked like a bean in front of the T34 tank, was obviously not the same heavyweight opponent as it. Knowing that its advantage lay in mobility rather than firepower, the commander of the German 38t tank immediately ordered a maneuver to bypass the single-handed T34, and Try to attack from the side and rear to cause some trouble to this T34 or even destroy it.
But among the medium tanks in 1941, the T34 tank, which was famous for its maneuverability and flexibility, was not a cumbersome behemoth like the KV1 heavy tank.
The T34 tank, which is driven by a 500-horsepower diesel engine and has a total combat weight of 28 tons, has a thrust-to-weight ratio of 17.8, which was an astonishing 17.8 among medium tanks in 1941.
In comparison, the total combat weight of the German 38t.f light tank, whose armor has been strengthened due to war needs, has increased from just over 9 tons to more than 10 tons for the original 38t.a light tank, but its engine But it is still the original 125-horsepower Praga EPA gasoline engine without any changes.
The increase in armor defense and the unchanged engine inheritance further reduced the mobility of the 38t.f light tank. The maximum output power of its 125-horsepower engine compared with the total combat weight of 10 tons, the thrust-to-weight ratio was only It is 12.5. As a light tank, it is even lower than the 17.8 thrust-to-weight ratio of the T34 tank, which is a medium tank.
The dwarfed disadvantage in mobility greatly limits the battlefield performance of these light tanks that are supposed to pursue high-speed maneuverability.
Halfway through the circle, the T34 tank in the Prancing Horse's sword came straight in and killed it. The panicked German 38t tank kept firing at the Soviet T34 tank, trying to destroy the Soviet steel monster that was only tens of meters away from its own side. .
Unfortunately, the 37mm tank gun equipped on the 38t light tank is still quite powerful when dealing with armored vehicles or bullying infantry.
But once it encounters the Soviet main medium tank like the T34, which even the 50mm tank gun of the Panzer III tank is quite weak, this poor 37 stepping stone main gun can at best hit the thick sloped armor of the T34 tank and hear a sound. That's all.
Relying on their numerical advantage around the T34 tanks, the 38t tanks that started maneuvering in circles were like a mouse pulling a tortoise, doing crazy and useless work.
The hull and turret armor of the T34 tank were hit hard, but no part of it was penetrated. The T34 tank was designed to pursue comprehensive defense. The turret and the sides of the tank also used armor protection with a slightly smaller tilt angle.
The small water pipe main gun of the 38t tank with weak armor-piercing power cannot penetrate the T34 tank from the side even at a shooting distance of only a few dozen meters, so it has to do nothing.
"Calm down, comrades! Those German tanks can't do anything to us. They can't penetrate our armor! Load armor-piercing shells and destroy them, quickly!"
The calm and calm commander of the Soviet T34 tank already knew what kind of enemy weapons could pose a threat to his vehicle. The T34 tank still needed to go all out when facing the Panzer III and Panzer IV tanks.
When encountering a light tank like the 38t, which was already relatively outdated in 1941, it would undoubtedly be a complete defeat.
With an average reloading speed of 8 seconds per round, they turned their turrets towards the German 38t light tanks running like rabbits and opened fire one by one.
Even the German main force, Panzer III and Panzer IV tanks, could not withstand it within conventional combat distances. The 76mm BR-350B hooded armor-piercing grenade hit the 38t light tank as easily as chopping melons and vegetables.
The 38t light tank, which is as small as an armored vehicle, was even easily penetrated by a 76mm armor-piercing grenade and then directly exploded into parts and completely disintegrated. As for the crew members' escape by abandoning the vehicle, it became nonsense.
talk.
This brief armored confrontation with one against four ended with the T34 tank's almost unscathed victory.
Unlike tank games where the attack damage can be differentiated between high and low, so that the health bar is exhausted and the enemy is slowly worn to death, tank confrontations in the real world can only distinguish between those that can penetrate and those that have not.
Being unable to penetrate armor means zero damage, which is completely meaningless. Even if you repeatedly hit the opponent's tank dozens of times, it is just a useless effort.
In front of the 38t light tank, it is almost equivalent to the T34 tank with invincible plug-ins. It is precisely by relying on the absolute crushing advantage in armor defense performance and quality that it has accomplished such a feat of annihilating the enemy's army when one against four.
A feat as chopping melons and vegetables.
When the 38t tanks tried to outflank and then go to the rear of the tank company led by Malashenko to perform roundabout tactics, they were completely wiped out. Because they were unable to penetrate the frontal armor of the Soviet heavy tanks, they advanced at full speed and tried to flank the German main tank group in a weak position.
Finally, after paying a considerable price, they successfully approached the flank of the Soviet heavy tank force.
The KV1 heavy tank, which directly applies the civilian Hongqi tractor transmission system, does not have the ability to turn on the spot. When changing the direction of the vehicle body, it can only be done by turning one track forward or reverse, and locking the other track. This is a very inefficient method.
Maneuver.
You can imagine how difficult it is when the KV1 heavy tank, which already weighs 47 tons, uses this maneuvering method to turn the vehicle body in off-road conditions.
Several KV1 heavy tanks, which were being approached at high speed by the German tank group from the left and right, had no time to destroy them all before the German tank group completed its tactical intentions. The cross-country distance of less than 600 meters was not bad for maneuvering.
For the German Panzer III and Panzer IV tanks, it was a snap.
The German tank commander who adopted the tactic of dividing his troops into left and right groups completely calculated that the number of KV1 heavy tanks led by Malashenko was inferior to his own.
The more than four times the number of tanks allowed the German commanders to unleash their tactical thinking. The plan to force Malashenko to choose whether to attack from the left or the right was a naked conspiracy.
Choosing one of the attack directions to divert and intercept will inevitably cause the German tanks in the other direction to directly attack the exposed side and rear armor weaknesses of the KV1 heavy tank.
The KV1 heavy tank with difficulty in turning its body at such an extreme distance cannot quickly turn the front position with the strongest defense of the body to face the enemy behind in time. It seems that the inevitable choice between the fish and the bear's paw is left.