How to destroy the T4 medium tank, which is also Soviet-made equipment, from the front. This is an extremely troublesome problem for Malashenko, who is encountering such a situation for the first time.
The Soviet armor-piercing grenade did not have a cap that was welded on the front end of the projectile like the Germans did. Instead, it only had a projectile cap that was used to reduce wind resistance and increase the flight speed of the artillery shell. A large part of the reason for this was due to the need for steel torrent to facilitate large quantities during wartime.
Consider the production plan.
Although the Soviet standard armor-piercing grenade has the advantages of large charge and sufficient explosion damage, when faced with sloped armor, not only does its penetration depth be extremely poor due to the lack of the capping effect, but its ricochet probability is even worse.
It is far more than several times higher than the German hooded armor-piercing bullets of the same period.
Under normal circumstances, German tanks that adopt vertical armor as a general design concept for body protection do not have high-inclination sloping armor at all, and this just corresponds to the fact that the Soviet hooded armor-piercing grenade lacks a positive cap and is not good at dealing with slanting
The weakness of the armor is equivalent to invisibly cooperating with the Soviet tank troops to meet actual combat needs.
The Soviet 76mm tank cannon, which can pierce the vertical armor of German tanks as easily as piercing a cream cake, has many models and is widely equipped on all T4 medium tanks and KV1 heavy tanks, and the shells are also interchangeable. In Barbaro
After the launch of Operation Sa, despite the unfavorable battle situation, they still destroyed a large number of German tanks in successive defeats, and even caused the Gudri armored group, which suffered heavy losses, to have a fierce quarrel with Hitler over the issue of tank replenishment.
But this situation was completely reversed when faced with the Soviet tanks captured by the Germans.
The KV1 heavy tank and the T4 medium tank, which widely use large-angle sloped armor, are both rough-skinned and thick-bodied tanks with high defense value, which is enough to make the German tanks with welded projectile caps to provide the shell deflection effect powerless.
.
When dealing with steeply inclined armor, Malashenko, who was worse than the Germans because the shells were not capped, was completely miserable.
The front armor of the T4 medium tank with a physical thickness of 45 mm and an equivalent armor thickness of 90 mm at an angle of 45 degrees is enough to be immune to 76 mm Soviet-made armor-piercing grenades attacking from the front without being damaged, even if the angle of incidence is not large enough if you are lucky.
Producing a ricochet will only leave an unpenetrated crater and be a waste of effort.
But in contrast, the German captured T4 medium tank, also equipped with a 76mm tank main gun, was also unable to threaten the KV1 heavy tank unit led by Malashenko from the front.
The KV1 heavy tank, which has a much higher physical armor thickness than the T4, is a rough and thick steel behemoth after being equipped with a high-angle armor layout. It can't even penetrate the front armor of the T4 medium tank.
The Soviet-made 76mm tank gun is even less capable of penetrating the KV1, which is a heavy tank.
The final result after a series of exchanges of fire was that neither the German armored forces nor the troops led by Malashenko could do anything to each other.
The German armored soldiers who first used the T4 medium tank to deal with the KV1 heavy tank quickly realized the problem. The T4 was enough to penetrate the German tanks from the front without any suspense, but it was still not enough to threaten the KV1. If the front was not good, it would come from the side. The truth of war
He was quickly counterattacked by the German armored soldiers with flexible tactics.
"Comrade Commander, those Germans have started running towards both sides of us. What are your orders?"
Seryosha, who served as the driver, was particularly sensitive to the maneuvers of the German tanks and shouted on the spot. Malashenko, who also witnessed this scene with binoculars in his hands, naturally knew those who drove Soviet-made tanks.
What on earth do the German armored soldiers in tanks want to do?
Knowing that he was also unable to destroy the Germans from the front and capture the T4 tank, Malashenko immediately decided to use his tactics to hunt down the Germans who were trying to use the high maneuverability of the T4 to seek opportunities to bypass the enemy.
Armored soldiers.
"Seryozha, prepare to turn! Keep the front armor of the tank pointed at the leading German guy closest to us. As long as we are not within a hundred meters of distance, our tank's turning speed can keep up with those of T4.
Maneuver!"
"Understood, Comrade Commander! Let's do it!"
Seryosha, who received the order from Malashenko, immediately began to use all his strength to pull back the driving control lever beside him, and at the same time stepped on the accelerator pedal to increase the engine's reverse output to the maximum.
The KV1 heavy tank, which was originally stationary and firing, immediately shuddered and roared and turned. One track locked the other and the reversed single-stream transmission system drove the heavy body weighing 47 tons to slowly turn backwards.
Steering in reverse gear not only avoids the shortcoming of the kv1 with a single-flow transmission system being too slow when turning the car body at zero speed, but also improves the car body steering efficiency with the extra speed given by the engine in reverse gear.
At the same time, the KV1 heavy tank whose gearbox is only equipped with one reverse gear can only reverse at a snail's pace of 6 kilometers per hour at full speed. In any case, it can be regarded as a disguised way to keep up with the German T4 tanks that are attacking from the side.
way of distance.
No matter how much it is better than nothing, it is still better than standing still. This is undoubtedly crucial for the KV1 heavy tank, which is extremely heavy and not good at close combat.
After receiving Malashenko's order, several other KV1 heavy tanks belonging to the battalion headquarters in the surrounding area also began to follow the instructions at full speed. The huge and slow body of steel improved a certain degree of steering efficiency by accelerating in reverse, just like Marashchenko.
As Shenke said, a distance of one hundred meters is enough to keep up with the full cross-country speed of the T4 medium tank.
The KV1 heavy tanks, which basically remained stationary, always aimed their strongest frontal armor at the German troops who were trying to bypass them. Realizing that the opponent's Soviet tank commander had already realized his own tactics, the German tank commander had no choice but to
He further changed his strategy and issued the order that was extremely dangerous and played into Malashenko's hands.
"Continue to approach the flanks of those Ivans. As long as their vehicle's turning speed reaches within a hundred meters, they will not be able to keep up with our full-speed maneuver. Seize this opportunity to attack their side armor!"
Naturally, the German T4 tank that maneuvers sideways at full speed cannot always keep facing the enemy like Malashenko, who responds to the ever-changing situation. As the active initiator of tactics, the German tanks have already turned their own tanks during full-speed sideways maneuvers.
The side armor is completely exposed.
Due to the fact that the turning and reversing of the vehicle body will cause considerable vibration and interfere with the accuracy and aiming of the main gun, Malashenko has not ordered firing before.
However, the tall target of the German T4 tank, which is now approaching the 100-meter mark, has filled the entire four-times magnification field of view of the main gun sight. In this case, even during reverse steering, it can ensure maximum accuracy.
With a high firing rate, Malashenko's entire set of tactics is just to wait for this moment to arrive.