The life lost almost bloomed with the last dazzling light of the muzzle fire at the same time. It took nine seconds to raise the elevation angle, and the barrel pointed at the muzzle, which was almost 90 degrees off, and finally aimed at the target.
Iushkin, who operated his right eye, left hand, and right hand all at the same time, had tried his best. The moment the muzzle pointed in the direction of the target, that was when the 500-meter mark on the gun mirror overlapped the 150 mm heavy howitzer.
, Iushkin, who had completely integrated into the state of man-cannon unity, stared at his right eye that was widened to the extreme and shouted loudly.
"Death! The Kraut's lackey!"
The shell primer, which was violently hit by the breech firing pin, ejected the 85mm high-explosive projectile along the spiral rifling at high speed. The projectile, spurting out propellant and burning chemical energy, hit the hard earthwork bunker with strong revenge and hatred.
, the surging explosion flames instantly set off large chunks of frozen soil and flying snow.
"Did it?"
Malashenko's vision was blocked by the flames of the explosion and scattered snow and dirt. His eyes widened. He grabbed the commander's periscope with both hands and did not dare to leave for a moment. He stared in the direction of the target and waited for the result.
.
When the rapidly spreading flames of the explosion dissipated, large chunks of frozen soil and snow that blocked the view fell from mid-air, and the dust settled. The reality behind the scenes made Malashenko, who had seen everything clearly, curse angrily.
"Those Romanian bastards! Load up the high-explosive shells, one more shot, Iushkin!"
The 150mm heavy howitzer with its thick tube still standing proudly has not been destroyed!
The geotechnical bunker surrounding this heavy howitzer has become a natural protective copper wall. The extremely cold weather of nearly minus 30 degrees has forced the soil to freeze as hard as steel.
The 85mm high-explosive grenade with a charge of only 660 grams only made a shallow hole the size of a washbasin in the frozen soil bunker that made Malashenko want to curse. The depth was only thirty or forty centimeters at most, and it could not be penetrated any further.
, the winter frozen soil bunker defense on the Soviet Union is countless times better than any artificial sandbag bunker!
Iushkin reached out and took out an 85mm high-explosive grenade from the first ammunition rack at the rear end of the turret, turned around and put it into the breech. After completing Malashenko's order, Iushkin immediately shouted.
"Load it!"
"Fire!"
boom
The 85mm high-explosive shells that escaped instantly rushed towards the firmly locked target again.
Malashenko thought that Iushkin would definitely succeed this time, but the result that followed surprised Malashenko again.
The second high-explosive round once again hit the pile of frozen soil very close to the gun barrel, exploding and causing a cloud of flying snow. It had no other effect except leaving another shallow crater the size of a washbasin.
The black and thick 150mm cannon tube was still stuck there and stood proudly. Such a bad result almost made Malashenko furious and ran away on the spot.
"Iushkin! The target is that damn howitzer! Are you blind?"
Malashenko's angry words and curses were very unpleasant, but Iushkin, who missed twice in a row, looked aggrieved and unwilling.
"The target is just such a small barrel, and the entire gun body is blocked behind the frozen soil! The wind speed outside the tank is so strong, how do you ask me to accurately hit a target with such a small front projection area!?"
Iushkin, who has absolute confidence in his own technical level, will not make excuses at such a critical moment.
Before a blizzard approaching 100 kilometers per hour outside the tank, the wind speed can almost knock people to the ground. Full-caliber high-explosive bombs with huge frontal projected area and lateral cross-sectional area are extremely seriously affected by wind speed.
A major loss in accuracy is entirely foreseeable.
That target was so small that only a muzzle projection area was exposed. It drove Iushkin crazy. The Romanian ghost who gave birth to a son without buttocks completely hid the entire huge gun body behind the frozen soil bunker and aimed straight at it.
The high-explosive shells fired by the tank guns could not take care of the gun barrels and Romanian artillery hiding behind the bunkers.
However, the 150mm heavy howitzer, which has a maximum depression angle of negative three degrees, can also bring its own side within the range of fire with its condescending attitude of attacking high and attacking low.
Malashenko, who was weighing his options fiercely in his heart, finally made a bold decision!
Rather than rushing straight in and crushing that damn howitzer, Malashenko thought it would be more efficient to kill this turtle bastard right here.
"Kirill, reload the armor-piercing shells! Iushkin, aim at the nearest permafrost next to the gun barrel, penetrate the permafrost and kill those damn Romanian ghosts who are operating the cannon! You know what to do!"
The decision Malashenko made in an instant was not without boldness. Even Iushkin himself, as the executor of the order, could not help but be stunned for a moment, almost thinking that his ears had heard wrong.
However, the tacit team understanding of an ace crew fighting all the way to this day still surprised the slightly surprised Iushkin. After just one second of reaction time, he chose to unconditionally believe in Malashenko's decision and believed that he was widely praised by his comrades.
superb gunnery abilities.
Just a moment of eye contact exchange was enough for Iushkin to read this sincere and absolute trust in Malashenko's eyes.
High-explosive bombs from other comrade-in-arms' crews exploded on the frozen soil one after another. No commander was bold enough to come up with Malashenko's unreasonable decision. All the high-explosive bombs hit the solid frozen soil.
It was useless work on the soil bunker.
Iushkin, who had a panoramic view of all these scenes through the gun scope, took a deep breath and held his breath. The clanking sound of Kirill taking off his hand and inserting the armor-piercing bullet into the gun breech echoed in his ears and entered his mind.
With both hands firmly holding the adjustment wheel of the height machine and direction machine, he used his right eye to accurately adjust the final position. Iushkin, who had already missed twice in a row, was convinced that he had found the true direction from the wrong trajectory.
"Load it!"
boom
This time, Malashenko did not issue an order to fire, and all trust and hope rested on Iushkin alone, who made his own decision.
The 85mm hooded armor-piercing projectile instantly escaped from the roar of artillery fire, spanning a distance of 500 meters and accurately hitting the frozen soil on the left side only 20 centimeters away from the gun barrel.
The upper permafrost layer with a thickness of 80 centimeters was pierced by an 85mm full-caliber armor-piercing bullet capable of killing a tiger. Malashenko, who held the commander's periscope with both hands, stared at the target firmly, convinced that he saw what was coming from the permafrost.
After that, something instantly rose into the sky with blood flowers, and a loud shout came out of the mouth again.
"One more shot! Move to the right and fine-tune the secret position!"
Iushkin fully understood what Malashenko, who was also a gunner, meant.
Iushkin, who also saw the results of his shot through the gun scope, fully had the same intention as Malashenko, and slightly manipulated the steering wheel to adjust the firing density laterally for the second armor-piercing projectile.