artillery arc

Chapter 696 Armored Showdown
1st Guards Heavy Breakthrough Tank Regiment, lead vehicle "Revenge for the Heroic Brother".

The tank commander, Captain Podolskov, put down his binoculars and muttered, "Damn it! Why didn't the enemy's No. 3 and No. 4 release smoke when they saw us, but rushed towards us instead?"

The accompanying infantry commander shook his head: "I don't know, I'm an infantry officer. Maybe they think they can penetrate your heavy armor if they get close enough?"

Podolskov picked up the radio: "Enemy tanks are rushing towards us. In order to prevent any problems, I suggest we stop and keep a distance and shoot!"

The regiment commander responded immediately: "Agreed, the entire regiment stops advancing, three vehicles in a group to cover each other, and the infantry on the vehicles get off and deploy!"

Podolskov immediately patted the infantry commander on the shoulder and said, "Get off the vehicle, deploy a screen line in front of the tanks, and deal with the tanks that rush into our faces. Our turrets don't rotate fast enough to keep up with the Type 3 and Type 4 tanks that are maneuvering quickly at close range."

"Okay, leave it to us!" All the infantrymen jumped out of the car with rocket launchers and quickly dispersed in front of the stopped tank.

The 21st Guards Heavy Breakthrough Tank Regiment had a total of Rokosov Type tanks, which were divided into seven groups. Each T-formation was a "tooth tip", and the seven tips formed a "hacksaw" on the grassland.

Nearly two hundred Plossen tanks formed two rows and rushed towards the hacksaw.

When the enemy tanks rushed to 1800 meters, the st Guards Regiment opened fire.

Seven or eight Plossen tanks caught fire and stopped, while the rest stopped suddenly and returned fire while continuing to move forward.

The commander of the 1st Guards Regiment urged on the radio: "Don't worry about the platoon artillery, there are too many enemies, fire as fast as you can! Don't fire additional artillery, just fire at the enemies that are still moving!"

Podolskov repeated the commander's words verbatim: "Don't fire more shots, attack the enemies that are still moving first! Fire!"

Soon the entire grassland was filled with smoke. On the side of the 1st Guards Regiment, there was white smoke left by the tank gun fire, and on the enemy's side, there was black smoke from the burning tanks.

The Prosens were also trying to fight back, and the shells kept scratching the paint of the Rokossov-1.

Suddenly, Podolskov heard someone shouting on the radio: "I've been shot through!"

He immediately turned his head and saw a Rokossov-1 tank on fire in the distance, with the tank crew jumping out of the vehicle.

The leader's voice rang out over the radio: "Who was shot through? Mark the location, this is a precious specimen!"

As long as we analyze the bullet points on the wreckage, we will know in which direction to strengthen the defense, so the wreckage that has been penetrated has more recycling value than other damaged tanks.

Just as Podolskov was about to say that his brother who was shot through was unlucky, an armor-piercing bullet hit the anti-aircraft machine gun next to him, directly cutting off the frame of the anti-aircraft machine gun from the root, and the machine gun fell off the tank.

A fragment that fell off from somewhere hit Podolskov's shoulder.

"Sukabulie!" he cursed, and his hand was covered in blood when he touched his shoulder.

So he got into the tank, bandaged himself with the first aid kit, and cursed: "Sukabulie! It's such a shame for me to be injured like this!"

The loader stuffed a new armor-piercing shell into the gun chamber and took advantage of the free time to ask, "What shot it?"

"Fragments of anti-aircraft machine guns! Sukabulle! It fucking hurts!"

Before he could finish his words, the gunner opened fire and the tank began to shake violently.

Empty shells were ejected from the breech block and fell to the tank's floor, and the pungent smell of incompletely burned gunpowder filled the fighting compartment.

Podolskov coughed and bandaged himself: "Damn it! Why is there a problem with the gunpowder in this batch of shells? The managers of the factories in the rear should all be shot!"

"It's good enough that it can fire." The loader stuffed another shell into the barrel, "There are 20 more armor-piercing shells!"

The gunner opened fire directly.

Almost at the same time, everyone heard a "Duang" sound. Apparently, another enemy armor-piercing shell was blocked by the Rokossov type I reliable armor.

After completing a simple bandage, Podolskov looked out through the periscope of the command tower and found that the enemy was within 1000 meters.

The fire from the enemy became increasingly intense.

Podolskov raised his left hand and closed the hatch - he had come in in a hurry just now, and the hatch was still wide open, with sunlight leaking in through the door.

The gunner fired a third time.

As the hatch closed, the pungent smell of gunpowder in the fighting room became stronger.

Gunner: "If the enemy doesn't retreat, we will be suffocated to death by the inferior gunpowder!"

"Stop complaining! Open fire! Don't let the enemy get close to the battle—"

As he was speaking, there was another muffled sound from the armored shell, and then the rotating turret got stuck.

Podolskov: "Sukabile! The seat is stuck. Damn Proson's evil plan!"

The Prosens would deliberately aim at the turret ring. Podolskov had heard this from his instructors when he was in the rear tank school.

In theory, the Rokossov Type 1 was designed with the enemy's preference to attack the seat ring in mind, so a lot of effort was put into the protection of the seat ring.

During the summer campaign, the Revenge was besieged by Plossom tanks, but it withstood countless engine races and did not get stuck at all, which shows that the efforts of the design team were fruitful.

But obviously when people are unlucky, the design team can do nothing.

Podolskov: "I'll go out and check the situation. You can continue firing after the fault is fixed!"

"Isn't your shoulder injured?"

Podolski looked down and smiled, "It's okay!"

He used both hands to climb out of the tank. He could clearly feel that his right hand was somewhat weak, but he gritted his teeth and persevered.

Soon, Podolskov found the armor-piercing shell of the Proson stuck in the gap of the turret - or more precisely, the fragments of the armor-piercing shell. He held the handle on the turret and kicked the fragments hard with his big leather boots. After kicking several times, the fragments flew out of the gap with a snap and fell into the bushes and disappeared.

Podolskov hurried back into the tank.

The Plossen tank, which had approached to within 700 meters, strafed Podolskov with its coaxial machine gun, and the bullets clanged on the armor of the Rokossov Type .

"Keep firing! The enemy is only 700 meters away!" he shouted.

"Aiming!" As soon as the words were spoken, the gunner stepped on the firing pedal and the tank began to shake.

Podolskov quickly looked out of the periscope and saw a burning Plossen tank slowly slowing down, with crew members jumping off the vehicle one after another and rolling on the ground.

"Okay! Keep firing!"

At this time, the Proson tank had already rushed to three hundred meters.

Suddenly a shell hit the Hero Brother's Revenge.

At first, Podolskov thought it was another ricochet, and something whizzed past his eyes.

The gunner fell to his fighting position, holding his throat.

Podolskov put his left hand on the gunner's shoulder: "What's wrong with you?"

The gunner tried to speak, but only leaking sounds came out.

Podolskov turned his head and found that a small piece of armor on the inner wall of the tank had collapsed and dented. Apparently, the flying fragments hit the gunner.

"Damn it! Let me bandage you, hold on!" The loader opened the first aid kit too quickly, and the gauze bandage and sulfa powder fell out and scattered on the floor of the fighting room, mixed with the shell casings.

The loader immediately bent down to pick up the bandage, then searched for the packet of sulfa powder among the pile of shell casings.

Podolskov: "Well! He's dead!"

The loader stopped and looked up at the commander.

Podolskov: "He's dead! Our tanks are not invincible! Help me put him in the commander's seat! I'll fire!"

The loader stood there in a daze, as if he didn't understand what Podolskov said.

Podolskov: "Hurry! My right shoulder is injured. I can't move him alone! Hurry!"

As he spoke, he kicked the loader hard.

The latter finally woke up, threw down the gauze and first aid kit, and helped Podolskov move the gunner to the commander's position.

Podolskov recalled the training he had received before - since Rokossov implemented the new tank drill, Ant's tank soldiers, like Prosen, were required to be able to fight in all combat positions.

The former tank commander stepped on the pedal to turn the turret to the left and aimed the crosshairs in the sight at the enemy tank.

Just then the enemy tank opened fire, and the flash and muzzle blast instantly blocked its body.

Podolskov stepped on the firing pedal.

The tank shook, and the enemy in the sight was immediately hit. It could be clearly seen that the shell hit the enemy's gun shield.

Immediately afterwards, the driver and mechanic of the enemy tank climbed out of the cockpit in front of the vehicle. It was obvious that the shot just fired by Podolskov had killed all the enemies in the fighting room.

Podolskov fired a coaxial machine gun, but because he was not familiar with the machine gun scale on the sight, the bullets fell in front of the enemy like urine.

The Proson tank driver who jumped out of the car took the opportunity to hide in the bushes.

Loader: "There are 17 more armor-piercing shells!"

Podolskov had no time to answer. He was busy looking for the enemy with his gunner's scope.

Damn, it’s so hard to find, like being blind!
Podolskov had never driven a T34 with a two-man turret. Accustomed to the commander's field of view, he was not used to searching the enemy through the gunner's scope.

He finally found an enemy tank, but before he could put the crosshairs on it, the infantry's rocket launcher hit the front of the tank.

Podolskov thought he had lost his prey, but was surprised to see that the tank was still moving!

He immediately fired another shot.

When the armor-piercing bullet hit, the target's entire skirt was blown off, and then flames several feet high burst out of the engine compartment.

The Proson tank soldiers jumped out of the vehicles one after another, and were then knocked to the ground by the Ante infantrymen who emerged from the bushes with PPSh-27 rifles.

Podolskov: "Damn it, the enemy has reached the infantry screen! We don't have hull machine guns!"

At this time, someone shouted on the radio: "The enemy released smoke! We repelled the enemy!"

Podolskov also saw white smoke released by enemy tanks.

He let out a long sigh of relief and leaned back against the backrest of the gunner's position.

Then he remembered that the backrest was covered in blood.

"Sukkable!" he cursed.

(End of this chapter)