I asked you to escape, but you became a soldier in World War II

Chapter 112 The Legendary Tiger Tank
The person in charge of the gas station was a captain named Franz who was blind in his right eye.

When he walked, the medal on his chest made a ding-lang sound, and it was obvious that he was a die-hard fan of the empire.

He looked at Lin Chen and the others with extremely contemptuous eyes.

"You scum who tarnish the honor of the National Defense Forces, it's already good enough to let you live. I hope that in the next work, you won't give me a reason to beat you up, otherwise I will beat you up so hard that your parents won't recognize you!"

He used the whip in his hand to hit each person twice. Lin Chen and the other three were obviously different from the others. They did not dodge or cry out, which made the other party look at them with more respect, but that was all.

In order to show their power, no dinner was provided that night. Everyone went into a straw hut hungry and found some hay and piled it up randomly. This became their temporary home.

Fortunately, the weather was a bit hot and the open air provided better ventilation, but the mosquitoes were really annoying. Sergei had thick skin and started snoring soon after. It was a pity for Lin Chen and Kirilenko as they were tormented by mosquitoes until midnight.

Some soldiers suggested getting some cigarettes to smoke the area, but this was strongly opposed by the veterans who were here.

The reason was that Captain Franz was extremely averse to the use of open flames in gas stations. Last time, a recruit smoked a cigarette in the gas station and was hung up and had his legs broken by him. When his superiors found out, they did not punish him. It was said that he was a trusted and beloved general of the Chief of Staff of the 11th Armored Division.

After hearing this, Lin Chen and others also felt that they had to be careful. This man treated ordinary soldiers like this, let alone a "deserter" like them?
The difficult night finally passed, and it was July 7th. Lin Chen remembered very clearly that tomorrow would be the crucial day of the Prokhotsk tank decisive battle.

Early in the morning, the German army finally delivered "breakfast", which turned out to be just half a bucket of watery soup.

What are these black things?
The orderly who delivered the food told everyone with disdain that it was potato soup.

No one was willing to believe it, but there was nothing else to choose from. No matter how bad it was, it was still food. The only difference was that there was no bread. This thin soup could only barely fill the stomach, but it couldn't do anything else.

But this is the case in the German army. Status means everything. This is why the German army fought so bravely. If ordinary soldiers want to make a name for themselves and enter the upper class, military merit is the most important thing. This is a bit similar to our Qin Army.

Lin Chen took the lead and scooped up a bowl, then drank it with gritted teeth. Although it tasted terrible, it was better than starving.

Naturally, there was no reason for Sergei and the others not to drink. They all came from poor backgrounds, so there was no need to be picky.

The orderly saw that the "food" in the bucket was almost empty, so he smiled with satisfaction, "You pigs, it's good enough to have something to eat! Once you've eaten, get back to work!"

Soon, someone came to urge us to get to work.

Today's task is to transport all the oil drums that are transported in to the designated location in accordance with their requirements. They have special gas station operators to refuel the tanks.

When they arrived at the parking lot, there were more than a hundred trucks, all loaded with oil drums. Lin Chen and his team needed to go up and slowly lift the oil drums down, then put them on a small cart and push them to another refueling area.

The job sounds simple, but it actually requires a lot of endurance and physical strength.

Because gasoline barrels are very heavy, the German army believes that it would be difficult for someone like Lin Chen, who had just recovered from a serious illness, to hold on.

However, they underestimated Lin Chen's recovery ability. Now, except for his pale face, his blood volume has recovered to 85%, which has reached the level of a normal soldier.

However, in order to prevent his energy from being wasted on such meaningless physical labor, Lin Chen proposed using the round bottom edge of the oil barrel to unload the oil by rolling it. At the beginning, the one-eyed captain was shocked and ran over angrily to teach these ignorant bastards a lesson.

But later he found that Lin Chen and others not only operated it very safely, but also greatly improved their efficiency, so he put down the whip in his hand.

"Boy, you're really good. You can come up with this idea?" Franz gave a rare compliment.

"Mr. Captain, this is what I learned in the machinery factory," Lin Chen could only answer vaguely, fearing that the other party would continue to ask further questions. It would be embarrassing if the other party happened to have a car accident.

Fortunately, Franz was also a rough man and was too lazy to care about these things. He was only interested in the battle situation. "Don't move any more. Pass on your advanced experience to others. This will greatly speed up the work efficiency of our gas station."

This was naturally very much in line with Lin Chen's wishes, so he immediately answered loudly, "Okay, Mr. Captain."

With the captain's "imperial sword", Lin Chen was able to enter and exit many areas of the gas station at will for the first time. While giving a demonstration to everyone, he observed the layout and manpower deployment of the gas station.

What surprised him most was that there were three Tiger tanks parked in an open space in a heavily guarded warehouse.

With the help of the title of teaching refueling techniques, Lin Chen saw the real thing for the first time in this time and space. Although he watched it from a distance, he was still shocked.

Its huge body, like a steel beast, crouched quietly in the open space.

The body of the tank is painted in gray and black camouflage, blending in with the surrounding land and trees, providing good concealment on the battlefield. The Tiger tank's unique square turret is tall, with the iconic 88mm gun mounted on it, like the fangs of a beast, ready to tear through the enemy's defenses at any time.

The white coding on the vehicle's turret indicates that it belongs to a heavy tank battalion.

"How is it? Pretty impressive, right?" A SS armored sergeant came over and proudly showed off to Lin Chen who was observing the tank carefully, "This is the most powerful tank in our empire. I will drive it to break through the Russian defense line!"

"Okay, stop bragging and come over here to clean the tank. Once the fuel is filled, we will set off soon." An officer with the rank of SS third-level assault squadron leader (equivalent to the Wehrmacht second lieutenant) interrupted the sergeant's chattering impatiently.

The only difference between him and the second-level assault squadron leader is that there is an extra white border on the left side of the collar. Everything else is the same, with three silver stars arranged diagonally.

The SS ranks were much more complicated to distinguish than the Wehrmacht ranks. I really didn't understand why they designed it so complicated. "Hey! Can you help me clean the tank? I see you haven't seen such a high-end tank before?" The sergeant obviously wanted to be lazy, so Lin Chen naturally had no reason to refuse.

While the other person was resting in the sun nearby, he got a large rag and climbed up and down to work hard.

The driver's cab was not allowed to enter, but through the entry and exit of the tank commander and others, he still figured out how to get in. This was somewhat different from the Type 4 tank he had driven before.

The front armored part of the turret is very thick, and it is difficult for the current Soviet artillery to penetrate it directly, including the rear part of the turret. The semi-circular design makes the turret stronger than all contemporary products of this era.

The body of the vehicle adopts a relatively conservative design, with an observation port on the left front side and a 7.92mm MG34 machine gun on the right side. The left side of the body is painted with the iconic German cross. Its tail is said to be the weakest point, but from the outside, the armor thickness also feels good.

This is not because the designers wanted to save some steel for the German military industry, but because the load-bearing capacity of the vehicle has reached its limit.

The power provided by the Maybach gasoline engine is already very strong, but the Tiger tank's own weight is an astonishing nearly 60 tons, which really feels like "a small horse pulling a big cart". So after repeated consideration, the German military scientific research department could only weaken the rear armor of the Tiger tank.

In order to increase its maneuverability, the German army racked their brains to come up with road wheels with a diameter of 800 mm and staggered with each other. Although it is very comfortable to drive, it is very troublesome to dismantle or repair.

In addition, its wide tracks increase the grip area to reduce its unit pressure, so that it will not get stuck in the mud and cannot extricate itself.

But even so, the heavy body still makes the maneuverability of this tank extremely poor. The huge 540L fuel tank can only run about 100 kilometers. I wonder if the Tiger tank means "fuel tiger".

And its maximum speed is only 20-30 kilometers per hour.

The most fatal point is that this type of tank uses gasoline, which is far less powerful than diesel, and it starts immediately. The main reason is that Germany's diesel production is too low. Another major problem brought by gasoline engines is the need to warm up the engine.

Before going into battle, the tank needs to be warmed up for more than 30 minutes, which consumes one-sixth of the tank's fuel. How can we play like this?
So there is a joke to describe the powerful Tiger tank: it is either on the way to maintenance or on the way to refuel.

Although it is a bit exaggerated, the probability of Tiger tanks being destroyed by enemy tanks was indeed very low throughout World War II. Most of them were destroyed in air raids and abandoned due to malfunctions.

Lin Chen washed very slowly and seriously, which won unanimous praise from the SS officers and soldiers, who all gave him a thumbs up!
However, if they knew Lin Chen’s true intention, they would probably have a different expression.

Because of Lin Chen's "outstanding" work, the SS gave him a large piece of bread and a small pot of leftover milk when he set off, which made the other workers envious.

Lin Chen generously shared it with others, which made Sergei and Kirilenko a little puzzled. It was just such a small amount of food, and he shared it with others?
However, the explanation for this was, "Don't worry, the Germans will send us food."

Sure enough, at dinner time, the orderly specifically instructed to prepare a special meal for Lin Chen. The reason was very direct. The special method contributed by Lin Chen greatly improved the refueling efficiency and effectively ensured the combat effectiveness of the armored forces.

After Lin Chen and his companions had their feast, the captain came to Lin Chen to ask for advice.
The main concern is that the new equipment has an incredibly high fuel consumption. Although this place is very close to the front line, as the German front continues to move forward, their fuel supply difficulty will greatly increase. Is there any good solution?
"Captain, if it's the Tiger tank I saw during the day, its fuel consumption is undoubtedly terrible, so I suggest setting up a fuel support team and setting up several transfer stations along the way, so that the efficiency of refueling can be effectively improved. As long as the Tiger tank has enough fuel and no malfunctions, I believe it will definitely be a super killer weapon!"

Lin Chen’s words made Franz look at him with new eyes. This boy is really a talent!
"I see that you are very knowledgeable, so how did you become a deserter?" He finally couldn't help but ask his question.

Lin Chen threw out the excuse he had prepared long ago, coupled with his aggrieved expression, which made Franz believe it 9%.

"These stupid bureaucrats actually let such excellent soldiers of the empire do menial work. Alas, it's a pity that my official position is too low, otherwise I would definitely recommend you to serve in the armored unit where I served before. I believe you can do a good job!"

"No, no, no, Captain, you flatter me too much. My abilities are very average." Lin Chen could only be humble. Being too ostentatious in front of the German army would sometimes bring himself a lot of unnecessary trouble.

Tonight is destined to be a sleepless night, because the three people saw more and more tanks advancing to the northeast, and only Lin Chen understood that that was Prokhorovka.

It is located south of Kursk and north of Belgorod and is an important railway and highway hub.

In the Germans' initial battle plan, this place was not the main attack direction. However, after the battle began, the German army encountered stubborn resistance in the main attack direction of Oboyan, and the right wing of the 2nd SS Panzer Corps was deviated from the attack direction due to the counterattack of the Red Army. In addition to various other reasons, this eventually led to Prokhorovka becoming the tank decisive battlefield between the Soviet and German armies.

"Captain, do we need to do anything?" Sergei naturally remembered the main purpose of their coming here, which was obviously not to be a model of cheering.

"Why are you in such a hurry? How can there be no battles to fight if you follow the captain?" Kirilenko was more calm. In his opinion, as long as Lin Chen was there, all problems would not be a problem.

"Hehe, believe it or not, if it's any later, that kid Franz will come and beg us to go to the front line!" Lin Chen smiled cunningly.

Now it was Kirilenko and Sergei's turn to be shocked. "Captain, if you say you are awesome, I believe you, but to this extent? I..."

Kirilenko was also a little hesitant, mainly because the one-eyed man was too violent and arrogant.

Unexpectedly, just as they finished talking, a figure walked over from a distance in the straw hut.
When I got closer, I saw who else could it be but Franz?
The three men immediately climbed up from the haystack. Even though their bodies were covered with straw and dirt, they still stood straight.

It can be seen that Franz was very satisfied with the military qualities of the three men. Looking at the others, they had already slept like dead pigs. Such garbage was not worthy of joining the great Wehrmacht in his mind.

As for the three men’s uniforms being a little dirty, what’s the big deal?

When we were fighting on the front lines, weren't our uniforms also shabby?

"Are you three willing to go to the front line and take on the task of supplying fuel to the SS?"

(End of this chapter)