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

Chapter 113 Tank Showdown (I)

When Sergei and Kirilenko heard what Franz said, they were stunned.

This ridiculous plot was actually predicted by his own captain?

But what surprised them even more was yet to come.
Lin Chen looked embarrassed. "Captain, this may not be a good idea. We are guilty of crimes and the supply of fuel is a major issue that affects the overall situation of the battle. We cannot afford to take on this responsibility."

This is blatantly taking advantage of someone and still acting ungrateful. Sergei wanted to rush up and say on Lin Chen's behalf, "We are willing to go, really, very much."

But he certainly wouldn't dare to do so, as doing so would be crossing the line.

Captain Franz smiled and said, "Of course, I can't let you guys take on the responsibility alone. Fuel supply is a big project that requires the joint efforts of many people. I reported your previous suggestion to the superiors, and they all thought it was a very good idea. I also helped you get this opportunity to make achievements. As long as you perform well, the desertion issue will be forgiven."

Lin Chen then pretended to be very grateful, "Then..."

Captain Franz thought that Lin Chen and the others were worried about safety issues. After all, that was the front-line supply area, and cold guns and cold artillery were commonplace.

"There are indeed some risks in terms of safety, but wealth and honor are achieved through risk. For us German soldiers, dying on the battlefield is the best fate!"

Bah, bah, bah. If you want to die on the battlefield, go by yourself. Don’t take me with you. I’m not a German.

Lin Chen disagreed in his heart, but he still said submissively, "I am right, sir."

"So you agree?" Captain Franz was very happy. "Then pack up. A car will leave in an hour. You will follow the fuel supply convoy to the front line. That is the real front line. I wish you good luck."

After saying that, he handed over a pass signed by himself and the relevant documents.

The three of them had no luggage to pack, so they quickly arrived at the fuel convoy. These people also knew Lin Chen, and greeted him warmly, and then they were ready to set off.

This was a huge transport convoy, with thirty military trucks loaded with oil drums.

In order to avoid accidents, the German army also sent two Type 3 tanks and a company of soldiers to follow. Needless to say, their mission was to ensure the absolute safety of the supply team.

Although it was the middle of the night, the German army implemented a strict blackout. Thanks to their excellent military qualities, the entire convoy did not make any extra noise other than the car engines.

There were already soldiers giving orders on the roadside along the way. With the faint light of the moon, the entire German convoy was filled with a solemn and murderous atmosphere, fully demonstrating its strong combat effectiveness and efficient organizational capabilities.

Sergei and Kirilenko were also shocked. If the Soviet army was in such a situation, they would find it difficult to be so orderly.

Although the progress was slow, we still arrived at the designated location before two in the morning.

Then we divided the work and cooperated to quickly build a simple fuel supply station.

There is also a camp nearby. Lin Chen guessed that it was the German field maintenance station, where a large amount of German ammunition should be stored.

The German army was very rigorous in this regard. Transporting ammunition and fuel supplies was an extremely dangerous job, so they would rather deal with them separately even if it was a little more troublesome to avoid killing them all at once.

However, despite this, the two were not too far away, but both were carefully disguised.

Teams of soldiers placed the shrubs that had been prepared long ago on top of the built sheds. The lush green shrubs camouflaged the scene very well. If you didn't observe closely, it would be difficult to see any clues here.

Not to mention aerial reconnaissance.

Lin Chen looked around repeatedly and finally came to a helpless conclusion: if he acted rashly, it would be like an egg hitting a rock, because the defenses around him were extremely tight.

Therefore, we must wait for the large German army to set out, and then the internal defense will be relatively empty, which will be a better opportunity.

Fortunately, the three of them were still assigned together. Although they were still doing odd jobs, they could easily access the oil depot, and were close to the front-line maintenance factory and ammunition depot. This was enough for soldiers like Lin Chen.

After fighting all night, the German army filled up all the tanks with gasoline. However, due to the shortage of fuel for the German army and the large differences in fuel consumption among tanks, except for a few heavy tanks that were fully fueled, the others could only maintain about half a tank of fuel.

As a streak of pale sky appeared in the east, the hideous appearance of the German armored forces finally appeared before Lin Chen and others.

The gray Type 4 tanks were neatly arranged outside the supply station and were also camouflaged.

In a woods on the left, there are about five or six Tiger tanks painted in gray and black camouflage, which are the core force of the battle.

This heavyweight weapon had a very low production volume due to its complex production process and long hours of work, and could only be used to equip three heavy tank battalions around 1943.

This was also at the strong request of Guderian, the chief of the armored forces. All newly formed and existing heavy tank battalions were treated as independent units and directly under the jurisdiction of the army group.

Each battalion had 45 Tiger tanks, three of which served as battalion command vehicles, and the three companies under the battalion each had 14 tanks. After this organization was fixed, it was never changed during the entire war.

But the German army at this time was no longer the invincible army that swept across everything in 1941, and this kind of tank unit was needed everywhere to put out fires.

Therefore, this small number of heavy tank battalions had to be broken up and assigned to relevant troops in company units. A dozen tanks also had to undergo necessary maintenance, plus wear and tear, so only a few tanks could be deployed each time. This is why in the German Tiger tank battles, there were basically two to three tanks against dozens of enemy tanks.

The most famous Tiger tank ace, Weidmann, fought against dozens of Soviet tanks alone and became famous in the last battle.

In fact, this is also a helpless move.

There are only five or six Tiger tanks here. Lin Chen estimated that they had suffered damage in the early stages of the battle or had been towed to the rear for repairs.

Even so, if these Tiger tanks are used well, they are enough to turn the tide of a battle. Their combat effectiveness is truly incredible.

But the most amazing thing is that there are actually two Ferdinand anti-tank destroyers here (many people tend to confuse the Elefant with the Ferdinand. The latter is an early model without machine guns, so it suffered a great loss in the Battle of Kursk. The former is a later modification and equipped with machine guns). The power of this tank destroyer is undoubtedly huge. When Lin Chen introduced this powerful armored monster to Sergei and Kirilenko, they were also shocked by this big guy equipped with an 88mm main gun.

Kirilenko even joked, "This may be the only thing that can threaten the Tiger tank."

It was this sentence that gave Lin Chen inspiration, and an extremely bold idea was born in his mind.

Suddenly, a buzzing sound of an airplane came from the northeast.

Due to the rising sun as cover, it was difficult for everyone to see the aircraft model clearly, but Lin Chen had excellent eyesight and he roughly determined that it was a group of Tu-2 tactical bombers, about a dozen in total, escorted by a fighter unit.

The German army obviously did not expect that the Soviet army would strike first. As they were making preparations for the attack all night, the corresponding anti-aircraft artillery units were not fully deployed.

If the Soviet air strike succeeds now, the attack will face a devastating disaster.

The German army was already somewhat desperate, but at this time the German army's usual well-trainedness was fully demonstrated. Without orders, they resolutely stayed where they were and waited, even if the Soviet bombers were approaching.

Many non-commissioned officers took the initiative to step forward and instruct the recruits, asking them to maintain order on the battlefield.

Fortunately for the German officers and soldiers, these German supply stations and maintenance points were fully camouflaged, and yesterday's aerial reconnaissance had indeed confirmed that there were no German troops in this area, so the Soviet bomber groups simply ignored this place and went straight to the rear of the German army, which was the direction of yesterday's old oil station.

As a series of bombs were dropped, the place soon became a sea of ​​fire. The fire was so raging that it seemed to burn the western sky red.

"I don't know what happened to Franz yesterday. That guy is actually a pure soldier!" Sergei didn't dislike this man. If you put aside the enemy and our camp, this man is really an outstanding soldier.

However, before everyone had recovered from their surprise, German air support soon arrived at the battlefield. In the face of the agile BF109 fighters, the Soviet fighters were clearly dominated by the German Air Force, either because their aircraft were outdated or the level of their pilots was mediocre.

Several Tu-2 bombers were hit in the engine and plunged to the ground, dragging thick black smoke. After a huge explosion, a raging fire broke out.

The Soviet fighters could only fight and retreat to cover the bomber groups' retreat to their own airspace. After achieving some results, the German fighters were no longer interested in fighting and quickly broke off contact.

"Alas, the Soviet anti-aircraft guns are too powerful, and our air force is afraid of them!" A senior sergeant nearby couldn't help but sigh with regret that the air force failed to further expand its victory results.

Sure enough, the German HE111 bomber group that followed just dropped a few bombs on the Soviet positions symbolically before being driven away by the dense Soviet anti-aircraft artillery forces.

"It is said that many of the Russian anti-aircraft artillery units are controlled by women, so a large number of anti-aircraft artillery units have been formed. Although their accuracy is average, they have the advantage of large numbers!" The sergeant major was obviously not very happy to see that his country's air force was providing such a "powerful" support operation.

Suddenly, the Type 4 tanks parked on the warehouse square began to remove their camouflage, started up and carried out pre-war preparations.

The Tiger tanks and Ferdinand self-propelled anti-tank destroyers in the grove also began to warm up. Needless to say, the German offensive was about to begin.

As the heavy artillery in the rear began to bombard, the Soviet heavy artillery also launched a resolute counterattack.

It's just that the Soviet large-caliber howitzers had poor accuracy and did not cause much damage to the German army. No wonder many German veterans joked that what they feared most was the Katyusha rocket launcher, which was too powerful.

After a while of artillery bombardment, the Type 4 tanks were arranged into a tactical column in an orderly manner and rushed forward in a very methodical manner. Following them was a SS infantry unit of unknown number. The warm-up time of this type of tank is much shorter, but it still needs to be accompanied by the infantry charge.

Otherwise, it would be easy to be killed by Soviet anti-tank soldiers due to blind spots in vision.

After a while, the Tiger tank company finally appeared, with thick green smoke coming out from behind their butts. They rushed to the battlefield one after another. Lin Chen knew that the world-renowned tank battle was about to begin.

As the rumbling of artillery fire came from the front, Lin Chen and his team began to work hard and make preparations. Good news or bad news came one after another.

"The fuel transfer station in our rear was bombed by the Soviet army. Now we have to rely on these stocks. Everyone should use them sparingly, otherwise it will be troublesome if we run out of fuel in the middle of the battle."

"The follow-up transport troops are delivering oil to us. Hopefully we can catch up."

"A Soviet tank brigade was attacking from our right wing. We used two tank companies to hold them off and dealt a heavy blow to the Soviets."

"In front of us, the Soviet army has concentrated at least one mechanized army. Oh my God, are the Russians crazy?"

When these news came, Lin Chen and his friends could not tell which ones were true and which ones were false, because the sources of these news were undoubtedly questionable.

But one thing is certain, the fighting was fierce at the beginning and the Soviet army probably suffered heavy losses.

Although the Soviet army had an absolute advantage in the number of tanks, the Germans had Tiger tanks and Ferdinand tank destroyers, so the outcome was indeed unpredictable.

As one German tank after another returned to the supply station, they brought Lin Chen and his men the most interesting and accurate battlefield news.

The Soviet army concentrated about two hundred tanks and a large number of infantry and launched the first attack. The German army, with the Tiger tank company as the core and equipped with armored forces such as the Panzer IV tank, inflicted huge casualties on the Soviet army.

When the three heard this, they felt their hearts sink. Sure enough, what Lin Chen was worried about happened. However, he couldn't take any action now. He had to wait for an opportunity, and that would be a good chance for them to take action.

"Hurry up, hurry up, fill my tank with fuel. I need to go to the side to refill ammunition later." The German tank commander kept urging Lin Chen and others.

The time for refueling was not too long. The fuel tank of this tank was not too large, but it still held four or five hundred liters, so the German army's fuel supply station consumed fuel very quickly, but the fuel transport troops in the rear were slow to arrive at the scene.

The officers began to issue new orders that only a portion of the fuel could be added to the Panzer IV tank, because the survival time of the Panzer IV tank was not long and adding too much fuel would be a pure waste. However, the advantage was more obvious, as they could fully guarantee the fuel supply for the Tiger tank.

At this moment, a Tiger tank ran out of fuel and drove back to the supply station. Lin Chen knew that the opportunity they had been waiting for had finally come.

(End of this chapter)