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

Chapter 121 Do you want to disobey orders on the battlefield?
Lin Chen was indeed a little excited, mainly because the German army might not have many of these important tactical weapons. Ever since the German army discovered the great function of the 88mm anti-aircraft gun after horizontal firing, this type of anti-aircraft gun began to "not do its job properly".

A large number of anti-aircraft guns were pulled to the front line to fight against the Soviet army's steel torrent, and the air defense mission was neglected.

This anti-aircraft gun was probably used to defend the bridgehead. From here it could provide support to the German troops on the north bank at any time.

But now that he had it in his hands, and had plenty of ammunition, he would be more confident of defending the ferry.

No matter what ace armored division you are, you will be defeated if you meet me!

"Hurry up and deploy the defense. We must use all the supplies we have to build an iron defense line before daybreak. Tell our comrades not to be afraid of getting tired and to build a solid defense line!" Lin Chen immediately gave the order and took the lead himself, calibrating all the firepower points repeatedly to ensure cross fire and no blind spots in front of the battle line.

The only regret is that there were no mines or anything like that in the German crossing, which means that before the main force of the brigade arrived, they could only rely on their own limited strength to defend the crossing.

He immediately called a meeting of the backbone members of the company to discuss the battle plan.

"Captain, the location of this ferry is too critical. The German artillery fire must be very fierce. We can't just stand here and get beaten. Besides, we don't know how many German reinforcements will come." Sergei was still used to calling Lin Chen captain, and Lin Chen didn't care about it.

What made Lin Chen happy was that Sergei began to act like a commander. He no longer acted recklessly, but chose to think about problems.

"Yes, Captain, we need to attack instead of defend. We are an armored unit, and just defending like this is not our strong point." After today's bloody battle, Second Lieutenant Sochilovsky has grown further. He has more self-confidence and a stronger sense of belonging to this company.

"Jacques, Vaska, what do you two think?" Lin Chen hopes to give full play to everyone's subjective initiative.

"I'll do whatever the company commander says and try my best!" Vasika's answer was as expected. Lin Chen just smiled. It takes time to change a person.

"Captain, can we request some air support? If the Il-2 ground attack aircraft can come, it will have a great deterrent effect on the German army and will definitely be of great help to our morale!" Jacques' suggestion was very thoughtful.

"Well, your suggestions are all good. I have already requested air support from the brigade commander, but I will urge him to do it. If we can get it, that would be the best. If not, we will have to rely on ourselves! As for defense, I want to focus on positional defense, and then dispatch a mobile force to the periphery to provide support at the most critical moment! A combination of static and dynamic forces."

He glanced at Sochilovsky and said, "Comrade Sochilovsky, this peripheral mission is now handed over to you. I will not control when to attack, but it is entirely up to you! I will leave one Type 4 tank behind, and the rest are all yours! How do you think?"

Lieutenant Sochilovsky was very moved after hearing this. This was a great trust! The company commander left almost all the main forces of the company to him, and even his confidant Sergei was under his command. If he still couldn't fight well, he would really be ashamed to face his fellow countrymen.

"Or I'll leave two T34s for you. The defense of the position cannot be too bad. We may be able to quickly join the main force of the brigade from the periphery, so we don't need too many troops, right?" Sochilovsky felt that Lin Chen had too few troops.

"I have tried to contact the brigade commander many times, but I have not been able to get through to him. I don't know why. We cannot completely pin our hopes on the brigade commander. We must also prepare for the worst. Remember, you are a mobile unit, and it will be useless without tanks. Don't worry about me, I will definitely be able to hold on!" Lin Chen had a bad feeling that the brigade commander might be in trouble. If so, he would be isolated.

After sending Sochilovsky and Sergei away, the huge position became empty. There were actually only forty or fifty infantrymen in the two trucks. The only good news was that they had a lot of grenades and plenty of 88mm anti-aircraft shells. If the German army wanted to retake the ferry, it would depend on whether they had such a good defense.

Except for a small number of observation posts left on the front line, he had the rest of the limited infantry hide in concealed fortifications at the back. He personally commanded several machine gun fire points.

The 88mm anti-aircraft gun was hidden with a lot of camouflage, and the selected artillerymen were repeatedly told not to open fire unless there were enemy heavy tanks. Ordinary tanks could be dealt with by his tanks and anti-tank positions.

After everything was ready, the sky finally began to brighten. The entire ferry had been built into an extremely solid position by Lin Chen and his men. Lin Chen firmly believed that if the German army was not the main force of the division, it would be difficult for them to take this position.

In fact, after the successful surprise attack on the ferry last night, the German soldiers who escaped back took a long time to contact the nearby German forces, which gave Lin Chen and his men enough time to deploy defenses.

After the contact was established, the Seventh Armored Division stationed nearby did not dare to delay at all, because they had received the distress signal sent by the Sixth Armored Division.

The other party obviously realized the seriousness of the situation and actually used plain code to call. As a result, General Reinhardt, commander of the German 3rd Panzer Army near the Donets River, was shocked!
Although the situation of the German army in the Kursk area was already extremely bad, the first unit to be completely destroyed must not happen in their hands.

The 6th Armored Division was actually the former armored ace unit of the German Army. Although it has declined now, it is still a very powerful and iron-blooded force. The most important thing is that it is stationed on the Hebei border and is the main force of the division. If it is really destroyed, the number of this unit will be revoked.

Then what awaits you will surely be a military trial!

Therefore, General Reinhardt not only ordered the 503th Armored Division to make every effort to rescue, but also drew part of the forces from the Kempf Battle Group to provide support, including a Tiger tank from the rd Heavy Tank Battalion.

The Seventh Armored Division was given a death order, requiring it to recapture the ferry before 2 p.m. today, rebuild the pontoon bridge before dusk, and open up a lifeline for the Sixth Armored Division to return.

After receiving the order, Major General Hans Funck felt a great sense of responsibility. For this reason, he mobilized almost all the troops he could, regardless of the possible Soviet counterattack on other fronts.

He assembled four Panzer IVs, five Panzer IIIs, some armored personnel carriers, and even two captured T34/76 tanks, plus the Tiger tank that came as reinforcement, and equipped them with more than 500 infantrymen to form a powerful battle group, which he personally led to charge towards the ferry.

Lin Chen and his men obviously did not expect that the German army would mobilize so many troops to attack, but fortunately, Major General Hans Funke did not mobilize the division's heavy artillery in order to achieve speed. He estimated that the Soviet attack should be a small force.

Moreover, heavy artillery support is needed on other fronts now, and it is impossible for us to withdraw too many.

When the supporting fire from mortars and self-propelled artillery hit the ferry position, Lin Chen was a little confused. Why did the German army fight to the death right from the start?

Fortunately, he was well prepared and used the advanced defensive tactics he learned in his previous life to the extreme, so the German artillery fire caused minimal damage to the position. Despite this, the first wave of German offensive still surprised Lin Chen.

The German army immediately advanced towards the position in a V-shaped formation, led by two Type 4 and one Type 3 tanks. Behind them was a large group of German infantry, equipped with two half-track armored vehicles with light mortars on them, which were used to support the front-line attack troops at any time.

This attack mode caused the Soviet army to suffer a lot in the early Patriotic War. Later, the Soviet army also learned war in the war, storing heavy artillery in the rear and calling for long-range artillery support at any time. But Lin Chen and his men obviously did not have heavy artillery support, so this kind of war was very difficult to fight.

"Tell the frontline that this is just a tentative attack by the Germans. The anti-tank guns must wait for the Panzer IV to approach and use crossfire to attack its side armor! The frontal armor is difficult for the German anti-tank guns to penetrate. After you get rid of the Panzer IV, leave the Panzer III to me!"

It’s not that Lin Chen wants to be a hero. He absolutely cannot let his troops suffer too many casualties, otherwise they will not be able to fight. Although the morale of the Soviet army at this time is much stronger than at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, it is still far inferior to the heroic ZYJ on the Korean Peninsula more than ten years later.

He had to give the Germans an illusion that the ford's defenses were strong and needed reinforcements, so he could buy some more time.

Sure enough, when the two German Type 4 tanks appeared in the firing area that had been calculated long ago, several Soviet gunners removed their camouflage and quickly opened fire to hit the German tanks.

Lin Chen's Type 4 tank took the lead and rushed down from the position. With just one encounter, it destroyed the Type 3 tank to pieces. The German troops behind saw that the situation was not good and immediately retreated. After chasing for a while, Lin Chen returned.

Don't chase poor bandits.

Major General Hans Funke saw this scene through a telescope and was so angry that his teeth itched.

"I never thought that the Empire's tanks would fall into the hands of the Soviets?"

But this is normal. On the fierce battlefield on the Eastern Front, it was common to seize equipment from each other. However, the German army ignored most of the Soviet armored vehicles and only left some T34 and KV tanks to supplement the increasingly weak armored forces.

"Go further, suppress the enemy's anti-tank positions with artillery!" The corners of his mouth twitched fiercely. He didn't believe that with such a small number of Soviet troops, how long could they hold out?

"Put two Type 4 tanks in the back. When the enemy's Type 4 comes out, go up and fight two against one!"

If you have an absolute advantage in military strength, you can invest money into it.

The German army's precise artillery fire quickly fell on the exposed anti-tank positions, and all of the Soviet anti-tank guns were destroyed, causing certain casualties.

Two German Type 88 tanks quickly broke through the outer defense line and began to expand the victory in depth. Lin Chen was still analyzing the battlefield situation through the observation port. He saw through the German army's tricks, but there was no way. He couldn't use the mm anti-aircraft gun now.

"I will be responsible for destroying the two Type 3 tanks. You demolition team should ambush. I will retreat quickly. It will all be up to you from now on." The disadvantage in weapons can sometimes only be compensated by human lives. Although he values ​​human lives and does not want to let his men die easily, he knows that a merciful army cannot be commanded, so he can only fight a bloody battle when necessary.

When Lin Chen's Type 4 tank appeared again, the German Type 3 tank immediately reversed at full speed.

Are you kidding? They were there to serve as bait. Why didn't they run away when they saw the "fish" coming out? After all, the Panzer III had almost no chance of winning against the Panzer IV H.

Lin Chen had anticipated this scene. As the 75mm main gun sprayed out a tongue of fire, with the help of Germany's precise fire control system, he quickly shot down one of the vehicles.

The remaining No. 3 was so frightened that he almost stepped on the accelerator, but he still saw Lin Chen's gun barrel moving slowly towards him.

However, when Lin Chen saw two German Type 4 tanks approaching from the left and right, he had to give up the idea of ​​continuing the attack and began to retreat. Although his tank was a reinforced type with long guard plates installed on both sides, he would definitely lose if he rushed forward to fight two of them at once.

The two German Type 4 tanks opened fire quickly, one shot missed and one hit the right wing guard plate of Lin Chen's tank. The main body of the tank was not seriously damaged, but the guard plate was completely destroyed.

The people behind continued to fire, but Lin Chen cleverly avoided them.

Likewise, since he was evading at high speed, his shots could not possibly hit the opponent.

"Infantry push forward, we must kill him!" Major General Hans Funke shouted at the top of his lungs. He did not want to deploy Tiger tanks, mainly because these tanks were too expensive, and they were borrowed troops after all. If anything happened to them, he would have a hard time explaining to his colleagues.

In particular, Guderian, the director of armored forces, had high hopes for this new tank, and regarded the limited number of them as treasures to him. It would be better to avoid losses if possible.

Doesn’t he think that the other side only has this one tank and can withstand his attack?

When seeing the German army pressing forward, Sergei became anxious. With Lin Chen's current strength, he could not withstand such an offensive.

"Comrade Sochilovsky, are we going to attack?"

Sochilovsky could understand Sergei's thoughts, but he had to be responsible for this blocking battle and the lives of his soldiers.

"It's not time for us to attack yet. Did you see that the enemy's Tiger tanks haven't moved at all? If we attack rashly, we will lose our only chance of winning!"

Sergei was extremely anxious, especially when he saw the few Soviet soldiers on Lin Chen's main position using cluster bombs as "human bombs" to attack, he became even more worried.

"Comrade Sochilovsky, if we don't attack and the ferry is lost, are we going to collect the company commander's body?" His tone was extremely disrespectful.

Lieutenant Sochilovsky stared at the enemy's Tiger tank. He said coldly, "I am the supreme commander. Do you want to disobey orders on the battlefield?"

(End of this chapter)