Battlefield Priest's Diary

Chapter 148 Tank Assault

"Steady! Steady! I'm losing my aim!" Gunner Antoine shouted, the moment he hit the German tank seemed to have awakened the passion within this short, stout man.

The main gun of the Char B1 tank is rigidly connected to the hull. The main gun cannot rotate and can only be aimed by swaying the hull. Tanks with suspension problems always give people the feeling of wobbling when aiming.

"Don't complain! I'm doing it! This is the safest way!" The priest in black robes grabbed a shovel from the side and gave the lever another whack, pushing it back into place.

Clang! The sound of something closing rang out, and the car stabilized.

"Okay! Don't move! That's it!" Antoine aimed through the observation port, only to find that his view on the other side was blocked by butter, and the shadow of the Panzer IV in the distance became blurry.

"Damn it! I can't see clearly!"

"You just need to be in charge of firing, and the rest is up to me." The black-robed priest pushed the short, fat man aside and sat down in the observation hole himself.

"How did you aim?!"

"Then don't worry about it! I'm going out for a bit." The priest in black robes climbed onto the top of the vehicle, lifted the cover, and climbed out. The sound of birds flapping their wings could be heard outside, and the temporary worker crows began to caw and report the news.

This scene was witnessed by people from both sides of the battlefield at the same time.

"How could it be him? How did he know I was surrounded?" De Gaulle was shocked, while the colonel also had another guess in his mind.

"Could it be that the other side anticipated this moment when formulating the plan? And then actually appeared on the battlefield to break the deadlock!"

The plan was meticulously crafted to this extent?!

Is this something a human being could do?!
Meanwhile, Guderian, whose command line had been moved ahead, also noticed the anomaly through his binoculars.

"What the hell?! The French are using a tank as an ambush?! Are they crazy? And what's that greasy stuff on it, and why are there so many birds on it?!"

The surrounding staff officers fell silent; none of them could answer the question.

The next second, the strange tank opened fire again.

boom! ! ! !

An explosion rang out, and something resembling a turret rose into the sky.

A kilometer away, a Panzer IV tank was hit again, and the sound of the ammunition depot exploding made the general's eyebrows twitch.

What the French have produced!
Two shots, two hits from 800 meters away—that accuracy is definitely not the result of visual aiming!
Moreover, judging from the position of the other Panzer IV tank, the French tank shouldn't have such a wide field of vision, right?
Guderian picked up his binoculars and began to observe more closely.

Hmm, it looks like an old-fashioned Char B1 tank, but it has an asymmetrical suspension structure, the armor surface is covered with small squares of unknown function, and its driving posture is also different from that of a normal tank.

Moreover, compared to other tanks with gray and green exteriors, this tank's paint scheme is very flashy, and it even shows a kind of golden shimmering color under the sunlight.

Judging from the results of the battle just now, the general was certain that this was no ordinary Shire B1.
“A new model? A testing machine?” Guderian muttered to himself.

Thinking of this, the general's expression became playful.

As is well known, Guderian was obsessed with improving armored assault tactics.

In this gentleman's mind, neither the agile and mobile Panzer III nor the Panzer IV, which was adapted to various battlefield environments and was called "warhorse" by the soldiers, were far from meeting the requirements of perfect blitzkrieg.

He needed a versatile tank with high mobility, wide field of vision, and sufficient firepower to match his blitzkrieg tactics.

Although the Panther V tank is under development, it is unlikely to achieve effective combat capability within at least a year.

The distinctly different "golden" painted tank in front of him immediately piqued his interest.

The general picked up the communicator and gave the order: "Tell Friedrich to surround that strange tank. I want to see what the French are up to!"

Suddenly, the German armored group, which had been chasing the remaining French troops, changed direction. The tank crews, who had received orders from their general, charged straight toward the "special" vehicle like hounds that had spotted a rabbit!
The "golden" tank turned and ran, leading the German tanks in another direction.

Suddenly, all the pursuers in front of De Gaulle disappeared!

"Are you trying to be a hero?" The French colonel pressed his bleeding wound, looking at the tank that was drawing enemy fire alone, and muttered to himself.

"Sir, we should go. We can't let the priest's sacrifice be in vain!" the adjutant said, helping him up. His voice was heavy with respect.

boom! ! ! boom! ! ! boom! ! !
The sounds of tanks exchanging fire from their main guns echoed from the horizon. A red flag fluttered atop the Shire B1, which had already driven quite far away—[Go! Don't look back!]

At that moment, not only Colonel de Gaulle, but also other soldiers who could read the flag signals felt a lump in their throats.

"Withdraw!!!" De Gaulle practically spat out the word through gritted teeth as he looked at the lone figure fighting on the horizon.

The remnants of the French army retreated along the road, while the fighting on the other side intensified.

boom! ! ! ! !
Another Panzer III tank, which was leading the charge, was hit and paralyzed on a gentle slope.

The golden tanks fought their way back, and along the several-kilometer stretch of road, wisps of smoke rose—the wreckage of destroyed German tanks. "Friedry, which one is it?" Guderian asked through his binoculars, his tone devoid of emotion.

"Sir! This is the eighth one." The armored division commander beside him also looked serious. This achievement was practically a slap in the face to him, and the Imperial Armored Division's face had been completely lost.

"Friedry, have you figured something out?" the general asked in a deep voice.

"Yes, Your Excellency." The commander bowed slightly. "The enemy's accuracy is extremely high. They can hit targets within a kilometer without adjusting the turret. I suspect the French are using a new auxiliary firing system."

"Anymore?"

"This tank has an extremely wide field of vision, almost all-around, even wider than the average person's. He just used B Squad's blind spot to launch a sneak attack, but he has almost no blind spots. How did he do that? I can't figure it out."

“Yes, I’m curious too. I’m increasingly eager to understand him,” Guderian muttered to himself.

"Don't worry, the enemy isn't fast. It's only a matter of time before they're surrounded as the encirclement tightens."

when! ! !
With another shovel, the barrier was pushed back.
"Father, can't we go any faster?!" the short, stout gunner asked.

"That's the fastest we can go, especially since this thing is malfunctioning." The priest in the black robe said helplessly, fiddling with the object in his hands.

Crack! A snapping sound rang out, and the reverse gear, unable to withstand the shovel's onslaught any longer, finally gave up and went on strike.

"Damn it! Now there's absolutely no way to reverse!" Qin Hao cursed, casually tossing the reverse gear lever aside, which made a "clang" noise inside the car.

"Bad news, we're out of shells too, only one training shell left."

"What should we do?" asked the short, fat man beside him.

The black-robed priest spat roughly into his palm and pulled up the gearshift. "Then we'll have to charge out from the front!"

"what?!"

So, the enemy, who had just been fighting and fleeing, suddenly stopped in front of the German army. To everyone's astonishment, the golden tanks roared and charged towards the German army, which outnumbered them by dozens of times!
"What?! Has he gone mad?!" The German commander stared in disbelief at everything before him, and then something even more terrifying happened.

The enemy vehicle charged straight towards Guderian's command vehicle!

"Stop him! Fire!" someone shouted over the radio.

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

The surrounding German tanks began firing at the only enemy, but the strange tank in front of them dodged the first round of fire with a wobbly maneuver.

The distance between the two sides has been shortened!

"Fire another round! Stop him!"

Thump!! Thump!! Thump!!

boom! ! ! !

It's unclear which of our tanks hit the target this time, but a huge burst of flames erupted from the top of the golden tank, along with thick smoke.

"Killed! Killed..." The soldiers' cheers had just begun when they suddenly stopped. It turned out that the enemy in front of them was still charging forward despite the thick black smoke!

The sunlight shone on the vehicle, bathing it in a golden glow. Even as a fellow tank driver, the German soldier couldn't help but feel a sense of awe and respect for the enemy before him.

Guderian's hand rested on the armrest of the command vehicle.

He should leave! But he can't leave!

If he were to turn and run away at this moment, it would become an indelible stain on his military career!

Gua! ! !
The mournful cawing of crows rang out overhead.

The tank opposite stopped, and its 75mm main gun took aim.

Boom! ! ! !

"Sir! Watch out!!!" Someone tackled Guderian to the ground.

boom!
A small black dot was right on the edge of the command vehicle, but for some reason, there was no scene of flames flying as expected.

Shrapnel flew everywhere, hitting the general, and wooden barbs pierced his skin.

In the chaos, whether it was a hallucination or not, Guderian actually felt a sweet smell in the air.

(End of this chapter)