Chapter 858: Final Battle - Line up and Fire (Second Update)
When the night fell on May 15, 1943, on the nameless plain south of the Dobrush Forest (this plain will be called the Tank Plain in the future), more than 1,800 tanks/assault artillery had already deployed their battle formations.
The largest tank decisive battle since World War II was about to begin.
The battlefield of the decisive battle was a 50-kilometer-wide plain, with forests on the north, south and west, and the Desna River, a tributary of the Dnieper River, on the east. In the middle were large tracts of wheat fields, belonging to three collective farms in three different states. However, what appeared on these wheat fields now were not tractors, but tanks and assault artillery.
The German battle formation was set up on the north side of the plain, near the Dobrush Forest. From day to dusk on the 15th, tanks/assault guns belonging to the 1st, 2nd, 6th, 10th Armored Divisions, the 1st Armored Grenadier Division and the 5th SS Wiking Division fought fiercely with hundreds of tanks/assault guns belonging to the 1st and 2nd Soviet Tank Armies.
Because the German tanks and assault guns were superior in quantity and quality, and also had a strong air advantage. Therefore, they won a great victory, destroying and capturing more than 550 Soviet tanks and assault guns, and only less than 100 tanks were able to withdraw from the battlefield.
However, they did not run too far and joined the Vatutin Group that started to move north at dusk, and then returned to the battlefield again. Now they are lined up about 10 kilometers away from the German front, preparing to launch a final counterattack.
"Hans, do you think the current situation on the battlefield is similar to the battles in the era of smoothbore muskets?"
General Mackensen, standing on a Puma wheeled armored command vehicle, looked at the tanks, various assault artillery and armored vehicles that were deployed in the moonlight, and suddenly turned his head to ask the chief of staff, Lieutenant General Hans Valentin von Hube, who only had one left arm (which was amputated in World War I).
"It is very similar," Lieutenant General Hube nodded, as if he thought of something, "Marshal, your words remind me of a tactic used by the British in the era of smoothbore guns."
"British tactics?" General Mackensen asked, "Are you talking about the crazy tactic of advancing to 30 or 40 meters in front of the enemy's formation before opening fire?"
"It is very crazy, but also very effective. The British Army has won many battles with this trick." Lieutenant General Hube said, "We can do the same tonight!"
"What?" Mackensen was stunned, "Let the Soviet tanks fire first?"
"Yes." Lieutenant General Hube smiled, "Let the Soviets fire first, and we fire later! Because it is night now, visibility is not enough to support long-range shooting, so we must make plans for close combat. So I think we should just let the enemy fire first to expose the target, and our tanks will advance against the enemy's firepower, and then fight after closing the distance."
"How close should we pull?" Mackensen asked.
"Within 500 meters!" Hube said.
"So close? Our Tiger tanks can't stop the Soviet 85mm and 57mm guns at a distance of 500 meters."
In previous battles, the German army also captured many Soviet 85mm anti-aircraft guns and 57mm anti-tank guns and tested them.
When using ordinary armor-piercing shells (AP shells), these two types of artillery can theoretically penetrate the front upper armor (82mm at a 45-degree angle) of the Tiger tank G type (shrunken tiger) within a distance of 700 meters. If the distance is shortened to within 500 meters, it will be a sure penetration.
"We can put the Grizzly at the front." Lieutenant General Hube thought, "The front armor thickness of the Grizzly assault gun is 100mm, and there is a 40-degree inclination, which is equivalent to a vertical armor of just over 130mm. It uses the best nickel-chromium-manganese rolled steel, which is enough to block the Soviet 85mm and 57mm guns at a distance of 500 meters or even 400 meters."
"I understand, let's put the Grizzly at the front to attract shells and create opportunities for the Tiger tank to destroy the enemy!" General Mackensen immediately understood what Lieutenant General Hube was thinking.
Lieutenant General Hube wanted to take advantage of the low visibility at night to use the Grizzly, which had a strong front armor and looked quite large at night, as a target to absorb shells - usually, tank commanders/gunners in battle would not immediately change targets because one shot did not destroy the enemy tank, but would repeatedly fire at the same target.
Moreover, even if the Soviet tank soldiers found that they were facing the Grizzly assault gun, they would never dare not attack. Because the Grizzly assault gun can also fire armor-piercing shells, a 150mm caliber armor-piercing shell can penetrate 150mm thick homogeneous armor steel without any problem, even the armor steel of the KV-85 cannot withstand it in theory!
So the "Tiger" following the "Grizzly" can calmly fire at this time, using the 88mm gun to call out the Soviet tanks and assault artillery one by one.
...
"Comrades, I am General Vatutin, commander of the 1st Tank Army!" Nikolai Fedovich Vatutin, commander of the 1st Tank Army and commander-in-chief of the "Vatutin Group", was already sitting in a KV-85 heavy tank at this time, delivering a pre-battle speech through the American radio on the tank.
He knew very well that the GCist cause had reached the most dangerous moment! If he and his men could not win the decisive battle tonight, then the Soviet Union would face the crisis of extinction.
As a loyal GCist fighter, he was ready to personally lead the team to fight - if he could not win, he would die as a soldier for the Red Country!
The plan he made for this decisive battle tonight was simple and crude, led by the most powerful KV-85 tank, followed by SU-85 and T-35/57, and finally the T-34/76, T-60/70 series of light tanks with weak anti-tank capabilities. The SU-122 assault gun did not participate in the tank cluster charge, but stayed in the rear to attack the self-propelled artillery.
At the same time, there were a large number of infantry carrying "Red Iron Fists" to directly operate tanks into combat (of course, the Germans also had armored grenadiers participating in the battle).
In addition, hundreds of "Katyusha" rocket launchers will also participate in the battle to attack the infantry accompanying the German tank cluster.
Such a simple and crude plan was made not because Admiral Vatutin did not know how to use tricks, but because the accuracy of Soviet tank guns was really not high, and he was afraid that he would miss the target if the distance was too far. So Vatutin simply put his strongest tank in front and tried to give the enemy a head-on blow.
"Now is the most dangerous moment for the great Soviet motherland and the cause of GCism. If we fail here, the Nazi bandits will ravage the land of Ukraine and Russia, the war will burn to the city of Moscow, and our families and compatriots will face the bayonets and whips of the Nazi bandits!"
Admiral Vatutin was not good at speaking, but at this moment he still said something inspiring.
He finally shouted loudly: "Comrades, for the sake of our beloved family and motherland, let each of us dedicate our entire life and all our blood! Let us shed our blood on the land of the Soviet motherland! I will lead you to charge against the evil Nazi bandits! If I die on the battlefield, please continue to advance on the land stained red by my blood until you occupy the enemy's nest!
Long live the Soviet Union! Long live the Bolshevik Party! Red Army tanks, move forward!"
The tank's motor began to roar, and the KV-1 tank that Admiral Vatutin was riding on rumbled forward. Instead of shrinking inside the sturdy tank, he leaned out half of his body so that he could get a better view.
Although the tank he was riding was a sturdy KV-85, he did not rush to the front, but mixed with a group of T-34/57s, in the second line of the Soviet tank cluster, with nearly 100 KV-85s lined up in front. This tank has a frontal armor that is 100mm thick and has a large angle of inclination. The Soviet Union's own 85mm guns and 57mm guns cannot be fired at a distance of 500 meters. It is the most powerful weapon of the Soviet Red Army. Theoretically, it is enough to fight against the German Tiger tank!
"Boom boom boom..."
The first to fire were the self-propelled artillery of both sides. The Germans fired the "Wasp" 150mm self-propelled howitzer, and the Soviets fired back with the SU-122 assault gun.
The shells fell into the tank formations of both sides, exploding into balls of fire, but they were not particularly dense, so Vatutin did not retreat into the tank turret, but used the fire of the shell explosion to observe the enemy situation in front.
The Germans seemed to have deployed a large number of tanks, forming a wide front, and should have a numerical advantage. However, their tanks were very slow, with a speed of only about ten kilometers per hour, and the tanks in the first row seemed to be very tall, probably Tiger tanks.
As the distance between the tank clusters of both sides got closer and closer, the intensity of the shelling began to increase, and the Soviet infantrymen riding the tanks jumped off the tanks and followed behind the tanks. Vatutin also shrank back because he knew that the dense German rocket launchers would soon be coming. After waiting for the rocket launchers to finish, the front-line tanks of both sides should almost enter the stage of "queueing up to fire", and then the self-propelled artillery behind them will have flares.
Unlike the Soviet commander Vatutin who charged in person, German General Mackensen and his chief of staff Lieutenant General Hube rode in an armored command vehicle modified from a Puma armored vehicle and advanced behind the German tank group formation.
After the rocket launchers of both sides fired at each other, the vehicles in which General Mackensen and Lieutenant General Hube were riding drove up a high slope with a wider view.
At this time, the KV-85 tanks in the front row of the Soviet tank group stopped advancing first and began to use 85mm cannons to shoot at the "Grizzly" assault guns that were still advancing blindly.