Chapter 412 Frozen Soil (End)

Faced with the sudden appearance of the enemy, the gunner fired the first 88mm shell directly without aiming, smashing the first KV-3 to pieces in an instant, while the other tank seemed to have not reacted yet, just quietly pointing the muzzle at the place where the Tiger had just been, and did not move with the rotation of the Tiger turret. Seizing this critical opportunity, the 88 gun "clang clang" fired two consecutive shots, and the second KV-3 was also successfully written off, and even the tank soldiers could not escape.

While Carius was looking for other possible tanks, his comrades behind him also opened fire: they found more enemy tanks behind the two tanks just now, as many as five. They were alarmed by Carius's firing and desperately rotated their turrets to try to launch an attack. The remaining three Tiger tanks in the second row killed three more, but the fourth and fifth KV-3s found an opportunity to attack. The two sides were less than 500 meters apart, and they all aimed at the No. 3 tank - the silhouette of this Tiger tank was the most exposed.

With a "boom", the No. 3 tank was hit and penetrated by the KV-3's 85mm shell, and the first battle loss occurred in the second row. Carius had no time to feel sad, and quickly aimed at the newly appeared enemy tanks. Under the concerted attack of the rest of the comrades in the second row, the five KV-3s were finally destroyed. Carius ordered the driver to speed up and then asked the other two tanks to catch up quickly on the radio, because he found that after the exchange of fire here, the enemy tanks in the depression were also alarmed. As they were driving out of the depression, the enemy infantry in front of them began to pour out in large numbers. He was afraid of being attacked from both sides - in the battle in a narrow area, tanks could not get any advantage from the infantry.

Only car No. 2 kept up with him, and car No. 4 shouted anxiously on the radio: "Car No. 3 blocked the road, I can't get around, I have to change the road."

"Turn around! Turn around!" Carius shouted hoarsely, "Retreat immediately and attack from the other side with other tanks."

"Yes!"

This was originally a battlefield carefully arranged by Bubnov: let some tanks hide in the depression to attract the attention of the German army, and then ambush other troops on the side of the road that the German army must pass. If there are impatient German tanks who want to attack the tanks in the depression, they must go through the side path, and then if they are not careful, their silhouettes will be exposed to the ambushed Red Army tanks. However, he never expected that just when he had finished the deployment and had not had time to explain the relevant combat coordination matters, Carius came with Tiger tanks and rushed to the door. Caught off guard, the Red Army tanks that were not in place for ambush only destroyed one Tiger, but their own seven were destroyed.

Now Carius only had two Tigers around him, but he had to face six KV-3s that came out of the depression at the same time. He estimated the distance from the infantry and decided to take the risk of firing at these tanks: he was 1,500 meters away from the Russian tanks, so he was not worried about the opponent's artillery. The only thing he had to worry about was the infantry less than 800 meters ahead - he was very afraid that the Red Army would suddenly launch anti-tank guns.

The six KV-3s in the depression roared at the fastest speed and rushed over in two columns. They also knew that they could not do anything to the Tiger tanks at this distance, and tried their best to close the distance to meet the enemy. To ensure the hit and destruction, the loader used a special armor-piercing shell for the first shell, but it was too high and passed over the top of the last KV-3. The gunner lowered the firing angle, and the second shell missed again.

The enemy tanks in motion were not hit after three consecutive shots. In addition, the opponents began to fight back. Although no shells hit our side, it was still inevitable that people would be impatient.

"Don't worry! Don't worry! Aim and shoot again. They can't hit us." Carius comforted everyone, trying to calm them down as soon as possible.

By the fourth shot, the gunner finally found the feeling and hit the opponent accurately. At this time, the distance was less than 1,200 meters. The special armor-piercing shell penetrated the front armor of the KV-3 at once. Carius observed clearly that the enemy tank soldiers left the damaged tanks and ran away. The second tank also got a hit and destroyed another leading tank.

The remaining Russian tanks hesitated, but after a moment of distraction, they rushed towards Carius's position again - this time they learned their lesson and did not form two columns again. Instead, they bypassed the wreckage of their comrades' tanks and launched an attack in a horizontal formation, trying to suppress the Tiger tanks in front of them with crossfire.

Carius was busy paying attention to the dynamics of the enemy tanks on the left and the situation of the infantry in front. The gunner aimed at the KV-3 on the far left and the closest to his own vehicle. Before he could fire, an 85mm shell suddenly hit the left side of the turret. Fortunately, it was bounced away because the angle of entry was too small. Everyone was scared and sweated. The gunner quickly launched a counterattack and hit the opponent directly this time. The No. 2 vehicle following behind fired at the second KV-3 on the left in a tacit understanding. After wasting 4 shells, it also successfully destroyed the opponent.

The battlefield situation was 6vs2 at the beginning, 4vs2 after the first round, and now it has become 2vs2. The remaining Red Army tanks could not help but want to retreat and began to retreat slowly. At this time, Karius decisively ordered: "Retreat, retreat! Face the enemy head-on!"

The driver hurriedly put the gearbox into reverse gear, and the 48-ton Tiger tank track reversed, "rumbling" backwards, and the turret rotated synchronously back to the normal position. This was certainly not because Carius was frightened by the remaining two enemy tanks, but because he discovered with his peripheral vision that the enemy infantry had pushed out two 76.2mm anti-tank guns and were about to fire at him. Every extra second of delay would be fatal because the distance was too close. Seeing the No. 1 vehicle retreating, the No. 2 vehicle instinctively followed suit - his front view was blocked by the No. 1 vehicle, and he didn't know what was happening in front.

After retreating for half a minute, the anti-tank gun's firepower was aimed at the No. 1 vehicle where Carius was. A shell hit a shallow pit on the thick pig-head-shaped shield of the Tiger. Thanks to the heavy defense of the nickel-containing armored steel, it finally passed this severe test without any danger. After retreating to a distance of 1,100 meters, the Tiger could launch a counterattack relatively calmly. The gunner fired 9 shells in just 2 minutes and successfully eliminated the anti-tank gun fire in front of him. However, when Carius tried to move forward to find the enemy tanks, he found that the remaining 2 tanks in the depression had slipped away.

This battle lasted only ten minutes, but it was quite thrilling. The second platoon where Carius was located destroyed 11 KV-3s at the cost of 1 tank, and also eliminated 2 anti-tank guns.

Although the enemy tanks had retreated, the enemy infantry was still there. Dealing with them was not the Tiger's strong point. He immediately called the Cricket self-propelled artillery over through the radio, otherwise it would be a troublesome thing for so many infantry to rush over. But what he didn't expect was that just when he and the No. 2 tank attracted most of the attention of the Red Army's Guards Tank Brigade, the No. 4 tank that had retreated at the beginning, together with the other 10 Tiger tanks of the battalion, launched a fierce attack from the other direction, and eliminated the 6 KV-3 tanks on the other side in one go. The Red Army that hastily fought against them was destroyed after damaging a Tiger tank.

The lieutenant of the Hunter Tank Annihilation Company had a good estimate of the remaining strength of the 11th Guards Heavy Tank Brigade. After a fierce battle last night, there were a total of 22 KV-3s left in the entire Guards Tank Brigade. In addition to the 19 tanks that Carius and others encountered, there were two tanks that could not be used due to mechanical failures and Bubnov's own command vehicle. In the end, the 11th Guards Heavy Tank Brigade, which originally had a staff of 60 tanks, had only three intact tanks left - one was Bubnov's command vehicle, and the other two were KV-3s that had just escaped from the depression.

But now, not only did the tanks of the 506th Heavy Armored Battalion surround them, but there was also a circle of Stalkers, Cricket self-propelled artillery and Himmler Organs waiting in the wings. In a further distance, the 508th Heavy Armored Battalion was also rushing over. Half an hour later, Major Verin, who was in charge of the on-site command, coordinated all the troops to launch a fierce attack on the Red Army who refused to surrender. A bunch of Tiger tanks, tank destroyers and artillery surrounded the Red Army infantry, who only had light firepower left, and bombed them to the point of screaming and howling. Bubnov did not wait for the fuel he needed, but lost the entire tank brigade here.

This battle to annihilate the 11th Guards Heavy Tank Brigade was only a microcosm of the cooperation between the Middle East Army and the Turkish Army to encircle and annihilate Mezhov's Persian Army. By March 18, this Red Army Group, which was surrounded by heavy siege and had a total strength of 130,000 troops, had been divided and surrounded near Iran, Turkey, and Azerbaijan and annihilated, except for about 20,000 remnants who broke out of the encirclement and hastily retreated to Baku. Lieutenant General Mezhov himself shot himself.

Now, the Middle East Army Group and the Turkish troops began to attack in the direction of Baku. As long as this last Red Army stronghold was captured, there would be no more organized Red Army troops in the Transcaucasus region.

The Axis forces besieging Baku included 110,000 German troops, 20,000 Iranian troops, and 100,000 Turkish troops, with 400 tanks and 500 aircraft. The Red Army that held on in Baku was left with only 60,000 troops with low morale, incomplete organization, and chaotic command, less than 50 tanks, and almost no aircraft. What made them even more desperate was that, apart from receiving telegrams from the Moscow General Staff and Stalin saying "Hold on to the last man!", they were unable to obtain any support or supplies, and the Caspian Sea was empty, without a single ship.

Their only commendable move was to bomb Baku, the most famous oil city in the Soviet Union, into ruins, but this could not hinder the Axis' advance, and the fall of Baku was imminent.