On April 15, 1944, Andreapol.

As another round of Soviet artillery was over, Lieutenant Colonel Skornez immediately crawled out of a wet muddy crater, then jumped onto a damaged BT-7 tank and began to observe the situation on the front line. This was the rag left after a failed night attack by the Soviet army last night.

The one that destroyed the 13.9-ton BT-7 tank was a Pak38 5M anti-tank gun that was almost as old as the BT-7.

This "old gun" is now equipped with the latest equipment of German paratroopers, but this does not mean that German industrial production has reached its limit and cannot supply an increasingly large army. In fact, the European Community, with Germany as the core, does not have production capacity. The sum of steel production capacity, machine tool quantity, electrolytic aluminum production, and shipbuilding capacity that the four European Community industrial countries now have is comparable to that of the United States on the other side of the ocean. The oil bottleneck that has always restricted Europe from staking its industrial strength has also eased due to the rapid increase in oil production in the Middle East.

Therefore, Germany is not unable to equip the most elite paratroopers with expensive conical cannons. The reason why the old 5m cannons were handed over to paratroopers was because the British provided shell-piercing shell technology increased the power of this 5m anti-tank gun by about 5o% overnight. When using shell-piercing shells, the Pak38 5m anti-tank gun can penetrate 126mm thick homogeneous steel plates at right angles at a distance of 5oo meters. If the distance is narrowed to 25m, this 5m anti-tank gun can be a right-angle 14 homogeneous steel plate, which can already penetrate the front of the JS-2 heavy tank!

Therefore, the pak38 5m anti-tank gun weighing only 813 kilograms (if the gun shield is removed, it can be reduced by dozens of kilograms), was reborn in 1944 and was equipped with German paratroopers and mountain soldiers as the main anti-tank weapon.

At the same time, the "Little Leopard" reconnaissance tank used by German paratroopers is also equipped with a 5m6o caliber tank gun, which can also fire shell-unburned armor-piercing missiles, and can also threaten the Soviet JS-2 tanks in defense operations!

As for the Pak4o 75mm anti-tank gun owned by the ordinary German infantry division, when using shell-piercing armor-piercing bombs, the distance of 8oo meters may ensure that the front of the JS-2 tank can theoretically penetrate the front of the JS-2 at a distance of 15oo meters. However, the hit rate of the shell-piercing armor-piercing bombs will drop sharply from 8oo meters, so it is usually used to shoot closer targets.

In addition to the shell-piercing shells with great armor-piercing capabilities, the German (EC) infantry now is equipped with a large number of cheap Iron Fist 1oo anti-tank grenade launchers and a more expensive "doll" 88mm rocket launcher.

Among them, the range of the Iron Fist 1oo anti-tank grenade can reach 1oo meters, and the armor-breaking depth is as high as 220 meters! The effective range of the "Doll" 88mm bazooka can reach 10 meters, and the armor-breaking depth reaches 2om. This distance is really fatal for a small rocket launcher that can be used by individual soldiers.

In other words, the powerful Soviet js-2 tanks are prey of 5m and 75mm anti-tank guns that use shell-piercing armor-piercing bombs at a distance of 8om. When they rush to a distance of 0 meters from the German infantry, they will be hit by anti-tank bazooka (Iron Fist 1oo is actually a bazooka)!

As for the thin-armored BT-7 tanks, they have now become living targets for various infantry anti-tank weapons. In the forests and swamps around Andreapol, the wreckage of BT-7 tanks and the remains of Red Army soldiers lying on the ground.

The fierce battle lasted for several days caused heavy losses to the attacking Soviet army!

However, the Germans suffered a lot of losses. Their "Little Leopard" also lost a lot in the past few days of combat. After a few days of consumption, only 19 of the 45 "Little Leopards" belonging to the 2nd Armored Battalion of the 2nd Paratrooper Division could operate.

Less than 50 meters ahead of Lieutenant Colonel Skornez, there is a charred and twisted "Little Leopard" tank. This tank was destroyed by Soviet infantry with a "red iron fist"!

Like German infantry, the Soviet army, which was at a disadvantage in the number of tanks/strike artillery, also regarded the development of infantry anti-tank weapons as the top priority.

In addition to the anti-tank grenades, anti-tank rifles, anti-tank mould bottles and anti-tank mines that have been in history, the "red iron fist" that imitates the German "iron fist", the "Bazouka" bazooka provided by the United States, and the US-made m1 type 57mm anti-tank gun also transported through the lifeline of the North Pacific.

Although there is no shell-out armor-piercing bomb provided by the UK, the m1 anti-tank gun produced by the United States still has good performance, which can penetrate 112mm thick homogeneous steel plates at right angles at a distance of 5oo meters. Although it is not enough to threaten the front of the Tiger H-type tank and e-5oa tank, it is still a fatal threat to armored vehicles with weak defense capabilities such as tank No. 4 and assault gun No. 3.

According to statistics from the Northern Army Group, in the fierce battle from April 5 to the present, the loss exchange ratio of coalition tanks and Soviet anti-tank guns (including zis-57, m1-57, zis-3) is about 1:2 (without encountering the Tiger and E-5o). Although the advantage is still on the side of the tank, the era of invincible tanks has obviously passed!

When infantry cooperates with the "Tank Destroyer Battalion" or "Tank Destroyer Brigade" (the "Tank Destroyer Battalion" of the coalition forces and the Soviet Army's "Tank Destroyer Brigade" are actually the same level of combat units) for defense, they can completely defeat enemy armored vehicles that are far more than their own, and even have an advantage in the loss exchange ratio.

In other words, as long as the support of a small number of maneuverable and armored self-propelled anti-tank guns is provided, the infantry can completely resist a large number of enemy tanks in defensive battles.

Starting from April 5, in the "Kalinin-Tver Battle" by later historians (Tver Prefecture is the former name of Kalinin Prefecture), there were scenes of tank troops and mechanized/semi-mechanized infantry fighting inseparable from major battlefields such as Lezhev, Kuvshinov, Torrok, Likuslavl, Andreapol, Torpocs and Valdei.

"Crazy la la la la la la la..."

The sound of tank tracks rolling and diesel engines roaring sounded at the same time. Skornez knew that the defense line of the Paratrooper 2 was about to withstand the test of Soviet tanks and infantry like a tide.

Just as Skornez was about to order the four "Little Leopard" tanks temporarily under his command to be headed up to act as tank destroyers, someone suddenly cheered around him: "Airplane! Our plane is here!"

Skornez looked up at the sky and saw only 8 HS-129 anti-tank attack aircraft and 8 F-19of8 fighter bombers, appearing on the battlefield at a height close to the treetops, and then rushed towards the Soviet tanks and infantry that were rushing towards the inclination!

The first attack was the F-19of8 fighter bomber. A triple 88mm rocket catapult was hung under each side of the wings of the aircraft. It can shoot ammunition similar to the "Doll" 88mm rocket launcher, which can destroy enemy tanks within a distance of 0 meters, and can also be used to kill infantry.

Before the Soviet anti-aircraft artillery could react, more than 40 rockets were dragging tail flames and white smoke through the air. Although the accuracy of these rockets was not high, they still had obvious advantages over bombs dropped by dive bombers. Almost without the effective response of the Soviet officers and soldiers on the ground, these rockets had already roared and caused a series of big explosions between the attacking Soviet tanks and infantry!

Then, the HS-129 anti-tank attack aircraft carrying a powerful 5m cannon (modified with Pak38) began to be powerful. This is actually a flying tank with strong armor farther than ordinary aircraft and can shuttle through the enemy's dense anti-aircraft fire. And the 5m cannon can also shoot a powerful shell-piercing shell!

When this plane passes through the Soviet tank cluster from the height of the treetops, any Soviet tank including JS-2 will become extremely fragile.

Under the attack of increasingly powerful infantry and anti-tank firepower in the air, tanks wrapped in heavy armor are becoming increasingly vulnerable to blows.

Seeing that the Soviet tanks and infantry clusters in front were engulfed by a group of fire, Skornez yelled excitedly: "Little Leopard tanks entered the position, and all anti-tank groups entered the position, ready to fight!"

...

"Damn German plane!"

While the 16 German fighter planes were shaking their wings and flying away without any damage, General Cui Koff was supervising the battle in a Soviet front position on Andrebol's front. Looking at the Soviet tank cluster that was blown away by German planes in front, Cui Koff couldn't help but curse.

He is also a powerful general who has been a war formation for a long time. He has been commanding mechanized troops since the outbreak of the world revolution. However, he never thought that the former majestic tanks have now become almost bullied by people. Not only were they blown up by planes in the sky, but even the infantry on the ground can easily take out a rocket launcher and throw out an anti-tank grenade, which can blow up the tank wrapped in steel plates.
Chapter completed!