Imperial Overlord

"In the front of the Soviet defense line, on the defensive position on the left side of the village, the data provided by the aerial reconnaissance is too vague!" Wittman said dismissively, throwing down the documents provided by the air force.

As with most times, relying on the Air Force to provide reliable and effective intelligence is an unreliable thing.

Those pilots who perform reconnaissance missions are always perfunctory, and the core intelligence generally does not appear in the hands of the Army.

Thinking about it, in the current situation, if the Air Force finds the target by itself, the credit will not be left to the Army to grab it anyway.

The war has made every branch of the army strive to improve its weapons and equipment, and no one is willing to fight with weapons that are not in their hands.

Just as the Army is gradually increasing the thickness of its tanks and using larger caliber artillery, the Air Force is improving its weaponry.

After installing more and larger caliber cannons, the ME-110, a fighter that is not suitable for air combat, turned into a powerful ground attack aircraft.

The use of large-caliber cannons and the addition of thicker armored ME-110 attack aircraft combined with the Stuka gave the Air Force a more tyrannical means of ground attack.

Most of the time, if the Luftwaffe's reconnaissance plane did find a target, it was obviously more convenient to notify the air force under a system to carry out the destruction task than to inform the army.

Therefore, it is not that the Air Force's reconnaissance is perfunctory, but the Air Force itself destroyed most of the targets it could find.

Therefore, most of the information left to the Army is not very accurate, or the Air Force does not like it.

"The position on the left is not a good place, and the flank is too dangerous." Another captain also felt his worries.

They have countless combat experience and are familiar with the weapons and equipment in their hands. The Panther tank is almost invulnerable in frontal armor.

Except for the course machine gun as a weak point, there is the possibility of being accidentally hit by enemy artillery, and it is almost impossible to penetrate anywhere else.

Of course, even this weakness, the German designers are trying their best to solve it: they are trying to plug the course machine gun and increase the level of protection on the front of the tank.

However, in comparison, the side and rear armor of the Panther tank is much weaker.

In order to save weight, in order to make the engine and transmission more reliable, in order to increase the travel of the tank, in order to improve comfort... This is a necessary trade-off.

After the choice, Wittmann and all the German tankers knew that their tanks were sometimes in danger of being penetrated.

This risk became more prominent after the Soviet-German war began - they had never encountered such a formidable opponent before.

Compared with the general strength of armored forces such as Britain and France, the Soviet Union is much stronger in the performance indicators of tanks.

Just comparing the artillery calibers used by the tanks of the two sides, it can be seen that the Soviet, British and French tanks pose a considerable threat to the German armored forces.

British and French tanks, most tanks are still using 47mm caliber, and the smallest tank gun caliber on Soviet tanks is already 47mm.

Now, the Soviet tanks against the Germans, the KV-1 and the new T-34, have used 76.2mm cannons.

Not to mention, there are still cults such as 152 in the Soviet military sequence, as well as the powerful 85 and 122 calibers in development.

Therefore, in the British mainland and in North Africa, the German tank forces that can almost run amok are now facing an opponent who can threaten their own safety.

It is precisely because of this that a sincere hand like Wittmann is even more reluctant to expose the relatively fragile flanks of the Panther tank.

"Here and here, the Russians may arrange crossed anti-tank firepower, it may be camouflaged anti-tank guns, or it may be anti-tank guns." On the map, he pointed to the slightly mounds on both sides, Wittmann said to his battalion commander.

"Yeah, if they hide the tanks in the farmland behind, it will be a perfect trap." The battalion commander looked at the map and nodded in agreement with Wittmann's analysis.

"But the 2nd Armored Division asked us to attack here...to cover their frontal breakthrough." Pointing to the edge of the hand-drawn map, the battalion commander had to explain the order he received.

If it was just his own battalion that launched the attack, he would undoubtedly stop the operation.

The enemy's situation is unknown, and for an armored battalion, it is a sufficient reason to avoid war. But if it is placed at the level of the armored army, it can only be said to be a trivial new item.

"If we must attack, I think we should leave a company of troops to cover our flank." Wittmann pointed to the open space in the distance and put forward his own suggestion.

Since the Russians used the terrain to dig a hole for them, he didn't mind leaving a reserve team and trying to find a way to dig another deep hole for the Russians.

Regarding the new Soviet tanks encountered by the 505th Tank Battalion in the previous battle, including the battle process and precautions, they have been issued to all the grass-roots officers and soldiers of the German armored forces.

Everyone takes this emerging threat seriously, which is why Wittmann cares about the safety of his tank flanks.

You must know that when the British fought before, he was the person who had done this kind of thing alone countless times.

At that time, he led two or three tanks and dared to attack the British, and often defeated more than twice his own enemy tanks.

Now, on the Eastern Front, everyone is frightened by the loss of 505, and everyone has become cautious, not wanting to be easily killed by the enemy.

Sometimes the courage of the soldiers is reflected in how safe they are in the environment - if they wear armor like Iron Man, I believe many people will dare to rampage in the hail of bullets.

"Don't worry, the 505th is on our flank, and they're covering our attack!"

Although the 505th battalion lost some in the last battle, the main force could still participate in the battle. That was an armored battalion with more than 20 Leopard tanks, which was far more than one of his companies.

"The 505th Armored Battalion? The people above are really willing to spend a lot of money!" Hearing the name of another army participating in the battle, the smile on Wittmann's face became embarrassed.

You know, the number one tank ace of the German armored force, Karlius, who surpassed him, is in the 505th battalion.

No wonder Wittman said it was a big deal, because this attack, not including infantry, the three-level armored troops participating in the war were all well-known elites.

The main attack is the 2nd Panzer Division, the main force of the German army, which is all equipped with Leopard tanks. There are not many more than 240 Leopard tanks. Just listening to the number, you can know how powerful their battle columns are.

And on the flank as cover work, Guderian's 1st Mechanized Infantry Division to the south, 501 and 505 two independent heavy tank destroyer battalions to the north.

Just these three troops, the German army used as many as 300 Panther tanks, which is evident in the scale.

The commander-in-chief was Guderian, the father of the German armored forces, who was considered the sharpest long knife in Hitler's hands.

With such a luxurious lineup, the place they wanted to capture was actually just a small town called Krupki. How could you see how talented it was.

Covering these 300 Leopard tanks are more than 40 Stalker tank destroyers, as well as more than 70 No. 3 assault guns attached to the artillery.

Following these armored vehicles were 20,000 German trained grenadiers.

They've just been well-supplied, well-armed, and ammunition plentiful. There are also a large number of artillery and air force support, and preparations are not sufficient.

"Since we have them on the flank, things are much easier to handle." Wittman smiled and looked at the direction of the flank, and said to his battalion commander, "Just follow the old way."

"Yeah! If they can keep up with us, maybe we can hit Moscow in one go." Beside Wittmann, another tank commander laughed and teased~www.wuxiaspot.com~ puff! "His words made a trainee sergeant newly assigned to the 501st Armored Battalion laugh.

"What are you laughing at?" The captain pointed to Wittmann. "You think I'm joking? We almost hit London in England!"

"Okay, someone can check the radio on his tank, count the ammunition and fuel!" The battalion commander clapped his hands and shouted to his men.

Sometimes, it's not a good thing for his subordinates to be too good. The pressure on his shoulders is really great.

You know, although it can't compare to the 505th armored battalion, every commander in his hands is a ruthless man who has destroyed several enemy tanks.

"Test call!" This is the first time Wittmann has fought on the Eastern Front, and he can't help but feel a little nervous.

All the talk he heard mentioning the Soviet tank force was that the Soviet tank force was more powerful than the British and French tank forces.

This put pressure on him and made him uneasy about the battle he was about to face. Perhaps only after seeing those Soviet tanks will this unease go away.

"I heard your call clearly!" As the ace of the 501st Tank Battalion, the battalion commander still gave Wittmann a lot of care. For example, when debugging the radio, the battalion commander usually fixes the channel to the place where Wittmann's voice is clearest.

"Vehicle No. 1 has been inspected and set off!" In the radio headset, the commander of another tank reported.

The battalion commander looked at his watch, then looked at the infantrymen scattered not far behind, nodded, and loudly ordered: "The time is just right! Let's go! Let's go!"

Farther away, Karjus leaned against the hatch of his tank and shouted to his driver, "Let's go!"

[Remember the URL 35 Chinese website]