The Rise of the Third Reich

When Comrade Popov was ready to fulfill his oath to the party flag with his blood and life, outside a small town called Izbica on the north bank of the Vistula River, Major General Hasso-Eckard von Manteuffel, the commander-in-chief of the "Manteuffel Cavalry Group", was calculating the strength of the armored forces in their hands with his two deputies, the new commander of the 8th SS Cavalry Division, Fegelein, and Lieutenant General Demai Stoya, the commander of the Hungarian Mechanized Army.

They still have some strength. In this time and space, because they control the Middle East and North Africa, and barely open up sea transportation with Japan and South America, the industries of the European Community countries led by Germany are no longer troubled by resource bottlenecks and have been fully utilized.

Therefore, all German army units have very substantial armored vehicle establishments, and the 1st Cavalry Division of the Wehrmacht and the 8th Cavalry Division of the SS are no exception. The two divisions have a total of 12 companies equipped with No. 3 assault guns, with a total of 72 powerful No. 3 assault guns.

In addition, the two German cavalry divisions also have 12 anti-tank companies, with 96 75mm anti-tank guns towed by Sd.kfz.251 half-track light armored vehicles. Although these anti-tank guns are towed, because the half-track vehicles towing them have certain armor and good off-road performance, they also have certain mobility on the front line.

In addition, the 1st Hungarian "Maria Theresa" Tank Brigade, commanded by Lieutenant General Demai Stojaj of the Royal Army of the Croatian-Hungarian United Kingdom, is now temporarily under the command of the "Manteufel Cavalry Group".

In this time and space, because Otto von Habsburg of the Habsburg dynasty became the king of the Croatian-Hungarian United Kingdom, he also brought many Austrian capitalists to invest in Hungary. Croatia also formed a union with Hungary. The financial, material and industrial strength of the Croatian-Hungarian United Kingdom naturally greatly exceeded the original Hungary.

Therefore, the organization of this "Maria Theresa" tank brigade is also very sufficient. It has the 1st and 2nd Hungarian tank battalions that imitate the organization of the German tank battalions, equipped with 88 Turan 1 medium tanks and 88 Torti light tanks.

Although the strength of these two tanks is somewhat insufficient and cannot beat the Soviet T-34 and KV-2 at all, the Turan 1 is not small, with a combat weight of 18.2 tons, and looks very powerful. Moreover, the paint of these Hungarian tanks is very similar to that of German tanks. The emblem on the tank is a black and white cross, which looks like the German Iron Cross from a distance.

"We now have 70 operational Type 3 tanks, 78 operational Turan 1 tanks and 80 Torti tanks. A total of 228 tanks/assault guns, almost the strength of an armored division, so we should not just defend."

Manteuffel held a temporary combat meeting on his half-track armored vehicle with Hitler's future brother-in-law Colonel Fegelein and Hungarian Demai Stoyayi.

"No defense? Are we going to attack?" The Hungarian general Demai Stojayi was originally an officer of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He spoke fluent German and had no difficulty communicating with the two Germans. After hearing what Manteuffel said, he immediately shook his head and said, "General, our Turan 1 tanks and Torti light tanks are not strong enough and cannot be used as Type 4 tanks."

"That's no problem," Manteuffel shook his head and said with a smile, "Type 4 has its own way of fighting, and Torti light tanks have their own way of fighting. And we still have 70 Type 3 tanks (two of which broke down) and anti-tank guns, which are enough to destroy the entire Soviet tank army!"

"General, do you mean... to lure the enemy with Torti light tanks?" The Hungarian lieutenant general had already understood what Manteuffel meant, "But the Soviet T-34 tanks and KV-1 tanks will destroy all our Torti light tanks!"

"Oh, in fact, they are unlikely to destroy too many Torti light tanks." Fegelein, the commander of the 8th SS Cavalry Division, smiled contemptuously and took over the question, saying, "We captured a lot of T-34 and KV-1 in the last Legionovo-Wolomin battle, and tested them. Test, have mastered the performance of these two tanks. Their speed is not as fast as the Torti light tank, and although the firepower is strong, the accuracy of the artillery used is not enough.

Moreover, the artillery of the Soviet tank is difficult to operate, and there is no good sighting device. It is difficult to hit the target at a distance of 1,000 meters. So your tank only needs to keep a distance of more than 1,000 meters from the Soviet tank cluster to lead them into our ambush circle. And our No. 3 assault gun and PAK40 75mm gun are very low in height and easy to hide, both of which are good for ambushes!

In addition, the Soviet tank has a fatal weakness. Only the command tank has a radio, and most tanks do not have a radio, so they cannot get orders from their superiors in time. This weakness is quite fatal when encountering an ambush. "

...

"Bang, bang..."

Two loud noises reached the ears of Lieutenant Michel Wittmann, the platoon leader of the 1st Platoon of the 2nd Company of the 502nd Heavy Armored Battalion. Although he was wearing headphones, the sound still made his ears buzz. At the same time, the entire tank body shook violently twice. The experienced Lieutenant Wittmann quickly realized that his tank had been hit by an anti-tank gun!

"Ambush! There is an ambush! The No. 11 vehicle of the 2nd company is under attack!" He used the intercom to tell other vehicles that were chasing the Soviet T-34 tank with him that his tank was under attack. Search around in the mirror.

He saw a large wheat field around him. The crops were growing well, but they still couldn't cover the tall bodies of the T-34 and KV-1. There is a small Polish village about 2,000 meters away. There may be Soviet troops stationed there, but it is impossible to connect the shells against the Tiger tanks from there. The Soviets' anti-tank guns are probably not that accurate, and their anti-tank guns are not powerful enough. They may not even be able to penetrate the armor of the No. 3 tank at a distance of 2,000 meters. They must be out of their mind to use them to fight the Tiger.

"Bang!"

There was another loud noise, and Wittmann felt his tank shake again. Apparently it had been hit by another shell. This time Wittmann saw the muzzle flash coming from the wheat field more than 600 meters ahead.

Wittmann immediately understood what was happening. Obviously, this is an anti-tank gun hidden in a wheat field! The Soviets set a trap for the armored group they were in. The T-34 tanks that retreated immediately at the slightest contact 45 minutes ago were actually decoys. The purpose was to lure the Tiger tanks into the ambush circle of the anti-tank guns.

However, the Soviets' strategies were obviously not all successful. Their anti-tank guns were unable to penetrate the front armor of the Tiger tank within 300 meters, but Wittmann still did not dare to take it lightly.

"Stop! Karl! Stop!" Wittmann shouted. He soon felt that his tank had stopped, so he gave the order to the gunner, "Adolf, 11 o'clock, 280 meters, anti-tank gun! "

"Boom!" As soon as Wittmann's order was given, he felt his tank sway slightly, but his car did not fire. He quickly looked through the commander's mirror and found a wheat field in front of him at 2 o'clock on the right. A ball of flame burst into flames.

And this flame actually rose from the top of a Tiger tank!

Apparently, a powerful Tiger tank was destroyed by a Soviet anti-tank gun!

Wittmann suddenly broke out in a cold sweat. The Tiger tank could actually be destroyed. Moreover, his vehicle had just been hit by two shells. For some reason, it was not penetrated. He only found out after the battle. What fired at his car was a 76.2mm cannon, and what destroyed the Tiger tank was a 57mm anti-tank gun with an extra-long barrel.

"Boom!" There was another loud noise, and Wittmann felt his tank shake violently. He knew that this was the tank firing. He quickly looked through the peripheral vision mirror and found a large pit in the wheat field ahead, with some metal fragments and human corpses scattered around.

Finally killed an anti-tank gun! Second Lieutenant Wittmann let out a long breath and was about to push open the top hatch of the tank to see if there were any other anti-tank guns in the surrounding wheat fields. The voice of Major Charlie Demark, commander of the 502nd Battalion, came from the earphones.

"Attention everyone, the assault gun is about to fire. All the 502nd Battalion reverse 500 meters and reverse immediately!"

…

Boom boom boom...

Looking forward from the village where Major General Popov, the commander of the Soviet 10th Army, is located, there is a column of fire and smoke in front of him. His face, which originally showed some joy, became extremely solemn as these 105mm shells exploded.

The T-34 tactics he designed to lure the enemy and anti-tank ambush were obviously successful. After paying the price of more than twenty T-34s being destroyed, he finally led the German tank cluster to the ZIS-2 anti-tank Under the muzzle of the tank, at least 6 German heavy tanks were destroyed by the ZIS-2 anti-tank gun at a close range of 300 meters!

However, there are too few ZIS-2 anti-tank guns, with only 16 in an army group. As a last resort, Popov could only use some ZIS-3 cannons to fill up the numbers and try his luck. Unexpectedly, this 76.2mm cannon could not defeat German heavy tanks at such a close range.

The reaction speed of the German tank cluster was also beyond Popov's expectation. Just as a few heavy tanks were destroyed, the rest of the tanks immediately reversed collectively, widening the distance between the Soviet anti-tank guns. Almost at the same time, their Self-propelled artillery and assault guns also fired, and an indiscriminate bombardment covered all the Soviet anti-tank gun latent positions.

This shows that all German tanks and assault guns are equipped with radios. The commander of the tank group can directly convey orders to each tank, and the front-line tanks can also request fire support from assault guns and self-propelled artillery through the radio at any time. …