The Rise of the Third Reich

The current Soviet Red Army does not have T-34/85, nor does it have the IS series of heavy tanks named after the great leader Stalin. The most effective tank killer in their hands is this T-34/57 tank.

However, this tank was mass-produced after the outbreak of the world revolution, and the 57mm main gun was difficult to process because its diameter was as high as 72.9 times. The output was never high, which greatly restricted the T-34/57 model. Tank production.

More than three months after the outbreak of the world revolution, the Soviet Red Army owned less than 800 T-34/57 tanks, which was not much more than the Tiger tanks owned by the German army.

But now, this very rare T-34/57 tank has appeared in Yakov Dzhugashvili's sight in large numbers, with more than 200 tanks in total!

Obviously, the commander of the Belarusian Front Vasilevsky has now made the greatest determination to fight a vigorous tank battle with the invading German invaders between Rakov and Zaslavl. But can more than 200 T-34/57 tanks alone achieve victory?

The armored cluster of the Red Army that is approaching with momentum includes not only T-34/57 tanks, but also a larger number of T-34/76 and KV-1 tanks. Driving on the highway, you can't even see the edge.

Seeing this scene, the soldiers of the 9th Motorized Anti-Tank Artillery Regiment, who were setting up blocking positions, cheered: "Ula! Ula!"

But Yakov Dzhugashvili quietly took a breath. Although he only attended military school for one year, he could not even be considered a truly qualified professional officer. But after all, he had experience in the Warsaw battlefield and knew that the ZIS-2 anti-tank gun was not as sharp as advertised against German Tiger tanks.

It can only threaten the Tiger at a distance of about 500 meters, and because of the insufficient damage capability of the 57mm armor-piercing projectile, although it can damage the Tiger tank, it is difficult to destroy it beyond repair. In addition, perhaps because the gearbox of the German tank is front-mounted (the gearbox of the tank is large and heavy at this time), it provides additional protection to the crew members. Therefore, Yakov often saw the crew members of Tiger and No. 4 tanks on the battlefield in Warsaw crawling out of the tanks that were hit by 57mm shells and escaping one by one intact.

The crew can run and the tank can be repaired. For Germany, such a "defeat" was just a matter of replacing a steel plate with a gearbox. As for the Soviet army, once their T-31 and KV-1 tanks were destroyed by the German 75mm gun or 88mm gun, it was likely to be a real vehicle crash and casualties!

Therefore, in the battle between the tank units of both sides, the real exchange ratio was very unfavorable to the Soviet Union. So Yakov Dzhugashvili, to be honest, really has no confidence in the upcoming tank battle.

"Victory of the world revolution! Hurrah!"

"Defend the Soviet Fatherland! Hurrah!"

"Workers' and Peasants' Red Army! Ula!"

Just when Yakov was wavering about the prospect of inevitable victory for the communist cause, the morale of most Red Army commanders and fighters on the battlefield reached its highest point in an instant due to the massive reinforcements of tank troops and the encouragement of political cadres.

Their cheers spread across the battlefield that had just quieted down, and reached the ears of the German officers and soldiers who had finished organizing their formation and were preparing to charge again.

"The Soviet reinforcements have arrived! It seems there are quite a few!" Major Schwarzenegger muttered, having heard such cheers more than once on the battlefield in Warsaw. After such cheers, either before their large-scale offensive, it must mean that a large number of reinforcements have arrived.

A Soviet counterattack is impossible now, because the German army's advantage is too great, so a large number of reinforcements must arrive.

Obviously, the breakthrough in the Rakov area had long been expected by the top brass of the Soviet army!

While Major Schwarzenegger was making random guesses, the order to attack was issued again. I don’t know if it was because when I broke through the first line of defense of the Soviet army, I was ambushed by T-34/57 tanks lying in ambush behind the mound.

Therefore, this attack was initiated first by the "Rhinoceros" tank destroyer. On a front more than ten kilometers long, 11 battalions of "Rhinoceros" tank destroyers (362 vehicles in total) rumbled to an area less than 3,000 meters away from the enemy position, and then used their 88mm cannon to target the Soviet army. Any object suspected to be a "tank bunker" on the position was targeted for violent bombardment.

After a while, another 10 battalions of "Wasp" self-propelled howitzers (105mm caliber) and No. 3 assault guns rumbled from the rear to the front, joining the chorus of artillery fire initiated by the 88mm gun. The targets of bombardment are no longer limited to "mounds", but have been expanded to various locations suspected of forward artillery positions, machine gun bunkers and frontline headquarters. The Red Army soldiers who were rushing to the front from the reserve position were also bombarded. However, the situation was critical now and they had no choice but to retreat. The motorized infantry of the 9th Mechanized Army could only bite the bullet and continue to move forward. People kept being bombed in the traffic trenches. The shells fired killed and injured!

The T-34/57 tanks, T34 tanks and KV-1 tanks that were lining up behind the Soviet front were now also in trouble. As soon as they came out of the hidden assembly area, they were spotted by German reconnaissance planes hovering in the sky. During the march, they were bombarded by Do217 medium bombers with a huge bomb load. Although the losses to the tanks were not large, many vehicles carrying ammunition and fuel, as well as some lightly armored armored vehicles and maintenance vehicles, were damaged. The infantry also suffered heavy casualties.

When these tanks began to line up, Br.703 attack aircraft equipped with 50mm cannons and Hs129 attack aircraft equipped with 47mm cannons also came to the battlefield in groups.

These attack aircraft with strong belly armor are not afraid of ground firepower. They can hover at a height of tens of meters or even lower, and use the cannon hanging under the belly to fire high-speed armor-piercing projectiles to attack the tank's weak rear and top armor.

For these two aircraft, which are similar to the Il-2, but have far more firepower than the Il-2, the Soviet Red Army has no way to deal with it. In addition to increasing the anti-aircraft firepower of the tank brigade, it is to concentrate on P51 and Yak-1 to desperately provide air defense. support. However, the German Fokker Zero and the French D.550 are both excellent mid- and low-altitude fighters, capable of controlling the skies above the battlefield.

As for higher altitudes, the powerful Fw-190A-4 has long become the master of the air!

The Soviet tanks that had lost their air supremacy now had no choice but to bite the bullet and continue to move forward, or to hide themselves in the woods that covered the battlefield.

At this time, Yakov Dzhugashvili discovered that the battlefield he was on was originally covered with small woods, and there were places to hide everywhere. Obviously, the front army headquarters carefully selected this place as the battlefield for the decisive battle with the German armored group.

At this time, the close-range bombardment initiated by German tank destroyers, assault guns, and 105mm self-propelled artillery had ended, and the Tiger tanks and No. 4 tanks began to advance step by step. The Soviet artillery group, which had been suppressed since the outbreak of the decisive battle, opened fire with all its strength regardless of the threat from the air. The artillery shells fired a high wall of artillery fire at the front of the Soviet second line of position, unbiased, and blocked just in front of the German tank group. However, for the German armored troops advancing in tanks, the firepower of howitzers and rocket launchers was not fearful at all.

Major Schwarzenegger's half-track armored command vehicle had no roof, but it still faced the Soviet artillery fire without fear. The heat wave and the choking smell of gunpowder smoke poured into the compartment from the open top of the vehicle. Major Schwarzenegger put a helmet on his head and leaned against the steel plate on the side of the compartment, praying silently in his heart.

I don’t know whether it was God showing his power, or whether German and French bombers suppressed the Red Army artillery group. Anyway, the Soviet artillery fire gradually became sparse after a few minutes. Major Schwarzenegger immediately stood up, holding on to the armored baffle of the carriage and looking left and right. In the smoke, he could only see the surrounding vehicles still rumbling forward.

He looked back again and saw a lot of burning vehicles scattered around the area that was shaped like the surface of the moon by artillery fire from both sides! Most of them are half-track armored vehicles. These light armored vehicles without roofs are still easily caught on fire in the face of intensive Soviet firepower. I wonder what happened to the people riding on them?

He finally turned around and looked forward, only to see that the leading Tiger tanks and No. 4 F tanks had rushed to only a thousand meters away from the Soviet position, and the vehicle-mounted machine guns were about to exert close-range suppression. Suddenly, a ball of fireworks burst out from the bottom of one of the Tiger tanks, and then the entire tank jerked forward a few times before coming to an abrupt stop. Then another No. 4 F tank encountered the same thing and stopped after smoke came out from the bottom.

Obviously, such a coincidence could not be a mechanical failure, and Schwarzenegger did not see any muzzle flash from the Soviet position. Then the only possibility is: anti-tank mines!

Schwarzenegger thought to himself: "The land ahead has been bombarded repeatedly by artillery fire, and there are still landmines. If it weren't for two particularly lucky landmines, it must have been the Soviet engineers who risked their lives during the shelling just now. The bravery of these Bolsheviks who rushed out of their positions to lay mines was far superior to that of the French and British!”

At this time, the German tank group did not stop advancing because it encountered a landmine. All tanks, assault artillery, and armored vehicles still maintained their original formation and rolled forward menacingly.

The two sides were getting closer and closer, but there was no counterattack firepower coming from the Soviet position.

Have the Soviets given up? Just when Major Schwarzenegger felt strange, someone suddenly shouted in his earphone: "Soviet tank clusters discovered! They are coming, right in front of us! There are many, maybe hundreds or thousands of vehicles!" "