The Rise of the Third Reich

When night fell on May 15, 1943, on the unnamed plain south of the Dobrusz Forest (this plain would later be called the Tank Plain), more than 1,800 tanks/assault artillery were already deployed. The battle formation.

The most unprecedented tank battle since World War II is about to begin.

The battlefield for the decisive battle was a 50-kilometer-wide flat land with forests to the north, south and west, and the Desna River, a tributary of the Dnieper River, to the east. In the middle are large areas of wheat fields, belonging to three collective farms in three different states. But now what appears in these wheat fields are not tractors, but tanks and assault artillery.

The German battle formation was placed in the north of the plain, near the Dobrusz Forest. From daytime to dusk on the 15th, it belonged to the 1st, 2nd, 6th, and 10th Armored Divisions of the German Wehrmacht, the 1st Panzer Grenadier Division, and the Party. The tanks/assault artillery of the 5th Guards Viking Division fought fiercely here with hundreds of tanks/assault artillery belonging to the 1st and 2nd Soviet Tank Armies.

Because the German tanks and assault artillery were superior in quantity and quality, they also had powerful air superiority. As a result, a great victory was achieved. More than 550 Soviet tanks and assault artillery were destroyed or captured, and less than 100 tanks were able to withdraw from the battlefield.

However, they did not run too far before they met up with the Vatutin cluster that started heading north at dusk, and then returned to the battlefield again. Now they are forming up about 10 kilometers away from the German front line, preparing to launch a final counterattack.

"Hans, do you think the current situation on the battlefield looks like the battles in the musket era?"

Standing on a Cougar wheeled armored command vehicle, General Mackensen looked at the completed tanks, various assault artillery and armored vehicles under the moonlight. He suddenly turned around and asked, with only one left arm beside him (injured in World War I). amputation) Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Hans Valentine von Hube Baron.

"It's very similar." Lieutenant General Hube nodded. He seemed to have thought of something. "Marshal, your words reminded me of a British tactic in the musket era."

"The British tactics?" General Mackensen asked, "You mean that crazy tactic of advancing thirty or forty meters in front of the enemy's formation and then firing?"

"It's crazy, but it's also very effective. The British Army relied on this trick to win many battles." Lieutenant General Hube said, "We can do the same tonight!"

"What?" Mackensen was startled, "Let the Soviet tanks fire first?"

"Yes." Lieutenant General Hubei smiled, "Let the Soviets fire first, and we will fire later! Because it is night, the visibility is not enough to support long-distance shooting, so we must prepare for close combat. So I want to simply let the enemy fire first and expose them. Target, our tanks advance against the enemy's fire, close the distance and then attack."

"How close?" Mackensen asked.

"Within 500 meters!" Hubei said.

"So close? Our Tiger tank can't stop the Soviet 85mm gun and 57mm gun at a distance of 500 meters."

In previous battles, the German army also captured many Soviet 85mm anti-aircraft guns and 57mm anti-tank guns and tested them.

When using ordinary armor-piercing projectiles (AP shells), these two artillery guns can theoretically penetrate the frontal upper armor (82mm at a 45-degree inclination) of the Tiger tank G type (shrunk tiger) at a distance of 700 meters. If the distance is shortened to within 500 meters, it will be a safe passage.

"We can put the 'Grizzly' at the front." Lieutenant General Hubei said thoughtfully, "The thickness of the frontal armor of the grizzly assault gun's gun cabin is 100mm, and there is an inclination angle of 40 degrees, which is equivalent to more than 130mm of vertical armor, and it uses Made of the best nickel-chromium-manganese rolled steel, it is enough to block the Soviet 85mm and 57mm guns at a distance of 500 meters or even 400 meters.”

"I understand, let's put the 'Grizzly Bear' in front to attract artillery shells and create opportunities for the 'Tiger' tank to annihilate the enemy!" General Mackensen immediately understood what Lieutenant General Hube was planning.

Lieutenant General Hubei wanted to take advantage of the low visibility in the dark to use the "Grizzly Bear", which had strong frontal armor and looked quite big at night, as a target for absorbing shells - usually, tanks in battle The commander/gunner will not immediately switch targets because one shot fails to destroy the enemy tank, but will fire repeatedly to attack the same target.

Moreover, even if the Soviet tank crews discovered that the "Grizzly Bear" assault gun was in front of them, they would never dare not attack. Because the "Grizzly Bear" assault gun can also fire armor-piercing projectiles, there is no problem for a 150mm-caliber armor-breaking projectile to penetrate 150mm thick homogeneous armor steel. Even the KV-85's armor steel cannot theoretically withstand it!

Therefore, the "Tiger" following the "Grizzly Bear" can fire calmly at this time and use the 88mm gun to name the Soviet tanks and assault artillery one by one.

…

"Comrades, I am General Vatutin, commander of the 1st Tank Army!" Nikolay Fedovich Vatutin, commander of the 1st Tank Army and the commander-in-chief of the "Vatutin Cluster" at this time Already sitting in a KV-85 heavy tank, he delivered a pre-battle speech through the American radio on the tank.

He knows very well that the cause of communism has reached its most dangerous moment! If he and his men cannot win tonight's decisive battle, the Soviet Union will face the crisis of destruction.

As a loyal GCist fighter, he was ready to personally lead the team to fight - if he could not win, he would die as a soldier for the Red Country!

The plan he made for this decisive battle tonight was simple and crude, led by the most powerful KV-85 tank, followed by SU-85 and T-35/57, and finally the T-34/76, T-60/70 series of light tanks with weak anti-tank capabilities. The SU-122 assault gun did not participate in the tank cluster charge, but stayed in the rear to attack the self-propelled artillery.

At the same time, there were a large number of infantry carrying "Red Iron Fists" to directly operate tanks into combat (of course, the Germans also had armored grenadiers participating in the battle).

In addition, hundreds of "Katyusha" rocket launchers will also participate in the battle to attack the infantry accompanying the German tank cluster.

Such a simple and crude plan was made not because Admiral Vatutin did not know how to use tricks, but because the accuracy of Soviet tank guns was really not high, and he was afraid that he would miss the target if the distance was too far. So Vatutin simply put his strongest tank in front and tried to give the enemy a head-on blow.

"Now is the most dangerous moment for the great Soviet motherland and the cause of GCism. If we fail here, the Nazi bandits will ravage the land of Ukraine and Russia, the war will burn to the city of Moscow, and our families and compatriots will face the bayonets and whips of the Nazi bandits!"

Admiral Vatutin was not good at speaking, but at this moment he still said something inspiring.

He finally shouted loudly: "Comrades, for the sake of our beloved family and motherland, let each of us dedicate our entire life and all our blood! Let us shed our blood on the land of the Soviet motherland! I will lead you to charge against the evil Nazi bandits! If I die on the battlefield, please continue to advance on the land stained red by my blood until you occupy the enemy's nest!

Long live the Soviet Union! Long live the Bolshevik Party! Red Army tanks, move forward!"

The tank's motor began to roar, and the KV-1 tank that Admiral Vatutin was riding on rumbled forward. Instead of shrinking inside the sturdy tank, he leaned out half of his body so that he could get a better view.

Although the tank he was riding was a sturdy KV-85, he did not rush to the front, but mixed with a group of T-34/57s, in the second line of the Soviet tank cluster, with nearly 100 KV-85s lined up in front. This tank has a frontal armor that is 100mm thick and has a large angle of inclination. The Soviet Union's own 85mm guns and 57mm guns cannot be fired at a distance of 500 meters. It is the most powerful weapon of the Soviet Red Army. Theoretically, it is enough to fight against the German Tiger tank!

"Boom boom boom..."

The first to fire were the self-propelled artillery of both sides. The Germans fired the "Wasp" 150mm self-propelled howitzer, and the Soviets fired back with the SU-122 assault gun.

The shells fell into the tank formations of both sides, exploding into balls of fire, but they were not particularly dense, so Vatutin did not retreat into the tank turret, but used the fire of the shell explosion to observe the enemy situation in front.

The Germans seemed to have deployed a large number of tanks, forming a wide front, and should have a numerical advantage. However, their tanks were very slow, with a speed of only about ten kilometers per hour, and the tanks in the first row seemed to be very tall, probably Tiger tanks.

As the distance between the tank clusters of both sides got closer and closer, the intensity of the shelling began to increase, and the Soviet infantrymen riding the tanks jumped off the tanks and followed behind the tanks. Vatutin also shrank back because he knew that the dense German rocket launchers would soon be coming. After waiting for the rocket launchers to finish, the front-line tanks of both sides should almost enter the stage of "queueing up to fire", and then the self-propelled artillery behind them will have flares.

Unlike the Soviet commander Vatutin who charged in person, German General Mackensen and his chief of staff Lieutenant General Hube rode in an armored command vehicle modified from a Puma armored vehicle and advanced behind the German tank group formation.

After the rocket launchers of both sides fired at each other, the vehicles in which General Mackensen and Lieutenant General Hube were riding drove up a high slope with a wider view.

At this time, the KV-85 tanks in the front row of the Soviet tank group stopped advancing first and began to use 85mm cannons to shoot at the "Grizzly" assault guns that were still advancing blindly.