Chapter 1140: Tank Battle Outside the City

More and more German troops began to appear in the previously “safe” rear and flanks of Moscow. Armored reconnaissance vehicles from German panzer units crossed countryside roads, garrisoning themselves in the villages and small towns near Moscow. The defensive line had been tightened. All that remained was the compression of the Moscow pocket.

Konev’s 1st Guards Front’s armored forces were pinned south of Moscow. His main defensive zone was now Lenino, in the southernmost part of Moscow, where Zhukov was located. All his forces were tied down here and could not move. He had no ability to counter-attack, nor did he dare to retreat and consolidate his forces. He could only be worn down, awaiting further orders from Zhukov.

Far behind Moscow, the main force of Vasilevsky’s 3rd Guards Tank Army was in a fierce firefight with Guderian’s advancing Army Group G at Mamonovo. Both sides had committed their armored forces. In a battle of German offense versus Soviet defense, the largest armored clash of the Battle of Moscow had begun.

Stalin felt that his orders were increasingly not being implemented at the front as they should be. Therefore, on July 11th, he issued an order to disband the “Zhukov Group.” The only troops Zhukov could now command were those under Konev. Vasilevsky’s forces, however, were promoted to a parallel unit, able to execute combat orders independently.

Although Vasilevsky treated this order as waste paper and threw it in the trash, he was still forced into an unavoidable battle with the German armored forces besieging Moscow. The German troops attacking Mamonovo used heavy tanks to clear the way, and Vasilevsky’s force was, to date, the most well-preserved armored unit in the Soviet army.

Markus didn’t care if it was Zhukov, Konev, or Vasilevsky in front of him. The order he had received was to capture Mamonovo and ensure the forces on his flank could advance along the Moscow River, eventually reaching the vicinity of the Moscow Ring Road.

Through his binoculars, Markus saw the frequent activity of Soviet infantry digging in. The armored reconnaissance units had also informed him that the Soviet line ahead was very strong. However, after being reinforced by an armored grenadier regiment, the commander of the 502nd Heavy Panzer Battalion still decided to attack first, to test the strength of the Soviet defenders.

“Start the tanks! 1st Company, deploy frontally. 2nd Company, cover the left flank. 3rd Company, the right. Have the battalion HQ and our direct-support artillery fire on the enemy’s deep positions to cover our advance!” Leaning against his tank’s hatch, Markus ordered decisively after lowering his binoculars.

The roar of engines began to echo. The tanks’ exhaust pipes spewed black smoke. These behemoths began to move slowly, pushing through the bushes, knocking over small trees and broken-down low walls, and appearing before the Soviet defenders. The thick, dark barrels of the King Tiger tanks pointed menacingly in the enemy’s direction. For a moment, the battlefield seemed to fall into a state of silence.

“Boom!” A German King Tiger finally broke the brief quiet with the roar of its cannon. A high-explosive shell crossed a distance of a thousand meters and landed on the Soviet defensive line. The massive explosion kicked up black smoke. The machine guns and rifles on the Soviet line immediately began to return fire, and the brutal battle began once more.

The tanks’ road wheels bounced, adjusting to the rugged and cratered terrain. The King Tigers’ wide tracks churned up the mud, their ruts pressing slowly forward. Following these German tanks were Panther-based assault guns. These assault guns belonged to the 1st Assault Gun Battalion of the armored grenadier regiment. They fired continuously from the rear to cover the advance. Behind them were the armored grenadiers, who had already dismounted from their armored vehicles and were advancing with their weapons.

After the mortar units opened fire, the pre-selected machine gun covering positions also began to unleash their bullets. Tracers flew through the gaps between the tanks and assault guns, heading toward the Soviet positions. The hastily erected barbed wire was easily pushed aside by the tanks. Some German units were already approaching the Soviet trenches.

At this moment, a powerful shell flew out from the ruins behind the Soviet lines, striking the frontal armor of a German King Tiger. The massive impact made the German tank shudder, but clearly, due to the great distance and the thickness of the German tank’s armor, the Soviet shell did not penetrate.

“114 is hit! Battalion Commander! I can’t see the target! Can you find the Soviet heavy weapon?” the commander of tank 111 pressed his throat mic, asking into the microphone. Beside him, his loader was struggling to ram a slightly cumbersome 105mm armor-piercing shell into the cannon’s breech.

This shell was a standard steel-core AP design. The precious tungsten-core AP rounds were in limited production and had to be prioritized for the smaller 75mm cannons, to increase the Panther tank’s ability to destroy Soviet heavy tanks. The new 105mm tank gun had “excessive penetration” and could easily pierce a Stalin tank’s frontal armor with standard ammunition, so the precious tungsten rounds were temporarily not provided in 105mm caliber.

“Increase speed!” Markus pressed his face to the commander’s periscope, trying hard to find the Soviet heavy weapon that had fired. His gaze passed over several hidden Soviet machine gun bunkers, finally settling on a wall that looked a little different. “Tank 115! Directly in front of you, about 11 o’clock… See that collapsed wall? Fire on it! Use high-explosive! Destroy it!”

“115 copies!” The deep voice of 115’s commander came through the headset. Soon, this powerful King Tiger was ready to fire. After a brief halt, it fired a world-shaking shot. As the shell roared away, 115 began to move again.

The stabilizers equipped on the German King Tigers demonstrated their powerful effect in actual combat. The German tank units with King Tigers were now basically all using the “short-stop” firing tactic. In contrast, the Soviet tanks, which had to stop frequently to aim and were forced to fire at moving targets, suffered a serious decline in accuracy. This, in turn, increased the survivability of the German tank crews.

The shell fired by 115 slammed directly into the collapsed wall. The massive explosion destroyed the wall, and the resulting dust from the collapse rose high, obscuring the vision of both sides. Fortunately, Markus’s experience had served the Germans well. Before the smoke could completely clear, the Soviet tanks charged out, and their appearance stunned all the Germans.

One after another, Soviet tanks charged out from behind various building ruins. In the blink of an eye, there were over 50 of them. The combat effectiveness of these Stalin tanks and T-34s was far higher than that of the Soviet infantry. In an instant, several shells struck the German tanks. The colossal sound of steel colliding with steel echoed over the battlefield, lingering for a long time.

“Reverse! Maintain distance, fire! Do not panic.” Markus kept one hand on his gunner’s shoulder, calmly commanding his unit to engage the surging wave of Soviet tanks. Ever since that battle with Wolf, he had become calmer and sharper. The shadow that had haunted his heart had been ended by Rein. For him, it was a metamorphosis, his own completion and progress.

“Boom!” His tank fired its first shot of the engagement. The first shell was rapidly expelled from the 105mm barrel by the expanding gases of the propellant, flying toward the distant target. After crossing the long distance, the shell finally collided with the frontal armor of a Stalin tank.

The sharp AP shell immediately cut into the Stalin’s armor. The immense force caused the sloped armor plate to deform, leaving a dark hole. The shell, along with countless fragments (spall) stripped from the armor, punched into the Stalin tank’s hull.

Then these fragments, no different from shrapnel, rampaged through the tank’s interior, cutting into the driver’s flesh. They would eventually lodge somewhere as their kinetic energy dissipated, perhaps in the metal of some internal equipment, or in the flesh of a corpse.

The Stalin tank, as if it had lost its soul, wobbled forward for another ten-odd meters and finally stopped all movement. It sat paralyzed on the battlefield. It didn’t smoke, it didn’t burn. It just sat motionless, stuck in a crater that blocked its advance, its gun barrel stuck ignominiously in the dirt.

Of course, not all Soviet tanks were lucky enough to remain intact. Next to this tank, another Soviet tank that was hit by a shell had its ammunition “cook off.” The entire tank became a massive fireball, the explosion blasting nearby Soviet infantry out of their trenches. The resulting fire was so large it even blocked the aim of other Soviet tanks.

“Maintain distance! We can kill these Soviet wrecks at 1,500 meters! Don’t rush! Aim before firing!” Markus’s hand remained on his gunner’s shoulder the entire time. The gunner felt that steady strength; from the moment the engagement began, Markus’s hand was as steady as Mount Tai, its pressure never changing.

This was powerful confidence in his comrade, powerful confidence in his equipment, and, for himself—absolute confidence.

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