Chapter 735: I Dare

If someone were to ask which unit was the sharpest spear in the German Wehrmacht’s offensive, then Guderian’s Army Group G would definitely be one of them. And if one were to say which unit was the tip of this spear, it would undoubtedly be the 3rd SS Panzer Division. As for the sharpest point on this spearhead, it would be the famous divisional independent 502nd Heavy Panzerjäger Battalion.

Of course, the most dangerous, glinting point on this sharp spearhead was this very Tiger tank, painted in white camouflage, that was now moving slowly across the battlefield. The blurry number “13” on its turret looked dangerous no matter how you looked at it.

Because it had made a very long forced march, the white paint on this Tiger tank looked a bit dirty. And what made this mess even worse was that the tank’s armor was covered in mottled impact marks, a sight that gave one a sense of dense, hair-raising dread.

This tank was moving slowly across the Soviet position, like a huge fortress, bringing fear and death to every enemy around it. Strangely, around the turret of this Tiger tank, there were some new, strange cylindrical devices, which seemed to be a new type of weapon.

“Rein! I feel Soviet soldiers approaching from our rear!” Baumann said over the intercom, while controlling the tank to avoid the uncleared trenches and trying to increase his speed a little, so that the Soviet soldiers who had been bypassed would not be able to approach the rear of the tank so easily.

“The closest machine gun covering us is over 70 meters away. This is to ensure their safety! We have been ordered to test this new type of weapon. It is mainly used to create smoke and to deal with approaching enemy infantry!” Rein replied loudly with a frown.

The inside of the moving tank was very noisy. Rein’s voice was transmitted through his throat microphone to every member of the crew. Andre was silent, clearly a little unhappy about the battalion using them as guinea pigs for an experiment. Bruce, on the other hand, was loading one high-explosive shell after another, giving Andre an outlet for his inner resentment and anger.

“Rein! Enemy infantry are approaching! And quite a few of them! They’ve used a concealed machine gun fire point to suppress the machine gun that was covering you! Be careful! There are three, no, four Soviets about to attack you!” In a simple German trench about 200 meters behind Rein, Markus was watching the situation behind Rein with his binoculars.

Rein looked at a detonation device he was holding in his hand and pressed one of the control buttons with a blank expression. In fact, after pressing this switch, he felt nothing. In the swaying tank, he didn’t even feel any feedback.

But outside the tank, with a muffled thump, a cylinder mounted on the turret was immediately launched into the sky by the explosive inside. At this moment, the new weapon revealed its true face: a larger version of the S-mine, the infantry-killer known as the “Bouncing Betty” that sprayed steel balls in all directions after exploding.

And so, in an instant, a dense rain of steel fell around this Tiger tank. A dense shower of steel balls flew everywhere, covering the entire tank and its surroundings for about 30 meters in a flash, like a machine gun strafing. Like a giant shotgun, it plowed over the surrounding ground.

The smoke and dust from the explosion enveloped Rein’s tank. About 10 Soviet soldiers who were trying to attack or were simply hiding nearby were turned into sieves by these pre-formed fragments.

At this moment, Rein and the others inside the tank finally felt the explosion. The steel balls hitting the top armor of the tank sounded like raindrops on a roof, a loud and hair-raising patter.

“Wow! That’s so cool! This thing is awesome!” Markus, in the rear, saw the whole process through his binoculars and shouted loudly. After all, this thing had never appeared on the battlefield before, and its visual effect was very impressive.

The Soviet soldiers opposite were also stunned by the scene before them. The smoke and dust slowly dissipated. They couldn’t tell if their own comrades’ attack had destroyed this German steel behemoth, or if the Germans had pulled some strange new trick. But in their minds, they were more inclined towards the former. They hoped this tank had been destroyed, even if it was because the tank itself had exploded.

But in the smoke, the black shadow of this German Tiger tank became clearer and clearer, and then it charged out of the blue smoke of the explosion. Its terrifying 88mm cannon pointed forward, like a god of war descending from the clouds, majestic and imposing.

Soon, this temporarily constructed defense line collapsed under the devastation of the Tiger tank. The German grenadiers, following the other tanks, launched a fierce attack while the Soviets had not yet recovered their senses. In one hour, they had captured all the Soviet positions.

It was pretty much as expected. About 10,000 Soviet soldiers raised their hands in surrender after being surrounded by the German army. After all, it was impossible to outrun the wheels of the German army’s vehicles with two legs. These exhausted Soviet Red Army soldiers had ultimately chosen the only path they could: to stop and fight a battle where the outcome was already known.

And so they had stopped, turned around, and set up a defensive position. Then they had met the German soldiers who had been relentlessly pursuing them from behind, and then, as was to be expected, they had lost and had thrown down their weapons and surrendered. Almost everything was within expectations. The only unexpected situation was the appearance of a strange weapon that had brought some minor changes to the otherwise dull battlefield.

Beside a group of Soviet prisoners, with blank and bewildered eyes, who were being escorted into the distance at gunpoint, the white Tiger tank was parked next to an armored command vehicle. Some German officers were gathered around this white Tiger, pointing and talking, while some were taking notes.

At least in the eyes of these prisoners, the Tiger tank on the side of the road was like the Grim Reaper. It could not be approached and was almost invincible. When it charged into their positions, it seemed that no one could stop its actions. What was even more despairing was that behind this tank, there were more tanks that were just as terrifying and looked the same, which made one’s heart fill with despair.

“This thing is useless. Honestly, I don’t know why they developed it,” Rein said, leaning against the tank and shaking his head at the German technical officers who had brought this new weapon. “I can’t see the effect when defending, but this thing can’t really solve the problem very well.”

“That’s right! The smoke from the explosion blocks the view, and you can’t aim at the target in front at the same time. If the commander and the gunner don’t communicate well, it’s easy to miss the target,” Andre said, standing in front of the tank and pointing at the cannon to another officer who was recording the effects of its use.

And beside him, on the other side of the tank, Bruce was also complaining to the person who was asking him about his experience, “You know, it’s like suddenly having 200 enemy machine guns on top, firing fiercely at the most vulnerable part of my roof armor. If possible, I’d rather not experience this despairing process too often.”

Over by Rein, he continued to report his user experience to the lead technical officer. “In a siege battle, my field of view is actually very limited. Most of the time, I need other tanks and infantry to cover my flanks and rear. In any case, I feel more at ease with the grenadiers. And these infantry can take the enemy’s trenches at the first opportunity and suppress their space for flanking maneuvers.”

After he finished speaking, he pointed to the S-mine-like device on the tank’s turret and continued, “With this thing, the infantry has to stay away from my flanks and rear. At that time, the enemy’s flanking maneuver is very likely to cut the connection between the tank and the infantry. To be honest, in this situation, I would rather choose to reverse and retreat than to risk an attack.”

“So you’re saying this thing affects your combat experience and is not very suitable for use on the battlefield, is that right?” the officer asked, looking at the medals on Rein’s chest. After considering for a few seconds, he asked this question as a matter of routine.

“I think, unless the scale of the armored force is very large, and my tank is still followed by our own tanks, and behind those tanks are still tanks or armored cars, at that time I think we can try this thing. After all, its killing effect is not bad,” Rein said after a moment’s thought.

“Well then, does the smoke screen function still need to be tested?” the officer asked. The more dazzling first function seemed to need some more research, while the second function, though not as exciting, was very practical. He didn’t know if it was suitable for the battlefield.

“That’s not necessary, sir. This thing is indeed a very good means of creating a smoke screen. At least in terms of time, it’s much more practical than the smoke generator installed on the back of the Panther tank,” Rein said, surprisingly giving this function a very high evaluation.

The other party was clearly taken aback by this answer. He then laughed, extended his hand, and shook Rein’s. “Thank you for your valuable opinion. I now have a very intuitive assessment of this device. I believe an improved version of this equipment will be sent to you soon.”

“I’d be delighted,” Rein nodded, then took the canteen Alice handed him and took a sip of water. The technical officer opposite saw Alice and was clearly a little stunned. After all, to be able to see a beautiful and heroic female soldier on the front line was a pleasant thing.

“If you don’t dare to marry a woman who has killed at least 400 people, then don’t get any funny ideas,” Rein said with a sneer, interrupting the officer’s slight improper thoughts. The officer gave an embarrassed laugh, saluted politely, and left.

“Clearly, he doesn’t dare,” Baumann said with a wide grin.

“Useless man. He doesn’t dare, and you don’t dare either?” Alice looked at Rein.

“I dare, but I’m afraid you don’t dare to marry me!” Rein said with a smile, looking at Alice.

Only then did Baumann remember that standing in front of the beautiful woman was a demon who had killed even more people, his murderous aura soaring to the heavens.

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