Chapter 757: A Battle for Some

Just as Rein was kicking the body of the Soviet sniper with his foot, his assault rifle in hand, far to the north, on a position held by the Soviets, a Tiger tank was charging up a sloped position.

Right in front of this Tiger tank, a Stalin tank fired fiercely. A shell grazed the corner of the Tiger’s turret, blowing off a section of spare track hanging on the side of the turret, along with the hooks that held it. With a sharp clang, the track was torn into the sky by the immense force and landed by a trench several meters away.

The barrel of the Tiger tank was densely painted with white markings, a testament to the heroic and glorious combat record of its crew. This tank, with almost no pause, pointed its main gun at the enemy that had attacked it and then, with an air of absolute dominance, fired a shell of revenge.

The 88mm shell was propelled out of the barrel by the exploding gases, spinning in the air. It accurately struck the Stalin tank not far away. The power of the tungsten-core armor-piercing round was well-deserved. This shell easily penetrated the frontal armor of the Stalin tank, as simply as a hot knife cutting through a block of tofu.

The Stalin tank opposite immediately shook violently, and then a tragic explosion blew the entire tank’s turret into the air. The Tiger’s shell had detonated the ammunition inside the enemy tank. The sympathetic detonation was tragic and swift, directly destroying everything inside that blocked the explosion.

To the side of the destroyed Stalin tank, the turret of a Soviet T-34 was turning, hoping to aim at the side of the charging Tiger. But not far in front of it, another German Tiger tank charged up. At a very close range, it fired a shot at this T-34. This unlucky Soviet tank also exploded, rapidly losing its combat capability.

Further in the distance, one after another, Tiger tanks charged out of the bushes, blocking the bullets fired by the Soviets on the position. The grenadiers followed, leaping out of their own trenches. Another German offensive had begun. Behind these grenadiers, there were also some assault guns and armored cars. In the sky further away, a dense swarm of rockets was flying towards the area they were preparing to saturate.

A Stalin tank, concealed behind a clump of withered grass, was cautiously waiting for its opportunity. After all, the chances of hitting a German tank were not many. They had to wait until the Germans were close enough, then open fire to catch them off guard.

Unfortunately, just as this Soviet Stalin tank was waiting for its opportunity, another enemy in the sky got its chance. An old-fashioned Stuka dive bomber, with a whistling sound, dived down. Its two 20mm cannons naturally aimed at the unlucky Soviet tank.

“Goodbye! Idiot!” The Stuka pilot pulled his trigger. The cannons on the wings spewed dazzling tongues of fire, leaving two rows of gradually converging impact marks not far in front of the tank. The bullets disappeared into the mud, and dense black pillars of smoke shot up, extending all the way to the tank.

The tank’s vulnerable top armor was peppered by the 20mm cannons, and some places were even left with a frighteningly small pit. But the front of the hull and the top of the turret were still sturdy and ultimately withstood the Stuka’s strafing run.

Unfortunately, the air intake grille at the rear of the tank was not so sturdy. The shells fired by the Stuka easily tore it to shreds. The bullets ricocheted inside the engine compartment, cutting through everything they passed. In the end, the entire engine caught fire, and the Stuka that had done the deed had long since pulled up and flown away, leaving only that long, drawn-out whistling sound.

Opening the tank’s hatch, the Soviet tankers inside the Stalin tank struggled to crawl out of their vehicle. Their bodies were already on fire, flames dancing on their cotton-padded uniforms, as if they would never be extinguished.

The two Soviets who had been lucky enough to jump out of the tank were struggling. They didn’t know to roll on the ground, or perhaps they were so overcome with pain and panic that they didn’t know what they were doing. They just screamed, twisting and shaking, and finally collapsed on the ground, convulsing. By the time these two lay motionless on the ground, the flames on their bodies had still not been extinguished, still dancing and shining.

“Attack! Drive those damn Soviets out of the trenches! Machine gunners, get ready! We’re opening fire!” In a modified Panzer III, the commander gave the order to attack. The main gun of this tank had been removed, and a heavy flamethrower was installed on top. As a special-purpose tank, it accompanied the infantry or tanks in an attack and, at specific times, would charge up to accomplish things that other weapons could not.

Whoosh! Whoosh! As the turret of this Panzer III pointed at a trench, the huge flamethrower also sprayed a terrifying jet of flame. The Soviet position forty meters away was instantly engulfed in flames and burning fuel. The screams from inside could be heard clearly from hundreds of meters away.

Beside the flames, a German Panther tank, using its higher speed, had already broken through the Soviet defense line. But soon, this reckless Panther was destroyed on its path of advance by a Soviet Stalin tank. Whether it was a Soviet tank or a German one, they were pretty much the same when they were penetrated. Soon, this Panther tank exploded, and none of the soldiers inside survived.

The Tiger tank, which had had the track on the side of its turret blown off, had now caught up. It calmly rotated its turret, then aimed at the Stalin tank in the distance that was firing everywhere, and finally fired another shot.

Inside the narrow tank turret, the recoil sent the entire breechblock slamming backward, and then it quickly returned to its original position. With this jarring motion, the 88mm cannon’s cased charge was ejected into the spent shell container behind it. But that was already full of shell casings, so this shell could only fall to the floor, making a crisp clanging sound.

With this crisp sound, the Soviet Stalin tank opposite was hit in the front of its hull by the shell. Without any surprise, the shell once again penetrated the front of this tank, shredding the parts and everything else in its path, making the white-painted steel monster instantly lose its soul, paralyzed behind the concealing parapet.

“Armor-piercing! Load! Nine o’clock position! Aim!” The German captain, already a captain, shouted to his loader to load the ammunition. He then used the commander’s panoramic periscope to observe the side of the vehicle and happened to see a Soviet soldier being cut down by a bullet from somewhere.

“Driver! We need to move fast! There are Soviets all around us! We’re in a bad spot! The Soviet tanks in the distance are firing at us!” the commander said with a frown. After he finished speaking, he gave another order, “Continue to aim at the Soviet KV-1 at the nine o’clock position. Don’t let it fire at will! After you fire, continue to advance. Stop after 10 meters and wait for the rest of the crew.”

Above them, two Stuka bombers dived down once again, dropping large bombs on the places where the Soviets were gathered on the ground. The huge bombs, accompanied by the Stukas’ own shrill diving wail, crashed into their targets. These two bombs exploded in the midst of the Soviets, sending a shower of limbs and severed torsos into the air.

“With these ace tank crews, the attack is really different. This Tiger tank charged up and destroyed a large number of the tanks the Soviets had deployed on the front. Now this defense line is on the verge of collapse,” the German frontline armored commander, General Kluge, the vanguard of Army Group A, said proudly to his men, lowering his binoculars. “Have the second echelon troops begin their attack, break through this defense line, and push the front line to the village called Pava. Use that as a support to establish a defensive system.”

“Yes, General!” The chief of staff nodded, then picked up the walkie-talkie in the temporary command post. “This is command. Order… second echelon, attack begins!”

Not far behind the German position, behind a small hill, a cloud of black smoke instantly rose. Then, one after another, Tiger tanks drove onto the position and began to slowly form an attack echelon, charging towards the already collapsing Soviet position. There, the Soviets had already begun to retreat, and on the position, burning German and Soviet tanks stretched as far as the eye could see.

BOOM! The Tiger tank at the very front seemed to be seizing its last chance, slaughtering the Soviet tanks opposite with all its might. It fired another shot, accurately hitting the front of a T-34’s turret. And then its kill count increased by one more, one that countless people would envy.

“Hey! Boss! You’re now firmly the number one ace of tank warfare,” the loader said very seriously after stuffing a shell into the breech and closing it. “Rein and your score, the gap is getting bigger and bigger.”

“Counting this one! The 190th tank!” the captain in the commander’s position said, taking a deep breath. “I hear the Soviet tanks are all in front of us. It’s not easy for him to see a tank over there.”

After speaking, he touched the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords that he wore at his collar and urged his crew, “Continue the attack! Gentlemen! One o’clock position! Soviet tank! T-26, one! Prepare to fire!”

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