Chapter 819: The Battle on the Other Side

On the other side of the bridge, the frontline soldiers of the already-routing Soviet forces had reached one of the necessary routes for their retreat. If Rein leading two tanks on the offensive was somewhat insane, then the 111th tank and one from the 2nd Platoon on this side could only be described as hard-pressed.

A kilometer in front of them, the ground was already piled high with the burning wrecks of tanks. Some of these Soviet tanks were outdated T-26s, while others were the more advanced T-34s. They had tried to approach and retake the bridge, but the facts proved their efforts were in vain.

The Soviet soldiers surged towards the German positions like a tide, but the German positions had withstood the test of that tide. In the face of the wave-like attacks, they were as unyielding as a reef, unmoved by the crashing waves. The German machine gun nests were efficiently slaughtering the Soviet troops charging onto the road. In some places, the bodies of the Soviet soldiers were already beginning to pile up in a second layer.

“This is not good! We need support! I’m out of high-explosive rounds, and they’re still attacking. Damn it!” The 111th tank had been left on this side of the bridge. The original plan had been just a light defense, but they had not expected the Soviets to come so quickly and to fight so resolutely to escape.

Due to its internal structure, a Tiger tank could not carry a very large amount of ammunition. The German Tiger tank of another timeline was boxy, and its road wheels used an advanced torsion bar suspension, so it could carry more ammunition.

Unfortunately, the tank crews of the Tiger in this world enjoyed a different treatment. Their tanks had a better ballistic shape and more practical speed and cross-country performance. Overall, their defensive performance had been greatly improved, and their reliability had reached a new height… but the price was that the suspension structure used by this tank was relatively outdated and took up a lot of internal space, which made the Tiger’s ammunition capacity even smaller than the Panther’s.

Because it was mainly used for anti-tank combat against enemy vehicles, the Tiger’s ammunition was mainly armor-piercing rounds. This was even more so after the introduction of tungsten-core armor-piercing rounds. This limited the total amount of high-explosive shells the Tiger could carry, and its anti-infantry capability had not been much improved.

In fact, this defect was not a fatal weakness under equal conditions. And in the subsequent improved replacement, the King Tiger, the Christie suspension of the Tiger was replaced by the already mature torsion bar suspension that would be used for decades to come, which saved a large amount of internal space for the King Tiger.

But very unfortunately, the soldiers of the 502nd Heavy Panzerjäger Battalion were not yet using the better King Tiger tank, so they had to use the Tiger to face the almost endless offensive of the Soviet infantry and tank units. The enemy might have thousands or even tens of thousands of men. The pressure of an offensive of this scale on a few hundred German soldiers was clearly a bit too heavy.

The crew of tank No. 111, which was in a more forward position, had fired their last high-explosive shell and then had no choice but to retreat from the vicinity of the bushes where they had been hiding. Because the increasingly accurate artillery fire of the Soviet tanks had begun to threaten it, moving to a new position was the best option for tank No. 111.

The only tank from the 2nd Platoon that had followed Rein to the bridge, at this moment, probably envied its comrades who had broken down on the road. After all, they did not have to fight on such a fierce battlefield, which could be said to be a very happy thing in any case.

To cover the retreat of tank No. 111, this Tiger tank was also firing frequently. An armor-piercing round accurately hit a T-34 tank that was trying to charge up. But a shell fired from the 76mm cannon on another T-34 also pierced the dirt mound and struck the frontal armor plate of this Tiger from the 2nd Platoon.

“111. I’m hit! My hull has been hit,” the commander of the 2nd Platoon’s Tiger screamed nervously in the headset. He knew he hadn’t been penetrated, but the clanging sound that echoed inside the hull had made everyone extremely tense.

In the tanks of World War II, there were no very effective fully automatic fire suppression systems. The probability of those automatic fire extinguishers working was actually not high. A tank with its armor pierced would very easily cook off. The crew inside, in most cases, either had to jump out of the vehicle and flee immediately, or be roasted into a lump of charcoal.

The chance to escape was not non-existent, just a bit short. Within a few minutes, you had to push open the hatch, climb out of the tank, and then dodge the bullets flying at you as you jumped off your own war machine and found a suitable place to hide—this was not a simple task.

So, in World War II, if a tank crew was hit, their first reaction was to jump out of the tank and run. In this situation, if they were frequently hit by shells, it would greatly affect their judgment in that split second when they were penetrated.

If it weren’t for their great confidence in their own tank, the crew of the 2nd Platoon’s tank would probably have abandoned their vehicle as their first reaction. But they were now also cautiously reversing, hoping to leave the dangerous cover.

The two German tanks moved backward, which proved that the German defensive position was being compressed. The German soldiers defending in the foxholes were now having an even harder time. They were pinned down by the dense Soviet bullets, and the Soviet troops also began to approach the core of the German defensive position.

In the sky above, a Stuka II attack aircraft dived down. Its two 20mm cannons, following the crowd of attacking Soviets, spewed their hot tongues of fire. The shells struck the ground, forming two straight lines of flying debris, which passed through the crowd, leaving two long, bloody paths.

This Stuka II had flown back from the other side of the bridge. It had dropped all the ammunition it was carrying and was preparing to return to base. But seeing the fierce battle on this side of the bridge, it had launched a bloody, standard attack aircraft “ground-clearing” mode with a dive and its cannons. Yes, ground-clearing, washing the earth with blood and souls, turning the once-vibrant lives on the ground into dust and dirt. What an appropriate adjective, what a vivid metaphor.

“They should have come long ago! And they dragged it out until now!” the commander of tank No. 111 said, looking at the collapse of the Soviet attack in front of him, a look of relief on his face. He didn’t know how much longer his own defense line could hold out, and how much longer it would take for those distant reinforcements to arrive.

Before everyone had had enough rest—of course, in this situation, no one would feel they had had enough rest. If possible, everyone wished they could rest, rest for three days and three nights or more. The Soviet attack had begun again. This time, many more of their tanks had arrived along the road, and a new round of attacks had been launched once more.

Although they were not the elite of the Soviet army, these troops had a super-strong desire to escape. So they attacked in overwhelming waves, hoping to open a path of escape for themselves. In order to survive, humanity can often burst forth with greater strength, so these non-main force Soviet troops still managed to fight with a rhythm that gave the Germans a headache.

BOOM! Another armor-piercing round hit its target. A Soviet tank caught fire and exploded. The crew this time was lucky and jumped out of the tank to escape. Another tank drove over the wreck of this tank and continued to attack the German positions.

“Damn it! We need reinforcements! We need shells and more tanks,” the commander of the 2nd Platoon’s tank shouted in the headset. His tank had less than 20 shells left. If the enemy continued to attack, the German tanks might be forced to withdraw from the battle because they were about to run out of ammunition.

BOOM! At this moment, a shell struck behind the Soviet tanks. The huge explosion blew one of the tanks into the air. This sudden attack made the Soviets a little confused, because they all saw that the attack had come from behind them.

“I think you’re the ones who need reinforcements?” a familiar voice sounded in the headset of the 2nd Platoon’s tank commander.

“They’re back!” the commander of tank No. 111 shouted in the headset. The other tanks of the 2nd Platoon had actually charged out from behind the attacking Soviet forces. Four tanks, with a few armored cars, had cut into the Soviet troops like a sharp knife.

“Haha! Welcome back to the team!” The tank commander of the 2nd platoon, who had been somewhat desperate just now, now laughed out loud. “We’ll cover your flanks. You can get to us as fast as you can.”

“I don’t think we’ll need your support at all. We have our own support troops behind us,” the man on the other side said. The four tanks that had been separated due to a breakdown halfway were now advancing along the road with a large number of German grenadiers. Wherever they passed, most of the Soviet troops had laid down their arms and surrendered. After all, the taste of being surrounded was not pleasant, and being attacked from both sides was clearly not a situation the Soviet troops could handle.

“Rein! The brothers who fell behind have arrived! All nine tanks, not a single one missing!” the commander of tank No. 111, in his joy, did not forget to report the good news to Rein and the others who were fighting hard on the other side of the bridge.

“Well, if you’re not busy, come over and help us! There are too many Soviets! Our attack is not going smoothly,” Markus’s voice came through the headset instead of Rein’s. It seemed they were having a very hard time, because Markus, who usually had no sense of urgency, sounded a little flustered when he spoke.

Looking at his almost empty ammunition, the crew of tank No. 111 seemed a little helpless. He had no choice but to press his throat microphone and reply again, “My ammunition is almost gone, so I can’t come over and help you right away.”

“That’s great news,” Markus said with a bitter smile. “Because our situation is about the same. Our ammunition is about to… run out! Hey… right side, someone’s firing at me from the right!”

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