Chapter 918: I Was Getting Bored

Everything unfolded just as Rein had predicted. The Soviet unit began their advance after finishing their meal. One after another, the light T-26 tanks emerged from the woods first, followed by the KV-1 tanks bringing up the rear. The Soviet soldiers, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the Germans had already established a simple defensive position in front of them, shouldered their weapons and walked alongside the tanks, a disorderly crowd heading toward the high ground.

Rein lowered his binoculars and pressed his throat mic. “Andre, the ones in the lead are those harmless T-26s. Any chance of targeting a more dangerous Stalin tank first?”

Andre’s frustrated voice came back through the headset: “I think by the time I see the first Stalin tank roll out, the lead T-26 will have been driving over our corpses for ten minutes. They’ve got at least a few dozen tanks, this has to be an armored division!”

“Then find the most threatening target and open fire! We’ve got a lot more shells now, but try not to waste them on the T-26s. Just break up their attack and force them back into the woods,” Rein ordered with a frown. “Prepare for long-range fire. Give them a little reminder that we’re right in front of them.”

“No problem! They’re not in any kind of combat formation, and they haven’t even picked up speed… Only a blind man would miss a target like this,” Andre replied, slightly adjusting his turret’s traverse. “I’ve already got a KV-1 in my sights. Just waiting for your order.”

“Tanks 111 and 115, remain concealed. The rest of you, on my command, aim for your targets and prepare to fire,” Rein said, one hand on his headset, the other holding his binoculars, watching the targets steadily approach. Finally, he gave the order: “Fire!”

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Three shells, like three beams of light, streaked towards their respective targets, effortlessly tearing through the armor of the Soviet tanks and turning them into scrap metal. Two KV-1s and one T-26 were thrown into the air almost simultaneously, the immense force shattering their armor plates.

Germany’s tungsten-core armor-piercing rounds were a new type of ammunition designed to deal with Stalin tanks; using them on the Soviets’ outdated tanks was like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. The shells sliced through the Soviet armor like a hot knife through butter. The massive explosions sent up huge plumes of smoke, obscuring the vision of all the Soviet tanks.

The Soviet infantry clustered around the tanks, seeing things go south, scattered and returned fire wildly. Unfortunately, the distance between the two sides was too great, so their return fire was completely inaccurate. A T-26 charged out of the smoke, but before it could even find an enemy, it was struck by a waiting armor-piercing round and disintegrated into scraps of steel plate and screws. The driver inside, of course, was also reduced to parts, his mangled limbs and tank components flying everywhere.

The King Tiger tank used a brand-new chassis design. Because there was no drive shaft running through the inside of the tank, and the Christie suspension system had been abandoned, the entire interior space was very regular, which greatly increased its ammunition capacity. Therefore, Rein now had far more ammunition than before, allowing him to maintain a more efficient state of slaughter.

“Bruce! Armor-piercing! Load!” Rein observed the situation on the battlefield through his binoculars. Because the view from inside the tank was very limited, he preferred to expose half his body, risking his life to act as a panoramic observation post, to spot the most threatening targets for his crew in advance.

Sure enough, after losing several tanks in a row, the Soviets did not choose to continue their frontal charge. They decisively adopted a flanking maneuver, attempting to disrupt the fire distribution of the German defense line. Just a few hours ago, they had used this method, trading a large number of T-26s to take out four German Panther tanks.

“Tanks 111 and 115, our right flank is now in your hands and the grenadiers’. Good luck,” Rein reminded his still-ambushed comrades, then ordered Markus and the commander of tank 114 to traverse their turrets and concentrate on dealing with the flanking Soviet tanks.

The King Tiger’s targeting system, having been improved countless times, was indeed the most powerful in the world at the time. Although the Soviet tanks had already accelerated and spread out to the flanks, two of them were immediately hit by the Germans and came to a stop in a cloud of thick smoke on their path of attack.

The Soviet forces opposite them didn’t seem to think there was anything special about the Germans. They were just habitually using their most practiced tactic to launch an attack. For the hastily assembled Soviet units, they, like the Italians, could only learn one mode of combat in a short period of time.

However, compared to the Soviet Red Army of a year ago, these Soviet infantry and tanks cooperated perfectly, knew how to cover each other’s advance, and even knew to switch to a flanking maneuver when a frontal charge failed. The battlefield was the best teacher. At the very least, the Soviets had learned a lot in this long period of time.

Of course, no matter how much they learned, it could not make up for the gap in tactical and technical skill between the two sides. Although the Soviet army was a very elite unit, the 502nd Heavy Panzerjäger Battalion they were facing was, even among the elite German army, the elite of the elite.

“Keep firing! Don’t let them get close to our defensive positions. If they continue to extend to the flanks, Markus, you extend with them! No matter how many tanks they have, they’ll eventually run out,” Rein said, completely unfazed by the bullets whistling past him. The enemy was just firing blindly and hadn’t really aimed at his position.

“Then I won’t be polite. After this bunch of Soviets is all finished, I’ll go and count my tank kills myself,” Markus laughed heartily, starting his tank. It leaped out of its temporary cover, then made a sharp stop and fired, hitting a KV-1 that had stopped to prepare to fire.

The Soviet tanks were simply too numerous. Soon, a few more wrecks of T-26s were added to the position, and the T-34s and Stalin tanks, which the Germans feared most, had yet to appear.

“Damn it! We’ve already fired ten shells, and we haven’t even hit a single T-34!” the commander of tank 114 complained in the headset. “There are too many of them, and the infantry are trying to get close to our tanks.”

“I’ll make them regret getting close to our tanks!” Rein said with a smile, then shouted into the intercom, “Alice, it’s your turn to shine! Don’t let the Soviets get close to our tanks! If anyone gets out of your firing range, you can let me know, and I’ll deal with them!”

Alice glanced at the radio equipment beside her, confirmed that there were no problems, and then placed her right hand on the machine gun’s grip. She worked the action with a clatter and then said, “Just mind your own business. I’ll handle the infantry!”

At her words, the vehicle-mounted MG42 with its added cooling fins began to roar. A dense hail of bullets swept towards the approaching Soviet soldiers. Soon, the Soviet advance was cut off. No one was willing to take another step forward into the hail of bullets.

BOOM! The cannon above Alice’s head roared again. Bruce pulled open the breech, letting the hot shell casing fall to the steel floor below with a crisp clang. He then slammed another shell into the chamber and reported loudly, “Tenth armor-piercing round, ready.”

Finally, from the thick smoke on the German frontal position, the first new model of the Soviet T-34 tank charged out. But Andre did not let this tank rejoice for long. Soon, a shell struck its frontal armor and easily penetrated this poor T-34.

“Rein! I just destroyed a T-34. It seems their main force has been committed!” Andre reported loudly in the headset, noting the problem he had discovered.

“Don’t be in a hurry. The reconnaissance department’s data says they still have two Stalin tanks,” Rein said into Andre’s headset, his eyes on the ever-changing battlefield. “This time, don’t worry about saving ammunition. Just keep firing.”

BOOM! Not far away, tank No. 114 also fired a shell. This shell did not hit any target and just flew straight into the mud, kicking up a high plume of earth and frightening the surrounding Soviet soldiers with their rifles. The observation and aiming systems of World War II were not very advanced. At least for now, it was impossible to achieve a hundred percent hit rate.

As the battle continued, the German grenadiers over there also began to engage the Soviet infantry and tanks. The two German King Tiger tanks were devastating. They quickly turned the few Soviet tanks that had charged over to find trouble with the infantry into sieves. The Soviet army had lost more than 20 tanks in one go and so had charged over even more frantically.

BOOM! Rein’s tank continued to fire, destroying a T-26 in the distance that was constantly firing. The entire battlefield was now in chaos. The Soviets’ specialty, the flanking maneuver, had lost its effect here. Their attack had become costly and seemed to have no effect. The defense line formed by the five King Tigers was as solid as a fortress, as impregnable as a bronze wall.

“Andre! One o’clock! One of their Stalin tanks has shown itself!” It seemed the Soviets didn’t want to waste any more of their time either. After all, they still had a long way to go south and couldn’t stay here for too long. So just as Rein’s King Tiger was slaughtering the Soviet tanks, a Stalin tank charged into everyone’s view.

“Just in time! I was getting bored,” Andre said coldly.

Advance chapters at Nightjar Reads · nightjarreads.com