Chapter 948: Get Out of There

“Armor-piercing, load! Watch the other side of the road!” Rein roared his combat orders. A Soviet T-34 tank charged onto the road from the other side of the embankment. Before it could even get a look at its enemy, an armor-piercing round shattered its fragile frontal armor plate.

The Tiger tank, by any measure, was superior to the T-34. Even in terms of their comparable speed, the Tiger’s powertrain reliability gave it a slight edge. Once the Germans had abandoned their unnecessary obsessions in tank design, their understanding of this weapon could be described as having reached the pinnacle of perfection.

The Tiger tank’s fearsome 88mm cannon was now belching smoke from its recent shot. The last round had easily written off one of the Soviets’ elite T-34s. But the enemy was simply too numerous, so numerous that these German tanks were somewhat caught off guard.

“Rein! There’s at least a regiment of Soviet tanks here! There are too many of them! We can’t finish them all!” Markus’s tank was also firing continuously. The King Tiger’s aiming speed was a little faster than the Tiger’s, so in the process of reversing and making short stops to fire, Markus had already destroyed his third Soviet tank.

But the distance between the two sides was still closing. After all, the Tiger’s reverse speed was not fast enough to shake off the Soviet tanks. Rein anxiously watched the battle unfold. He watched as one after another of the Soviet tanks was destroyed, and also saw that the black smoke from the burning Soviet tanks was obscuring many areas.

These tanks are here to die! They’re providing cover for their own tanks! These T-34s wouldn’t be charging to their deaths for no reason. The fact that they are maintaining this frenzied offensive proves that there must be a large number of Stalin tanks behind them! And the damn thing is, those truly deadly Stalin tanks haven’t appeared yet!

In an instant, Rein had made his own judgment of the current situation. He knew that the enemy would definitely commit its most elite Stalin tanks to fight a “fair battle” with his six tanks! This was what Wolf had always pursued, the kind of scene that madman loved.

“Damn it! I’m hit! My track is broken!” Just as Rein was calculating how to delay for as long as possible, to wait for reinforcements or to disengage from this battle, the loud cry of a Tiger tank commander came through the headset.

And at almost the same time as this cry, directly in front of Rein, about ten Stalin tanks charged out of the black smoke of the burning T-34 wrecks. The thick barrels of their 122mm cannons were pointed menacingly at the German tanks on Rein’s side.

“This… is really a ghost!” Rein knew that at a time like this, he probably didn’t have many good choices. He could only grit his teeth and fight this unprepared encounter battle, to challenge the superior Soviet armored forces with an inferior force at a relatively dangerous range.

What made him even more desperate was that he knew Wolf was here. That powerful monster had brought his monster legion with him! At a time like this, there was no room for cowardice or retreat. He could only go all-in and end the entanglement between himself and Wolf with either a defeat or a victory.

“Cover! Armor-piercing, load! Deal with those Stalin tanks first!” Rein roared his combat orders in the noisy interior of the tank. He didn’t know what he was doing now. In any case, his mind was now filled with the thought of a life-or-death struggle.

BOOM! An armor-piercing round flew out of the King Tiger’s muzzle with a sharp crack. A bright light connected the King Tiger’s cannon and a Stalin tank opposite it. This Stalin tank was not penetrated by the King Tiger’s armor-piercing round. This damn shell was also deflected by the Stalin’s good ballistic shape.

BOOM! Another King Tiger fired at almost the same time and also accurately hit a distant Stalin tank. This time, the King Tiger was lucky. The shell pierced the Soviet tank’s frontal armor, causing the tank to slowly come to a stop.

“Keep firing! Keep firing! Fire at will! Markus! You cover the left flank!” Rein ordered over the throat mic, giving the command for mutual cover. The Tiger tank with the broken track was firing desperately, destroying a T-34 that was trying to circle around to attack it.

The Soviet tanks were not just sitting and waiting to be killed either. Soon, several tanks stopped advancing and began to aim at the German tanks, firing without stopping. Several armor-piercing rounds slammed into the vicinity of the Tiger tank that had lost its mobility almost at the same time. One shell struck the frontal armor, and the other two landed on the ground not far away.

Immediately after, two more Stalin tanks stopped advancing and aimed their thick gun barrels at the German tanks. With a loud “BOOM!”, two armor-piercing rounds flew out of the barrels at the same time, striking the hull of the paralyzed German Tiger.

Good luck does not always shine on the German armored forces. One of these two shells struck the frontal armor plate of the Tiger like a sledgehammer. The huge force made the entire Tiger tank shake. Although it had not penetrated the armor, it must have caused a great deal of shock damage to the crew inside.

And the second shell pierced the Tiger’s armor, directly destroying this continuously firing German tank. Although it had not caused an explosion, it seemed to have taken out the driver and the radio operator, because the hull machine gun that had been firing without stopping was instantly silenced.

The gunner and the commander of this Tiger tank jumped out of the destroyed vehicle, wanting to get away from the tank that could explode and become a pile of scrap iron at any moment. They were like grasshoppers on a hot iron plate, panicked and moving with incredible speed.

The gunner had just jumped out of the turret hatch when he was hit in the chest by a sweeping burst of Soviet machine gun fire. He staggered and fell back into the tank, and the commander was also hit in the body as he jumped down. The nearest other Tiger tank reported to Rein that he had seen the commander killed.

“Tank 4 is done for! The battalion’s Tiger tank number 4 has been destroyed!” a battalion commander roared in the headset. He then forgot to switch channels and hysterically ordered his loader to quickly load another armor-piercing round.

The remaining two Tiger tanks opened fire. The shells flew over the wreck of the smoking Tiger and into the group of Soviet tanks opposite. A Stalin tank was penetrated and exploded, and another T-34 also caught fire and began to burn. The German army still maintained its advantage in accuracy and penetration.

“Hold formation! Cover each other! We still have one tank behind us! It can provide us with effective support!” Rein shouted, reminding his comrades. Compared to the Soviet tanks, which were almost swarming up, the German armored forces had a greater advantage in tactics. As long as they could leverage these advantages, Rein was confident he could destroy these Soviet tanks here.

As he spoke, a shell struck the frontal armor plate of Rein’s King Tiger. The huge force almost threw Rein from his seat. He gripped the handle beside him tightly and felt the entire tank shake twice.

“Commander! Your tank has been hit! Can you hear me? If you can hear me, please reply! If you can hear me, please reply!” a Tiger tank commander’s anxious inquiry came through the headset. But Rein had not yet regained his sense of direction from that fatal shaking. He shook his head and loudly confirmed if anyone was injured.

“We haven’t been penetrated! We haven’t been penetrated!” Baumann, as the driver, was closest to the point of impact. He anxiously started the just-stalled tank and confirmed to Rein, “It was probably a ricochet, but that shell had a hell of a lot of power.”

Markus’s voice came through the headset, his tone laced with anxiety and a tremor. The nonchalant tone was gone, leaving only a slightly hoarse, desperate cry. “Rein! How are you? I can’t see which tank hit you. I can’t see the bastard who fired!”

“I’m still here! I’m still here! My tank has stalled! Take out the nearest Soviet tanks as soon as possible, cover me as I restart!” Rein finally came to his senses and, pressing his throat mic, confirmed that he was still combat-capable. His voice calmed the several German crews a good deal. The German army opened fire again in a new round, destroying three Soviet tanks.

In the not-so-spacious driver’s compartment, Baumann was desperately trying to start this tank. But it was clear that the shell just now had been very powerful. Despite Baumann’s best efforts, there was only one gasp after another. The engine just wouldn’t return to normal operation.

Unlike the Panther tank, the German King Tiger’s transmission had a rear-mounted design, which allowed the Germans to design a more sloped frontal armor plate, but it also meant that the driver had one less transmission in front of him as cover. Baumann was adjusting the clutch pedal and levers back and forth, hoping to get his beloved baby to come back to life.

“Come on, baby! Come on! We have to get out of this damn place!” Baumann muttered impatiently as he adjusted the positions of the various levers. Just as he was starting the tank, a shell landed to the left of King Tiger No. 113, kicking up countless clods of earth.

“Get out of there! Rein!” Markus shouted anxiously to Rein in the headset. It was clear that in this situation, a tank that had lost its power was a priority target for the enemy.

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