Chapter 954: A Design that Screws You Over

Everything that was happening before his eyes brought Rein back to reality from his thoughts. It was as if, in the back of his mind, he’d had a premonition all along that the terrifying Wolf would not be so easily dismissed. He was like Rein’s nightmare, a clinging specter that was impossible to shake off—like a festering sore on the bone.

“Don’t save your shells! Aim for that Stalin tank with the black pentagram! Fire!” Rein had no intention of staring blankly at a dangerous man like Wolf in a situation like this, so he decisively gave the order to continue the attack.

Yes, continue the attack! Not until the enemy tank was completely destroyed, not until that dangerous, black-pentagram-emblazoned Stalin was a pile of scrap iron, could they be considered safe! Andre’s reaction was indeed swift. The turret of King Tiger No. 113 swung at top speed to face the charging Stalin.

“That tank’s not right! It’s faster than the other Stalins!” Baumann was extremely sensitive to vehicle speeds. The moment the enemy tank burst out of the smoke, he knew it was definitely different from the others. Now he finally understood the difference—the opponent’s speed was simply too fast.

BOOM! A tungsten-core armor-piercing round roared from the King Tiger’s barrel, a powerful blow that would make any target pay a heavy price. From the moment the shell left the muzzle, Andre had an instinct. He knew this shell would hit, and it would inflict considerable damage.

The armor-piercing round, carrying immense kinetic energy, slammed into the upper glacis plate of the Stalin tank. Unfortunately, the world-destroying force failed to penetrate. Due to the angle, it left a crater on the sloped armor before taking a bizarre turn and flying off into the sky.

A ricochet! Because the Soviet tank had borrowed from the German Panther, or perhaps they had always had this concept of sloped armor—in any case, the Stalin tank had a great deal of sloped armor, and this time, in this battle, it had played its intended role, deflecting the fatal blow of the enemy’s armor-piercing round.

“Damn it! This tank’s armor has been modified too! It’s not one of the common ones!” Andre now finally understood why the other had been so bold as to charge out of the smoke first. After all, driving a tank with performance so different from the other Soviet tanks would probably make one more confident than usual.

When the Soviets were forced to design and develop the Stalin tank, it was in direct response to Germany’s Panther and Tiger. When they discovered that their newest tank, the T-34, was already inferior to the German Tiger, the Soviet engineers had done everything they could to develop this terrifying Stalin tank.

First, to deal with the Tiger’s sloped armor and superior armor casting technology, they had chosen a monstrous cannon for this tank, the famous 122mm. The power of this gun was astonishing, and it had indeed proven that it could handle all of Germany’s current tanks.

On the other hand, the Soviets had their own understanding of tank armor. They used a large number of cast parts to shorten production time and a good ballistic shape to offset the problems of unstable armor quality caused by issues with their manufacturing processes.

This had led to a very interesting phenomenon: the armor quality of the mass-produced Stalin tanks was actually very low, and many of the cast armor plates had air bubbles inside, which resulted in an inconsistent impact resistance—it was like buying a lottery ticket. You might penetrate its frontal armor with one shot, or you might fail after several.

This kind of armor, which seemed to rely entirely on faith for its defense, could naturally not be provided to the main elite units. It was, in fact, just a product to make up the numbers and to compensate for the shortage of tanks. Therefore, the Soviets also produced Stalin tanks in small batches, almost by hand. These tanks used American-imported sights and were specifically supplied to crews like Wolf’s, to be used as a specialized weapon for the elite forces.

These types of Stalin tanks used better American engines and were made with carefully cast, superior armor, so they were almost two completely different tanks compared to the standard ones. Of course, Rein and his men didn’t know this in such detail yet, they just judged from experience that the quality of Soviet tanks was inconsistent.

“Keep firing! Even the best-quality Stalin can’t guarantee it won’t be pierced by an 88 forever!” Rein shouted. He then pressed his throat mic to contact Markus. “Fire, Markus! Concentrate fire and take out this Stalin first!”

Markus was not idle. As Rein’s crew fired their first shell, his side had already begun to load and prepare to fire. He had an instinctive fear of Wolf, so he also had an instinctive reaction to want to take him out.

But as he was preparing to fire, he saw another Stalin tank charge out of the burning wasteland, beginning its own charge alongside Wolf’s. And behind these two Soviet tanks, a third, undamaged Soviet tank burst out of the thick smoke and appeared before the German eyes.

“Rein! I’ll take care of the extra guys! You tie up that damn Black Star Stalin!” Markus made a decision after a brief calculation. Since every enemy tank could threaten him, then to take out the softer targets first was undoubtedly a very rational choice.

And Markus’s efficiency was also very high. He fired a shot directly. The shell slammed into the armor of a Stalin tank on the other side. This time, it did not ricochet but went straight into the compartment behind the armor. And so this Stalin tank began to burn, and Rein and the others had one less threat.

The situation had now become a two-on-two, two Stalin tanks challenging two German King Tigers. Even in the previous situation of three Stalins against two King Tigers, the King Tigers’ win rate was at least over ninety percent.

At least from a tactical analysis, after the shelling and the support of the attack aircraft, the German armored forces had, for the first time, gained a clear overall advantage. If it were any other time, it seemed the German armored forces would have slaughtered the two Stalin tanks in a very short time and then continued their advance. But the current situation was still not optimistic.

“Rein! We only have five shells left, and two of them are high-explosive,” Bruce’s voice came through, pouring a basin of cold water over everyone’s heads. His words made everyone not know whether to laugh or cry, a feeling of having victory within reach but no strength to claim it.

To finish off that Black Star Stalin with three shells was not an easy matter. If it had been an ordinary Stalin tank, Andre or Rein would have dared to take a gamble with just one shell. But against the tank before them, no one dared to say they were very confident.

BOOM! Without giving Rein and the others much time to think, the Black Star Stalin’s barrel spewed a cloud of white smoke. A 122mm shell landed on the ground not far from the King Tiger’s side, kicking up a tall cloud of black smoke.

“Damn it!” In the Stalin’s turret, Wolf slammed his fist against the iron plate beside him. After a complaint, he questioned his gunner in a fierce tone, “Aim properly! You idiot! We’ve practically got our cannon shoved in the other tank’s face, and you still can’t hit it?”

“I’m sorry! The shock just now might have damaged the sight. I was aiming at the target, but I still missed,” the gunner said, feeling very wronged. He had done his best to aim at his target, but in the end, he had still failed to hit it.

“Damaged? Can’t anyone tell me some good news at a time like this? Adjust the firing angle quickly, and hit the target! Quick! Quick!” Wolf said, observing the King Tiger opposite him. “Do we have to wait until we’re destroyed for you to realize this is a battle?”

And behind the gunner, the loader inside the Stalin tank was frantically busy. Unlike the single-piece ammunition used by the German 88mm cannon, the Soviet 122mm used two-piece ammunition, which created an even more fatal problem—the rate of fire of the Stalin tank’s cannon was extremely low. Each loading seemed to require about twice the action of a single-piece round.

Unless one had personally been inside a Soviet-made tank to experience the terrible interior design, it was hard to understand why the West was so critical and contemptuous of Soviet tank manufacturing. At the very least, the internal structure of the Stalin tank could be said to be extremely poor. It could be understood as just having the cannon, armor, and engine crammed together, without any thought for anything else.

The two-piece ammunition had the warhead stored in the rear of the turret, and the propellant charge was stored under the floor… Just hearing these two locations, you knew what kind of loading efficiency it would have. One could imagine the grand and magnificent scene of the loaders of several thousand Stalin tanks cursing the designer’s mother while loading their guns at the risk of their lives.

BOOM! Before Rein’s crew could even cheer for the missed shot, another Stalin tank fired a shell. This shell did not have any problems and struck the road wheel of Rein’s tank No. 113. With a loud bang, Rein’s tank’s track snapped with a clatter.

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