By the night of May 15, 1943, more than 1,800 tanks and artillery pieces had been deployed on the unnamed plain south of the Dobrush Forest, which would later become known as the Tank Plains.
One of the largest tank battles since World War II is about to begin.
The decisive battle took place on a 50-kilometer-wide stretch of flat land, with forests to the north, south, and west, and the Desna River, a tributary of the Dnieper, to the east.
In the middle are large wheat fields, each belonging to three collective farms in three different states.
But now it's not tractors that appear in these wheat fields, but tanks and artillery that strike.
The German battle positions were placed on the north side of the plain, near the Dobrusch Forest, and during the day and dusk on the 15th, tank assault artillery belonging to the 1st, 2nd, 6th, and 10th Panzergrenadier Divisions, the 1st Panzergrenadier Division, and the 5th SS Viking Division fought fiercely with hundreds of tank assault guns belonging to the 1st and 2nd Soviet tank armies.
Due to the superiority of German tanks and assault artillery in quantity and quality, but also had strong air superiority.
As a result, more than 550 Soviet tanks and artillery pieces were destroyed and captured, and less than 100 tanks were able to exit the battlefield.
However, they did not go far to join the Vatutin group, which had been heading north since dusk, and then returned to the battlefield again.
They were now in formation about 10 kilometers from the German front, preparing for a final counterattack.
"Hans, look at the current situation on the battlefield, it doesn't look like the battle of the era of smoothbore guns."
General Mackensen, who was standing on a Cougar wheeled armored command vehicle, looked at the tanks, various high-attack artillery and armored vehicles that had been arrayed under the moonlight, and suddenly turned his head and asked the chief of staff, Lieutenant General Hans Valentine von Hube, who had only one left arm wounded and amputated in the First World War.
"It's very similar," nodded Lieutenant General Hubey, who seemed to have something in mind, "Marshal, your words remind me of a tactic of the British in the days of smoothbore guns. ” "The tactics of the British," General Mackensen asked, "you mean the crazy tactic of advancing thirty or forty meters in front of the enemy and then firing."
"It's crazy, but it's also very effective, and the British Army has won a lot of battles with this trick."
Lieutenant General Hube said, "We can do the same tonight" "What" Mackenson was stunned, "let the Soviets' tanks fire first" "Yes."
Lieutenant General Hube smiled, "Let the Soviets fire first, and we fire later, because it's night, and visibility is not enough to support long-range shooting, so you have to plan for close combat."
So I wanted to simply let the enemy fire first to expose the target, and our tanks advanced against the enemy's fire, closing the distance and then fighting. ” "How close?"
asked Mackenson.
"Within 500 meters," Hube said.
"So close, our Tiger tanks can't stop the Soviet 85 guns and 57 guns at a distance of 500 meters."
In previous campaigns, the Germans also captured and tested many Soviet 85 anti-aircraft guns and 57 anti-tank guns.
In the case of the use of ordinary armor-piercing shells, these two guns can theoretically penetrate the frontal upper armor of the Tiger tank G Type 82 at a distance of 700 meters at an angle of 45 degrees.
If you close the distance to within 500 meters, it will be a stable penetration.
"You can put the grizzly bear at the front. , there was also an inclination of 40 degrees, equivalent to vertical armor in the early 130s, and the best nickel-chromium-manganese rolled steel was used, which was enough to block the 500 and 57 guns of the Soviets at a distance of 500 or even 500 meters. ” "I see, let's put the Grizzly Bear in front to attract shells and create a chance for the Tiger tank to annihilate the hostile enemy," General Mackensen immediately understood what Lieutenant General Hube was thinking.
Lieutenant General Hube wanted to take advantage of the dark and poor visibility to use the "Grizzly Bear", which was very well armored on the front and looked quite large at night, as a target for absorbing shells.
Moreover, even if the tank crews of the Soviets found out that they were facing the Grizzly assault gun, they would never dare not attack.
It is no problem for an armor-piercing projectile of caliber to penetrate homogeneous armor steel of a thickness of 150, even the armor steel of KV85 theoretically cannot be carried So the "Tiger", which was following behind the "Grizzly Bear", could calmly open fire at this time and use the 88 gun to give the Soviets' tanks and assault artillery a little name.
"Comrades, I am the commander of the 1st Tank Army, General Vatutin" Nikolai Fedovich Vatutin, commander of the 1st Tank Army and also the commander-in-chief of the "Vatutin cluster", was already sitting in a KV85 heavy tank at this time, and made a pre-battle speech through the American radio on the tank.
He was well aware that the cause of GCISM had reached its most dangerous moment, and if he and his men could not win the decisive battle tonight, then the Soviet Union would be in danger of extinction.
As a loyal GC warrior, he is ready to personally lead the team to fight, and if he can't win, then he will die as a warrior And the plan he made for tonight's decisive battle was simple and brutal, led by the most powerful KV85 tanks, followed by the Su85 and T3557, and finally the light tanks of the T3476 and T6070 series, which were not very anti-tank.
And the Su122 assault gun, on the other hand, did not participate in the charge of the tank cluster, but remained in the rear impulse self-propelled guns.
At the same time, there were also a large number of infantry carrying "red iron fists" to directly operate tanks into battle, and of course Panzergrenadiers also participated in the battle on the side of the Germans.
In addition, hundreds of Katyusha rocket launchers will also take part in the battle, which will be used to attack the infantry that accompanied the German tank clusters.
Such a simple and crude plan was formulated, not because Admiral Vatutin did not know how to use calculations, but because the accuracy of Soviet tank guns was really not high, and he was afraid that he would miss the target if the distance was too far.
So Vatutin simply put his strongest tank in front and gave the enemy as much as possible a head-on attack.
"Now is the most dangerous moment for the great Soviet Fatherland and the cause of GCISM, if we fail here, the Nazi bandits will ravage the lands of Ukraine and Russia, the flames of war will burn under the city of Moscow, and our families and compatriots will face the bayonets and whips of the Nazi bandits" Admiral Vatutin was not good with words, but he still said something inspiring at this moment.
Finally, he exclaimed: "Comrades, for the sake of our beloved family and the Motherland, let each of us give our whole life and all our blood, let us shed our blood on the land of the Soviet Fatherland, and I will lead you together in the charge against the evil Nazi bandits, and if I die in battle, please continue to march on the ground stained with my blood until we occupy the enemy's lair."
Long live the Soviet Union, long live the Bolshevik Party, Red Army tanks, advance" The tank's motors began to roar, and the KV1 tank in which Admiral Vatutin rode rumbled forward.
Instead of cowering inside the sturdy tank, he leaned out half of his body so he could get a better view.
Although the tank he was riding in was a sturdy KV85, it did not rush to the front, but mixed with a group of T3457s, in the second line of the Soviet tank cluster, and in front of it were nearly 100 KV85s lined up.
And frontal armor with a large angular inclination.
The cannon could not strike at a distance of 500 meters, and it was the most powerful weapon of the Soviet Red Army.
Theoretically enough to fight the German Tiger tanks "Boom Boom" The self-propelled guns of both sides were fired first, the Germans fired on the Vespa-150 self-propelled howitzers, and the Soviets returned fire with Su122 assault guns.
The shells landed in the tank formations of both sides, exploding a cloud of fireballs, but they were not particularly dense, so Vatutin did not retract into the tank turret, but observed the enemy situation in front of him with the help of the fire of the shell explosion.
The Germans threw in a large number of tanks, posing a wide front, which should have a numerical advantage.
Free novels bring you joy and joy ---> storyskyline.net
However, their tanks were very slow, about a dozen kilometers per hour, and the tanks in the first row seemed to be very tall, probably Tiger tanks.
As the tank clusters on both sides grew closer and the intensity of the shelling increased, Soviet infantry in tank advances jumped out of the tank and followed behind the tank.
Vatutin also shrank back, knowing that the dense German rocket artillery was coming soon.
Waiting for the rocket artillery to finish, the tanks at the forefront of both sides will almost enter the stage of "lining up to fire", and then the self-propelled guns in the back will have flares.
Unlike the Soviets' commander, Vatutin, who charged personally, the German General Mackensen and his chief of staff, Lieutenant General Hube, followed behind the German tank cluster in an armored command vehicle converted from a Cougar armored car.
When the rocket artillery of the two sides exchanged shells, the vehicles of General Mackensen and Hu Beizhong drove up a high slope with a better view.
And at this moment, the KV85 tanks in the front row of the Soviet tank cluster in front of them first stopped advancing and began to shoot the "Grizzly" assault guns, which were still advancing with their heads covered with their 85 cannons. t1706231537: