The decisive battle against the Third Reich

The sound of the tank tracks became louder and louder. After firing a few flares, we saw a group of Soviet troops crouching and advancing under the cover of tanks about a thousand meters in front of the position.

Qin Chuan could easily tell from their actions that these were experienced veterans... Compared with other new recruits of the Soviet army, they knew how to protect themselves, just like the saying goes, "Only by protecting yourself can you better destroy the enemy", so this is a troublesome thing for the German army.

However, it is obvious that this time the Soviets only used the tanks as a shield... The tanks did not dare to fire, because, as mentioned before, the German army was behind the oil refinery, and the Soviets wanted to take the oil refinery back intact, otherwise they would not be able to explain to General Chulenev, and General Chulenev could not explain to Stalin.

What the Soviets did not know was that Qin Chuan took advantage of them.

From this point of view, Qin Chuan actually only needed to ignite the oil field and the refinery to achieve the goal, but the problem was that the Germans also wanted to save the refinery.

"Bang bang" a few shells exploded in front of the position.

That was the Soviet 37MM mortar... This light mortar was widely equipped in the elite Soviet troops, similar to the German 50MM mortar, as mentioned before.

In fact, the Soviet 37MM mortar was a unique piece of equipment in the Soviet army... It was a combination of an engineer shovel and a light mortar: it could be used as an engineer shovel at ordinary times, but if it was turned over and the shovel head was folded into an angle to become a base, and the shovel handle was opened with a dust cover as a barrel, then it would become a mortar.

Its disadvantage was that the range was short, and it could only reach 300 meters.

The two shells fired by the Soviet army were obviously used for distance measurement. They wanted to know how far they were from the German defense line.

The explosion point of the shells made both sides know that the two armies were still 400 meters apart.

In a sense, the German army should have opened fire at this time.

Because the range of the German 50MM mortar was 500 meters, if the enemy was allowed to break into the 300-meter range, the range advantage would be lost.

But Manstein did not do so.

Manstein's decision was correct... The theoretical range of Soviet mortars is 300 meters, but it is very difficult to hit a target 300 meters away in actual combat, especially at night.

Another more important point is that the MP43 used by the First Infantry Regiment has a range of only 350 meters, and firing at 400 meters is beyond its range.

Therefore, weapons and equipment should also be matched or systematic. For example, the German army's previous firepower configuration was k mortars, which was not a problem. The two could easily create a firepower wall at about 400 meters, making the Soviet 37MM mortar unable to play a role.

But MP43 and 50MM mortars could not do this.

However, in this battle, neither KP43 could stop the Soviet army. The reason is very simple... The Soviet army had tanks but the German army did not. The German army only had a rocket launcher with a range of 160 meters.

Therefore, the German army still let the Soviet army continue to advance.

400 meters.

The Soviet tanks turned on their headlights without hesitation. At this time, they had already figured out the performance of the German anti-tank equipment, namely the rocket launcher, so they knew that the tanks were almost invincible at this distance.

350 meters.

The tanks moved forward slowly, followed by waves of Soviet troops. With the order of the Soviet officers, they installed bayonets on their rifles one after another.

Their tactics were very simple, just like the German attack, they bombarded the enemy's defense line with mortars at a distance of about 300 meters. Then they continued to move forward under the cover of the tanks, and in the last 100 meters, they made a 100-meter sprint into the enemy trenches and fought hand-to-hand with the enemy...

300 meters.

The Soviet army fired a few more shells. This time they were sure that they had reached the range, but as mentioned before, this was not the ideal shooting distance for the 37MM mortar, so they had to keep moving forward.

The Soviet soldiers' steps were very steady, and they seemed very confident that they could defeat the Germans.

This may be due to the fact that they have tanks in their hands... When there are tanks and no tanks, it is usually a massacre, and they believe that this time will be no exception.

Perhaps it is also a kind of confidence in the upcoming hand-to-hand combat... The Soviet army is more willing to fight hand-to-hand combat because of its large number of people, while the German army is the opposite.

Finally, the Soviet troops advanced to a distance of 250 meters.

Just as the Soviet army set up the mortar, Manstein gave an order: "Fire!"

There was a flash of fire, and the mortars of both sides fired at the opposite side almost at the same time.

The battlefield became lively in an instant, with the sound of artillery shells and machine guns everywhere.

The German army still has an advantage in firecrackers at this distance. On the one hand, the German soldiers are well-trained and the shells they fire are very accurate. On the other hand, the MP43 in the hands of the First Infantry Regiment can also suppress the Soviet mortar gunners at the same time.

So the Soviet artillery fire soon stopped, and occasionally a few rounds were fired from behind the tanks using curved angles, but the German mortar gunners were all veterans, and they could roughly determine the position of the enemy gunners just by the flash from the muzzle and the landing point of the shells... This is a bit magical, because the target is hiding behind the tank and can't be seen at all, but the soldiers who are used to mortars can fire shells by feeling and accurately kill the target. Qin Chuan just used a sniper rifle to knock out the headlights of the tanks one by one.

For now, the tank's headlights are more threatening than those of the Soviets.

But the Soviet army did not retreat because of this. Instead, they shouted and rushed over the tanks toward the German defense line. The tanks also accelerated at full speed...

Under other circumstances, this kind of Soviet charge could indeed break through the German defense line: infantry and tanks were mixed together, and the distance between the enemy and ourselves was only two hundred meters. The infantry rushed to the defense line and threw a row of grenades, which disabled the German rocket launchers. The tank then covered the infantry and then rolled over the German defense line, and then the battle was almost over.

But this time the situation was completely different.

Several rounds of flares were fired into the air, and rows of bullets poured towards the charging Soviet troops... The MP43 is the best weapon for dealing with enemy charges at close range. It not only has the rate of fire of a submachine gun but also has considerable penetrating power. (Note: Although the submachine gun has a fast rate of fire, it cannot penetrate. When several targets overlap, it can only kill the first target, but the intermediate powerful bullet can penetrate the human body and kill several subsequent targets)

As a result, the Soviet troops fell in front of the German positions like harvested rice. No one could rush to the distance of throwing grenades, let alone engage in close combat.

The Soviet infantry was killed in large numbers, and the tank was like a target in front of the rocket launcher. With a few screams of "chirp", the tank was blown into a pile of scrap metal.