The decisive battle against the Third Reich

The 21st Armored Division charged towards the rear of the Soviet 16th Tank Corps.

The reason is very simple. Although most of the front of the 16th Tank Corps are T34s with strong combat effectiveness, they are stuck in muddy water and cannot move or even aim, so they will not be a threat to the German army.

There are more than 30 tanks and a large number of infantry in the rear. These are the troops that will pose a threat to the German army or will escape. Of course, they will become the focus of the German army's attack.

Following General Strike's order, the tanks on both wings rushed towards the rear of the Soviet formation...

Of course, German tanks will not rush directly into the Soviet camp. Scenarios like this may only be seen on TV and movies. A group of tanks majestically rushes into the enemy infantry group and kills everyone.

In fact, tanks should try to avoid such a situation. The reason is that generally speaking, the armor protection of a tank is only the strongest on the front, and the flanks, rear, top and bottom are all weak troops, and the enemy infantry is equipped with a large number of grenades and explosive packs. These things can obviously blow up tanks, and even a fire bottle in the engine unit can cause a tank to be scrapped.

Therefore, the correct approach should be to slow down when you are about 500 meters away from the enemy, and then let your infantry follow from behind and advance towards the enemy.

This is what the German army did at this time. The soldiers jumped out of their vehicles one after another and advanced towards the hastily constructed defense line of the Soviet army... It should be said that the quality of the Soviet army in front of them was quite good, because they were in this situation. Tanks can also be used to organize two lines of defense, one on the left and one on the right, to confront the German troops. In this way, the other Soviet troops will probably be in chaos or escape.

Qin Chuan was right. The 16th Tank Army was a force that came out of the Soviet-Russian Civil War and participated in the Moscow Defense War... In fact, the focus is on the latter. Having participated in the Soviet-Russian Civil War can only be said to have a certain amount of combat experience. And command experience, even so, these combat experience and command experience also disappeared later.

The Battle of Moscow was different. It was a battle that had just happened, and it was also a battle in which Soviet officers and soldiers overcame various difficulties, persisted in fighting in the face of adversity, and finally won. As I said before, they survived this battle. The morale and quality of our troops are not comparable to those of ordinary troops.

The 16th Tank Corps in front of us is such a force.

But this does not change the fact that the 16th Soviet Tank Army is about to be defeated... The Soviet tanks following behind are all T3 light tanks. These tanks are simply unable to stop the impact of the German Panzer III and Panzer IV tanks.

Colonel Olbridge ordered over the walkie-talkie: "Free fire!"

"Boom!" There was a burst of artillery, and the German tanks that had been aiming at the target spit out clouds of flames towards the Soviet defense line. In an instant, the Soviet army's hastily constructed tank defense line was in a mess. Some tanks emitted black smoke, and some Some engines were hit and caught fire, while others exploded and the entire tank was blown into parts and flew everywhere.

"Go forward!" Qin Chuan shouted: "Follow the tanks!"

After advancing some distance, Qin Chuan loudly ordered: "Mortar!"

The 50MM caliber mortars were immediately set up behind the tank one by one, and fired at the longest range... The longest range is actually the easiest, because you only need to adjust the mortar to a 45-degree angle. The German 50MM mortar even has a mark at 45 degrees to make it easier for soldiers to find it.

So swarms of mortar shells were thrown in the direction of the Soviet troops, lifting groups of Soviet troops into the air.

In principle, the Soviet army could also use mortars to fight back, but on the one hand, the range of the Soviet light mortars was far inferior to that of the German light mortars. On the other hand, the German army was covered by tanks in front of the formation, making the Soviet army in this situation very difficult. There was no way to fight back during the battle.

And that's not all. When the machine guns of the tanks and the MP43s in the hands of the German soldiers suppressed the Soviet troops, the anti-infantry rockets launched by the rocket launchers came into play again. For a while, there was blood and screams everywhere in the Soviet camp. , and then they no longer cared about Order 227, and retreated toward the rear like a tide.

However, objectively speaking, Order No. 227 should not be effective at this time. It refers more to the fact that the Soviet troops stationed on a certain line of defense cannot retreat, and the 16th Tank Corps charged towards the enemy's defense line. After the charge failed and Retreat is still allowed if there is an order from superiors to withdraw...but these commanders who lose the battle will inevitably be dismissed from their posts.

(Note: Mishulin, commander of the 4th Tank Corps and Pavelkin, commander of the 16th Tank Corps, who participated in the first batch of offensives, were dismissed the next day)

Of course, the German army would not let go of the Soviet army so easily. It was followed by another pursuit like a strong wind sweeping away fallen leaves. Corpses were everywhere around the state-owned farm, and even the wheat straw was dyed a dazzling bright red.

The 21st Armored Division drove back the Soviet troops together with the 39th Guards Infantry Division stationed in the Konnaya Gorge, until it stopped in front of the 139.7 heights... As mentioned before, there are several dangerous places for traffic here. Facilitate the passage of mechanized troops.

Then the 21st Armored Division returned to the state farm to deal with the T34s stuck in the farmland.

What is a bit surprising is that several T34s actually broke free from the paddy fields and escaped into Stalingrad with the rescue of a Soviet army that broke out from Stalingrad... Pavelkin, Commander of the 16th Tank Army Right there.

In this battle, the Soviet 16th Tank Corps was almost crippled: 73 of the 80 tanks were destroyed, including 40 T34s and 16 T3s, and one-third of the infantry suffered heavy casualties.

To be precise, those 40 T34s were not all destroyed by the Germans, but they were stuck in the paddy fields and unable to move and were blown up by the Soviets themselves... in order to prevent them from falling into the hands of the Germans.

Twelve of them were too late to blow up. In fact, it was not because they were too late to blow up, but because the Soviet army hoped to use these tanks that could still be used to fight the Germans again, or they hoped that the tanks could still move to fight out. There was a bloody road to escape back to Stalingrad, so they did not dare to blow up the tank easily until the last moment.

But timing was difficult, but when the Germans rushed up to surround them, they had no chance to do so.

Needless to say, these captured tanks will soon be pulled out of the paddy fields by the German army and then spray-painted with German logos and incorporated into armored divisions.

The performance of the T34 tank is quite good, but not many German soldiers are willing to drive these tanks. Not because they are unfamiliar, but because they are often mistaken by German pilots for enemy tanks and attacked, especially when the enemy is in a melee.