The decisive battle against the Third Reich

The moment he jumped out of the car, Qin Chuan was shocked by the scene in front of him: dozens of tanks had spread out and formed a rough line, advancing forward in a mighty manner, causing a cloud of smoke and exhaust behind them.

The sound of rolling tracks, the roar of engines, the sound of guns coming and going... coupled with the smell of gunpowder smoke and blood filling the air, made Qin Chuan feel small and helpless for the first time.

I feel small because I am only a small part of all the power, even dispensable.

I feel helpless because life and death are simply beyond human control. No matter how good you are or how unwilling you are, just one bullet or a small piece of shrapnel is enough to knock you out forever.

"Follow!" Kuhn shouted to the soldiers: "Use the tank as cover and follow the tank!"

In fact, the veterans did not need to command at all. They immediately hid behind the tanks and advanced with the tanks.

The new recruits stumbled forward under the command of the squad leader... They always had problems of one kind or another, and they didn't know whether it was because of nervousness or something else.

But this doesn't seem surprising. Qin Chuan remembered that he was almost frightened to the point of being unable to move when he faced this scene for the first time.

At this time, the speed of the tanks has slowed down, which makes it easy for the soldiers to catch up with them and hide behind... This will make people feel a little safer, because at least there is a blind spot behind the tanks for bullets and artillery shells, but Qin Chuan also Knowing that this is not necessarily safe, because if this "bunker" is penetrated by an armor-piercing projectile and explodes, it will be a huge explosive package for the infantry behind.

However, war is like this. Regardless of whether Qin Chuan wants it or not, he can only follow the tank cautiously.

Occasionally the tank will stop, aim forward and fire... this is one of the reasons why the tanks slow down, they have to stop before they can fire, otherwise there is no accuracy at all.

The only exception in this regard is the Matilda (the American Sherman tank can also fire on the move, but it has not yet appeared in Africa so it will not be discussed).

The "Matilda" tank has many road wheels (ten small-diameter road wheels on each side), and its speed is slow, so the tank is relatively stable when moving, and the gunner can barely aim and shoot... But This is just to try your luck with artillery shells to gain a little advantage, and at the speed of "Matilda", shooting while traveling is of little use... the enemy tank can still fire faster than it even if it stops.

Qin Chuan took this time to look across and saw that the British army six hundred meters away had fifty tanks lined up and slowly approaching the German army, and their formation was more orderly than the German army. This made the British army Got the upper hand.

Fortunately for Qin Chuan, the British tanks were followed by significantly less infantry than the Germans... Qin Chuan thought that this should be because a considerable number of their cars were destroyed by German tanks on the road. This can be seen from the fact that their tanks The cars behind them could be seen smoking and on fire.

"Bang!" A strange sound came from the front, and at the same time, there was a flow of air that stirred up the dust around the tank.

At first Qin Chuan didn't know what happened, but then he realized that it was an armor-piercing projectile fired by the enemy that hit the tank armor and bounced off.

Thinking of this, Qin Chuan couldn't help but think to himself, what would happen if the shell penetrated the tank instead of being bounced off?

Soon Qin Chuan knew it, and with a crisp sound... the sound was like a hammer cracking an egg shell, only louder. Then a tank on the left shook for a moment and then stopped moving... Looking from the side, I couldn't see any problems. When I passed the tank position, I saw a circular bullet hole shot at a small angle in front. His calf was so thick, and smoke was still coming out of the bullet holes.

Qin Chuan didn't know whether the tank crew inside was alive or dead. He only knew that no one climbed out.

Compared with the "Plank III" tanks deployed by the German army in North Africa, the British "Crusader" tanks have more advantages.

In terms of protective performance, the frontal armor of the "Pop 3" tank is 47MM, while the frontal armor of the "Crusader" tank is 49MM.

The "Type III" tank is equipped with a 37MM caliber anti-tank gun, while the "Crusader" is equipped with a 2-pound, or 40MM, caliber anti-tank gun.

(Note: Generally speaking, tank guns are modifications of anti-tank guns. For example, the "Pop 3" tank gun is a modification of the PAK36 anti-tank gun, and the "Crusader" tank gun is a modification of the 2-pound anti-tank gun)

In other words, the "Crusader" has better firepower and protection than the "No. 3". Although it is only a few millimeters, it determines whether it can penetrate the target or be penetrated by the target on the battlefield. Once it is penetrated... it means that the tank will become a pile of scrap metal.

In fact, this is not the most important thing.

More importantly, the British army was more prepared. After all, they knew early on that they were going to face German tanks, so they deployed the tanks in battle formations and deployed anti-tank guns and howitzers, but the Germans Because of Colonel Olbridge's carelessness, he hastily accepted the challenge.

Although the quality and reaction of the German army made up for this shortcoming to a certain extent, the result of the hasty response was that the German army's formation was not fully developed.

For example, the terrain of the British army was obviously selected. They placed anti-tank guns on the two wings of the tank formation and on a relatively high hill in the middle. The British army even had some time to use sandbags to build structures for their anti-tank guns. Simple position.

It can also be seen from this that the British armored force is well-trained, otherwise it would be impossible to choose and build a good position so quickly when the two armies are approaching each other rapidly.

After all, this is the British 7th Armored Division known as the "Desert Rats"... This division defeated the 230,000 Italian army a few months ago and pursued it for 1,300 kilometers in the desert.

On the other hand, the Germans' anti-tank guns were temporarily deployed after jumping out of the vehicle. Many of them were blocked behind the tanks by their own cars and tanks and were unable to function.

As a result, one German tank after another was destroyed and "paralyzed" in the desert. In the blink of an eye, more than ten tanks were lost, and a few even caught fire in their engines and exploded into pieces due to being hit...

Qin Chuan couldn't help but become anxious. He knew that in this situation, tanks were the only backbone of the infantry. If all the tanks were destroyed, then the infantry would only be massacred by the tanks.

But what was in front of him was an enemy tank again... The sniper rifle in his hand was basically useless. If it could play any role, it would occasionally shoot down a few infantrymen who poked their heads out from behind the tanks.

"Kang!" There was a crisp sound, and another tank was destroyed.

This seemed to be telling Qinchuan... The situation of the German army was getting more and more serious. If this continued, the 5th Armored Regiment and the 1st Infantry Regiment would only end up being surrounded and annihilated by the British army.