The power of the Panther tank's 70 times caliber 75mm main gun is indeed satisfactory. Even at a distance of 2,000 meters, the high-speed tungsten alloy armor-piercing projectile still penetrated the front face of the T-28/1935 tank and was still detonated incidentally. The cannonball inside exploded the tank into a pile of parts. Su Yang put down the telescope in her hand and breathed a sigh of relief. It was not because of the performance of the Panther tanks on the battlefield, but because she discovered that the Soviet tank group was using refueling tactics. Although he only has 67 Panther tanks in his hands, there are still less than 200 Soviet T-28s and Su-76s that can fight against him. With one against three, he still has it.
¡°And he has more than one Panther tank battalion at his disposal, but also an Armored Grenadier Regiment equipped with tracked armored vehicles and vehicle-mounted 105mm recoilless rifles. This recoilless rifle was specially developed for anti-tank. The total gun weighs 706 kilograms. It cannot be carried by infantry and can only be mounted on tracked armored vehicles or military off-road vehicles. When using armor-piercing projectiles, the muzzle velocity of this recoilless rifle can reach 503 meters/second, which is no less than the 105mm howitzer currently equipped by the Chinese infantry! Therefore, the armor-breaking performance is quite superior, and it can easily penetrate a 150mm homogeneous steel plate at a distance of 1,000 meters. Now used in conjunction with the Panther tank, it forms a long and near anti-tank firepower system.
Of course, if the Soviet army's communications are still open now, then the Soviet artillery, under the guidance of artillery observers, will pour shells at the Chinese army's 105mm recoilless gun positions. Those tracked armored vehicles without top armor may be difficult to resist. Dense shell coverage. But now. The Soviet artillery group simply did not know where to fire, so it could not pose any threat to the Chinese anti-tank firepower points.
With a loud sound like a gunshot, the Soviet tanks were destroyed one by one. Their path was strewn with burning steel and the charred corpses of soldiers. However, Baranov and Konev turned a blind eye to this scene and continued to send signal flares to urge the tank group to attack. Because they know that as the fighting time prolongs, the Chinese armored cluster will gain more time to adjust its formation. Once they change the horizontal formation that can maximize their firepower into a square or wedge-shaped formation for assault, they can With the outstanding performance of the Panther tank destroyer and Panther tank, smash the chaotic Soviet tank cluster!
"No, no, no. Don't withdraw the tank-destroying horizontal formation now." Just as hundreds of thousands of soldiers from the Chinese and Soviet armies were fighting fiercely around Losino-Petrovsky, the Chinese Second Armored Group Army Within the headquarters, Liao Lei and Wu Shi had some different opinions. Liao Lei pointed to the battle line between the two armies just marked on the map and said: "The enemy's tank group is already in chaos. There is no need for us to put all the armored forces on it. We only need to add the 7th Armored Corps plus the one on the left wing." The Panther tank battalion can form a wedge-shaped formation and attack eastward from the 22nd Army's reserve position. In this way, it can be launched into the counterattack within an hour. And since the frontal tank-destroying horizontal formation does not move, it can attract the enemy's attention. Cover the counterattack of 7th Armored Corps."
"Can one armored corps do it? There are more than 330 tanks and tank destroyers, and a Panther tank battalion only has over 400 tanks. The Soviets have invested nearly 2,000 tanks and tank destroyers!" Wu Shi broke his hands. After doing the math with my fingers, I still don't think it's reliable. If self-propelled artillery is included in the armored force of the Chinese army, there are quite a lot of armored combat vehicles. But now that we are going to fight tank battles, self-propelled artillery is of little use. We have to rely on tanks and tanks to conquer the world. This seems to be somewhat lacking in strength.
"Soldiers are valuable and quick. Now we must deploy reserve forces to counterattack as soon as possible. If it's too late, the Russians may retreat!" Liao Lei is now a battle-hardened armored force expert and knows the Soviet tank troops very well. He said in a serious tone. : "Lao Maozi's tank cluster is obviously in disarray. It doesn't even have a basic assault formation, so it attacks in a chaotic manner. This is our opportunity to counterattack. If we give them time to adjust, this battle will be difficult to fight, so I It is still recommended to immediately commit the 7th Armored Corps to counterattack, without even waiting for the Panther tank battalion on the right wing to be in place, this one can start the attack in 45 minutes."
"45 minutes?" Wu Shi was indeed a little excited: "Can it really be that fast? Also, can Su Yi withstand 45 minutes? Do you want to invest a battalion of cheetahs to support it?"
"No need!" Liao Lei waved his hand and said: "Now it's just fighting fast and slow. Looking at Lao Maozi's chaotic methods, there must be something wrong with their communication The Russian tanks attacking Suyy were obviously using a refueling tactic. , No matter how many they have, they can't break through Su Yi's defense. If they want to reorganize their formation, it won't be possible without an hour."
"Well, just give the 7th Armored Corps an hour. After one hour, the tank-destroying horizontal formation will be withdrawn to regroup." Wu Shi decisively issued the order.
At the same moment, Baranov and Konev were beginning to lose their composure. From the telescopes in their hands, they could see that the area around the Losino-Petrovsky battlefield was full of regular people.The Soviet tanks and assault artillery were on fire. Although the Soviet armored group had basically broken through the first line of defense of an infantry corps of the Chinese army, the attack on the flanks of the Chinese armored group was severely frustrated. A thin horizontal formation composed of only sixty or seventy Panther tanks turned out to be an insurmountable chasm. The Soviet tank group could not even rush in front of them, and was beaten into a pile of scrap metal by accurate and ruthless firepower. .
"This won't work!" Baranov put down the telescope in his hand and took a breath: "We must reorganize our formation and put in reserves, otherwise we can't break through even if we light up more than a thousand tanks!"
"But it will take at least one, uh, at least two hours to reorganize the formation!" Konev said with some worry: "I'm afraid there isn't that much time! There is no way Vasilevskiy can last until two hours later, and in the air The German planes will not just watch us regroup"
"What should we do? Should we order the tank troops to retreat?"
"Go directly to the reserve team!" Baranov gritted his teeth and turned to look at Konev: "Comrade Konev, how many tanks are there that can be used now?"
¡°There are less than 500 left,¡± Konev replied. The Soviet tank's intactness rate has never been high, and unlike China and the United States, they do not equip their armored forces with reserve tanks to replenish battle losses in a timely manner. Therefore, although the current Soviet tank cluster still has 3,560 tanks on the books, the most that can be driven is 2,780. Now more than 2,100 tanks have been on the battlefield, and there are not many left. Up to 500 vehicles are in reserve.
"But there are no T-28/1935 tanks. They are all Su-76 and T-26. I'm afraid" Konev paused, took a breath and then said: "Comrade Commander, please let me personally drive the tank. Bar!"
Baranov nodded, patted Konev on the shoulder, and whispered: "Put all the reserves in insert from the northern front of the Losino-Petrovsky battlefield, assault After breaking through the second line of defense of the Chinese infantry, they turned back south and swept through the rear of their armored group."
"Breakthrough their infantry defense line?" Konev was stunned for a moment.
Baranov smiled bitterly and sighed: "This is the only chance Judging from the current situation on the battlefield, there is no hope of success in attacking the flanks of the Chinese armored group, because we have lost the opportunity, and the Chinese command The officer must be mobilizing reserves to fill the right wing of their armored group. As long as we invest a few more battalions of Panthers or Cheetahs, we will have no hope. So we can only break through their infantry and then encircle them. Maybe we can The Chinese army is shaken across the board."
"Okay, let's do it!" Konev nodded. Baranov's analysis is good. The attack just now failed. The flanks of the Chinese armored cluster must have been strengthened. Look at the combat effectiveness of their Panther tanks. If there are two more battalions, even if he invests 500 Su-76s, it will be in vain. , why not attack their infantry, even if you can't win, you can still kill a few more Chinese, right?
Just as the armored forces on both sides were adjusting and putting into reserve units, Wei Lihuang was also reorganizing his 22nd Army. This army suffered a lot of losses in the fierce battle with the Soviet tank troops just now. Even Wei Lihuang himself was slightly injured. One arm was broken and was now wrapped in gauze and a wooden board. However, he was not in the mood to think about his injury, because the 22nd Army's defense line was still extremely tight.
"We can't lose any more prepared positions! If we lose our 22nd Army again, we will be guilty! We still have three infantry divisions and one armored cavalry division in our hands, a total of more than 50,000 brothers. Even if we are all dead, we are not allowed to take another step back. You know Are you gone?" Wei Lihuang glanced at his several division commanders and shouted loudly.
His military headquarters is now located behind the original reserve position, and behind it will be the headquarters, artillery group, and baggage troops of the Chinese 7th Group Army.
Li Zongren had just sent him reinforcements, the 14th Armored Cavalry Division. Although this Armored Cavalry Division only had tanks and no horses, it was not a real armored division after all, and on the Sino-Soviet battlefield after 1934, this kind of armored cavalry division The mission of the Armored Cavalry Division was to pursue fleeing enemies and bully the Soviet cavalry. What stood out was mobility rather than tank combat capabilities. Therefore, the tank destroyer battalion was canceled in terms of organization and replaced by more tank battalions equipped with C-type tanks. But now, Wei Lihuang had no choice but to grit his teeth and use the Armored Cavalry Division as an armored division. He lined up all the tanks and vehicle-mounted 105mm recoilless rifles of the 14th Armored Cavalry Division behind his reserve position.