157

Episode 157: Spear and Shield (8)

"Driver, stop!"

The first thing that blocked Barkman's path was the Soviet anti-tank gun.

Although the shell missed, Barkman, aware of an enemy attack, quickly ordered a halt.

"You guys, Roske, where are you hiding?"

When the anti-tank gun opened fire, the Soviet infantry took this as a signal to attack and opened fire.

Bullets flew with yellow tails and bounced off the tank's armor.

Barkman lowered his head even further in response to the enemy's fierce fire, but did not enter the hatch until the end.

German tank commanders, unlike allied tank commanders from the Soviet Union, Britain, and the United States, always opened the hatch and exposed their faces outside, because they could obtain a wider field of view than with the hatch completely closed.

A wider field of view meant enemies could be spotted more quickly.

For this reason, German tank commanders fought with their hatches open and their heads out, despite various dangers such as debris and snipers.

A second later, a second shell flew out. It didn't hit this time.

The F-22 field gun's 76mm armor-piercing round accurately hit the Panther's front armor. However, the shell did not penetrate the armor and ricocheted like a soccer ball bouncing on the ground.

The anti-tank artillerymen were astonished when the armor-piercing shells they fired bounced off in vain.

The F-22 field gun had the highest accuracy and penetration power among artillery pieces of the same 76mm caliber, but it was not enough to penetrate the Panther's 80mm sloped armor, which is equivalent to 140mm of vertical armor.

"found. Enemy anti-tank gun at 1 o'clock!"

A muzzle brake was sticking out between the bushes. The distance is about 850m. It was within the range of the KwK 42 tank gun.

"Turn the turret!"

While the Soviet soldiers were grinding their teeth and loading new shells, gunner SS Sergeant Poggendorf immediately rotated the turret in the direction Barkmann had mentioned.

Inside the chamber was a grenade that had been pre-loaded by the ammunition operator, SS Corporal Carl Geller.

"Distance 850. Tell me as soon as you finish aiming."

"All right!"

Pogendorf adjusted the angle of the main gun by turning the upper and lower handles.

His scope also showed the enemy Barkmann had spoken of.

Although it was not completely visible because the body was covered by the bushes, I could catch a glimpse of the enemy soldier moving through a gap in the bushes.

"Aim complete!"

"launch!"

In response to Barkmann's command, Poggendorf pressed the main gun trigger attached to the handle.

An orange flash the size of a house erupted from the gun port, and a 75mm grenade flew in a straight line toward the enemy lines.

Barkman closed his eyes before the main gun fired to avoid temporarily losing his eyesight due to the flash of light.

The shell missed the enemy by a narrow margin. The shell flew away without hitting the target, landed on a rock, and exploded.

Finely broken pieces of rock fell as rain.

Barkman clicked his tongue when he saw that. He was still alive and well. The Soviet troops became impatient when their location was discovered.

"Unknown! "Lower the main gun a little lower!"

In response to Barkman's point, Poggendorf quickly adjusted the angle of the main gun.

His hands turning the steering wheel became faster. Meanwhile, the Soviets fired a third shell.

-Kang!

The Soviet artillery shell hit the Panther again, but despite three attempts, it bounced off without accomplishing its purpose.

There was only one more scratch on the front of the Panther, but there was no other damage.

"Loaded!"

"launch!"

Poggendorf fired his main gun, praying desperately that he would be hit this time. Hot shell casings were ejected from the chamber and tumbled to the floor of the turret.

The shell accurately hit the gun mantlet of the field gun. Even though it was effective in blocking bullets and fragments, the gun mantlet tore like a piece of paper against a 75mm grenade.

Soviet artillery pieces were also torn to pieces by shells. Their shattered bodies were scattered everywhere.

Insects swarmed on the limbs of Soviet soldiers scattered on the ground.

"Kyaaaaa!!"

A political officer with his body on fire walked out of the trench. He rolled on the ground to put out the fire on his body, but the fire did not go out easily, making him suffer even more.

Poggendorf fired his coaxial machine gun and eliminated the infantry in the trenches.

The infantrymen who were firing SVT-40 and Maxim machine guns were scattered after being showered with 7.92mm bullets.

Red blood flowed from the hole pierced by the bullet and drenched the land of East Prussia.

"good job. "Go forward again."

***

It was clear that the Soviets had never expected the Germans to launch a counterattack.

As the German army's counterattack began, the Soviet army began to retreat in various places.

The LSSAH, which Hausser had turned into a reserve force for a counterattack, stood at the vanguard of the counterattack and mercilessly crushed the soldiers of the Red Army who had invaded the homeland.

"done. stop."

Wittmann, spotting the moving ranks of Soviet troops, ordered them to stop.

The Soviet troops were embarrassed by the chaos on the front lines and seemed to not know where to go.

As ordered, the procession heading south and the retreating Soviet remnants divided into squads and platoons met and caused confusion.

Looking at the congested road with trucks, infantry, cannons, tanks, and motorcycles mixed together, Wittmann smiled in remorse.

"Ball, let's deal with the T-34 first. Distance 1200."

Wittmann decided to use the T-34 that caught his eye first as his first sacrifice.

The tank commander and ammunition operator were coming out of the two wide open hatches and talking with the infantrymen outside.

They shouted at each other, not even realizing that the Tiger's 88mm main gun was aimed at them.

"Aiming complete. Shall I shoot?"

"Okay, shoot!"

The shell fired by Ball hit the side of the T-34. An armor-piercing round penetrated the side armor and caused the tank to explode.

The round turret soared into the air like a rocket, and the infantrymen who were talking to the tankers were swallowed up by the flames and torn to pieces.

Their blood and flesh splattered several meters away.

The three Tigers of Wittmann's platoon also fired their main guns in succession, splitting the ranks of the Soviet troops.

The operators also fired MG40s randomly, knocking down the Soviet soldiers who were running here and there.

"Loaded!"

"launch!"

Richter followed Wittmann's instructions and loaded grenades and armor-piercing rounds alternately.

A GAZ-AA truck hit by an 88mm grenade shattered into pieces like ceramics thrown to the ground, and its four wheels flew off in different directions.

The T-34 driver, who fell into panic due to the surprise attack, tried to escape by crushing allied infantrymen scattered around him, but was hit in the side by an armor-piercing bullet and disappeared without a trace.

"Ah ah ah ah ah!!!"

The captain, whose lower body was crushed by the T-34's track, was covered in flaming oil splattered when the tank exploded and burned alive.

The political officer, who often shouted and threatened soldiers under the guise of giving instructions, had his face blown off by a shell that flew in from the right, leaving only his torso.

Only after Wittmann's Tiger fired 12 shells did the Soviets understand where the shells were coming from.

The T-34s that had survived so far immediately turned their turrets and fired at Wittmann's Tiger. A total of nine tanks fired at separate intervals.

Two shells hit the side of the Tiger's turret and bounced off. One shot exploded very close and caused minor damage to the steering wheel.

The enemy shell did not penetrate the Tiger, but it sufficiently scared the tankers inside.

As several enemy shells flew at the same time and pounded the tank's armor, Ball was caught in the illusion that all Soviet artillery shells were focused on him.

However, Wittmann still had a relaxed look on his face.

"Don't be scared. Anyway, this street is safe. "The enemy cannot kill us, but we do the opposite."

Wittmann, who was proud of having been hit by a few artillery shells from Poland, laughed at the enemy's attack as if it were a joke and calmly designated his next target.

It was a KV-1 that was relentlessly firing shells at his Tiger. Perhaps because of the distance, the enemy's shells fell right in front of the tank.

"It's the one between 11 o'clock and 12 o'clock. Distance is the same. "Did you find it?"

"Ah, I found it!"

Ball also saw the KV-1 with the turret turned and the main gun firing. He aimed at the side of the enemy heavy tank.

"launch!"

When there was a flash from the KV-1's muzzle, the Tiger also opened fire. The armor-piercing shell fired by the KV-1 knocked on the Tiger's gun mantlet and bounced into the air.

The shell fired by Tiger cut off its left trajectory.

"Reload. "Handle it clearly."

"All right."

Ball fired again and completely destroyed the tank. As red flames shot out from the engine, the tank crews opened the hatch and escaped.

Wittmann's platoon, having eliminated all the Soviet troops on the road, advanced again.

Because the tanks had eliminated all the enemies, the infantry that followed had nothing to do.

They walked along the huge track marks left by Tiger.

As it passed through roads filled with debris and corpses, hidden artillerymen aimed their 45mm light anti-tank guns at the Tiger's sides.

"Shoot!"

The 45mm armor-piercing bullet that left the muzzle hit exactly under the Tiger's turret and on the side of the hull.

However, the artillerymen, who saw the shells bouncing off with yellow sparks, were so shocked that they sat down in their seats.

"What is this…?" ."

A tank that bounces off shells even when hit on the side. Does such a tank exist in the world? The artillerymen lost their will to fight and could not even think of counterattacking.

The Tiger's 80mm side armor could easily deflect 76mm shells if the distance was sufficient.

There was no need to talk about the 45mm armor-piercing bullet, which was much less powerful than that.

Before Wittmann could even order the turret to turn, the infantry following took out the enemy anti-tank gun.

One grenadier threw a grenade, blowing up the anti-tank gun and enemy artillery at once.

With a sound like thunder, the artillerymen gathered in the anti-tank guns scattered in all directions.

"Kyaaaa!!!"

"Mom!"

A Soviet soldier who was looking for his mother, clutching his torn arm from a grenade, was kicked in the face by an SS corporal with his military uniform.

His nose, which had been hit hard by a military boot, was dented, and blood spurted from his nostrils like a hose.

"Get down, get down."

"Damn commies!"

The soldiers did not kill the dying Soviet soldiers with guns, but used military bullets and butts to suffocate them.

The skull of the Soviet soldier hit by the butt of the StG39 split open and his brain spattered.

The SS private, whose uniform was covered in blood and flesh, spat on the corpse as if he had no luck.

"Stop it. "He's already dead, so don't waste your energy."

When the inferior SS captain opened his mouth, the soldiers advanced again. The Tigers were already 100 meters ahead of them.

Soon Wittmann encountered a new group of Soviet soldiers.

The enemy we encountered this time must have been contacted by the guys we defeated earlier, and they were preparing in their own way.

"come!"

"Shoot!"

As the Tiger approached, five PTRD-41 anti-tank rifles each opened fire.

The PTRD-41, which has a strange appearance that looks like an iron bar attached to the stock, could not penetrate the Tiger's armor because it could only penetrate 40mm armor plates at 100m.

Therefore, anti-tank gunners mainly targeted the observation window, which was the weak point of the tank.

"Fuck. Roske bastards, what do you know? "They're only focusing on the observation window."

These were the words Hassel uttered as 14.5mm bullets struck the area around the observation window one after another.

Several bullets were fired at Wittmann's cupola, but all of them missed.

"You fucking bastards. "It bothers people."

When SS Sergeant Ulrich Mattius, the operator, fired an MG40, the Soviet soldiers who were firing anti-tank rifles all lowered their heads.

The gunner's head was crushed by the MG40's concentrated fire, and his mush brains flew out in all directions.

Bol also fired the turret's coaxial machine gun and wiped out the enemy infantry in the trenches.

When the Tiger approached, the Soviet soldiers either ran away or resisted fiercely by throwing grenades.

However, their bullets and grenades could not inflict any damage on the Steel Tiger.

Try it for 100 days, 1,000 days. Even a rifle bullet can't even put a scratch on a Tiger!

Tiger continued to advance, ignoring the attacks of the enemy infantry.

The caterpillar crushed the corpses of dead enemy soldiers, and the front machine gun and co-axial machine gun on the car body spewed fire in succession, creating vents in the enemy's bodies.

The bodies of soldiers hit by machine guns exploded, blood and internal organs spewing out.

"An anti-tank gun in front!"

The Soviet Army's few ZiS-2 anti-tank guns were targeting the Tiger from the front.

Martius tried to fire the MG40, but a ticking sound was heard and the bullet did not come out. The bullets had run out.

"Damn it, why not now!"

While Martius was swearing and reloading, sparks flew out of the gun's muzzle.

If it had been aimed at the hull, it would have succeeded in penetrating, but the gunner was nervous and set his aim too high, so the 57mm armor-piercing round became lodged in the gun mantlet.

There was not enough time to lower the main gun and aim at the enemy. then… .

"I just step on it. Hassel, speed up!"

"All right!"

When I stepped on the accelerator pedal, the Tiger's engine roared and the speed increased even more.

The Tiger quickly ran in front of the anti-tank gun and lightly stepped on the anti-tank gun with its 48-ton weight. Even the Soviet troops holding on to the anti-tank guns.

The Soviet troops were not even allowed to scream.

Before a scream could come out of their mouths, the caterpillar crushed their heads like a watermelon.

Suddenly, the pressure applied to the head caused the eyeballs to pop out and roll on the ground, and the finely chopped human body rotated in an endless orbit and was evenly spread on the ground like fertilizer.

***

For Private Sergei Vashchenko, today was a series of hectic events.

I thought I would be able to sleep after finishing my guard duty, but suddenly the Germans started shelling me and I had to run to the trench with my underwear on.

After the bombardment was over, the wounded soldiers were carried out as medical duties, and the dead were buried until their entire bodies were covered in sweat.

I finally finished shoveling and took a rest, but this time I received an order to prepare for battle, saying that the enemy had broken through the front line.

Oh, damn it.

I was scared at the thought of having to fight the enemy, but even more so was the fatigue I felt from not getting enough sleep.

Sergei forced his eyelids, which kept closing, to open and watched the front lines with his bloodshot eyes.

The sound of gunfire and tracks reached my ears, but the enemy was still nowhere to be seen.

After waiting for 30 minutes and no enemies appeared, Sergei carefully looked around.

Fortunately, despite his misfortune, his location was at the very end of the trench. It was one of the few places where I could escape the gaze of the company commander, platoon commander, and action officer.

If you look at it from behind, it will look like you are holding a gun, so no one will know if you are dozing or standing guard unless you come closer and check.

Since I ran around so hard without sleeping, I could probably close my eyes for about 30 minutes... ..

"It's the Germans!"

"Ready to fire, motherfuckers!"

It was clear that the God of Misfortune loved Sergei too much.

The moment he was about to close his eyes, the German soldiers who had been invisible until a moment ago suddenly appeared.

"Oh, fuck! really!"

"Hey you bastard! "Why don't you be quiet!?"

Still, did God have some conscience? Less than twenty German soldiers appeared in front of Sergei's company.

In addition, there were no armored vehicles and it consisted only of infantry, so Sergei's company, which also consisted only of infantry, seemed to be enough to stop them.

The company commander, who realized that the enemy's strength was significantly inferior to ours, ordered fire.

Sergei pulled the trigger of the SVT-40 as ordered. When the shooting started, more than half of the German soldiers fell in a heap.

Those who were not hit by the bullets also fell to the ground to avoid the bullets.

The Soviet army, located on higher ground than the German army, fired aimed fire at the enemies lying on the ground.

When everyone, even the last one, collapsed, Sergei sat on the floor. The platoon leader said after seeing that.

"I can't believe I just relaxed and sat down with this much. "She still has a long way to go."

"That's right, comrade platoon leader."

Sergei didn't have the strength to respond, so he nodded roughly. Think as you please. Because he doesn't even have the strength to stand anymore.

Anyway, since the battle was over, I thought I could get some sleep now.

However, if you lie down and sleep flatly, you will notice, so I got up to sleep in a standing position, and I saw an object approaching from afar. It was the German army.

The German troops that appeared this time were not only infantry. It was a small group of armored vehicles, half-tracks, and anti-tank guns.

Even if they were infantrymen of the same weight class, they had no chance of being an opponent once armored vehicles appeared.

The company commander decided to retreat without hesitation, and the Soviet troops abandoned the trench.

The Soviet troops ran frantically, fearing that the enemy might pursue them.

Even while running away, Sergei became drowsy. Like this, the desire to just lie down on the floor and close his eyes rose up like a chimney.

But he couldn't stop. He couldn't collapse here, even for the sake of his parents who were waiting for him to return from his native village.

Returning to your hometown alive and well. That was my goal while in the military.