Chapter 164 The Battle of Poland (27)

The TKS tanks in the original space and time only had a 7.92mm wz.25 machine gun. They had no chance of winning against German tanks except the Panzer I tank.

However, this time in the Spanish Civil War, the powerful combat effectiveness of the German tank troops put great pressure on surrounding countries. Countries such as Britain and France were developing their armored forces at full speed, while countries like Poland with less developed military industries only had existing tanks that can now be modified.

Now their TKS tanks are equipped with 37mm Bofors anti-tank guns! They wanted to get a larger-caliber tank gun, but the 37mm barrel of the TKS was already prohibitive under the limitations of the small bean-like body.

But the shot just now was like tickling the German tank armor. The commander of this Polish tank unit knew that it would be impossible to penetrate the German tank armor at this distance.

Now he only had two choices. The first was to retreat. In less than a second, the captain got rid of this idea. Because he knew that once he retreated, not only his tank regiment, but also the cluster behind him would be in danger of being destroyed. For the sake of his comrades behind him and for his motherland, he must stop these invaders' tanks. Buy enough time for the army group to successfully withdraw into Kutno City.

The second one was very radical. Since we couldn't penetrate at this distance, we could only close the distance and fire. Rush into the opponent's tank group and hit their side armor. He didn't believe that the side armor of German tanks was as good protected like the front.

"For Poland! Drive away these invaders!!" the regiment commander roared, and his tank left the woods at the lead and rushed towards the German tank group not far away!

"For Poland!"

"For Poland!"

There was a roar in the woods, and small TKS tanks emerged from the woods one after another, following the regiment leader, and bravely rushed towards the German tanks.

The commander of the German sharp knife company could see through the intentions of this group of Poles who rushed towards them desperately. "These bastards are going to fight us with bayonets! The whole company retreats at full speed, shooting while retreating! We can't let them get close to hit our side armor!" If these Poles have tungsten core armor-piercing bullets, they can even penetrate the front armor at a close enough distance.

As he spoke, a burst of fire erupted from the muzzle of the company commander's tank. In front of the black smoke, armor-piercing bullets flew out. The target was the enemy tank that was the first to rush out of the woods.

It's not that he knew it was the tank of the enemy regiment leader, nor did he have any deep grudge against him, it was just a matter of convenience.

When he saw the black smoke coming out of the opponent's gun muzzle, the Polish regiment leader was shocked. Before he could say anything, he seemed to hear a crash, and then he didn't know anything else. The armor-piercing bullets seemed to have hit a piece of tofu, penetrating the turret armor of the Bean Tank with ease, penetrating the bodies of the driver and the regiment commander, and then passing out from behind the turret.

"Boom!" A second later the tank exploded, and the turret was blasted into the sky. But it only weighs 2.6 tons, so even if it explodes, it won't be that spectacular!

"Quick, retreat! Keep loading!" In this sharp knife company, only his crew had participated in the Spanish Civil War. The other crews were all novices. The previous round of shooting only destroyed five or six of the opponent's tanks.

The gunner of Wittmann's crew was complaining. "Damn it, I missed it. That thing is too short."

"Loader, change to high-explosive shells." This kind of small tank does not need armor-piercing shells. Even if the high-explosive shell explodes next to it, it will be enough to damage it.

At this time, the Polish tank crews had stepped on the accelerator, and the 46-horsepower Fiat-122 gasoline engine roared, pushing the tank forward at a maximum speed of 40 kilometers per hour (11.1 meters per second).

The German tanks were rolling backwards at a speed of seven kilometers per hour (1.9 meters per second), and they would stop and shoot from time to time.

The distance between the two sides is constantly shrinking, and is no longer even 200 meters. As the distance got closer, the German army's aim became more and more accurate. They had already wiped out one-third of the Polish tanks, but the remaining guys were determined to die with them and were pressing forward crazily.

"Boom!" Wittmann's tank opened fire again, directly killing the Polish tank on the opposite side. This was already their fifth kill, but Wittmann didn't feel the slightest sense of excitement. Looking at the Polish tanks getting closer and closer, he seemed to be able to feel the blood-red eyes of the opponent's tank crew.

"Oh my God! No. 5 was hit!"

These Poles did not charge silently. They fired while charging. But without a two-way stabilizer, who knows where the shells would fly. However, the No. 5 tank was very unlucky to be hit by the shells on the side armor as it slowly came to a standstill.

A Polish TKS tank rushed to the side of the No. 5 tank and fired an armor-piercing projectile at almost zero distance!

"Boom!"

The No. 5 tank exploded instantly, and the impact of the explosion even overturned the Polish tank that was firing next to it.

"Damn it!" Wittmann cursed under his breath. "Keep firing!" He had already seen two Polish tanks rushing towards him. The distance is too close, they can only fire one shot at most, and the remaining Polish tanks will circle to their sides, and then they will have to follow in the footsteps of the No. 5 tank!

The gunner was aiming at the Polish tank on the left, and Wittmann saw that the Polish tank on the right had aimed its gun barrel at his side armor.

Boom!

At this critical moment, the tank suddenly exploded. The tonnage difference between the two sides was too big. The German tank's explosion could overturn the Polish tank that was just around the corner, but the Polish tank's explosion did not affect Wittmann's tank at all.

"??" what happened? Wittmann, who thought he was certain to die, breathed a sigh of relief and risked his life by opening the turret roof to see who had saved his life.

I saw rockets falling from the sky hitting the remaining Polish tanks. Those rockets seemed to have eyes, destroying seven or eight Polish tanks at once.

The roar of the engine flew past his head. He saw an Il-2 attack aircraft numbered 203, which kept firing rockets. Each dive attack could kill several Polish tanks.

Soon, with the cooperation of ground tanks and air attack aircraft, the Polish tanks were slaughtered.

"Awesome!" After exclaiming, Wittmann asked the mechanical and electrical personnel to contact the attack aircraft in the sky. "Hey, brother No. 203, thank you for saving my life."

"It's a trivial matter." Accompanied by the creaking sound of electronic interference, the other party's voice came.

"What's your name? I'll buy you a drink when you have time."

The other party replied. "Hans Rudel."

"Nice to meet you, my name is Michael Wittmann."

Although some losses were suffered, with the annihilation of this Polish tank regiment, there was nothing that could withstand the German steel torrent.

The German army took the opportunity to pursue them fiercely, and with the cooperation of Army aviation bombers, they defeated the four infantry divisions of the Poznan Group Army that retreated along the road. Two cavalry brigades were severely damaged. Only some Polish soldiers escaped the fate of being shot or captured by getting into the forest.

Lodz's army was similarly decimated.