Chapter 163 Soviet Flame

Regarding the siege operation that is about to begin, the situation stated by the Chief of Staff of the Front Army is undoubtedly one of the issues that Zhukov must face and consider.

In the previous first phase of the battle in the Yelnya Theater, the Western Front, which was responsible for the main attack mission, undoubtedly had more powerful offensive energy than the reserve front currently commanded by Zhukov.

But even so, the siege forces under the Western Front, which had been fighting in the city for nearly two weeks, still failed to successfully capture the city, which was firmly held by the Germans.

The elite German troops, including the SS Reich Division and the Grossdeutschland Infantry Regiment of the Wehrmacht, resisted to the death and fought to the death, causing heavy casualties to the attacking Soviet troops in the street fighting.

The ubiquitous German anti-tank gun firepower can be deployed in almost any corner of the street building or even in the wreckage of a tank. The roaming German machine gun team that moves from one position to another is simply more difficult and erratic than a mole. Nearly two weeks of continuous siege operations almost only gave the Soviet siege troops enough land to bury their fallen soldiers.

Thinking of the major setbacks and losses suffered by the Western Front's siege troops in the first phase of the battle, Zhukov, who had expected to face such a situation again and made preparations in advance, immediately responded with a determined look and answered. .

"There is no doubt that the Germans have no reason not to use a trick that has been successful once and use it a second time. Your inference is correct."

"But this time our Red Army is more prepared than last time. The urgently transported new equipment and new secret weapons will be of great help in the upcoming urban war."

"With the help of these new equipment, we have made sufficient preparations before the war and there is no reason not to win this battle. This is the inevitable result!"

Zhukov, who had already commanded large-scale corps battles such as the Battle of Nomenhan, was very good at preparing and mobilizing people before the battle, but even so, he still could not completely eliminate the deep worries in the heart of the chief of staff.

"But using these powerful new weapons on our own land and cities may even harm our own people in the Soviet Union."

Before he finished speaking, he couldn't help but shook his head slowly. The chief of staff, whose eyes were slightly closed, looked extremely difficult and painful.

"Comrade Commander, no matter whether we win or lose in this kind of battle fought on our own land, the one who will lose the most is ultimately our own motherland and people."

After hearing the profound words spoken by the chief of staff, Zhukov couldn't help but become slightly silent. After a moment, Zhukov raised his head again with an extremely determined and profound look in his eyes.

"One day, our Red Army will return everything we have suffered today to these fascist invaders, return the suffering of the war to their land and their people, and repay it with the blood of their own soldiers. share of sin.”

The order messages sent through the reserve front army headquarters were quickly transmitted to the headquarters of the two main attacking armies and received in place.

The Soviet army, which had regrouped and prepared itself in a very short period of time, soon began its siege.

There are still some urban residents who have not had time to evacuate and are trapped in the city. This prevents the Soviet field artillery group from launching a large-scale shelling operation on the main city of Yelniya. Marashin, who is responsible for the task of assaulting the sharp knife troops, The first heavy tank breakthrough battalion led by the Institute of Science and Technology once again rushed to the forefront of the entire Red Army.

In order to avoid the embarrassing situation like during the last siege, a large number of tanks were unable to deploy in narrow streets and were unable to exert their full combat power.

After careful consideration, Malashenko finally split the three main heavy tank companies under his First Heavy Tank Breakthrough Battalion into nine siege assault units of equal strength to cover the siege infantry. The troops worked together to launch siege operations from multiple main roads in the city at the same time.

Not long after they slowly drove into the city's main road with the Red Army infantry behind them in a coordinated manner with infantry and tanks, the first detachment, led by Malashenko himself, soon encountered the crazy tenacity of the German defenders. check.

Multiple dazzling green machine gun barrages erupted from the small buildings and shops on both sides of the street almost simultaneously, with ricochet and stray bullets flying everywhere as they hit the tall and strong body of the KV1 heavy tank. The stray bullets, which were far more damaging than the warheads that directly penetrated the human body, beat the accompanying Red Army infantrymen on the spot until their limbs and arms were broken and they were wailing again and again.

"Cars 103 and 104 stopped, and the entire column stopped advancing! OT130 came forward to the attack position, and immediately cleared the buildings along the street, quick!"

Following the order from Malashenko, four Soviet light tanks, small in size and familiar in shape, slowly came out from the center of the entire siege column, and soon came to the giant-sized tank in comparison. Behind the KV1 heavy tank, which generally exists and can completely conceal itself and cover itself, the German firepower points that are still spitting out tongues of fire on both sides of the street begin to turn their turrets.

Although it has an almost identical outline and appearance to the T26 light tank, the OT-130 special tank, whose internal weaponry and equipment system has been completely updated, is completely new equipment.

The main weapon it is equipped with is no longer the 45 mm caliber tank main gun, but a pressurized liquid that has been specially modified to eject ferocious tongues of flame to completely clear all enemy infantry garrisoned fortifications. spray gun!

The special fuel supply tank connected to the fuel supply pipe of this liquid spray gun and installed on the lower left side of the inside of the turret has a huge capacity of 400 liters of liquid volume, which can allow this vehicle to spray ferocious flames fifty meters away. This small steel monster can maintain combat fire for up to 40 times without replenishing fuel midway.

In the Battle of Nomonhan, the OT-130 special tank, which was the latest secret weapon of the Soviet army and was put into actual combat to test its performance, had already shone brightly at that time.

The Japanese Kwantung Army who were shouting long live the Emperor while hiding in machine gun bunkers and bunker fortifications refused to surrender because they were poisoned by the so-called bushido spirit.

Faced with these brainless idiots who were comparable to stones in the toilet - smelly, hard and unwilling to surrender, the Soviet army was too lazy to talk nonsense with them and directly invested in the OT-130 special tank, which was modified based on the T26 light tank. , with fierce flames full of Soviet enthusiasm, all the Japanese Kwantung Army who were hiding in favorable terrain and fighting to the death were burned to charcoal.

After this battle, rumors that the Soviet tank troops had "fire-breathing steel monsters" quietly spread among the Japanese Kwantung Army.

The Japanese Kwantung Army, which was still at a primitive stage in terms of armored force accomplishments, was surprised that Soviet tanks could actually breathe fire. Many Kwantung Army soldiers who came from poor rural areas in Japan and had low education levels even used the OT-130 special Tanks are related to Japanese monsters and monsters, and even after the Battle of Nomonhan, there were still many terrible rumors circulating in private.