Chapter 37 Who will win (Part 1)

The gun barrels hidden behind bushes and branches and weeds swung rapidly with the hand-cranked helicopters moving into battle. These deadly armored killers hidden in the darkness quickly cleared the black hole under the swift operation of the skilled gun crew. The muzzle of the gun was pointed directly at the target.

"Fire!"

Boom boom boom——

When the powerful FLAK36 88mm anti-aircraft gun fired, the extremely shocking sound was accompanied by a red muzzle storm, and the sound of the order to fire was overshadowed in almost the blink of an eye.

The PZGR 88mm hooded armor-piercing projectile with a muzzle velocity as high as 810 seconds took less than a second of flight time to accurately hit the main armor belt on the front of the KV2 heavy tank that was less than 500 meters away.

The short shooting distance and the tall and powerful figure of the KV2 heavy tank allowed the eight 88-guns, which were born as anti-aircraft guns and are famous for their accuracy, to accurately hit the target without exception.

In the face of the 88-gun armor-piercing projectile that can still effectively penetrate 125 mm vertical homogeneous steel armor at a shooting distance of 500 meters, even the seemingly invincible and indestructible KV2 heavy tank cannot withstand such majestic force. Power.

The 75 mm thick homogeneous steel armor is uniformly arranged in accordance with the comprehensive defense design idea in the front, rear, left, and right directions of the car body and turret. Although it is very indestructible in the face of various German small-caliber anti-tank guns, in some earlier times A legendary achievement was achieved in the Battle of La Seniai.

But once encountering the German 88 gun, which is the most sophisticated land anti-armor weapon in this era, it is impossible to concentrate the armor layout of the entire vehicle with a combat weight of up to 52 tons on the KV2 heavy tank with the main armor belt on the front of the tank. , it was simply unable to resist the powerful armor penetration power of the 88 gun and suffered an instant disaster.

It was as easy as piercing the fat pork with a red-hot boning knife.

The KV2 heavy tank, which has no power to parry in the face of the powerful anti-armor power of the 88-gun, is almost the same as the final outcome faced by the T34 tank. The warhead warhead is equipped with an 88 mm armor-piercing projectile with a chemical charge equivalent to 280 grams of TNT. After penetrating the main armor belt on the front of the KV2 tank turret, the delay fuse was triggered, and it detonated instantly inside the huge turret of the KV2 heavy tank as required by its factory design specifications.

The effect of an 88mm armor-piercing projectile containing more than half a kilogram of TNT explosive equivalent exploding in the narrow turret internal space is not as simple as half a kilogram of firecrackers. The 152mm projectiles and propellant cartridges loaded on the first ammunition rack at the rear of the KV2 heavy tank turret It was instantly ignited almost in the blink of an eye.

The fierce flames rushing out from the cylindrical propellant barrel were like a devil's tongue, licking the 152 mm projectile placed on top of it. The 152 mm high-explosive projectile with a sharp increase in temperature in the warhead of the shell simply could not withstand this. Burning with terrible flames, the 8 kilograms of TNT explosive inside caused an unimaginable disaster in just a few seconds.

The scene when more than ten 152mm artillery shells exploded in the car body can only be described as devastating. The powerful explosion shock wave enveloped the flames that shot straight into the sky and instantly destroyed the turret. The four-man crew, whose lives and deaths were unknown, was swallowed up inside.

The driver and machine gunner who were in the forward position in the chassis of the vehicle were lucky enough to survive the explosion of the 88-gun armor-piercing projectile before they even had time to escape. It devoured it instantly without giving any chance of survival.

With a dull loud noise resounding through the sky, the huge square turret of the KV2 heavy tank was finally blown away because it could not withstand the explosive power of dozens of 152mm shells all over it.

The 152mm M-10T howitzer loaded inside the turret was even forced out of the turret by the powerful explosion shock wave and fell to the side. The KV2 tank turret, which was already charred and still had some flames left, fell alone. Beside the car body.

Such horrific scenes are of course not just an example. At the same time, three other KV2 tanks that were not aware of the threat at all and were suddenly fired upon by the German concealed 88 gun team also suffered heavy casualties. After the cost of two tanks The KV2 heavy tank was destroyed on the spot by an explosion. One tank was completely lost in combat effectiveness after being hit by shell fragments that killed almost all members of the crew.

Everything that happened in these short ten seconds almost instantly reversed the balance of strength on the entire battlefield.

A moment ago, they had concentrated their firepower and charged towards the German positions to maintain uninterrupted fire suppression. Suddenly, the leading troops led by Malashenko encountered a German ambush. In the blink of an eye, they lost the four most relied on. A KV2 heavy tank used for fire support.

These armored behemoths, which contained dozens of 152mm artillery shells and matching propellant cartridges, produced powerful destructive power when they exploded. Not only did they easily destroy themselves, but the powerful shock waves and flaming blasts carried scattered shrapnel and armor. The fragments also swept away everything in contact with them like a metal storm.

The Soviet infantry who followed the T34 tank group in front and used it as a temporary mobile bunker had no idea that these reliable big guys behind them would turn into a terrifying explosive barrel in just one second.

The Soviet infantrymen who were affected by the powerful shock wave generated when the four KV2 heavy tanks were killed were immediately swept away like scarecrows in the strong wind.

The hot shrapnel and armor fragments relied on the powerful impact kinetic energy to easily tear through the fragile human body protected only by basic military uniforms. The subsequent more powerful shock waves even rushed to the front of the team, and the total combat weight was only a little over 28 tons. The T34 tanks were shaken like baby strollers in the blast wind.

"Grass! We're ambushed!"

Although he had already predicted that something bad was going to happen the moment the distinctive and iconic sound of the German 88 gun sounded, what happened in this flash of lightning ultimately left Malashenko with no time to react or take any remedial measures.

The vehicle was violently pushed forward by the powerful shock wave after three KV2 tanks exploded almost simultaneously. Malashenko, who was lying in front of the gun mirror with his forehead stretched forward, looked for the next target. In the sudden violent shaking of the car body, it hit the gun mirror in front of it.

"Damn it! These damn German bastards! They are really willing to use their own lives as bait to catch fish and just stand still. They are such fucking ruthless characters!"

He covered the blood that trickled down from the corners of his eyes with his hands and gritted his teeth. The bad battle situation at the moment made Malashenko feel far more painful than the physical wounds.