Chapter 381 No one answered

From the rear of Istria, closer to the city, he directed his armored regiment to accelerate towards the front fighting area. Lieutenant Colonel Walter, who had everything ready and only needed the east wind, now only hoped that the Soviet tanks that he had not yet met could appear as soon as possible. Within his own field of vision, the rumbling sound was about to turn the entire land upside down. The terrifying sound was really not good news.

I don't know how many times he opened the turret roof above his head and leaned his upper body out of the car to observe the situation. Lieutenant Colonel Walter, who still found nothing in the binoculars in his hands, frowned again without changing his expression, and took it back. His right hand then pressed the generator button located at the Adam's apple again.

"Armored 2nd Platoon, please respond when you receive it. Nazaire, Frans, Eric, can anyone hear me? I repeat, can anyone hear me? Respond immediately!"

The questioning words that were blurted out at an extremely fast speed did not wait for the ideal response. There was nothing else in the headset except the subtle sound of electricity. The three German commanders whom Lieutenant Colonel Walter spoke of could never be heard. Give them any reply.

"Stop shouting, Walter, they are all dead! How can three tanks be defeated by the dozens of tanks in Ivan's hands? Don't you think the wailing that came from the radio just now is not enough to explain the problem?"

After hearing this, Lieutenant Colonel Walter wanted to refute, but the seemingly random words in the mouth of gunner Weidelin had to admit that they were the best evidence of the facts. In the final analysis, all this was just because Walter himself spoke from his own heart. It’s just that I don’t want to admit it in my heart.

"I told them not to provoke the Russians. The armored group was just for reconnaissance. Why didn't they listen!? Or is the situation really critical to the point where they must join the fight?"

He still doesn't have a complete understanding of the terrible opponent he is about to face. At this moment, Lieutenant Colonel Walter's mind is almost full of information about his three missing subordinates. He really doesn't understand. How powerful was the Soviet armored force that could instantly wipe out those three veteran vehicles without even having time to send a request for help to itself.

At this moment when Lieutenant Colonel Walter felt a little confused, an urgent report suddenly came out from the blowing snow and wind whizzing past his ears.

"Heinrich reports, Walter! A Russian armored group was found directly ahead at twelve o'clock. It is one kilometer away and is attacking our defensive positions. I can already see them!"

The rapid report from the subordinate armored battalion commander immediately brought Lieutenant Colonel Walter's thoughts from the clouds back to reality.

After listening to the urgent words coming from the headset, he subconsciously raised the binoculars in his hands, and what he saw next was exactly what the armored battalion commander said.

On the horizon of the vast snowfield where the roar of gunfire could be heard from a kilometer away, one could barely see the outline of a pale steel behemoth emerging. The square turret outline of the KV1, which was different from the T34, was almost immediately recognized by Walter, who specialized in tanks. accurately identified.

"One, two, three, four, five, my God! That telegram is actually true. These Russian guys are all using KV1. This is simply unbelievable!"

Before the emergence of advanced tank sighting auxiliary equipment such as thermal imagers, tanks from World War II to the early Cold War used a simple combination of naked eye magnifying optical sights for battlefield observation. Combined with the relatively primitive and crude fire control auxiliary equipment, the distance of one kilometer was basically a boundary junction point for tank battles during World War II.

In other words, Lieutenant Colonel Walter, who was unable to obtain aerial reconnaissance intelligence support due to weather conditions, had not really used his own eyes to confirm the location of at least fifty Soviet heavy tanks mentioned in the previous request for help until this moment. The report is genuine. The densely packed KV1 cluster in front of us, like a herd of sheep galloping freely on the snowy field, is indeed worthy of this number.

"Damn it! There are too many of them, Walter. There really are at least fifty Russian KV1s! A frontal attack is not an option. What are you going to do!?"

Just like the anxious questioning words coming from the headphones, it set off a storm in my heart. To be honest, this was the first time I bumped into such a large number of KV1 heavy tank clusters, even if they were pushed all the way from the Soviet-German border. Even now, Walter couldn't help but feel a shiver in his heart. Realizing that he was really in big trouble, Walter hesitated for a moment and then immediately pressed the Adam's apple sounder button and responded with firm words.

"The tactics remain unchanged, Heinrich! Take your armored battalion to attack the flanks of the Russian armored group. I will take the remaining troops to maintain a frontal offensive and look after each other! No matter what, we must stop them here, Guderian The general’s follow-up reinforcements will arrive soon, so we must hold on!”

The armored regiment under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Walter, which is part of the National Defense Forces, has a large number of establishments. After receiving some small organic units temporarily transferred from other surrounding units to enhance offensive energy.

The armored regiment commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Walter has been expanded to a fully equipped unit of two battalions and eight companies. It has a total of 81 frontline battle tanks of various types under its jurisdiction, and more than 70 of them are used as The Panzer III and Panzer IV tanks were the main frontline force of the German armored forces.

Among the approximately 70 main tanks, 14 are the latest No. 3 J1 medium tanks delivered from the rear. They are considered the most powerful anti-armor main force among German tanks at the moment. As for the remaining ten or so tanks besides the main tanks, they are all small ones such as No. 1 and No. 2. These outdated small tanks that have been marginalized in the European battlefield can now only do some battlefield reconnaissance work. The powerful Soviet heavy tank troops could not be counted on at all.

After receiving the order from Lieutenant Colonel Walter, the German armored group, which was already in a vague trend of going separate ways, immediately split into two. The armored battalion led by Major Heinrich and the large force led by Lieutenant Colonel Walter immediately split into two torrents. , using a predetermined pincer-like offensive, the troops divided into two groups and rushed straight towards the Soviet tanks that were engaged in a position attack.

The majestic appearance of more than 80 tanks galloping across the snowy field was nothing short of extraordinary. Malashenko, who was originally commanding his subordinate troops to prepare to roll over the German defensive positions, quickly noticed this anomaly.