Chapter 61 Move forward! Assault gun! (middle)

After hearing the nonsense coming from his driver, Wittmann smiled slightly. It could be seen that Wittmann was in a good mood. Then he took three steps and two steps at a time in his dexterous posture, and moved in a quite skillful way. He climbed onto his own car and opened the driver's roof.

"Do you still need me to tell you what to do? Start taking action! Guys!"

Following Wittmann's order, the remaining three crew members who had just completed the maintenance and inspection work surrounding the No. 3A assault gun also began to climb onto the tank and enter their respective positions. position and put on a headset for communication.

He raised his hand to close the commander's hatch above his head and at the same time turned on the headset communicator that had been fastened to his hat. As Wittmann pressed the throat sounder and spoke, a clear radio wave Then he flew straight towards the starting position of the armored forces, which was not far away from Wittmann's car.

"Communication check, please confirm. Assault gun unit commander Michel Wittmann is calling. Please answer when received. Over."

Wittmann did not wait too long after asking. An equally clear echo suddenly sounded in the communicator next to Wittmann's ear just a few seconds later.

"The communication has been confirmed, very clear, Sergeant Wittmann. I am Lieutenant Heizenauer of the 2nd Armored Company. Your superiors have ordered your assault gun platoon to follow and cover our unit's upcoming attack on the enemy in front of us. I hope You and I can work together happily in this battle."

Although he was nominally in the same division as Lieutenant Heizenauer, Wittmann, who usually did not like to take the initiative to contact strangers, did not know this armored lieutenant whose military rank was much higher than his own. . Naturally, there are no adjectives such as a pleasant meeting and a harmonious relationship. At most, it is a common relationship between superiors and subordinates and comrades-in-arms in the military.

After hearing the response from Lieutenant Heizenauer, Wittmann, who held the communicator button on his throat and pondered for a moment, quickly continued to ask.

"Lieutenant Heizenauer, I would like to take the liberty to ask, can you tell me the direction and plan of our attack?"

"It doesn't matter to you, Sergeant Wittmann. You just need to follow my steps and advance towards the target. When we enter the battle situation, I will tell you which enemy to attack."

After listening to the rather arrogant words of Lieutenant Heizenauer coming from the earphones, Wittmann, who was used to seeing all kinds of strange things in the army, was not surprised at all. Not angry, the reply to the other end of the communicator was still as plain as still water.

"Understood, sir. I will do what I have to do, you just give me orders."

Soon, when the assault gun platoon totaling four No. 3A assault guns commanded by Michel merged with the main offensive force commanded by Lieutenant Heizenauer, there was a burst of majestic power like a roaring mountain and a tsunami. The ferocious bombardment suddenly sounded from the rear of the German position.

Boom boom boom——

In yesterday's battle, they relied on their overwhelming air strike power to wipe out most of the enemy's Soviet artillery in one fell swoop. This was because important attributes such as range, size, and power were far inferior to the German artillery units of the Soviet field artillery cluster. Finally, they could take this opportunity to show off their power and launch a pre-war artillery preparation that was far smaller than the scale of the Soviet army but was still shocking enough.

Among the German artillery units that are currently launching ferocious bombardments at all possible Soviet defensive positions at the predetermined target location, the absolute main force with the most powerful firepower is the 150mm heavy howitzer with the German equipment number SFH18.

Although this type of heavy howitzer with a short range and mediocre performance is really difficult to compare with the same level of equipment in the hands of the Soviet Union, when this type of SFH18 is equipped with at least one divisional heavy howitzer battalion with a total of 12 pieces per division. When the 150mm howitzer group launches a sudden fire attack, the powerful destructive power and deterrence it brings cannot be underestimated.

Standing on his car, he leaned half of his body out of the combat room, raising the telescope in his hand to observe the actual effects of the bombardment.

When Wittmann saw in his eyes the grasslands and small villages where there was no sign of Soviet activity at all, and the messy scenes that were bombed by the rapid artillery fire, this man had already seen life and death. After many brutal battles, the veteran still couldn't help but sigh secretly after putting down the telescope in his hand.

"I really hope those artillerymen know where the targets they want to bomb are. I hope these shellings will bring good results to the attack we will launch later."

The German army, which advocates air-ground integrated armored blitzkrieg, is far less durable and powerful than the Soviet army, which advocates artillery supremacy, both in terms of artillery scale and firepower projection capabilities.

When this wave of artillery fire, which only lasted for half an hour, gradually stopped amidst the roar of artillery fire, Wittmann, realizing that he was about to receive an order to take action, immediately closed the hatch again and returned to his commander's position. above.

"All crews and combat units, I am Lieutenant Heizenauer! Follow my orders and move forward. The target is the small Soviet village located five kilometers directly in front of us! Capture it and hold it until I continue to issue subsequent orders. That’s it, let’s go!”

Accompanied by a burst of roaring black smoke amidst the roar of the engine, this mixed mechanized battle group of the Guard Flag Division commanded by Lieutenant Heizenauer immediately roared forward and sped forward.

The German infantrymen who were fully armed and holding weapons tightly in their hands were riding in SDKFZ251 half-track personnel carriers. The German infantry who followed the armored troops were obviously much happier than their Soviet counterparts who encountered "human flesh plug-in armor". .

When the German battle group, roaring all the way with its engines kicking up billowing dust and thick black smoke, arrived at the intended target location mentioned in the order, through the 360-degree omnidirectional camera in his hand that was placed on the commander's command tower, he had a good view. The commander's peripheral vision mirror carefully observed the situation around him.

After confirming that this small Soviet village, which was in disarray and ready to be bombed by our own artillery fire, seemed to be without any danger and silent, after thinking that he was about to lead his troops to occupy this first key location without any effort, the young man Lieutenant Heizenauer then opened the commander's hatch above his head with great confidence, and while holding the telescope in his hand, he stretched his upper body straight out of the turret.