Chapter 293: Chapter 370 The Winter War (22)
Lavlenkin and the others, who were dozing off inside the Maus tank, were awakened by the dense gunfire outside.
"Are the Finns attacking?!" Lavlenkin hurriedly approached the periscope to look outside, only to find it illuminated as if it were daytime; there was no movement on the Finnish positions opposite, but the gunfire around continued.
"What's going on?!" Lavlenkin opened the hatch and looked up at the sky along the trajectory of the tracer rounds from the nearby machine gun, illuminated by the light of the flares in the sky. He saw several planes flying in the distance. "Damn it! It's aircraft! They must be here to bomb this tank!"
Yuri worried, "Shouldn't we leave?"
Lavlenkin shook his head. "Don't worry, this is the safest place. After all, this tank is practically invulnerable. Even the top is 120mm thick, so unless it's directly hit by a heavy bomb, it's the safest here."
But after a while, with the intense explosions outside, several people suddenly felt the temperature inside the tank rise significantly, as if they were in a steamer, and beads of sweat poured out uncontrollably. "What... what's going on?!" Lavlenkin once again looked through the periscope, but all he saw was pitch blackness, nothing visible.
After a while, Yuri felt dizzy from the heat. "We can't stay here." Although they didn't know what bombs the Finnish troops had dropped, it was certain that if they stayed here, they would be roasted alive.
"..." Lavlenkin gasped for breath, and he didn't have the energy to continue insisting on staying inside the tank.
Just as Yuri's hand grabbed the hatch handle of the tank, with a crack, a scent of roasted meat spread out.
"Ah!" Yuri screamed in pain as he quickly pulled back his hand, his whole palm dripping with blood.
"Mother Mary!" Had the Finns poured lava onto their tank?!
The temperature inside the tank soared rapidly, and several people, dizzy and weak, collapsed one after another. The scorching floor failed to stimulate those already mentally foggy.
Boom!
The piled-up propellant was ignited and exploded. Although the tank's exterior showed no signs, the interior was a mess, with blood and flesh splattered everywhere.
As the flames outside gradually extinguished without anything left to burn, the Soviet troops cautiously approached.
Enduring the acrid smell of burnt air, they walked to the perimeter of the "fire scene" and found that not everyone had been burned to death. Some burnt, charred human-shaped objects still emitted hoarse cries of pain.
"Medics! Medics! We have wounded here!!"
A medic carrying a medical kit hurried over and was stunned on the spot when he saw the "charcoal" lying on the ground.
The platoon leader Joseph, who came over after hearing the commotion, slapped the medic on the shoulder. "What are you staring at? Hurry up and help them?!"
The medic, with a pale face, turned to look at his platoon leader and shook his head slowly. "How can we help? It's too late..."
Joseph immediately became furious. "What do you mean it's too late? What are you, a medic, even doing here?!"
The medic murmured absentmindedly, "It's too late, really too late."
In solidified gasoline, there are many chemical accelerants, such as white phosphorus, which leave behind large amounts of toxic chemicals after burning on the skin's surface, entering the bloodstream through open wounds, causing the wounded to suffer from blood poisoning.
Of course, the medic didn't know this, but just by looking at the injuries of the "charcoal" lying on the ground, he knew that these people were beyond saving. Even if he had rich medications in his medical kit, even if he sent these wounded to the rear, even if he sent them to Moscow and admitted them to the best hospitals, it would be impossible to save them.
Faced with the angry platoon leader Joseph, the medic whispered tearfully, "It's really too late. Continuing to drag them along will only make them suffer more. The best way is to let them be released as soon as possible... At least, this way, they can suffer a little less pain!"
Joseph's facial muscles couldn't help but twitch, watching the wounded struggling and screaming on the ground. His eyes gradually turned red, and he suddenly pulled out the pistol from his waist, aiming at the head of the wounded and pulling the trigger.
Yes, for them, death was the real release.
With the platoon leader's command, the surrounding Soviet soldiers tearfully used their rifles to relieve their comrades' pain. They had no other choice. If they didn't do this, these severely burned soldiers might slowly die after enduring the most painful torture in the world.
Finally, with the last gunshot, the last severely burned soldier was liberated amidst the gunfire. And when everything was over, witnessing the chaos in front of them, the messy battlefield, Joseph and the Soviet soldiers present couldn't help but think that they couldn't win this war, just as they couldn't survive in such flames.
After standing silently for a while, Joseph reluctantly cheered up and ordered his men to bury the bodies before coming to the burnt black Maus tank. The residual heat of the steel had not completely dissipated, and one could still feel a hint of heat when approaching.
A faint sense of unease flashed through Joseph's heart. He picked up his pistol and knocked on the armor a few times, shouting loudly as he knocked, "Is anyone there? Is anyone alive inside?"
After waiting for a while without any response, the tank's armor was no longer so hot to the touch. Joseph ordered a few men to climb up and take a look.
Several soldiers climbed up the turret ladder and tried to open the hatch, but found it wouldn't budge.
"What's going on? Is it locked from the inside?"
Of course, the tank hatch could be locked from the inside; it didn't require complex technology, just a bolt from the inside to prevent it from being opened from the outside.
However, tank crew members sometimes needed to stick their heads out of the hatch for observation and command during combat. Additionally, if the tank was damaged in battle, the crew had to escape immediately. So, if the tank hatch was sealed too tightly, it would be disadvantageous in these situations. Therefore, unless necessary, tank hatches are generally not locked. After all, the probability of enemy soldiers climbing onto the tank to open the hatch and throw grenades is low. It's difficult for enemy soldiers to get to the tank, let alone climb on top.
But no matter how hard they tried, the hatch remained stuck. "Report to the platoon leader, it seems to be locked from the inside and can't be opened."
"What are we going to do?" Joseph paced anxiously, and someone reminded him, "Sir, I heard there's an escape hatch at the bottom of the tank."
Joseph ordered some soldiers to crawl to the bottom of the tank, and indeed there was a hatch. Several soldiers pushed hard to open the hatch, and a pungent smoke rushed out. After the smoke dissipated slightly, they climbed into the tank, only to find a mess inside. Various "undescribable" things were scattered on the floor, almost making the viewers vomit on the spot.
The soldiers scrambled out of this ghostly place and reported the situation inside the tank to Joseph.
Joseph looked speechlessly at this huge machine. Did it really become scrap in just one day?
Nevertheless, he still had to report it, and the report was passed up layer by layer until it reached General Timoshenko's desk.
Seeing the news of their secret weapon being destroyed, General Timoshenko nearly fainted. He gritted his teeth and ordered, "The frontline air defense was slow to react; this is the negligence of the field commander. Send him to a military court!"
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