章 171: Chapter 249 The French Doomsday (19)
Just as the French soldiers were struggling in this hellish predicament, the tanks behind them finally arrived. At this point, the twelve B1 heavy tanks that had been specially targeted by the Hetzer Tank Destroyers were already wiped out about three hundred meters away. The Germans also paid the price of losing one Hetzer that was blown up.
Now, only four Hetzers remained to face dozens of Somua S35 medium tanks and Renault R35 light tanks charging towards them.
Fortunately, when these tanks reached within two hundred meters of the German positions, they were blocked by their own infantry scattered all over the ground. These infantrymen were either lying on the ground to avoid enemy bullets or wailing in pain if they were injured.
The French tanks couldn't directly pass over these infantrymen, and the tank commanders didn't have the courage to stick their heads out and shout at the infantrymen to make way, especially since there was no guarantee that the infantrymen would listen. Helpless, they could only stay in place and use their tank guns and machine guns to bombard and strafe the German positions.
The tanks equipped different guns. The Somua S35's had 47mm SA 35L/34 guns, while the Renault R35's had 37mm SA 18L/21 guns. From the data, it was evident that these tank guns were all short-barreled guns. These guns were originally designed to support infantry in destroying defensive fortifications, and they were not suitable for head-on confrontations with enemy armored units.
As a result, two salvos from the simultaneous firing of the Hetzer Tank Destroyers destroyed seven French tanks. At this moment, several bright signal flares were seen rising successively from the rear of the French forces.
Watching the receding tide of the French forces, David didn't feel any relaxation. He loudly ordered, "Check your ammunition! Beware of enemy artillery fire! Evacuate the wounded to the rear!" These guys surely wouldn't give up so easily, withdrawing now clearly meant they were preparing for another round of artillery bombardment.
Sure enough, after a few minutes, the sky resounded with the low, whistling sounds. The experienced veterans and officers loudly commanded the surrounding soldiers to quickly retreat into individual foxholes.
"Boom, boom, boom—" Numerous explosions echoed on the German positions, one after another, creating a terrifying momentum.
David, crouching in the foxhole, disdainfully spat on the ground. "81mm Brandt mortar."
As mentioned earlier, the Renault FT-17 designed and produced by the French during World War I was hailed as the "first tank in the modern sense". The mle 27/31 mortar, derived from the improvements made by the French after World War I, had influenced the design of mortars worldwide from the moment it appeared.
Several years later, many European and global countries either produced or outright plagiarized the production of the mle 27/31 mortar. Its 81.4mm caliber became the mainstream caliber for European infantry mortars. Every mortar during World War II had more or less the characteristics of the mle 27/31 mortar, with some outright copying it. Its design even influenced the standardized mortars of Germany, the United States, the Netherlands, China, and even the Soviet Union. The mortars produced and equipped by these countries were based on the technical parameters of the mie 27/31 mortar.
Round after round of mortar fire continued without stopping, as if it were a saturation attack. Some shells exploded near the foxholes where German soldiers were hiding, and the high-flying soil even buried half of some foxholes.
German soldiers huddled in the foxholes, covering their ears, waiting for a mortar shell to end their lives abruptly or enduring another round of shelling in the trembling earth and thundering artillery. Some were unlucky, some lucky—on the battlefield, the timid might not necessarily survive, and a hero might die in the next second.
This is an absolutely fair world, where God is responsible for determining everyone's life and death, and everything is spoken through luck. People hiding in foxholes, afraid to even shoot their guns, might survive, while brave veterans bravely killing enemies might have their heads shattered by bullets.
Suddenly, a loud explosion came from the distance, startling David, nearly causing him to jump up. However, the shrapnel from the raging shells above quickly dispelled that thought.
"Damn it!" David couldn't help but curse, punching the damp walls of the pit. The location where the explosion occurred was the cover of one of the Hunter Tank Destroyers. He estimated that a mortar shell happened to land on the roof of the tank, which was only 10mm thick, likely causing it to sacrificially explode.
With this, they were left with only three tank destroyers. The next time they dealt with the French tank attack, they would probably have to rely on the Panzerfaust rockets in their hands.
The Panzerfaust rockets had now been upgraded to the Panzerfaust 100 model, as the name suggests, with an effective range of up to 100 meters. Moreover, the armor-penetrating depth reached 220mm. No tank armor in the world, even the Maus, could withstand a frontal attack from the Panzerfaust 100, making it easy to penetrate.
However, to ensure accuracy, they generally launched the Panzerfaust at a distance of seventy to eighty meters. This distance made it easy for the enemy to rush forward, leading to hand-to-hand combat. At that point, without numerical superiority, they would be wiped out by the French, who outnumbered them.
As he pondered countermeasures, the explosions outside the foxhole gradually subsided. David guessed that the French were preparing for a second attack and cautiously poked his head out to look in the direction of the recent explosion.
Sure enough, the tank had turned into a bonfire, burning fiercely. It seemed that the crew inside hadn't been able to escape. "Prepare for battle!" With his command, sharp whistles echoed throughout the position.
Soldiers scraped off the mud from their bodies and took a look. The surroundings were a mess, with a large number of trees blasted off the ground, lying haphazardly and forming invisible barriers.
On the opposite side, the French had already reached within less than two hundred meters of them. However, these guys seemed not to have learned their lesson. This time, the coordination between tanks and infantry appeared even more chaotic. Tanks and infantry mixed together, and the entire formation looked like an improperly mixed salad, filled with noise as it slowly pressed forward.
"Fire!" The dense sound of gunfire once again echoed on the German position. German soldiers kept firing, desperately directing their ammunition towards the enemy.
Having learned that their mortar troops were completely wiped out, David sighed helplessly and ordered an increase in machine gun firepower. In the previous round of attacks, six machine guns opened fire simultaneously in each group. This time, he ordered twelve machine guns to fire simultaneously.
Instantly, even more concentrated bullets shot towards the attacking French, and each machine gun crazily harvested the lives of French soldiers. However, this intense firepower surprisingly did not shake the determination of the French soldiers. They completely ignored their comrades falling around them, continuing to shout as they charged towards the German position. It seemed as if they were proving to the enemy that not all French soldiers were cowards; they, like the German soldiers on the opposite side, possessed a steadfast fighting spirit and courage.
The firepower of the French tanks was all concentrated on the remaining three Hetzers.
Finally, the three Hetzers couldn't withstand the relentless bombardment of numerous tank guns and consecutively exploded.
Now, the French tanks immediately became triumphant, accelerating with momentum and charging fiercely towards the German position.
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