章節 96: Chapter 174 The Battle of Poland (37)
In a similarly devastated building, bags were piled on the windowsill of one room, and a machine gun was set up. Several Polish soldiers stood behind the machine gun, nervously watching the distant intersection. The sounds of gunfire in the distance seemed distant at first, but gradually approached.
"Does anyone have water?" The machine gunner, holding the gun, licked his dry lips and asked. The water supply in Warsaw had long been paralyzed due to the German bombing of the water plant and supply stations. Although the Vistula River ran through the city, fetching water from there meant facing significant risks with German planes circling during the day and occasional shelling at night.
Besides water, food was also scarce. Supply lines had been cut off, and only stockpiled ammunition provided some assurance.
Others shook their heads helplessly. Just then, two Stukas flew overhead and dropped bombs not far away. As the bombing targets in Warsaw diminished, German planes were becoming less frequent.
"Germans!" A Polish soldier who had been staring out the window exclaimed, and everyone quickly picked up their weapons, taking positions. The machine gunner, forgetting about water, tightened his grip on the machine gun.
A peculiar-looking armored vehicle slowly appeared at the intersection. "Damn, it's the German anti-aircraft gun!" They had heard about its fierceness—the terrifying rate of fire that made survival nearly impossible once it locked onto a target. A squad of German soldiers followed the self-propelled anti-aircraft gun.
Normally, they might consider evacuating, but today they had an ace up their sleeves—the M35 anti-tank rifle. This rifle used tungsten-core bullets enveloped in soft lead, covered with a copper jacket on the outside, and featured a raised belt in the center of the bullet. This design created high pressure when the bullet moved forward in the barrel, giving it an initial speed of nearly 1542m/s, making it quite powerful. It could destroy any light armored vehicle at a distance of 400 meters, penetrate 15mm thick armor at 300 meters, and penetrate an armor thickness of 33mm at 100 meters.
However, the M35, which was supposed to become the German tank killer, did not live up to expectations. The blame for this lay with the excessive secrecy maintained by the Polish High Command. The M35 had been successfully developed as early as 1935, and it was estimated that by the beginning of the war, the Polish military had distributed about 6500 of these rifles.
But they were only "distributed."
The Polish General Staff classified this rifle as top secret, sealed it entirely in wooden boxes. To deceive people, the boxes were labeled "surveillance equipment, strictly forbidden to open." Even the snipers in the Polish military were unaware of the existence of the M35.
With the war looming, the Polish General Staff was forced to unseal the boxes and truly equip the troops with the M35. But even at this point, not all soldiers had the chance to see its true appearance. The headquarters stipulated that, except for snipers, no other soldiers could approach the M35. Without the orders of superior officers, even snipers were not allowed to touch the M35. Sniper training had to take place in secret locations, and strict confidentiality was imposed on their weapons.
Obviously, until the war broke out, Polish snipers were unable to fully grasp the performance of the M35. Some units hadn't even opened the packaging. The Germans took advantage of this situation. They moved out boxes of brand-new M35s from captured warehouses, gave them a new name—Pz B35(P), and issued them to German soldiers. Due to the large number of captures, the Germans themselves couldn't digest them all, so they sold 800 to Italy, which they used until the end of World War II.
The Polish General Staff destroyed the design drawings and data when the war started, making the M35 an "irreproducible weapon."
Now, the anti-tank rifleman had set up his M35, aiming at the approaching self-propelled anti-aircraft gun. Although they didn't know the thickness of the armor on that self-propelled anti-aircraft gun, for safety, he decided to engage it at around 100 meters.
250 meters, 200 meters, 150 meters...
The German soldiers were probing the suspicious buildings' windows around them. Although the windows of this room were nailed with several boards and showed no signs of anyone inside, everyone remained tense, waiting. Once the anti-tank rifle fired, they would eliminate the German soldiers trailing behind.
However, they were unaware that Death had already set its sights on them.
On a church bell tower over 600 meters away, a black-painted barrel, camouflaged with cloth strips, aimed directly at the window of the room where the Polish soldiers were ambushing.
The sniper adjusted the 6x scope on his 98k, carefully adjusting the focus. The black crosshair in the scope was placed precisely on the head of the Polish soldier holding the M35 anti-tank rifle. If not for the part of the gun barrel sticking out of the window, he wouldn't have noticed the presence of enemies in that room.
"Oh God, I sincerely trust you. Please don't let me be ashamed, and don't let my enemies celebrate victory over me." Muttering softly, he pulled the trigger.
Bang! The familiar sound echoed in his ears. He felt the buttstock press firmly against his shoulder as it kicked back.
Watching the anti-tank rifleman fall backward, the people in the room were startled. Immediately, they thought of another terrifying presence among the Germans—snipers!
"Retreat quickly!" Seeing the nearby self-propelled anti-aircraft gun quickly turning its barrel, the machine gunner shouted, rushing out of the room, heading downstairs. Others followed suit, crawling and rolling down the stairs. Overhead, they heard the sounds of breaking glass and crackling noises, likely their recently occupied room being turned into a hornet's nest.
With no time to spare, they ran straight to the underground, lifting a heavy manhole cover and jumping in.
Walking in the damp sewer, reflecting on how they fled in embarrassment without even taking down a single German, they had lost a precious anti-tank rifle and a whole squad of anti-tank rifles. The mood among the group was somewhat somber.
Not long into their journey, thud! A sound came from in front of them, and something fell in their path, startling them. "What's that?"
Boom!
The Polish soldiers' flashlights shone on a cylindrical object rolling to their feet. Suddenly, it erupted into a sun-like brilliance, illuminating the entire sewer.
"Ahhhh!"
"My eyes! My eyes!"
The flashbang's material was Mg, magnesium metal. Anyone who has taken basic chemistry knows that magnesium burns brightly when ignited. In this case, it caused temporary blindness due to the intense light.
Flashbangs were easy to talk about—they were harmless as long as you closed your eyes and turned away before the explosion. Human bodies have a stress response, and when exposed to intense light, they automatically shut their eyes. So, flashbangs posed minimal harm to vision since people would close their eyes, at most causing temporary blindness for about five minutes. The difficulty, however, lay in not knowing when the enemy would throw them.
But on the battlefield, those five minutes were enough to experience death multiple times.
The Polish soldiers, screaming and covering their eyes, didn't notice the footsteps approaching them. Soon, their hands were forced behind them and bound.
The Polish soldier injured by sniper Michel yesterday was captured for interrogation. The Germans learned that they had infiltrated through the underground sewer. The Germans wouldn't let this underground battlefield go easily. They immediately sent troops into the sewer, preventing enemy infiltration while also conducting their own counter-infiltration.
每周推薦票狀態
-- 推薦票
榜單 
-- 推薦票