Volume 1: The Last Rays of the Empire Chapter 14: Fierce Tiger

  On the battlefield, time sometimes flows quickly and sometimes slowly. Lying in the cold snow, Lin felt like it had been a long, long time until the butcher's cry came, he turned his head again, only to see that the injured comrade who was just there had tightly closed his eyes, with no more ups and downs on his chest, and his heart suddenly filled with infinite sorrow.

  “lynn！”

  "The butcher" called out Lynn's name, but his next sentence was something that Lynn couldn't understand at the moment. All he saw was that the SS sergeant was lying flat on his back, with his head turned to this side, and his entire face covered in bloodstains and mud. Although his uniform was dirty and wet, it could be seen that it was due to the muddy ground rather than a large amount of bleeding.

  Apart from the old wound, Lin felt that his limbs and head had not suffered any new injuries, and he had recovered some strength while lying down. He shook his head at "Butcher", but didn't know if he understood the meaning of this action. As for getting up to continue running, Lin had such an idea, but soon realized that since being knocked down by the shell, the Soviet artillery fire had gradually moved away. Since lying down was worry-free, why get up and attract enemy shells and bullets?

  With this in mind, Lin En turned his head to the other side. There were no fewer than a dozen Soviet tanks in sight, and their size had "increased" by more than double, estimated to be less than 500 meters away from him. In this situation, getting up hastily would probably get him shot into a sieve by the T-34's machine gun, which might also be the reason why the "butcher" didn't dare make any big moves.

  In the gap between the Soviet tank's gunfire, "Butcher" muttered to himself, and at this moment Lin En was anxious and helpless - if only they could communicate directly with language, how good would that be?

  Lynn saw the Butcher slowly turn around and crawl closer, only to discover that three fingers on his left hand were gone, with fresh blood still flowing from the severed stumps. His palm and cuff were stained with blood. Just as he was about to look for a first-aid kit, he remembered it had been used on Blondie, so he could only pull out a handkerchief from his pocket.

  As Lynn bandaged his left hand with a handkerchief, the "Butcher" gritted his teeth and stared silently at the Soviet tanks. After crossing the hill, they slowed down noticeably to allow the infantry covering behind them to catch up, while the Soviet combat infantrymen wore white winter coats, basically one "PPSh" per person, constantly sweeping the German soldiers' remains along the way or lying on the ground. In this situation, Lynn and his men could not find an opportunity to attack the Soviet tanks even if they had the courage to sacrifice themselves.

  Lin En, having hastily bandaged the wound, saw "Butcher" with a tightly furrowed brow and eyes full of resentment yet helpless. Just as he was about to turn back, he unexpectedly caught sight of several massive white shadows moving outside the village. He quickly pointed behind him at "Butcher". As soon as "Butcher" turned around, his right fist clenched!

  Seeing his own tanks, Lin En's heart was also filled with excitement. He carefully distinguished them, and these 7 tanks painted in gray and white camouflage had two particularly striking ones, with high and wide bodies that looked like a thick wall from the front, with a wide gap between the tracks on both sides, and the branches used for disguise could not hide the long cannon barrels.

  For three days, Lin En had not seen a real German tank, but judging from the size of the two half-tracked armored vehicles before, these two behemoths should be Tiger or King Tiger tanks. Despite the shortcomings of slow speed, short range, and high mechanical failure rate, the thick armor and superior firepower still gave these kings of land warfare an unparalleled aura, making them a formidable opponent on both Eastern and Western fronts that made enemies fearful and headache.

  "The butcher" turned his head around, the dull expression in his eyes was gone, he said excitedly: "Tiger! Uzzahif-Tiger!"

  Lin hesitated for a moment, then suddenly realized that the "Tiger" he mentioned should be the English word "tiger", which means "tiger". Judging from the historical combat records, as long as the two Tiger tanks were used properly, they had every opportunity to take out a dozen T-34s and retreat unscathed. The German combat unit advancing towards this side from the village still had five other types of armored vehicles covering them - judging by their outline, there should be three late-model four-number tanks, and the other two might be some type of assault gun or self-propelled anti-tank gun.

  Bang!

  The first to open fire was the "Tiger" that suddenly stopped in the middle of the armored column, emitting bright yellow flames and grayish-white smoke from the muzzle brake on both sides, making it look like a steel monster smoking a cigar. Just for the scene alone, this is more spectacular than the T-34 without a muzzle brake. The shell whizzed over their heads, and Lynn turned around just in time to see the shell accurately hit a T-34, with a massive explosion instantly engulfing the white-painted Soviet tank, bringing the several-dozen-ton behemoth to an abrupt halt. As the flames and smoke dissipated, the turret and front of this T-34 were charred black. The hatch of the driver's compartment was wide open, with thick black smoke billowing out, but no crew members could be seen escaping. From a distance of several hundred meters, it was unclear where the shell had hit, but it was clear that this tank was now completely disabled.

  The imposing blow of the tank made Lin En almost applaud and shout "good", then, the second "boom" came, he stared at the Soviet tanks without blinking. After the German tanks appeared, they dispersed their formation and accelerated their speed, trying to reduce the probability of being hit. However, the first shell fired by the second "Tiger" still accurately hit a Soviet tank, and it happened to hit its side track position. The shell penetrated the body and exploded inside, followed by an even more violent explosion. Although the T-34's turret and body did not separate immediately, the rising black smoke indicated its devastating outcome.

  "Good game!"

  It was easy to vent the evil spirit, and the "butcher" excitedly patted the ground with his right hand. Lin En turned back to smile at him, although there was no mirror, but he knew that this smile must be radiant like a sunny day after rain!

  The Soviet tankers were getting impatient after being hit twice. At this time, the tanks of both sides were still about 1500 meters apart. Even at this distance, the T34/85 could not penetrate the armor of the Tiger tank from the front, but several T-34s made short stops to fire. Linen and "Butcher" simultaneously turned their heads to look at their own armored combat group, shells screaming as they fell in the open field, landing seven or eight meters away from the nearest German vehicle, the shooting level of both sides was worlds apart!

  The beautiful "open door red" did not make the German tankers forget themselves, two Tigers restarted, their mighty bodies moving slowly forward in the roar of the engine, moving a distance of about 20 meters, they stopped one after another, and after about four or five seconds of aiming and adjustment, they fired again.

  The people lying in the center of the battlefield - apart from Lin En and "Butcher" there may be other survivors - all turned their heads to look at the results of the cannon fire. With an initial velocity of over 800 meters per second, the 88mm armor-piercing shell could fly across the battlefield in just two seconds. The second round of artillery fire was slightly off, landing on the side of the T-34's tracks, while another hit its target as expected. Although the hit location was the thickest part of the T-34's frontal armor, the powerful force still tore through the steel plate and penetrated into the tank's interior...

  Seeing the third Soviet tank being destroyed, Lin's mood suddenly became cheerful. He even felt like he was the main referee in a football match now, with a viewing position and angle that no luxury suite could compare to.

  It is obvious that high-ranking officers would never lie down in the middle of a battlefield to watch.

  After the two Tigers fired, the distance between the two sides was also narrowed to about 1,200 meters. The battle situation became fierce. On the Soviet side, the remaining 11 T-34s fired intensively without saving ammunition, and the soldiers in the rear began to fire at the German array with towed artillery pulled by trucks. The area where the German armored group was located quickly filled with smoke from shell explosions, which seemed to have hit one or two Tigers, but none of them caused direct damage to these two steel beasts painted with gray-white camouflage and black-and-white iron crosses. On the German side, in addition to the Tigers, five other tanks also started firing their first shots. From the landing point of the shells, the shooting technique of the German armored soldiers was indeed impeccable. Of course, according to the information obtained by Lin En, the optical sights of the German tank vehicles were also better than those of the Soviet Union. The combination of human and technical factors resulted in two direct hits out of five shells, one of which directly exploded a Soviet tank, and another damaged the track of a T-34, while the other three shells basically fell within a range of three meters from the Soviet tanks.

  The development of the battle was extremely unfavorable for the Soviet side, and the small number of medium-caliber infantry guns were not much help. The remaining T-34s finally stopped advancing without hesitation. Under the leadership of the lead tank, they successively came to a halt and shifted into reverse gear. During the retreat, they kept their turrets facing the Germans and occasionally fired short bursts, but the effect was not good due to the covering fire. After two more rounds of firing and destroying another T-34, the German tanks also stopped firing and slowed down. Both sides tacitly disengaged from contact, and the T-34s retreated over the hill and eventually disappeared from view, leaving behind only 6 destroyed or damaged tank wrecks and fewer than 20 Soviet soldiers' bodies - a tiny part of the Soviet tide that broke through the German defenses this morning.

  With the "butcher" supporting him, Lin En looked back at the road he had traveled, and found that it was littered with dozens of German soldiers' bodies. Thinking about the desperate and hopeless journey, he suddenly felt a sense of detachment from the world...