1 Samuel 17

  Rania comforted him, "Don't worry, my leader. These tanks are too heavy, I've seen the tracks fall off with my own eyes." Lida also chimed in, "Yes, the suspension system of these tanks has always been problematic, always breaking down."

  Li De raised his binoculars, taking their words as a mockery. He turned his head to see their indifferent attitude and scolded angrily: "Did you fall down by yourself? Tell everyone not to open fire, wait for the tracks to fall off by themselves, and let the tank explode by itself."

  Rania surprisingly started humming a tune with her feet tapping out the beat, and even gave him a provocative stare. Lida was so scared that she walked away.

  Schmidt looked out with binoculars for a while and came in saying: "It's really interesting, a tank has broken its own chain."

  Rania took over with a smile: "Of course, the track and suspension system has to withstand 53 tons of body weight, it's not surprising if it doesn't fall off. Of course, if all tanks could drop their chains by themselves, that would be great, we'd save our minds."

  She glanced at Yuan Shou, snatched the telescope from Schomberg's hand and went out.

  Several group army clerks pushed a 37mm anti-tank gun to the side of the courtyard, and a 152mm shell came over. The small war defense gun became flying debris in a suddenly spreading smoke dust, like a slow-motion shot in a disaster movie. After the smoke dust passed, half a wheel and human legs were faintly visible lying on a piece of ground.

  Everyone cheered as the air support Belo had requested arrived. Concerned about the safety of the head of state, a hundred bombers were dispatched to deal with ten tanks, an unprecedented luxury for the German Air Force. The Stuka bombers, which filled the sky and obscured the sun, circled once in the air, chose their angle, dived down with a sharp whine, and dropped two 500-kilogram bombs from under their wings as they pulled up again.

  The tanks, with their imposing momentum, quickly disappeared into the smoke, and from time to time, the sound of tank shells and bullets igniting could be heard, even several kilometers away, Li De felt the heat wave, and the smoke rose straight up to the sky. The Stuka's continuous bombing campaign shifted northward in three waves.

  The smoke has cleared, and nearly half of the tanks have been reduced to spare parts: some have had their tracks blown off, some have had their periscopes smashed, some have overturned, and others have collided with each other... At least one tank's ammunition exploded, its turret and gun barrel stuck in the ground, the tank's body a complete wreck.

  But the remaining half continued to move forward, and the KV tank was really thick-skinned. Unless it was hit directly by an aerial bomb, it was no different from scratching an itch with a boot; and hitting a tank accurately in the air was like shooting sparrows with a rifle.

  Another batch of reinforcements arrived. The 11th Army had no tanks, and Manstein was forced to use a dozen or so assault guns as tanks. At this time, two assault guns from a nearby repair depot came over, but they only served as a psychological comfort: the 75mm short-barreled gun of the assault gun hit the target, but the shell exploded on the side of the road, while the tank's 152mm was like a chopstick through tofu against the assault gun. In just one round, the two assault guns that had not yet been repaired were blown back to their component parts, and there was no way to repair them.

  Manstein snatched the receiver, his face red with rage: "Where's the 88mm cannon? What? Wait another five minutes? Tell them that in five minutes it will be too late, because everything will be over. Damn it!" He slammed down the phone, stood with his hands on his hips, muttering to himself, and from the shape of his mouth, it was clear that he wasn't saying anything good, but who he was cursing was unknown.

  The Chief of Staff excitedly shouted: "It's coming! It's coming!"

  Manstein and the Führer rushed to the window, three tractors each towing an 88mm anti-aircraft gun. They were excited for a moment, then became impatient: "Why aren't they firing yet? What's the holdup?"

  When he heard that the artillery was looking for cover, Manstein stamped his foot in anger: "What's the time for this nonsense? Tell them to open fire at once."

  He glared at the chief of staff with bloodshot eyes, as if he wanted to swallow him whole. The chief of staff hastily ran out and shouted a string of orders at the artillerymen.

  The two cannons were still being pulled into the small courtyard in an orderly manner, and the gunners quickly made a hole in the wall, then used a tractor to push against it, inserting the long barrel of the cannon into the hole.

  The third gate under the strong order, directly unfolded on the road, quickly aimed and loaded, with a loud command, the cannon jumped up, the muzzle flashed, and the shell hit the KV2's turret. The tank hesitated for a moment, slowed down its pace, the second shell hit the front armor, the tank shook violently and stopped.

  The other tanks then returned fire at the 88mm AA gun that had dared to challenge them, and in a burst of orange flame, the cannon was knocked askew, its tractor overturned with wheels spinning wildly.

  Manshtein's haste was not achieved, he may not know the ancient saying "haste makes waste": the remaining two guns that followed the routine were destroyed after a full five minutes, three tanks were buried with them, and they avoided being exposed on the streets, the gunners did not have to die in vain.

  The plane came over again to bomb, but the tank was too close to our position, and could only be like an old cow falling into a well, struggling in vain.

  The tank arrived at the defense line hastily set up by the army guard company, and several soldiers hurriedly carried out the captured anti-tank guns. Perhaps due to unfamiliarity, they did not unfold the bipod in their haste, and as a result, the soldier operating the anti-tank gun was thrown far away and sat on the ground with a loud shout, clutching his right shoulder and rolling around on the ground.

  A German 100mm howitzer was hidden in a stack of hay. When the Soviet tanks approached to within two hundred meters, the howitzer emerged from the haystack and fired directly at the tank, hitting the front armor plate of the turret. The giant Goliath shook its massive body, charged forward, pushing the hapless gun along with the haystack that had hidden it in front of it, and firing at the fleeing artillerymen.

  The tank has arrived at the defense line, and several figures suddenly jumped out, holding high the burning bottles and chasing a few steps. Before the machine gun swept down behind the turret, they threw the burning bottles with flames towards the tank. The tank's tracks rolled over the flames and crossed the defense line, pouring machine gun bullets on the soldiers of the guard company. Some soldiers fired at the steel giant in vain, more soldiers ran away, but after all, they couldn't outrun the bullets, and were knocked down by the tank one after another.

  The guard regiment's fragile defense line was breached, and the Russian tanks, with most of their companions annihilated, still had four remaining Goliath giants that refused to retreat, stubbornly crushing forward, putting the army command headquarters to a real test.

  Goliath was one of the legendary giants, recorded in the Bible, Goliath was a Philistine general, leading troops to attack the Israeli army, it had infinite power, everyone who saw him retreated and did not dare to fight.

  But now, not daring to respond is no longer an option. Li De ventured out and personally took command, the group army staff and the Führer's adjutants were gathered together, divided into four groups of six people each, with two people carrying landmines, two holding incendiary bottles, and the other two having their belts and boots filled with long-handled grenades. The Führer, Bormann, and Manstein stood in front of the troops, there was no time for a pre-battle rally, they just patted each group leader on the shoulder, waved their hands, and rushed towards their respective targets.

  The commander and Manstein, wearing steel helmets and holding submachine guns, gazed intently at the receding backs of the tank destroyer crew, like figures in a recruiting poster, prompting Schmundt to return and snap a photograph before handing the camera to Fr?ulein Rüdiger and rushing off to battle.

  Bao Man burned the documents, occasionally wiping away tears, unsure if it was sadness or smoke, or perhaps both. He recited words as he burned them, like a prayer and yet also like a complaint towards someone.

  Lida wept, and her sobs were very bitter. Renya looked at her with a puzzled expression, thinking she was frightened. Lida sniffled and said: "I'm not afraid, have I ever been afraid in the interrogation room? I'm moved... I really can't believe that the German leader could be so selfless, wooo..."

  Half of it was a return for her own praise, half of it was due to the **feeling** under the severe situation, and possibly mixed with cherishing and vague expectations. Li De walked over, patted her head, stroked her short hair, and grabbed her cold hand. Before that, he hadn't even moved Lida's little finger.

  The next day, Lida boasted to Rania: "The Führer's hands are soft and fluffy, like a woman's. Have you touched them?"

  For her classmate's door hacking skills, Rania found it both pitiful and amusing.

  Even if there were the heaviest tanks in the world, even if there were brave and fearless tankmen, the combat skills and campaign qualities of the Soviet army often left much to be desired. For example, at this moment, four tanks should have formed a horizontal team and rushed over, destroying the German Army Group headquarters with one blow, and then returned safely to receive the Order of Lenin or the Red Banner Medal, but they dispersed and each rushed towards their target.

  A KV-2 crashed through the wall of a suspected factory, into a pigpen, where it encountered its target - dozens of pigs. The tank, belching two black clouds of smoke, sent the pigs running wildly in all directions. The tank charged forward boldly, with a group of pigs desperately trying to escape in front of it. Those pigs that were normally fed the most and fattest were also the first to be rolled over by the tank's tracks. The remaining pigs only knew how to run forward desperately in front of the tank, without scattering in all directions. No wonder when scolding someone for being stupid, people say they have a "pig brain".

  The crew members who attacked this tank were lucky, here is the backyard of a sugar factory, there are several beet cellars, when the 53-ton tank drove over, the cellar collapsed, and the tank slowly sank. The heavy turret pulled the entire butt down, the tank struggled desperately, just like someone falling into the mud pit, the more it struggled, the more it was finished. In the end, the whole butt sat on the beets in the cellar, the exhaust pipe was blocked, the tank went out of fire, and the bow machine gun reluctantly fired several bursts of bullets at the sky, making a final wail.

  The warriors of the Leader's Guard pounded on the armor with grenades, as if they were staging a farce:

  "Ross, come out! We've received the gift you gave us!"

  "Your brave fight with pigs has ended, you let pigs defeat."

  The score on the field is zero to one, Pig won.

  The second group was luckier than the first: the tank's butt twisted and charged straight into the repair yard, knocking a nearly scrapped assault gun askew, crushing a bucket truck into a pancake, and flattening a 37mm anti-tank gun into iron sheeting. Seeing the distant 88mm high cannon, it charged over like a bull seeing red cloth. The direction machine of that cannon had malfunctioned, and the German technician was worried about not being able to hit the tank. Seeing the tank deliver itself to his doorstep, he quickly loaded the cannon with shells and ran away. The tank, unreasonable as ever, pressed down on the big gun, causing the barrel to explode. Light blue smoke emerged from the bottom of the tank, and its tracks fell off with a clatter. Four tank crew members crawled out of the tank and became prisoners, with the driver's butt being blown to shreds.

  Schmidt and a few others followed the third tank, occasionally being fired upon by the machine gun at the rear of the turret. Belo and Rannya took advantage of the tank's climb up the slope to jump onto it, tightly grasping the handles on the turret.

  Bailo snatched a grenade from Rania's hand and frantically kissed the muzzle of the machine gun behind the turret, once, twice, three times... The flash hider was blown off, and the barrel was actually bent.

  Schmidt, the naval lieutenant, and a soldier followed close behind him, no longer having to dodge bullets from machine guns coming from the turret.