Chapter 71: The Underestimated 'Tiger' 2
The British 7th Armoured Division, faced with a sudden appearance of German tanks, merely paused for a moment. Then, with a loud rumbling noise, they continued to advance towards the mountain pass, as if the German tanks did not exist at all.
It's no wonder, whoever has 250 advanced 'Sherman M4' tanks would not be afraid when facing 40 enemy tanks that look like the fourth tank. 'Bryant' just dispatched a battalion of tanks to drive away these German tanks. Although it is also a merit to eliminate these tanks, 'Bryant' now really can't muster up the interest to annihilate all these tanks. What 'Bryant' wants now is to quickly drive these German troops to one side and advance towards Tobruk again. Of course, if these Germans want to entangle themselves to death, then 'Bryant' doesn't mind letting these Germans taste the ferocity of British tank iron fists.
A squadron of British tanks sped towards the German 'Four' tank at full speed, while other British tank squadrons continued to advance forward at a steady pace.
As time ticked by, Brian saw the German tanks unfolding in formation at the mountain pass through his telescope. To his surprise, they didn't retreat but instead spread out dozens of tanks to block the road between the two mountains. Seeing this, Brian was furious and thought to himself, "It's said that a good dog doesn't block the way, but you have to block it. And you all think you're invincible. This is your own doing, don't blame me for being ruthless."
"Blair" yelled loudly over the wireless "Forward tanks, charge, annihilate the German tanks. Don't leave a single one for them."
Brian was furious and the consequences were severe.
The British tanks, which were already approaching the range of their own tank guns, ran even more happily after receiving this order. The vanguard brigade's tanks also stepped on the accelerator to the end after receiving the order, and followed the first battalion's tanks to kill the German army.
The 7th Armoured Division had an armoured regiment consisting of 20 Sherman M4 tanks and 15 armoured assault vehicles. Including the commanders, there were a total of 525 people, making it a relatively large regiment. This was changed after Montgomery went to North Africa. The purpose of this change was to transform the role of tanks from assisting infantry in attacks to becoming the main attacking force. This idea was in line with the operational needs of World War II and was a more advanced concept.
The Germans had only 40 tanks at the mountain pass. According to past rules, the British would send out 20 'Sherman M4' tanks and the Germans would retreat in a hurry. But today these Germans didn't know what they ate wrong. Not only did they not retreat, but they also blocked the way of the British. This made those proud British tank commanders feel insulted. These British tank commanders were determined to give these Germans a profound lesson, so that they could learn the etiquette they should know when they see British tanks in the future.
The British tanks opened fire first, at a distance of 2,000 meters from the German tanks. The leading British tanks had been itching to start and as soon as they saw the Germans enter their maximum range, they adjusted the elevation of their gun barrels to the maximum and fired shells out of their cannons.
The Sherman M4 was theoretically capable of reaching a maximum range of 2800 meters, but in reality, due to air resistance, the shell's kinetic energy would be depleted by around 1800 meters. The remaining distance would essentially be covered by inertia. If it were a high-explosive shell, that would be fine, as the fuse is installed externally and would detonate immediately upon impact with anything. However, armor-piercing shells are different; without sufficient pressure, they cannot explode, and without strong kinetic energy propulsion, they simply wouldn't be able to penetrate.
The Sherman M4's old model gun barrel was only three meters long, with an effective range of only one thousand meters. The effective range is even less than that of the German No. 4 tank, and if it weren't for its thick armor and durable engine, the British army really didn't want to use this tank. The Sherman M4s of the British Seventh Armored Division were all improved models with gun barrels that were at least extended to three meters ninety-five. As a result, the effective range increased to 1800 meters, which is actually the maximum data obtained under completely sealed test conditions. In real-world environments, affected by air humidity, temperature, and wind, it's already good if you can get 1500 meters.
Especially in the desert areas with extremely harsh natural conditions, the range of the Sherman M4's main gun was actually only 1,300 meters. The combat distance chosen by most British tankers was also within 1 kilometer to ensure accuracy.
But it can't be said that the British couldn't fire at a distance of 1800 meters, this battalion's tanks all hoped to hit the German tanks by luck, and maybe they could even hit a few shots. Plus, if they happened to hit the weak points of the tank armor, maybe just crashing would be enough to destroy several German tanks.
It's not that there wasn't a precedent for this. During the North African Campaign, British armored forces clashed with German armored forces in the Syrian desert, and British tanks had destroyed German tanks at a distance of 3,500 meters. However, that was just a coincidence - the British tanks were on higher ground at the time, and the elevation angle of their guns was also maximized. As a result, the tank shells, which normally flew in an arc, drew a large arc instead, and during their descent, due to the Earth's gravity, their kinetic energy did not decrease but increased. And just happened to hit the front armor and turret junction of a German Panzer III tank. Several coincidences combined to create the fact that British tanks destroyed German tanks at a distance of 3,500 meters.
But that kind of thing has become a legend, an unrepeatable legend. However, the British tankers were still very willing to fire at distances over 2,000 meters, all hoping to continue the legend of the godly gunner.
However, the distance was originally relatively far, and they were all shooting while moving. None of these shells hit the German tanks, not even within ten meters of the tanks. However, the sound of the tank's cannon fire was indeed loud, and the fan-shaped formation of 40 German tanks was suddenly shrouded in a burst of dust.
Unlike the traditional German tank formation, this time the German tanks formed a curved shape. In the past, German tanks were square in shape, but this time they formed a fan-shaped pattern, with the middle tank slightly behind and the two side tanks more prominent. Originally, the German tanks were not many, and after forming this formation, they looked even more sparse.
All this made the commander of the British 7th Armoured Division, 'Brien', even more at ease. He had never seen such a formation of tanks before and thought that these German tank commanders were all newcomers who didn't know how to command tanks to form an offensive or defensive formation.
Actually, 'Braun' wrongly accused the German tank commander, and the tanks were commanded by instructors who had just been transferred from various military academies. And these 40 tanks were also the "Tiger" tanks that both Rommel and the British looked down on. The reason why the German tank commanders formed a fan-shaped formation was to increase the combat distance between each "Tiger" tank, while allowing each "Tiger" to have the largest possible angle of fire with the British tanks. This way, it could not only provide a certain space for defense but also exert the greatest power in offense.
Of course, this formation is not suitable for every occasion, but at this time and place, it can best resist the British attack. The formation problem was just discussed by these instructors after taking over the 'Tiger' tank, and no one expected to use it so soon. However, the 'Brian' of the British Seventh Division did not know all this.
Time flies on the battlefield, in less than 5 minutes, Britain's 'Sherman M4' has already fired shells and accelerated forward. The first battalion of 'Sherman M4' at the forefront has crossed the 1000-meter tank standard killing line. The tanks of a brigade following behind are also following 200 meters behind them.
The British never thought of stopping to aim and fire. In their eyes, it was not necessary at all. As long as they ran forward for 300-500 meters, they could hit these German tanks without aiming. In their hearts, these German Tigers had become targets for practice shooting, or even moving targets.
Some friends may ask, why did the German army achieve so many victories in the previous article when they fired at 2000 meters away. And how could these British elite tankers not hit the German tanks at a distance of over 1000 points? This is not surprising, although these British tankers are the elite among the elite, but don't forget that those who commanded and fired at the German army at 2000 meters away were what kind of people. They were instructors, professors, experts, and masters. Hundreds of commanders were selected from the elite of Germany. If they didn't have some extraordinary abilities, could they go to teach tank commanders who are above their heads?
These instructors fired differently from those British tank commanders, the German instructors first ordered the driver to step on the clutch before ordering the firing of the shell. In fact, the shells were fired when the tanks were stationary, so the accuracy was higher than that of the British firing. The only difference was that the German instructors' commands were very coherent and all actions were completed within one or two seconds. From the outside, it looked like the shells were being fired while moving, with high accuracy.
This is not something that ordinary people can do, it requires agile thinking, abnormal calculation ability and perfect control of timing. The British army, let alone the troops, even the whole of Britain cannot find a few such abnormal characters. Of course, in the British system, abnormalities will be rejected by the military academy.
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Two chapters have been sent up.
