Iron Cross

The rumbling sound of tracks was the sound of Tiger tanks passing by. They led the T-34 and No. 4Gs to begin to break through in depth. Although the Tigers rushed to the front, their speed was not enough. Soon the T-34 and 4 They just shook them off and expanded directly to the two wings - this is the use of medium tanks under the new tactics. The Tiger is the main force for breakthroughs, not the main force for deep pursuit or flanking.

Even so, all Tiger crew members are still very satisfied with their vehicles. The thick armor gives them a full sense of security. The tank gun modified from the 88mm anti-aircraft gun gives the tank unparalleled lethality and maneuverability. Barely passable - although the two-layer staggered and overlapping road wheels make maintenance more difficult, it also properly improves the traffic capacity of muddy roads. The smooth passage of terrain like today is entirely due to the double-layered staggered and overlapping road wheels. . When it comes to mobility, it all depends on who you compare with. Of course, the mobility is far inferior to that of the No. 4 and T-34. But compared to the clumsy heavy tanks like Matilda and KV, the Tiger is as flexible as a head. A real tiger.

"Attention, all crews. Attention, all crews. There is a British heavy tank 3 kilometers ahead on the left wing. It is more difficult to attack. T-34 calls us for support."

"Copy that." Second Lieutenant Coleman waved his hand, "The entire platoon turned left and charged forward, preparing to engage in firefights with British tanks."

Following his order, the five Tiger tanks from the third row of the 2nd company of the 502nd Heavy Armor Battalion began to rumble. After another half minute, the other two rows of tanks from the company also began to follow, with a total of 17 Tiger tanks. Leaping forward.

The crews soon saw the British tanks having a heated battle with the T-34s and No. 4s through the lookout mirrors. Some were identified as Shermans, while others could not distinguish their models for a while - only later did they see the British tanks. I know it’s Churchill Type VI. There were already several T-34s and No. 4s smoking on the left and right flanks, and they were accompanied by some Shermans. Judging from the number, the German army seemed to be smaller than its opponents. The only intelligence Coleman received was The front armor of this batch of unknown tanks is very thick - much thicker than the Matilda. The T-34 and No. 4 are not very able to fight, and they need to go around to the flanks to double-team, but there are at least 80 British tanks on the scene now. During the galloping attack, we had no numerical advantage, and it was very difficult to outflank them, so we thought of requesting Tiger reinforcements.

"Fortunately, the whole company came up, otherwise our platoon alone wouldn't be able to do it." Coleman was thankful and quickly issued the order, "Free fire!"

As soon as his order was given, the gunner in the same vehicle had already sighted the distance and shouted: "The distance is 1,200 meters, let go!"

Boom, deviation.

"Damn it, 10 meters to the left...continue!" Coleman immediately reported the situation.

The turret of the Tiger tank is hydraulically driven, and the power is output from the main gearbox. The gunner controls the rotation of the turret through the pedals under his feet. The rotation speed itself is not fast. The real historical Tiger turret can only rotate 6 degrees per second, and it can all rotate once. The lap takes one minute. The Tiger modified by Hoffmann reduced the weight of the vehicle, the remaining power of the gearbox increased, and the rotation speed per second increased to between 7-8 degrees. In addition, the turret can also be rotated by hand. The gunner and the commander can use the handles to shake 720 or 595 turns respectively to make the turret rotate once. If they shake it together, the speed can be doubled - this is to prevent the hydraulic system from being damaged. The backup function adopted when the tank immediately loses its combat capability. Among heavy tanks, the Tiger's rotation speed is relatively slow, but the advantage of slow rotation is high precision. The gunner's standard rotation process is to first use hydraulic pressure to turn to the approximate position, and then manually perform precise aiming - this This is also why the Tiger can still hit accurately at a distance of 1,500 meters. At this distance, the T-34 would have no idea where it would fly.

The turret has been rotated to its approximate position, and the gunner is turning the handle with all his strength - this is a laborious task, and he can't do it without any real skills on his hands.

With a "boom", a hit Churchill immediately burst into flames.

Coleman looked at it carefully: "Well...completely destroyed!"

"Attention all crews, the Tiger can effectively penetrate enemy armor within 1,200 meters..." He quickly reported the news through the throat intercom. The morale of the tanks was high, and the British heavy tanks were nothing more than this.

"The next one, 1100 meters away, let go!" As soon as he finished speaking, the shell just flew over the head of the Churchill tank.

"It's too far, move closer!"

Another shot flew over, but still missed. The Churchill tank probably sensed the approaching danger, and the turret began to adjust this way.

Coleman stood close behind the artillery to observe the trajectory and shouted: "Missed, move to the left!"

The gunner was acting as a gunner at this time. He once again aimed at the Churchill. Unexpectedly, he was hit by the enemy first - "Cang Dang", "Cang Dang". Two consecutive 75mm shells hit the car body within three seconds. The shot hit the front armor, and one shot hit the turret. Although the shell was bounced away, the huge impact made everyone in the car stagger around, with stars in their eyes, and their heads hurt slightly as they hit the steel guys around them.

"God bless, our tank is safe and sound." Coleman made the sign of the cross in shock and quickly ordered to the driver, "Drive to the right, drive to the right..."

The driver who received the order desperately turned the steering wheel to move the behemoth to the other side. The steering wheel of the Tiger is a unique design of German heavy tanks. It is accurate in control and much more labor-saving than the joystick. It is much better than heavy tanks of other countries. The price is of course the complexity of the transmission system and the increase in weight, which also affects the production time. Hoffman was originally hesitant about whether to cut it off, but when he thought that the German armored troops mainly relied on human-machine cooperation and tactical ability to make a living, he finally didn't want to do it and kept it.

"Ha... We run faster than them." Coleman left the area that was attacked by concentrated fire and re-observed the opponent's tanks. He found that the speed of this batch of iron turtles was almost the same as that of Matilda, and was far less flexible than the Tiger.

Now he didn't care about finding which tank had just fired at him, and once again aimed at the Churchill that had escaped the gunfire of his own vehicle again and again. Taking this opportunity, this guy also moved forward more than 40 meters. The gunner's eyes were facing the sight, accurately determining the azimuth and distance, and there was no response after pressing the launch switch.

"Damn, what went wrong?"

The loader immediately opened the gun brake to perform the ejection action, and the shell rushed out from the back of the barrel, but the shell was gone. Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment, and then realized that the shell was stuck in the barrel.

Before Coleman gave the order "Remove the fault immediately!", the skilled and well-trained crew members had already followed the regulations: first, the gun barrel was lowered, and within a few seconds, the gun barrel was lowered to a nearly flat angle. The gunner had already climbed out of the turret at this time, and got the three-section gun barrel cleaning rod on the track on the right side of the gun body. He quickly assembled the three parts of the cleaning rod, and then used all his strength to poke the cleaning rod into the muzzle. With a "clang" sound, the shell was poked out of the barrel and the breech block, and the loader quickly stuffed a new shell into it. The gunner disassembled the cleaning rod and placed it again while climbing back to the turret. Just as he got into the turret and had no time to close the hatch, a shell exploded near the muzzle - if he was a few seconds late, the whole set of actions would have been scrapped.

"Come again..."

Another 88mm armor-piercing shell was fired. The Churchill, which had dodged the attack five times, finally couldn't dodge it this time. A big hole was pierced in the front armor. The panicked crew could only abandon the car and run away.

The arrival of a company of Tiger tanks greatly stabilized the morale of the German army. As one Churchill after another was hit and scrapped, the German tanks quickly controlled the situation on the field. When there were only a dozen Sherman tanks left, they gave up the slow-moving Churchill and actually left the scene first. The only five remaining Churchills could only raise the white flag and surrender while cursing their comrades' betrayal.

However, the Shermans who escaped did not get any advantage. They probably forgot that the Tiger tank could also shoot accurately at a distance of 1,500 meters. When they turned around and fled, exposing the weak rear armor, three of them were hit by powerful 88mm armor-piercing shells. These "Sherman" lighters quickly burned up, blue flames burst out from the vents, machine gun bullets in the cockpit exploded, and the tank paint was quickly bubbled by the high temperature inside, and began to emit small green flames. The whole tank was burned black, and no crew member could escape. Even if they could escape, they would be killed by the German machine gun fire that controlled the entire scene.

The crew members on several surrendered Churchill tanks witnessed the whole process. They clenched their fists but said nothing. It is unknown whether they hated their companions' escape or lamented their future fate.

This sudden collision of steel was later called the Gubbi Wells Tank Encounter. In order to contain the German offensive, the 4th Armored Brigade of the 7th Armored Division of the United Kingdom deployed a total of 94 tanks, all of which were Sherman or Churchill tanks. They encountered 17 German Tiger tanks and more than 60 T-34 and Panzer IV tanks. The numbers of both sides were basically equal, and there was not much artillery or air support. The result was jaw-dropping. Except for 9 Sherman tanks that hurriedly left the battlefield and 5 Churchill tanks that were captured, the rest of the 94 British tanks were destroyed (but most of them could be repaired). The German side only lost 11 T-34s and 3 Panzer IVs. The 17 Tiger tanks that the Germans relied on as the core were safe and sound except for one that was damaged by the British breaking the track, while 47 British tanks were directly killed or injured by the Tiger guns.

A 47:1 result greatly demonstrated the prestige and reputation of the Tiger.