Steel Soviet Union

In an IS7 heavy tank not too far away, sharp eyes had already noticed the target that needed to be attacked when the smoke rose. Although it was not possible to look directly at the sighted target within the field of vision to find its precise location, the approximate direction and location were sufficient for the experienced commander.

"The target is at 11 o'clock, 300 meters away! There is smoke rising from behind the slope, aim!"

It is as huge as an upside-down hillock, painted with the call sign "177", the Guards logo, the leader's division emblem, and the iconic phrase "Revenge for the hero Kirill". The turret is turning rapidly, and the huge black cannon The mouth was soon pointed in its exact direction and aimed at the target.

"Load the delayed grenade, load it! Hurry!"

The IS7 is a very special heavy tank. When it was born, it had already set many unprecedented "firsts" in the entire Stalin heavy tank family.

One of them is the first heavy tank designed and built using many proven shelf products from the Red Navy.

Those off-the-shelf products from the Red Navy not only made the IS7 that was finally born mature and reliable, but also possessed a number of unprecedented "special capabilities" for the Stalin heavy tanks of the same series. For example, use the same 130mm naval gun of the Red Navy destroyer to fire certain special types of ammunition that are only available in the Red Navy ammunition depot.

What Malashenko now requires to be loaded is not the Army's common high-explosive anti-personnel grenade with a contact-type impact fuse, but a semi-armor-piercing high-explosive anti-personnel grenade with a delayed fuse from the Red Navy.

This special type of ammunition from the Red Navy ammunition depot was originally designed for naval warfare. It is specially used to kill certain small and medium-sized ships with thin skin, no armor or thin armor protection, such as frigates, destroyers, light cruisers, etc. .

Its principle of action is also very simple. It uses a semi-armor-piercing warhead with a certain wall thickness to penetrate the unprotected hull shell or light armor, and detonates inside the enemy ship under the action of a delayed fuze, causing serious internal injuries.

Compared with high-explosive anti-personnel grenades with traditional contact-type impact fuses, blasting an enemy ship from the inside can obviously enhance the damage effect, destroy more cabins, kill more personnel, and cause more serious damage to the hull structure. The damage caused by an ordinary high-explosive grenade hitting the hull of a ship and exploding is much greater.

It may not be very useful against battlecruisers and battleships that are thick-skinned and unable to penetrate armor, but it is definitely great against small and medium-sized ships with thin skin and big stuff.

The price is that the semi-armor-piercing shell is much thicker than ordinary high-explosive anti-personnel grenades, which will occupy a considerable part of the warhead charging space, resulting in a semi-armor-piercing delayed fuze grenade with a much smaller charge than traditional grenades. But compared to those actual armor-piercing projectiles, the warhead charge is still huge.

So this is a special type of ammunition between a real armor-piercing bullet and a high-explosive grenade. It is indeed a specialized type of ammunition that corresponds to the special needs of the navy and the maritime combat environment. It is not something that the army can normally use. Used.

As the direct and orthodox successor of the Red Navy's 130mm destroyer gun, Malashenko's IS7 heavy tank carries this semi-armor-piercing delayed fuze grenade that was originally exclusively used by the Red Navy.

Don't get me wrong, Malashenko carries this special type of ammunition, not to use it to attack the German tanks or the German infantry. The pitiful armor-piercing depth of the semi-armor-piercing delayed fuze grenade is obviously not enough to produce a qualitative change against the German zoo, which has become rough and thick to a certain extent these days.

On the contrary, because the thickening of the bullet wall reduces the charge of the warhead, it will also seriously weaken the overpressure impact lethality of the grenade. It cannot penetrate the target and its soft lethality is reduced. Some targets that could have been killed and crippled with one shot may become alive and kicking. It is so embarrassing to use this kind of semi-armor-piercing delayed fuze grenade in a situation that does not correspond to the demand environment.

But this does not mean that this special type of ammunition is useless. The battlefield is not a diode testing ground. In most cases, it does not have a place to use, which does not mean that it is useless at all. In some very special cases, if used appropriately, it can be used. It works wonders, like now, which is why Malashenko proactively equipped his car with several rounds of this special ammunition.

Because it is a type of ammunition that is rarely used, most of the time it will lie quietly in the ammunition rack on the floor of the chassis, sleeping and eating dust.

Therefore, if you want to use a 130mm full-caliber semi-armor-piercing delayed fuze grenade, it must be loaded manually rather than semi-automatically. At least the semi-armor-pierced delayed fuze grenade projectiles, which are extremely huge and heavier than ordinary grenades, must rely on manpower. To take it out from the chassis ammunition rack for loading.

"Uh, Sukka! This thing is really heavy. It's much heavier than ordinary grenades. It's almost as big as armor-piercing bullets!"

"Quick, quick, put it up, quick!"

As the main loader, Artyom called to the deputy loader Sergey to quickly move the projectiles onto the loading slide, but he himself did not stand aside and watch others work, pretending to be dumbfounded.

Sergey is responsible for loading projectiles, and Artyom has to be responsible for operating the loader and loading the propellant cartridge.

To be precise, the so-called "manual loading" only means that the projectile held in Sergey's arms needs to be loaded manually. In order to load the propellant cartridge quickly, Artyom still operates the semi-automatic loading machine from the turret. The lower part of the ammunition rack at the tail end carries the ammunition belt into the propellant cartridge rack, and maintains the same straight line series with the projectiles that Sergey has placed on the loading slide first, and then carries out the final step of loading with the ejector rod. .

Generally speaking, the ejector rod is required for the last step of loading into the chamber. This is the standard operating procedure for the loader clearly stated in the operation manual.

But at this moment, in order to reload quickly, Artyom hurriedly completed the last step of pushing into the chamber in a hurry. He did not turn around and pick up the ramrod placed behind him, but directly used it towards Sergey beside him. He winked.

Sergey, who had formed a silent understanding during the long-term cooperation, understood immediately. He put his left hand on the top of the breech block to support his body, and his right hand directly pressed the palm of his hand against the left half of the propellant barrel.

In contrast, Artyom, who was standing diagonally behind the breech block on the other side, also stretched out his left hand and pressed the right half of the propellant barrel with the palm of his hand, and put his right hand on the top of the breech block for support. body and ready to go.

"Harder! Let's go!"

Wow——