Steel Soviet Union

Having been authorized to report the specific mission status to these Waffen SS armored troops who had received the mission, Major Heinkel cleared his throat and then spoke to the four Waffen SS vehicle crews neatly arranged in front of him.

"According to the original plan, this operation should be carried out by the armored units of the National Defense Forces."

"But due to some reasons, this batch of Tiger 6 tanks that have just rolled off the production line have been handed over to your Waffen-SS Guards Division for actual combat testing. The first thing to emphasize is that the four of you crews must be in I believe you can guess why your division will be famous in the upcoming battle."

After hearing these suggestive words, Wittmann seemed to understand something. He thought of the "Adolf Hitler" Guards Division number of his unit, and gradually understood the suggestive meaning of Wittmann in Major Heinkel's words. Man couldn't help but nodded quietly.

Seeing the thoughtful and enlightened expressions of the four SS crews in front of him, Major Heinkel, who raised the corners of his mouth slightly, quickly continued to speak with his hands behind his back.

"Your mission is very simple! In the designated mission area, a Russian tank patrol will pass by without any awareness of the danger. This is after Lake Ladoga was completely frozen last winter, and those Russians rushed to transport during the strongest period of the ice. Tanks entering the city.”

"After they had more tanks in their hands, these Russians began to belittle themselves and tried to expand their actual control area and push away our encirclement. It sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? But these Russians are just so whimsical."

The rather funny Major Heinkel briefly described the mission report in an almost mocking and joking manner, which made Wittmann, who was accustomed to the serious style of his superiors, somewhat uncomfortable.

"Although the fighting in the encirclement is currently generally calm, there are only occasional sporadic exchanges of fire and it does not cause any big problems. But if this Russian tank patrol is not eliminated, it will cause some trouble for our future offensive. No People want to suddenly encounter a group of Russian tanks coming out of the corner when they are attacking the city. "

"We have been paying attention to the specific movements of this Russian tank patrol for a month, but their actual route is erratic and is roughly fixed in a circular area with a radius of about twenty square kilometers. They have been moving for a month We have fought seven consecutive surprise battles, pulled out some of our security checkpoints, and immediately retreated. It seems that a relatively experienced and smart Russian is in command. "

"After you arrive at the area where they may appear, you need to wait patiently for them to appear, or you can make on-the-spot changes based on the actual situation you speculate and see. In short, you need to hunt down this Russian tank patrol, so as to To test the actual anti-armor capabilities of our new Type VI Tiger tanks, you must know that those Russian tanks are the most troublesome. "

Major Heinkel, who had finished talking about all the important situations first, breathed a sigh of relief and blurted out the last remaining words.

"Reconnaissance intelligence and feedback from eyewitness soldiers pointed out that this Russian tank patrol is mainly composed of T34 medium tanks, with a small number of KV1 heavy tanks, with a total of about 13 to 15 vehicles. But I am very curious about how those Russians did it. Can the ice of Lake Ladoga bear such a weight of nearly fifty tons? Oh, whatever, who knows."

"The details of the mission are roughly like this. All you have to do is destroy this Russian armored patrol. What you will face may be an armored encounter with four times the number of enemies, so try to make good use of preemptive attacks. The advantage of a sneak attack is to catch the Russians off guard and knock out as many Russian tanks as possible before the real battle begins.”

"Believe me, although I don't quite understand the way your armored troops fight, this is the best advice I've come up with after nearly a year outside Leningrad: Never underestimate the Russians in this city."

After hearing the "sincere advice" given by Major Heinkel, he didn't know what to say. After wandering around the map for two times, Wittmann roughly figured out where he was going, and then followed The other three crews accompanying him re-entered the tank and headed towards the mission area.

The four Tigers, which consumed a lot of fuel, drank enough fuel to last the battalion cars for a month at Major Heinkel's battalion headquarters before setting off on the road, which surprised Major Heinkel. The helplessness.

The snow that fell on the outskirts of Leningrad has basically melted away. The muddy road turned the four brand-new Tigers into garbage trucks in a short time. Wei Te, who had just taken over the new tank, Man frowned and seemed a little angry.

"These Russian guys really never know how to build roads."

The intended ambush area pointed out by Major Heinkel was next to a muddy dirt road.

Intelligence pointed out that German soldiers on patrol saw more than a dozen Soviet tanks on this road two days ago. This is the latest sighting report to the current time. And throughout the whole day yesterday, no one saw those Russian tanks, and there were no reports of any forward security posts being attacked.

As far as the current situation is concerned, waiting for the bear next to this dirt road is the best option for Wittmann and his party.

After arriving at the predetermined location, Wittmann first assigned Berndt, the radio operator of his tank, to go out for reconnaissance. He ran to a place one kilometer away with a telescope to stay alert for Soviet tanks that might arrive at any time.

On the other side, Wittmann, together with the remaining crew members and three other crews, chose a low-lying place that could block the tank body to hide most of the front projection of the Tiger tank.

He also used several steel helmets that almost no one had ever worn to scoop up a few helmets full of mud and picked up a lot of dry branches, trying his best to hide the huge Tiger tank in the best possible condition.

Snapped--

Using half a wooden board, he scooped up a large lump of mud from the helmet and placed it on the turret of the vehicle with a muffled sound. Gunner Klink, who always felt that doing so was a waste of money, couldn't help but complain to Wittmann.

"Michelle, this is our new car. Don't you think this is excessive?"

Wittmann, who was decorating the barrel of a cannon with dry branches in his hands, didn't look back and didn't seem to agree with what his gunner said.

"Stop if you want to be seen by those Russians. Although it will make the car dirty, at least it will reduce the chance of you dying here."