Red Moscow

  Chapter 588 Rampage

  According to the prior arrangement, after the tank battalion has wiped out the enemy, it should immediately return to the small village and continue to hide, so as not to be bombarded or attacked by the German army.

   After the guard battalion that cleaned the battlefield came back, Sokov raised his binoculars to look at the destroyed German tanks and armored vehicles. While watching, he smiled and said to Yakov: "Yakov, if there are two more such victories, it is almost equivalent to killing a German armored regiment...Damn it, what is that?"

  Yakov was taken aback, and hurriedly asked: "Misha, what happened?" He also raised his binoculars. "What do you see?"

   "The tank battalion has all been withdrawn," Sokov pointed to the distance and said through gritted teeth, "But why is that ball tank still on the battlefield?"

  Yakov held up the binoculars and searched for a while, and sure enough, he saw the ball tank that performed well, still staying on the battlefield. However, after observing carefully for a while, he found two people squatting beside the tank, seeming to be repairing something, so he said in an uncertain tone, "Misha, is there something wrong with that tank?"

  Sokov did not observe any more, but asked the operator to contact Bely. When he heard Bely's voice coming from the headset, Sokov asked angrily: "Comrade Colonel, didn't I order all the tanks to return to the small village immediately after completing the combat mission? Why did Valenra The lieutenant's ball tank is still on the battlefield at this moment?"

"Comrade Brigadier, please listen to my explanation." Bely replied unhurriedly: "When we were returning, the ball tank broke down, and Lieutenant Valenra is leading people to overhaul it. Once it is repaired tanks, they will return to the village immediately."

   "Why don't you send someone to help repair the tank?" Sokov panicked when he saw the spherical tank in the distance: "If the enemy launches shelling or bombing, that tank will be lost."

"Don't worry, Comrade Brigadier." Seeing that Sokov was so worried about the safety of the ball tank, Bely comforted him and said: "The target of a tank parked on the battlefield is very small, unless the Germans bombard that area. cover, otherwise the chances of being destroyed are very small.”

   "What about the air strike?" Although Bely said that the artillery could not accurately destroy the ball tank, Sokov still asked worriedly: "If it is discovered by the enemy plane, it may still be destroyed."

"Air strikes, you don't have to worry." Bely said with a smile: "Look, there are so many burning tanks and armored vehicles on the battlefield, and the thick smoke they produce will block the pilot's sight, making them unable to see clearly. ground targets."

Bely's explanation made Sokov feel more at ease in his heart, but he still said into the microphone with concern: "Comrade Colonel, tell Lieutenant Valenra to move more quickly and must launch a new attack on the German army." Repair the ball tank before attacking."

"Don't worry, Comrade Brigadier Commander." Bely replied, "The reason why I asked Lieutenant Valenra to drive this tank was because he has rich experience in mechanical maintenance and can promptly eliminate all kinds of problems that appear in spherical tanks." kind of glitch."

After finishing the call, Sokov threw the microphone and headset to the operator, and then said to Yakov: "Yakov, you are right, the ball tank is indeed malfunctioning, Lieutenant Valenra They're doing repairs."

After hearing what Sokov said, Yakov raised his hand and looked at his watch, and asked worriedly: "It has been almost an hour since the end of the battle, and the enemy may launch an attack at any time. Lieutenant Valenra and the others Can the tank be repaired in time?"

  Sokov sighed and said with a wry smile: "Under the current circumstances, we can only resign ourselves to fate."

  The new round of German offensive came faster than expected. Before Valenra and the others could repair the tanks, enemy tanks and armored vehicles appeared in Sokov's field of vision. Seeing this situation, Sokov stomped his feet anxiously, and he hurriedly told the radio operator: "Hurry up and tell Colonel Bely that enemy tanks and armored vehicles are coming, and let him get ready to attack."

"Wait a minute, Misha." Yakov heard Sokov's order to the radio operator, and quickly stopped him: "The enemy only has three tanks and seven armored vehicles, there is no need to send out the tank battalion hidden in the small village... "

"Yakov, the enemy has three tanks after removing the armored vehicles. Ball tanks can't deal with so many enemies." Sokov said anxiously: "If I don't order Colonel Bely to attack, I can only watch helplessly. The ball tank was destroyed by the enemy."

"Misha, the situation is not that bad." Yakov said cautiously: "According to my observation, there should be no problem with one ball tank against three. As long as Lieutenant Valenra and the others can kill the enemy's three tanks tanks, then the remaining armored vehicles are nothing to worry about."

  Yakov’s words reminded Sokov that the spherical tank was once hit by a German tank in battle, but due to the curved armor of the spherical tank, the armor-piercing projectile became a ricochet. Although the Germans have three tanks today, they are not necessarily opponents of the ball tank. Thinking of this link, Sokov no longer asked the radio operator to contact Bely, but raised his binoculars and quietly observed the situation on the battlefield.

   The spherical tank that stopped in place did not move. After the German tank entered the range of 500 meters, it fired first before the opponent stopped to fire. The two tank guns aimed at one of the tanks and fired at the same time. One shell missed, but the other shell hit the tank's track accurately. The tank whose track was broken turned quickly in a circle on the spot, and did not continue to fire back at all.

   Taking advantage of the opportunity of the German tanks spinning in place, the gunners of the spherical tanks reloaded, and when the enemy tanks stopped, they fired again. This time, both shells hit the tank with broken tracks. After the high-temperature jet of the armor-piercing shell penetrated the armor, it produced a splash effect in the tank body, killing the tank crew inside and causing the shells inside the vehicle to explode. Sacrifice. In an instant, the German tank turned into a ball of fire, burning on the spot.

   After killing a German tank, the ball tank adjusted its shooting direction again and opened fire on another tank that was speeding forward. However, Lieutenant Valenra's luck seemed to be bad, and both shells were empty. Before they could complete a new round of loading, they were hit by an armor-piercing projectile fired by another German tank. Fortunately, the armor-piercing projectile only rubbed against the surface of the curved armor before bouncing off without causing any damage to the spherical tank. What real harm.

   For such a result, Valenla and the others seem to have become accustomed to it. They didn't pay attention to the tank at all, but continued to aim at the target just now and continue shooting. This time, they finally succeeded in destroying the enemy tank.

  Seeing that Valenra and the others destroyed two tanks in a row, Sokov couldn't help applauding. He knew very well in his heart that for the ball tank, the remaining German tank was nothing to worry about. As long as the enemy's tanks are wiped out, those armored vehicles will definitely be frightened and flee.

  The ball tank successfully destroyed the third German tank after a few minutes. But the situation that followed did not develop as Sokov envisioned. The armored personnel carrier full of soldiers saw that the accompanying tank was destroyed, instead of turning around and running away, it rushed up against the spherical tank. Facing the armored vehicles rushing over, the ball tank fired a few more shots, but all the shells missed without exception.

   "Damn," just as Sokov secretly breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, he heard Yakov next to him exclaim: "The ball tank has run out of shells."

  Sukov was startled, and quickly raised his binoculars to look at the ball tank in the distance. I saw the German armored vehicles approaching the spherical tank quickly, but the spherical tank stayed in place, neither firing nor moving. Maybe it was really out of shells, as Yakov said.

   "What should I do?" Seeing this situation, Sokov felt a little panicked. If there were anti-tank fighters on these armored personnel carriers, they would be able to destroy the ball tanks without infantry cover. Because the distance was too far, even if he wanted to save them, it would be beyond his reach. Sokov asked himself in his heart: "Do you need to let Colonel Bely and the others attack?"

"Misha, don't let Colonel Bely and the others attack." Yakov saw Sokov's thoughts and quickly reminded him: "If there are anti-tank fighters on those armored personnel carriers, Colonel Bely's will be let go." The tank battalion suffered heavy losses."

  Sokov heard Yakov's off-screen voice, he gritted his molars and said: "So, we can only let the ball tank die?"

"Misha, as a commander, you must know how to choose." Yakov said with a solemn expression: "Even if Colonel Bely is allowed to attack at this moment, it is a little too late. Once they rush up to meet the German anti-tank fighters, when We lose more tanks. Do you understand?"

   "I understand." The thought of the ball tank being about to be blown up by German anti-tank fighters made Sokov feel like a knife cut his heart. But in order to take the overall situation into consideration, he could only harden his heart and prepare to watch this tank, which has made many achievements, be blown up by the enemy.

  The German armored vehicles surrounded the spherical tanks, and the machine guns on the vehicles began to shoot rattling. The soldiers jumped out of the vehicles, and some of them lay down on the spot, lying on the ground and shooting at the tanks. And some soldiers who were obviously anti-tank fighters crawled towards the ball tank.

  Under the cover of numerous firepower, the German anti-tank fighters quickly reached a distance of 30 meters from the tank, and they threw out the anti-tank grenade without hesitation. The grenade with the tail flew towards the ball tank from different directions. After a series of bangs, the tank was shrouded in smoke.

  The German soldiers surrounding the tank saw that the tank was shrouded in gunpowder smoke, and immediately stopped shooting and cheered on the spot. According to their thinking, no matter how powerful the armor is, the tank will turn into a pile of burning scrap iron after being exposed to so many anti-tank grenades. Unexpectedly, when the gunpowder smoke cleared, they saw that the spherical tank parked there did not catch fire, but some places on the surface armor were scratched by shrapnel.

   Just as the German officers and soldiers were stunned, the four machine guns of the ball tank opened fire at the same time. Those anti-tank fighters who stood up to check the results of the battle were the first to bear the brunt and fell to the ground one after another. The machine gunner on the armored vehicle hurriedly fired desperately at the ball tank again. The bullets hit the armor plate like hail, splashing countless sparks.

   When the spherical tank was shrouded in gunpowder smoke, Sokov's heart sank suddenly. He thought that the tank was definitely destroyed. Who knew that when the gunpowder smoke cleared, the spherical tank was intact, and several machine guns on the vehicle were still shooting wildly at the German officers and soldiers surrounding them. A smile appeared on his face.

"Misha, have you seen it?" Yakov shouted excitedly when he saw this scene: "The anti-tank grenades thrown by the Germans did not cause any damage to our ball tanks. It seems that the Germans It's going to be difficult now."

   After shooting for a while, the ball tank may find that there are many shooting dead spots, so it starts to circle in place, so as to eliminate the shooting dead spots and destroy more enemies. The German soldiers thought of the ball tank, which could be like a top, spinning in circles in situ, and the four machine guns on the body were like the sickle of death, constantly taking the lives of German officers and soldiers.

   In just a few minutes, the German officers and soldiers around the tank were killed and wounded. The spherical tank stopped spinning, and after pausing in place for a moment, it rushed towards an armored personnel carrier directly in front of it. After a loud "boom", the armored personnel carrier was hit and turned over several times in a row, knocking the machine gunner on the vehicle half to death.

One blow worked, and the ball tank followed suit, constantly turning its direction, crazily bumping into other armored personnel carriers. After three of them were knocked over in a row, the remaining armored vehicles faced the rushing ball tank, where? He dared to stay where he was waiting to die, turned the front of the car in a panic, ignored the officers and soldiers, and fled back at full speed.

  The remaining German soldiers saw that the armored personnel carrier carrying them had already run away, knowing that if they continued to resist, there would be only a dead end, so they raised their hands and surrendered. But they never dreamed that Valenra had received Sokov's order not to keep any prisoners, so whether they surrendered or not, the fate waiting for them was the same.

Seeing that the spherical tank killed three German tanks, four armored personnel carriers, and 50 or 60 soldiers so easily, Sokov began to think to himself: I really didn't expect this spherical tank to be so effective on the battlefield. With such great power, should Yakov propose to Ustinov to open up a special tank production line for the production of such tanks?

"Misha, did you see it? We have won, and the enemy's attack has been repulsed." Yakov only saw the victory of the ball tank, but did not realize that Sokov had something on his mind. He said: "If we have more tanks like this, maybe victory will come faster."

  (end of this chapter)