Half an hour later, the Soviet tanks rumbled up again.

Perhaps because the Soviet army found out the location of the German defense line during the last attack, this time, it actually used a large-caliber mortar to prepare for artillery for ten minutes... The mortar was short in range and had little power, so the Soviet army was not very worried that it would cause damage to the refinery.

The artillery fire caused some casualties to the German army in the past ten minutes. The mortar shells were at a large angle, and some shells fell directly into the trenches and exploded. So screams and sounds of calling for medical staff came one after another in the trenches.

However, German soldiers are used to this. Fighting is inevitable, even veterans who have experienced many battles.

This is the difference between war and other things... If you master the rules of other skills or study hard to understand them, it will be in your grasp. But war will never be able to do this level, because it is unregulated to some extent, and you cannot know where the shells will explode in the next second who will die.

After the sound of artillery passed, a large number of tanks appeared about five hundred meters in front of the position.

"I can guarantee!" Werner shouted: "This time they are dispatching the main force!"

"We all have eyes, Werner!" replied the baker.

What they are talking about is actually another thing, that is, oil should be released.

They didn't need to worry about this, because under Manstein's order, the German artillery had begun to pour shells into the Soviet army... There were howitzers seized from the Soviet army and mortars.

This style of play is a bit different from the Soviet army's last attack, and of course the purpose is different: this time it is to use the sound of cannons to cover up the "swinging" sound of oil flowing out.

The Soviet army did not have any doubts about this. Chernov, who had observed the battle situation later, even felt a little proud, because he thought that the Germans were frantically firing their guns when they saw so many tanks... He did have reason to think so. Howitzers could not penetrate the armor of the T34 tank, and the mortars could cross the tank to cause some casualties, but they could not stop the Soviet army from advancing.

not to mention……

Chernov ordered: "Order the artillery troops to suppress the opponent's artillery!"

"Comrade Chernov!" asked the staff officer: "It is possible to accidentally blow up the refinery..."

"Let them aim at the attack!" Chernov interrupted the staff officer: "The blind man can see the flames emitted from their muzzles!"

"Yes!" the adviser responded.

But in fact, it is very difficult to do this, not because the distance of the target cannot be calculated... Artillery observers can easily do this, that is, using the triangle measurement method, two groups of artillery soldiers at a certain distance to observe and measure the same target at the same time. From the measured angle and the distance between the two, they can use the knowledge of trigonometric functions to calculate the distance of the target.

The difficulty is that the artillery used by the Transcaucasian Front was the relatively backward M1910 artillery (the more advanced Soviet artillery was the M1938, but most of it was equipped with front-line troops).

This kind of artillery has an offset of about five kilometers or more than a hundred meters, and the German army is close to the refinery, so no one can guarantee whether the shells will hit the refinery.

But the artillery opened fire as ordered, and fortunately it did not blow up the refinery... They didn't know that this was exactly what the German army wanted.

When the Soviet army and Chernov focused on tank charges and artillery suppression, oil flowed from the oil pipeline to the trench, and then overflowed from the trench to the direction of the Soviet army.

As the Soviet army advanced in the dark, the Soviet army knew nothing about the oil that was rushing towards them, especially the tanks... The tanks had poor external perception ability, and at this time they focused on the German defense line, so they could not pay attention to anything unusual on the ground, so they drove into the oil area one by one. What's even more tragic is that these tanks were still driving in front.

The infantry following behind quickly discovered the problem because the oil was a viscous liquid, and it felt wrong to step on it, so they shouted in panic:

"What's this?"

"It's oil!"

"They are going to light the fire, retreat, retreat quickly!"

...

The infantry retreated in a panic, but the tank knew nothing and continued to advance at full speed until the commander of the Tank Brigade received a warning and gave a panic order: "All tanks, retreat immediately and turn around!"

Vlakivic, the leader of the tank regiment who served as the front line commander in the charging tank, was a little puzzled when he heard this order. Why did he admit defeat and retreat before the battle began?

But he still conveyed the order: "Retreat immediately and turn around!"

But it was too late at this time. After a quick "leap", a blazing fire suddenly appeared in front of the observation window. To be precise, it was not one but one piece, and the entire battlefield became a sea of ​​fire.

Vlakivic seemed to understand something and shouted at the walkie-talkie: "Retreat, retreat immediately!"

In one aspect, the tank is not afraid of fire. On the one hand, it is because it has a height and is a distance from the ground, which allows its turret to avoid being affected by fire. On the other hand, its thickness can be separated from the fire for a short time.

The main problem is the tank's engine... The engine is originally in a high-temperature combustion state and its position is still very low. Once the burned oil is roasted, the engine will soon malfunction or even explode due to overheating.

So tanks drove in the flames for a while and then stopped one after another.

In the sight of Qin Chuan and the German soldiers, panicked tank crews came out of the turret, and then looked helplessly at the surrounding sea of ​​fire, which was still flowing towards the Soviet army, and continued to submerge tanks behind them that they had no time to turn around and escape.

A shrill scream soon sounded, and some tank crew members were inevitably ignited.

Some tanks exploded, and it is not known whether the shells exploded in high temperatures or the soldiers inside chose this way to end their lives. If it were the former, they would be lucky because their fate was already destined, and it would be more painful to break it with their own hands.

But most tank crew members had to choose the latter, either using pistols or grenades to end the battle.

Chernov looked at the scene in front of him in amazement. He had thought that the tank brigade would suffer heavy casualties, but he never thought that it was casualties in this way... They were wiped out without even reaching the enemy's defense line.

After a while, Chernov ordered loudly: "Fire the cannon, fire the enemy!"

"Where is the target, Comrade Chernov?" asked the staff officer.
Chapter completed!