Soldiers of Barbarossa P4, KV-2, mating dinosaurs, TANK v TANK CLOSE COMBAT episode 169 has it all!

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Episode 169

Gradually, a reaction of nervous tension made itself felt amongst us. Somewhat exhausted, we went a little way back along the road, up to a street attendant’s cottage, where we sat down on a bench to rest. From there we had a good overview of the battlefield in the sunken ground. We saw both our own and enemy tanks that had been put out of action, but none combat ready from either party.

About 100 meters away from us stood a burning T-34 that, as was later ascertained, had been shot into flames by the commander of 6th Company. Half an hour later it blew sky high with a dull crack, flinging the turret 30 meters away. Further back at the forest edge we saw a T-34 that had rammed one of our Panzer IIs. It had even climbed up it and then not been able to free itself. From a distance it looked like the mating of two dinosaurs. This scene was later referred to in the regiment as the panzer wedding.

Of course some of my men had suffered a shock, as they were taken completely by surprise and attacked right up close by [enemy tanks] clearly superior in terms of weapons and armor plating. And even more so when they discovered that they had hardly any impact with their own little tank guns [Kanönchen]. Who could hold that against them? One non-commissioned officer drove back into the area of Combat Echelon B with his tank, which had been severely damaged in the fight. There, sinking down exhausted next to Leutnant K., he told the following about his experience:

“Herr Leutnant, it was terrible! One [of the Russian tanks] just advances up to me, I’m firing and firing, armor piercing shells, high explosive shells, with the machine gun. Hit after hit, but he doesn’t notice any of it. And he’s coming ever closer, his shots missing us by a hair’s breadth. Shoots again, the shot tears the track shield from my tank. I can calculate when he will have the next huge shell in his barrel, then he will hit home. I’m only 30 meters away from him, and then another tank comes at me from the side, its barrel pointed at me. That’s when my driver puts his foot down and we drive off between the two of them with gusto. They are better armored, better armed, and faster, what else could we have done? Look how I’m shaking! . . .”