It's better to conquer them than to command the steel torrent

Chapter 168 | Big Eight Wheels
At Shank's command, a burly Hungarian soldier rushed out from behind a pile of rubble a dozen meters behind the T-34 and crouched down to run behind the T-26.

He was carrying a canvas bag containing five or six grenades bundled together. After detonating one of them, he forcefully threw the bag to the ground and slid under the tank.

With a deafening roar, this outdated tank, with its flimsy exterior and heavy interior, was transformed into a blazing incinerator of steel!

"Well done!" Shank shouted, then patted Corporal Kevin on the shoulder and ordered, "Kevin, stay here and provide covering fire."

Then he shouted, "Amelia! Do as I say! Climb onto the tank!"

The dozen or so Romanian soldiers left behind at the supply depot were insignificant. The unexpected attack made them mistakenly believe that a large Hungarian army had attacked, and they immediately scattered and fled in terror.

Emilia changed the magazine on Bergman's submachine gun, then strode over and rushed straight toward the battered tank.

Shank and two other soldiers followed closely behind.

Anti-tank gymnastics! Begin!
Berezova loudly urged the driver to go faster, but the crew members had already been fighting on the front lines for several hours and were exhausted.

The driver failed to shift gears on four consecutive attempts. Even with the accelerator floored, the tank could only move at a snail's pace in first gear, a speed only slightly faster than walking.

Emilia was the first to climb up to the rear of the tank, followed by two others. The three of them circled the turret and tried to open the top hatch.

Suddenly, a group of enemies appeared at the corner of the intersection dozens of meters ahead and immediately opened fire.

This was the main force of an Imperial Russian engineer battalion, which was ordered to reinforce the crumbling front line. They happened to be passing by a nearby street and sent some men over to check the situation after hearing the noise. Unexpectedly, they saw the Hungarian army 'hunting' their own tanks!
A Hungarian soldier was pulling hard on the hatch when he was hit by a bullet and fell heavily to the ground.

Emilia reacted quickly, leaping down and using the momentum to roll and hide behind the wreckage of a nearby public bus.

With her own men providing cover, Berezova was no longer afraid. She told the driver to turn around on the spot and cooperate with her men to wipe out the Hungarian soldiers who had appeared out of nowhere.

"What bad luck! Where did these enemies come from?"

Seeing the duck that was about to be beak fly away, Shang Ke was very annoyed.

Man proposes, God disposes; of the thirty-six stratagems, running away is the best. Now we have no choice but to make a quick getaway.

"Emilia? Let's go!"

"No! I can't! I've twisted my ankle!"

Shank, carrying a shotgun, crossed an alley to meet Emilia.

The T-34 fired back, and the incoming 76.2mm shells exploded violently, sending up a large amount of brick and stone debris.

The smoke and dust engulfed a Hunnic soldier and also pinned Shank behind the ruins.

The enemy is closing in! Dozens of enemies are advancing along the street.

"Colonel! Don't worry about me! You all retreat first!"

"No! Wait!"

Shank, unwilling to abandon Emilia, took the only smoking grenade from the fallen soldier, intending to use it as cover.

"Om-"

Just at this critical moment, suddenly, the sound of an engine came from behind, growing louder as it approached.

Shang Ke was about to pull out the pin when he heard the sound and turned around.

Suddenly, an unremarkable, ugly eight-wheeled armored vehicle rushed out from the intersection behind and made a sharp turn into the street!
With its eight extra-large wheels, low-slung body, and small turret, it looks very out of place no matter how you look at it.

【Picture】

Huh? Doesn't this look a bit like Charles de Gaulle's hearse, that big, eight-wheeled French beast?

"Boom!" The armored vehicle fired at the Imperial Russian tank, but it had no effect. The armor-piercing shell fired by the slender cannon ricocheted off upon impact.

The T-34 was clearly startled by the sudden appearance of this thing. After being hit by a shot, it quickly retaliated. However, although the 76.2mm BR-350 armor-piercing round hit the armored vehicle, it was completely unharmed!
The early T-34 used a 76.2 mm short-barreled gun with limited power; its barrel length was insufficient, and even at close range, its penetration capability against vertical steel plates was only about 70 mm.

However, it is more than capable of dealing with most interwar tanks, let alone mere armored vehicles.

This...this...how is this possible?!
This was the first time Warrant Officer Berezova had encountered such a situation, and she was utterly incredulous; it was simply too counterintuitive.

"Reload it quickly!" she shouted.

When the armored vehicle realized it couldn't penetrate the Russian tank, it didn't flee but calmly stopped and took aim.

"Boom!"

The sounds of cannon fire and the clattering and tearing of metal blended together, creating a very jarring noise, like scratching a blackboard with long fingernails.

At a distance of less than 100 meters in a straight line, the armored vehicle fired its small cannon at the barrel of the Imperial Russian tank, firing two shots in quick succession, damaging the muzzle and rifling.

The Imperial Russian tank crews were completely unaware of the situation, thinking there was nothing wrong, and hurriedly opened fire after reloading their armor-piercing shells.

The armor-piercing projectile made a very loud noise as it slid inside the gun barrel!
Due to damage to the rifling and muzzle, the armor-piercing projectile deviated significantly from its intended trajectory after leaving the muzzle, and its destination is unknown.

It was only then that Berezova and her gunners realized the situation was dire.

Immediately afterwards, the armored vehicle slightly lowered its gun barrel and fired at the idler wheel of the Imperial Russian tank.

The small-caliber cannon was not powerful enough; it took three shots to completely damage the idler wheel, and the track section also broke off completely.

Mr. Shang was stunned upon witnessing this scene.

When faced with an unbeatable target, first destroy the cannon and then break its legs. Why does this tactic seem so familiar?

The armored vehicle seemed to be on the same wavelength, and began firing long bursts from its coaxial machine gun, immediately suppressing the advancing Imperial Russian engineers.

In an instant, the twenty or thirty leading Russian engineers scattered to both sides, tumbling and crawling.

Seeing the enemy fleeing to the roadside for cover, unable to lift their heads from the hail, Shank made a decisive move, putting down the smoke grenade and forcefully throwing out the last captured Russian-made lemon grenade.

"Emilia! Prepare to retreat!"

"boom!"

One unlucky guy had just peeked out when, before he could even raise his gun to aim, he was hit in the face by shrapnel from a grenade, and immediately fell backward to the ground screaming in pain.

The grenade explosion startled the Imperial Russian engineers who were about to retaliate, causing them to retreat.

Shank then fired several more shots with a Browning semi-automatic shotgun.

Emilia seized the opportunity to limp away from the wreckage of the public bus, and finally lunged forward to hide behind a pile of rubble.

Escape!

A few dozen seconds later, another equally ugly armored vehicle arrived late, turned around, and joined the first armored vehicle in battle.

This was not something that light weapons could handle, and realizing they were outmatched, the Imperial Russian soldiers hastily retreated.

The two armored vehicles fired hundreds of rounds of ammunition continuously without stopping, driving away the enemy like a farewell party.

Now, besides the still-burning T-26, only that lone T-34 is left 'struggling' on the street.

(End of this chapter)