Chapter Seventy-six
Fawcett took a deep breath, gazing at the massive monster hastily ordering his own 223rd Tiger to reverse and find cover. The beast was crushing over at a cross-country speed of 10 kilometers per hour, occasionally stopping to fire its cannon. The fierce firepower suppressed the German tanks in front, and the Soviet Red Army's "small" tank took advantage of the situation to charge up.
The situation suddenly became very unfavorable for the German army, this giant completely ignored Germany's 88 cannons, using its huge body to cover the Soviet Red Army's advance, and the two 122mm and one 152 long-barreled guns on the three turrets posed a great threat to German tanks and soldiers - Favni saw a Ferdinand being directly hit by the middle turret's thick and long 152mm shell, after the smoke cleared, this Ferdinand was almost completely destroyed!
The Germans saw the Soviet troops rushing in and had no choice but to ignore their casualties, directly charging out to fire at the incoming Soviet tanks. Several Black Panthers and Panzer IVs approached the giant from several directions, trying their best to disrupt its advance. Favniel also loudly ordered his own tank to approach the giant's flank, firing at the nearby Soviet tanks with all his might, trying to take down the beast's support. Meanwhile, other German armored vehicles and rocket artillery fired smoke bombs, shrouding the area around the giant in a thick fog.
This behemoth also has a great origin: In 1930, Soviet tank designer Krivosheyev proposed the idea of a multi-turret super-heavy tank. This tank was designed to be the strongest iron fist in the cluster, used to crush the enemy's resistance, whether in attack or defense, and played an important role as the most important node in a tank combat group. The powerful firepower and thick defense made it possible for it to become the backbone of the battle, and other tanks could get important supporting firepower and physical cover from this tank. This idea started with T28, went through T35, and was officially put into design in 1930. For ten whole years, only two car bodies were designed, as well as the walking mechanism design and field testing. In 1940, designer Krivosheyev was held accountable for wasting national funds and almost got shot. However, he completed the final improvement of the power system and walking mechanism in prison. In fact, by 1939, the actual development work had been suspended, and the scrapping of the semi-finished car body had already been put on the agenda. Thanks to the invasion on June 22, 1941, designer Krivosheyev was released from prison, and the military committee didn't have time to deal with the scrapping of this type for a while. Krivosheyev took the opportunity to gather his original design team, use the spare time to continue improving and producing this type, and he received strong support from the political commissar of Factory 112, Daniil, who specially allocated workers to provide production services.
Finally, by the end of 1941, all improvements to the hull were completed, and two finished hulls underwent actual running tests. The test results were satisfactory, although the original design speed could not be reached in any way. However, they still managed to reach speeds of 15 km/h on flat roads and 10 km/h off-road, with a failure rate within an acceptable range. When it came time to install the turret for full equipment testing, it was discovered that the originally produced turret had already been allocated to the Soviet Navy's coastal defense forces and installed at the Sevastopol fortress on the Crimean Peninsula. At this point, production tasks were extremely tense, with no time or spare labor available to produce a turret for this semi-finished product. This delay dragged on until mid-1942. In 1942, the proposal to abandon work on this "white elephant" (in military committee parlance) was raised again. This time, the commissar of Factory No. 112, Dani, and designer Krirovsky strongly opposed it. Dani suggested mobilizing workers to produce a turret for this tank in their spare time, while some members of the committee proposed trying again - after all, not a small amount of rubles had been invested over the past decade, and it couldn't just be abandoned... As a result, by 1943, an order was issued to send these two tanks into battle, with Factory No. 112 providing two enlarged JS-2 turrets for installation in the front and rear positions. The central turret received a surplus KV-5 turret, which was modified and installed with a BL-10 experimental 152mm cannon. After initial testing, it was hastily sent to the Kursk battlefield. The other tank remained at the factory without a turret, while this tank received the production designation "GS-1" super-heavy tank.
GS1 super-heavy tank, body length 15m, width 5m, height 5.5m (including antenna); three turrets; armed with one 152mm cannon, two 122mm tank guns, and nine machine guns, with a firing range of 270 degrees for the 122mm gun and 360 degrees for the 152mm gun; the whole vehicle weighs 400 tons, powered by two M50 marine gasoline engines, each with 1300 horsepower, totaling 2600 horsepower; speed on flat ground is 15km/h, and off-road is 10km/h; the front armor is composed of two wedge-shaped armors forming a wedge-shaped anti-bullet surface, with a thickness of 180mm on the front, and the side of the vehicle body is also an inclined surface at a 60-degree angle, with a thickness of 150mm, and the rear has a thickness of 100mm; The turret front of JS2 is 220mm thick, and the turret front of KV5 is as thick as 260mm. The crew consists of 14 people: 2 commanders, 3 gunners, 2 drivers, 6 loaders, 1 communication soldier, and can also carry an additional commander to command a tank group using the onboard radio.
The giant beast used the railway to move to the outskirts of Prokhorovka, removed the tracks and used the inner load-bearing wheels as wheels pulled by a heavy locomotive head. After arriving at the battlefield, it took a day to install the tracks, just in time for the fierce battle on the 12th. The results so far are still good, destroying one Ferdinand, injuring an unknown number, suppressing the German army in front of them, and eliminating many German military vehicles and infantry.
GS1 continued to wreak havoc, with its 122mm cannon destroying two more No. 4 tanks that tried to get close, and the 152mm gun overturning two No. 3 assault guns in one go. Favril's Tiger approached to about 1000 meters, destroying and damaging several Soviet tanks guarding GS1 along the way, but other Soviet tanks also took advantage of the opportunity to destroy many German vehicles, especially the No. 4 tank and Black Panther suffered significant losses. The German Stuka in the air desperately dropped bombs, but due to interference from Soviet fighter jets, not a single one hit this giant beast, while the near-misses were completely ignored by it, which continued to slowly crush the German line.
A massive explosion erupted, and 150 meters to the left of Favniel, a black panther was reduced to parts by GS1's heavy artillery. At the same time, a tiger was hit by a 122mm shell and lost its combat effectiveness. Another 122mm shell destroyed vehicle No. 4. German infantry were completely unable to approach GS1 to carry out blasting, as nine machine guns firmly controlled the surrounding 100 meters of territory.
Fortunately, the number of Soviet tanks following on one side was limited, and many had already been knocked out by the Germans, and they began to lose contact with GS1. Favniel had fired more than a dozen shells at this giant beast, but it seemed to have caused little damage... while Favniel himself dodged the cannon fire in a thrilling escape - if not for his premonition, he would probably have been killed by this giant beast long ago.
The Germans suffered heavy losses, and a Grizzly assault gun finally approached GS1 under the cover of several Tigers, firing a 150mm shell that unfortunately missed! Then another Tiger that had come out to cover was destroyed by GS1, and the Grizzly took advantage of the time to fire a second shot! Favniel clearly saw that the 150mm shell accurately hit the front lower part of GS1, exploding and destroying GS1's tracks and part of its load-bearing wheels, causing this giant beast to slowly come to a stop.
At this time, a Stuka in the air began to dive clumsily, and the huge bomb under its belly could be clearly seen! "These guys actually brought bombs for battleships!" Favniel exclaimed.
The dive seemed to be in slow motion... but only a few seconds later, the Stuka appeared to be right on top of the GS1, from Fafnir's perspective it looked like the Stuka was going to ram the tank with its bomb. In an instant, the bomb left the Stuka and the plane pulled out of the dive at incredible speed.
After a few seconds that seemed like an eternity, Favniel's incredible dynamic vision clearly saw the bomb "slowly" come into contact with the GS1 tank! A massive explosion of fireballs and smoke obscured the sky and people's line of sight, shockwaves knocked infantrymen to the ground, and Favniel heard the deafening roar and tremors inside the tank. The smoke didn't disperse until much later, and that giant monster finally turned into a huge wreckage!
Before being knocked out, GS1 destroyed a whole German tank company: 7 Tigers, 9 Panzer IVs, 5 Panthers and 5 assault guns can be confirmed as its kills. This achievement had far-reaching consequences! It directly stimulated the Führer's desire to develop the Panther series of tanks, while the Red Army also completed production of their second tank after the battle...
