Arc of Fire

Chapter 29

Fortunately, this time the Divine Arrow squad played a little trick. The launch team was at the first window on the west side of the first floor, while Lyudmila, responsible for guiding, and Brother Yatsemenko, who was observing and indicating targets, were at the kitchen window nearby.

The launch team fired the rocket and immediately moved, rushing to the next position, leaving only Lyudmila to guide the rocket.

As a result, at least eight high-explosive shells hit the launch window, collapsing half of the house, but Lyudmila and Brother Yatsemenko escaped unscathed!

It looks like the Divine Arrow squad can still take out quite a few tanks!

Wang Zhong hadn't even had time to celebrate when artillery fire started raining down from the sky.

Judging by the impact points, it was likely mortar fire, and it was fired in a great hurry, without careful aiming. Some shells even landed inside Upper Peniye Village.

None of the shells caused a violent explosion; they only burst with a sound like firecrackers, releasing clusters of smoke.

Mortar-fired smoke shells! It seems this is also a standard tactic of the Prossenian forces when facing the Divine Arrow.

Wang Zhong turned his gaze to the edge of his field of view, looking at the one-eyed man, a German-accented commander observing the situation from the hilltop, wishing he could snipe him with sheer willpower to throw the enemy into chaos.

----

Major Schlieffen was observing the spread of the smoke effect.

The artillery observer's spotting scope was set up right next to his command vehicle, and the adjustment data was continuously relayed through verbal commands directly to the vehicle-mounted mortar unit on the hillside.

The impact points of the second round of shells were noticeably more precise, forming a smoke wall in front of the village. Even Major Schlieffen himself could hardly see the situation inside the village.

He raised his right hand: "Alright, cease fire!"

From behind came the mortar company commander's shout to stop firing.

After the artillery fire ceased, the Chief of Staff said: "The enemy has actually deployed two Divine Arrow teams in such a small village? It must mean they have significant forces here. Shouldn't we wait for the heavy artillery to arrive..."

Schlieffen: "What two Divine Arrow teams? Didn't you notice that none of our attacks triggered a chain explosion of Divine Arrows? Considering the intervals between launches, it's the same Divine Arrow team constantly shifting positions.

"Each position probably only has one Divine Arrow, so when they move, they just carry the launcher. We've seen this tactic in Carolingian. Your Excellency, Chief of Staff, didn't participate in the Carolingian Campaign, so you wouldn't know, would you?"

The Chief of Staff fell silent.

Schlieffen continued: "The enemy commander is quite exceptional. He must have studied many battle reports from the Carolingian Campaign. He knows our tactics.

"If the commander who stole our truck and ordered it to advance with headlights on is also him, then today we must eliminate a future major threat to the empire."

Chief of Staff: "Then we should wait for the heavy artillery even more..."

"Wait for the heavy artillery, and he'll be long gone! Right now, the enemy hasn't even settled in. Look, there are no sandbags, no barbed wire, no anti-tank stakes in the village, and probably no minefields either. Now, relying on our troop numbers and firepower advantage to grind them down and take them out in one push is the best strategy!

"If we wait for the heavy artillery, the enemy will be prepared, and we'll only suffer even heavier casualties!"

Schlieffen paused, watching the assault troops enter the smoke wall created by the mortar fire.

He glanced at the sky: "The sun is so strong now, and soon a west wind will pick up. Once the smoke is blown away, everything should be settled!"

As his words fell, the sound of machine gun fire came from within the smoke. That sound, like tearing canvas, was the empire's standard 1934 model general-purpose machine gun.

Clearly, the assault troops were using machine guns to suppress the windows on the village's edge.

Immediately after, the sound of cannon fire rang out. Schlieffen could tell at once that it was the 75mm gun of a Type IV tank.

"It's started. Just wait and see," Schlieffen said confidently.

----

Wang Zhong discovered that his Overhead Perspective could see through the smoke-though he couldn't clearly see objects inside the smoke, he could see everything in front of and behind it perfectly.

Ordinary people's line of sight couldn't see beyond the smoke, but Wang Zhong's Overhead Perspective could.

He didn't know if this cheat was just that powerful or if it was a bug.

However, this was of little use because Wang Zhong couldn't control the troops with his mind. He had to rely on the radio beside him, and the radio could only contact Captain Lubokov's command vehicle-only that vehicle had a radio.

This feeling was a bit like playing an auto chess game. Once the troops were positioned, the rest depended on how the pieces fought on their own.

After the enemy tanks crossed the smoke line, they immediately began firing at the windows of the buildings.

Wang Zhong often did the same in many military games. Whether there were enemies in the building or not, he'd fire a volley first. Depleting supplies was always better than losing manpower.

The Prossenians' firepower was extremely intense. With dozens of machine guns, many wooden window frames were directly shattered.

As for those wooden houses, entire walls were torn down.

Immediately after, a tank with tactical number 185 fired, targeting a small red-roofed building on the westernmost side of the village. A high-explosive shell directly collapsed a corner of the building, sending tiles flying into the air.

As they approached the village, the enemy tanks slowed their advance. The infantry, spread out in a skirmish line, overtook the tanks and charged toward the village.

On the outermost edge of the village was a stone wall. The villagers had enclosed several small yards to keep livestock. Now, this stone wall became the first line of defense against the enemy.

Clearly, the Prossenians weren't in the habit of carrying explosives with them, so they had to form human ladders to climb over the wall.

In the blink of an eye, the Submachine Gunners from the Amur Regiment, hiding on the first floor, opened fire.

Due to the cover of the stone wall, the enemy's machine gun fire hadn't reached the first-floor windows at all.

While the Submachine Gunners shot down the enemies climbing over the wall, Riflemen hidden by the wall threw grenades over it.

This wave of grenades was clearly thrown by veterans. They held them for a moment before throwing, so they exploded upon landing. In an instant, most of the Prossenians outside the wall were killed or injured.

The next moment, a tank fired, blasting a gap in the stone wall with a single shot.

Immediately after, enemy grenades were thrown into the yard through the gap.

Wang Zhong clearly saw a veteran by the wall catch one of the grenades, intending to throw it back, but it exploded in his hand.

Half of the veteran's body was blown to pieces, splattering blood all over a rookie's face.

The rookie screamed in terror, only to be stabbed through the stomach by an enemy who rushed in with a bayonet.

Fierce hand-to-hand combat was underway.

Meanwhile, the enemy tanks continued firing as they advanced toward the village.

The tank with tactical number 185 chose to enter the village from the southwestern road. Lubokov's tank was lying in ambush right beside the mill at the end of this road.

Wang Zhong quickly switched back to normal vision, grabbed the radio on the table, and said: "Lubokov, the enemy is about to appear in your field of view!"

"What?" Lubokov was shocked. "How can you see them? I don't see anything!"

Wang Zhong: "Pay attention to the front. Tell your gunner to be ready!"

As he spoke, he switched back to Overhead Perspective and, sure enough, saw tank number 185 entering the village, appearing right within Lubokov's line of fire.

"Good heavens!" Lubokov muttered. "Fire, fire now!"

Lubokov's tank cannon spat out a puff of white smoke.

Wang Zhong clearly saw a spark erupt on tank number 185.

But the tank didn't explode; it just stopped moving.

Over the radio, Lubokov shouted nervously: "Reload quickly, we missed!"

From Lubokov's perspective, he couldn't tell if the enemy had been hit or not.

But Wang Zhong could see it from his perspective. Three highlighted enemies inside the tank were instantly burned, leaving only two. No matter how you looked at it, they couldn't drive the tank anymore.

After all, this wasn't War Thunder, where a tank crew would keep fighting even with just two members left. In reality, morale isn't that high. Usually, losing one or two key members means the crew abandons the tank.

Wang Zhong saw the two highlighted figures crawl out of the tank through the bottom hatch.

At that moment, the heavy machine gun of the Third Amur Regiment finally roared to life. Compared to the enemy's machine guns with their sharp, canvas-tearing screech, the Ant Army's heavy machine gun had a solid, robust sound that matched its sturdy appearance.

While Wang Zhong was distracted, Lubokov's tank fired a second armor-piercing shell, hitting the already empty tank number 185 again.

"Lubokov! That tank has already been destroyed! Watch out for the next one!"

"How do you know it's destroyed? Where are you watching the battlefield from? Count, you can't just give random orders! Reload!"

Wang Zhong adjusted his perspective, trying to get a look at Lubokov, only to find that he had already retreated inside the tank.

A tank's field of view is actually very poor, which is why during World War II, tank commanders from various countries often preferred to stick their heads out to observe the situation.

Like Lubokov, retreating completely inside the tank during urban combat without infantry support was basically handing a combat achievement to the enemy infantry.

At that moment, Prossenian tank number 186 rolled up from the front.

Wang Zhong heard Lubokov screaming over the radio: "When facing two enemy tanks, retreat! Retreat now!"

Wang Zhong: ?????

Since Lubokov had already started moving, and tanks of this era lacked stabilizers, the shot went wild. The armor-piercing shell hit the second floor of a nearby building, blasting a hole in the wall.

At that moment, the enemy tank stopped and fired a shot at Lubokov's retreating vehicle.

That shot was clearly a high-explosive shell, exploding directly on the front armor of Lubokov's tank, shattering all the windows of the mill.

Lubokov's screams over the radio suddenly stopped.

But his tank didn't catch fire or stop moving. It kept reversing, passing the cover of the mill until it crashed into the outer wall of the distillery. Even then, it didn't stop, the engine still roaring as if trying to ram through the wall.

Wang Zhong clicked his tongue, wondering if a high-explosive shell had caused overpressure and killed the crew.

The next moment, he didn't need to wonder anymore, because tank number 187, entering the village from the northern road, fired an armor-piercing shell at Lubokov's vehicle.

The T28 was already thinly armored with a large profile. Now, exposing its broad side, it exploded into a rising fireball.

The explosion happened right next to the distillery Wang Zhong had chosen as his headquarters, shattering the window glass beside him.

It's over. There's no hope to rely on. Let's check the other vehicles. There are still two tanks positioned for ambush-

Then Wang Zhong saw another tank heroically charge out of its ambush position.

It fired a shot, but because it didn't stop to aim, the shot missed. Then, while firing its machine gun, the tank rammed straight into enemy tank number 187.

What the heck?

It's fine. There's still one ambushing tank. After the infantry wears down the enemy tanks with Molotov cocktails, this tank's desperate strike will surely turn the tide!

Then the last ambushing tank also charged out of its hiding spot. The tank commander even stuck his head out, manually operating the anti-aircraft machine gun mounted on top of the tank.

While firing, he shouted: "The Captain has already sacrificed himself heroically! Let us fight to the last moment like true Cossacks!"

So this tank had witnessed Lubokov's demise.

Seeing this, enemy tank number 186 immediately fired an armor-piercing shell.

Although the short 75mm cannon was primarily for anti-infantry purposes, with relatively low muzzle velocity and chamber pressure, it was still a 75mm caliber!

With one shot, a hole visible even from Wang Zhong's aerial perspective appeared in the front two machine gun turrets of the T28. Immediately after, the tank caught fire and gradually came to a stop.

Wang Zhong couldn't help but facepalm. What on earth is this?

Let the infantry handle those tanks entering the city!

As he thought this, enemy tank number 186 started to advance, only for a machine gun hidden in the basement to open fire, mowing down a large group of infantry following behind the tank.

Seizing the opportunity, two infantrymen on the second floor by the roadside leaned out and threw incendiary bottles at the tank.

The first incendiary bottle hit the tank's rear radiator grille with pinpoint accuracy, and flames immediately engulfed the entire grille.

The second one smashed onto the turret.

Wang Zhong speculated that some of the burning oil might have seeped into the turret through the commander's observation window.

The next moment, the commander's hatch was blown open by a two-meter-high tongue of flame.

The loader opened the side hatch, intending to escape from the side of the turret, only to stumble right into the muzzle of a machine gun.

That's right, that's the way! Well done, Third Amur Regiment!

(End of Chapter)