Arc of Fire

Chapter 40

To the west of Upper Peniye, Prossenian tanks crossed the smoke barrier created by mortars.

At this moment, the enemy's infantry guns ceased their bombardment, likely due to concerns that the dust would interfere with the tanks' direct-fire capabilities.

After the tanks emerged from the smoke, the Prossenian skirmish line also appeared.

At this time, the entire battlefield was filled with nothing but the roar of engines, save for the sound of machine gun fire coming from the eastern end of the village.

This distant sound only served to highlight the eerie quiet of the battlefield.

With no machine guns firing, the village was completely silent.

The earlier artillery fire from the mountain guns had created seven or eight smoke columns, and it was unclear how many casualties they had caused.

When the tanks approached within two hundred meters, they stopped advancing, likely unwilling to enter the effective range of anti-tank rifles.

The coaxial machine guns opened fire first, targeting the windows on the second floor of the houses. This was called suppressive fire, using intense firepower to intimidate defenders hiding in buildings and fortifications, making the more timid ones too afraid to stand up and shoot.

This type of fire had another effect: it could provoke overly nervous defenders to fire reflexively, thereby exposing their positions.

However, the Prossenians' suppressive fire had little effect; Upper Peniye Village remained like a dead snail, lying under the setting sun, waiting for the heat to evaporate the moisture from its body.

The Prossenian infantry cautiously approached the village.

Suddenly, a small window on the first floor burst with firelight, tracer rounds tearing through the twilight of the setting sun, downing three Prossenian soldiers in the blink of an eye.

The next moment, the tank's coaxial machine gun swept toward the small window, followed immediately by the tank cannon; the window was engulfed in dust and smoke.

More windows began to light up with gunfire, a storm of bullets raining down on the enemies in the open field.

----

Yegorov said to the messenger: "Tell the 1st Battalion not to get bogged down in a fight. The enemy tanks have a direct-fire advantage. Engaging them at the outer defensive line will result in heavy casualties. Hit the enemy hard once, then immediately withdraw and let them enter the village."

The messenger nodded and turned to run off.

Chief of Staff Pavlov said: "Didn't we already assign them the task to hit once and retreat?"

"Just in case. The 1st Battalion commander is a stubborn one. Once he gets fired up, he doesn't care about anything. We need to remind him," Yegorov replied.

He knew the temperaments of his subordinate officers all too well, having shared plenty of drinks with them.

Yegorov continued observing the west, but after the enemy approached within two hundred meters, he could no longer see them, only the enemy tanks positioned at that distance.

This was because the western side of the village was a gentle slope, descending all the way from the western hilltop to the village. If it were flat ground, Yegorov's view from the third floor of this estate would be even worse.

From this third floor, he could only ensure a clear view of the northwestern entrance. If a machine gun were set up at the window where Yegorov now stood, it could completely block the road into the village from the northwest.

Of course, at that point, this window would also become a prime target for the tanks' direct fire.

The good news was that Count Rokosov had confidently stated that the enemy no longer had Type IV infantry tanks.

The enemy's Type III tanks had main guns with a caliber of only fifty millimeters, and some older models even had just thirty-seven millimeters. The high-explosive shells from these guns would need to hit directly through a window to kill a machine gunner; shots landing around the window likely wouldn't even damage these thick stone walls.

So, Yegorov had prepared seven or eight groups of machine gunners in the large room behind the window, along with several spare machine guns, just waiting for the enemy to launch an attack from the northwestern main street.

Of course, until the enemy appeared, this window would serve as an observation point for the commander, as the view was simply too good.

While Yegorov was observing, he suddenly saw a violent explosion on the western side of the village. Something dark was blasted into the sky, even clearing the obstruction of the two-story buildings.

"What's going on?" he had just said this when he saw flames suddenly burst from the window of a house on the edge of the southwestern street. A submachine gunner, engulfed in fire, jumped out of the second-floor window and fell to the ground, motionless.

Yegorov exclaimed: "Flamethrowers, combat engineers! The enemy's combat engineers have entered the fight!"

----

Yegorov couldn't see what was happening, but Wang Zhong had a clear view of everything.

The 1st Battalion had unleashed a wave of firepower before withdrawing.

Immediately after, a squad of combat engineers clad in gray-painted iron armor arrived on half-tracks.

On the half-track was something resembling a catapult. Wang Zhong watched as this contraption hurled an explosive package over the stone wall.

What a mechanical version of a conscienceless cannon!

Next, let alone the stone wall, even the latrine behind it was blasted into the sky.

Then, the enemy combat engineers skillfully demolished the remaining stone wall, filled in the cesspit, and waded through the filth into the yard.

Submachine guns hidden in the house opened fire, but the bullets only sparked off the combat engineers' iron armor.

Clearly, the pistol rounds fired by the submachine guns had little effect on the armor.

The submachine gunner was either panicked or had never encountered the heavy armor of combat engineers, as he completely failed to target the unprotected areas of the enemy.

The combat engineers leveled their flamethrowers and pulled the triggers.

Flames shot into the window, and soon after, they burst out from the window on the other side.

A submachine gunner, engulfed in flames, screamed as he stumbled out of the window and fell to the ground, motionless.

Wang Zhong was stunned. Wearing heavy iron armor, wielding submachine guns and flamethrowers, and carrying explosive packs-weren't these elite combat engineers a hallmark of the Russians?

Yet in this timeline, the German combat engineers were also heavily armored?

Wang Zhong watched as the enemy combat engineers cleared an entire house with flamethrowers, then used explosives to blast through the partition wall between two houses, continuing to clear the second building.

This wouldn't do. He had to find a way to eliminate this squad of combat engineers.

Wang Zhong raised his perspective.

The enemy tanks were all stationed two hundred meters from the village, with a clear field of fire. This time, a detour from the outside wouldn't work.

He needed to devise a way to ambush them within the village, using the tank's high-explosive shells and machine gun fire to wipe out the combat engineer squad.

Wang Zhong observed the enemy's direction of advance, and a preliminary plan began to take shape.

He glanced again at the enemies detouring from the east, confirming that only about twenty stragglers remained, then patted Su Fang on the shoulder as she reloaded: "Alright, stop firing after you're done. We have a mission, and we'll need these bullets. The other machine guns, cease fire too!"

The two turrets ahead of the tank stopped firing, and soon after, the coaxial machine gun on the main cannon also ceased.

Wang Zhong: "Driver! Turn left, head back to the highway along the village edge."

Driver: "Understood! Wait, are we just ignoring these enemies? There might still be plenty of them, lying low and using the wheat field for cover!"

Wang Zhong thought to himself, don't worry, I've got a cheat. My overhead perspective not only lets me see everything clearly, but it also highlights the enemy. The enemy company detouring from behind now has only about twenty people left who can move.

But he couldn't say that outright: "The gunfire at the front is intense, clearly the situation is tense. They need us. Let's go."

The tank started up, turned left, and moved quickly along the field ridges at the village edge.

Su Fang whispered: "You actually explain why when giving orders. I've never seen a noble-no, I've never seen an officer do that."

"Officers just give orders, and those below can only follow blindly. If you have questions, you get scolded with things like, 'You bunch of swine!'"

Wang Zhong: "You bunch of swine! Follow my orders! Like this?"

For some reason, the tank crew inside burst into laughter, laughing loudly.

The gunner said: "If the company's quartermaster yelled at people like that, not a single rookie would be afraid of him."

The loader chimed in: "That's the gentlest reprimand we've ever heard-I'm not even sure if that counts as a reprimand."

Wang Zhong scratched his head. At this moment, the tank reached the village entrance, so he took the opportunity to change the subject: "Stop! I need to speak to the machine gunners."

After the tank stopped, Wang Zhong shouted to the machine gunners who had temporarily ceased fire: "Who's in command?"

Sergeant Major Grigori poked his head out: "It's me, Count."

Wang Zhong: "The enemy has been mostly wiped out. I'm leaving the rest to you. Watch our rear. I'm heading to the front to join the fight."

The Sergeant Major saluted Wang Zhong: "Good luck, Count sir!"

(End of chapter)