Arc of Fire

Chapter 51

Wang Zhong had originally hoped that the wildfire would burn all the way through and wipe out the Prossenians.

But he discovered that the enemy had used bulldozers to clear a firebreak, and some scattered flames were quickly extinguished by grenades.

When Wang Zhong was a child, he watched "Little Soldier Zhang Ga," where guerrillas set fire to a turret, but the enemy threw grenades to put out the fire. At first, he thought it was just an exaggerated anti-Japanese drama, but later he heard from old Eighth Route Army soldiers that this was true.

It turns out that even children's movies back then had military advisors who had seen real combat, which was completely different from the later anti-Japanese dramas.

It seems that this kind of wildfire attack isn't so effective after all.

The big fire burned until four in the afternoon.

Wang Zhong, riding his white horse, looked at the grassland before him, now reduced to ashes, and couldn't help but recall the scenery he had seen that morning.

The stark contrast between the two landscapes made him truly feel the presence of war.

This scene reminded him of that song: One day, the cooking smoke will return to the village, faintly like rice fields, fragrant in the evening...

Now wasn't the time for sentimentality.

After the fire burned through the wild grass, it gradually died out, and the enemy could launch another attack at any moment.

Seryozha poked his head out from the turret of Vehicle 67, which had also retreated to the village entrance, and asked: "Count, how do we fight this time?"

Wang Zhong: "I suspect the enemy will use smoke as cover to gradually approach you. So we can't position you alone outside like before.

"The good news is that the fire has burned away all the grass, so the enemy can no longer hide by lying in it. I suggest you move to the side of that house."

He pointed to the southwest, at a small building on the edge of the village.

As a house on the village's edge, the small building had been fought over repeatedly. Its roof had been torn off, there were several large holes in the walls, and the entire structure looked like it could collapse at any moment, which wouldn't be surprising.

Wang Zhong: "There, your artillery can cover the two main village entrances, and we can set up crossfire on both sides of the village to protect you, mowing down any enemy who tries to rush over and throw grenades.

"We can also position submachine gunners in ambush behind the low walls on both sides of you, ensuring the enemy comes but doesn't leave."

Seryozha nodded: "Very good. But I have a question. Why didn't we hold the defensive line on the village outskirts earlier? I noticed that the buildings on the outskirts show little sign of direct hits from tank cannons."

Wang Zhong: "Because defending the village outskirts makes it easy for enemy tanks to target us directly. Our most effective anti-tank weapon is the Molotov cocktail-also known as incendiary bottles-so we need to let the enemy come in close to have a chance of destroying their tanks in close combat."

He paused, then added: "We had a few T28s at the time. It's obviously unrealistic for those tanks to engage the enemy in a shootout on the open plains, isn't it?"

"Indeed." Seryozha grinned, "Now that we're here, we can engage the enemy in a shootout on the open plains. We guarantee to destroy the enemy before they can take out our machine gun firepower points."

Wang Zhong: "Don't be too confident, Lieutenant. The enemy might use smoke to block your visibility. These Prossenians are quite skilled at using smoke."

"Then we can maneuver and bypass their cover. Leave it to me." Seryozha patted his chest, showing a proud smile.

Wang Zhong patted his shoulder, then rode his horse straight toward Lord Boye's estate, preparing to have Yegorov adjust the deployment.

But after just a few steps, he saw Yegorov approaching with a group of men.

From a distance, the Regiment Commander shouted: "I figured we'd need to maximize our firepower advantage on the village outskirts later, so I've already ordered everyone to adjust their positions. You can trust the machine gun positions I've chosen."

Wang Zhong nodded. Although he had an external view, he was still a novice with no military experience, currently in the process of growing and learning.

Setting up machine gun positions was something better left to a seasoned veteran like Yegorov.

But Wang Zhong still had to give a few instructions to emphasize his role as commander. He said: "The field of fire must be good! Fully cover Vehicle 67! Also, organize a team of veterans skilled in hand-to-hand and close-quarters combat to stay around the tank, ready to take out any enemy who gets close."

"Let Sergeant Major Grigori handle this task," Yegorov replied. "With him there, the enemy infantry won't get near."

Wang Zhong nodded and decided to return to his VIP spot: the water tower!

This position allowed him to see everything around clearly, and after the enemy started their artillery preparation, he could quickly take cover in the concrete distillery.

As he climbed the water tower, the enemy began to deploy smoke.

This time, there was no artillery preparation?

Wang Zhong was extremely surprised and hurriedly checked the enemy's artillery positions, fearing they might be up to something ruthless, like disassembling their cannons and carrying them to the front line for direct fire.

Then he realized he was overthinking it. The enemy's infantry guns must simply be out of shells.

Could it be that the solo Il-2 raid this morning had blown up the enemy's ammo reserves? Was there really such a coincidence?

No, the Il-2 pilot must have deliberately aimed rockets at areas that looked like they stored a lot of supplies, hitting either canned food or ammunition.

Well done! Wang Zhong silently gave a thumbs-up to the Ant Air Force. Although it took this long into the battle for them to show up, and it was just a single plane, they did a great job!

In the intense fighting over the past day and a half, at least sixty percent of the casualties were caused by enemy artillery preparation, with the rest coming from close-quarters combat.

What a pity it was just one Il-2. If they could send a squadron of four, the enemy wouldn't even need to organize an attack.

----

At this moment, in Bogdanovka, at the 63rd Army Headquarters.

Nominally, it was the 63rd Army Headquarters, but the Duke of Wostrom himself was also there.

The Duke of Wostrom held the rank of Lieutenant General, so the 63rd Army Headquarters was now also the 41st Army Group Headquarters.

The Duke was studying a map when his most trusted intelligence officer entered the map room: "Sir, today the plane that volunteered to support Upper Peniye returned. The pilot reported no sign of our tanks; it was a group of infantry defending Upper Peniye Village. There's also a field hospital in the village, visible from the air with a Red Cross to prevent enemy bombing."

The Duke cursed: "What's going on? Didn't anyone tell them that the Prossenian bastards will bomb anything with a Red Cross? These scumbags are afraid of veterans recovering and returning to the front as seasoned soldiers, so they specifically target hospitals!"

The intelligence officer noticed the Duke's slip of tongue but hesitated and didn't point it out.

After cursing, the Duke took a breath and asked: "Why is there a field hospital? Where did this field hospital retreat from?"

"That, I don't know," the intelligence officer replied. "There are too many field hospitals we've lost contact with right now."

At this point, the 63rd Army Commander said: "Yesterday, some locals driving carts brought back wounded soldiers, saying they were from the Ronezh field hospital."

The Duke immediately rushed to the map table to check the map: "Ronezh? Weren't all our forces there completely wiped out?"

"Apparently not. The wounded also said they belong to the 3rd Amur Regiment and are now under the command of Count Rokosov."

"Why wasn't I told about this yesterday?" the Duke demanded.

The Army Commander shrugged: "I just found out myself. The wounded were brought in by local carts late last night, and it was chaotic."

At this moment, the Chief of Staff of the 41st Army Group summarized: "So the situation is clear. Yesterday, Upper Peniye Village sent out a distress signal, indicating they have hymn monks there, likely scattered monks retreating from Ronezh who joined the retreating soldiers along the way.

"Then the retreating soldiers encountered remnants of the 31st Regiment of the 4th Tank Corps, who were originally meant to defend Upper Peniye, and they organized a defense on the spot."

The accompanying Bishop of the 41st Army Group spoke up: "I generally agree with this assessment. Although the enemy deliberately slaughters clergy, some must have managed to escape."

The Duke leaned on the map table with both hands: "This Count Rokosov... it wouldn't be that useless, good-for-nothing brother of the Crown Prince, Alexei Konstantinovich Rokosov, would it?"

Everyone exchanged glances.

After the Civil War, commoners could become officers, and at this moment, all the commoner officers in the room kept silent, as they weren't very familiar with this infamous Count.

But the Chief of Staff, who came from a noble background, remarked: "Who else could it be? If we'd known, we wouldn't have sent reinforcements. This dandy must have been scared out of his wits! The enemy probably isn't much of a threat, since infantry managed to hold them off."

The intelligence officer interjected: "According to the pilot's report, the force attacking Upper Peniye consists of the enemy's armored grenadiers and tank units. Additionally, based on intelligence from other directions, I personally believe the force facing Upper Peniye is a mixed battle group led by Major Schlieffen, a recipient of the Knight's Cross."

The headquarters fell silent.

The Chief of Staff sneered: "Holding off an elite Prossenian battle group with retreating soldiers? Those are veterans of the Bohemian and Carolingian Campaigns, led by a ruthless commander! If Count Rokosov has such great talent, I suggest we send him to Loktov to reorganize the retreating soldiers once he returns!"

The Duke pondered for a moment and replied: "That would also give him and his troops a chance to rest."

----

Wang Zhong, of course, had no idea what was happening at the headquarters behind him. His attention was entirely on the enemy.

Thanks to his external view, Wang Zhong could clearly see the enemy's formation behind the smoke.

Besides the skirmish line of infantry at the front, the Prossenians had also sent tanks on a wide detour, apparently preparing to attack the side of Vehicle 67.

Unfortunately for them, the KV1 had excellent all-around defense. Apart from the engine at the rear, there were no weak points in other directions.

And now, with Vehicle 67 backed up against the ruins of a house, its rear was protected.

The Prossenian devils were about to be humiliated again, and the thought of this made Wang Zhong especially happy.

The first Prossenian soldier emerged from the smoke!

The machine gun positioned on the second floor immediately opened fire. Without worrying about enemy tanks directly targeting them, the machine gunners of the Amur Regiment were pumped with adrenaline, using precise shots to take down several enemies in succession.

The remaining enemies all dropped to the ground.

Their uniforms were black, and the freshly burned grassland was also black. When they lay down, the camouflage effect was surprisingly good!

Wang Zhong had never dreamed that the Prossenian black uniforms could have such an effect.

While he was still in shock, the enemy threw out smoke shells. To be fair, the Prossenian troops were indeed battle-hardened elites. Their reaction was quick, and the placement of the smoke was accurate.

But this side had also gained experience. They continued firing through the smoke. Anyway, they still had plenty of bullets looted from the supply depot by the 3rd Regiment earlier. Firing a bit more would lighten their load for the retreat tonight.

More enemies emerged from the thick smoke, and the machine gun firepower points meticulously set up by Yegorov opened fire one after another.

Without direct fire support, infantry were powerless against machine guns.

Not to mention there were also the KV's high-explosive shells.

The fierce battle was underway, and the enemy tanks had maneuvered to the side, opening fire on Vehicle 67.

Wang Zhong clearly saw an armor-piercing shell hit the side of Vehicle 67's turret, scraping off the paint!

After a day and a half of intense fighting, at this moment, Wang Zhong had never felt so relaxed.

He even felt like he was playing "Beachhead Landing," enjoying the thrill of shooting at live targets.

Just then, Wang Zhong heard the sound of engines in the sky.

This time, it wasn't coming from the east, where friendly forces were.

He immediately raised his view and discovered that his external view seemed to have a farther range for aircraft than for ground targets.

There was even a bit of logic to it, despite being an external view.

He saw an entire squadron of Stukas flying toward Upper Peniye.

This was bad.

Wang Zhong could tell at a glance that these Stukas were the B-2 model because he had flown them in a game. He knew that at maximum load, they could carry one 500-kilogram "big melon" and four 50-kilogram "small melons."

The small melons wouldn't pose much threat to the KV1 unless they landed with extreme precision, but that 500-kilogram big melon was no joke.

He had to get Vehicle 67 moving. A stationary target was too easy to hit.

Wang Zhong rushed down from the water tower, skillfully untied Bucephalus's reins, mounted the horse, and galloped off in a flash.

(End of Chapter)