Arc of Fire

Chapter 73

The people at the forward command post immediately rushed to the window, observing through binoculars.

It wasn't just the modified breaching vehicle from Tank Number One coming up; there was also a series of other Prossenian engineer vehicles.

Someone who might be the engineer battalion commander was communicating with the reconnaissance battalion commander, who had already deployed outside the minefield.

Wang Zhong was just about to call for another wave of artillery fire when the engineer battalion, which had been gathered together, began to spread out-likely because the armored reconnaissance battalion commander warned them of a possible artillery strike.

Although the enemy dispersed, they clearly underestimated the caliber of the artillery and didn't spread out enough-or perhaps the Prossenian forces had advanced too smoothly and became careless.

Regardless, Wang Zhong was ready to hit them with a shot; coincidentally, the B4 at position B hadn't fired yet, and each cannon there had one more round of reserve ammo than at position A, so a salvo would balance the ammunition.

Wang Zhong picked up the phone himself: "Connect me to position B."

"One moment," the male operator from the telephone squad replied, "Alright, General."

"This is position B!"

Wang Zhong: "This is Rokosov. Conduct a salvo immediately, with a one-second interval between shots. Coordinates..."

When heavy artillery like this fires, there's always a muzzle blast; if the firing position is cramped, simultaneous firing can affect the trajectory of the shells, so even a salvo is fired one shot after another.

Of course, if the position is more open, this isn't an issue, and they can fire simultaneously without hesitation, but within Loktov City, it's hard to find terrain that's both concealed and spacious.

After once again showcasing his skill in mentally calculating coordinates, Wang Zhong stood by the window with the phone, observing.

The sound of shells tearing through the air could be heard.

Perhaps due to the lingering effects of being "repaired" by 381mm heavy artillery, Wang Zhong's scalp tingled at the screech, and he instinctively wanted to duck.

The enemy simply dropped to the ground again, everyone assuming the standard posture to avoid artillery.

The first shell landed, clearly too close, falling within the "minefield," and even triggering a real landmine.

From his overhead perspective, Wang Zhong saw the lids of canned pickled cucumbers in the fake minefield flying everywhere.

Hopefully, the next shot would be on target! No, the next shot absolutely had to be on target!

The next shell landed, too far, hitting the edge of Wang Zhong's field of vision, but it was much better than the first; Wang Zhong clearly saw at least ten enemies lose their highlight, unsure if they were dead or knocked unconscious by the blast.

At this moment, Wang Zhong's mood was like drawing cards in a mobile game, silently chanting: "Hit, come on, hit!"

The third shell landed, right between two engineer vehicles.

The blast wave instantly flipped both vehicles over.

From Wang Zhong's perspective, centered on the impact point, a cluster of enemies suddenly lost their highlight.

He couldn't help but clench his fist, muttering: "Yes!"

One more shot, just one more! Hit!

Then, something awkward happened.

A silo, far from the impact points of the first three shells, suddenly exploded; the stone walls shattered, and the grain stored inside poured out like a tidal wave, spreading a patch of yellow across the green field.

What the heck? How did it land so far off?

Even if they were to blow up a barn, they should've hit the one near the artillery strike zone; there was an enemy observation team up there, and taking them out would've been useful too!

While Wang Zhong was puzzled about why this last shell "got lost," Dimitri shouted: "The last cannon either had the wrong firing data set or there's a fault with the gun mount or sights."

Wang Zhong immediately picked up the receiver he had been holding on his shoulder: "Position B! The last cannon fired either had incorrect firing data or a malfunction! Check it now!"

"Yes," came the reply from the other side, "We'll check immediately!"

A moment later, they responded: "Report, General, the firing data was correct; it must be a cannon malfunction. The blacksmiths and mechanics are inspecting it now!"

"Fix the malfunction as soon as possible!" Wang Zhong had no other orders to give beyond that.

He put down the receiver and continued observing the enemy.

Yegorov clicked his tongue: "These cannons always malfunctioned during the Winter War; when they first entered combat, it even took six to seven shots to destroy a Manaheimer bunker."

Wang Zhong: "Are you saying it's already pretty good that only one malfunctioned?"

"What I mean is that the empire's equipment department is actually doing their job; the failure rates have been greatly reduced." Yegorov shrugged.

At that moment, the enemy realized the artillery barrage had ended, standing up to rescue the wounded and gather the scattered equipment and weapons.

Wang Zhong: "Have your machine gunners open fire, add some heat to the enemy!"

"Understood!"

Yegorov turned to give the order.

A minute later, two heavy machine guns started firing, tracer rounds forming arcs that landed on the enemy position like a stream of urine.

At this range, actually hitting anything relied purely on faith, but as long as the firepower was intense enough, they'd always "pee" a few to death.

The most important effect of this was the devastating blow to enemy morale; with a whip of death swinging over their heads, who wouldn't panic? It made it impossible to work properly.

Before Wang Zhong could celebrate, an enemy Type II tank started to return fire, using its mounted machine cannon to lob shots into the fertilizer plant yard in the same manner.

And so, a scene of both sides "urinating" tracer rounds at each other emerged!

But the Prossenians had 20mm cannons, and no matter how fragile a Type II tank was, it was still a tank! While the DShK heavy machine gun could penetrate a Type II tank, the machine gunners here had no protection and were clearly more vulnerable under the 20mm machine cannon fire.

However, Yegorov hadn't placed the machine guns in the open but inside the factory building, firing through the windows.

Both sides were spraying wildly with no accuracy, so it was hard for the enemy's machine cannon to hit through such small windows into the room.

Meanwhile, the machine guns could continuously inflict casualties on the enemy in the open ground.

This was a curved firing trajectory, so even if the enemy lay flat on the ground, they'd still get hit in the back.

Wang Zhong saw that the enemy had been forced to hide in the shadows of armored vehicles, and even then, one or two unlucky ones were picked off from time to time.

Unfortunately, the killing efficiency of the machine guns was too low; if only they had a machine cannon like the one on the enemy's Type II tank.

In various war games on Earth, Wang Zhong loved using machine cannons to mow down enemy infantry; something like the Shilka, in his hands, was an infantry killer.

Too bad his external view cheat wasn't powerful enough; if he had a system like that, he could summon a Shilka anti-air cannon out of thin air and slaughter the enemy infantry with quad-mounted 23mm cannons...

Hmm?

Wang Zhong turned to Yegorov: "The 72K anti-air cannon in the anti-air regiment, that's a 25mm machine cannon, right?"

Although Wang Zhong had driven a GAZ truck carrying this in War Thunder, he asked just to be sure.

Yegorov: "Yes, why?"

"Quick, call the anti-air regiment! Ask them for two 72K anti-air cannons, tow them over with trucks! Bring 2,000 rounds of ammo too!"

Why didn't I think of this earlier! Wang Zhong thought to himself; the enemy can use anti-air cannons for direct fire, so naturally, we can too!

Twenty minutes later, two 72K anti-air cannons, used as spare parts by the anti-air battalion, were towed into the fertilizer plant building.

After four test shots, the shells landed among the enemy, and Wang Zhong ordered: "Start sweeping!"

The two anti-air cannons fired continuously, tracer rounds relentlessly falling among the enemy.

Although they were just 25mm high-explosive shells, their killing efficiency was much higher than that of heavy machine guns.

All of the enemy's Type II tanks joined in the shooting, but they couldn't do anything to the concrete walls of the factory building.

Yegorov teased: "Wow, if they try a bit harder, they might even expose the first layer of rebar in the factory building."

Meanwhile, the Ant Army side completely ignored the few tanks, focusing entirely on mowing down the enemy infantry.

Finally, a truck carrying explosives for the engineers' breaching operations exploded, turning into a rising fireball.

This seemed to be the final straw that broke the camel's back; the Prossenian forces began releasing smoke and retreating.

All the armored vehicles started reversing, while the soldiers, as if they'd had enough, quickly withdrew on foot.

Dimitri shouted: "The enemy has released smoke! I can't see them!"

Wang Zhong: "The enemy is retreating. Alright, cease fire!"

In truth, Wang Zhong could have used his smoke-immune overhead perspective to continue directing the machine cannon fire, but at a greater distance, the spread of the shells would be too wide, making it too wasteful.

He didn't know how long Loktov's supplies would last or how long he'd have to hold this position; he needed to improve ammunition efficiency.

As the order was given, the sound of gunfire stopped.

Immediately after, soldiers who had been forced back into cover by the Type II's machine cannon fire emerged from various spots in the fertilizer plant.

"Is it over?"

"Why did we stop firing?"

"Is the enemy releasing smoke to attack?"

"Doesn't seem like it; the smoke is so far away, and the fake minefield hasn't been cleared. They're probably running, right?"

The soldiers asked each other, not daring to confirm that they had already won.

Wang Zhong leaned out of the window and shouted to the outside: "The enemy has retreated! We've repelled their first attack!"

Everyone looked at each other.

Then cheers erupted!

"Ura!"

"That wasn't such a big deal!"

The young people in the forward command post also cheered, their faces full of joy.

Vasily didn't miss the chance to flatter: "Is victory really this simple? Brigadier General, your command is truly divine!"

Wang Zhong frowned and turned to Yegorov: "We can't let the troops become overconfident! Immediately do ideological work with the soldiers: strategically despise the enemy, but tactically take them seriously! The enemy was able to immediately return fire with their tank's machine cannon just now, clearly showing they're well-trained!"

As he was speaking, Popov came in, sighing: "Why are you stealing my job again?"

Wang Zhong: "Why are you at the forward command post?"

"A train just arrived at the station with priests assigned to us, so I brought them over. According to regulations, every company should have a regimental chaplain, and we've actually been operating in violation of that." Popov shrugged, "The priests have already gone to the companies; I came to see if there's anything I can help with."

Wang Zhong: "Hurry and request capable monks and Divine Arrow from the church! Just now, I almost used a 76mm cannon to hit the enemy's Type II at this range. But in the end, I didn't want to expose the cannon's position, so I held off."

Popov shook his head: "The church responded, saying the Prayer Hands for Divine Arrow suffered heavy losses in the battles over the past ten days. They're now preparing to graduate tenth-year students from the monastery early to replenish the front lines, but they still need military training."

Wang Zhong clicked his tongue: "Forget it then, we'll fight with the equipment and personnel we have now."

Alliance leader Hebby's bonus update. See you tonight.

(End of Chapter)