Arc of Fire

Wang Zhong broke out in a cold sweat, relieved that the enemy had not fired at the water tower before reaching Peniye. Otherwise, he would have already been dead.

He wasn’t worried about Dmitry, though, because the observation window at the forward command post wasn’t in the highest location but had traded the range of view for better concealment.

With the enemy firing like that at high points, they certainly couldn’t hit the forward command post or Dmitry.

Wang Zhong took a deep breath and patiently waited for the enemy to enter the ambush zone.

At that moment, a shrill howl came from the sky, and without looking up, he knew the Stukas were coming.

The smoke columns from the half-ton bombs looked to the naked eye like clusters of corals suddenly sprouting from the ground.

Wang Zhong reassured his crew, “Stay calm, don’t worry!”

Mikhail laughed, “We’ve heard this sound so much our ears are numb. Do you know how many tanks from our entire 23rd Army have been knocked out by this thing?”

Wang Zhong, “How many?”

“At least two hundred, and we lost a lot of GAZ trucks. Our army had more GAZ trucks, but now we can barely move. Because we are nominally mechanized troops, we don’t have mules or horses, nor even any alternative to them.”

Mikhail shook his head repeatedly, “We didn’t find any problems during training. We performed as directed during exercises, so we couldn’t identify any issues. But when the war started, the problems became apparent, and by then, people were already dead.”

After Mikhail finished speaking, the driver chimed in, “The higher-ups are too rigid. They read some military theory books from the United Kingdom and Prosen and started issuing orders based on assumptions! Look at our country’s roads, during the mud season every car has to stop. Without mules or horses, it’s impossible!”

Wang Zhong’s expression was stern, thinking to himself that shortsighted meat-eaters cannot plan for the future.

Just then, the enemy’s vanguard came into view.

Wang Zhong immediately alerted, “The enemy is coming! Prepare for battle!”

To the south of the ruins, soldiers from the 5th Beshensk Regiment had already opened fire, and their machine guns crackled like firecrackers in a row.

The enemy advancing through the ambush zone seemed still unaware of the danger, moving in a loose marching formation, with the tanks closely spaced.

Wang Zhong switched to an overhead view and waited until the whole enemy wave had entered the ambush area before shouting, “Fire!”

Mikhail fired immediately, and the armor-piercing shell hit the side of the Panzer IV at the end of the enemy column directly.

The tank immediately lost power and stopped on the road.

Wang Zhong personally manned the anti-aircraft machine gun, strafing the enemy infantry lines while ordering, “Load the high-explosive shells! All enemy tanks are down!”

In the entire ambush zone, there were two rows of eight Panzer IVs, and Wang Zhong’s side with ten BT7 tanks firing in volleys had actually taken out all the Panzers.

But the others did not have Wang Zhong’s perspective; they could not highlight targets, so they could not determine whether the stopped tanks had been taken out or whether their crews were just stunned.

On the battlefield, it was quite common for tanks that had stopped to suddenly start moving again—the men inside might have just been dazed and would resume operation once they regained consciousness.

So the armies on both sides of the Eastern Front, Sude and the United Kingdom, had the habit of firing a second time at wreckage.

But Wang Zhong did not have this trouble; he immediately ordered the switch to high-explosive shells to maximize casualties among the enemy infantry.

However, the enemy reacted swiftly too; the infantry had identified the direction of the incoming fire and found good cover, and they had even deployed smoke bombs!

Smoke bombs again!

Wang Zhong, “Reverse quickly, leave the cover! We’ll circle around and take out more enemies!”

The 5th Beshensk Regiment hadn’t received any reinforcements, and no matter how brave and skilled they were, they were no match for so many enemies. What was more fatal was that this regiment had virtually no anti-tank means; they had to eliminate the enemy’s armored vehicles quickly!

It wasn’t until the BT7s really started to race that Wang Zhong realized the driver had held back on the way to the position.

When this thing really picked up speed, the tracks were almost off the ground!

Wang Zhong could only cling to the anti-aircraft machine gun for dear life; the moment he relaxed his grip, he would be thrown out.

Vehicle 422 reached the enemy’s flank at an astonishing speed.

Wang Zhong, “Stop! First round high explosive, second round armor-piercing!”

“High explosive, ready!” the loader shouted.

After all, the 45mm gun was relatively light, so loading was quite fast.

Before Wang Zhong could designate a target, Mikhail fired, hitting a half-track that was following the tanks.

The tanks realized the problem behind them and began to rotate their turrets. Just then, the loader shouted, “Armor-piercing, ready!”

Without waiting for Wang Zhong’s target designation, Mikhail fired a shot that hit the Panzer IV that was turning its turret.

While operating the anti-aircraft machine gun to strafe enemies on the streets, Wang Zhong urged, “Get moving quickly! Don’t stop, stopping makes it easier for the enemy to get a bead on us!”

Then vehicle 422 was off running wildly again.

Before reaching the next intersection, Wang Zhong had already directed the tank turret in the right direction and loaded a high-explosive shell.

The enemy’s half-track turned into a rising fireball, and Wang Zhong also hit a flamethrower on the roadside with the anti-aircraft machine gun, causing the high-pressure gas to knock the flamethrower to the ground.

Wang Zhong had thought this would trigger a massive explosion, but the enemy’s compressed gas cylinder turned out to be filled with high-pressure nitrogen, which astonishingly didn’t explode!

Wang Zhong couldn’t worry about that; the enemy had already reacted, starting to turn their guns. A tank might not be afraid of the enemy’s squad machine guns, but Wang Zhong, standing behind the turret, was.