Arc of Fire

422?

And a white horse?

Randolph, “It’s the General of the White Horse! He’s riding out in a light tank! Shoot him down quickly!”

The major general naturally assumed that this tank was no different from the hundreds of light tanks that had already been destroyed on the offensive route of the 15.

“Second echelon, swing the gun barrels around! Destroy the enemy light tanks coming out of the city, shoot or capture the General of the White Horse alive!”

————

Wang Zhong, assessing the situation from a bird’s-eye view, judged that the timing was about right. The enemy had also reacted and started to turn. Right now, it was only individual vehicles turning, but it would be troublesome once the enemy adjusted their entire formation.

After all, he had only 24 T34s, and their level of training was so low.

Wang Zhong issued the command, “Turn right 90 degrees!”

duang!

The sound of the hammer striking the control lever was indeed very crisp.

The tank made a direct right turn with a drift.

Then there was another duang, and the turning stopped.

The vehicles following number 422 immediately turned as well.

Colonel Kobbov had not boasted in vain; this group of parade professionals was adept at changing formations, instantly transforming the column emerging from the city into a line.

Wang Zhong, “Advance 30 meters, let each vehicle get rid of the dust cloud.”

The dust cloud raised during the charge would interfere with shooting; moving forward would shake it off.

Thirty meters passed in the blink of an eye, and Beliyakov hit the brakes before Wang Zhong even gave the order.

Taking advantage of the gun barrel’s sway, Wang Zhong shouted, “Turret left 5 degrees, target number 112! It has an antenna, it’s a command tank!”

Aiming was almost immediately completed, and the shockwave from the firing of the 76 mm gun blew away all the surrounding gauze curtains.

The shell hit the front of the tank that had just finished turning.

Tank number three didn’t catch fire nor explode, but the tank commander clambered out of the turret and, like a flying arrow, leaped beside the tank to take cover in the green grass.

Of course, Wang Zhong, observing from above, could see everything very clearly; this shot had gone straight through the viewing window, wiping out everyone inside the tank except the commander.

After number 422 fired, the other vehicles also started firing with a rattle.

Wang Zhong watched the artillery shells bounce across the grassy field as if what was being shot wasn’t a modern cannon from the 20th century but those muzzle-loading artillery pieces from the era of line infantry.

However, two shots still hit their mark.

The enemy tanks’ formation was poor, blocking each other’s field of fire, with only the tanks on the northernmost edge of the formation having a clear line of sight.

They opened fire.

Almost all of the armor-piercing shells were aimed at Wang Zhong!

In the blink of an eye, three pits appeared on the mantlet of tank number 422.

An armor-piercing shell struck the front of the hull and was deflected high into the sky.

More armor-piercing shells landed around, kicking up dust and sand all over Wang Zhong’s face.

Man, lucky it’s a T34, or I’d be done for.

Wang Zhong, “Anybody hurt?”

“No!” the four men responded in unison.

“Armor-piercing shells, good!”

Without waiting for Wang Zhong’s order, the second shot was fired, and the command tank’s sister vehicle exploded, its turret blown into the air.

The other tanks also opened fire, and the second volley was much more accurate, clearly, these parade specialists weren’t so foolish as to not correct their aim.

Four more of the enemy tanks caught fire.

The enemy started to move, making major adjustments to their formation, seemingly intending to overwhelm these mere 25 “light tanks” with their numbers.

Wang Zhong, “Move out, don’t let the enemy complete their formation adjustment. Charge to within 300 meters to ensure we have better accuracy! Armor is our advantage!”

Accompanied by a duang, tank number 422 once again raced forward.

————

Dmitri shouted excitedly, “Look! Our tank troops have launched an attack!”

By then, the defense line had already retreated to the forward command post, and Yegorov was personally commanding a machine gun, firing furiously into the outside.

Upon hearing Dmitry’s cry, Yegorov picked up the binoculars he hadn’t touched for an hour and looked into the distance.

“It’s the general! I knew it was the general just by seeing that 422, and there’s even a white horse painted on it!” Yegorov exclaimed with excitement, “Charge! Those tanks are our T34s, the newest model! Let these guys taste our power!”

————

Major General Randolph was shocked to see those “light tanks.”

These things seemed impervious to gunfire, and the main weapon of the Prussian Empire’s No. 3 tanks, specifically used for tank-to-tank combat, only managed to scrape off paint when fired upon them!

At that moment, the intelligence staff officer had finished flipping through the enemy armored vehicle identification manual issued by the High Command, and loudly reported: “It’s the enemy’s latest type of T34 tanks!”

Major General Randolph: “Don’t just name the type! How do we deal with them?”

“The manual says the weak points are the engine compartment at the rear and above the side road wheels.”

“Quick, notify the troops!”

However, by this time, the radio was already full of various shouts from the commanders of the second echelon.

“Can’t penetrate at all!”

“It’s ramming toward me!”

“Try the high-explosive shells! Try the high-explosive shells!”

“Ahhh!”

In such a situation, although the communications staff officer was shouting at the top of his lungs, no one heard what he was saying.

————

Tank 422 was the first to rush past the enemy tank formation, and Wang Zhong was certain that Alexandria had hit two more enemy tanks while on the move.

From an overhead view, he saw the other tanks were still in the melee with the enemy.

The enemy was in disarray, some hysterical, while those accustomed to parades, upon realizing the enemy couldn’t penetrate their armor, had gained a tremendous psychological advantage and were fighting even better!

On the field, at least 20 enemy tanks were burning, and about 30 more had stopped, motionless, and had lost their highlights from Wang Zhong’s perspective.

At this moment, Wang Zhong suddenly noticed that just to the front-left of him, there were several armored vehicles stopped, with one having particularly many antennas.

On closer examination, beside the armored vehicle with many antennas was a man dressed in a particularly stylish uniform, that red badge—looked like a general.

A bold idea emerged in Wang Zhong’s mind: It was just under two kilometers away, the perfect moment for a decapitation strike!

Wang Zhong: “Turn left 45 degrees!”

duang!

The tank turned around.

Alexandria, looking through the gun sight, saw the target: “This looks like the enemy’s command vehicle!”

“Exactly! Go for it! Capture the flag!”

————

Randolph put down his binoculars and stepped back.

The adjutant was quick to react: “The enemy is charging us! Guard tanks!”

The Prosen Armored Division’s headquarters was also equipped with four tanks (a platoon) as a guard, in addition to a guard battalion.

The guard tanks immediately moved forward, lining up in a row one hundred meters in front of the command vehicle.

The first volley fired!

The only hit was an armor-piercing shell that sparked a chain of sparks on the enemy’s armor.

The enemy suddenly stopped, clearly trying to exploit the Prosen reload interval.

A shell was fired, and the platoon leader’s tank of the guard tank platoon was hit, with the tank operators scrambling out of the tank, all the while shouting, “Sanitater! (Medic)”

The guard tank platoon’s second volley managed to make the target, who was sticking his head out, duck down.

The enemy’s retaliatory strike set the number two tank of the platoon ablaze.

The enemy seemed intent on picking off the guard tank platoon from left to right!

The remaining two tanks sped off, one to the left and one to the right, trying to flank the enemy.

However, as the third shell came in, the tank veering to the right immediately stopped, black smoke belching from its engine.

The last tank stopped its flanking, charged toward the enemy, and then took an armor-piercing shell head-on.

————

“Got him! Load high-explosive!” Wang Zhong shouted, “Target, the enemy general! Fire!”