Arc of Gunfire

On the enemy side.

Major General Franz of the 24th Panzergrenadier Division arrived at Kalinovka early in the morning, and saw the body of Major General Randolph, who had been lying there for a day and was already a little swollen, in the simple funeral hall set up by the army chaplain.

"Poor Randolph," Franz raised his head slightly after ending the silence and looked at Randolph's face, "I know he wants to imitate the young Erwin who was at the forefront during the Carolingian Campaign. So the headquarters was pushed very close to the front line.”

The Chief of Staff of the 15th Armored Division said: "My condolences, I heard that you and the division commander were classmates in the military academy."

"I am three years older than him." Franz stopped talking and did not continue to talk about the past. Instead, he turned the topic to today's battle. "I received a report that the troops are now delayed by landmines?"

Chief of Staff of the 15th Armored Division: "Yes, a mine suddenly appeared five kilometers away from the city. It should have been planted last night."

Major General Franz: "You didn't leave any troops to monitor the enemy, that's why this problem happened. Why, were you frightened by the enemy's new tanks?"

The chief of staff's expression immediately became awkward: "This..."

Major General Franz: "I heard it's a special 34 tank painted in white?"

"No, I don't remember it. The color should be the ordinary Ant Army protective paint." The chief of staff raised his right hand and drew a circle in the air with his index finger while recalling the scene at that time. "The tactical number is 422, and there is a symbol drawn next to it. A white horse. Also, there was a dirty and torn flag on the radio antenna."

"Dirty and torn flag?" Major General Franz repeated, "Is this a specific description, or does it have a special meaning?"

Chief of Staff: "The specific description is that the flag of the Ant Empire has become dirty, with a lot of blood on it."

Major General Franz slapped his palms with a riding crop - even if many Junker noble officers did not ride horses, they would carry a riding whip instead of a civilized stick.

It is said that the Junker aristocracy used this method to distinguish themselves from the emerging industrial aristocracy.

Major General Franz clapped his palms and muttered: "Blood stained, dirty flags. It is understandable that the flags on the tanks are dirty and torn. Where did the blood stains come from? Are the tanks also bleeding?"

The chief of staff could only shake his head.

Major General Franz thought for a while and decided not to care about it: "You were frightened by the tanks and retreated to Kalinovka in a hurry. You didn't even leave any troops to monitor the enemy, which caused the enemy to re-lay mines. You will be held accountable afterwards. Your responsibility."

As he spoke, Franz made a gesture, and his adjutant immediately handed over a white flower.

Franz threw the white flowers into Randolph's coffin, turned around and walked out.

On the right side of the mourning hall is the division headquarters that currently houses the 15th Division, and there is a small door directly connected to it.

Franz entered the small door, came to the map, and slapped the map with his riding crop: "Lotov! It is now guarded by the enemy's famous White Horse General.

"This White Horse General has never appeared in any exchange activities between us and the Ante Army before, but he has beaten our army time and time again!

"The Intelligence Ministry can't find his ranking in the university. Among the top 100 students who graduated from the Suvorov Military Academy in the past fifteen years, there is no one with this name! Our excellent officer corps was defeated by a poor student. ?

"This is simply unbelievable! It's as ridiculous as a corporal being able to command the entire Prosen Empire!"

After speaking, Major General Franz tapped the map a few times with his riding crop.

The staff officers in the map room, whether they were using 15 or 24 equipment, were silent and looked serious.

Major General Franz sighed: "Our next step is to kill this so-called White Horse General and crush the Ant Empire's will to resist! Just like we want to - we want to quickly occupy their capital, St. Catherine Like a castle!”

"Long live the Empire!" Major General Franz's adjutant shouted.

"Long live!" Others quickly followed.

"Okay!" The major general raised the riding crop in his hand, "How is the progress of the demining work now?"

"The enemy's minefield has no fire cover, and the engineers believe that a safe passage forward can be opened by half past ten."

Franz: "Okay, before that, continue to prepare the artillery fire on Loktov. The artillery ammunition has been blocked on the road for so long, it's time to use it up!"

Due to the lack of sufficient preparation for the road conditions of the Ant Empire, Prosen's army was once stuck in a traffic jam, and its artillery and artillery shells could not keep up with the assault forward. Therefore, the armored forces have always relied on accompanying self-propelled mortars to fight offensive battles.

But it has been sixteen days since the war started, and the Proson Army has already captured some train hubs. With the help of railway transportation, the traffic jam has finally been alleviated.

Prossen now has plenty of artillery shells.

As soon as Major General Franz gave the order, a staff officer immediately called the artillery.

The major general continued to observe the map, and then suddenly tapped the logo of the 513th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment with his riding crop: "Is the anti-aircraft artillery currently in erection status?"

"Yes." The chief of staff of the 15th outfit replied, "Yesterday I asked them to choose the blocking position and deploy it."

"Too far, too far from the front line. Let them enter the marching state, and I will designate the deployment location after personally conducting front line reconnaissance."

The chief of staff in the 15th outfit was surprised: "Are you also going to the front line in person?"

"An excellent commander must clearly and clearly grasp the terrain on the front line! If I were a group army commander, then I could hand over the task of personally mastering the terrain to the division commander below. But now that I am the division commander, I must serve the troops Responsible!"

The major general paused after speaking and added: "Of course, I will not be as eager and radical as Randolph. I will be with the division reserve team. As for you, the armored soldiers!"

Several armored military officers in the room stood at attention together, with their chins held high.

The armored uniforms of the Prosen Empire are darker than those of ordinary troops, and the collar badges have been changed from military rank badges to skull symbols.

Major General: "Your mission today is to go out alone after the access to the minefield is opened."

"Shouldn't the armored grenadiers be allowed to advance towards the city?" an armored major asked doubtfully.

Major General: "No, no, after being delayed by mines, it will be difficult for us to capture the city in the morning, but we can try to kill this white horse general!

"He destroyed so many of our tanks yesterday. It's easy for inferior peoples to get carried away! He must think they are invincible now!"

"Your mission is to release smoke and retreat after losing ten percent of the tanks. The enemy will definitely chase them out! We expect to ambush them at this location!"

The major general slapped Hill 120 on the map hard with his riding crop.

"I will personally choose the firing position for the anti-aircraft guns! In the Carolingian, we used 88 guns to prevent the Carolingian armored counter-assault and destroyed a large number of B1 heavy tanks. We will - repeat this glory! "

————

1130 hours on July 8th.

The enemy's second artillery preparation was finally over.

The members of the T34 tank came out of the anti-gun bunker and began to inspect their tanks.

When a tank is hit by heavy artillery, the shock wave may cause the surface layer of the tank's inner wall to collapse. Most of the time, this collapse will not damage the tank's mechanical equipment, but it is fatal to the personnel inside the tank.

Therefore, most members will leave the tank during shelling, and will only take shelter in the tank if they have no other choice. It is the lesser of two evils, and it is still safer inside the tank than lying outside.

The crew of car No. 213 chatted while inspecting the tank.

Loader Alexei (this is a common name): "I don't understand. Our new tank can crush the enemy. Why don't we take the initiative? The enemy's artillery is at most ten kilometers away from us. It takes half an hour. I rushed over! No, I rushed over in 15 minutes!

"If you raise the artillery, you won't be bombed like this!

"How many people died because of this shelling!"

The commander glared at him: "What are you talking about! The general has his own considerations!"

"What are you thinking about? The enemy can't penetrate us at all! We should rush over! You see, one of our vehicles has 40 rounds of armor-piercing ammunition. Counting two rounds to kill an enemy tank, that's 20 tanks!

"We rush over and the enemy's 400 tanks are finished! Then we use high-explosive bombs to blow up hundreds or thousands of their trucks, and we can relieve the siege of Bogdanovka!"

"Alyosha!" the commander raised his voice, "What are you talking about! Can you still know the enemy better than the general?"

The loader pursed his lips: "He rushed up on his own. I heard the electromechanical officer of the 422 car said that they killed a general! Why don't you take us and charge together!"

"Because at that time, you were screaming 'I'm hit ahhhhh'." The driver finally couldn't help complaining, "Every time we were hit by a Prossen shell, you would scream. I If the general doesn’t lead a charge with someone like you.”

Loader Alexey defended: "I really feel like I've been shot! My body feels like I've been punched!"

"Oh, yes, the enemy's armor-piercing bullet hit you through the 60mm sloped armor. If you ask me, your name is Alexei, and the general is also named Alexei. Has your courage been sucked away by the general? ?”

"I……"

"Hush, the general is here!"

After speaking, the commander first stood up straight on the tank, holding his head high and looking at the No. 422 vehicle approaching in the distance.

Different from the ordinary model T34, the general's car has a larger head and looks more powerful.

Of course, the most powerful thing is the general himself. His upper body is exposed from the turret, holding on to the turret hatch and looking ahead.

A red flag fluttered in the wind from the tip of the communications antenna behind the general.

The 213th car crew held their heads high and paid attention to the general like soldiers waiting for a review.

After the general's tank drove past, the loader spoke first: "I've heard that when the general's tank charges, he has to stick his head on the turret to feel the wind blowing in front of him!"

The commander scolded: "You idiot, you are observing the enemy. As a commander, you will know that you can't see anything without sticking your head in. If I didn't have to control the aiming, I would stick my head in too!"

"General, don't you care about aiming?" the loader asked.

"His car is a viewing car. Instructor Alexander Yefimovich from the Armored Training Corps is the gunner. The general does not need to aim it himself!"

"Oh, that's right." The loader nodded and asked, "Why does the general's tank have to hang a red flag? Wasn't it the same flag yesterday?"

The driver smiled: "You just heard one thing and another. How come you don't know about such a critical issue? Let me tell you, the general's red flag was specially dyed to represent him. Everyone who died under his command.

"The general also said: 'One day I will also shed blood on the battlefield, and my blood-stained style will be on the red flag!'"

The pilot learned it so vividly, as if General Rokossov had really said this.

"Really!" Loader Alexei looked in the direction where the general was going. Tank No. 422 had been blocked by a bunker, but the red flag was still clearly visible.

At this time, the platoon leader of their platoon ran over: "The monk heard the engine sound of the enemy tank, prepare for battle! Enter the bunker!"

Tank No. 213 does not have a radio - this is something only the platoon command vehicle has, so the platoon leader has to run over and notify them like this.

The commander shouted: "I heard you all! Quickly, put away the tool box! Enter the position!"

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