Arc of Fire

Chapter 736 -74: Outburst

Sherlov’s guerrilla unit was being suppressed by the firepower of a Prosen half-track vehicle stopped at the street corner.@@novelbin@@

The Prosens were cunning. They knew that getting close to buildings could allow the guerrilla fighters to exploit the terrain and destroy them, so they had leveled the central park overnight and arranged a few sdkfz half-track vehicles amidst the rubble. They took turns using machine-gun fire to suppress the rebel army.

Due to the half-track vehicles alternating fire, the disadvantage of the Prosen machine guns needing a barrel change was also overcome.

Facing the regular Antean army, this tactic certainly wouldn’t work. After all, the Anteans had reached a crazed level of artillery fire density, and they had begun to establish a complete frontline fire support system. With such a dense arrangement of half-tracks, they wouldn’t last ten minutes before heavy artillery fire would rain down.

But the rebel forces didn’t have heavy artillery; even the mortars were stolen from Prosen armories.

The Prosen Army’s heavy mortars were with the field troops. The second-line troops stationed at Argesukov didn’t have heavy mortars—by Prosen’s wave count, even the infantry division of the eighth wave stationed there only had “small smashers” as mortars, and the infantry guns equipped by the division had been captured from defeated Carolingian infantry divisions.

...

Unless a direct hit on the half-track vehicle, these weapons were practically useless against this “steel defense line.”

"Sherlov!” The parish priest from the underground district ran crouching over to Sherlov’s hiding place behind the cover, shouting, “What do we do? Are we only able to wait until the enemy runs out of bullets?”

"I’m thinking of a way!” Sherlov slightly raised his head, poking out his forehead and eyes at the edge of the cover, looking at the “defense line” made up of half-tracks, “If we had an anti-tank rifle, these half-tracks wouldn’t be able to stop it!”

"The anti-tank rifle is on its way. The next block just used it to knock out an enemy half-track, saying there are still 30 bullets left!” said the priest.

"Good! Once the anti-tank rifle arrives, we’ll send these half-tracks to hell!”

Just then, a roaring sound came from the sky.

"Sherlov: Take cover! There’s an air raid!”

As soon as he spoke, a twin-engine bomber (Sherlov didn’t recognize it as a reconnaissance Pe-3) roared overhead, strafing the Prosen half-tracks with machine-gun fire.

Although it was just machine-gun fire, two of the half-tracks parked next to each other caught fire, and one of the machine gunners was hit.

The Prosen soldiers were stunned by the sudden attack from the sky; many didn’t even realize it was an Antean plane and began cursing into the sky, thinking it was friendly fire from the Prosen Air Force. R𝔞ɴỒ𝐁ЕṢ

Sherlov shouted: “Quick! Seize this opportunity! Charge!”

The guerrilla fighters rushed out of the cover, firing as they charged toward the half-tracks.

In fact, at that moment, several half-tracks were still intact, and their machine guns could still fire normally, but the inexperienced gunners were frightened by the sudden change, now in a panic.

Three machine guns only managed to take down seven or eight guerrilla fighters before it was all over.

The bayonets of the guerrilla fighters pierced the chests of the machine gunners.

Some machine gunners tried to escape; as soon as they crawled out of the half-tracks, they got shot and tumbled out of the vehicles in comedic poses.

Sherlov charged up to a relatively intact half-track, shouting, “Ivan!”

The driver Ivan shouted back, “Here!”

"You drive!”

"I’ve never driven one before!”

"Prosen half-tracks are similar enough to cars!”

"Alright, I’ll give it a try.” Ivan climbed into the driver’s compartment. “Let me see, just like driving a truck!”

As he finished speaking, the half-track surged forward abruptly.

"Sherlov: Slow down! What if you hit someone?”

"I’m not used to the feel of this thing! It’s too smooth; I have to press hard on the accelerator to get a response when I’m driving our trucks.”

Sherlov picked up the machine gun: “Let’s go, advance along the highway and capture the police station as planned!”

At this moment, the “twin-engine bomber” that had just been a big help swept over the sky again.

"Ura!” Sherlov took off his cap and waved at the plane.

Observer Sherlov looked down: “They seem very happy! We should help them more!”

"Then call in the fleet in the air! There should be plenty of attack aircraft and fighters nearby! The Prosen Air Force hasn’t been so great lately!”

(In fact, because Prosen Air Force fighter units had been transferred in batches back to the homeland to participate in home defense battles, clashing with the Federation’s Eighth Air Force bombers and their escort fighters.)

Sherlov picked up the handset and set the transmission power to maximum: “Attention all Air Force units in the air! A rebellion is happening in Argesukov! A rebellion is happening! All flying units, please come to support if fuel allows!

"Please all flying units come to support if fuel allows!”

Antean field airfield command tent.

Delachenko Grigoyevich, the Division Commander of the 5th Guard Air Force Division, was shocked to hear the voice coming from the radio, “Argesukov has risen in revolt?”

"It seems so!” The Chief of Staff immediately reached out to adjust the radio, and unlike the Army, Air Force personnel are all technically skilled soldiers, so adjusting the radio was no big deal.

Then, a clearer call for help came through the speaker, “Argesukov is experiencing an uprising! An uprising is happening! All flight units are called to support if fuel allows!”

Delachenko immediately crushed his cigarette in the ashtray and strode out of the command tent.

Outside, many pilots were lying on the grass, resting, waiting for the ground crew to repair the planes that had just landed.

The boys of Delachenko’s old unit, the Fourth Strike Fighter Group, were almost all sprawled on the grass; they had just completed a bombing run on Prosen’s ferry and bridge over the Dibo River.

Someone had even managed to pull out a bagpipe, playing a lively tune.

Seeing Delachenko approach, someone started, “Division Commander, we’re not slacking off, the planes are being repaired, refueled! You wouldn’t want us to go up there and die from mechanical failures, would you?”

Delachenko said, “The people of Argesukov have started an uprising! They are in fierce combat with Prosen’s defense forces!”

The smiles on the pilots’ faces disappeared.

Delachenko continued, “They wouldn’t go desperate against the enemy when we’re about to liberate the city, there’s no need for that! It must be that the enemy plans to massacre the city, like they did in Orachi, and Shepetovka!

"I order you to immediately take off in anything that can fly, and go support the battle of the people of Argesukov!”

The pilots all stood up, not even bothering to brush the grass off their trousers, and sprinted towards their planes.

The ground crew was shouting, “The bombs aren’t hung yet!”

Delachenko said, “Then hurry up! Remember not to hang incendiaries; lighting up the city might backfire! Hang bombs to destroy Prosen’s street barricades and tanks!

"And load armor-piercing shells in the machine gun belts! The uprising civilians won’t have many anti-armor options, those half-track vehicles will be trouble for them!”

The Fourth Strike Fighter Group flew the Federation-supplied P-47s, armed with M2 “Ma Deuce” machine guns. Although classified as machine guns, these weapons boasted strong armor-piercing capabilities, having a 12.7mm caliber similar to many anti-materiel rifles from later eras.

Delachenko shouted beside the runway, urging the ground crew on.

Soon, the first P-47, full of fuel and ammunition, taxied onto the grass runway.

Delachenko gave a thumbs up, “Show the Prosens a thing or two!”

The pilot responded with a thumbs up, then the plane fiercely accelerated and roared into the sky.

-

At First Mobile Army Headquarters.

Yegorov turned at the sound behind him and saw the guard leading a young kid into the Headquarters.

"What’s going on here?” he asked. “What’s happened to this kid?”

Before the guard could speak, the kid blurted out, “General! The Prosens plan to massacre the city, the underground parish has started an uprising in response! All of Argesukov is fighting! General! Help us! Don’t let the good people who have fought for two years die before liberation!”

Yegorov’s eyes widened, “Are you serious?”

At that moment, the communication staff reported, “We’ve received a message from the Air Force, they’re mobilizing planes to support the Argesukov rebel forces. So it seems to be true.”

The Army Group Chief of Staff said, “But according to our attack plan, we were supposed to capture the outer positions today and consolidate before moving forward

Yegorov interrupted, “The situation has changed, can’t you see? The situation has changed! We can’t let the civilians bleed; we can’t let Argesukov be burned to ruins by the enemy before liberation! We can’t!

"Immediately change the operational plan, assemble an assault group that I will lead to charge directly towards the city center!

"Now that there are rebel forces everywhere in the city, we will have local support; the enemy won’t possibly be able to spare forces to deal with our assault groups! Once we take down the enemy’s City Defense Command, their defensive troops will be headless dragons; they may collapse on their own!”

The Chief of Staff thought for a moment and nodded, “Indeed, given the current situation, we might not get into brutal urban combat with the enemy, as all their defensive troops are tied down by the rebel forces.

"We originally planned based on the resistance we encountered in Abawahan, perhaps we were too cautious.”

Yegorov nodded and said to the young boy who brought the news, “Kid, just wait a bit; once our assault group is assembled, I will charge into the city with you! Do you know the way?”

"I do!” the young kid smiled.

"Good!” Yegorov slapped his thigh, then suddenly remembered something, “Right, the Guard First Mechanized Infantry Division, they also rally under the Red Flag, borrow their flag! Hang the Red Flag on the leading tank of the assault group; might scare the enemy’s second-line troops to death straightaway!”

The Chief of Staff laughed, “That’s a good idea!”

The young boy who brought the news asked, “Isn’t it General Rokossovsky alone who flies the Red Flag?”

"Not anymore; many heroic units have spontaneously started flying the Red Flag because it represents all the sacrifices, the blood of Davarish! Our battle standard!” Yegorov explained. “Of course, only those units with the Guards title and who are especially brave dare to fly the Red Flag; otherwise, they’d be laughed at!”

The young boy said, “That’s great! You all hurry up! Seeing the Red Flag will cheer everyone up!”

"Assembling the assault group and getting them ready will take about two hours,” the Chief of Staff said. “We could offer this little hero here a meal.”

"I’m not hungry,” said the kid, but his stomach betrayed him by letting out a robust growl.