Cannon Fire Arc

Chapter 726: Chapter 64 Prosen’s Armored Grandeur Remains

Alexander Fadin immediately searched for Prosen tanks.

He had not found any yet when a violent explosion occurred in a friendly tank to his front right.

The explosion drew Alexander’s attention, and in the instant he looked over, some shrapnel sent his tanker’s cap flying.

“What the hell?” He reached up to feel his head and discovered a large patch of his hair had been sheared off. His scalp was probably grazed too, as it felt sticky to the touch.

He quickly realized what the stickiness was, because blood started flowing down his forehead, collected on his eyebrows, and then seeped into his eyes.

With a blink, half his field of vision was dyed red.

He immediately wiped his eyes, but before he could clear the blood away, his face was illuminated by another flash of fire.

A T34 to his left had blown up; its turret was sent flying.

Petro’s voice came over the radio, the old soldier was shouting, “Prosen Armored Troops’ elites are coming! Fire smoke bombs, keep firing smoke bombs! Block Prosen Armored Troops’ line of sight first, and deal with their assault guns!

“The Long-barreled Four’s front armor can’t be penetrated by our main gun from a distance! We need to find a way to close in, or attack the enemy’s side!

“Fire smoke—”

Petro’s voice abruptly stopped.

The battalion commander was shouting, “Petro! Petro, keep talking!”

Lieutenant Alexander faintly realized that this time, the old soldier Petro had most likely not made it.

He resolutely decided to carry out Petro’s last order—despite the fact that Petro was just a non-commissioned officer, and he was a lieutenant.

Alexander said, “Fire smoke bombs! Cover the enemy tanks’ line of sight, rush up and hit their sides! We are more mobile than they are!”

Before his words trailed off, the main gun fired, sending a shell flying into the distance, hitting the ground and bursting into cotton-like smoke.

However, a single smoke bomb was not enough to obstruct the view of Prosen tankers. More shells came flying, and the group of T34s which had just been bullying the Prosen assault guns instantly became prey.

Alexander was deeply shocked. As the best in his class technically, he had always taken the old soldiers’ talk of the high quality of Prosen Armored Troops with a grain of salt. Now, he was seeing it firsthand.

Respect for the old soldiers then naturally arose in him: They had been fighting against such a formidable enemy!

And now it seemed they were about to push back this powerful foe!

A feeling of “I can’t lose either” dominated Alexander, and he called out loudly, “Advance! Our predecessors drove the original T34 against an enemy like this. Now we’re in T34Ws, we must not disgrace the Antean tankers!”

However, Alexander overlooked one point: the predecessors had driven T34s against Short-barreled Mark IIIs and IVs, where armor-piercing shells held the advantage, so they could still contend with the technically and tactically superior Prosen tankers.

Now, the T34W was already an outdated design, with armor-piercing capabilities at a disadvantage. Facing the technically and tactically superior Prosen tankers truly left them without a chance.

The correct course of action at this time would actually have been to throw smoke and retreat. The tracks of the Panzer IV had been widened over the years, but their cross-country performance had not improved much. Moreover, with the addition of a longer barrel and extra armor, its mobility was even less than that of the T34W.

If they had fired smoke and turned tail, about half of the vehicles in Alexander’s battalion might have survived.

But right after Alexander’s cry of “Advance,” the whole battalion, perhaps even the entire brigade, had been fired up with fighting spirit. The smoke bombs were fired in succession while throttling to full speed; they were bent on contesting Prosen’s Armored Troops.

—————-

Division Commander Adel Schultz of the 8th Armored Division, Commander of the “Armored Schultz” battle group, and Major General Adel Schultz, watched the smoke ahead and ordered calmly, “All units, reverse! The slope to our rear will enable us to expose only the top part of our bodies and turret for a shoot-out. T34Ws cannot penetrate our hull front or turret.”

After the order was given, the entire Prosen armored formation began to retreat, as if sharing one brain.

The “slope” that Adel Schultz mentioned was actually the 202.1 high ground. The Prosens had positioned a small infantry force to set up a stronghold there, supporting the Assault Gun Battalion in combat.

The Prosen Infantry had already leveled the ground, which allowed the tank units to reverse smoothly to the back of the hill.

Moreover, the infantry units were ready with machine guns to cope with Antean “Armored Cavalry.”

The sound of Antean engines neared.

Adel picked up the radio handset, “Attention! The enemy is about to emerge from the smoke! Now, each of their tanks has a wireless set too, don’t give them the time to signal!”

Five seconds later, the first T34 burst out of the smoke.

Before Adel could say a word, it was hit by two shells and burst into a towering inferno.

The radio was filled only with screams.

Then T34s came out of the smoke one after another, each turning into a ball of flames.

The radio was full of the exultant voices of Prosen tankers, “Never seen Antean tankers so easy to take down!”

“This unit definitely doesn’t have the title of Guards!”

“If they had the title of Guards, at least they could scratch my paint!”

—————-

Alexander Fadin climbed out of the turret and missed his step, tumbling directly into a bush. At that moment, an enemy machine gun swept over, and bullets clinked against the armor.

The infantry on the back of the tank had already jumped off, and now pulled Fadin out of the dirt frantically, “Are you still alive, Comrade Lieutenant?”

“My tank! Save my crew!” Fadin yelled.

“Quick, pop smoke and save the crew!” ordered the leading non-commissioned officer among the infantry.

The infantry immediately threw out smoke bombs, and under the cover of the smoke, they crawled into the tank, dragging out the tank crew, uncertain whether they were dead or alive.

The Corporal dug out a first aid kit and clumsily wrapped Fadin’s head with a bandage roll, murmuring as he did, “Lieutenant, hang in there. I only learned how to wrap bandages and sprinkle sulfonamide powder in first aid class. I’ll find you a medic later.”

Alexandria Fadin replied irritably, “You should have sprinkled the sulfonamide powder before wrapping the bandage!”

“Ah? Oh, right. Then let me unwrap it…”

“No, no, no, it’s fine as it is.”@@novelbin@@

At that moment, a few infantrymen climbing out of the tank came over, “There’s not a single person left alive.”

Fadin sighed, “The enemy has pierced through us. Luckily, it seems the shell’s fuse was damaged on impact; otherwise, I would have been done for.”

He looked up at the tank and then said, “It didn’t catch fire. Maybe it can still be driven. I’ll go try the driver’s cabin—”

The Corporal interjected, “Don’t go in there, Lieutenant! Can you drive the tank and fire at the same time by yourself?”

Fadin replied, “I can at least ram them! The Air Force pilots told me that in a dog fight, the airplane is the pilot’s last bullet! Tanks are no different!”

He was about to stand up when the Corporal forcefully held him back down with his right hand, “No, Lieutenant, you can’t go up! You’re different from us infantrymen! You should turn back, go to the Tank Operators’ rallying point, form a new crew, get on a new tank, and then fight the enemy again!

“Leave this to us. We have rocket launchers. If the enemy tanks attack, we’ll show them! They definitely won’t catch up with you, Lieutenant!”

The other infantrymen nodded in agreement, “Yeah, Lieutenant! Leave it to us!”

Fadin glanced at the rocket launchers on the infantrymen’s backs and shook his head, “No, I can also shoot a launcher, and I can shoot more accurately than you! I’ve calculated where the rockets will land. I can hit the target at 300 meters! Give me a launcher!”

The infantrymen looked to the Corporal.

The Corporal ordered, “Listen to the Lieutenant. Give him a launcher.”

So the lead soldier handed over a rocket launcher to Fadin.

Holding the launcher, Fadin charged out of the smoke, using the grass as cover to approach the Prosen tanks.

The Prosen machine gunners, not noticing him, were desperately firing at the recently hit and halted T34, preventing the tank operators from bailing out.

Fadin advanced about two hundred meters, then crouched down to check the state of the rocket launcher.

The Corporal caught up, “Lieutenant! The enemy tanks are behind a dirt slope, only their turrets showing; it’s a difficult shot! Let’s wait for them to advance before ambushing them! They are countering us; they will definitely move up!”

Without responding, Fadin stood up, aimed the rocket launcher towards the sky.

The infantrymen quickly dodged away from the back of the launcher, although the back blast had been treated to avoid turning a person into a cooked one, it could still cause burns.

Fadin pulled the trigger, and the rocket launcher traced a parabola, hitting the Prosen tank directly.

It was hard to discern the effect of the attack with the naked eye, and Fadin didn’t bother to check, immediately ducking for cover.

The enemy machine gun fire soon swept over; two infantry who didn’t duck in time were hit and fell onto the grass.

Under the suppressive machine gun fire, Fadin crawled, grabbing more rockets from the fallen infantry.

When machine gun fire shifted elsewhere, he burst, without taking careful aim, raised the rocket launcher, and fired.

The rocket traveled in a parabola, striking another Prosen tank.

Fadin ducked down again, but this time the Prosens retaliated with a grenade.

In the instant of the explosion, Fadin’s head buzzed, and he passed out.

The last thing he heard was the Corporal’s cry, “Lieutenant!”

———

“Armored Schultz” put down his binoculars, a satisfied smile on his lips, “The Antean Armored Troops are still as frail as ever. Without their new tanks, they are nothing!

“The misery of our comrades from the Southern Army Group is entirely due to the new tanks. It’s the imbeciles of the Empire’s Research Department who’ve held back our glorious Armored Troops!”

The Chief of Staff quietly reminded him, “General, don’t say such things over the radio. Be careful, for listeners may be eavesdropping. Many of the doctors in the Research Department are deeply trusted by His Majesty!”

Adel Schultz snorted but refrained from further sharp criticism of the Empire’s Research Department.

After a brief silence, he said, “However, our comrades from the Southern Army Group have done well, at least exhausting the enemy’s new tanks. Now we can reap the Antean Armored Troops with such ease.”

Suddenly someone shouted over the radio, “Dust! There’s dust in the distance, it could be a new Armored Troop!”

“All units, listen,” Adel took up the microphone, “Hold your positions, use the advantageous terrain to annihilate the Antean Armored Troops. Today, we’ll destroy as many as they send!”

———

Lieutenant Fadin woke up, the first thing he saw was the Corporal’s blood-covered face, “What are you doing? Put me down!”

“I can’t, I need to support you to the rally point, Lieutenant! You’ve avenged your Tank Operators with your rocket launcher by hitting two Prosen tanks! Now you need to command the other Tank Operators!” The Corporal said, struggling with his steps, forcibly supporting Fadin forward.

Fadin was about to speak when he heard engine noises in the distance.

“Wait, listen! It’s our tanks!”

The Corporal retorted, “So what if they are? Sending in more T34Ws is just handing them over!”

“We have to get them to turn back!” Fadin was now fully alert, “Quick, stop those tanks; we can’t let them get sent to their doom!”

As he spoke, a tank with a round, pot-shaped turret burst into view.

Lieutenant Fadin: “?”