Cannon Fire Arc

Chapter 823: Chapter 44 General Andrei Fails Again (8.6K)

Lieutenant Karl, drenched in sweat, finally had a moment to glance at Koscher’s tank and discovered that only the driver and the mechanic had managed to crawl out from inside the vehicle.

The driver, upon meeting Lieutenant Karl’s gaze, shook his head—it seemed that all three people in the turret were gone.

Lieutenant Karl gestured to the two men to “stay and defend this position.”

Now that the entire village was filled with Anteans, and since the two survivors from Koscher’s tank had not brought out their submachine guns, only having pistols for self-defense, it was clear that they should not try to cross the village at this point but rather hide underneath the tank and wait for rescue.

After confirming the two men had crawled under the tank, Lieutenant Karl gave the order through internal comms: “Koscher’s tank is done for, we have to deal with the remaining enemies ourselves. Driver, turn left; we’ll exit the village along the highway, then encircle from the outside.”

Following Lieutenant Karl’s new commands, once they started encircling again, all Ante tanks would be on their right side, eliminating the need for wide-angle turret rotation.

The Tiger King tank roared as it turned and then sprinted along the highway, exiting the village, before making a right turn to enter the encirclement route.

At this point, the Ante tanks that had been stopped in the other half of the village finally ignited their engines and began to turn.

Lieutenant Karl: “The enemy’s flank is exposed, fire!”

As soon as he spoke, the gunner fired, and the armor-piercing shell struck the middle of an Ante tank, halting it immediately.

But more Ante tanks had completed their turns, their hulls now facing Lieutenant Karl’s Tiger King No. 217.

A Rokossovsky Type tank fired. Renowned throughout the Eastern Front, the Prosen Army’s terror-inducing 100mm gun launched an armor-piercing shell that struck the side of Tank No. 217, then traced a shower of sparks along the side armor, flying off into the wilderness behind the tank.

At this time, Tank No. 217 was at a very small angle relative to the Ante tank, which made the angle at which the shell hit the side very poor, causing a ricochet—nothing unusual.

“Quick, reload!” shouted Lieutenant Karl, “Driver, well done! If the tank wasn’t at this angle, we’d probably all be dead!”

Driver: “Ah? Was it my credit?”

In reality, it was sheer coincidence. Lieutenant Karl’s order to encircle from the right mainly aimed to concentrate all enemies on one side of the tank, facilitating the gunner’s aiming. He hadn’t anticipated that the angle of the tank’s body could deflect a lethal armor-piercing shell.

At this moment, the gunner fired a second shot, hitting another Rokossovsky Type—due to the short distance, Lieutenant Karl could even see where the enemy was hit.

The Ante tank crews seemed to have learned their lesson and did not immediately bail out, leaving Lieutenant Karl with no target for his anti-aircraft machine gun.

A third Rokossovsky Type directly aimed for cover, apparently having lost the will to fight.

“Turn left, let’s move further from the village, we should be able to loop around and find a shooting window through the smoke.”

Agilely, Tank No. 217 turned left, distancing itself from the village. Indeed, they once again caught sight of the fleeing enemy, but before Lieutenant Karl could give the order, an armor-piercing shell from the east side slope of the highway struck the Rokossovsky Type’s side.

However, it was too far to penetrate.

Then, five of the same shots struck that Rokossovsky Type, forcing it to a standstill—it was unclear whether its engine was damaged or if shrapnel from the inner armor had killed the crew.

At that moment, Lieutenant Karl saw a pot-cover head tank emerge from the village, with the commander on the turret pointing at Karl’s Tiger King No. 217.

“Release smoke!” Karl yelled.

The smoke bombs were immediately launched, bursting in the air and producing white smoke that quickly stole Lieutenant Karl’s sight.

Karl: “Turn right! We’ll make a counterintuitive move and ‘exit’ through the right side of the smoke.”

After a dozen seconds, Tank No. 217 emerged from the right side of the smoke while the enemy’s gun barrels were indeed aimed at the left side of the smoke.

The Ante commander immediately ordered to turn the turret, but Tank No. 217 was already prepared; the gunner made a minor adjustment and fired, the shell hitting the body of the pot-cover head—yes, at this distance Tank No. 217 was finally able to hit the enemy’s new medium tank’s hull armor with a downward angle.

The medium tank immediately caught fire ferociously.

It seems at this distance, the Tiger King’s 105mm gun could reliably penetrate the armor of the enemy’s two new types of tanks. Of course, what happened to Koscher’s tank also shows that at this distance, the armor of the Tiger King, as touted by the scientific department, was as penetrable as paper by the Ante’s 100mm gun.

The gunner shouted: “How many more enemies are there?”

“I don’t know, we’ll take down as many as they send until we ourselves fall, just like the military anthem sings, ‘Only the loyal war machines can grant us an iron tomb.'”

However, it appeared that the Antean armored troops had been completely wiped out; otherwise, that Rokossovsky Type tank wouldn’t have fled just now.

Lieutenant Karl’s tank continued to encircle until it could see its own platoon’s tanks on the eastern side of the highway. He then radioed: “Turn left, drive out a hundred meters, and then turn in place, pointing the front of the tank towards the village.”

“Yes.”

The driver immediately executed the order, stopping the tank at the spot verbally designated by Lieutenant Karl.

The lieutenant climbed out of the turret and stood on the edge of the tank, unbuttoning his tunic and placing his hands on his hips while standing atop the turret, watching the village rising with a dozen trails of thick smoke.

But these plumes of smoke were not from ignited houses but from destroyed Ante tanks.

The other six tanks of the Prosen Army’s 502nd Battalion Second Company lined up and approached the village.

Karl radioed: “Don’t line up in front of me, I’m not holding a parade. Set up the defensive line to the northeast of the village immediately, in preparation to block the enemy assault forces.”