Arc of Fire

Wang Zhong urged the driver, “Beliyakov, hurry! Once we’re out of the bombing zone, we’ll be safe.”

The Stukas in the sky targeted the dyed smoke released by the enemy tanks.

Tank 422’s engine roared to life, charging out of the smoke and into the bushes on the other side of the main road—this was originally a fake position made of dummy tanks and anti-tank guns.

The T-34s with radios and several alert T-34s followed Tank 422, all hiding in the faux position.

Then came the sharp, deadly howling from the sky.

The explosion came very quickly; the noise from the 500-kilogram bombs was terrifying. Wang Zhong instinctively shrank further inside the tank, letting the open hatch shield most of his body.

The columns of smoke from the explosion looked like gigantic cabbages, turning the ambush position into a giant’s vegetable garden.

The sound of gunfire from the ambush position nearly vanished, though this could be because the smoke released by the infantry obscured the tanks’ vision.

Even though Wang Zhong knew the remaining tanks were without radios, he still asked over the radio, “Is everyone okay?”

“Platoon leader—platoon leader’s tank is fine. By the way, other tanks from our platoon have also followed, our platoon is fine.”

“Platoon two’s leader’s tank is fine.”

“Platoon three’s leader…”

As the radio checks continued, a T-34 came from the ambush position, with its tank commander poking his head out from the turret, looking utterly shaken, shouting from afar, “Is this what Stukas are like? They’re terrifying.”

Then one after another, tanks emerged from the ambush position, bringing with them dire news: “Tank 448 was flipped by a bomb. When I passed by, I didn’t see any surviving tank operators.”

Before Wang Zhong could respond, someone reported over the headset, “Commander! Enemy tanks are attacking!”

The commander of the Second Armored Battalion, Stauffenberg, watched the effects of the bombardment.

He asked his deputy via radio, “What do you think of the enemy’s condition now? I believe we can launch an attack. We can penetrate the enemy’s rear flanks, especially since the smoke they released to disrupt the Stukas can cover us.” Ŕ

The deputy replied, “I see no problem. Should we consult with the Third Armored Battalion? Have them move right and occupy the cover positions.”

“Then let the Armored Grenadiers rush forward to engage the enemy infantry. I think this plan is workable.”

With that, Stauffenberg adjusted his radio to communicate with his superiors, “Wildcat calling Wolf, Wildcat calling Wolf.”

“The commander of the Second Armored Battalion believes an attack can be launched based on the situation on the ground,” the radio operator reported back to the acting division commander Kluge.

“Approved. Let him try, and if they hit a hard spot, they can pull back. Have the Third Armored Battalion and the Armored Grenadier Battalion coordinate with him,”

Kluge, as a staff officer, was well aware of his capabilities. Since the frontline officers judged that it was worth a try, then they should go ahead and try.

However, he also needed to assert his own role, adding, “If the attack is hindered, remember to feign retreat and lure the enemy into the firing range of the 88 guns.”

Although Wang Zhong wasn’t the first to discover the enemy’s assault, his external aid allowed him to be the first to grasp the overall situation.

The enemy divided into two tank clusters, the first appeared to directly break through to the flanks of the ambush site to occupy the side positions.

The second cluster took a larger detour, seemingly preparing to occupy remote firing positions to cover the first cluster.

Moreover, the enemy’s Armored Grenadiers had broken away from the tank units and begun to advance, evidently planning a rush attack through the smoke-obscured visibility of the ambush position to engage in close combat with the 31st Regiment 1st Battalion in the trenches.

Having grasped the situation, Wang Zhong immediately said to the orderly who had followed the tanks out, “Go inform the 1st Battalion to evacuate the position! The enemy is coming up for close combat, tell them to head to the reserve position.”

In the past ten days, the 151st Temporary Infantry Division and the Orachi Labor Camp had dug a multitude of preset positions and repeatedly practiced moving between them.

Wang Zhong certainly wouldn’t let his troops, primarily composed of new recruits, get minced with the enemy.

As for the enemy tanks making the detour, although the position Wang Zhong and his men occupied lacked tank dugouts, there were many trees and various obstacles left from constructing the faux position, making a gunfight in this location still advantageous for them.

What’s more, the T-34s already had the upper hand in armor-piercing combat, so as long as they protected their tracks from being disabled, it would be difficult for the enemy to get an upper hand—with so many obstacles, it was also hard for the enemy to precisely hit the T-34s’ “neck”.

It was a bit like War Thunder, where you’d use camouflage foliage to cover the tank’s weak points, making it hard for the opponent to aim properly.

At this moment, another three T-34s left the ambush position to join Wang Zhong and his group.

With this, the number of tanks that had run out reached 21; out of the remaining nine, it was confirmed that Tank 448 was done for, the conditions of the others were unknown.

“Quick, get into formation! Find your own platoon command tank!” Wang Zhong shouted while gesturing to the three newly arrived tanks.

The leading vehicle’s commander nodded—it was unclear whether he really understood or was just nodding to placate him—but he directed his tank to turn in front of Tank 422 and followed the formation of the current tank group.

The other two tanks followed suit, passing in front of Tank 422, their commanders saluting Wang Zhong as they went by.

Wang Zhong: “Stop saluting me! Get into formation, the enemy is here!”

This was unbearable; in the future, securing captured radios would have to be the top priority.

At this time, from a bird’s-eye view, Wang Zhong saw the infantry retreating along the communication trench to the preset positions, while the enemy’s infantry was about two hundred meters away from the ambush position’s trenches.

Good, the effects of the repeated practice in changing formations were showing.

Since the enemy was about to enter the position—

Wang Zhong adjusted the radio frequency, tuning it to the frequency commonly used by the Prussians.

The Prussians would be monitoring this frequency—not so much monitoring, as expecting to communicate on it, of course they would pay close attention.

And there was another person constantly listening to this frequency, that was Vasily, guarding a captured field telephone.

Wang Zhong: “The long, drawn-out sobs of the violin in autumn, repeat, the long, drawn-out sobs of the violin in autumn.”

Vasily put down his headphones: “A code has come through! Artillery, target the second ambush position!”

“The second one?” Pavlov confirmed.

“Yes! I’m certain it’s the code for the second ambush position,” Vasily insisted.

Pavlov picked up the phone: “Connect to the artillery battalion! Make it quick!”

Prussian Army, Knightly Order of Amprala Armored Division HQ.

Klose acting as division commander, heard the sudden voice over the radio and shouted, “Who knows the Ante language?”

“I do! That’s the first line from Weilun’s poem, ‘Autumn Song,\'” said a staff officer.

Division Commander Kluge: “Why recite a poem all of a sudden? Is this some kind of code? Is something going to happen?”

A concerned staff officer asked, “Could it be that they’re going to shell us?”

Clearly, the precision strikes other division commanders had experienced were causing them severe psychological pressure.

Kluge waved his hand: “Don’t scare yourselves. If they were going to bomb us, they would have done so already, why wait until now? No, this must be some other kind of code. My Ante Army doesn’t have enough radios, so we have to rely on telephone communication. The one issuing orders must have left a node with a telephone for some reason.

“He’s got a radio beside him… He must be in a tank.”

Suddenly, Kluge came to the table, picked up the white general’s service record, flipped through it quickly, and shouted, “Tanks! This white general likes to command the troops from inside his tank, and his tank likes to hang the military flag on the antenna! Tell the second battalion, the enemy’s white general is in a tank, and there’s a military flag on the tank antenna!”

Wang Zhong was paying attention to the enemy infantry when suddenly Vasily’s voice came through the headphones: “General! The enemy knows you are in a tank, and they know your tank has a military flag! Quick, take down the flag!”

Wang Zhong glanced at the red flag on the antenna, shook his head, and said, “Let them come. And you, kid, stop shouting in plain language!”

Actually, to keep radio communication secret now, one could only use codes or call signs.

Basically, both sides could hear each other’s radio broadcasts, and those advanced things like frequency hopping and encrypted communication didn’t exist yet.

That’s why the Yanks came up with the idea of using Native American code talkers.

Wang Zhong had just scolded Vasily when he saw the enemy infantry enter the second ambush position.

At that moment, symbols for armored troops suddenly appeared at the ambush position!

A T-34 that had been stunned by a large bomb “woke up”!

It was seen reversing and firing at the same time, retreating to a makeshift road.

Then more tanks “woke up”—no, it was three tanks waking up, forming an armored platoon with the one that had awakened first!

But Wang Zhong quickly noticed that one of the tanks had its track blown off and couldn’t move.

He watched the tank operator jump out of the tank and shoot at the elite armored grenadiers with his weapon.

However, the enemy’s machine guns soon started firing.

It was traditional for the German soldiers; infantry used the 98K rifle with a bolt action, relying entirely on machine guns to provide continuous suppressive fire.

The light machine guns’ torrential firepower quickly brought down the tank operators.

Wang Zhong’s heart twisted in pain.

Luckily, by then, the remaining three tanks had successfully retreated past the hedge line into an open field, forcing enemy infantry who tried to get close back toward the hedges with their firepower.

Now was the time!

Wang Zhong: “The monotonous melancholy that stabs my heart. Repeat, the monotonous melancholy that stabs at my heart!”

“Got it!” Vasily responded.

Wang Zhong: “Damn it, don’t respond!”

Even though Vasily was a bit of a blockhead, Wang Zhong wasn’t worried about him screwing up.

A few seconds later, the whoosh of artillery shells tearing through the sky could be heard.

The first volley of 152mm heavy artillery landed.

The hedge position, just plowed over by the Stuka’s 500kg bombs, was once again covered in steel and fire.

The birch trees that made up the hedge shook wildly but stood resilient like bamboo, “withstanding a thousand blows.”

Unyielding to winds from any direction!