artillery arc

Chapter 123 Like bubbles in the sun
Ant Army, Agsukov, South-Western Front Headquarters.

The Crown Prince Ivan Nikolayev Antonov entered the noisy map room and saw the bandage on General Skorobo's hand at the first sight. He was shocked: "What's going on? The enemy has hit Is the headquarters here?”

Scorob waved his hand: "It's nothing, I just got too excited and punched the table."

"Punched the table?" The Crown Prince's voice suddenly increased, attracting the surrounding staff to look over. Fortunately, at this time, the headquarters was full of shouts of "Please be louder," which was not particularly noticeable.

The Crown Prince lowered his voice and asked: "So Rokossov is right, right? The enemy really launched a pincer offensive, right?"

"He's right about this part." Scorobot paused and raised his voice and said, "But the rest of his estimation is completely wrong! Our armored counterattack will crush the enemy's offensive! Come and see! "

Skorob stood up and came to the map: "The information we have received so far shows that the enemy may have invested part of the Second Armored Group. We believe there are three divisions, a total of nine armored battalions, and about 400 tanks.

"As for the three tank corps we invested in the counterattack, there are more than 34 T1s alone! There are also dozens of KVs and more than BT tanks.

"These tanks have sufficient fuel and ammunition. They are completely different from the troops who were short of fuel and ammunition during the counterattack in the first month of the war! They will completely crush the enemy's offensive!"

The Crown Prince stared at General Skorobo: "Can you really fight back?"

The general hesitated for a moment, then responded resolutely: "Yes! Absolutely!"

The Crown Prince nodded: "Then what should I do?"

"You should go back to Saint-Ekaterinburg! Enemy planes bombed Agsukov's airfield, but there is still a field airfield on the east side of the city intact and capable of taking off transport planes. We have arranged a direct flight to Saint-Ekaterinburg …”

Crown Prince: "I'm not going anywhere. Since you believe that counterattack can stop the enemy, I will stay here. If the news of my departure spreads, it will affect morale!"

The general was suddenly silenced. He held it for a few seconds before saying, "Just because we can win doesn't mean it's not dangerous here."

At this time, the communications staff officer ran in with the telegram and saluted General Skorobo: "General! Urgent telegram from the Supreme Command of St. Yekaterinburg."

Scorob grabbed the telegram and took a look.

Crown Prince: "What does it say?"

General Skorobo: "His Majesty the Tsar ordered us to resolutely repel the enemy's attack."

"Did Father say that? I think Father may not understand what happened on the front line. I can call Father..."

General Skrobo: "You can fly back to St. Yekaterinburg and tell His Majesty the Tsar face to face."

The crown prince bit his lip and shook his head: "My mission is to supervise the army here and boost morale. Since my father asked you to stick to it, I should also set an example."

General Skorobo stared at the Crown Prince for a few seconds and then said: "I think I may have had some misunderstandings about you before. Now that you have decided to stay, we can only use our best efforts to defeat you." The enemy is attacking!

"We have a huge army and a large number of technical weapons in our hands, and we are no weaker than the enemy!
"As long as the Sixth Tank Corps attacks, everything will be fine!"

----

Ant's Army, Sixth Tank Army, tanks commanded by Chesnokov.

Army commander Chesnokov heard someone report on the radio: "This is the fifth tank battalion. We have six tanks left behind. Should we stop the attack?"

"No! Let the tank crews of those malfunctioning tanks ride on other tanks, so that if a crew member dies during the battle later, they can fight in place of the sacrificed member!" Lieutenant General Chesnokov's voice was ruthless.

"Yes, Lieutenant General!" came the crew's reply over the static.

Chesnokov wanted to see what was going on ahead, so he put his eyes on the gun scope, but the violent shaking almost made him vomit.

He could only push open the hatch on the top of the turret and stick his head out to observe the front.

Then he noticed smoke and dust in front of him, and it looked like a cavalry column forming a "wall formation" was charging.

"Attention all tanks!" Chesnokov pressed the microphone on his throat. "The enemy tank group is right in front! This time the enemy has no air force to help them. Let them see how powerful they are!"

There were sporadic "Ula" sounds coming from the headphones, mainly because the T34 radio station was so bad.

Chesnokov himself still kept the probe in the state, using the telescope to observe the front. He was excited to see the Prosen tanks arranged in a dense impact formation.

At the beginning of the war, the Prosens used this dense formation to form a local advantage and quickly broke through the anti-tank positions of the Ant Army on the border.

"Enemy tanks!" Lieutenant General Chesnokov shouted over the radio, "Ready for battle!"

As he spoke, he retracted into the tank turret.

At the last moment before closing the hatch cover, he looked back and confirmed that the large force of the Sixth Tank Corps was following him.

Back in the car, Chesnokov immediately put his eyes on the gun scope and began to select targets.

Unfortunately, the enemy was too far away, and the tank was bumpy due to the high-speed impact at this time. As soon as Chesnokov saw a target, he would lose it due to the bumps, let alone set the aiming crosshair on the enemy.

"Mikhail! Stop, let me choose a target and fire!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the tank braked suddenly. Chesnokov's body hit the front, and his head hit the armrest above the gun mirror.

Chesnokov cursed and immediately operated the turret to find the target. He selected a Prosen tank that was almost facing the direction of the muzzle and opened fire directly!
First hit!

The Prosen tank lost power and gradually slowed down as it slid forward. The crew members opened the hatch and fled in all directions. At the same time, the enemy's attack also hit Chesnokov's car, but it only made a muffled sound on the armor, which sounded like someone hitting the armor with a hammer.

"Hahahaha, that's it! General White Horse relies on this to achieve beautiful results! In the future, every crew can achieve that level of results! Reload quickly!"

More shells hit the Chesnokov car, but did not penetrate the T34's thick armor at all.

One of the armor-piercing bullets may have been deflected by the shape of the T34, leaving a sound that sounded like scraping the surface of an iron pot with long nails, giving the tank crews goosebumps.

Loader: "Armor-piercing bullet, okay!"

"Send away another one!"

Chesnokov fired, and the shell hit the side of the target tank, bounced on the ground and flew into the air, as if it turned into stars in the distance.

"What happened! Reload!"

At this time the enemy releases smoke.

"These cowards!" Chesnokov scolded, "Mikhail, move forward! Let the tanks move! Let's run up and smash them! From today on, the armor advantage of the Prosins is over!"

T34 started up again, and the noise made by the engine and transmission mechanism was so noisy that even the internal communication was difficult to use.

Due to excessive shaking, the gun scope had lost its ability to detect enemies, and Chesnokov could only use the observation ports on both sides to observe.

However, the T34 turret design made it very difficult for the gunner to use the observation window on the loader's side, making it almost impossible to take a good look.

After all, the T34's two-man turret, with the loader and gunner sitting in rows, is completely blocked.

It won't be long before the Proson armored troops on the opposite side will discover this and develop targeted tactics.

Chesnokov struggled for a long time, but it was awkward, so he had to open the hatch cover again and stick his upper body out.

The smoke screen released by the enemy tank has completely blocked the front, and it is impossible to see the other side of the smoke.

But Chesnokov believes that the enemy's smoke cannot be released indefinitely. When the smoke breaks through, the enemy's armored division will be destroyed!
In this way, maybe I can get the Ant Hero Medal!
At this time, his car took the lead and rushed into the smoke.

In the smoke, the view outside the tank was terrible, so Chesnokov retracted into the turret.

A moment later, the gun scope that had been obscured by smoke in front of Chesnokov suddenly showed an image again!

Chesnokov immediately followed up, trying to find the fleeing enemy Panzer III.

But there was nothing ahead.

"Where have you gone?"

At this time, the tank's engine and traditional systems were noisy as always, covering up almost all sounds outside the tank.

Lieutenant General Chesnokov turned the turret, trying to find the missing Panzer III tank group.

At this time, a panicked voice came from the radio: "Who is attacking us? Has anyone seen the enemy who is firing? Where is the cannon coming from?"

炮？
Lieutenant General Chesnokov threw away the gun scope and looked at the observation window on his side. The T34 that attacked with him was fine, and no one was seen attacking at all.

Then he turned to the other side, pushed the loader back, and looked out of the observation window.

Nothing happened? Isn’t my wingman No. 671 still fine?
Soon after, a ray of light flashed across the T671 with tactical number 34. It immediately slowed down, slid for a few meters and then stopped completely, leaving the narrow field of view of the observation window.

what's the situation?
What was that just now?
Lieutenant General Chesnokov wanted to confirm the status of car No. 671, so he turned around and put his eyes on the observation window at the rear of the turret.

However, nothing can be seen through the narrow observation window.

He was about to use the radio, then he remembered that the wing car was not the platoon command car and had no radio.

Chesnokov turned back and tried to use the gun scope to detect the enemy attacking his troops.

However, the gun scope was too bumpy.

In order to get a clear view, Lieutenant General Chesnokov issued a very brave but also very stupid order: "Mikhail! Stop!"

The tank came to an emergency stop. Chesnokov did not wait for the tank to stop, then turned the turret to search ahead——

He saw nothing until there was a flash of light far, far away!

The shells from the 88mm anti-aircraft gun penetrated the frontal armor of the T34 like butter.

Because this round was fired from a long distance, the angle of fall offset part of the inclination of the T34's frontal armor.

The shell penetrated directly through the pilot Mikhail and exploded behind Mikhail.

The entire fighting room - the turret - flew into the sky in the explosion.

(End of this chapter)