artillery arc

Chapter 367: The End of Major General Witte

Major General Witte saw the smoke from shooting suddenly coming out in front of the tank front line and quickly raised his binoculars.

A few seconds later, he determined that the armored force had encountered an enemy anti-tank gun position.

Over the past year, the Anti-tank artillery units of the Ant Army have caused much higher losses to the Proson Armored Units than the tank units.

Of course, the Plossen tank crews were also very experienced in anti-tank gun positions.

They would first try to find the anti-tank gun positions and attack with grenades. If the grenades failed to solve the problem, they would release smoke and then rush towards the anti-tank gun positions.

Most of the time last year, the density of tanks on the front of Proson's attack was much higher than the density of anti-tank guns. In addition, last year the Ant Army basically had 45mm anti-tank guns, which posed a low frontal threat to the Type and Type tanks.

Then the shooting skills of the Ante gunners were very poor, so most of the time the Proson army did not rely on smoke, but destroyed these anti-tank artillery positions through counter-fire.

Yes, the ANT anti-tank gun positions took heavy losses, but most of them were breached, and the tanks then massacred the ANT infantry and gunners in the positions.

It’s just that the performance of Ant’s other troops was so poor that the anti-tank artillery unit became the number one threat.

Now the commander of the armored battalion seemed to follow last year's experience and ordered his troops to turn to the anti-tank artillery position and launch an attack on the position - to be precise, the position was originally on the armored battalion's encirclement route, and they only needed to turn the front of the vehicle to the left a dozen degrees to rush towards the position.

Major General Witte held a telescope in one hand and clenched his fist with the other: "Quick, kill them! Show them how powerful we are!"

Unfortunately, from his position, he could not see the effect of the tank group's attack, but could only see Plossen's tanks catching fire one after another - a fire basically meant that the tanks would be burned and completely lost.

As for those tanks that stopped moving, Major General Witte didn't know whether they were destroyed or their crew members were stunned and stopped temporarily.

Suddenly, the Ants' T34 tanks appeared from the side and began to attack the flanks of the Proson tanks!
These Ante tanks have superb shooting skills, and one round of shooting can stop more than a dozen advancing Proson tanks.

The commander of the armored battalion ordered the tank troops on the flank to turn around and engage in a melee with the Ante tanks.

Last year, whenever a melee broke out, the Ant tank would be beaten unilaterally. Many of Proson's new tank aces won medals by opening cans of T34 continuously in melee.

But this batch of Ante tanks is obviously different. They have none of the "blind" problem that the previous T34 had.

Because they are all T34W with big heads!

The combat monthly report in March this year specifically mentioned that when encountering the big-headed T34W troops, they cannot be treated as ordinary T34 troops.

These tanks are often driven by armored specialists from Ant's side, and with the addition of a separate vehicle commander, their situational awareness capabilities are incomparable.

Major General Witte was extremely anxious. He could see that his armored forces were in trouble and were gradually losing the upper hand!
"What are the heavy tanks doing? Hurry up and destroy the enemy's assault guns and come help us!"

Major General Witte cursed.

The new chief of staff said cautiously: "The enemy's new assault guns are very powerful. It would be great if our new tanks can hold them back..."

"Shut up!" Major General Witte cursed, "My troops are melting! Damn it, if the artillery bombardment hadn't paralyzed so many tanks, we would have had the advantage in manpower!"

Suddenly, someone shouted, "General, look!"

Major General Witte turned his head sharply and saw smoke and dust appearing in the north, obviously indicating that armored troops were marching on the grassland.

The major general immediately raised his binoculars and asked, "Are they friendly forces in a pincer attack?"

Then he saw the outlines of tanks racing across the grassland.

Tilt armor!

The Plosson tank currently has no sloped armor!

The Ants' tank troops are encircling from the north!

Major General Witte shouted, "Prepare for defense! Stop repairing all the tanks that are down and get the crew on board. At least they can be used as fixed turrets! Where are our anti-tank guns?"

Adjutant: "Report, the enemy's bombardment has almost destroyed us!"

Armored units are relatively resistant to artillery fire, but they suffer heavy losses against soft targets such as infantry.

Major General Witte waved his hand and said, "Forget it. We can just rely on the firepower of the paralyzed tanks. The enemy's T34s can't do anything to our new tanks. Just two of the new tanks that are lying on the ground are enough to beat the enemy hard. Infantry units, make good use of the wreckage of the half-tracks. Now it's your turn to use the incendiary bombs!"

At this time, the charging T34 stopped and fired the first round.

Soon, the disabled tanks began to catch fire. Several tanks were probably hit by bullets, but it was not noticeable as long as the crew members did not abandon their vehicles.

The Plosson tanks also opened fire, but most of them were shot away.

The major general frowned slightly, then shouted, "It's the scope!"

The fact that the tank was lying flat on its back indicated that a heavy artillery shell had exploded very close to the tank. Since even the road wheels and tracks were damaged, the more fragile optical system could not have been unaffected.

Major General: "Recalibrate the scope!"

At this time, the new heavy tanks that were lying in wait opened fire. The first wave of shelling caused two T34s to catch fire and stop.

The crew members jumped out of the tank with flames all over their bodies and rolled on the ground.

The new heavy tank continued to fire, and the 88mm main gun smashed the Ante tank like a hammer hitting an egg, turning it into burning scrap metal.

The Ants fought back, and the shells hit the heavy tanks, blowing out white "cotton"!
smoke bomb!
The Ants also learned it!
All the heavy tanks that were lying on the ground were hit by smoke bombs and were completely covered by white smoke.

Then Ant's T34 began to deal with the Plossen tank whose sight had not been calibrated - or rather, the Plossen fixed turret.

For a moment, the entire Plossen position was a sea of ​​fire, with burning tanks everywhere.

The Ants also shot at the wreckage to ensure it was on fire - so that it would not suddenly "come alive" and kill the Ants.

The fire illuminated the face of Major General Witte.

At this time, he heard footsteps behind him. He turned around and found that it was Captain John: "General!" Major General Witt said to his adjutant: "Gather the vehicles that can still be driven, take the surviving tank crews, and retreat along the way we came. Gather the surviving infantry and I will lead them personally to carry out the rear guard mission. Lay down smoke bombs to force the enemy tanks to approach for battle."

The adjutant saluted: "Yes!"

Major General Witte: "You lead the retreat. Also, take the staff with you, all of them."

The chief of staff was shocked: "Am I going too?"

Major General Witte: "Yes, you just don't have experience. You will become a qualified chief of staff in the future."

The chief of staff opened his mouth but no words came out in the end, but tears welled up in his eyes.

Major General Witte waved his hand and said, "Hurry up and act!"

Captain John stood at attention and saluted Major General Witte: "Salute you."

At this time, the guard shouted: "Stop, who is it?"

A three-wheeled motorcycle drove over, the driver was a corporal, and the one holding the machine gun in the truck bed was a private. Neither of them was wearing the handsome leather jackets of the motorcycle troops.

"We are messengers from the 16th Panzergrenadier Regiment," the corporal said. "The Grenadier Regiment is still fighting in the city. We are requesting support."

Major General Witte shook his head: "There is no support. You two will be the vanguard of the retreating troops, go!"

The corporal's expression relaxed, he saluted the general, and drove his motorcycle straight towards the assembled motor vehicle troops.

The smoke set up by the infantry had formed a curtain wall in the north, so Major General Witte could not see the movements of the enemy armored forces, but he could hear the sound of engines getting closer and closer, as well as the noise made by the gearbox.

The Antetank's gearbox is really loud, he thought.

On the convoy side, the surviving tankers and the wounded were all sent to vehicles that could still move.

The adjutant seemed to want to come over to report, but Major General Witte waved his hand: "Go! Leave when you are ready!"

The adjutant saluted the major general from a distance, then took off his golden adjutant sash - after the death of his chief officer, he was no longer an adjutant.

Major General Witte watched the convoy head west.

An infantry captain came up to him and saluted: "General, the rest of the panzergrenadiers are ready."

"Give me a submachine gun," said the major general.

The captain immediately took off his submachine gun and magazine pouch and handed them to the major general.

The major general put these on his back and took out a wooden-handled grenade from the captain's grenade bag.

"'I have one last grenade.'" he said.

Captain: "What?"

Major General: "Ante language, this is a song that the Ante people like to sing recently. Since this song became popular, the number of prisoners we captured has dropped by 60%. Most of the Ante people would pull the grenade and die with us before being captured. I used to think they were crazy, but now - I might be crazy too."

He put the grenade in his belt.

It seems a bit out of place to have such a grenade stuck in the general's belt.

Major General Witte didn't care about this at all. He put his hands behind his back, smelled the smell of burning corpses in the wind, and said, "This wind, this feeling, this is the smell of war."

Suddenly, a tank that had never been seen before rushed through the smoke.

The tank has a thick gun barrel on its body, and a turret on top of the tall body with a thinner gun barrel on it.

The machine guns on the tanks fired at the major general.

The captain pounced and pinned Major General Witte to the ground.

The major general lay prone on the ground, using his hands to press down the grass that blocked his view, and he saw a brave Plosson soldier rushing towards the tank with a firebomb in his hand.

Then the door on the side of the tank opened, and an ANT soldier jumped out, firing a submachine gun.

Then the second Ante soldier jumped out, and the third, and the fourth...

The major general stared in amazement at the seven infantrymen jumping out of the tank. Is this actually an "infantry fighting vehicle"?

The next moment, the cannon on the tank body opened fire, and the high-explosive shells hit the wreckage in front, blowing the Proson soldiers who had just stood up from the grass into the sky.

Major General Witte opened his mouth wide.

At this time, another "infantry fighting vehicle" rushed through the smoke, and then another infantry squad came down from it.

Fierce close-range infantry combat was in full swing, but the Ants had the firepower of the "Infantry Fighting Vehicle", and the Proson infantry was at a disadvantage in firepower in close-range combat for the first time!

The Ants began to efficiently massacre the remaining Proson infantry.

They gradually approached Major General Witte who was lying on the ground.

The major general looked at the captain who had just knocked him down and found that his expression was dull and his pupils were dilated.

Apparently he was shot when he tackled the major-general.

The major general pushed the captain away and struggled to stand up. Instead of picking up the submachine gun, he picked up the grenade, pulled the fuse, and rushed towards the Ant people with the grenade in his hand.

The machine gun hit the major general in the shoulder, causing him to kneel on the ground.

The next moment, the grenade exploded in his hand, turning him into a bloody mist.

(End of this chapter)