artillery arc

Chapter 398 Melania's First Division Attacks

While the 21st Army's night attack was successful, the 20th Army's cavalry was also harassing the Prosen transport convoy on the grassland.

Even the herders on the grassland joined in the attack, reportedly because the Prosens had forcibly taken away the herders' cattle, sheep, and some horses.

The herders rely heavily on cattle and sheep for survival. If these are taken away, they may not be able to survive this winter. What should they do? They can only deal with the damn Plosson devils.

In the blink of an eye, the sun rose again and the early morning of the 18th arrived.

Originally, Plossen's Tenth Army was preparing to launch a pincer attack that morning, but all the troops scheduled to be involved in the offensive were now preparing to withdraw and then participate in the operation to rescue the 190th Division.

----

1st Mobile Army Headquarters.

Pavlov looked at his watch, then turned to look at Wang Zhong.

Wang Zhong: "Wait, did this happen yesterday?"

"Yes, but the targets of the shelling are different. Yesterday we mainly shelled the two wing defense areas of the 190th Division and only carried out diversionary attacks on the core positions. Today we will focus on bombarding the core areas." Pavlov paused and asked, "So should we start?"

"Of course, let's start, please!" Wang Zhong made a please gesture to the phone.

Pavlov picked up the receiver. "Artillery position. Artillery position? Fire."

When he put down the receiver, rumbling thunder was heard outside.

Wang Zhong changed the view. He couldn't directly see the Melania First Division preparing for an attack from the headquarters, but he could see the artillery positions.

All kinds of artillery pieces of the entire army were roaring, and the scene looked very much like the famous scene from "The Final Battle".

After a quick search, Wang Zhong actually found the birds flying in the sky. Although he could no longer remember the narration of this scene, the image of the flock of birds flying calmly amid the sound of artillery fire was still deeply imprinted in his memory.

At this time, Pavlov gave the order to the rocket artillery brigade to open fire, so Wang Zhong also gained the perspective of the rocket artillery brigade.

From the bird's-eye view, no sound from the scene could be heard, but the sight of the Katyusha salvos destroying everything in their path made Wang Zhong automatically imagine the "woohoo" sound of the rocket launcher.

With such fierce firepower, the enemies deployed on the grassland must have been blown to pieces - Wang Zhong thought so.

----

The troops of Melania's First Division were deployed less than three kilometers away from the enemy at this time. Artillery shells passed over their heads one after another, making a humming sound that made the back of the head itch.

When the rocket launchers opened fire, the noise in the sky reached its climax, and even the bravest veterans all retracted their necks.

The uniforms of Melania's People's Army have been modified based on the uniforms of Ant to suit their national characteristics. The main changes are the addition of some decorations, and the hats are different from those of the Ant people - this can highlight the difference between them and the Ant troops without adding too much supply pressure.

Now, Melania, who has been training for more than half a year, is waiting for the time to take revenge.

Some of them were forced to leave their hometown three years ago and have lost contact with any of their relatives and friends. Some of them only fled to Ant from Melania in the last two years. Before leaving their hometown, they were already accustomed to the atrocities of the Prosen people.

Now, all of this has turned into anger and courage, covering the young yet weathered faces.

They were waiting for the artillery fire to stop and for the whistle to attack.

Veterans who had fought in Melania's National Army were the first to notice that the artillery fire was turning into a slow-moving barrage.

"It's about to begin!"

"You son of a bitch, Plossom bastard! Your grandpa Melania is here!"

The attacking whistle echoed throughout the starting line.

The next moment the roar of the tank engine drowned out the sound of the whistle.

Melania's 3st Division, equipped with Sherman and M Grant Lee, set off first, with the infantry units' half-track vehicles and skirmish lines following behind the tanks.

Not long after we set off, someone sang Melania’s famous song “Visvavarsi”: “The wind of hatred is roaring overhead~”

Others immediately sang along: “The devil has taken a vengeance on us!” “Get up and fight the enemy to the death/No need to ask what’s ahead!”

"Be brave, be proud!

"Brave falcon, fight for the cause of liberation!"

Melania's red flag with a white eagle was flying at the forefront of the team. The white eagle on the flag seemed to come alive, leading a flock of falcons across the grassland.

----

On the Plosson Army's side, because it was difficult to dig anti-artillery bunkers on the grassland, more than half of the troops had been lost.

The surviving machine gunner was trying to dig the machine gun out of the soil, while the surviving gunner was trying to turn over the overturned anti-tank gun.

Medics were running around, trying in vain to snatch some lives from the hands of death.

Suddenly, someone shouted, "Listen!"

Everybody stop.

The roar of tank engines and tragic songs wafted through the air.

An old soldier reacted: "Melania language! Damn it, it's Melania people. I saw their methods when Melania was fighting bandits. They don't take prisoners! If you fall into their hands, your eyes and nose will be cut off, and you will be tied to a tree and slowly wait for death!"

As soon as the words were spoken, a red flag appeared.

This time many people responded: "It's Rokossov's troops!"

The red flag equals Rokossov's troops, and this rule is widely circulated in Proshen's troops.

At this time, an officer ran along the trench that had been blown into sections: "Collect the weapons of our fallen compatriots! Prepare for battle!"

"Ready to fight!"

The Prosons remounted their machine guns and readied their anti-tank guns.

On the artillery position with severe depletion of personnel, non-commissioned officers replaced the fallen officers and observed the approaching tanks with binoculars still stained with blood.

"Damn it, I've never seen this kind of tank before. It doesn't look like a T34! It doesn't look like a Matilda or Valentine (both are United Kingdom tanks that appeared in the Carolingian Campaign)!"

The gunner asked the acting commander, "Where should we aim?"

The Plossen anti-tank artillery units all had a manual that taught them where to aim when facing different tanks.

But there is no such new tank in the manual.

The sergeant hesitated for a moment and said, "Aim at the driver's observation window in front of the vehicle!"

They didn't know that this model of Sherman had no driver's observation window on the front, and the driver mainly relied on a periscope to observe the outside world during combat.

The correct approach is to aim at the muzzle of the machine gun.

The gunners followed the sergeant's instructions and searched for the observation window, but soon discovered something was wrong: "Why is the observation window on the top of the tank?"

However, at this time the enemy tank passed the target.

"Fire!"

Despite his doubts, the gunner Prossen carried out the order, and the shell hit the upper front of the vehicle and was directly bounced off by the high-angle armor.

The tank did not stop moving forward at all, but fought back while driving!
Muzzle stabilizer boy!
The mixed formation of Sherman and Grant Lee thus rushed upon the Plossoms' position.

The artillerymen fled in all directions, and the anti-tank guns they left behind were crushed by their tracks - just like what happened to the Plossen tank against Ant's 45mm anti-tank gun last year.

(End of this chapter)