artillery arc

Chapter 503: On the Nameless Heights

At 915 hours on October 10, 20, the outer positions of Abawahan were five kilometers deep and on unnamed hills.

The regiment's military chaplain, Ilyich Ivanovich, found the regiment commander.

He gently closed the captain's eyes, drew the pistol from his waist, turned his head and shouted: "Get into position! Quick! The enemy is coming!"

As he said this, he rushed into the communication trench and ran towards the position that had been bombed to pieces.

The surviving soldiers followed him and rushed into the position along the communication trench, but everyone looked confused and obviously had not recovered from the fierce shelling.

Ilyich shouted, "Wake up! It's okay if you don't wake up. Let your body do what it should do! Push the machine gun to the machine gun position! And the 45mm cannon! Quick!"

The position on Unnamed Hill was built according to the latest defensive manual. This latest manual is said to take into account the lack of training and low morale of the front-line troops, and to allow mobilized soldiers to play a sufficient role as much as possible.

Now it's time to test whether the experience in this manual is useful.

Ilyich came to the machine gun and patted the shooter on the shoulder: "The distance has been measured, the scale is set, you can hit the person without aiming, don't be nervous!"

The gunman took a deep breath and looked even more nervous.

At this time, the roar of the engine came from the bottom of the mountain. After a while, the sandbags next to the machine gun began to vibrate, and the fine sand and stones on the surface bounced like water droplets in a frying pan.

Ilyich took a deep breath. As a military chaplain and the highest-ranking officer on the battlefield, he could not afford to panic in the slightest.

If he revealed a flaw at this time, the result might be the rout of the entire position.

After taking a few deep breaths, Ilyich patted the machine gunner on the shoulder again: "I will walk around the position. Keep calm, and open fire when the enemy passes the target!"

The machine gunner nodded repeatedly.

Ilyich began to patrol along the position. Because some trenches were destroyed by artillery fire, he had to squeeze sideways through the collapsed areas from time to time.

As he walked, he encouraged the morale: "The enemy is also human. They will die if they are hit by bullets. They will become cowardly if the machine gun goes off. Make good use of your weapons!"

At this point, Ilyich happened to walk to the anti-tank gun group and said, "Aim at the enemy's observation port! Observation port, understand?"

The man operating the anti-tank gun was a man who looked to be about fifty years old. He wore a worn-out military cap with the badge almost worn off. He said to Ilyich, "Don't worry, Father!"

"Don't call me Father. The civil war is over and the Saints have been defeated," said Ilyich.

"Well, Father Davarish, I've never hit a peep hole in training, ever."

Ilyich: "Don't worry, other people will miss if they get nervous. You just need to shoot the bullet at the tank, create sparks, and scare the infantry around the tank, and you'll have completed your mission.

"Also, the enemy's armored forces will be accompanied by half-track vehicles, and this thing is quite effective against half-track vehicles."

The uncle took a deep breath and said, "Okay, I'll fight the half-track when I see it."

Ilyich left the anti-tank gunner and continued forward, then saw Stepan, one of the few veterans in the unit, placing a row of grenades at the edge of the trench.

"Stepan!" Ilyich said sincerely, "it's up to you."

The old soldier just nodded and didn't answer.

Ilyich continued to move forward, encouraging each recruit who looked like a wilted eggplant.

Someone shouted, "Enemy tanks! Eight hundred meters to go!"

Ilyich immediately lay down on the edge of the trench and looked out. As expected, he saw an assault formation consisting of about ten tanks, with the same number of half-track vehicles behind the tanks.

The infantry cannot be seen for the time being, probably because they are hiding behind the tanks.

Ilyich drew back, waving his pistol and shouting, "Remember, use crossfire to clear the infantry behind the tanks! After cutting off the infantry, throw incendiary bombs at close range to destroy the tanks!"

In fact, Ilyich had never fought the enemy with real weapons. He used to be a parish priest in the district church. His most familiar job was to distribute sausages to the old men and women in the community. While distributing the sausages, he spoke well of the secularists to them and told them that these sausages were made in secular factories, not a gift from the Tsar.

The speed of Ilyich's promotion shows that he is very effective in this job.

But now, he could only wield the small pistol, which he used not very skillfully, and recite the knowledge he learned from the manual.

Suddenly, artillery fire was heard on the battlefield.

Ilyich stopped and looked toward the anti-tank gun position.

His regiment was only equipped with outdated 45mm anti-tank guns, which had no effect on the reinforced frontal armor of the Type and Type tanks, and could not penetrate them even if the enemy was placed right in front of them.

Therefore, the artillery positions can only be hidden on the side of the entire position, and wait for the enemy tanks to rush to the main position before opening fire, hitting the side of the tank, especially the area slightly above the suspension mechanism.

If the artillery opens fire now, it means that someone is panicking and has become hysterical.

Ilyich shouted: "Don't fire! Damn it! Don't fire!"

He shouted as he ran along the trench, approaching the artillery position on the side.

But the artillery positions were still firing, and the shells continued to spark on the Plossen tanks, but to no avail.

Ilyich finally ran to the end of the main position, leaned out half of his body and shouted at the anti-tank artillery position: "Don't fire, bastard! See if it works?"

"I don't know!" The lieutenant commanding the artillery position looked at Ilyich, "The captain is dead, the captain is dead! I don't know what to do!"

"Stop first and wait--" Suddenly, Ilyich felt something and turned his head to look at the Prosen formation, just in time to see the moment when the Type 4 tank equipped with a short-barreled gun fired.

The sound of "Fuck!" pierced Ilyich's eardrums, and before he could lie down, the explosion occurred. The hysterical artillery lieutenant was gone, and Ilyich only saw his helmet flying high.

The lightweight gun carriage of the 45mm gun was blown to the ground, followed by a chain explosion of unfired 45mm shells.

The enemy continued to fire, and at least one platoon of short-barreled Type 4 guns opened fire, and the anti-tank gun position was quickly engulfed in smoke and fire.

"Sukabulie!" Ilyich couldn't help cursing. Theoretically speaking, as a clergyman he shouldn't be sukabulie, but he couldn't care less at this moment.

"Priest!" he heard someone shout. "Alexander has escaped!"

"What?" Ilyich turned around and saw Alexander running backwards with a PPSh in his hand. He didn't even have time to pick up his helmet when it fell off.

Ilyich raised his hand and fired a shot, but missed. However, it made Peter, who had just left the position and was about to escape, hesitate.

Ilyich: "Peter! Think about your sister! How sad she would be if she knew you were a deserter!"

Peter returned to the trench and lay down beside his comrades again.

Ilyich: "I am also scared to death now! But we can't retreat! If we retreat, wouldn't those comrades who died have died in vain?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the observer shouted: "Enemy tanks, 500 meters!"

Ilyich: "Machine gunners, get ready!"

At this time, the half-track accompanying the tank opened fire, and machine gun bullets swept across the trench.

"Don't panic! The enemy is firing threatening shots, they haven't really found out where we are!" said Ilyich.

Observer: “Four hundred meters!”

"Keep calm. Remember, after cutting off the infantry, the bomb crew will be ready!"

Observer: “Three hundred meters!”

Ilyich felt that he should continue to talk about some precautions or something, no matter what, it would at least stabilize the morale of the troops.

At this time, the vibrations caused by the enemy tanks had caused dirt to start falling off the walls of the trenches, and the grenades placed by the soldiers on the edge of the trenches began to vibrate, with the pull rings making a clinking sound.

Suddenly, machine gun fire began.

Along with the thumping sound came the observer's shout: "Two hundred meters!"

Ilyich: "Fire! Fire quickly! No need to aim, just shoot! Plenty of bullets!"

The sounds of machine guns and PPSh-style rifle fire echoed throughout the entire position.

Ilyich passed by the anti-tank gun position again and saw the fifty-year-old man fired a shot. The bullet drew an arc and hit the half-track vehicle in the distance, creating a dazzling flash of fire.

The half-track vehicle stopped, and the people on it jumped out one by one and quickly lay on the ground to hide.

Ilyich: "Well done! Keep fighting!"

The uncle pulled the bolt, and the shell was caught by the bullet hook and fell into the trench. The assistant gunner immediately put a new bullet into the chamber.

Ilyich looked at the cooperation between the two with satisfaction. Just as he was about to say something, he saw the No. 4 turret turning around not far away.

"Take cover!" Ilyich shouted, and a flash of light burst out from the muzzle.

The next moment, his consciousness was interrupted.

After an unknown amount of time, Ilyich's vision returned. His brain seemed to be filled with water and was about to explode like a water ball. He could hear nothing in his ears except a buzzing sound.

He sat up and looked at the lifeless eyes of the shooter in front of him. He was stunned for a second before he reached out his hand to help close his eyelids.

He looked around blankly, saw the assistant gunner wailing while covering his broken arm, and saw the anti-tank gun lying on the side.

Ilyich remembered that he should fight and continue firing his anti-tank gun, so he picked up the gun, set it up at the edge of the trench, and pulled the trigger at a random target.

But the gun did not fire.

Ilyich wanted to pull the bolt to clear the obstruction, but found that the bolt handle seemed to be welded and could not be pulled open.

This gun is probably useless.

He threw down his gun, picked up the cluster grenade placed on the edge of the trench, rushed out of the trench with a roar, pulled the fuse, and threw it at the tank rushing towards him.

However, this time the grenade was thrown too close, and it landed on the ground in front of the tank, blowing up a mud pillar seven or eight meters high.

Then the tank's tracer bullet barrage passed through the still falling mud and swept towards Ilyich.

At this moment, he was grabbed by someone and pulled back into the trench.

Tracer bullets crackled on both sides of the trench, and flying stones scratched Ilyich's cheek.

The pain made his brain, which was blinded by the explosion, quickly regain its calm.

The tinnitus also faded away at this time.

"You're crazy!" It was the veteran Stepan. "No matter how strong you are, you can't throw it over this distance! You have to wait until the enemy gets closer!"

(End of this chapter)