artillery arc

Chapter 528 Pull the Bolt (Update 24/81)

Nellie actually received a Mosin-Nagant rifle.

Then she discovered with regret that, although she was eighteen years old, she was still not as tall as the rifle.

After a little thought, she removed the bayonet so that she was barely taller than the rifle.

The quartermaster who issued the gun to her had a serious expression on his face: "We marine infantrymen don't have optical sights here. You'll have to get used to the mechanical sights."

"I'm used to it," Nellie said. "I use an iron sight when I shoot rabbits."

The old quartermaster looked at Nellie suspiciously: "The general and the former crown prince went hunting. Did you really hunt them all?"

"Yeah." Nelly nodded.

"Well, here, take these clothes, and this uniform, which is the smallest uniform we can find here."

"I can just wear a maid outfit."

"No, it's too conspicuous."

Nellie pointed to the mud spots on her skirt and said, "It won't be long before the white turns to the color of mud. Don't worry."

The old quartermaster sighed: "Even a girl like you has to roll in the mud. War is really abominable, and the invaders are really abominable."

Nellie didn't answer, but lowered her head to check the bullets issued to her.

At this time, the commander of the Marine Infantry Brigade, who held the rank of brigadier general, came over and said, "Are you the general's orderly? Come to the brigade headquarters and help make coffee."

"No, I want to fight the Prosens and stay with the warriors." Nellie said coldly, "I am just a hired worker and not under your command."

"Theoretically speaking, even a rabbit on this position is under my command." The brigade commander stopped and watched Nellie skillfully check the barrel of the Mosin-Nagant.

The old quartermaster next to him said, "She may be a better fighter than most of our new recruits. Don't worry, Brigade Commander."

"How could I be at ease? General Rokossov asked me about it afterwards, and I said your orderly..." At this time, a whistling sound was heard in the sky.

Nellie threw herself directly onto the trench wall, reacting faster than the brigade commander and the old quartermaster.

The brigade commander lay down and shouted, "Hide! The bombardment is coming, hide!"

The shells fell, but the earthquake was not as earth-shaking as imagined.

The brigade commander looked up and said, "What's going on? No heavy artillery? I think the largest gun is only 105mm."

In fact, the 105mm howitzer is powerful enough. Maybe the naval infantry's understanding of the caliber of artillery is somewhat different from that of the army. After all, they are the navy. The 105mm gun on a warship can only be regarded as a fire stick. The main guns of destroyers are all 127mm.

The shelling lasted 20 minutes, which was indeed a bit short for fire preparation.

And the density of falling bullets is not that high.

Nellie climbed up and looked down at her maid uniform. Sure enough, the white color had almost disappeared. With another artillery attack, she would be able to blend into the position.

The brigade commander seemed to want to persuade Nellie, but a shout came from the observation post in the distance: "Tanks! Enemy tanks are approaching!"

Then the roar of the engine entered everyone's ears.

The brigade commander turned and ran to the command post, shouting as he ran: "Get into position! Get into position! Anti-tank guns and anti-tank gunners get ready! Grenadiers check ammunition!"

After the brigade commander left, Nellie turned to the quartermaster and said, "I'm going to fight too, you..."

She stopped and looked at the old quartermaster lying in the trench.

After a brief silence, she reached out her hand, gently closed the old man's eyes, then took out the half-bloodstained letter from his pocket and stuffed it into the pocket of her maid outfit.

Then she put on her boat hat, held a Mosin-Nagant rifle that was taller than herself, and moved quickly along the trench. Soon she arrived at the forefront shooting trench.

The old sergeant named Malov was encouraging the new recruits in the firing trench. When he saw Nellie, he exclaimed, "Why are you in the firing trench? Go to the back! Come and rescue us when you hear someone shouting 'nurse'!"

Nellie patted the Mosin-Nagant in her hand.

Malov: "Nonsense! Look at how many PPShs we have here! Are we short of your Mosin-Nagant? We know that your representative general is here, but..."

The grenade fired by the Proson tank exploded behind Malov. Zaitsev, who was lying next to Malov, turned his head and looked at it: "What the hell is this explosion? Our machine guns are not firing! No, we don't have machine guns here either."

Malov patted him on the head and said, "It's just to scare new recruits like you! We'll have machine gun fire later!"

Before he could finish his words, Prosen's tank opened fire. Bullets flew over the soldiers' heads like a rainstorm. No matter whether they were new recruits or veterans, even Malov himself shrank his neck.

"See!" he exclaimed. "That's it. That's suppressive fire."

Even for warriors who have been in battle for a long time, the body's instinct to avoid danger will not change. When a large number of bullets are hitting them, most of them will still experience a surge in adrenaline and an accelerated heart rate.

People who are afraid of death will just curl up into a ball and won’t even be able to shoot.

Zaitsev: "So what should we do in this situation?"

"Wait until the enemy approaches within 100 meters, then the PPSh will have a better chance of hitting the target. Before that, the machine guns will block the enemy's infantry." Malov patted Zaitsev on the shoulder.

Then he noticed that Nellie was lying on the firing port in the firing trench, with her gun ready.

"What are you doing? The anti-tank gun didn't fire, which means the enemy tank is still 500 meters away, and the enemy infantry is behind the tank. What are you doing now..."

Nellie ignored Malov and carefully adjusted the scale to 700 meters.

Yes, the mechanical sight of the Mosin-Nagant can be set so far, and ordinary people don't need this marking position at all. Then Nellie pointed the muzzle at the target.

At this distance, it was impossible to tell which black dot was the infantry and which was the officer with the naked eye, so Nellie just picked a target at random.

She pulled the trigger.

Malov next to him commented: "The shooting posture is quite standard, and there is no phenomenon of the butt of the gun hitting the shoulder. But can you really shoot accurately at this distance, little girl?"

Nellie did not answer, but Zaitsev shouted: "Down! A soldier has fallen!"

Seeing the enemy fall, Nellie breathed a sigh of relief, then pulled the bolt, letting the shell fly out of the ejection port, bounced in the trench, and finally rolled to Malov's feet.

Malov stepped on the shell and squinted at Nellie.

At this time she opened fire again.

The platoon leader ran over here and shouted, "Malov, why is there someone firing on your side? Tell her not to shoot!"

"We have a female sniper here!" Malov shouted, "She has already killed two people."

"Why haven't I heard of any female snipers joining?" The platoon leader walked closer and saw that it was Nellie, so he changed his words and said, "That's good, but it would be better if Miss Nellie could obey the trench discipline a little. When the enemy gets close, you can shoot the officers and the NCOs with submachine guns. You can even shoot at the battle wound badges or Iron Cross on them."

Those with battle medals may be key members who have returned from injury, not to mention those with the Iron Cross.

Nellie nodded, "I see. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, as long as we kill the Prosen people." The platoon leader nodded, turned around and walked back the way he came.

At this time, the anti-tank gun opened fire, indicating that the enemy tank had passed the target.

Malov lay on the edge of the trench and carefully looked out, and sure enough, he saw a Type 4 tank on fire.

"Good!" he shouted with his fist clenched.

Of course, the naval infantry also has anti-tank units equipped with 45mm small guns, but the anti-tank gun units on the beach are now equipped with ZIS3 76mm anti-tank guns. It is quite easy to penetrate the weakness of the Panzer IV at a distance of 500 meters.

After all, the foundation of the Panzer IV is there. After being equipped with a heavier long-barreled 75mm gun, there is very little weight redundancy left to strengthen the armor.

The second ZIS-3 armor-piercing shell hit a Type tank, but only stopped the tank.

The Proson tank driver ran out of the tank swiftly and lay down on the spot to hide.

Obviously they are also familiar with this set of operations.

At the same time, several Type 4 tanks opened fire in retaliation, and explosions were immediately heard from the anti-tank artillery position.

Malov: "Look at how reliable the bunker we worked on last night is! We must block the grenades from the Panzer IV tanks!"

Before he finished speaking, another Type 4 tank was hit, but this time the armor-piercing shell missed the weak spot and the angle was not good, so it was directly bounced off the front armor of the turret.

The Panzer IV continued to fire, and the anti-tank gun position was shrouded in smoke from the grenade explosion.

The Type 3 tank approached the trench while firing a dense barrage of bullets.

When they passed the 200-meter mark, the machine guns opened fire. The crossfire suddenly forced the infantry behind the tanks to lie down, causing the entire assault formation to become disjointed.

The naval infantry grenadiers hiding in the cat-ear holes in front of the main firing trench immediately poked their heads out and dropped the first wave of incendiary bombs on the Type 3 tank that was within reach.

Several Type 3 tanks were immediately engulfed in flames.

A Type 143 tank with tactical number 40 was thrown onto the engine radiator cover. The tank stopped immediately, the turret hatch opened, and the commander stuck his head out with an MP to shoot the grenadier.

Nellie opened fire.

She had already adjusted the scale back to the default distance and fired the shot entirely based on her feel.

Captain Prossen was shot in the head, and the bullet opened his skull and broke the crossbar of his headphones.

Just as Nellie pulled the bolt, the side door of the No. 3 tank turret opened. It must be the gunner who came out and jumped off the tank to run away.

So Nellie put the bullet into his back.

While pulling the bolt, Nellie heard Zaitsev next to her say, "Malov, why do I feel that the Mosin-Nagant is better than the PPSh?"

"That's because they are accurate, you should just use the Bopsha!" Malov scolded.

Nellie shot and killed another sergeant Proson, then took out a handful of bullets from her pocket and placed them on the edge of the trench, and began to fire one shot at a time.

Malov came over to her and said, "I'll help you load the magazine, just concentrate on firing!"

"Please." Nellie said softly, and knocked down another Sergeant Prossen who was firing a submachine gun - the MP40 magazine was loaded vertically, and the upper body had to be supported when lying on the ground to shoot.

Malov finished loading the magazine and handed it to Nellie.

Just then, the Prosen released the smoke and began to retreat.

Zaitsev asked in surprise: "Is that all?"

"This is a probing attack. Didn't you notice that the enemy is small in number? There aren't many accompanying infantry, and their firepower preparation is also very casual." Malov said as he loaded the ammunition. "If I'm not mistaken, tomorrow will be the real test."

(End of this chapter)