artillery arc

Chapter 533 Fierce Battle
At 10 on October 28, Beachhead No. 0830.

Nellie was having breakfast when a whistling sound was heard in the sky.

She immediately hid, lying in the trench in a standard anti-artillery posture.

This time the bombardment was completely different from the previous exploratory attack. The enemy used heavy artillery and the entire earth seemed to be shaking.

Moreover, this time the bombardment lasted for a particularly long time. Nellie felt that her internal organs were shattered, but the bombardment had not stopped yet.

The frozen mud ground became the best medium for transmitting shock waves. Even the anti-cannon posture could not completely resist the shock waves.

Suddenly, perhaps a shell landed nearby, and a large chunk of the hard trench wall collapsed. Stone-like lumps of earth fell at Nellie's feet and hit her toes.

Nellie kicked away the dirt, only to hear someone crying amid the deafening explosion.

She raised her head, and as soon as she opened her eyes, mud and sand rushed into her eyes. She had to squint her eyes and rub them hard with her hands.

The crying and shouting continued. It was a girl's voice, but Nellie couldn't hear it clearly amid the explosion of the shells and couldn't tell whose voice it was.

Then the sound stopped.

The earthquake continues.

After an unknown amount of time, the shelling finally stopped. Nellie looked up and glanced at her watch, only to find that it was damaged by the shock and the second hand had stopped moving at all.

Someone in the distance was shouting, "Get into position! The attack is coming! Get into position quickly!"

Nellie picked up the rifle beside her, skillfully cleaned the sand in the barrel, and pushed the bullet in.

A group of infantrymen ran past Nellie and headed for the firing trench at the forefront of the position.

Nellie waited until they had all run over, then quietly followed the team and walked at the back.

She has no owner yet and is currently considered a free agent on the entire battlefield - perhaps even a mascot.

The team passed a section of bombed-out trenches.

The shells fell directly into the trench and exploded, creating a crater in the trench. The people who were hiding in the trench lay twisted and turned in the crater.

Nellie was looking straight ahead, ready to cry and quickly pass through the crater, but at that moment she felt something in her heart and looked down.

The little nurse who had had a nightmare the night before and cried to Nellie was lying at the bottom of the crater. Her lower body was gone and her beautiful eyes were staring at the sky.

Nellie frowned, stretched out her right hand and gently closed her eyes, then gripped her rifle tightly and followed the fast-moving male soldiers.

As she entered the firing trench, the roar of engines came from the west.

Malov led his squad into the firing trench as well. The old sergeant loudly encouraged morale: "Don't panic! We have repelled an attack before. Prosen's armored forces are nothing to worry about! If we can repel them once, we can repel them a second time! Little girl, are you in the position I am responsible for again?"

Nellie replied, "My bunker is closer to here."

As she spoke, she found a shooting position and looked over at the Prosen people's assault line.

Dozens of tanks were deployed in a row on the beach, with more tanks behind them. The Prosens had staggered two rows of tanks, so from the front it looked like the number of tanks had doubled!
The sound of engines could also be heard in the sky, as the Plossen BF109 fighters were strafing at low altitude, trying to clear the people in the trenches.

Nellie looked up at the sky and saw black spots higher up. They should be the Stuka bombers on standby.

Malov also looked at the sky. He sneered, "It seems that the rain these days has made the Proson Air Force very depressed. They made such a big scene right at the beginning."

As soon as he finished speaking, the anti-aircraft artillery position on the beach opened fire.

Malov was very happy: "Good, the anti-aircraft artillery unit was not paralyzed by the bombardment, so the enemy planes can't act recklessly."

At this time, the anti-aircraft guns on the opposite bank also opened fire, but because the distance was too far, the artillery fire could only create black clouds in the sky further east of the beachhead.

Nelly thought of Lyudmila who was defending against air attacks on the other side of the river, and turned her head to look east.

The weather had cleared up at this moment, visibility was excellent, and the east bank of the Valdai River could be clearly seen.

Nellie saw several ferries loaded with soldiers moving toward Beachhead One.

Just then, the Stuka's iconic sharp buzzing sound was heard as it dived.

The experienced guys on the position were all shot in the head and hid.

Stuka's 1000 kg bomb is much more powerful than ordinary heavy artillery.

But Nellie didn't lie down. She stared at the ferry on the river and the densely packed people on the boat.

In the blink of an eye, a huge splash of water rose from the left side of the leading ferry.

The Stuka that dropped the bomb quickly leveled itself off and fled quickly, close to the ground.

"Fortunately, it didn't hit!" Zaitsev also looked at the situation on the river with a relieved tone.

Malov: "That's called a near miss, you idiot! This kind of near miss could damage or even sink the ship."

As soon as he finished speaking, more Stukas swooped down, and the ferry carrying the infantry was surrounded by high splashes of water - the largest splash was even seven or eight times as high as the ferry, making the ship look like a toy.

The men on the ferry were firing machine guns into the air, but to no avail.

Suddenly, people on ferry No. 271 began to jump off the boat frantically. Dozens of seconds later, ferry No. 271 tilted over and turned upside down on the river right under Nellie's gaze.

Those who jumped off the boat fled frantically from the ferry.

Nelly and Zaitsev were both looking at the river. Malov suddenly grabbed their shoulders and said, "Stop looking. The enemy tanks are approaching! We wish good luck to those who are swimming. We have a tough battle to fight now, soldiers!"

Nellie then turned back to look at the approaching Proson tank matrix.

This military appearance can indeed scare some new recruits. No wonder those temporary infantry divisions immediately collapsed when they encountered the Proshen armored forces.

The temporary force did not have enough combat backbones to ensure morale during the battle. At the same time, almost all members of the temporary force were recruits who had never seen the brutality of the Prosen people.

If a temporary force came to guard the beach, all the Ante troops today would be driven into the river.

However, it is the marine infantry, the Black Death, who are now holding the beachhead.

Nellie saw Proshen's tank pass the first marker.

The anti-tank guns on the position immediately opened fire, and projectiles hit Plossen's tank one after another.

Unfortunately, there were only three anti-tank guns that survived the enemy's attack, which was not enough to face the enemy's overwhelming attack. Nellie saw a long-barreled Type 4 tank stop and turn its turret towards the naval infantry anti-tank position.

She quickly adjusted the scale and hastily aimed at the commander of the tank that was exposed on the Type 4 turret.

She pulled the trigger, but the hastily aimed shot only knocked the captain's hat off.

The commander quickly retreated into the turret and closed the hatch.

At the same time, the Plossons opened fire.

The high-explosive shell directly hit the gun shield of the firing ZIS3 anti-tank gun, and the smoke from the explosion engulfed the gun position.

Nellie gritted her teeth and stopped looking in the direction of the anti-tank position.

The remaining anti-tank guns were still resisting, but the previous bombing had almost completely destroyed the gun position's bunkers and the camouflage. The Prosens used their superb artillery skills to call out their names one by one, and soon the anti-tank guns were completely silent.

"You can only pull it yourself!" Malov shouted, "Get your incendiary bombs, explosive packs and cluster grenades ready. Of course, if you want to use the weird stuff of the Prosen people, feel free to do so. Just stick to them and pull the string. Remember the key points, first block the infantry, then stick to them and throw things!"

Nellie ignored Malov and the others.

The weather was good today, with excellent visibility. Nellie squinted her eyes, looking for officers and non-commissioned officers in the enemy's skirmish line.

She soon saw a Plosson man wearing a peaked cap. In the Plosson troops, only officers wore peaked caps, and ordinary infantrymen basically wore steel helmets.

So Nellie glanced at the target, roughly estimated the distance, adjusted the ruler, and then took careful aim.

After the gun went off, Nellie craned her neck slightly to observe, and just happened to see the peaked cap fly up.

She immediately looked for her second target.

At this time, the enemy's skirmish line crossed the target and the machine guns on the position opened fire.

In just a few seconds, all the skirmishers fell down.

At this distance, Nellie could not see the creeping enemy infantry.

Malov patted Nellie on the shoulder: "There's an anti-tank gun over there. Maybe it's not broken. How about you use it to shoot at the tank's observation window?"

Nellie nodded and ran a few steps in the direction Malov pointed. Sure enough, she saw an anti-tank gun next to the body. The bag containing the anti-tank gun ammunition was still on the ground, and the ammunition was scattered in the trench.

Nellie picked up the gun, checked it, and finding nothing obviously wrong, she unbolted the chamber and stuffed a round into it.

She cocked her gun and aimed it at the observation window of the Plosson tank.

The moment she opened fire, Nellie felt her shoulder broken.

She lowered her head to confirm and found that it was her illusion, but the huge recoil of the anti-tank gun still left a deep impression on her.

Because of the pain in her shoulder, Nellie didn't even confirm the hit effect immediately.

When she looked up again, she saw that the Proson tank continued to move forward as if it had not been hurt at all.

But then, Nellie discovered that only the coaxial machine gun in the turret of the tank was firing, and the machine gun on the body of the tank was not firing.

It seems that Nellie's shot killed the machine gunner on the vehicle through the observation window. This position in the Proson tank crew should be a mechanic. In addition to firing the machine gun, he is also responsible for maintaining equipment such as the radio on the vehicle.

Nellie pulled the bolt, but found that the shell did not eject automatically. She could only grab the still hot shell with her hand, forcibly pull it out and throw it away, and then replace it with a new bullet.

Nellie selected another tank and aimed at the cockpit.

When Nellie pulled the trigger, she really felt like her shoulder was going to break.

The Plosson tank stopped.

However, not long after, it started moving forward again! At the same time, the machine guns on the vehicle were completely silenced.

Apparently Proson's mechanic replaced the driver and continued to drive the tank!
Nellie pulled the bolt again, pulled out the hot shell and threw it away, then reloaded—

If the mechanic is killed, there won't be anyone to replace him, right? After all, the three people in the turret all have work to do.

Gunshots were fired.

The Plosson tank stopped again, this time for a little longer, but finally resumed its advance.

Nellie was stunned. The coaxial machine gun in the tank turret was still firing, which meant that the gunner was still at his original position. Could it be that -

Malov's voice suddenly entered Nellie's ears: "Go!"

As the old sergeant shouted, he grabbed Nellie by the collar, lifted her up like a rabbit, and threw her on the floor of the trench.

The next moment, a high-explosive bomb hit the place where Nellie had just been lying, instantly breaking the anti-tank gun into pieces.

Malov froze and stood there looking at Nellie.

Nellie rolled over and looked at Malov from below, then noticed blood dripping down the old NCO's trouser legs.

Malov raised his hand, patted his chest pocket gently, and then fell back as if relieved.

Nellie rushed to his side, only to see the old sergeant's lifeless eyes.

She knew it was too late.

After closing his eyes with her hands, Nellie opened the pocket he had just patted and took out the letter, photos and a booklet.

The pamphlet was one of those written by General Rokossov, and the photograph showed a middle-aged couple with three children.

As for the contents of the letter, Nellie didn't read it and stuffed it into the pocket of her maid's skirt along with everything else.

At this time Zaitsev came over: "Malov! The enemy is approaching - Malov?"

Nellie: "He died. Where is the deputy squad leader?"

Zaitsev pushed his military cap and said, "He died before we came, Sherif! Malov died, and you are a private first class!"

The man named Sharif immediately replied, "Got it! Don't panic! Stop the infantry first!"

(End of this chapter)