artillery arc

Chapter 534 The Crucible (Update 26/81)

Look, Zaitsev and his men are ready for battle.

Nellie decided to look for something that could continue to utilize her shooting expertise.

She had not received any grenade throwing training and could not guarantee that she could throw incendiary bombs and cluster grenades accurately at the tank.

She had only taken a few steps along the trench when she heard the machine gun fire suddenly stop.

Nellie looked in the direction of the firing point and saw the enemy's high-explosive bomb blasting out dust that was almost two people high.

After a little thought, Nellie picked up a rifle from the trench and checked the chamber. When she loaded the bullet, the Prosen skirmish line suppressed by the machine gun reappeared - without machine gun fire, the crawling enemy stood up again.

This time the enemy was closer, and Nellie calmly chose her target and shot him down with one shot.

But killing the sergeant did not stop the Prosen people from advancing. They even started to jog and passed the 100-meter marker.

Sharif shouted: "Fight!"

Then the sound of dense PPSh firing rang out, and bullets fell on the enemy's skirmish line with a crackling sound.

Nellie continued to fire, and with each shot a Sergeant Proson fell down, holding his chest.

Suddenly, an enemy tank blocked Nellie's view.

The tank driver didn't even see her in the trench and just kept chasing towards it.

Nellie lowered her head, crawled out from under the tracks, found a incendiary bomb on the fallen marine infantryman, pulled the string with clumsy movements, and threw it to the rear of the tank.

At first, the tank seemed not to feel the incendiary bomb at all and continued to move forward for many meters before the engine made an unusual noise and a large amount of thick smoke as black as ink spewed out of the exhaust port.

The tracks finally stopped rolling, and the entire vehicle slid forward for a second before stopping.

The commander was the first to open the turret hatch and come out, holding an MP40 in his hand.

Nellie shot him in the waist, causing him to fall headfirst off the tank.

Then four tank crew members got out of the tank, and each of them was holding an MP40 - this crew had a lot of weapons!
Zaitsev suddenly appeared, holding a PPSh and firing together, knocking down all the tankmen who were about to surround Neri.

"Are you okay? The general's maid?" Zaitsev asked loudly while changing the bullet.

Nellie stood up: "It's okay."

Zaitsev: "Sherif asked us to restore the firepower of the machine gun. My partner assigned to me just died. Come with me!"

Nellie said simply: "Let's go."

Zaitsev reloaded the magazine, picked up a PPSh from the ground and handed it to Nellie: "This is more useful in hand-to-hand combat. I think you can handle it."

Nellie hesitated for a moment, then dropped the Mosin-Nagant and took the PPSh: "I've never used it."

"Just pull the trigger, and then switch to another one. Look at all the abandoned PPShs in the trenches." Zaitsev's tone suddenly became low. "So many abandoned PPShs, damn it. Let's go!"

He held down his helmet and ran along the trench with his back bent, with Nellie following closely behind.

The shooting trench was dug into a standard W shape. After the two men turned a few corners one after the other, they ran into three Proson soldiers head-on.

The Proson man raised his rifle and fired a shot that missed Zaitsev, and then the Poposha went off.

Three Prosens fell down, and Zaitsev shouted excitedly: "Did you see that I knocked down three?"

Nellie: "Move forward quickly! If we don't restore the machine gun fire, more Prosens will enter the trenches!"

"Okay!" Zaitsev continued to move forward. When he turned the next corner, he saw three marines shooting. There were already the bodies of four Prosen soldiers lying in the trench.

The corporal in charge turned around and said, "Zaitsev? Help us stop the enemy!"

"I'm going to restore the machine gun!" Zaitsev replied.

"Why send you, a private? Where's Malov?"

"Sacrificed." Zaitsev said as he walked forward.

The corporal who was asking the question cursed, "Sukkabulie!"

He leaned out his upper body and fired outside the trench, as if venting the endless anger in his heart.

After turning another corner, the machine gun bunker was right in front of us. We could clearly see that a corner of the bunker made of sandbags was blown open. The machine gun was still in its original position, but there was no shooter.

Zaitsev: "Come on, you shoot, and I'll be your assistant shooter and hold your ammunition belt for you!"

At this time, a fire network composed of green tracer bullets swept over, and the bullets hit the edge of the trench, making a chirping sound.

Zaitsev lay down in time and avoided the wave of shooting.

But because Nellie was too short, she was not hit at all.

"Damn it," Zaitsev cursed, "The enemy tanks are targeting us. If we don't fire our machine guns, we won't be able to concentrate on attacking the tanks as the enemy infantry is coming up!"

As he was about to run towards the nearby machine gun position, a grenade was thrown into the trench.

The grenade was obviously held in his hand and exploded the moment it fell in.

Most of Nelly's body was blocked by Zaitsev, with only a little bit of her side face exposed. A shrapnel hit her above her right eye, and blood immediately blurred half of her vision.

Zaitsev fell to the left, his shoulder resting on the trench wall.

A Proson soldier appeared on the right side of the trench, holding a rifle in his hand. The moment he saw Nellie, the soldier was stunned.

Nellie pulled the trigger and the Prosen fell backwards immediately.

Then Nellie stood on tiptoe, pointed the muzzle of her gun out of the trench, and fired at the outside.

Zaitsev: "Nurse... I'm a little cold." He seemed to mistake Nellie for a nurse.

Nellie took a look at Zaitsev's wound and immediately decided not to waste time on first aid. Instead, she took out the bloody letter from his pocket, put it in his pocket, then pulled him up and made him lie on the right side of the trench with his head sticking out.

Then Nellie picked up a handful of paposha and stuffed it into Zaitsev's hands: "Cover me!"

Zaitsev couldn't even lift up his upper body. He almost lay on the gun. He could only use his last bit of strength to grab the gun and pull the trigger.

The PPSh opened fire, and even though it was not aimed, it was still able to deter the enemy near the trench.

Nellie patted Zaitsev on the shoulder and ran towards the machine gun bunker.

Zaitsev leaned over the gun and continued firing, even remembering to fire in short bursts to make the firepower last longer.

Blood flowed from his nose and mouth, dripping onto the gun and sliding down the steel.

The drum magazine was finally empty, but Zaitsev still mechanically pulled the trigger.

----

Nellie came to the machine gun bunker and quickly checked the Maxim machine gun, and found that this antique designed decades ago was still working well.

So she pulled open the compression plate, took out the empty belt, kicked open the lid of the ammunition box, took out the new belt and stuffed it into the chamber.

After loading, Nellie held the ammunition belt with one hand and the handle of the machine gun with the other and started firing.

The enemy is right under our noses. There is no need to worry about scales or aiming. Just spread the fire and the enemy will fall.

While the enemy was being suppressed, the Marine infantry rushed out of the trenches and threw various anti-tank weapons at the tanks.

At this time, the enemy that had entered the position was already at the end of its strength, and the entire position was littered with burning Proson tanks.

Just at this moment, a whistling sound was heard in the sky.

Supporting artillery fire arrived from the other side.

Katyusha rockets fell one after another in the enemy's attack formation, blowing the infantry accompanying the tanks all over the place.

In just a moment, the enemy's attack front was completely covered by artillery fire.

Finally, Nellie saw the Prosom infantrymen stand up and run back.

At the same time, the surviving enemy tanks also began to reverse.

Nellie continued to shoot, taking the lives of the retreating enemies.

Suddenly, someone grabbed Nellie's shoulders and said, "That's enough, little girl! You should get yourself bandaged and then take the next ferry across the river!"

Nellie finally released the firing button of the machine gun and looked at the person who persuaded her.

A lieutenant commander in the navy cursed: "By St. Andrew, you look as old as my daughter. Get across the river, little girl, you've done a good job."

Nellie shook her head. "No, I have to be here. I am here on behalf of General Alexey Konstantinovich Rokosov and Ms. Lyudmila Vasilyevna Rokosovna. I will be with you."

The lieutenant commander hesitated for a moment, and finally gave in. "Well, there is no reason to refuse a brave female soldier to represent the general and fight alongside everyone. But you have to explode. The wound on the eye is easy to fester. If it is not treated in time, the eye may be gone."

Nellie then realized that half of her vision was blurred. She raised her hand and felt sticky blood.

"Go and bandage it," said the major.

Nellie: "Wait a minute, our anti-tank firepower is gone, how are we going to stop the enemy's next attack?"

The major pointed to the surface of the Valdai River and said, "The warships are coming. Although they are just river gunboats modified with tank turrets, they can still defeat tanks. New anti-tank artillery units should be sent over tonight."

Nellie glanced at the ships on the river and then left the machine gun.

Major: "Do you know where the field aid station is?"

"Yeah." Nellie nodded, carried her Mosin-Nagant on her back, and walked along the trench.

The Navy lieutenant commander shouted, "Bring two men who can operate machine guns. It's time to change the positions of the machine guns. Move quickly, the enemy may attack again at any time."

At this time, a whistling sound was heard from the sky.

"Take cover!" the major shouted.

The enemy's artillery fire fell again, as if venting their dissatisfaction with being repelled.

----

On the evening of October 10, on the east bank of the Valdai River.

Captain Alexander Nikolayev commanded the soldiers to push his ZIS3 anti-tank gun onto the boat.

At the ferry next to him, countless small boats equipped with guns were lined up, waiting to set sail after dark.

The sun is setting close to the horizon and night is about to fall.

Captain Alexander Nikolayev took a deep breath, and at this moment his loader poked him in the waist with his elbow: "Look!"

Captain Alexander Nikolayev turned his head and saw long silver hair fluttering in the sunset next to the arrow launcher.

"Did I see an angel?" he murmured.

"It is said that she is General Rokossov's wife." The loader whispered.

"Really? The general's wife is actually praying hands in such a dangerous place." Alexander Nikolayev exclaimed, "It seems that we are going to win this time."

"Of course. The general is the star of victory."

(End of this chapter)