artillery arc

Chapter 588 Touchstone

The two-hour shelling had not yet ended when rocket fire followed.

The 11th Army of Proshen had just been supplemented with a large number of new recruits. The sudden fierce firepower stunned half of the new recruits. Some of them collapsed directly, holding their heads and yelling, and were finally silenced by a slap from the old sergeant in charge.

As for the other half of the recruits, they had died in the artillery fire.

Under such intensive artillery fire, many veteran soldiers died, let alone the new recruits.

When the artillery fire finally ended, the non-commissioned officers began to pull up the recruits who were curled up on the ground one by one: "Hurry up and get into position, you pigs! Think about the training you have received! The Ants are coming!"

As soon as the recruits were coaxed and threatened into the position, the Ants came up.

At least thirty T34 tanks with three lines of skirmishers pressed towards the city - in fact, there were KV34 tanks mixed in with the T1s, but the Prosen people did not recognize them.

Sergeant Hu Le is responsible for leading an anti-tank grenade team. Their weapons are the Empire's latest anti-tank weapons: magnetic grenades.

However, because this thing is too difficult to use, the soldiers called it a hammer, meaning that using this thing to fight tanks has the same effect as using this hammer to fight tanks.

There is even a joke: the mallet can at least scratch the paint of the ANT tank, but the magnetic grenade can't even do that, because you can't run fast with such a heavy thing, and it is impossible to get into the tank's blind spot.

Sergeant Hook placed two anti-tank batons next to his position and also took out several captured incendiary bombs.

He glanced at the only new recruit in the group and said, "I have taught you how to use incendiary bombs, right? Don't be afraid, this thing is very easy to use. The biggest feature of Ante's things is that they are easy to use! Just pull the string and throw it on the radiator cover of the tank to force the tank driver to jump out of the vehicle!"

The new soldier asked in confusion: "Why don't we use something simple and reliable like this? Why do we have to use this heavy hammer?"

Sergeant Hook: "New recruits, remember, don't say such things in the future, especially don't say them in front of the military police. Our weapons are precise and effective. As long as we use them strictly according to the combat manual written by people who have never been to the battlefield, they will definitely be effective!"

The recruit looked confused: "I don't quite understand whether you are praising me or saying..."

"I was complimenting you," said Sergeant Hook flatly.

The rest of the group chimed in: “Yes, it’s a compliment.”

"Our anti-tank mallet is so useful! The new anti-magnetic coating on our tanks is so cool!"

The new recruits looked back and forth at their seniors.

At this moment, his attention was suddenly drawn to other things.

Amid the roar of the engine, one could faintly hear someone singing.

No, it was the Ant skirmishers following the tanks who were singing in unison.

The recruit asked, "What are they singing?"

"I don't know," Sergeant Hook shook his head, "I've never seen the Ants singing while charging. This is the first time."

The recruit asked again, "Why do the Ante infantrymen wear capes? Just like their cavalrymen!"

Sergeant Hook's face turned grim: "That's their guards."

"What does the Tsar's Royal Guard mean?" the recruit continued to ask, as if he was determined to get to the bottom of the matter.

Another veteran explained: "This is an honorary title. Those troops who perform well in combat will be awarded the title of Guards and new numbers. Everyone will get the cloak you see, and will also get better weapons, such as semi-automatic rifles and 'weight launchers'."

New recruit: "Weighing weight launcher?"

"Yes, a silent rifle, especially suitable for night battles. You can't hear the gunshot in the middle of the night. You will fall down with just a gust of wind. The bullet will shatter your chest, so you won't feel any pain at all!" The old soldier suddenly yelled, "Ah!"

The recruit was so frightened that he lost his grip on the anti-tank hammer and it fell to the ground.

As expected, he hit his foot.

Sergeant Hook: "What's wrong? Take off your shoes and see what's wrong. We need to run fast. If your feet are injured, you can't fight tanks!"

"I'm fine!" said the recruit.

"Take off his boots!" Sergeant Hook ordered, "No one with a wounded foot can join our assault team!"

So the two veterans held the new recruit on the left and right and helped him take off his boots.

As expected, the new recruit’s feet had grown a bit too big and were about to burst.

Sergeant Hook: "Someone send him to the field station. Of course, he can also become a volunteer machine gunner and manage a machine gun."

New soldier: "I can still fight!"

But the obedient veteran had already grabbed the recruit's arm with his iron-like hands and led him out of the bunker.

Sergeant Hook looked at the direction the two men left and sighed, "You'll thank me one day, kid."

As soon as he finished speaking, the approaching ANT tanks began to fire, most likely as threats. If they hurriedly moved their positions in the face of such shooting, it would be exactly what the ANT people wanted. "Keep calm!" Although there were no new recruits in the team, Sergeant Hook continued to boost morale and remind everyone to stay calm.

At this time, the approaching ANT tank continued to fire, using its main gun to send things that looked like bunkers into the sky.

However, the Ants tried several times but failed to find the real bunker.

At this time, the Ant people's skirmish line passed the 300-meter mark, and Prosen's machine gun shooting immediately began.

When the new machine guns fired, the sound was like tearing canvas. The dense firepower would make even the most senior guards in Ante wary.

So all the Ante skirmishers behind the tank immediately lay down.

Then the tank opened fire.

The machine gun fire point closest to Hook and his men immediately fell silent.

Hook frowned and cursed: "The enemy tanks are finding our machine gun firing points much faster than before! In the past, it took them at least five minutes to find where the firing points were!"

Another tank opened fire, and the bunker was covered in white smoke. Hook thought it was a smoke bomb, and thought that our tactics had also been learned by the Ants, but the next moment he saw the door of the bunker opened, and the people inside ran out with smoke all over their bodies.

These people rolled on the ground, but no matter how they rolled, their bodies were still smoking, as if they were evaporating.

The screams could be heard clearly even from such a distance.

Hook cursed, "A new weapon again! Why do the Ants always come up with new weapons!"

Actually, it is not. The United States has developed white phosphorus bombs for some time, but they were only recently delivered to Ant for use.

More and more white smoke rose from the battlefield. Every time white smoke rose, someone would rush out from the white smoke screaming and roll on the ground. However, the white smoke still devoured their bodies with a sizzling sound.

This horrifying scene made Sergeant Hook shudder.

He murmured in a low voice: "My God, what on earth did the Ants use!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a tank spurted out a long flame from the firing port into the bunker. Then the bunker door opened, and the machine gunner, who was on fire, rolled desperately on the ground.

Sergeant Hook's face was ashen. "It seems that the Ants are determined to win this time. This is bad, really bad!"

----

At 13:1300 on the th, Abawakhan Front Command.

Pavlov threw a report on the table in front of Wang Zhong: "We have captured the outer positions of Plinka and are advancing into the city. We followed the general's intention and did not block the enemy's escape route. The enemy can now escape from the west of the city at any time."

Wang Zhong picked up the report, glanced at it, hastily wrote his signature on it, and threw the writing board with the report back to Pavlov.

Pavlov turned around and threw the writing board to the staff officer waiting behind him.

Wang Zhong continued the previous topic and said, "We don't know if the garrison commander has the courage to flee. Maybe he thinks it's good for him to be a defeated general here. With the current supply situation in Plosson, he might eat better in our prisoner-of-war camp than in Plosson's army."

Popov: "Don't you know? During our nearly one-week run, our soldiers seized a lot of Proson's supplies, and some of the Proson supply convoys were even caught off guard and surrendered directly.

"At present, our military officers and soldiers have described the military food supplied by Proson as pig food, and the coffee delivered with the supplies has been nicknamed 'mud'."

Wang Zhong laughed: "They deserve it!"

As soon as the words came out, everyone in the room smiled.

Two hours later, one of the communications officers came running over and shouted, "Report! Our troops have captured Plinka!"

Wang Zhong clenched his fist and said, "Very good! Come on guys, this is a good start. Let's continue to eliminate the 11th Army piece by piece!"

----

Shiprin received the report almost at the same time as Rokossov.

He frowned and asked the communications chief, "Is the news true? Who reported this?"

Chief of Communications: "It was the commander of the armored division that was preparing to launch a counterattack. He felt something was wrong after hearing the information on the radio, so he intercepted the fleeing soldiers and asked them about it, and finally confirmed it."

Shiplin frowned and was silent for a few seconds before he said, "We have been building fortifications in Plinka for a long time. Before we were defeated, the mobile troops stationed there started building fortifications."

He stopped and paced back and forth in the room, walking around a few times before continuing:
"The fortified city was captured in less than a day. It seems that we need to re-evaluate the strength of Rokossov's Abavakhan Front."

Chief of Staff: "Before the city was captured, the commander of the 20th Infantry Corps had a phone call with the defenders of Plinka. At that time, the commander believed that Plinka could hold out for at least 48 hours. It seems that the enemy is coming faster than we thought."

Shipulin nodded: "After this attack, Rokossov is no longer a general who is only good at defense. We are his touchstone."

(End of this chapter)