artillery arc

Chapter 658 Encounter

The troops of the 55th Tank Corps quickly rushed through the village of Vosonka, which was designated as the assembly point for the tankers.

The Proson troops defending the village paid no attention to the passing tank troops and did not even open fire with their anti-tank guns.

If it weren't for Proson's observation post that was always keeping a lookout, the 55th Army might have thought that the village had been abandoned and sent accompanying infantry to occupy it.

Now that the Prossen defenders have been discovered, the village will naturally be handed over to the follow-up infantry units. According to the plan, the infantry will capture the small village at noon on the 25th.

After passing Vosonka, the 55th Army headed straight for Pochayev.

According to prior reconnaissance, the defending troops here are part of the 332nd Infantry Division and the motorized reconnaissance battalion of the 11th Armored Division, and there may be an assault gun battalion.

Even if this assault gun battalion was there, its weak force would not be enough to stop the 55th Tank Corps.

After all, the degree of synthesis of Ant's tank forces has been greatly improved. In addition to the three armored brigades, the 55th Army has also synthesized a number of infantry and self-propelled artillery units. It is far from the "shoddy tank army" that was there when the war just broke out a few years ago.

Although most of the 55th Army's tank crew had no combat experience.

At noon on the 25th, Alexander's battalion encountered an enemy assault artillery battalion north of Pochayev.

Five minutes before encountering the enemy.

All the hatches of the Alexander were open, and the loader simply climbed out of the turret and stood on the tank's radiator grille with the infantry.

Driver Qiulin was shouting: "Can you guys stop sitting on the grille? Isn't it hot? Have some of you sit in front of the tank! It's so hot, you're going to overheat the tank engine!"

The gunner laughed and said, "You should thank the infantry brothers for blocking the direct sunlight! If the infantry brothers had moved out of the way, your engine might have been even hotter!"

"What do you mean by my engine? You're talking as if you don't ride in this tank!"

Alexander was about to join the conversation when he heard someone shout over the radio: "Semyon, Semyon! Why is your tank smoking?"

Immediately, Xie Miao's cursing voice entered Alexander's ears: "Damn it! It's too hot! The oil is on fire! I have to stop and put out the fire! You go first!"

Just as he finished speaking, someone else reported: "My gearbox seems to be broken, maintenance camp! Where is the maintenance camp?"

"Don't make any noise! ​​We are clearing the problem for vehicle 404! Stop where you are and see if you can fix it yourself!" The radio operator of the maintenance battalion said calmly. After all, the maintenance battalion has a lower casualty rate than the armored forces and has more veterans. Some veterans were transferred to the maintenance battalion after becoming disabled on the battlefield.

The battalion commander's voice came right after the veteran from the maintenance battalion: "All vehicles report the situation. I want to confirm how many people have broken down."

So everyone started counting on the radio.

A few minutes later, the battalion commander's astonished voice came through the radio: "There are only 12 T34s left running. This failure rate is quite high! We haven't even encountered any combat yet!"

As if echoing the battalion commander's words, a ray of light suddenly flashed across Alexander's vision.

Alexander, who was on the battlefield for the first time, was in a state of shock and had no idea what the light was.

Veteran Pietro shouted on the radio: "Armor-piercing bullets! The enemy missed the target! We were ambushed!"

The atmosphere suddenly became tense.

Alexander patted the top of the turret. "Ready for battle, ready for battle!"

The gunner was the first to retreat into the turret, and the loader immediately followed, slipping into the turret like he was performing an acrobatic trick, but ended up hitting his butt while doing so.

"Ouch!" he yelled, and his movement to enter the turret was interrupted.

The gunner yelled, "Don't stop! Your fucking ass is dangling in front of me now!"

Loader: "Don't rush me! I'm about to shit myself!"

Alexander forced the loader into the turret: "Then just pull it into the turret!"

The driver and the mechanic both cried out in fear: "Stop! If the people in the turret poop, it will fall onto the floor of the carriage and we will be the ones to stink!"

Loader: "You might as well worry about the shells on the floor getting soaked with shit and becoming ineffective!"

Because the battle was expected to be long, Alexander stuffed a lot of extra shells into his tank, and these extra shells were all piled on the floor of the tank.

Just as these inexperienced recruits were struggling, more than a dozen armor-piercing shells flew in, and two T34Ws were hit and caught fire. One of them burned for a minute and then exploded, with the turret and parts of the people flying high into the air.

Alexander stared at the turret spinning in the air with wide eyes.

He suddenly realized that it was not a good idea to stuff too many shells into his car. If his car exploded, the turret would probably fly higher than others.

The radio was already full of "sukkahs" and someone was screaming, "Where are the enemies? I can't see anything except the smoke from the firing!"

"It's the enemy's new tank destroyer! It's a new tank destroyer!"

The battalion commander also shouted: "Don't panic! According to intelligence, the enemy's assault gun battalion may be attacking us. Proson's assault guns are not as low as our tank destroyers, so they will definitely be able to see them!"

Pietro: "No, we should fire smoke bombs in the direction of the firing smoke!"

After all, the battalion commander had not been in the war as long as Pietro, so upon hearing Pietro's suggestion, he immediately changed the order: "All vehicles load up with smoke bombs! Fire in the direction of my artillery fire!"

Immediately afterwards, the battalion commander's command vehicle opened fire first, and a smoke bomb exploded in the direction of the enemy's armor-piercing shells.

Pietro's car opened fire as well, and a second cloud of smoke exploded not far from the first.

The Prosen's armor-piercing bullets continued to shoot through the smoke.

Alexander: "Load the smoke bomb! Turn the turret 30 degrees left!" The loader complained loudly: "How do I load the smoke bomb? I don't think I can use it. I didn't put it in a convenient place! Wait a minute, let me look for it... Damn it, there is no light in the tank and I can't see where I put the smoke bomb!"

Gunner: "Never mind! Just load a high-explosive bomb. If I hit the ground and the dirt explodes, it will count as smoke!"

"Found it!" The loader interrupted the gunner, "Load the smoke bomb!"

Gunner, fire immediately!
Alexander saw his tank's smoke bomb penetrate into the wall of smoke that had already formed, and he didn't know whether it worked or not.

A new order came: "Everyone turn 30 degrees to the left, no need to adjust the formation, and advance towards the enemy assault gun position! Plossen's assault guns are not as mobile as ours, unlike the vortex! They can't escape!"

Alexander repeated the battalion commander's order: "Qiulin (driver), turn 30 degrees left! Rush towards the smoke wall! Behind us is Prosen's assault gun position!"

"okay!"

The T34 turned immediately, and the violent bumps during the turning process caused everyone in the car to bump their heads repeatedly.

After completing the turn, Alexander heard the roar of the engine and the whine of the gearbox.

Alexander: "The gearbox sounds wrong! Qiulin, what are you doing?"

"I am squeezing out its last bit of potential. Don't worry, Commander. A loyal tank won't break down at this time!"

At this time, the entire tank battalion formed an oblique formation and charged towards the smoke wall in a mighty manner.

Alexander's tank rushed into the smoke and not long after driving, it shook violently. Two infantrymen who lost their grip fell off the tank.

The corporal in charge slapped Alexander on the shoulder: "My men have fallen!"

Alexander: "How can I stop the car in the smoke? What if the tank behind us doesn't see us and hits us? Those who fall down can only wish for the best!"

The infantry corporal cursed, "Sukkabulie!"

After moving forward in the smoke for another minute, Alexander's vision suddenly became clear.

He spotted an assault gun covered with camouflage grass and shouted, "Turn the turret 5 degrees left, enemy assault gun! That pile of grass is the assault gun! Load armor-piercing shells!"

Loader: "Loading complete!"

The gunner shouted "Fire" while stepping on the fire button under his foot.

The main gun spewed out a cloud of smoke, and the armor-piercing bullet turned into a ball of light and hit the "haystack". A second later, several people jumped out of the haystack. It was obvious that the previous shot penetrated the armor of the assault gun. Captain Prosen gave the order to abandon the vehicle.

Alexander: "We hit it! We hit it! The enemy abandoned the car!"

Gunner: "Should we keep attacking this vehicle to make sure it catches fire?"

Alexander: "No! Turn the turret 15 degrees to the right, new target! We will control the battlefield. Even if this thing doesn't catch fire, the Prosens won't have a chance to repair it!"

Loader: "Armor-piercing bullet, okay!"

The gunner opened fire without waiting for Alexander's order.

As a result, this time the shell was directly bounced away.

"Reload!"

While Alexander was shouting, the enemy fought back. The armor-piercing bullet hit the side of Alexander's car, slid over the body of the car, and flew into the air!
The first round of shooting at the second goal saw both teams scratch each other's paint!

Loader: "Armor-piercing rounds, over!"

The gunner immediately opened fire, and Alexander saw the ball of light fly by and hit the grass ball.

The next moment the grass ball caught fire, and a Proson tankman crawled out of the grass ball and rolled on the ground to put out the fire.

At this time, the infantry on the back of the tank remembered that they should attack the Plosser tank driver who jumped out of the vehicle, and started firing at him with PPSh.

Alexander patted the corporal on the shoulder and said, "The PPSh can't hit accurately from such a distance! You guys should use the anti-aircraft machine guns!"

Corporal: “Yes!”

He then laid the anti-aircraft machine gun flat, grasped the handle at the rear, and fired at the burning Prosen assault gun.

Loader: "Armor-piercing bullet, okay!"

Gunner: "Commander, indicate the target!"

Alexander then gave the order: "Turn the turret right 5 degrees, enemy half-track! Load high-explosive shells!"

"Wait a moment, I'll take the shell out right away!" replied the loader.

"It's too late, I'll fire first!" said the gunner and opened fire.

The armor-piercing shell hit the half-track but did not explode. Instead, it penetrated the half-track and hit the ground behind it.

Then the half-track burst into flames.

Alexander: "Okay! Next target——"

Suddenly, a cry came over the radio: "Enemy tanks! Enemy tanks appear!"

(End of this chapter)