artillery arc

Chapter 698: On the high earthen mound, listen to the leader talk about the past
Outside the city of Loktov, next to the damaged railway tracks.

Filippov was standing on a slope, observing the distant city of Loktov through a telescope.

"Captain," the guard beside him said, "Is this where you first participated in the battle?"

Filippov nodded. "Yes, I was still a second lieutenant at that time. A total of 3,000 people from our school were temporarily recruited to join the Rokossov battle group."

The guard said excitedly: "You are all very happy to know that you will fight under Rokossov, right?"

Filippov continued to observe the enemy and responded lightly: "He was not so famous at that time. Although the battle report said that he destroyed dozens or hundreds of Prosen tanks, at that time, as long as someone could stop the Prosen attack for a day or even a few hours, the battle report would say that he destroyed dozens or hundreds of Prosen tanks."

The guard was shocked: "Really? Won't this lead to a misjudgment?"

"What misjudgment? The front line doesn't lie. Everyone knows that we are being chased away. Catching examples is to boost morale which was as low as it could be at that time," said Filippov.

The guard continued to ask: "So... what was the actual situation at that time? I read in the battle report that the marshal personally killed many enemies--"

Filippov put down the telescope. "I don't know. Maybe my friend Vasily knows. Because he knows Proson, he was taken to the headquarters by the marshal to monitor the enemy's communications. I was an infantryman at that time, stationed at the chemical plant, which was the main position at the time. Look over there!"

Filippov gave up his position, pulled the guard to the highest point of the mound, put the telescope in his hand, pointed to the distance and said, "Look! It's that chemical plant, or cement plant, I forgot, the regiment headquarters is in the concrete building, Commander Yegorov and Marshal Rokossov are both commanding the battle inside, the building with a corner exposed at the back is some kind of school of Loktov, the battle group headquarters is inside."

The guard held a telescope and observed while asking: "The Chief of Staff - I mean Comrade Pavlov, the Chief of Staff of the Front, is reviewing the overall situation at the school, right?"

"That's right. We set up a minefield outside, and Vasily came up with a bad idea. He used the lids of pickle cans to make fake mines and buried them together with the real mines. It delayed the Prosons' vanguard for a whole day."

The guard was shocked: "What is that?"

"Canned pickles. Because of his bad idea, we ate pickles for many days. We had pickles for three meals a day! Since then, I don't like pickles. Even if my mouth is really dry and I want to eat something refreshing, I will never eat pickles!"

"Does the Marshal eat pickles?" asked the guard, "or does his maid..."

"The marshal didn't have a maid at that time, so he ate pickles every day, but I think the marshal liked them very much. But Chief of Staff Pavlov didn't treat Vasily well and made him dig out manure every day."

Guard: "Is Vasily the one who composed the music? The one who composed the music for Holy War?"

"Yes, by the way, I wrote the words."

The guard was so shocked that he put down his binoculars and stared at Filippov: "Captain?"

Filippov patted him on the shoulder and said, "You kid, didn't you read the words below the song title carefully?"

The guard scratched his head.

Filippov continued: "I spent most of my time building fortifications, filling and moving sandbags endlessly. Vasily followed the marshal everywhere, and he even went on reconnaissance with the marshal."

"The Marshal is conducting personal investigation?" The guard's eyes widened.

"At that time, he was not a marshal yet, but only Brigadier General Rokossov. He personally investigated and surveyed the buildings and villages that might be used by the Prosen people, calculated the coordinates one by one, and then at night he fired artillery at these villages, sending the sleeping enemies to the sky."

Guard: "Isn't that dangerous? If you come here to investigate, the regimental staff and the chaplain will go crazy. Can General Pavlov tolerate it?"

Filippov laughed. "Of course it's dangerous. How could it not be dangerous? According to Vasily, they encountered Prosen's motorized reconnaissance troops during their reconnaissance and ambushed them. The marshal also asked him to write a note to trick the Prosen people into burying many booby traps in the village."

The guard also laughed: "The Proson people must have been tricked!"

"Of course! They are rigid to begin with, and when they meet the likes of the Marshal and Vasily, they are completely controlled."

----

West of Loktov, in the village of Kalinovka, the vanguard of the 10th Guards Cavalry Brigade had just entered the village when they saw a road sign written in Prosen language on the side of the road.

The cavalry captain who led the team shouted loudly: "Stop! Priest! Go to the back of the team and call the priest over!"

The cavalry team, which was originally jogging, suddenly braked and stopped on the road. Then the soldiers spontaneously dispersed their formation to prevent being attacked by enemy machine guns.

The military priest rode up quickly on his horse and asked loudly, "What's the matter?"

The company commander pointed at the road sign and asked: "Look, what does this road sign say?"

The priest took out his glasses and put them on, squinting for a second and said, "There are still 11 booby traps in this village that have not been dug out. It is strictly forbidden to station there."

At this time, an old man pushed open the door and came out: "Don't be nervous, Rokosov buried a booby trap here, and the Prosen people have not dared to stay in the village until now, they are just passing by.

"The guerrillas are using this as a storage base. Don't you have any guerrillas to lead the way?"

Company Commander: "A guerrilla comrade has been killed. Can you point out where the guerrilla contact person is in the village?"

The old man looked at the cavalrymen carefully, and after a few seconds he said, "I am. Come with me. Food and water are ready. The information about the garrison of the Prosen people we collected is also ready. It is all in the basement of the old telephone office."

The company commander dismounted and handed the reins to the guard: "Take me there." The old man made a gesture of invitation.

The company commander suddenly remembered something and asked, "So there are really 11 booby traps left?"

"We don't know either. When the Prosen people came, most people fled, and then they slowly came back. Then this sign was hung at the entrance of the village. Anyway, two years have passed, and no one has been hit by a booby trap." The old man replied.

----

Guard: "Anything else interesting? Much more interesting than what's written in the newspaper! You guys got away with it in the end, right?"

"No." Filippov's expression darkened. "More than half of our group died here, including good friends of Vasily and me, and many of our good friends."

The guard's smile froze on his face.

Filippov: "You know what? The general-marshal will remember everyone who died under his command. On the evening of the day when we first defeated the Prosen people, in the warehouse next to the chemical plant, the marshal wrote down their names one by one in a notebook.

“I don’t know if the marshal would remember it now, after all, hundreds or even thousands of people died every day in the entire front, but at that time the marshal did remember the names of the students.

"I remember that day there was a plane flying across the sky, announcing to us that the Ante Air Force was still fighting."

The guard twitched his ears, looked up, pointed to the sky and said, "It's the same now!"

Filippov looked up and saw a dense mass of white lines of Pe-8s from some heavy bomber regiment in the sky.

He smiled. “Yeah.”

At this time, several people dressed as priests came towards Filippov.

"Captain Davalishi, the railroad tracks have been repaired. You can notify the armored train to pass."

Filippov saluted everyone and said, "Thank you for your hard work. I will inform the armored train behind us to move forward."

Several priests nodded but did not leave.

Filippov: What's wrong?

The leading priest said, "Many of our men have died in Loktov. This is an important railway junction, and the struggle has been fierce. I hope that when you enter the city, you will not forgive those who wear dog tags - I mean the half-moon metal on their chests -"

"We know." Filippov interrupted. "After being captured, the military police and the Asgard Knights will be handed over to the Inquisitor, especially those who committed crimes in the garrison. There will be a public trial at that time. And those traitors will all be liquidated!"

All the priests showed joy on their faces, and the leader sighed to the sky: "Finally! Finally, we can settle accounts with them!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a whistle sounded in the distance.

The armored train slowly moved along the rails. The fully armed carriages were piled with sandbags. A large number of infantrymen sat on them and waved to the villagers who were building the road.

"Thank you!"

The captain hanging next to the front cab saw Filippov, saluted and shouted, "We're going first!"

Filippov: “Good luck to you!”

At this moment, a whistling sound was heard in the air, followed by the sound of artillery shells exploding in the distant city of Loktov.

The local priests asked nervously, "Has it started yet?"

"Yes," Filippov couldn't help but confirm, "Have all the people in the city been evacuated?"

"Evacuate. Those who remain inside are the guerrillas and volunteer guides who are ready to lead you. Those who failed to evacuate are all in the tunnel. We have opened up the sewers and turned them into an underground kingdom. Don't worry about bombing!"

Filippov nodded, took the binoculars back from the guard, and observed the effects of the bombardment himself.

The guard asked: "Besides the battle, is there anything else you remember most in the city?"

Filippov was silent for a few seconds and then said, "Yes, one of us fell in love with a girl from the laundry team or the cooking team. I picked a lot of baby's breath and made a bouquet for her. At that time, we all admired such battlefield love.

"Because we didn't know what war was like at that time. I still believed that 'soldiers lie on the snow as if they were lying on velvet'. We thought war was a combination of courage, passion and romance."

Guard: "So...what happened in the end?"

Filippov was silent, looking at the city in the distance where fireballs were rising.

Guard: "I understand. What a shame."

Filippov patted him on the shoulder: "Don't be so depressed, it's almost over!"

(End of this chapter)