artillery arc

Chapter 765 The End of the Crossbow
November 11, Luki town, 11 km from the center of Plosenia.

Filippov stood in the central square of the town, playing the harmonica and the melody he had just learned.

Uncle Proson, who taught him the melody, listened nearby and exclaimed in his heavily accented Ant language: "My son loved this piece of music before he went to the front. He has been dead for three years."

Filippov: "Did he die in Ant?"

"No, he was killed in the Carolingian invasion. Everyone said it was a great victory, everyone said the cost was minimal, but my son will never come back."

The uncle paused and continued, “Later, my wife died in the Allied bombing, and my whole family died in the bombing, which made me start to think about what caused all this.

"I concluded that this was our karma for the war we started. I expressed this idea in a beer hall, and the spies heard me and arrested me and sent me to a labor camp.

"If they didn't need soldiers right now, I would probably have spent my whole life in a labor camp."

Filippov: "You don't think the Allies were responsible for all this?"

"I've graduated from college, don't insult my intelligence by saying this."

Filippov laughed.

At this time, a scout rode a BMW motorcycle and ran up to Filippov. Without saluting, he reported directly: "The enemy armored forces are seven kilometers away from us!"

Filippov put away his harmonica. "It's finally here. Combat alert."

The man operating the hand-cranked horn left by Proshen immediately blew it, and the sharp alarm sounded throughout the town.

Filippov continued to ask the scout: "Did you see the accompanying artillery?"

The scout shook his head. "No, I was hiding and observing for a while. The enemy approached 500 meters before they fled. I didn't see any heavy accompanying artillery, but there was a very large tank destroyer, many times larger than the Elephant."

Filippov: "You... describe the enemy's new equipment with just one big one?"

The scout shrugged. "Because it is really big. That's the most prominent feature. The rest... well, it's hard to tell."

Filippov: "Okay, I got it. Go to the artillery observation post and prepare to guide the regiment's infantry artillery."

The scout saluted and sped away on his motorcycle.

At this time, the commander of the SU76 tank parked in the corner of the square stood up in the fighting room and asked loudly: "Commander, do you want us to drive to the edge of the village? We have armor-piercing shells!"

Filippov waved his hand: "Don't worry about it. Your armor-piercing bullets can only scratch the paint of the enemy's new tanks. Prepare to fire indirect fire support."

"You're right. We can at least jam the enemy's turret and destroy its tracks."

"Leave it to the magic arrow!" As Filippov was speaking, a jeep drove out of the regiment headquarters.

He was about to get on the bus when Uncle Plosson, who had just taught him the harmonica tune, grabbed his arm and said, "Can you hold it up?"

Filippov thought the uncle was worried about his safety, so he comforted him: "Don't worry, even if we retreat, we will take you with us."

Uncle: "No! These civilians have surrendered to you. The Asgard Knights and the Imperial Household Ministry's spies will not let them go!"

Filippov: "What? These are all Plossom citizens!"

"Those mothers who refuse to send their children to the battlefield are also Plossom citizens!" the uncle responded.

Filippov was silent for a few seconds before he said confidently: "Don't worry, our magic arrows will kill them all!"

The uncle then let go of his hand and said: "I believe you. Also, give me a gun, I want to fight for my country."

Filippov: "You will have a chance in the future. We will establish a secular Proson in the future. Then you will have plenty of opportunities to fight for your country."

After saying this, Filippov jumped into the jeep and drove quickly towards the defensive position on the edge of the town.

----

When Filippov arrived at the position, he could already clearly hear the sound of tank engines.

He immediately went into the two-story house that served as a defensive support point and went straight to the attic.

In the attic, a battalion commander was observing the enemy with a telescope. When he heard the voice, he turned around and saluted: "Commander! The smoke and dust we see is not very large. I guess the enemy is the size of an armored division."

Filippov leaned over to the window and raised his telescope.

There was blowing snow and mud on the horizon, and judging by its width it was indeed the impact surface of an armored division.

"Is the magic arrow ready?" asked Filippov.

"We are ready. There are 22 launchers in total. They are all hidden by low walls, toilets and other things on the edge of the town, and the transfer route is ready."

Filippov: "Very good, tell them that if the enemy crosses the 2200-meter mark, they are free to choose a target to fire at."

"Yes."

The battalion commander immediately picked up the walkie-talkie.

Filippov continued to observe the enemy, muttering as he watched: "They say the enemy has a particularly large tank destroyer. Let me see how big it is. Wow, it is really big."

A rather large silhouette appeared in the telescope. Although it was still far away and only a tiny thing could be seen even at the maximum magnification of the telescope, compared with the outlines of other tanks, it was obvious that this thing was a lot larger than the others.

Filippov: "Don't waste firepower on that big tank destroyer. You may not be able to penetrate it.

"After destroying the enemy's other tanks and accompanying infantry, we'll rush up and seize that thing!"

"Yes." The battalion commander immediately issued a new order while holding the walkie-talkie.

At this time, the young soldier in the room asked excitedly: "Can we get gold stars if we capture new tanks?"

Filippov took his eyes away from the eyepiece and glanced at the young soldier: "It probably won't be possible, because the enemy's new weapons should not pose any threat to us."

The little soldier looked disappointed: "I see. When I set out, my mom told me to try my best to get a gold star and not to embarrass her."

Filippov: "The Gold Star is awarded to those who have made outstanding contributions to the country. Don't be discouraged. The first Gold Star was awarded in peacetime."

As soon as he finished speaking, the first wave of arrows began.

22 spots of light set off one after another, chasing each other and rushing towards the enemy in the distance.

Filippov hurriedly observed through the telescope.

The enemy seemed unaware of the light that was flying towards them.

Filippov saw the enemy tank commander sticking his head out of the turret as usual, and theoretically they should have seen the lights.

"What's going on," he muttered, "Hasn't any of Plosson's tank commanders ever seen the Arrow?"

This refers to the divine arrows guided by praying hands at the beginning of the war.

When facing the volley of divine arrows at the beginning of the war, Proson's tank commanders would definitely fire smoke bombs to block the line of sight.

But now Proson's armored cluster remained indifferent to the oncoming group of divine arrows.

The first arrow hit.

The Plossans remained indifferent.

The divine arrows hit one after another, and the burning tanks illuminated the snowy field.

The Prosens - start reversing! Filippov: "What? It's fine if you don't block the view, but what the hell is reversing? Even if you intend to counterattack, you should rush forward to shorten the distance!"

The firing distance of the magic arrow is 2200 meters, which is beyond the enemy-killing distance of most of Proson's crews.

It is extremely difficult for the Plosson veteran crew to find and hit the hidden arrow delivery vehicle at this distance.

The correct approach is to spread smoke to shorten the distance and shoot at close range.

The Plossans took exactly the wrong approach.

A battalion commander reported nervously: "The Archery Team said the enemy has retreated out of maximum range!"

Filippov: "Let them stay hidden. I don't think the Prosen people have noticed where we fired the arrows from."

Soon after the order was passed down, the Plossen tanks began to move forward again.

They still didn't use smoke bombs.

The second wave of divine arrows was launched.

The Plossons opened fire.

Filippov immediately ran to another window to check the status of his own arrow launcher.

Then he found that the Prosen people seemed to be shooting randomly, and many shells were heading for the windows on the second floor, but it was obviously impossible for the arrow launcher to be parked on the second floor.

The second batch of enemy tanks were hit, and more than a dozen wreckages appeared out of nowhere on the snowfield.

At this moment, a "big" tank destroyer stopped and fired a shot at the building where Filippov was.

Filippov leaped to the side and knocked the young soldier, who was unaware of the truth, to the ground.

However, the imagined tremor did not come, and the explosion sounded as if the shot hit the floor next to the house.

Was it because the scale was set wrong? Did the distance get underestimated and the shell landed early?

Filippov looked up with doubt in his eyes, just in time to see an unknown object smash through the tiled roof and fall into the attic.

It was his jeep! It was parked in the yard in front of the house, but it was blown up to the attic!

Filippov patted the battalion commander on the shoulder and said, "Quick! Order the arrows to stop the enemy's large tank destroyer! Don't let him use his firepower at will!"

The first battalion commander: "We can only go to the next wave, the third wave of arrows has been launched!"

Filippov hurried back to the window and watched a line of lights rushing towards the enemy.

He roughly counted it and it was still 22 rounds.

It turned out that the enemy's previous wave of firepower was blind.

This time the Prosens finally remembered to launch smoke bombs, but only a few vehicles fired, and the others seemed to be planning to destroy Ant's launch vehicle.

Filippov saw that the operator seemed to be trying to guide the magic arrow that lost its target due to the smoke to a new target. However, the magic arrow that had already left the power stage did not have that much kinetic energy.

The third wave of arrows hit the target.

At this time, Proson fired a flare into the air.

The group of tanks that was still advancing forward stopped again and began to reverse - no, they began to turn!
Filippov was shocked. The best protection of a tank is usually on the front. To ensure that you can face the enemy head-on, turning in front of the enemy is equivalent to actively exposing your weaknesses.

"Why did the enemy turn in front of us?" the battalion commander asked Filippov in confusion.

"I don't know." Filippov shrugged. "Quick, let's cover the enemy with artillery fire and blow up the enemy's accompanying infantry. Let's find a way to seize a 'big' tank destroyer!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Filippov saw a "big" tank destroyer that was turning stop.

The huge body of the vehicle was right across Filippov's field of vision. He found that it was even bigger than he had imagined. No wonder the scout mentioned its big feature when he came back.

That's really big.

Filippov looked at the two tank destroyers that suddenly stopped and thought, no way - could it have broken down?

Just as he was thinking about it, the Proson people in the car opened the hatch and jumped out, abandoning the car and running away.

Filippov: What is this?

----

On the east bank of the Oder River, the "Psychological Warfare Command" is located 85 kilometers from the center of Ploshenya.

Vasily answered the phone: "Psychological Warfare Command, this is Colonel Vasily, go ahead."

Filippov's voice came from the receiver: "Hey, we just blocked the enemy's armored counterattack. Send a repair team over!"

Vasily: "What? The Arrow Carrier is broken? Just throw it away, remove the Arrow launcher and guidance device and put them on another vehicle."

"No, no, no, we captured a large tank destroyer, but it broke down and we can't get it back to town. Please send a tractor and a repair vehicle, as well as a technician familiar with Plosson's craft."

"Okay, what did you capture? Did you interrogate the captives to get its code name?"

"I asked the abandoned wounded soldier, it seems to be called Jagdtiger, the main gun caliber is 127mm! My goodness, the high-explosive shell blew my jeep into the attic."

Vasily: "Isn't this a bit exaggerated? Okay, I'll send you a repair team and a tractor right away. But... can this thing cross the river now? Can the ice withstand it?"

"I don't think it's possible. This thing weighs 80 tons."

Vasily was shocked. "Eighty tons? What did they stuff into it to make it so heavy? I don't think our heavy tanks are that heavy."

"I don't know. Send someone here quickly. I'm afraid the enemy will send engineers to blow this thing up at night."

"it is good."

Vasily hung up the phone and quickly arranged for a field repair team to cross the river.

He had just arranged everything when Marshal Rokossov entered the room: "You are very busy, Comrade Colonel."

Vasily immediately stood at attention and saluted: "Marshal!"

Marshal Rokossov: "What did you call me to show me?"

"Look at the Rokossov II tank we just modified. We call this tank the psychological warfare type. Do you want to visit it now?"

Marshal Rokossov: "No, tell me what just happened."

"Oh, Luki was counterattacked by the enemy, but the attack has been repelled. Filippov said that an 80-ton tank destroyer called Jagdtiger was captured, with a main gun caliber of 127 mm!"

Rokossov was very interested: "Hunting tigers? How do they perform?"

Vasily shrugged, "I don't know. But since Filippov is holding on, there shouldn't be much to show for it."

Marshal Rokossov: "Call Filippov and ask him what he thinks of the enemy's counterattack. This is very important!"

Soon the call was connected. In response to Marshal Rokossov's question, Filippov replied: "The enemy seems to have lost his soul and feels like he is sleepwalking."

(End of this chapter)