Arc of Fire

Major Shrifen still stood atop his command tank, observing the village of Peniye.

Next to the tank stood an officer with half grey hair. Unlike Shrifen, this officer did not wear the flamboyant red decorations, so he appeared to be of a lower rank.

But in reality, he was the commander of Armored Grenadier Regiment 351, Major Franz of the Prosen National Defense Force, who should be considered Shrifen’s peer.

"It seems the enemy hasn’t noticed our flanking maneuver,” Major Franz put down his binoculars, “I can congratulate Major Shrifen in advance.”

Major Shrifen’s face remained stern, “No, the enemy commander is a tough nut. I will not celebrate prematurely until I’ve broken through their defenses.

"Prepare the infantry for assault, mortars fire smoke!”

The Prosen Empire’s smoke tactics were originally developed to counter Divine Arrow, which could hit Prosen tanks from two or even three kilometers away while the accuracy of tank guns at this range was less than reliable.

Therefore, Prussian Armored Forces Director Heinz Wilhelm von Mauch decided to universally equip the armored troops with vehicle-mounted mortars to accompany assaults and heavily supply them with smoke bombs.

Laying down a smoke screen with mortars before armored assaults became a standard combat method for the Prosen Empire.

Soon, Prosen infantry units also realized that this tactic could effectively limit enemy fire points during assaults, so they started to distribute smoke bombs in large quantities as well.

The mortars, freshly resupplied, did not even need to adjust their aim and began rapid-fire, quickly forming a wall of smoke on the western side of the village.

Major Shrifen consulted his watch, “There are two hours left until dark. If all goes well, we can spend the night in the village. Begin the attack.”

Accompanied by a whistle, the tanks accompanying the assault initiated first, advancing at a pace coordinated with the infantry.

Meanwhile, the infantry of Regiment 351 followed closely behind the tanks.

The No. 3 tank was not an infantry tank, and its tank gun’s power was limited, but it was still suited as a mobile cover for the infantry.

Furthermore, the machine guns on the tanks could suppress enemy fire points.

Major Shrifen watched all this from his command tank and murmured softly, “It’s your move now, don’t disappoint me, the arrogant Mr. Ante.”

————

At this moment, Wang Zhong was speeding through the village.

For an instant, he wondered, what if he was just unlucky and got hit by a shell falling from the sky while racing?

He realized he had never considered this possibility, his mind solely focused on defeating the enemy.

Just as Wang Zhong pondered this, the tank emerged from the eastern exit of the village.

In the setting sun, the fields were coated in a layer of gold, and the soldiers in black uniforms were as visible as dark bugs in a rice jar.

Wang Zhong, “Stop the tank!”

The moment the order was given, the tank came to an abrupt stop.

Su Fang was thrown forward, even pushing the machine gun out of alignment.

Wang Zhong, bracing the hatch, ordered loudly, “Load high-explosive shell, target the half-track on the road directly ahead!”

"Loading complete!”

Wang Zhong, “Fire!”

The blast from the gun muzzle swept the surrounding wheat away.

A plume of smoke rose in front of the target, hitting low.

The machine gun on the half-track immediately opened fire, a whip of tracer bullets lashed towards the tank, sparking a string of sparks on the armor.

Su Fang, not the least bit scared, swung the machine gun around for a counterattack.

The two machine guns at the front of the tank also began to fire back, but their targets were the skirmish lines across the field.

Wang Zhong, “Quick, load!”

"Loading complete!”

Wang Zhong, “This time make it accurate! Fire!”

With the gunner stepping on the pedal, the gun muzzle once again erupted in flames.

An orange fireball soared up from the left side of the target vehicle, the chassis overturned by the blast of the explosion.

From an overhead perspective, Wang Zhong clearly saw the body of an enemy being thrown high into the air.

Wang Zhong, “Good! Load again, next one!”

After finishing, he switched back to encourage Su Fang with a pat on the shoulder, “Don’t just focus on the vehicles, hit those infantrymen!”

Su Fang turned the gun and swept the whip of death across the skirmish line.

Just then, the driver shouted, “Smoke! The enemy’s deploying smoke!”

Wang Zhong quickly looked forward, indeed he saw white smoke rising from the fields.

Switching to an overhead view, it was clear that the enemy infantry were throwing smoke bombs.

It was evident the enemy was well-trained, skillfully employing the tactic as a single smoke bomb could cover most of the troops and half-tracks.

The loader shouted, “Loaded!”

The gunner then cried out, “I can’t see the target anymore! What should we do?”

At this time, the enemy was still over a thousand meters away from the village entrance, right in the tank’s firepower advantage zone.

But if the enemy came within a hundred meters, the situation would be rife with unpredictability.

Not to mention, if the enemy used a bolt-action rifle to shoot at Wang Zhong, he couldn’t take it and would have to get inside the tank. Standing on the tank’s cooling grille, Su Fang had nowhere to hide and could only rely on the turret for cover.

When the enemy approached to fifty meters, the threat of anti-tank grenades would increase significantly.

Having observed the enemy’s movements from a bird’s-eye view, Wang Zhong made a snap decision and ordered, “We can’t stay here, driver turn right thirty degrees, let’s hit the main road and run for it!”

The command was immediately carried out.

The tank headed down the main road, speeding toward the southeast.

Wang Zhong: “Turret, turn left!”

"How much?” the gunner asked loudly.

Switching back to the naked-eye perspective, Wang Zhong grabbed Su Fang’s hand that was on the machine gun and forcefully turned the machine gun in another direction.

"Pull the trigger!”

Su Fang immediately pulled the trigger, and tracer bullets swept through the smoke.

Wang Zhong: “Aim in the direction of the tracer bullets!”

"Got it!”

As the turret turned, the tank finally circumvented the first wave of enemy smoke, gaining a view of the half-track vehicle!

It was just within range of the tank gun!

Wang Zhong: “Stop the tank!”

The driver slammed on the brakes.

When the tank stopped, the barrel jolted violently up and down.

At the instant the jolting stopped, the gunner stepped on the pedal and fired.

As a result, the shot flew over again, landing behind the half-track vehicle among scattered infantry, blasting one unlucky soldier into the sky.

Wang Zhong suddenly realized that the gunner might not be particularly skilled at range estimation, and he remembered that early Soviet tanks had very rudimentary range-finding devices in another time and space, unlike the German forces with a mature and convenient range-finding system.

So early Soviet tanks were at a significant disadvantage in long-range duels.

This time and space might be the same.

But in the bird’s-eye view, Wang Zhong could see specific coordinates and could roughly estimate the distance by mental arithmetic using the coordinates.

So he immediately switched to the bird’s-eye view, estimated the distance, and ordered, “Distance 980 meters! Gunner! Nine hundred and eighty meters!”

Gunner: “How do you know?”

"Estimate, don’t worry about it, just shoot with this reading!”

"Loaded!”

"Fire!”

As the gunner stepped on the pedal, the cargo bed of the still-moving half-track blew open, and the vehicle quickly came to a stop.

The machine gunner, engulfed in flames, jumped off the vehicle and rolled over on the grass.

At this point, the enemy infantry released smoke again, just blocking the tank’s line of sight.

Wang Zhong: “Start moving, keep circling the enemy! There are six more half-tracks and over a hundred infantrymen! Let’s annihilate them in the open!”

Tank 422 moved again, the tracks churning up a lot of dark mud.

This time they didn’t go far before another half-track entered the view.

Wang Zhong: “Emergency stop! Distance 910 meters! Don’t pick the wrong gauge!”

The tank had just stabilized when the gunner stepped on the pedal and fired.

This time, the target exploded into a fireball and slid across the open field for a while before stopping.

Su Fang’s machine gun rattled as Wang Zhong glanced at the sight on the gun and noticed that the girl had also adjusted the distance according to his instructions; the long whip formed by the tracer bullets swept accurately over the enemy’s columns.

The well-trained enemy immediately hit the ground.

This reminded Wang Zhong of that famous Vietnam War meme: running away is the enemy, hitting the ground is the well-trained enemy.

But here, the enemy was indeed well-trained. Su Fang hadn’t even finished her burst when the enemy released smoke again.

Wang Zhong: “Keep circling the enemy!”