Arc of Fire

West of Peniye, Prosen tanks had crossed the mortar smoke screen barrier.

At that time, the enemy’s infantry artillery barrage had ceased, probably for fear that the dust might interfere with the tank’s direct fire power.

After the tanks emerged from the smoke, the Prussians’ skirmish line also appeared.

At this moment, apart from the roar of engines, the only sound on the entire battlefield was machine gun fire coming from the east end of the village.

This distant sound, instead, highlighted the quietness on the battlefield.

Without machine gun fire, the village was tranquil.

The mountain artillery strike had created seven or eight pillars of smoke, but it was unknown how many casualties it had caused.

When the tanks were about two hundred meters away, they stopped advancing, probably not wanting to enter the effective range of the anti-tank rifles.

The coaxial machine gun opened fire first, targeting the second floor windows of the buildings. This type of suppressive fire, with fierce gunfire, was meant to intimidate defenders hiding in buildings and works, making those timid defenders too scared to stand up and shoot.

However, the Prussians’ suppressive fire had no effect. The village of Peniye remained as still as a dead snail, lying in the sunset awaiting the sun to dry out the moisture in its body.

The Prussian infantry cautiously approached the village.

Suddenly, a small window on the first floor burst into flames, tracer bullets tore through the lingering sunlight, and in the blink of an eye, three Prussian soldiers were brought down.

The next moment, the tank’s coaxial machine gun swept toward the small window, followed by the tank gun, engulfing the small window in smoke and dust.

More windows began to spit fire, and bullets poured down like a torrential rain toward enemies on the open field.

————

Yegorov said to the messenger, “Tell the first battalion not to get too engaged; the enemy’s advantage in direct fire from their tanks will cause great casualties if we keep entangled with them on the outer defenses. Hit the enemy hard once and then immediately retreat to let them enter the village.”

The messenger nodded and ran off.

Chief of Staff Pavlov said, “Didn’t we set their tasks, telling them to shoot and leave?”

"Just in case. The commander of the first battalion has a stubborn temper, he’ll ignore everything once he gets fired up, so he needed a reminder,” Yegorov said.

He knew too well the temperaments of his officers, after all, they had shared many drinks together.

Yegorov continued to observe the west, but once the enemy came within two hundred meters, he could no longer see them, only the enemy tanks stalled at that distance.

This was because the western side of the village was on a gentle slope, descending from the western hill to the village. If it had been flat ground, the view from the third floor of the manor where Yegorov stood would have been even worse.

This third floor only assured a view of the entrance on the northwest side; setting up a machine gun at this window where Yegorov now stood would completely block the road entering the village from the northwest.

Of course, that would also mean that this window would receive special attention from the enemy tanks’ direct fire.

The good news was, Rocossov, the count, asserted that the enemy no longer had any Mark IV infantry tanks.

The enemy’s Mark III tanks had a main gun caliber of only fifty millimeters, and some of the older models even had a caliber of just 37 millimeters. The high-explosive shells from these guns could only kill a machine gunner if they landed precisely through the windows. Hitting around the window would probably not be enough to damage the thick stone walls.

Therefore, Yegorov had prepared seven or eight machine gun crews in the large room behind the window, and several spare machine guns were also ready, just waiting for the enemy to launch an attack from the northwest street.

Of course, before the appearance of the enemy, this window still served as an observation point for the commander, since the view was too good.

Yegorov was observing when he suddenly noticed a violent explosion on the western side of the village. Dark objects were thrown into the air, even passing over the tops of several two-story buildings.

"What’s going on?” As soon as he said this, he saw flames burst out of the windows of a house on the southwest street, and a flamethrower soldier, engulfed in flames, jumped out of a second-floor window and hit the ground motionless.

Yegorov exclaimed, “Flamethrowers, combat engineers! The enemy’s combat engineers have entered the fight!”

————

Yegorov couldn’t see what was happening, but Wang Zhong saw everything clearly.

The first battalion had fired a volley before retreating.

Immediately after, a team of combat engineers clad in gray-painted armor arrived in a half-track.

The half-track had something akin to a catapult, and Wang Zhong watched as it hurled an explosive pack over the stone wall.

What an unscrupulous catapult with mechanical power!

Forget the stone wall, the thatched hut behind it was blown into the sky.

Then the enemy’s combat engineers deftly toppled the remaining wall and filled in the pit, wading through feces to enter the yard.

The submachine guns from ambush inside the house opened fire, but the rounds only sparked against the iron armor of the combat engineers.

It was obvious that the pistol rounds fired by the submachine guns were not effective against the iron armor.

The submachine gunner was either panicked or had never seen heavy armored combat engineers because he completely failed to attack the unprotected parts of the enemy.

The combat engineer leveled his flamethrower and pulled the trigger.

Flames shot through the windows, soon bursting out from the windows on the other side.

The submachine gunner, engulfed in fierce flames, screamed as he scrambled out the window and fell to the ground motionless.

Wang Zhong was astonished. Wearing heavy iron armor, using submachine guns and flamethrowers, and carrying explosive packs—weren’t these the hallmark troops of the Russians?

So the German combat engineers in this time and space were also heavily armored?

Wang Zhong watched as the enemy’s combat engineers cleared an entire house with their flamethrowers, then used explosives to breach the partition wall between two houses and continued to clear the second house.

No, he had to come up with a way to eliminate this squad of combat engineers.

Wang Zhong elevated his viewpoint.

The enemy tanks stopped 200 meters from the village, with a clear field of fire, making it impossible to circumvent them from the outside as before.

He had to think of a way to set an ambush in the village, using the tank’s high-explosive shells and machine gun firepower to eliminate the combat engineer squad.

Wang Zhong observed the enemy’s direction of advance and a preliminary plan began to take shape.

He glanced again at the enemy flanking from the east, confirmed that there were only about twenty-odd stragglers left, then patted Sufang, who was changing bullets, on the shoulder, “Okay, stop shooting once you’ve reloaded. We still have a mission and need these bullets. All other machine guns, cease fire!”

The two gun turrets firing in front of the tank ceased fire, followed by the coaxial machine gun of the main gun.

Wang Zhong, “Driver! Turn left and head back to the highway along the edge of the village.”

Driver, “Understood! Wait a minute, aren’t we dealing with these enemies? There might still be quite a few left, just squatting on the ground and hiding in the wheat fields!”

Wang Zhong thought to himself, don’t worry, my friend, I’m using cheats here. The overhead view not only gives me a crystal-clear view, but also highlights the targets. There are only about twenty live ones left from the enemy’s rear group.

But he couldn’t just say it outright, “The gunfire is very intense on the front, obviously the battle is at a standstill, and they need us. Let’s go.”

The tank started, turned left, and quickly progressed along the ridges at the edge of the village.

Sufang whispered, “I’ve never seen a noble—no, I’ve never seen an officer explain the reasons for their orders.

"Officers just give orders, and the subordinates must execute them without question. If there are questions, they get scolded with things like ‘You bunch of blockheads’.”

Wang Zhong, “You bunch of blockheads! Execute the order! Is that what you mean?”

For some reason, the tank operators in the vehicle all laughed, loudly at that.

The gunner remarked, “If the company’s quartermaster shouted like that, not a single new soldier would be afraid of him.”

The loader added, “That’s the gentlest reprimand we’ve ever heard—I don’t know if that even counts as a reprimand.”

Wang Zhong scratched his head. Just then, the tank reached the entrance of the village, so he took the opportunity to change the subject, “Stop! I need to talk to the machine gunner.”

After the tank stopped, Wang Zhong called out to the machine gunner who had ceased firing, “Who’s in command?”

Sergeant Grigori stuck his head out, “I am, Count.”

Wang Zhong, “The enemy is almost wiped out, I’ll leave the rest to you. Keep an eye on our rear. I’m going to join the fight at the front.”

The sergeant saluted Wang Zhong, “Good luck, Count!”