artillery arc

Chapter 240: Engaging the Enemy (512)

On November 11, the 8st Guards Machinery Reconnaissance Company went out on a reconnaissance mission.

Company commander Koshkin was about to go to the usual hillock to see what was going on, but halfway through, he suddenly heard the sound of an engine on the other side of the mountain.

He pulled the horse sharply and listened with bated breath.

It was indeed an engine sound, and it was becoming clearer and clearer.

He turned around and shouted: "Misha (Mikhail's nickname)! Run! We have encountered the enemy. Go back to the headquarters to deliver the message!"

Mikhail is the best horseman in the company, so he has always ridden the strongest horse. Now that he heard the company commander shouting, Mikhail immediately turned around and urged the horse to start running wildly, and the horse's hooves splashed every bit of mud.

Koshkin took the smoke grenade captured from the enemy from his waist and shouted: "Get ready to set up the smoke! We have to buy time for Misha!"

In fact, under such road conditions, a war horse running at full speed can run faster than a mechanized force.

But for the sake of safety, Koshkin decided to lead the team to stay to block the enemy's reconnaissance troops.

As he threw the smoke grenade, a motorcycle drove up the hill.

The person sitting in the motorcycle compartment was not the machine gunner, but the commander of the motorcycle reconnaissance team, so the machine gun fire did not come immediately.

But when the second motorcycle came up, the machine gunner in the motorcycle immediately opened fire.

Three horses of the reconnaissance company were mowed down by machine guns. Only two of the three horse riders had time to jump off their horses. The remaining one was directly crushed by the horse and screamed - his leg bones were probably crushed.

The fallen horse was still struggling to get up.

Koshkin hid in the smoke and shouted to the company: "Disperse! Set up smoke! Let the enemy not dare to pursue rashly!"

The reconnaissance team scattered to avoid machine gun fire and lobbed smoke grenades.

Soon the entire mountainside was filled with smoke, and enemy machine gun fire stopped.

Koshkin: "Spread out and retreat so that the enemy doesn't know who to pursue. Meet at the division headquarters at night!"

After saying that, he lay down on the horse and started galloping at full speed.

----

Major Cohen, commander of the 512th Motorized Reconnaissance Battalion, climbed out of the truck.

He looked at the ground at his feet: "There is no mud on the top of the mountain anymore. This damn weather is going to pass."

After speaking, Major Cohen once again confirmed the condition of the ground and confirmed that there was really no mud. He grinned: "After the weather has passed, we can attack with all our strength. Ant's end is coming!"

The others laughed too.

No wonder they laughed. After breaking through the Duwa River, the Second Armored Group was invincible and invincible. No matter how resolute the resistance of the Ant Army troops they encountered, they would be quickly crushed by the Second Armored Group.

Although it was not a battle of encirclement and annihilation, and not many prisoners were captured, the bonus effect of such consecutive battles and victories on the morale of the troops was obvious.

While laughing, the half-track vehicle accompanying the reconnaissance battalion also drove up the slope. Major Cohen immediately ordered: "Establish observation posts and support points here to ensure that the enemy's harassing troops will not cross this slope."

"Yes, Major."

The major turned back and shouted to the No. 2 tank at the foot of the mountain: "How is it! Is it repaired well?"

It has become a regular configuration of the Prosen Army that the reconnaissance force is accompanied by the No. 20 tank. The No. tank can no longer participate in frontal battles, but it is still good to follow the reconnaissance force with a mm machine gun to provide supporting firepower.

Facing the small Ant troops and the reconnaissance cavalry troops, the No. 2 tank was extremely effective.

In response to the major's question, the commander of the No. 2 tank shouted: "No, it's completely broken. We need maintenance troops to come up!"

Major: "Then leave it here, mark the location on the map, and wait for the maintenance team to come up."

Because of the mud and the crazy advance of the Second Armored Group, the maintenance troops had been thrown a hundred kilometers away.

In October they stopped attacking for two days to wait for maintenance troops.

After that, the logistics department allocated a considerable amount of transportation capacity to the maintenance troops, and it was difficult for the field repair shops to keep up with the assault forwards.

But as the Second Armored Group deepened, the situation became worse again.

The crew who abandoned the tank quickly took a motorcycle up the mountain. The commander jumped off the motorcycle and protested to Major Cohen: "The field repair yard is still a hundred kilometers away. If you leave it here, it may never be repaired. As long as there is a variable speed We can repair the No. 3 gear in the box. We should ask other tanks for the No. 3 gear.

"The spare parts package carried by our tank is only the No. 3 gear that has been used up, and there are others left that can be exchanged with other tanks."

Major Cohen looked at the commander: "Do you all carry spare parts bags?"

"Of course, in this crazy weather, logistics and the air force are not trustworthy. All tanks will bring their own spare parts kits and repair them by themselves. In fact, the spare parts kits can also be used as additional armor!"

Major Cohen nodded: "Okay, you can use the radio to ask what other tanks have gear three."

"Thank you Major."

In order not to expose themselves, reconnaissance troops generally maintain radio silence. They will only break the silence and report to the police if they find valuable targets.

After seeing off the tank crew, Major Cohen shouted to the correspondent: "Report to the division headquarters that we have advanced to a place ten kilometers west of Suhayaveli."

----

At 11 noon on November 8, Suhayaveli, st Guards Mechanized Infantry Division Headquarters.

A trooper was brought into the division bunker.

Wang Zhong: "Hey, aren't you Senior Private Mikhail from the reconnaissance company?"

The cavalryman was shocked: "Do you know me?" Wang Zhong: "I remember the names of all the officers and soldiers in the division."

Use plug-in to remember.

But the cavalryman didn't know, and immediately looked moved: "It's amazing!"

"Stop being alarmed and report the situation. Have you gone to investigate? Why didn't Captain Koshkin come in person?" Wang Zhong asked.

The cavalryman immediately became serious: "Captain Koshkin asked me to come back first to report the news. They are responsible for delaying the enemy. We encountered the enemy's reconnaissance force on Highland 391. There were motorcycles and half-tracks, and there were more engine sounds. I didn't See those vehicles."

Pavlov immediately picked up a battle mark and placed it on the theater situation map on the table. Next to the mark was the triangle symbol representing the high ground, and the height of the high ground, 391.

Naming highlands after their altitude is also a traditional practice in military cartography.

The high ground where the battle took place would only be named afterward, such as "Little Nameless Place" or something like that.

Wang Zhong looked serious: "The enemy's reconnaissance force is already ten kilometers away from us."

Pavlov: "Would you like a spanking?"

Wang Zhong: "I'm not sure the enemy has stopped. Maybe he is continuing to advance towards us?"

At this time, Vasily suddenly reported: "Wait a minute, I heard a cry in Prosen language. It seems that a No. 2 tank has broken down and needs spare parts from other tanks."

Wang Zhong: "Is the radio clear?"

"Clear, maybe the speaker is only ten kilometers away from us." Vasily replied.

Wang Zhong: "Well done musician."

He picked up the receiver himself: "Talk to the artillery position. Artillery position? This is Rokosov."

"Hello, General! We are conducting simulated shooting training!" the commander of the artillery regiment reported.

Wang Zhong: "Stop simulating, come and shoot for real. I will give you the map coordinates, and you can convert the shooting elements yourself. The map coordinates are..."

Wang Zhong used a bird's-eye view to find Highland 391. Although there is now a layer of "fog of war" covering the high ground, he can only see the scenery but not the enemies above, but it is still very simple to give the coordinates.

After reporting the coordinates, he continued: "Three rapid fires."

Artillery regiment commander: "Three rapid fires, I understand. General, the enemy is going to kill another general, right?"

Wang Zhong refuted seriously: "Don't say such unfounded things. It's just that an enemy's No. 2 tank may have broken down there, and maybe the enemy's motorized reconnaissance team is also there. So let's fire three rapid fire rounds to check." prize."

"Is it just a lottery?"

"Yes, anyway, we are close to Yebao now, so it is easy to replenish the artillery shells."

In fact, there were so many artillery shells on Wang Zhong's side that he was worried that if someone fired them, they would explode and cripple the entire division - there were so many.

Wang Zhong put down the phone and looked at Pavlov: "They asked me if I wanted to kill another general."

Pavlov laughed.

Wang Zhong: “We should avoid the recurrence of such unrealistic remarks.”

Pavlov: "Just give up. Didn't you read the latest tabloid from Yeburg? What the people of Yeburg are talking about right now is the scandal between you and the Crown Princess, and how many generals you killed. And you are actually the reincarnation of St. Andrew.”

Wang Zhong frowned: "What's going on with the one at the back?"

Pavlov pointed at Popov: "This is his domain, just ask him."

After catching Wang Zhong's gaze, Popov said: "First of all, this is not spread by the church, but... Generally speaking, if someone is rumored to be the reincarnation of St. Andrew, it will be considered by the Inquisition to have tarnished St. Andrew, but such remarks It actually made it into the newspaper, even though it was just a tabloid, but... right? "

"What do you mean, right?" After Wang Zhong said that, he heard the sound of cannon fire outside. The artillery regiment completed the calculation of shooting Zhu Yuan and started shooting.

Vasily suddenly said: "I hope I can kill a general. The enemy's."

Wang Zhong glared at him.

----

When Major Cohen heard the sound of the shells breaking through the air, he immediately lay down, and he used the anti-cannon lying method very professionally.

The first wave of shells landed on the high ground, directly blowing the half-track vehicle to the ground. The machine gun on the vehicle fell directly from the machine gun position and fell in front of Major Cohen.

The second round of shells fell, and Major Cohen had to open his mouth wide to balance the pressure inside and outside his brain.

When the third wave of shells fell, he was finally knocked unconscious.

Facts have proved that the anti-gun posture is indeed useful, but as long as the enemy's firepower is intensive to a certain extent, the anti-gun posture is not so useful.

He didn't know how long he had been unconscious for, but Major Cohen woke up, got up and sat on the ground, looking at everything around him blankly.

At this time, his brain was actually not functioning, and he was still in a state of confusion - and it was a state of physical confusion.

At the same time, he couldn't hear anything in his ears, only tinnitus, a strong tinnitus.

Then he saw a captain rushing towards him, opening and closing his mouth repeatedly at him.

Major Cohen looked at the captain blankly until the buzzing in his ears suddenly disappeared, and the world seemed to come back to him all of a sudden. He could hear the screams of the wounded soldiers and the captain's words again.

"Major! Our motorcycles and half-tracks have been scrapped! Do we still want to continue our investigation?"

The major shook his head: "No, leave the high ground quickly! The enemy, the enemy is Rokossov! It's General White Horse! This sneaky and sudden shelling method must be him!"

(End of this chapter)