artillery arc

Chapter 417 Armored Counterattack
By this time the weather had completely cleared up.

Major General Karl looked up at the sky, then jumped onto the divisional tank and said to Major General Schultz, "Please go back as well. The 16th Panzer Grenadier Division is our rear guard. You have to advance with us."

Major General Schultz pointed to the signalman sitting in the barrel cart, in whose arms the radio was held.

Schultz: "I only have to give the order and my division will follow you."

Major General Karl nodded: "Okay, then we'll meet in Yeisk."

Schultz: "I think we should not be so optimistic. That Rokossov... gives me a very bad feeling. He must be planning something and waiting to make things difficult for us. You'd better be careful, Major General Karl!"

Major General Karl held the turret of the No. 3 command tank, looked ahead and thought for a moment, then nodded: "Maybe you are right, there really is something wrong here."

As he spoke, he took the radio headset and put it to his ear with one hand, and took the radio to his mouth with the other hand: "All units, please check the stock of smoke bombs, check the stock of smoke bombs, we may need these things to escape the enemy's ambush."

A moment later, reports from various units came through the headset: "General, because our supply has not been completed, the smoke bombs have not been replenished.

"When resupplying, the priority is fuel and armor-piercing shells, followed by high-explosive shells, smoke bombs - or the ones we had before."

Major General Karl put down the radio receiver, pursed his lips and thought for a moment, then picked up the receiver again and ordered: "All tanks count the smoke bombs, and divide the existing smoke bombs equally among the vehicles, making sure that every Type 4 tank has a smoke bomb."

Due to the caliber limitation of the 50mm gun of the Type 75 tank, the smoke bomb is not very effective, and the main smoke laying method depends on the mm gun of the Type tank.

After giving the order, Major General Karl turned and looked at Schultz: "If we encounter an ambush, we will immediately lay smoke and break contact."

Schultz's expression was solemn: "We don't even have enough smoke bombs. If we can't completely block the enemy's vision, you will suffer heavy losses! We don't know the caliber of the enemy's new assault guns yet, but they often destroy the entire crew if they penetrate!

"The Sai De Division has experienced this before. The tank crews have suffered heavy casualties! Being directly hit by the new assault guns will result in more than just tanks being lost!"

Major General Karl: "Will Division Commander Schultz give up the attack just because the enemy is equipped with this kind of weapon?"

Schultz was silent for a few seconds and shook his head: "No."

He took a step back and saluted Major General Karl: "We will follow you closely. Wish you good luck."

Major General Karl responded: "Wish us good luck."

After that, he climbed into the turret of the command tank and shouted, "Troops attack!"

The entire grassland was filled with the humming sound of idling engines. Following Major General Karl's order, the humming sound suddenly intensified, followed by the clicking sound of the gearbox gears engaging.

The whole grassland suddenly became restless.

A frightened vole crawled out of the ground at Schultz's feet, screamed, and disappeared into the grass.

He commanded the tank to move forward, and black smoke spewed out of the engine exhaust pipe. The pungent smell of incomplete combustion irritated Schultz.

He wanted to take out his handkerchief, but immediately gave up the idea. He just stood in the unpleasant air and watched the tank commanded by Division Commander Karl go away.

He waited until he could no longer see the details of the command tank, then reached out to the side.

The adjutant immediately put the radio headset and microphone into his hands.

"This is Schultz." Communicating like this was against radio protocol, but Schultz didn't want to bother with it. "Start moving."

----

Wang Zhongzheng was measuring the ground with his feet in the headquarters as usual.

Pavlov joked: "If this battle lasts for ten years, you will leave a series of footprints on the ground."

Popov added: "Yes, just like the shoe prints in the St. Andrews Library. St. Andrews sat in the same seat to study for ten years, and the shoe prints were worn out."

Wang Zhong couldn't help but complain: "How many pairs of shoes would be worn out by this? It's not reasonable, right?"

After he finished speaking, he realized that it was not a good idea to tell a bunch of religious believers about this.

Unexpectedly, Popov said, "Oh, this is a classic topic in the seminary. When I was studying in the seminary, I thought that the shoe print was deliberately created by the library to show the relationship between St. Andrew and itself."

Wang Zhong was shocked: "Is this even possible?"

"Saint Andrew taught us to be skeptical and seek truth from facts." Popov spread his hands. "We are just following his teachings."

At this time, the monitor on the radio shouted: "I heard the Plosson communication! 'This is Schultz, start moving forward'!"

Wang Zhong was overjoyed: "Did you hear it right?"

"Yes!"

Pavlov picked up the enemy situation report on the table, flipped through it and said, "Schultz may be the commander of the enemy's 16th Panzergrenadier Division."

The enemy situation report is updated every day, containing various intelligence summarized by the front headquarters and the Supreme Command, including the enemy's organization and the names of the chief officers of each organization.

Wang Zhong: "The Prosens will not let the Panzergrenadier Division attack alone in the open field. There must be an armored division leading the attack. In other words, our prey is here! Call Yegorov and tell him to prepare to entertain the enemy!"

Pavlov immediately picked up the phone: "Connect me to the ambush battle group headquarters. What's going on? Keep repairing!"

After hanging up the phone, he cursed: "It's another field mouse! Signalman!"

"To!"

As the signalman ran over, Pavlov tore off a piece of notepaper, wrote down his orders and handed it to the signalman: "Remember to burn the paper later, and bring guards with you when you go to prevent the enemy from sabotaging."

Wang Zhong gave a thumbs up to the chief of staff's impeccable order: "When the enemy started the attack, our communication with the front line was cut off. It might indeed be the enemy's Brandenburg Commando who did it." The Brandenburg Commando was best at infiltrating and sabotaging while wearing ANT uniforms.

However, these disguised enemies were not protected by international law, so when the Ants captured the Brandenburg troops, they tortured them to death, squeezed out as much intelligence as possible, and then executed them.

After the messenger left, Pavlov said, "How about we make a call too?"

Wang Zhong: "Sure, we can use code words to tell Yegorov to be careful. Even if he is careless, there is still Brigadier General Eugene."

Pavlov immediately issued a new order, asking the radio to send the agreed code word.

Popov: "Finally, we are here. As long as we hurt the enemy, and with the fake tanks, the enemy will definitely frown."

Wang Zhong nodded: "Yes. But I am a little worried. What if the enemy uses smoke bombs to break through our ambush? After all, the terrain is not good for this ambush."

In general, an ambush is, of course, to limit the enemy's firepower while opening fire at full power. The ambush organized by Wang Zhong in Aolaqi was to attack the enemy's marching formation from the side, destroy the tanks at the front and rear, and then block the enemy on the road and beat them up.

In this ambush on the grassland, the armored forces and tank destroyers of two divisions were deployed on the front line to engage in a head-on confrontation with the enemy in an attacking formation. The killing efficiency was certainly not as good as in the Orachi ambush.

Moreover, Wang Zhong had seen enemy tank units skillfully use smoke bombs to obscure the vision of tank destroyers in an attempt to engage in close combat.

Wang Zhong really didn't dare to despise the Prosen armored forces tactically.

After a brief thought, Wang Zhong ordered: "Organize the tanks that have been repaired and are ready to be transferred to the 40th Tank Army into an independent battle group and have them rush to the front line immediately."

Pavlov: "Who should be in charge?"

Wang Zhong thought for a few seconds, then suddenly slapped his thigh and said, "Didn't I leave Brigadier General Zinov in the tank company directly under the headquarters?"

Brigadier General Zinov was dismissed and investigated because he lost all his tanks in the major counter-offensive last winter. Wang Zhong met him at the equipment testing range and thought that he had good professional strength, so he took the initiative to recruit him.

It took Pavlov a few seconds to recall who Zinov was. "You mean, the general who made a mistake and whom you saved? Now he has been demoted to lieutenant colonel, and is indeed very suitable to command this battle group. Why not just stuff the tank company directly under the headquarters into the battle group?"

Wang Zhong: "Very good, let him make amends for his crime!"

Pavlov: "I'll draft the order right away."

Popov: "We are so far away from the front line. Can we catch up with the tanks if we send them now?"

Wang Zhong: "It's good to have an extra layer of insurance."

----

Yegorov had looked through the telescope countless times, muttering, "Nothing! Nothing!"

Brigadier General Eugene cursed: "We have been feeding mosquitoes and lice in the wild for two days. Some soldiers have defecated everywhere, and the tanks are stinking."

Yegorov: "That's good. We'll be even more ruthless when we beat the Prosens, just to vent our anger!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a radio operator shouted from the Infinite Tram: "Received the code! Received the code! The enemy is coming!"

Yegorov was shocked: "Why use code words? Where's the phone?"

"It was disconnected twenty minutes ago," the adjutant reported. "We are checking the line now."

Yegorov: "Damn field rats! Send a messenger to spread the word that the enemy is coming! Pour all the anger accumulated over the past few days on them! Quickly!"

At Yegorov's urging, eight messengers jumped on their horses and galloped towards the surrounding grasslands while shouting orders.

----

Major General Karl's eyelids began to twitch.

During the Carolingian Campaign, he barely managed to escape once, and then encountered a desperate counterattack from the Carolingian armored forces.

The Carolingian heavy tanks were simply not capable of being dealt with by the 37mm gun of the Type 4 tank, and only the high-explosive shells of the Type tank could stop these heavily armored cavalry.

But they would only stop and wait for the people in the tank to wake up before starting to move forward again.

Major General Karl was the commander of the armored regiment at the time. The entire regiment was defeated and lost its armor. The Carolingian heavy cavalry was not stopped until the anti-aircraft artillery unit's 88mm guns leveled and started firing.

At that time, Major General Karl's regiment lost more than half of its troops, especially the No. 3 and No. 4 tanks. However, the small size of the No. 1 and No. 2 tanks did not attract the enemy's attention, and a considerable number of them were preserved.

Now, the major general's right eyelid is twitching again.

He subconsciously touched his amulet, which was a pendant containing a photo of him, his wife and children.

As soon as he felt the bulge under his uniform, a cry of alarm came over the radio: "Enemy!"

In the blink of an eye, at the forefront of Major General Karl's vision, the leading Type 3 tank exploded into a rising ball of fire.

The turret flying into the sky even reflected the sunlight, dazzling Major General Karl's eyes!
The next moment, the enemy's salvo came.

In an instant, more than a dozen tanks exploded into a ball.

An armor-piercing shell landed with a sharp hiss not far in front of Major General Karl's command tank, bounced up like a football, brushed past the turret and flew into the distance.

The major general made an immediate decision: "Release the smoke! Release the smoke quickly!"

(End of this chapter)