artillery arc

Chapter 615 Battlefield Yellow Flowers
Suburbs of Shostka, Plosen-controlled area, 6 hours on June 21.

Lieutenant Hansen used a telescope to observe the area controlled by the Ants.

Yesterday, the Ants launched an attack all day long, forcing Lieutenant Hansen's battalion back to its current position, and then they suffered heavy casualties in front of the solid reinforced concrete fortress.

The Ants deployed new assault guns, trying to destroy the fortress with cannons that were said to be 100 mm in diameter, but the fortress remained motionless.

Later, the Ants mobilized their huge cannons and fired at the fortress from a distance of 500 meters, but failed again.

Lieutenant Hansen could see the remains of three Ant cannons. The Ant artillerymen were very brave, driving these unarmored weapons close to the fortress. They paid a heavy price in casualties, but only blew up the surface of the fortress's outer wall, exposing the steel bars.

The Ants should continue their attack today, but they will definitely continue to suffer in front of the sturdy fortress - Lieutenant Hansen believes so.

At this time, his orderly walked through the long tunnel and entered the bunker he commanded: "Master, it's time for breakfast."

Lieutenant Hansen turned around and glanced at the plate the orderly was carrying: "Didn't I tell you to prepare portions for everyone? I can't have the food all to myself at my combat station."

Orderly: "I tried my best, but the kitchen said that the egg storage was occupied by the Ants yesterday, and there are not enough eggs, so I only fried one egg for you. The rest are for everyone."

Machine Gunner Hawke smiled and said, "We are satisfied with the ham sandwich. Look, there is lettuce in this sandwich."

Orderly: "I added cheese! I just didn't have an egg."

"And cheese! Here, Bavarian, yours!" Hawke took a sandwich and ate it happily, and took one for the assistant shooter with his other hand.

Everyone has forgotten the Bavarian's real name, mainly because he speaks with a very strong Bavarian accent. Even in the company, everyone will think of him when they say "that Bavarian".

He took the sandwich and ate it while looking out the shooting window.

At this moment, the sound of artillery shells whistled outside. Before everyone could react, the explosion sounded and the earth began to shake.

Although everyone was hiding in the safe bunker, the intensity of the bombardment still made everyone shrink their necks.

The orderly even squatted down and leaned against the wall.

Machine gunner Hawke laughed and said, "It's dangerous for you to lean against the wall. The vibration of the shell will be transmitted to you through the wall and shatter your internal organs! The safest posture during shelling is this. Let me show you!"

The machine gunner lay on the ground, assuming a standard anti-artillery posture: "Although this is laborious, it can protect you to the greatest extent. Of course, if the shell explodes within ten meters around you, no posture will be of any use, even lying in the trench.

"If a shell explodes within 20 meters of you, even if you don't die, you will have a concussion and will have to be carried away."

The orderly frowned. "Are you kidding me? According to you, the enemy can clear the fortress with just artillery fire, right? If a cannon is fired outside, everyone inside will be stunned."

Lieutenant Hansen spoke up: "What do you think happened to the casualties in the main fort yesterday? The enemy's 210mm heavy artillery directly hit the main fort (actually it was 203mm, but Proson didn't have 203mm caliber, only 210mm, so the lieutenant said so). Although it didn't penetrate the fort, it still injured a lot of people inside."

Machine Gunner: "I heard that several people were killed by the earthquake. It's really scary. Even with such thick reinforced concrete, it can still kill people."

Lieutenant Hansen continued: "The reason why the Ants started to advance after the artillery fire yesterday was because they knew that the main fort under fire would not be able to launch an effective counterattack for a while. In fact, it was very dangerous yesterday. If there were no awake people in the bunkers on both sides, we would have retreated again."

At this moment, the feeling of the earth shaking suddenly stopped.

Lieutenant Hansen checked his watch. "Why did it stop so quickly? Only half an hour!"

Hawke: "Maybe the enemy ran out of ammunition yesterday? I saw newspapers back home saying that Ant doesn't have enough ammunition now."

Lieutenant Hansen: "How is that possible? Even when our country was bombed like this, there were enough shells sent to the front line. Ant has a safe rear area and the support of the United States, so there must be enough shells."

"Perhaps they were all given to that Rokossov?" said the orderly. "He seems to be very good at using artillery."

Lieutenant Hansen was about to answer when the Bavarian shouted, "There's movement! The enemy is coming up."

He shouted, and the others noticed the roar of the engine and the noise of the gearbox.

The gearbox noise of the Ant Tank is quite different from that of the Proson, reportedly because the Ant gearbox design is very simple.

Lieutenant Hansen crouched down beside the firing port and raised the telescope.

He saw dust rising in the distance and armored vehicles maneuvering behind the buildings that were already riddled with holes!

However, Lieutenant Hansen's bunker had no anti-tank firepower, so he didn't need to worry about these armored units. His job was only to intercept and destroy the enemy's infantry.

"Get ready and check the machine guns!" the second lieutenant ordered.

Hawke stuffed the last bite of his sandwich into his mouth and checked the machine gun with the assistant gunner.

There are three machine guns in the bunker, but one is a spare. Its main task is to maintain continuous firepower when the barrels of the other two are replaced.

Lieutenant Hansen's binoculars followed the smoke behind the building.

Suddenly, the smoke stopped, and correspondingly, the roar of the machinery also temporarily subsided.

Then the sound of the gearbox changed noticeably, and it felt like the armored vehicle was turning.

Immediately afterwards, the mottled brick wall in Lieutenant Hansen's telescope collapsed with a loud bang, and a square-headed armored vehicle crossed the brick wall in a large amount of dust, crushing the bodies of the soldiers behind the brick wall and drove towards the fortress.

The anti-tank guns of other bunkers opened fire immediately, and the PAK40 shell hit the thing head-on, but was bounced off!

What’s even more terrifying is that there is no opening on the front of the armored vehicle, not even a gun barrel, just a whole piece of armor plate.

Lieutenant Hansen heard the sound of the anti-tank gun and saw the direction of the tracer bullet. He should aim at the observation port above the enemy's main armor.

However, Lieutenant Hansen, relying on his knowledge of armored vehicles, thought that the observation port was most likely a periscope, and even if the reflector was broken, it should still be able to play a certain role. As expected, the armored vehicle continued to drive towards the fortress.

The Ante infantry followed the armored vehicles on both sides, taking turns to cover each other and advancing with skillful movements. One could tell from the rhythm of their advance that they were all veterans.

Not to mention they also have the Guards' cloaks.

Hawke cursed, "Damn, it's a caped cockroach!"

This is what the Proson soldiers call the Ant Guards, because these guys are as tenacious as cockroaches and it's impossible to kill them all.

Lieutenant Hansen: "Enemy has passed the 400-meter target, open fire!"

Hawke pulled the trigger, and the unique sound of the Proson machine gun, like tearing canvas, immediately sounded, and a dense network of fire swept across the Ant people's formation.

But only one person was hit and stopped, and the others all hid in the bunker in time.

Then the "Caped Cockroaches" began to leap forward skillfully. Wherever the machine gun swept in the direction, the people on the other side would stand up and rush forward to enter the next bunker.

Hawke cursed as he fired: "Two years ago they were just fools trying to get themselves killed! Damn it, damn it!"

In Lieutenant Hansen's bunker, no one cared about the armored vehicle that was still slowly advancing.

The lieutenant's attention was also focused on the enemy infantry, and he kept giving instructions. It was not until Hawke shouted "Change the barrel" that he looked at the armored vehicle.

Then he happened to see the anti-tank gun firing at the tracks of the armored vehicle.

However, that thing had a mine roller and a bulldozer in front of it, and two consecutive armor-piercing shells failed to hit the tracks hidden behind it, but only knocked off the mine roller on one side.

After all, tracks are difficult to fight against because there are too many debris and obstacles on the ground, and now there are a bunch of these things.

Finally, the armored vehicle stopped when the third armor-piercing shell hit.

The lieutenant shouted, "Great! Hit the track!"

Then he saw a bright nova rising from behind the armored vehicle.

Lieutenant Hansen felt a tingling sensation at the back of his head, and he suddenly remembered that the report said the Ants had a new weapon that fired large-caliber rockets.

The Empire also developed a thing called the Land Stuka based on the Ants' design.

Is this the case?

It is said that this thing can blow all kinds of bunkers into the sky and leave behind a huge mushroom cloud.

Lieutenant Hansen watched the new star until it disappeared from his sight.

Hawke continued to shoot, not paying any attention to the rocket that was taking off.

After all, he is just a machine gunner and he can't control other things even if he wants to.

Lieutenant Hansen sighed.

The shock wave from the explosion engulfed the small bunker, stunning everyone in an instant.

----

Lieutenant Andre looked at the rising mushroom cloud and rushed out of the bunker: "The enemy must have been stunned! Charge quickly!"

"Ula!"

The Guards poured out from behind their bunkers and rushed towards the fortress.

Yesterday, the Ante troops were trying hard to determine the location of the enemy's heavily fortified fortresses. After all, these fortresses are difficult to detect without opening fire.

Today, the Urban assault guns of the 1st Guards Breakthrough Rocket Artillery Brigade were put into battle, and under the guidance of the infantry units, they took out the enemy's strongholds one by one.

Cooperating in the battle was the 53rd Guards Infantry Regiment.

The rising mushroom cloud is the clarion call for attack.

Lieutenant Andre led his troops and rushed towards the completely silent fortress.

"Flamethrower! Spray at the shooting port! Burn them to death!" After Andre shouted, the flamethrower rushed up and pulled the trigger at the shooting port.

Bright rockets engulfed the firing ports and burst out from other windows of the fortress.

Immediately afterwards, the sound of bullets exploding was heard from inside the fortress, crackling like firecrackers.

"Go on!" cried Andrei. "Burn them all! Forward! For the Fatherland!"

"Ula!"

The soldiers swallowed everything like a tide.

As the surroundings gradually became quiet, in a corner where no one noticed, a yellow wild flower bloomed silently.

(End of this chapter)