artillery arc

Chapter 655: The Embarrassed Proson Army

Andreas and Kosrek's suffering did not end there.

To be precise, the suffering of Plossom's army was not over.

When the anti-aircraft artillery vehicle followed the troops, Ant's cavalry watched from a distance. Anyway, the anti-aircraft vehicle's mobility could not keep up with the cavalry, and overtaking shooting was a waste of ammunition, and the killing efficiency was very low.

When the anti-aircraft vehicles arrived at the designated position to set up defenses, the cavalry began to circle the defense area, waiting for the infantry to leave.

Andreas's troops had no choice but to wait until the cavalrymen got hungry and went back to eat before they secretly started marching.

Fortunately, Ant's cavalry did not visit at night, probably because they were worried that the horses would be trampled.

The Plosson soldiers dragged their tired bodies and marched in the night.

When the sky began to turn pale, a small group of Ant cavalry appeared. They did not launch an attack, but watched the Prosen people from afar.

Andreas noticed the small group of cavalry and pointed it out to Kosrek.

Koslake: "Maybe the cavalry officers are watching us and waiting for their troops to catch up. We have weapons too, and such a small cavalry force can't do anything to us."

Andreas looked around and said, "They just followed us like this and made us panic."

Koslake looked around and said, "Everyone is just tired."

He suddenly raised his voice: "Come on! Such a small number of cavalrymen dare not attack us! We still have weapons and bullets. Our machine guns alone can kill half of them!"

The sergeant's voice made many people look up and actually hold their weapons in hand and take heart.

Andreas suddenly realized that the new recruit he had helped before was gone, and all he could see were veterans with the exempt soldier mark.

It seemed that most of the recruits had been "left behind" during this difficult march.

Sergeant Koslake: "Okay, keep going! We should have a village ahead of us. Once we get to the village, we won't be afraid of cavalry!"

Cavalry is not suitable for fighting in villages.

Andreas vaguely felt that the team seemed to be moving a little faster.

Another thirty minutes passed and the village appeared.

The pursuing cavalry stopped after seeing the village. The rider on the chestnut horse who led the cavalry stood on a small hill by the road, looking at the village.

There was a machine gun mounted on the two-story building at the entrance of the village. The sergeant commanding the machine gun was holding a telescope and looking at the maroon knight.

Koslake suddenly said, "They are all non-commissioned officers. Most of the officers have been killed."

Senior officers in Plossen were rarely killed in battle because they believed that their duties were in the headquarters and were unlikely to go to the front line.

But Prossen's grassroots lieutenants still led the way, and it was normal that after the fierce battle, there were only a large number of non-commissioned officers left to command the grassroots troops.

Andreas licked his lips and said, "I hope there is water in the village."

"Don't worry, there will be some. Maybe there will even be hot soup."

Five minutes later, Andreas and Kosrek reached the entrance of the village.

Koslake shouted to the sergeant next to the machine gun, "Is there any hot soup?"

"No!" The sergeant shook his head. "We wanted to make a fire to cook, but the locals took all the firewood and other things with them when they ran away. There is nothing to make a fire. And to make soup, you need meat and vegetables, right? We only have compressed biscuits here!"

Koslake: "No horses or mules killed?"

The sergeant pointed to the pile of cavalry corpses in front of the machine gun position and said, "There is horse meat here. Do you dare to eat it?"

Andreas glanced at the pile of corpses and found that the bodies of horses and humans were completely mixed together. It was impossible to tell whether the bright red blood was horse blood or human blood.

It does take some courage to swallow such "meat".

Kosrek waved his hand: "Forget it, is there any water?"

"Yes, last night a local tried to throw something into the well, but was caught by the military police. So the water is still drinkable. Drink it now, because who knows when it might be poisoned."

Kosrek nodded, gestured to Andreas, and the two followed the team into the village.

After walking a few steps, I saw several locals hanging from the trees on the roadside. Each of them had a sign hanging on his body, which stated the reason for their hanging.

"Poisoning the well."

"Putting laxatives in the food."

"Throw rocks at the Plossom soldiers."

……

Andreas stared at the one who threw the stone and said to Kosrek, "Should such a young child be hanged for throwing a stone?"

Koslake: “That’s what the military police do.”

"No," answered the three infantrymen smoking by the tree, "we hanged him, not the gendarmes."

Then the three of them burst into laughter.

Andreas looked at the three men: they were all very young, their uniforms were new and had no dirt spots, they must be rookies who had just arrived at the front line.

He could not help but say: “We should not hang a child, even if he throws stones at us!”

The young privates' laughter stopped abruptly. They pulled their clothes awkwardly. "Sorry, we... but when we hanged the kid, the quartermaster was laughing happily?" Andreas was about to question, but Kosrek grabbed his shoulders. "Well, it's more important to eat and drink water, and then take a rest. We still have a long way to go to the Tiber River!"

Andreas glared at the three new recruits, followed Kosrek's steps, and soon arrived at the central square of the village - every Ante village has such a square, and the most conspicuous building next to the square should be the church.

But now only the ruins of the church remain, with several skeletons hanging on the bell tower.

A group of dusty Proson soldiers had gathered around the place where compressed biscuits and water were being distributed.

Andreas filled his water bottle and was given some compressed biscuits, which he ate with his water.

Several flares suddenly launched into the air.

The defenders around the distribution point had no idea what was happening, but the veterans who were distributing supplies reacted immediately and began to disperse and seek cover.

The roar of engines came from the air.

The machine guns started firing, but the sound was a little weak amid the sound of the plane's engine, and the density of firepower was clearly insufficient.

A Pe 2 bomber roared past, and one of its bombs pierced directly into the table piled with compressed biscuit barrels, smashing through the thick table, and the warhead smashed the stone slab under the table.

The timing device at the tail of the bomb kept making clicking sounds.

The recruit in charge of distributing things stared at the bomb with wide eyes, obviously panicking. A sergeant rushed over and threw the recruit to the ground.

Almost at the same time, the sound of the timer stopped, and the bomb exploded violently. The light and gunpowder smoke instantly engulfed the sergeant and the recruit lying on the ground.

Someone was shouting, "Steward!"

It seems that this sergeant major is the quartermaster who laughed when he saw the recruit hanging a child.

Andreas was shocked unconscious and did not wake up until five seconds later. The strong tinnitus drowned out all other sounds in the world.

However, as a veteran, Andreas was used to this kind of tinnitus. He did not wait for the tinnitus to subside and directly checked the situation around him.

The table filled with compressed biscuits has disappeared, and compressed biscuit barrels are now scattered across most of the village square.

The bucket also fell over, and water flowed all over the floor, even forming several puddles.

Many soldiers who had recovered from the bombing lay beside the puddles, constantly scooping water into their mouths with their hands.

When the tinnitus ended, Andreas remembered Koslake and shouted, "Koslake!"

"Here, he's not dead yet." Koslake's voice came immediately from behind him.

Andreas looked back and saw Kosrek squatting against the wall, cleaning sand off the machine gun.

"You're really patient," said Andreas.

"When the cavalry attacks later, we will have to rely on this old friend to resist the enemy." said the old machine gunner.

Just as Andreas was about to answer, someone nearby exclaimed, "The plane is coming back! Take cover!"

Just as he finished speaking, the Pe 2 bomber, which had already dropped its bombs, reappeared and strafed the ground with its machine guns.

This time even the recruits reacted, and in the blink of an eye there was no one standing in the square.

Two rounds of strafing were carried out, and then Ant's pilot flew away.

Andreas got up and said, "Damn it! The anti-aircraft artillery didn't fire a single shot!"

"Where are the anti-aircraft artillery units? They are all on the road dealing with the Ant cavalry." said Koslake.

Andreas: “How could things turn out like this?”

At this time, someone interrupted: "It's much better than when we ran back from Abawahan last winter. Didn't you participate in the Abawahan Campaign last year?"

Because the Battle of Abawahan was lost, the Plossom Army did not issue the corresponding commemorative medal.

Kosrek: "Last year we fought Rokossov's troops in Yeisk, then we went down to rest, and after returning to the front we have been defending the Sukhayaveli River, and then we came here."

The non-commissioned officer who interrupted shook his head and said, "You are really lucky. Only 30% of our troops who participated in the Battle of Abawahan have returned. Including me. Last year's retreat was really hard. This year at least we have water to drink. Last year we had to chew ice to get water, and many people had diarrhea because the ice water was too cold and froze their stomachs and intestines."

Someone else joined the conversation: "We have been losing ground since Rokossov started leading Ante."

Koslake: "He didn't lead Ant."

"He hasn't? I heard he's already Ant's 'Shadow Tsar'."

Andreas: "The story I heard is that he slept with the Tsar."

"almost--"

Another flare was launched.

"It's another air raid. After the cavalry comes the planes, and after the planes come the cavalry will come again!" Koslake closed the machine gun bolt that had been cleaned and looked up at the sky.

This time, the one that dived down was Ant's short and stubby bomber, which looked like a milk bottle (it was actually a P47 fighter).

Once again, a bomb exploded in the square.

The enemy planes not only dropped bombs, but also strafed as they pulled up, with tracer bullets falling from the sky like heavy rain.

Andreas lay on the ground, thinking that enough was enough.

(End of this chapter)