artillery arc

Chapter 670: Turning My Remaining Body into a Blazing Fire (Update 48/84)

Krugenstrasse 43, 1930.

There are more and more elderly people sitting around the message room.

What came on the radio was no longer broadcasts from the distant capital, but radio communications from the Ante pilots in the air.

"I strafed a half-track!"

"Damn it, my bombs don't seem to be able to break down the enemy resistance at the Post Office!"

"Where is the post office? I still have bombs!"

Uncle Dudayev shouted: "The post office is the red house! Oh! I am so anxious!"

Aunt Luna looked at the old man and said, "We are gathered here together around the radio because we are women. Isn't it a bad idea for a man like you to hang out with us? You should join the uprising too!"

Uncle Dudayev cursed: "I am ninety years old! I can only walk with a limp! It takes thirty minutes to go to the street to buy a bottle of wine, and I have to move step by step! But you can run and jump, why don't you go? The church always says that women are also half of the sky!"

Aunt Luna: "That's what women do. We wanted to go, but Alexeyevna wouldn't let us!"

"Yes." Another auntie echoed, "We all follow the old lady's command. It is her experience that has kept us alive for so many years and helped the guerrillas! If she tells us to go to the streets, we go to the streets!"

The old lady didn't respond, but stared intently at the radio, listening to the pilots' hurried conversation.

"It's bad!" a pilot said, "It seems they can't attack the city center!"

"Who has any bombs left? Throw them at the building with the clock tower in the city center! The rebels have been suppressed by the enemy!"

"I see the armored vehicles seized by the rebels moving towards that side!"

The old lady suddenly reached out, picked up the radio, and pointed the speaker in her direction so that she could hear more clearly.

"One half-track isn't enough? We need tanks to help them get in!"

"Who has bombs?"

"Perhaps if we fire a few more shots, we can destroy the enemy's bunker?"

"It's no use. The enemy machine gun bunker is in the marble porch and it's hard to reach it from the air!"

"I'll crash into it!"

"No, at the beginning of the year, an order was issued prohibiting precious air force pilots from crashing into enemy targets if their planes are not damaged! Your plane can still fly, Mikhail! So no!"

"Then I'll fly a few more laps, and then I can crash when the fuel runs out!"

"No! Mikhail, I order you to return!"

The old lady's hand holding the radio was shaking slightly.

Aunt Luna looked at her face and said, "These pilots should be very good guys, right? They should be the same age as my Grisha."

The old lady nodded slightly.

Old man Dudayev said: "Your Grisha is an infantryman, far from a pilot. Liushenka's (aunt's nickname) son is a tank soldier, also a technical soldier, almost the same as a pilot."

The old lady spoke up: "I only have one son who is a tank soldier."

Aunt Luna: "It was Rokossov himself who delivered the death notice and the last letter! He fought with Rokossov! Maybe it was Rokossov who closed his eyes for him! Liushenka, your child will definitely go to heaven, maybe even become an angel under Saint Andrew's seat!"

The old lady didn't say anything, but just continued listening to the radio.

"That half-track is charging! This is too much of a rip-off. There's no way a half-track can withstand the Prosen's anti-tank guns!"

"Even the second-line troops have PAK38s!"

"The half-track was hit and caught fire! Can anyone think of a solution?"

----

Shelov climbed out of the burning half-track, but his foot slipped and he fell off the vehicle, lying next to the track.

He screamed, and immediately two guerrillas rushed over in the hail of bullets, dragging his arm and running back.

Two Ante Air Force planes flew over the wreckage and strafed the heavily fortified City Hall building in Plossen.

Unfortunately, the Prosen people had been building fortifications for a long time, and the firepower from aircraft alone was not enough to cause enough damage to them.

Shelov recovered, pushed away the people who were pulling him, stood up and ran towards the burning half-track.

He leaned on the car door and looked inside, then found that the driver Ivan had been hit by the PAK38's armor-piercing bullet. His entire chest was shattered, and blood and organ fragments were rolling out and flowing everywhere.

He turned his head to look at the municipal building that was spewing flames, and gritted his teeth, wanting to move forward.

The parish priest of the underground parish shouted, "Don't go over there! Don't charge in like this! We have already controlled most of the blocks, and the enemy is unlikely to massacre the city! We just need to wait for our troops to attack!"

Shelov looked back and saw only the bodies of guerrillas scattered all over the ground, including some familiar faces.

He bent down, picked up a rifle, and stumbled toward the municipal building.

Several wounded guerrillas immediately stood up from the pile of dead bodies and followed Shelov to rush towards the building.

Officer Plosson, who was commanding the machine gun, noticed him, immediately patted the machine gunner on the shoulder, pointed in this direction and shouted something.

The machine gun on the tripod was turned and aimed at Shelov.

Bullets rained down, Shelov was hit by several bullets, staggered a few steps, and finally knelt on one knee.

Bullets continued to fire, but Shelov used up his last bit of strength, using the rifle as a support, trying to maintain a standing posture.

He died standing like this.

Mother Alexeyevna put down the radio.

Aunt Luna looked at her expectantly: "What do you mean?"

Aunt Alexeevna: "I am not your leader. You don't have to follow me. In the current situation, the enemy should not be able to massacre the city. You should stay here and wait for the long night to pass and the dawn to come."

Aunt Luna: "Listen, I will never be able to say such fancy words as yours."

(Mrs. Alexeyevna just used more elegant words in the Ante language)
Uncle Dudayev: "After all, she has been educated in a girls' school, the same school that General Rokossov's wife attended. That is different from the Sunday school you attended, so she can be the manager of such a large apartment building."

Mother Alexeyevna stood up, took her cloak and put it on, then took a cane and walked towards the door of the apartment with a brisk pace that was inconsistent with her age.

She opened the door, walked out onto the street, and headed in the direction where the gunshots came from.

Aunt Luna stood at the door of the apartment, hesitated for a moment, then walked out the door and caught up with the old lady.

----

Lieutenant Fred of the Plossom Army was directing the machine gun to fire at the rebellious "mob".

The rebels were poorly equipped and poorly trained.

If there is one thing that makes this mob stronger than the Ant army that collapsed at the first blow of the war, it is probably their courage.

They had launched several rounds of attacks and the entrance to the municipal building was filled with corpses.

These corpses were wearing different clothes and holding a variety of equipment. It was hard to imagine that they were planning to defeat the Plossen regular army with such equipment.

Lieutenant Fred has been stationed in this city for two years and has come into contact with countless guerrillas and resistance fighters. He actually fully understands the source of their courage.

Unfortunately, courage alone cannot win a war.

In the previous two years of war, the Ant army had never lacked courage after recovering from the initial defeat, but they had been unable to stop Plossen's advance - until the arrival of General Ni and General Dong (Lieutenant Fred was more convinced by the propaganda minister's statement).

And now, the Prosom troops were not lacking in courage, but they also failed to stop Rokossov.

Courage is admirable, but it cannot...

Suddenly, Lieutenant Fred stopped thinking because he saw an old man with a staggering gait appear on the street outside the gate of the Town Hall.

Lieutenant Fred knew that person. She was a stubborn person on Kruger Street. The Imperial Household Ministry had always suspected that she was a key person in Ant's underground parish, but they had never been able to find any evidence.

Mother Alexeevna.

It is said that her son seemed to have fought alongside Rokossov, so the death notice was delivered by Rokossov himself.

The old lady walked straight towards the door of the City Hall.

Lieutenant Fred heard someone from the Ants shout, "Mother Alexeyevna, what are you doing?"

Lieutenant Fred taught himself Ante language for work purposes, and now it comes in handy.

The old lady replied, "I came to see my sons killed in battle."

Her voice was so loud that even the Prosen’s position could hear it clearly.

Mother Alexeevna: "They beat my own son to death! Then they beat my adopted son to death! Later they beat to death those good children who treated me like a mother!
"So now let them kill me too! If they can't kill me! I'll use the bayonet!"

The old lady walked up to the Ante warrior who had never fallen down until his death, as if she wanted to take his gun.

But she stopped.

It looked like she knew the man.

At this time, Lieutenant Fred's men said, "Lieutenant, I can shoot that crazy woman, and kill her with a single burst of fire!"

The lieutenant did not answer immediately. He watched the old lady close the eyes of the dead guerrilla with her hands, lay his body on the ground, and then pick up the blood-stained gun.

The old lady said: "Now, they have killed another of my sons! Let them kill me! Otherwise, I will use this steel gun to stab them to death, and a Prosent mother will lose her son!"

The old lady was holding a rifle and walking towards the building.

Lieutenant: "Fire! Fire now!"

The machine gunner opened fire, but the trajectory of the machine gun with a red barrel was ruined, and none of the bullets hit the old lady!
The old lady yelled, "Just beat me to death! I don't have many days left to live! I will turn my body into a raging fire and send you to hell!"

The lieutenant was shocked, and someone shouted, "Look!"

Fred turned his head and saw thousands of civilians opening the doors and rushing out of the building.

They poured through the streets carrying fire pokers, rolling pins and even blacksmith hammers.

The machine guns opened fire, and the bullets rained death on the Ants equally.

Only the old lady was still walking towards the door determinedly.

Just then, the sound of an engine rang out on the street, along with the regular clicking of a gearbox.

The lieutenant's men shouted in surprise: "The armored forces are here to rescue us! These mobs will be slaughtered! They are not afraid of machine guns. They are not ordinary mobs. We must——"

The machine gunner's voice stopped abruptly.

Because on the antenna of the trapezoidal armored unit that turned the corner, a red flag that looked like it was stained with blood was flying.

(End of this chapter)