Arc of Gunfire

Wang Zhong yelled: "Hold it, I'll find a solution right away!"

At this time, he still felt that the enemy had changed the direction of attack. He had a plan for this situation: move the T34 to the forest line on the side of the highland to form a crossfire.

As a result, as soon as he hung up the phone, the phone rang again, so he could only pick up the receiver again: "I'm Rokossov, speak!"

"This is the 2nd Battalion of the 5th Beshensk Regiment. There are a large number of tanks maneuvering on the east side of our position!"

The Second Battalion of the 5th Beshensk Regiment is located in the east of the city and is mainly responsible for guarding the artillery positions. At the same time, they are also a reserve team. If necessary, they can be pulled to the woods to the north to mince meat.

Wang Zhong did not ask specifically, but looked at it from a bird's-eye view.

As a result, he saw at least one battalion of tanks maneuvering east of Orachi.

Where did so many tanks come from?

At this time, a signal flare was launched in the woods to the north.

Those were the signal flares fired by the secret sentries at the first and second ambush positions, indicating that enemies were approaching in the forest.

Enemies are coming from all directions!

Wang Zhong: "Don't be nervous! Let the B4 heavy cannon be leveled and prepare to shoot flatly! I will find a way!"

Before he hung up, another phone rang. Pavlov picked up the receiver: "Division headquarters, speak! What?"

Wang Zhong dropped the receiver in his hand and took Pavlov's away: "I am Rokossov, speak!"

Brother Peter's voice came from the other side: "Stuka! The roar of the Stuka! I'm not sure how many there are, at least 30!"

Wang Zhong was stunned for a moment, and then responded subconsciously: "Hold on! I'm thinking of a way!"

Brother Peter: "I don't even have a gun, so what can I do? General, you have to hold on. If you can't hold on in this situation, your morale will collapse in an instant, like an avalanche."

Thanks to Brother Peter's words, Wang Zhong's brain calmed down a little.

Yes, if I panic, it will be transmitted to the troops immediately, and the situation that can be defended will not be defended.

You must be calm, collected, and make good use of everything you have.

"Thank you Brother. Thank you."

"You're welcome," Brother Peter replied.

Wang Zhong put down the receiver.

The phone rang again, but Wang Zhong didn't answer it and gave his seat directly to Pavlov.

He turned around and found Nelly standing worriedly at the door of the house. Wang Zhong's state just now has not been transmitted to the troops, but it has made Neli unusually shaken.

Nelly: "Is it bad?"

Wang Zhong smiled slightly: "We have all experienced worse things than this. Give me coffee, make it strong."

Nelly nodded, turned and left.

Wang Zhong looked at the terrain map on the map table and quickly made a decision.

"Order the heavy artillery regiment to cover the forest first. Soft targets like infantry are more afraid of heavy artillery. The remaining T34s were mobilized to the flanks of Highland 153 according to the original plan and surrounded the high ground first."

Pavlov nodded, picked up the phone and began issuing orders.

Popov asked: "Aren't you going to command the tank yourself?"

Wang Zhong: "With so many enemies, one tank can't change anything. This is one. Second, although I am not in the No. 422 car, the red flag is still hanging. When the soldiers see the red flag and see I have the same effect.”

Pavlov came back after giving the order and asked Wang Zhong: "What should we do with Stuka? It should be here soon."

Wang Zhong: "We can only rely on divine arrows. I hope the Proson Air Force will still be so precious about life."

————

153 on the high ground.

The soldiers of the anti-tank gun battalion were rushing towards the gun emplacement carrying 45mm anti-tank gun shells.

When the enemy is preparing for fire, men and ammunition are hiding in the anti-gun bunker on the reverse slope. Now that the enemy begins to attack, it is necessary to enter the position as soon as possible.

Although Highland 153 is called a highland, the entire slope is actually very gentle. Anti-tank gun emplacements are set on the gentle slope, with only trenches hiding infantry in front of it.

When the Prossenians firmly believe that they have an absolute advantage, they will not use smoke, but choose to maximize the firepower of the tanks.

At this moment, the enemy's shock wave has almost reached the foot of the high ground.

Following the order to fire, the anti-tank guns began firing.

The shooting elements that had been determined long ago allowed the eight anti-tank guns to score eight hits in the first salvo.

Only three tanks stopped, and the members jumped out of the tanks and took cover.

The remaining five were still advancing. Apparently the shells had not penetrated them, and they had not seen the position of the anti-tank guns.

When the second round of anti-tank gun fire began, it was no longer a salvo. All gun crews were ordered to fire shells as quickly as possible.

Second Lieutenant Maximov commanded a 45mm anti-tank gun. His gun crew consisted of twenty people, eight of whom were responsible for transporting shells from the anti-gun bunkers at the rear to the front, three were responsible for managing the pack horses, and the remaining nine were Near the gun crew.

Maximov is responsible for indicating the target and reporting the shooting elements, the gunner Karamazov is responsible for the specific aiming, and the rest are loaders, each holding a 45 mm armor-piercing projectile.

"Fire!" Maximov shouted.

Flames erupted from the muzzle, and the gun recoiled, spitting the still smoking shell casings onto the ground.

There were already seven or eight shell casings lying on the floor, and all of them were smoking.

"Load!" Karamazov shouted, and then a stray bullet hit him in the head, causing him to fall backwards into a pile of smoking bullet casings.

Upon seeing this, Maximov immediately rushed behind the gun guard and took over the gunner's position.

At the same time, the loader stuffed a shell into the barrel and successfully completed the locking.

Maximov turned the crank, pointed the gun at the target's driver's observation slit, and then jerked the gun rope.

The cannon roared, empty shells ejected from the rear breech, and the armor-piercing bullets emitted white light and hit the observation window.

The tank did not stop moving, but the members of the vehicle opened the hatch and ran out, jumping from the sides of the tank to the ground.

"Okay!" Maximov shouted, "reload!"

The shells were loaded into the barrel again.

Maximov put his eyes on the scope, looking for the next target. He saw a Panzer IV tank, so he aimed the aiming mark at the driver's observation port - it worked here to hit the Panzer III tank, and it should be equally effective to hit the Panzer IV tank.

Maximov fired, then realized he had forgotten to adjust the scope's scale.

Because of the wrong scale, the shell obviously fired high and hit the mantlet of the tank turret, leaving an obvious dent but not penetrating.

"Load!" Maximov shouted, adjusting the scale according to the target.

When he adjusted it, he found that the tank had stopped and was turning in his direction.

--Oops!

Maximov only had time to have this idea before everything was interrupted.

When he regained consciousness, all he could see was the clear blue sky.

He got up and found that the cannon had fallen to the ground, and the mantlet had completely flown off.

The assistant gunner fell on the cannon's hoe, and the other loaders also lay on the ground.

It was obvious that a single shot from the enemy's short 75 howitzer directly destroyed Maximov's artillery crew.

Maximov looked around blankly and found that there was a gun crew not far away. He thought that he could at least go over and serve as a loader, so he stood up and stumbled towards the gun position.

Suddenly, someone grabbed him from behind, threw him to the ground, and then rolled him into the communication trench between the gun emplacements.

"You're crazy! If you just walk over like this, even a few lives won't be enough to kill you!" the man who saved Maximov shouted.

Judging from the military uniform, this man was an infantry lieutenant, but his face looked a little childish.

There are very few young faces in the 5th Beshensk Regiment. Most of them are young people who look to be in their early thirties.

Just as Maximov was about to thank the lieutenant, he heard a shout from the artillery position not far away: "Bring the shells quickly! We have finished firing the shells!"

Maximov poked his head out of the traffic trench and saw two artillerymen carrying ammunition boxes who had just climbed over the top of Hill 153 and rushed towards the shouting gun position.

Soon enough, a high-explosive bomb landed between the two of them, knocking them to the ground.

The ammunition box they were carrying cracked open, revealing the yellow ammunition inside.

Maximov rushed out of the traffic trench and ran towards the ammunition box.

"I'll go, you won't listen!" The lieutenant stuck his head out, and after realizing that Maximov was going to get the shells, he pulled out a captured Prosen smoke grenade from his armed belt, pulled it away and threw it to Mark. Behind Simov.

White smoke quickly spread behind Maximov.

He didn't care so much, he directly picked up the broken wooden box, stuffed the fallen shells back, and then rushed to the gun emplacement carrying the wooden box.

"The shells are coming!" he shouted as he ran.

The gunner of that gun exclaimed: "Maximov? Your gun..."

He glanced at the next door and abruptly cut off the conversation.

"Maximov, you're here just fine! Reload quickly!"

Maximov: "I'll get the ammunition again! Wait!"

After that, he turned around and rushed into the smoke, running all the way across the top of the slope, and then towards the hole where the shells were stored.

Five minutes later, Maximov returned to the front of the high ground carrying the ammunition box, only to find that the gun position he had just left was gone. It was probably blown up by a short 75mm howitzer.

Maximov stared blankly at the gun position for a few seconds, and suddenly remembered that the most important thing now was to block the attack.

So he rushed to the gun and made a cursory inspection to make sure it could fire.

Then he noticed the scope was gone.

Without saying a word, Maximov removed the sight and related support components, and forced a hole in the gun's shield.

He used the hole to aim and then reloaded himself.

"Death to you, Prossen!" Maximov opened fire.

Aiming through the holes in the shield would not lead to good results. The shell flew directly past the enemy tank's head.

Maximov reloaded himself again and continued to aim with the "hole."

This time, the shot "accurately" hit the track of the tank, causing target No. 4 to stop.

Maximov continued loading.

However, the enemy tanks had already begun to move uphill.

A Panzer IV tank with tactical number 2316 turned its gun and aimed at Maximov.

At this moment, the armor-piercing projectile fired from the side hit Tank No. 2316!

Compared with the poor damage effect of the armor-piercing projectile of the 45mm gun, this shot from the side directly set the No. 2316 tank on fire.

Maximov turned his head and looked in the direction where the armor-piercing projectile was coming, and saw a flash of red in the tree line.

It’s the general’s red flag! General Rokossov is here!

There's help!