Arc of Gunfire

December 9, Western Front Headquarters, 1240 hours.

Tukhachev looked at the newly updated map and praised repeatedly: "Very good, very good! Keep pushing forward, push forward!"

Chief of Staff of the Front Army: "But we have advanced so far, and the logistics are beginning to be unable to keep up. The troops have no hot food supply since the day before yesterday, and only dry food. The cooking team and the laundry team cannot keep up.

"And the armored forces also reported that many tanks had to be abandoned due to mechanical failures. The number of tanks to be repaired reported by the First Assault Army this morning has reached 221! They only have more than 100 T34s left in a state of combat readiness!

"Should we stop and wait for the logistics to catch up?"

Tukhachev said angrily: "Time is victory now. When the enemy attacked us, they moved forward desperately, making it impossible for our army to organize a new defense!

"Now we have to learn from the enemy's approach, advance, advance, and advance again! Rokossov is right, the line from Bokost to Shostka is indeed very suitable for defense, then we must break through before the enemy prepares the defense line This line!”

Tukhachev waved his hand and punched the map.

"Break through the defense! Then let that bastard Rokossov kiss my boots!"

————

December 9, 1450 pm, east of Shostka, Plosin armored ambush position.

It has been a day since the 32nd Armored Battalion of the Said Armored Division of the Asgard Knights entered the position.

This battalion is equipped with all trial production Type IV F2 tanks. When these tanks were first sent to the front line, they were painted in the factory's production paint. When they arrived at the front line, the battalion support troops painted them into the iconic colors of the Prossen Army. Gray paint.

Battalion commander Major Sharif was sitting in his car, observing the railway line in the distance and the road next to the railway line.

His vehicle, tactical number 201, is currently parked in a tank bunker that can completely hide the body.

The entire bunker is basically built according to the Rokosov version of the tank bunker found in Orachi. However, in order to save excavated earth and increase the speed of building the position, the structure in front of Rokosov's bunker that could completely hide the tank was removed. , leaving only the diversion groove used to reduce the fire and smoke when the tank fires.

It is said that the No. 4F on the front line has been welded with a 50 mm thick armor plate, increasing the front thickness to a thickness that even the T34 cannot penetrate, but Major Sharif's headquarters has not carried out this modification.

On the one hand, these trial production models had just been sent to the front line. There was no time to modify them, so they had time to paint them.

On the other hand, after installing the long-barreled 75mm gun, the No. 4 F2 turret was already much heavier. In order to balance the center of gravity of the turret, a big head was added to the back.

In this case, it would be too heavy to weld a 50 mm thick steel plate to the front of the turret.

Therefore, the front of the turrets of these tanks is still the original version of the No. 4F 50mm armor plate, which may be penetrated by the T34.

The response of Major Sharif and his tank crews was to cover the front of the turret with a camouflage net, exposing the cannon itself and the gunner's sight.

However, although the Said Division itself has not fought against the T34, they have communicated with the wounded soldiers being evacuated and know that the T34 was hit to pieces at a distance of more than 800 meters.

Now, the distance between the ambush position and the road is 800 meters, and the 32nd Armored Battalion is preparing to fight the enemy at this distance.

Major Sharif was prepared to lose a third of his crew.

At this time, a voice suddenly came from the radio: "Hound Hound, this is the Sparrowhawk. We see the enemy armored column moving towards you. There are at least a hundred tanks at the moment. Repeat, there are at least a hundred tanks."

Major Sharif picked up the microphone and turned on the transmit function of the radio: "Sparrowhawk, this is the hunting dog. We have prepared the meal. Repeat, we have prepared the meal."

"The Sparrowhawk understands that we dropped two small bombs but did not achieve any results. It is up to you."

"Thank you for the notice." Major Sharif put down the microphone, picked up the whistle and blew it. After blowing one long and two short blows, he shouted loudly, "Battle alert!"

The tank crews who were playing cards and bragging on the battlefield jumped onto the tank and got into the hatch with skillful movements.

The infantry units covering the tanks also moved into action.

The accompanying infantry battalion of the 32nd Armored Battalion is called the "57th Accompanying Infantry Battalion" and is a professional accompanying unit.

And because it is an infantry member of the Said Division, the equipment of this battalion is also luxurious. It actually has twelve 50mm mortars, four 82mm mortars, eight 75mm infantry guns and two Bison 15CMs. Self-propelled infantry gun.

Less than ten minutes later, the entire position entered a state of combat readiness, and everyone was waiting for the arrival of Ant's armored column.

But the first thing that came out was the sound of engines in the sky. A unique FW189 reconnaissance plane roared past the ambush position. The pilot seemed to be looking for Prosen's ambush position below, but he obviously didn't see it.

Major Sharif was a little proud, after all, he personally commanded the disguise of his battalion.

Although the Prosen propaganda minister clamored all day long that "the great Prosen warriors are like proud eagles who never bother to disguise themselves", the experienced Prosen troops have never despised camouflage.

Shortly after the reconnaissance plane flew over, the roar of engines came from the east.

Major Sharif looked east, and sure enough he saw white snow dust rising.

Major Sharif adjusted the Iron Cross Second Class on his collar, thinking that today was the day to win the Iron Cross First Class.

He glanced at his troops.

At this time, in order not to alert others, the entire unit maintained radio silence. However, Major Sharif had already assigned targets to the 20 No. 4 F2s on the ambush position.

The other tanks in the battalion were hidden in the woods further behind the ambush position as reserves.

I don't know why, but Major Sharif always felt that the reserve team should not be used today.

Unfortunately, even the Said Armored Division, which received priority for replenishment, only received these 20 No. 4 F2 trial production models. The full rollout of the No. 4 F2 may not be until March next year.

If a large number of No. 4 F2s had been equipped before Operation Typhoon, Army Group Center might have already invaded Yebao.

Finally, Major Sharif saw the enemy's armored column.

Sharif had only heard before that the Ants liked to put infantrymen on tanks, but now he saw it with his own eyes: the leading T34 had seven or eight Ant infantrymen sitting on it.

It seems that the Ants really lack half-track vehicles and can only let their infantry ride on tanks to maneuver.

In contrast, each company of the accompanying infantry of the 32nd Battalion can be assigned 12 to 15 half-track vehicles, and does not need to fight in tanks at all.

Major Sharif had been following Ant's armored column with his binoculars, watching the leading tank cross the road sign - this was the sign that marked the beginning of the ambush zone.

The location where Major Sharif's car was ambushed was exactly 800 meters away from this road sign.

The Ants didn't even notice the Prosens who were eight hundred meters away. The infantrymen on the tank were all looking to the west, with all their attention on Shostka in front.

Major Sharif waited patiently until Ant's lead vehicle was about to leave the ambush area, and then gave the order via the in-car line: "Fire!"

The gunner immediately fired, and the shell hit like a beam of light above the T34 road wheel that just passed the road sign.

The Prosen Imperial Academy of Sciences carefully dismantled the captured T34 tank and found out that the ammunition of the T34 was basically placed on the floor of the vehicle body. The gunner aimed here, heading for the ammunition rack of the T34.

Soon after, the T34 exploded. The turret and the infantrymen sitting on the vehicle were blown into the sky. The scattered flesh and blood fell to the ground, dyeing the blood on the ground red.

Other ambush crews also opened fire immediately, and the entire leading vehicle of the marching column was also hit and exploded into a ball of fire.

Because there were too many enemies, Major Sharif did not wait for all the enemies to enter the ambush area before opening fire. There are still about thirty T34s blocked by wreckage outside the ambush area.

Sharif shouted an order: "Turn the turret thirty degrees to the right. They are all enemies. Fire freely!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the gunner fired another shot. The T34 that was hit immediately burst into flames, and the infantry on the vehicle jumped down in a hurry.

Gunner: "Load! Load quickly! There are still dozens of enemy vehicles!"

Immediately after the third launch, another T34 turned into a burning coffin.

At this time, Major Sharif was confused: "What's going on? Why doesn't the enemy seem to have discovered where we are yet?"

In his telescope, the T34s began to fire at the machine gun fire points accompanying the infantry and the infantry artillery positions accompanying the infantry battalion. However, none of them fired at the armored ambush position stuck at a distance of 800 meters.

Major Sharif was surprised. His gunners methodically turned ten T34s into wreckage.

In the chaos, Ant's T34 began to retreat.

Major Sharif broke the radio silence: "Armored companies 3, 4, 5, and 6, enter the battle, enter the battle quickly! All regiments are engaged in the battle, the enemy is running away! Break their tracks and jam their turret seats. !quick!"

"Understood, battalion commander!"

The remaining troops of the 32nd Armored Battalion rushed out, bypassed the ambush position, and rushed towards the retreating - no, fleeing Ante tank troops.

Major Sharif: "We are also attacking. All F2s, reverse and leave the bunker! Free to pursue the enemy!"

The engine of Major Sharif's car No. 201 roared and then exited the tank bunker.

Major: "Turn left! There is no pit ahead, move forward! Get a better shooting position! Destroy the enemy!"

————

Ant Army Western Front Headquarters.

The phone rings.

The chief of staff picked up the phone: "Front Army Headquarters. What? How many vehicles?"

Tukhachev, who was looking at the map, turned around and looked at the chief of staff with squinted eyes.

The chief of staff's eyes were as wide as bells.

Finally, he put down the phone and looked at Tukhachev.

"Your Excellency, Commander," the Chief of Staff said, "The First Assault Group Army reported that it was ambushed by the enemy and lost... 103 T34 tanks were lost. They only have 7 T34s available now."

"What?" Tukhachev almost fell to the ground and had to press his hands on the table to steady himself, "Where did the enemy's troops come from?"

"I don't know. The forwards of the First Assault Army were defeated and no prisoners were taken."

Tukhachev sat down in his chair.

Then the chair cracked and broke, almost cracking General Tukhachev's buttocks.