Arc of Gunfire

The calm lasted until seven o'clock in the evening. Just as the sky began to dim, Brother Peter heard the sound of enemy reconnaissance planes again.

Five minutes later, everyone in front of them watched the reconnaissance plane fall to the ground dragging thick smoke.

"The effect of the Divine Arrow on low-flying air units is really great." Wang Zhong praised.

Popov: "Yeah, but it's a pity that it can't be used against enemy planes at high altitudes."

Wang Zhong: "It will be difficult for the enemy to discover carefully disguised artillery positions through high-altitude reconnaissance."

He could say this mainly because first, he had seen the photos taken by the Sandoku high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft in the war history before traveling through time, and second, he had confirmed the camouflage of his artillery position from an overhead perspective.

At high altitude, it is difficult to find these positions with the naked eye.

Popov: "I hope so."

Wang Zhong looked at Popov, suddenly came up with a suspicion, and asked: "Are you standing there in front of me because you don't want to help Pavlov handle the mountains of documents?"

Popov said seriously: "How is that possible! I will never evade my responsibilities! But many documents do not require my signature as the battle group bishop."

Wang Zhong looked at Popov and was about to speak, when Vasily, who was guarding the walkie-talkie, suddenly began to flip through the seized notebooks.

Everyone's attention suddenly shifted to him.

After some searching, Vasily reported: "The enemy's 223rd Panzergrenadier Regiment is camping in Kalashnoe tonight!"

Wang Zhong immediately found this village on the map: "We went to investigate here. It is a large village with almost 100 houses, and all the people have fled.

"According to the results of asking locals in other villages, there is generally no wind around nine o'clock in the evening, and the shelling effect will be better."

Yegorov picked up the phone, but did not immediately ask the operator to answer the artillery position. Instead, he asked Wang Zhong: "How much ammunition?"

Wang Zhong: "Three rounds for each gun. 24 rounds is enough for the enemy to drink a pot. I don't know when the next supply of 203 mm shells will be, so save it."

Yegorov then said to the operator: "Take over the artillery position."

————

The 223rd Panzergrenadier Regiment entered Kalashnoe, ten kilometers southwest of Loktov.

According to the latest aerial reconnaissance report, the Ant Army unit closest to here is a regiment in Lower Lini Village in the northeast, and the aerial patrol has seen the defensive position.

Tomorrow the 223rd Panzer Grenadier Regiment will launch an attack on the village of Lower Lini. Once captured, they can outflank Loktov.

The 150 half-tracks in the 223rd loading and throwing organization now fill Kalashnoye so much that the self-propelled mortar company assigned to the regiment can only park on the threshing floor at the entrance of the village.

The threshing floor was also full of trucks attached to the logistics team - the 223rd was an infantryman attached to the armored division, and there were no mules or horses in the organization.

The eight Panzer IV tanks reinforced for the 223rd Regiment were lined up in the northeast of the village, and the tank crew was overhauling the walking system.

After the infantrymen had finished maintaining their firearms, they were now gathering around the fire to eat cans and captured sausages.

Someone took a radio and placed it on a gasoline drum on the roadside, and from the speaker came Prosen's most popular love song "Lily Marlene" - this is the music played by Prosen's military radio station to the entire army. .

This night looked no different from the first 13 nights when the 223rd Regiment entered the Ant Empire.

Suddenly, the scream of heavy artillery shells piercing the air came from the sky.

After all, the Prussians in this regiment were veterans of the war. They could roughly judge where they would fall when they heard the screams, so they dropped their military lunch boxes filled with broth and got into various places that could provide cover.

The first shell fell, hitting the church in the center of the village, causing the church's bell tower to collapse from the roots.

Then shells fell one after another, destroying houses, blowing up cars, and overturning half-tracks in the middle of the road.

After the first wave of shells fell, the whole village was filled with flames and the groans of the wounded.

The surviving Prossen raised his head tremblingly, but did not leave the bunker.

About 30 seconds later, a second round of howling came from the sky.

A big explosion occurred in a truck, and the oil tank it was carrying exploded into an orange-red sphere, rising slowly, illuminating the night like day.

The cauldron in which the cook was making soup was knocked over, and the hot soup poured on the unlucky guy nearby, causing a hoarse scream.

After the second round of shelling, no Prossen dared to raise their head, and they were all waiting for the next round of shells to fall.

Someone was praying softly, but at this time no one even mentioned "see you in Valhalla." This was the most common answer given by the glorious imperial soldiers in Prosin's slogan when they faced death.

The third round is coming.

The church finally collapsed completely, and the senior officers and staff of the regiment hurriedly ran out.

The cattle, which the locals had no time to take away, were covered in fire and charged wildly along the street, trampling on several unlucky ones lying in the middle of the road.

After the third round, the entire village could only hear groans and the crackling sound of fire.

Almost a minute passed before the leader of 223 pretended to get up with lingering fear. He looked at the collapsed church behind him, then at the burning half-tracks on the street and the corpses on the ground, his brows twisted into knots.

"Count the casualties! Hurry! Also, notify the division headquarters as soon as possible. As soon as we reported our position, artillery fire came. It is estimated that the enemy has mastered our code list! The code must be changed in advance!"

Generally, the radio call signs of the Prosen Army are changed every three days - this kind of change is very troublesome, and the messengers have to physically send the new call signs to each unit.

"Yes!" the staff officer replied.

The regiment leader looked at the messy village and shouted: "Rescue the wounded quickly! Put out the fire!"

————

Wang Zhong looked at his watch: "Looking at the time, the cannonball has arrived, but I don't know how effective it will be."

Kalashnoye is ten kilometers away from Loktov, so even with Wang Zhong's plug-in, the effect of the shelling cannot be seen.

Yegorov comforted him: "Don't worry, this is a 203mm heavy artillery. This regiment must have suffered heavy losses. Whether it can move tomorrow is a question."

"hope so."

As soon as Wang Zhong finished speaking, Vasily shouted: "The enemy's communication! It's actually in clear code!" Our regiment was hit by heavy artillery precisely as soon as it reported its position. The radio call sign must have been leaked. Please change the call sign in advance. "General, hit." "

"Okay!" Wang Zhong clenched his right hand into a fist, as if he was a proud young man.

Yegorov: "Now the infantry attached to the enemy's armored division has suffered heavy losses, and the pressure on the city to grind meat will be much less."

"That is something that needs to be considered tomorrow." Popov said, "Today's battle should be almost over, and the soldiers except the sentries should take time to rest."

Vasily: "And clean the gun!"

Yegorov glanced at him and nodded: "Yes, and clean the gun."

At this time, Wang Zhong suddenly realized that he was very hungry. He had been highly concentrated before and did not notice this.

As if it was predicted that Wang Zhong was hungry, the voice of the cooking team aunt came from outside: "Boys! The food is here!"

"Let's go eat!" Wang Zhong said excitedly.

————

After eating, Wang Zhong took Gregory, the guard, around the position to eat, and by the way, he also performed the duty of a commander to check the posts.

After checking around, he happened to pass by a factory where 72K anti-aircraft guns and heavy machine guns were deployed. Wang Zhong stopped in front of the southwest wall of the factory and looked at the dense bullet marks on it.

Just by looking at the bullet marks, you can imagine how intense the afternoon shooting was.

Wang Zhong walked along the wall, and when he reached the corner, he saw a group of young people crowded at the corner of the factory building in front of him, as if they were watching something.

Gregory took a step forward, intending to inform the young man that the commander was coming, but was stopped by Wang Zhong.

Then Wang Zhong tiptoed behind the young people and peeped with them.

In the night, someone was holding a bottle, and under the starlight you could vaguely see that the bottle was full of gypsophila flowers.

He handed the vase of flowers to the girl in front of him: "Natalia, I found these at the station. They are as beautiful as you!"

Wang Zhong remembered that this was the recruit named "Alexei" like himself. He liked Natalia from the field laundry team.

Good guy, my partner has come to the front line! Must criticize well!

So Wang Zhong came closer.