Arc of Gunfire

The commander of the 25th Independent Tank Brigade personally commanded a tank and drove onto the road section made of rolling logs.

The driver complained on the in-car communication: "The tank is shaking like it's suffering from dysentery, we will definitely sink!"

The brigade commander stretched his head and looked under the car: "Don't be afraid, at least in my field of vision we haven't sunk in yet."

The infantryman sitting behind the tank said worriedly: "How about we go down and walk? The ten of us are carrying weapons and ammunition, which adds up to almost a ton."

Brigadier Commander: "The 36-ton tank didn't sink. It doesn't matter if you have an extra ton of weight! Just stay still. Look at the infantrymen next to you wearing those shoes and slipping and sinking from time to time."

Every now and then, an infantryman wearing swamp shoes would slip and fall. If he slipped in a place where the mud was not deep, he would be able to get up on his own. The unluckier person would have to hold his hand on the ground, and as a result, his entire hand would be swallowed by the mud.

Others who want to save will be implicated one after another and dragged into the mud.

Swamp Four does not hide his "appetite" and devours young lives unscrupulously.

Brigadier Commander: "Look at the shoes on your feet. It's better to sit on the tank! When the tank sinks to the bottom, you will naturally have a chance to struggle in the mud."

A child among the infantry muttered: "Which genius came up with the idea to attack here?"

"It's Marshal Rokossov." said the brigade commander. "If we attack here, we only have to fight the swamp and sacrifice a tenth of it. If we attack from other places, we will have to fight the Plosans. Maybe It will cost 30 to 40 percent casualties!”

The child who just spoke immediately changed his expression: "It's the marshal's idea, then we are sure to succeed! His ideas will always succeed!"

At this time, other tanks of the 25th Brigade also drove into the swamp, and the entire swamp was filled with the sound of engines.

————

On the position of the 500th Division in Prosen, Sergeant Wolfgang played the guitar in front of the fire.

His squad sat around the fire, all eagerly looking at the broth in the army pot on the fire.

The private closest to the pot stretched out his hand, but the sergeant slapped it away: "Don't worry, these are horses that have been working on the front line. The meat is very strong. If it is not stewed for enough time, your teeth will be knocked out."

The private sighed: "If horses are killed by the enemy every day, then we can eat meat every day."

"Don't think about it. In our place, the Ant people won't even look at us, let alone bomb. This horse should have been killed by the guerrillas."

Private: "Can the guerrillas kill a horse every day?"

Sergeant Wolfgang smiled: "That's too bad. You have horse broth to drink, but what happens after that? These horses are responsible for delivering supplies to us. It's impossible to use cars to provide supplies to this place where birds don't poop." We sent supplies, but the horses were all dead, and we had no food, no coffee, and no ammunition—well, it didn’t matter if we didn’t send the ammunition. Anyway, none of the ammunition sent last year was used.”

The intensity of the conflict where the 500th Division was stationed was not high, and casualties mainly occurred during patrol missions deep into the swamps and in battles to encircle and suppress guerrillas.

Whether it's patrolling or encircling and suppressing guerrillas, once a month is good.

As Sergeant Wolfgang said, the ammunition issued last year has not been used up, so in the eyes of the officers of the supplementary battalion, it is a good job to supplement the 500th Division and the 501st Division next door.

Many people present were supplemented by the envious eyes of the officers of the supplementary battalion.

The sergeant continued to play the piano, and someone immediately teased: "Sergeant, you haven't mastered the guitar very well. When I first added it, you were stumbling on the guitar, and you are still stumbling on it now!"

Sergeant Wolfgang: "I just didn't feel it!"

After that, he continued to strum the strings, and this time he played several consecutive chords smoothly.

The sergeant smiled at the soldier who had just laughed at him and began to play "Elektra", a popular song before the war.

After singing a few lines, someone said: "I was a little kid when I first heard this song, and now..."

"You're still a little kid, aren't you?" Another person laughed, "You can blush even if you say anything to a local Ant girl!"

"I don't!"

Everyone laughed.

At this time, someone suddenly said: "The first time I heard this song, my brother was still alive and he sang it to me."

The people who were noisy just now suddenly fell silent.

For a moment there was only the sound of the guitar and the sound of boiling broth in the pot.

Everyone stared at the broth in silence, with expressions as if they were remembering some long-gone time.

Someone tightened his grip on the rifle, hugging it like a long-dead relative.

The equipment of the 500th Division is very poor. After all, they are the 25th wave of infantry divisions. The bolt-action rifles in many people's hands are not newly produced, but old ones that have been stored in a warehouse for a long time.

As for machine guns, generally each squad of the Prosen army has a machine gun. Prosen's infantry squad is formed with machine guns as the core - this common sense has been written into the summary of the enemy's combat experience.

But in a unit like the 500th Division, two squads share one machine gun. The squad commanded by Sergeant Wolfgang is a pure rifle squad. It usually operates with the first squad in the platoon and cooperates with the first squad's machine gun. Combat.

Recently, Sergeant Wolfgang and the others participated in several operations to encircle and suppress the guerrillas, and found that the guerrillas' firepower was stronger than theirs.

The guerrillas had drum-style bobos transported through the swamp, and one guerrilla was able to suppress Sergeant Wolfgang's entire squad.

Fortunately, most of the time the guerrillas didn't make much noise in this area. At most, they secretly planted some landmines on the transportation route and killed a few horses.

Without exception, these horses became a snack for Wolfgang and the others.

The supply level of troops like the 500th Division is very low, and the canned meat distributed every time is pitiful.

So from time to time Wolfgang and the others would take unused bullets to the guerrillas in exchange for some meat, or let the guerrillas blow up a few horses.

Of course, the chief secretary and the chain dog cannot know these things.

Sergeant Wolfgang's piano sound gradually became better, and his voice also relaxed and became high-pitched.

A large number of birds took off from the woods and rushed into the air.

"Sergeant, you're scaring the birds!" someone laughed.

Sergeant Wolfgang stared at the flying bird, and his hand stopped playing the strings.

The others, who were smiling, stopped when they saw the sergeant.

Suddenly the whole camp was so quiet that only the sound of boiling horse broth was left.

There was a dull roar in the air, as well as the clicking sound of gears, and from time to time there was the sound of heavy objects dragging on the ground.

Some recruits asked in confusion: "What is this sound?"

Sergeant Wolfgang: "There was noise from the tank's engine and gearbox, and the sound that seemed to be dragging a heavy object was the sound from one side of the tank's track locking up and turning."

"Huh?" The recruit looked at the sergeant with his mouth wide open, "What?"

The sergeant put the guitar on his lap and gestured with his hands: "When the tank turns, it is mainly achieved by the speed difference between the two tracks. If you want to turn quickly, lock one of the tracks, and you can turn a nearly right-angle turn."

At this time, the battalion commander of their battalion ran over, his face covered with shaving foam that had not yet been washed off.

"Wolfgang!" the battalion commander asked loudly, "What is this sound?"

Sergeant: "It's a tank, sir."

"How is that possible? There are no armored troops near us!" The battalion commander's eyes widened. Suddenly, he stopped and looked at Sergeant Wolfgang blankly. "Oh my god, this is impossible! Let alone tanks in that swamp. You can’t even get by with a bicycle! Wolfgang, you’re talking nonsense!”

Wolfgang: "And what did we hear?"

The battalion commander shook his head repeatedly: "No, that's not right. I have to call the division headquarters. There must be some misunderstanding!"

After saying this, the battalion commander ran towards the battalion headquarters.

Sergeant Wolfgang: "Batalion Commander, where are the orders?"

The battalion commander turned around and said, "Uh, enter the position!"

Yes, the 500th Division has a position, but this position is quite crude. The depth of the trench is barely up to the waist, and sandbags can be used to block the chest.

The roof of the shell-proof hole is all made of wood cut nearby, so even if it is hit by a mortar shell, it will be destroyed.

The most egregious thing is that there is still water in the trenches. If people are not arranged to scoop out water every day, the water in the trenches will be up to the ankles all year round, and socks and other items will be soaked in the water.

Because of this, no one likes to stay in the trenches, so even if they are standing guard, they should stay outside as much as possible.

For a while, the guerrillas liked to fire cold shots at these unlucky guys standing guard, but later the soldiers of the 500 Division began to use grenades in exchange for safety while standing guard.

The guerrillas used grenades to blow up the servants and military police, and the officers and soldiers of the 500 Division were safe.

Later, you can report the consumption of grenades and bullets together as evidence of your hard work.

Sergeant Wolfgang: "Get into position!"

Although the soldiers looked confused, they still rushed to the position as usual training.

Sergeant Wolfgang picked up the helmet that fell on the ground and caught up with the panicked private: "You need this, kid!"

"Oh!" The private was stunned for a moment and then added, "Thank you, sergeant."

"No thanks, let's go!"

As he spoke, Sergeant Wolfgang grabbed the private by the collar and ran forward. After running a few steps, he realized that he was holding not a rifle but a guitar.

He quickly dropped his guitar and looked around for his rifle.

At this moment, the panicked sentry rushed into the camp and shouted: "Tank! Ant's tank! Round, round!"

Wolfgang found the rifle at this time, picked up the private again, and ran towards the position.

The sentry was still shouting: "Ante's tank! It's round!"

The next moment, the sentry tower in the camp was hit by a stray bullet, and all the wooden boards were blown away, leaving only the steel frame.

The air-burst grenade produced a large amount of fragments, which fell on the ground like raindrops - the wooden floor of the sentry tower obviously could not block these fragments.

The Ploson soldier who was shot fell to the ground and let out a shrill scream.

Wolfgang turned away and dragged the private forward: "Quickly! At least you won't be hit by artillery shells when you enter the trench!"

After taking two steps, he felt something was wrong. He lowered his head and saw that only half of the private was left. He didn't know where such large pieces came from.

"Damn it!" Wolfgang dropped the private and ran towards the trench.

As a result, as soon as he reached the entrance of the trench, the tank's tracks smashed into the wooden fence of the camp.

Anyone with a discerning eye would know at a glance that this was Ant's tank, because it was full of infantrymen, and the infantrymen were wearing cloaks - Ploson soldiers did not have cloaks, not in any of the arms.

"Damn it!" Wolfgang raised his gun and fired a shot, which knocked off the tank commander's hat. When he pulled the bolt, the Ant's submachine gun spurted out tongues of flame.

Wolfgang covered his chest and fell backwards, just in time to see the battalion commander rushing out from the battalion headquarters: "It's the Ant tank, our tank troops are not moving - God!"

The Ant tank fired, and the battalion commander was directly penetrated by the shell, and the next moment the battalion headquarters exploded.

Wolfgang exhausted his last strength, he fell to the ground, and his vision just happened to see his guitar.

He saw Ant's tank passing by the guitar, and the large road wheels were full of mud, as if they had just waded through the mud of the swamp.

Immediately afterwards, a pair of Ant military boots stopped next to the guitar, and a rough hand picked it up.

The hand looked like it belonged to a worker, because it was full of calluses.

Wolfgang thought at the last moment, can a worker play the guitar?

————

"You are a boiler worker, can you play the guitar?" asked Ivan, the infantry platoon leader sitting on the tank.

Cuidok smiled and said, "I'll give it a try. I liked "I Have One Last Grenade" before and practiced it for a while."

"That song is not called this, right? I remember it was called..." Platoon leader Ivan thought for a while and shook his head, "Forget it, let's call it "I Have One Last Grenade."

Cuidok climbed onto the tank, sat on the engine and plucked the strings. With the sound of the tracks moving forward, he was not singing the popular "The Last Courage" composed by Marshal Rokossov.

Cuidok plucked the strings with his hands that were burnt with countless calluses by the boilerman, and sang loudly:

"How warm the place is,

"But the streets are waiting for our footprints,

"Dust like starlight falls on boots,

"Soft armchairs, plaid patterns.

"The trigger is not pulled on time,

"Sunny days only exist in dazzling dreams,

"My blood type is written on my cuffs,

"My military bugle is on my cuffs!

"Wish me good luck in the battle, wish me:

"Don't stay on this grass

"Don't stay on this grass

"Wish me good luck, wish me good luck

"Some things have to pay a price,

"Victory at all costs.

"I don't want to trample on anyone's chest,

"I want to stay with you,

"Just stay with you.

"But the stars in the sky are calling me on the road,

"My blood type is written on my cuffs,

"My military bugle is on my cuffs,

"Wish me good luck in the battle, wish me:

"Don't stay on this grass.

"Don't stay on this grass!

"Wish me good luck, wish me good luck. "

At first, the platoon leader had an expression that wanted to ask "Why is it not the last courage", but after listening to a few chords, he was silent with a solemn expression.

Victory is approaching, who doesn't want to welcome victory alive?

It's just a song, the platoon leader asked: "What is the name of this song?"

"I didn't expect it, it might be called "Blood Type." "Tredock said.