Arc of Gunfire

September 6, Melania’s capital.

Oscar, the commander of the 36th Grenadier Division of the Asgard Knights, used his binoculars to observe the building guarded by the Warsaw Rebels. While observing, he muttered:

"They are all civilians, and their gun-holding postures are very unprofessional. Before we came, intelligence said they were former Melania soldiers and had received military training."

The adjutant replied: "Our soldiers also reported that the enemy lacked basic tactical literacy and had nothing but bravery."

Oscar put down the telescope: "This is unreasonable in modern warfare. Even a rookie with no war experience can kill the most experienced warrior. This would not be the case in the era of cold weapons. An experienced veteran with neat armor can ride a horse When thousands.

"Have the fire tanks arrived?"

"The 335th Special Weapons Battalion has arrived, General."

As soon as the adjutant finished speaking, a major officer of the National Defense Force stepped forward and saluted the captain of the Oscar Knights brigade (equivalent to a major general): "We are all fully equipped, your Majesty the major general."

Oscar: "How much fuel do you have?"

Major: "Enough to burn down an entire city block."

Oscar nodded: "Then burn the block in front of us."

The major of the National Defense Force was stunned: "What? This is a civilian residence, there must be non-military personnel!"

Oscar: "There are no non-military personnel in this city anymore. If you spray fire on a house and the enemy runs out in panic, it means they are guerrillas and are moving their positions. If they are still hiding in the house and not coming out, then It shows that they are well-trained guerrillas.”

The major of the Wehrmacht seemed to still understand Oscar's meaning and said nothing.

At this time, several Asgard Knights soldiers came over escorting a little boy.

The major immediately pointed at the little boy and said, "Is this also a guerrilla?"

Oscar glanced at the major, stepped forward and reached out to touch the little boy's cheek.

As a result, the little boy bit Oscar's finger and his teeth dug deeply into his flesh.

Oscar slapped the little boy, pulled out his fingers, and showed the teeth marks to the major: "You see, she is a guerrilla."

After saying that, Oscar waved his hand: "Send him into my command car, the handcuffs are tight!"

"What are you going to do?" shouted the major.

Oscar pushed the major to the skirt of the tank and poked his trachea with his finger: "Stop pretending to be a good person here, your Majesty Major. I was also in the National Defense Force, and those hypocrites said that I was a **** and sent me in." Prison, but I know that everyone who is trying me has dirty things! We are all devils and bad guys!

"Why are the Ant people so angry, and why are they trying so hard to push back? Don't you know what we did on their land?"

The Wehrmacht major's lips trembled, but he couldn't hold back a retort.

Oscar looked at the medals and medals worn on the chest of his military uniform at a very close distance: "Knight of the Iron Cross, you are still a hero, Melania Battle Medal, haha, I dare to say that when you entered Melania , I have also slept with one or two 'inferior women', right?

"You are also one of the sinners who destroyed their country. Why, are you going to repent now? Are you going to be a good person with chivalry? Seeing that the battle is about to be lost, you quickly hide the appearance of the devil under human skin. I put this Call it hypocrisy!”

The major said in a trembling voice: "You cannot insult my honor as a soldier! I have never done such a thing!"

"Then have you stopped other people from doing it? Have you reported it to the police? Have you published articles in newspapers criticizing these atrocities? No, you haven't. It can be seen from these chapters on you that you are fighting on the front line. After a long time, you will be promoted.

“If you had done the things I mentioned, you would never be promoted.

"Don't you understand? You know clearly that these are atrocities, but you sit back and watch the atrocities happen. You are even more guilty!"

The major lowered his gaze.

"I will spend the rest of my life trying to atone."

Oscar: "You will be hanged, just like us. Now do your duty as a soldier and burn down the block in front of me! This way we will lose less good warriors. Rokossov has already launched an attack, we need These excellent warriors.”

The major hesitated for a few seconds, then gritted his teeth and replied: "Yes, I will carry out your order."

————

Hellman returned to the uprising headquarters and rushed to the radio room as soon as possible.

The uprising headquarters is located in the reinforced concrete building of Melania's capital radio station. Although Proson's air strikes and shelling destroyed most of the transmitting antennas, relying on the equipment of the radio station, the insurgents still obtained far superior results. Past telecommunications connectivity capabilities.

"Where is Ant's army?" Hellman asked.

The telegraph operator replied excitedly: "They are only 30 kilometers away from us!"

The corners of Hellman's mouth raised slightly, but before he could speak, the chairman of the uprising committee who rushed in slapped the table where the radio station was playing and cursed: "Why are they advancing so slowly? They defeated the Proscenians! Back then, the Proscenians The Luosen people can advance fifty kilometers a day!"

Hellman grabbed the chairman's shoulders and pulled him away from the radio: "The opponents of the Ants are the Plosens, and they have just finished a big battle and advanced hundreds of kilometers. They need to replenish their personnel and equipment. ”

Chairman: "They have only advanced 120 kilometers! Six days have passed, an average of 20 kilometers per day!"

Hellman: "On the other hand, even at their forward speed of 20 kilometers per day, it only takes two days to reach the other side of the Vistula River.

"We still control the bridge over the Vistula River. They can immediately cross the bridge and slam the enemy."

The chairman was stunned for a few seconds and finally reacted: "They can arrive in two days! That's great! That's great!"

As the chairman beamed, others laughed too.

Chairman: "Long live Rokossov!"

Others also shouted: "Long live Rokosov!"

Chairman: "I thought he was just showing off, but I didn't expect them to really come over!"

The corners of Hellman's mouth that were just raised now finally turned into a smile: "Marshal Rokossov is a true hero. He really wants to save us from the fire. Waiting for Melania to recover - they seem to call it liberation, waiting for Melania to recover. Rania is liberated, I want to meet him and have a nice drink.”

"Herman!" The messenger rushed into the room, "Herman, it's not good! Come and see!"

After speaking, the messenger turned and ran out of the room, leaving an open door.

Hellman put away his smile and strode out of the room. He saw the orderly standing in front of the window with tears in his eyes.

"Heilmann, look! They!"

Outside the window was a sea of ​​orange and the whole city was burning.

Hellman rushed to the window.

Hot air poured in from the window and blew on Heilmann's face.

"Devils!" he cursed, "These demons actually set the city on fire!"

In this case, it is impossible to organize firefighting or open an isolation zone. The fire will spread wantonly until it is naturally extinguished.

It is unknown how many civilians will die in the fire.

No, it should be said that after the fire, I don’t know how many people are left alive.

Suddenly, there was a camera shutter sound.

Hellman turned around and saw the United Kingdom's commissioner taking photos.

"What are you doing?" Heilman demanded.

Correspondent: "Take a photo. When this photo is published on the front page of The Times, war bond sales will reach a new peak. At the same time, people will ask where are the Ants and where is the invincible Rokosov."

Hellman: "He is already trying his best to move forward! He will reach the other side the day after tomorrow!"

The special commissioner nodded: "Then you have to hold the bridge, but with this wind direction, the fire should spread to your occupied area, right?"

Hellman was stunned for a moment, then strode to the nearby balcony, took off the cloth strip used for identification of friend or foe from his sleeve, and held it high.

The wind direction was indeed very unfavorable to the guerrillas.

Hellman: "Concentrate all the explosives in our hands and prepare to use explosions to open up the isolation zone!"

"yes!"

————

Fleet Street, Allied Headquarters, Capital of the United Kingdom.

"It took us 36 days to land and we finally captured Fort Chem. It was 20 days later than we expected!" Prime Minister Leonard complained to General Ike. "Just because we took Fort Chem too slowly, the entire landing force's supplies were lost." There’s a problem, we’ve been spending too long in the fields of the Norman Principality!”

Admiral Ike: "We are making progress. It may not look particularly obvious on the map, but we are 166 kilometers inland."

Prime Minister Leonard: "166 kilometers from where?"

Admiral Ike: "From Fort Chem, of course."

Fort Qin is at the tip of the peninsula, and the Allied forces landed on the "halfway up the mountainside" of the peninsula, so Ike's algorithm is very "clever."

Prime Minister Leonard: "I was once Lord of the Admiralty and participated in the Boer War. I am familiar with maps. Please tell me how far we have advanced from the beachhead!"

Admiral Ike: "It's not fair to calculate from the beachhead, because we first go north from the beachhead to Qinbao, capture this place and ensure supplies before attacking inland. It is inappropriate not to calculate the distance from the beachhead to Qinbao."

Prime Minister Leonard: "Then do you know how far the battle group led by Rokossov advanced in six days?"

"120 kilometers. I know." Ike replied immediately.

Prime Minister Leonard: "Then tell me, do we face more enemies than Rokosov, or do we have inferior equipment than Rokosov?"

Admiral Ike: "Rokossov's troops are elites who have experienced hundreds of battles. They are very familiar with the techniques and tactics of the Proscenians and can make targeted responses. Most of our 3 million troops are only on propaganda posters. Met the Plosans.

"In addition, our supplies have been blocked and a large amount of supplies have been piled up on the beach. We have already started to solve this problem. I have appointed a special commissioner who is organizing a 'Red Ball Express' convoy. They will solve the supply problem of the troops. , until we liberate Paris."

When Leonard heard "liberation", his eyes immediately widened: "No! It's liberation! Don't use Ant people's words! After the war is over, they will be our main opponents! Melania is already theirs, but We can also take over the Low Countries, the Duchy of Upper and Lower Burgundy, and even the Duchy of Hesse!

"If we move quickly, we can even cross the Elbe River and approach Prosonia!"

All the generals looked at each other.

Admiral Ike: "We will do our best. In fact, according to the intelligence we have received, Rokossov's advance has exhausted his last attack potential, and they will stop soon.

"After we got Qinbao, fully loaded troops were arriving one after another. The Proson army in front of us was unable to maintain a complete line of defense. Our army could surround them from all sides.

"Before liberating and recovering Pari, there may be a large-scale annihilation war."

Leonard: "It's better this way."

After saying that, he turned and left the office of the commander of the coalition forces.

Ike shook his head: "No wonder the President specifically reminded me to pay attention to Leonard. What he is thinking about now is more about maintaining the British Empire, rather than defeating our enemies and destroying those demons.

"The President is right. The British Empire should perish with Proson. This is the best for the world."

His adjutant agreed: "I feel the same way. Especially after seeing the atrocities of the Proson people in Melania, I sincerely hope that Marshal Rokossov can rush to the capital of Melania smoothly and end their suffering."

Ike: "But Leonard hopes that the suffering of the Melania people will slow down Rokossov's pace. He doesn't care about the suffering of the residents on land.

"At the beginning of the war, he might have been a righteous fighter, but now - we have to exclude his opinions from the Allied command, otherwise I have a hunch that Leonard's ideas will cause the Allies to suffer heavy casualties."

————

On September 7, the fire burned for 22 hours.

Hermann held a submachine gun and looked at the ruins that extended all the way to the horizon.

The efforts to open up the isolation zone failed, and the efforts to put out the fire also failed.

The guerrillas' last reliance turned to ashes in the fire, and now they can only resist the steel beasts of the Prosen people with their flesh and blood.

The sound of the engine was like a muffled thunder in the distance, and the rolling thunder was approaching the last stronghold of the guerrillas.

"Hermann!" The messenger ran over and whispered, "Everyone asks you what to do."

Hermann: "Fight to the last moment, and then die with dignity. Don't worry, our compatriots under Marshal Rokossov will avenge us. They will rush into Prosinia on our behalf and return everything we have suffered to the enemy."

Messenger: "But-"

"The committee ran away!" A cry came from a distance, "Hermann! All the members of the committee are missing! They ran away! We have been betrayed!"

Hermann: "Isn't this a matter of time? Don't worry, I am still with you."

The enemy's footsteps are getting closer, and the noise of the track gearbox is mixed in with the roar of the engine.

Hermann checked the submachine gun in his hand, turned around and said to everyone: "Come on, the last moment is coming!

"A short life should burn brilliantly!"

He pulled the bolt handle hard, and the gun was loaded.