Arc of Fire

“`

At this time, Wang Zhong was keeping an eye on the enemies that had been let go using an external device.

As soon as the last enemy disappeared from sight, Wang Zhong immediately ordered, “Exit the tank emplacement and maneuver to ambush position two.”

Tank 422 quickly backed out of the emplacement, then pivoted in place, heading south along the path pressed by the tank tracks.

Wang Zhong shouted to the messenger, “Go inform the infantry battalion to act according to the original plan!”

The original plan was to deploy mines on the battlefield after cleaning up and then have the entire battalion retreat to the cover trenches of ambush position two.

Having seen first-hand how much T34s needed infantry cover, Wang Zhong would never allow the tanks to operate separately from the infantry.

If the distance was great, the infantry could ride on the tanks and move with them, but the two ambush positions were not far apart. It would take the infantry only about twenty minutes to walk there at a normal pace.

Tank 422 moved past the other tanks’ emplacements, and most of the tank operators brought in by Loktov followed suit. However, some of the newly added tank operators, immersed in the immense joy brought by their battle success, failed to notice that the battalion command tank—the Tank 422—had already withdrawn.

Wang Zhong had already made arrangements for this: he had infantry beside each tank to lift the hatch and inform them.

Soon, 30 T34 tanks exited their positions and drove towards the second ambush position on a crudely made road prepared earlier.

After the tanks left, the anti-tank gunners also hurried their horses, dragging their cannons out of position.

Grigori, holding a red flag, led Bucephalus as they mixed into the artillery column.

————

While the 151st Division was evacuating its position, 20 kilometers from the ambush site, Major General William Dietrich of the Prussian Army’s Asgard Knights’ armored mobile command vehicle had a furrowed brow.

“Eighteen tanks returned?” Major General William approached the deputy battalion commander of the first armored battalion, raised his hand to slap him, but then stopped, “Since the battalion commander is either dead or missing, I won’t punish you!”

The staff officer said, “This isn’t the soldiers’ fault. We clearly sent the Air Force reconnaissance planes for a low-altitude survey, and it was the reconnaissance planes that told us everything was normal! It’s their responsibility!”

Major General William glared at the staff officer, “Blaming the Air Force just like blaming the enemy for being too cunning—there’s no difference! This is all because we weren’t careful enough; I should have sent out enough forward reconnaissance squads!

“Even if we’re to blame the Air Force, it’s because I trusted them too much. We all know they can’t be relied upon!”

The others in the vehicle remained silent, waiting for Major General William to conclude his self-reflection.

Just then a messenger ran in, “Report! The wounded from the first armored battalion have returned!”

William exclaimed in shock, “Wounded?”

“Yes, the wounded say that the Ante people only captured officers ranked captain and above, and for the others, they just shot them in the arms and let them go.” 𝐑Ἀ𐌽ọＢЁṤ

William cursed, “These Ante people are too cunning! This way, these wounded can’t return to battle and will strain our medical system and use up our supply transport capacity!”

But he quickly reconsidered and said, “Bring the highest ranking among the wounded to me; I want to hear what he has to say!”

The messenger immediately turned to leave.

The staff officer stepped forward and said, “The information brought back by these people could be deliberate misinformation spread by the enemy. We need to be cautious.”

“I know,” Major General William sighed, expressing his dissatisfaction.

At that moment, the messenger returned with two wounded soldiers, one a lieutenant who had just been low-flying under the Ante’s standard for capturing prisoners, and the other a sergeant major, wearing a badge of senior exemption—indicating that he didn’t have to participate in ordinary duties and was a backbone veteran of the troops.

Major General William first asked the lieutenant, “Do you understand Ante?”

Lieutenant: “No.”

Major: “I see. Then using your observational abilities, what information did you gather from the enemy?”

“The enemy has a very large number of tanks, all hidden in the woods. We were hit by flanking fire from enemy tanks, but we could only see the flames and smoke from their firing, not the enemy tanks themselves.”

Major: “How can you be sure there are a large number of tanks if you couldn’t see them?”

“The enemy’s gunfire was very dense, and there was a continuous roar of massive engines. Our battalion was almost instantly destroyed, after at most three volleys of simultaneous fire. And I saw many shells flying off target—the Ante’s gunnery skills are as poor as ever!

“So I believe there must have been at least 60 tanks hidden in the woods attacking us!”

In fact, this was a misperception, as in reality, the shooting of Division 151 was quite accurate—at least relatively so—averaging only two armor-piercing shells to destroy a Prosen tank.

But viewed from within the formation, due to perspective issues, it gave the illusion that many shells were missing their mark.

The lieutenant, unaware of this, made his definitive judgment.

Major General William wrote a sixty on the map with a pencil and put a question mark beside it.

“What else?” he asked.

Lieutenant: “The enemy’s infantry had Imperial Guard cloaks and were very well equipped, all with semi-automatic Tokarev rifles and a large number of our confiscated MP submachine guns, with plenty of magazines too.”

“`

“Experienced elite infantry,” Major General William wrote another line on the map, “Continue.”

The lieutenant shook his head, “That’s all. I wanted to delay and see their tanks appear. But the tank group has been hiding in the woods without any intention to show themselves.”

At this moment, the senior sergeant major spoke up, “The enemy is performing a Voodoo Ritual!”

Everyone turned to look at the sergeant major.

The staff officer took out an identification book and opened it in front of the sergeant major, “Which kind of Voodoo Ritual?”

The sergeant major quickly flipped through the book and still shook his head, “It’s not in here. This kind of ritual seems to require desecrating the bodies of the enemy! After the ritual, those who performed it let out howls like barbarians.”

The chief of staff said, “According to imperial propaganda, the Ante People are barbarians.”

“Uh…” the sergeant major was embarrassed, “Let me think, right, howls like viking war cries!”

In fact, it was not the case, it was just the sergeant major’s subjective consciousness that distorted his memory.

“Viking war cries?” Major General William wrote down the words viking war cries on a paper and marked it with three question marks, “I thought the Vikings were a branch of the Germans.”

The chief of staff asked, “Do we need to report this? During the Carolingian campaign, the malaria called forth by witches was more troublesome than all the armies of the United Kingdom.”

Major General William, “No, let’s report after the battle ends. Reporting now would look like making excuses for ourselves. Even if this is some sort of evil ritual, it generally takes a very long time to take effect. That’s the limitation of these superstitious practices.”

The sergeant major suddenly said, “They are the Ante People! In the primitive jungles of the east, witches wield the power embodied in Beast Elements! Voodoo Magic can awaken the strange beings of the forests!”

“Stay calm, this is Kazarlia, most of this kingdom is grassland,” said Major General William, “Alright, if there’s no other intelligence, I need to…”

Suddenly, the lieutenant said, “Wait, although I don’t understand the Ante language, I can understand their names because I speak Carolingian, and many of the Ante names are variations of Carolingian.”

“Oh?” Major General William showed renewed interest, “What did you hear?”

“I heard their commander seemed to be called Aleksei something Rokossov.”

The chief of staff immediately ran to look through the directory of enemy commanders issued by the Southern Army Group command, searching for names and corresponding unit numbers.

He found it right away, “That’s the Ante general who performed well in the battles of Peniye and Loktov! The Southern Army Group’s assessment of him is, ‘A master of defensive warfare, likes to charge alone to boost morale, a rash general.'”

Major General William furrowed his brows, “How do those two descriptions go together? Aren’t the masters of defensive fights usually the experts drawing maps in their own headquarters?”

The chief of staff spread his hands in a gesture of not knowing.

Major General William paced back and forth, and only after a few seconds of thought, he realized the two informants were still there, so he waved his hand, “You go and get treated. One question, did everyone released get shot in the shoulder?”

Both men nodded in unison, and the lieutenant added, “And they deliberately missed the artery and vein, as if afraid we’d bleed to death on the way back. This General Rokossov is quite merciful, like a gentleman. Could such a noble person truly be an inferior being?”

The chief of staff exclaimed in alarm, “Lieutenant! Don’t let the Imperial Security Bureau hear you say that! You’ll get us all killed!”

The lieutenant shut his mouth.

The chief of staff said, “Hurry along, just rest up in the hospital, and keep quiet.”

After saluting, the two men left.

The chief of staff turned to Major General William, “What do we do now? The second battalion is temporarily in chaos due to the impact of the first battalion’s retreat. Even if we want to commit the second battalion to attack, it will have to be an hour later.”

“No,” waved Major General William, “We’re not in a hurry to attack. Let’s wait until the infantry, artillery, and engineers arrive. Also, call the Air Force, tell them to make up for their mistake, I want that forest plowed!”

“Yes, sir!”

———-

Wang Zhong had been waiting at the second ambush position until 1530, when he finally heard the sound of engines in the sky.

He switched to an aerial view and indeed saw a large fleet of planes flying in this direction.

No, they were flying towards the first ambush position.

At that moment, in the trenches of the infantry ahead, a soldier yelled, “Don’t be afraid, those planes are surely headed to bomb our previous position. Don’t be afraid!”

Soon enough, from his aerial view, Wang Zhong saw the area next to the previous ambush position getting bombed.

My, the Prosen Air Force had bombed off target!

With your level of performance, no wonder the commander is called Mayer.

After the round of bombing ended, Wang Zhong thought that maybe tomorrow they could return to the first ambush position and ambush the enemy once again.

Then, in his earpiece, other tank operators in command of the tanks asked, “General, now that the bombing is over, the enemy should be coming, right?”

Wang Zhong replied, “Don’t be impatient, the enemy’s goal is to break through us and encircle Argesukov, they will definitely come.”

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