Arc of Fire

The enemy tanks seemed to still be planning to enter from the western entrance of the village.

Wang Zhong’s tank was now stopped on the road leading to the southwest entrance of the village. Although there were obstacles between it and the entrance, these barriers were suitable for covering infantry but somewhat ineffective for hiding such a large tank.

As an old model with multiple turrets, No. 422 was quite “imposing”.

Wang Zhong immediately ordered to drive into the side alley on the left, which was where he had just passed through to destroy the enemy’s combat engineer vehicle accompanied by a half-tracked vehicle.

This way, they could temporarily avoid a head-on confrontation with the enemy tanks.

The engineering squad had just cleared the houses on the southwest side, and with his external equipment, Wang Zhong could clearly see the enemy infantry entering the houses and exchanging fire with the Ante Army infantry across the road.

As long as the position of the tank was close to the side occupied by the Prosen infantry, they didn’t need to worry too much about incendiary bottles being thrown at them.

On Wang Zhong’s side, apart from the Divine Arrow and the tank beneath him, the only remaining means of anti-tank warfare were incendiary bottles. To be effective, one had to either climb to the second floor and ambush the tanks as they passed or clear the infantry around the tank before approaching for anti-tank combat maneuvers.

Observing the movements of the enemy tanks, Wang Zhong surmised that this time they would definitely not advance without the cover of infantry.

The earlier rush by the Mk.IV tanks was probably due to the enemy’s assumption that the Ante Army lacked anti-tank experience. After being hit with incendiary bottles, the enemy had also learned their lesson.

Wang Zhong calculated that the enemy had brought up 8 tanks this time. The good news was that they were all Model III with slim barrels, which probably didn’t have the same anti-infantry efficiency as the previous Mk.IV ones.

Probably.

But, given the enemy’s tighter combined infantry and tank operations, the effectiveness of incendiary bottles was expected to be greatly reduced.

It still depended on his own No. 422 tank.

However, this multi-turret tank design was already outdated, with thin armor; one solid hit could mean destruction.

If the Prussians fired a shrapnel shell, he too could be in big trouble.

He must make good use of the high-angle view, trying to ambush the enemy tanks just like he did with the Mk.IV tanks in the morning.

At this moment, the enemy tanks had reached the southwest entrance and started attacking the buildings on the street with shrapnel shells.

Contrary to Wang Zhong’s expectations, the Prosen 50mm shrapnel shells were quite effective against personnel. The main reason was the long-barreled 50mm cannon fired shells with unexpectedly high penetration power, which could penetrate the brick walls of buildings and explode inside.

Not to mention wooden structures.

This was a serious problem; it was imperative to deal with the enemy tanks as soon as possible. Every extra minute of delay would result in more casualties.

Although the Third Rear Amur Group had continuously repelled enemy attacks and morale was high, its numbers had been reduced to a dangerous level, and it was solely relying on high morale to avoid collapse.

The enemy’s shrapnel shells were weak, and even after penetrating a stone wall and exploding, they would usually only kill two people, but if this attrition continued, morale could break at any time.

However, directly engaging the Prussian Armored Troops from the front would likely be deadly.

Attempting a flank maneuver was also risky, as the enemy had left four additional tanks on the periphery—probably because the infantry who retreated in the morning reported the flanking done by the No. 422 tank, so now the Prussians were prepared.

Continuing along this morning’s route meant engaging in a direct artillery duel with Prussian Model III tanks in the open fields.

Wang Zhong pondered for a second, then remembered the smoke grenades thrown by the Prussian forces he had just annihilated while they tried to encircle him.

He immediately shouted to nearby infantry, “Smoke grenades! Check the fallen Prussians for smoke grenades and gather them!”

After issuing the order, Wang Zhong continued to devise his plan. Hand-thrown smoke grenades could at most be thrown a few dozen meters, and the current wind direction was—

He shifted back to his own perspective and realized that he couldn’t make out which way the wind was blowing. As he was pondering this, he saw Su Fang.

So he took off Su Fang’s boat-shaped cap, and then he saw the ahoge on Su Fang’s head swaying towards the northeast.

The wind was coming from the southwest!

Wang Zhong put the boat-shaped cap back on the girl’s head.

Su Fang: ???

Wang Zhong turned to others, “I need someone who’s good at throwing grenades. Who can throw the furthest and most accurately among you?”

"The company commander!” a sergeant replied.

"He has already sacrificed for the country, find the second best,” Wang Zhong said, his voice unconsciously lowering as if expressing sorrow.

Having given the last order, he once again increased his viewpoint. He needed to find a suitable position to release the smoke, making it easier for him to perform a sneak attack from behind.

Just then, he suddenly remembered that when he played War Thunder, tanks had engine smoke generators for concealment, which he had used to great effect to avoid ambushes while flanking.

But that was post-war technology; the T28, this old-fashioned vehicle, should not have it. Yet, this world is not Earth, this world has magic, what if it’s possible?

Wang Zhong, holding a give-it-a-try attitude, asked the driver, “Can we use the engine to create a smoke screen?”

The driver clearly misunderstood what Wang Zhong meant by smoke, answering, “My Lord Count, that little bit of black smoke from the engine won’t do any good.”

Wang Zhong curled his lip.

At this moment, he suddenly saw enemy tanks stationed on the outskirts beginning to move. Two tanks positioned on the southern side of the road started to maneuver to the south, clearly having learned of the location of Tank 422 and planning to circle around!

And at this time, the enemy tank that had entered the village had already stopped at the crossroads, and ever since it had arrived, it had not fired a single shot, probably having loaded armor-piercing shells while waiting for Wang Zhong to show his face at the alley entrance.

Wang Zhong made a split-second decision, switched back to his own perspective, and shouted, “Deploy smoke, throw to the southwest!”

That way, the smoke would be carried by the wind to form a barrier, allowing Wang Zhong to escape around the outside of the village.

The order was immediately executed. The Prussians’ smoke bombs were very simple to use and quickly formed a wall of smoke.

Wang Zhong: “Driver, advance, exit the village!”

At this time, aside from Wang Zhong, no one else knew of the Prussians’ movements, nor did they understand why Wang Zhong issued this command.

But the order was still executed.

After all, Wang Zhong’s prestige within this unit was immensely high, his orders would be followed no matter how unreasonable they seemed.

No, not Wang Zhong, but Count Aleksei Konstantinovich Rokossov.

The tank made clattering sounds as it drove through the lane, leaving the village.

Wang Zhong: “Stop!”

He looked at the smoke ahead, thinking that the Prussians really didn’t skimp on materials; the smoke was so dense that nothing could be seen with the naked eye.

At that moment, an excellent idea occurred to him.

As a child, Wang Zhong was very fond of an old movie called “Heroic Tank Operator”, which was about the story of Tank 215 operated by heroic crew members during the Korean War.

It included a segment adapted from a real battle situation: the Americans planned to use heavy artillery to bombard the stalled Tank 215. The commander then instructed the driver to rev the engine wildly, creating a loud noise, and then gradually throttle down, making the sound get quieter. As a result, the American soldiers thought the crew of Tank 215 had fled, so they extended their bombardment further back.

Wang Zhong decided to emulate the heroic deeds of his predecessors.

He gave the order, “Driver, listen up, I want you to put it in neutral, then rev the engine, let it roar. Then gradually reduce the throttle, make the sound quieter and quieter.”

Driver: “Understood, My Lord Count!”

Wang Zhong: “Loader, one armor-piercing shell, quick! How many armor-piercing shells do we have left?”

"Over twenty, enough to send a few enemies packing. Armor-piercing shell loaded!”

Wang Zhong, looking at the enemy tanks in the overhead view, muttered, “Shoot, now it’ll take two shots to knock out one enemy.”

————

Inside Tank 422, all crew members were drenched in sweat. Wang Zhong was exposed outside, feeling the breeze and beside him a beautiful woman, utterly comfortable—unlike inside the tank, which was stuffy and hot, and noisy to boot.

But the crew’s morale was high.

Especially when they heard Wang Zhong’s words through the earphones: “Shoot, now it’ll take two shots to knock out one enemy.”

The loader and the gunner exchanged glances, then looked down at the mechanic and driver in front of the tank.

The entire crew exchanged knowing looks.

The gunner mouthed: “He’s still planning to take out ten more!”

Loader: “This time we’re avenging the whole company!”

All tank operators revealed ecstatic expressions but dared not make a sound—for according to the rules, idle chatter on the internal comms during combat was considered a disruption of command and subject to confinement.

Moreover, no one wanted to interrupt the Count’s commands.

The tank operators could only laugh silently, giving each other high-fives.

Then the Count’s order came: “Now, driver, floor the throttle!”