Chapter 699: Chapter 37 The Battle Continues
Lieutenant Ilyich of the Guards’ 17th Tank Brigade returned to his tank platoon after the eting at the brigade headquarters and was surprised to find all the tank operators looking in the sa direction.
He turned his head in confusion and saw a swathe of red in the far distance.
“What’s going on?” he muttered.
“Lieutenant Davarish, they say the General has arrived and painted the last heavy tank with tactical number 422,” said his excited deputy platoon commander who ca to greet him. “The General is going to charge with us!”
Lieutenant Ilyich looked at the deputy platoon commander skeptically, “I didn’t receive any notice during the brigade eting. Is he really coming?”
“The Red Flag has been raised!” the deputy platoon commander pointed to the distance. “Look, that Red Flag is as red as the rising sun!”
Lieutenant Ilyich looked again at the Red Flag and realized the deputy platoon commander was right; it was indeed as red as the sunrise.
He waved his hand, “Forget about the Red Flag, co over for a eting, and I’ll tell you today’s mission!”
The deputy platoon commander turned and waved his hand, “Hurry over, the mission for today is here!”
The tank commanders ran over together, with one of them joking while running, “What other mission could there be? Just stomp on the gas and charge forward. Follow the heavy tank when there is one, and if the heavy tank breaks down, charge on our own.”
Lieutenant Ilyich glanced at the speaker and nodded, “That’s true, but it’s still best to know how to resupply if you run out of fuel, and how to communicate with the tank army.”
Just as he finished, another commander asked, “Is General Rocosov going to lead our charge personally?”
Lieutenant Ilyich looked up and replied truthfully, “I don’t know. The brigade didn’t get the ssage, and you can’t just assu it’s General Rocosov leading the charge personally because of the Red Flag. In reality, the General doesn’t often go to the front lines himself.”
The deputy platoon commander imdiately added, “When he does go to the front lines himself, it ans the situation is very dangerous. I heard that only one out of ten who fight under the General when he’s on the front survive, but the General definitely is the one who survives!”
At this point, the military chaplain couldn’t help but intervene, “Don’t demonize the General! It’s an enemy trick! We must stick to the facts! In battles personally attended by the General, the casualty rate is only one half!”
“Really? Well, okay,” shrugged the tank commander. “That’s impressive, too!”
Lieutenant Ilyich coughed, “Enough chitchat, rember today’s resupply points and radio call signs.”
“Yes!”
All the commanders bowed their heads and began to copy the contents from Ilyich’s notebook, while he looked towards the Red Flag again.
At that mont, a ssenger on horseback galloped over, “Get ready to move out! Get ready to move out!”
In response to the ssenger’s loud calls, three signal flares shot into the sky in the distance.
Ilyich shouted, “Alright, start the tanks! Follow the heavy tanks forward!”
————
Podoliskov found it took a lot of willpower to resist the urge to look back at the Red Flag.
He always felt an itching at the back of his neck, which only turning around seed to soothe.
His back also felt prickly, as if he were sunbathing bare-backed on the beach, with the sun directly scorching his skin.
But when he looked back, the Red Flag was just fluttering quietly without emitting any burning light.
The Military Chaplain riding on the tank spoke up, “This is a psychological effect. You’ve placed your hopes in the Red Flag; hence you feel like it’s responding to you. This aligns with scientific principles; we’ve conducted many experints to verify such matters.”
“Oh, is that so,” nodded Podoliskov, but he quickly retorted, “Really? Isn’t it a manifestation of a saint? Like the Divine Arrow, which is rely a regular rocket but can track the enemy’s tanks and planes!”
The Military Chaplain fell silent for a few seconds before responding, “All I can tell you is that psychology provides an explanation. As for whether this is a natural phenonon that we have yet to understand, I do not know. But all natural phenona, including the guidance of the Divine Arrow, will eventually be explained as technology evolves to a certain extent!”
Podoliskov nodded, realizing that he had to keep biting his lip to restrain the urge to ask more questions.
Then, just like the day before, a call ca through the headset from the light reconnaissance battalion scouting ahead of the tank formation, “Enemy tanks! We’ve made contact with enemy tanks! The number of the enemy…uh, only about 30! Few indeed! And they seem like captured T34s!”
(Here the reconnaissance unit mistook Leopard tanks for T34s.)
Another voice ca over the radio, “That can’t be right, how could the Prosens have so many T34s?”
“It’s unmistakable, the enemy’s tanks all have vertical armor, these are all sloped armor, definitely T34s! Also, those wide tracks, we’ve seen plenty of the Prosens’ Mark IVs, where are there tracks so wide?”
Podoliskov frowned and relayed the reconnaissance unit’s radio communication to everyone in the tank, “Recon battalion reports captured T34s ahead! Watch for identification! Don’t confuse our own with the enemy!”
Gunner: “Don’t worry, if the enemy is charging toward us, with their hulls facing the other way, how could we possibly mistake them?”
Podoliskov: “That’s true.”
At that mont, another exclamation ca through the headset, “Ivan’s group has closed in, they’re firing the rocket launcher! A rocket hits the front! Wait, it seems the angle of impact is not good, the enemy hasn’t stopped!”
Podoliskov furrowed his brows.
Although it’s often hit-or-miss whether the infantry’s new rocket launchers can penetrate the enemy’s armor, a T34 should most likely be breached by a direct hit to the front.
Could the Prosens have enhanced their frontal defense?
Gunfire was already erupting over the radio, amidst a burst of rapid firing, the person who had just reported shouted, “The enemy’s gunfire is fierce, we might not be able to get back, armored troops hurry up and co forward! Hurry up!”
Podoliskov: “Ivan, can we go any faster?”
“We can’t, listen to the noise from the gearbox, this old fellow is about to give in! It’s already not easy for it to have lasted this long without a gearbox change! Don’t push it any further!”
As they spoke, dust stirred up by the enemy tank units appeared in front of them.
Indeed, the cloud of dust was much smaller than the scale of the large enemy forces that usually numbered over 80 tanks, the reconnaissance troops hadn’t lied.
Podoliskov raised his binoculars, wanting to see whether the enemy’s tanks were indeed the captured T34s.
Soon, the silhouette of the enemy tanks appeared.
This sloped armor, from a distance, did look sowhat like a T34, but Podoliskov quickly realized that these tanks were taller than T34s, and significantly so, with a “neck” that was much thicker.
He grabbed the radio handset and shouted, “The enemy’s tanks are not T34s! Repeat, not T34s! These could be Prosen’s new model tanks! We’re about to engage with the enemy’s new tanks!”
The next mont, the Prosen tanks halted abruptly and opened fire.
The Revenge was imdiately hit, and then, as expected, the shell was deflected by the angled external armor.
But Podoliskov thought the sparks from the shell scraping seed a bit exaggerated, so he loudly called to the driver, “Ivan, turn around and check the armor on the side of the vehicle, see how deep the scratches are!”
“I’ve seen it; the enemy’s tank gun has much greater penetrating power than the Mark IV’s long-barreled gun!”
Podoliskov cursed, “Damn it, Sukabule, following our T34 squadron is going to suffer! Guards heavy tank calling the Seventeenth Guards Tank Brigade! The enemy has new tanks, with higher penetration power! Be careful!”
However, the Prosens had already moved past the Revenge and started firing at the T34 squadron behind.
Podoliskov turned back and saw two T34s burst into flas, with crew mbers engulfed in fire, climbing out of the tanks and rolling on the ground.
Further away, two T34s ca to a halt, and their crews were jumping out to take cover on the ground.
The enemy continued to fire, with shells constantly flying past both sides of the Revenge.
Podoliskov: “Aim at the enemy tank directly in front, Ivan, seven-second ergency stop, start!”
The tank braked, and the gunner, who was already familiar with the tank gun’s performance, seized the mont when the barrel swayed and opened fire directly.
The Prosen tank in front was imdiately hit and burst into flas.
The 100mm gun’s penetrating power was clearly enough to counter the armor of the enemy’s new tanks.
But the enemy ignored the Revenge, continuing to fire at the T34 group behind.
Podoliskov’s heart raced with anxiety when suddenly, he rembered he still had the Red Flag.
So he grabbed the radio and shouted, “This is General Rocosov! Fire at , you bastards! Don’t you see the Red Flag?”
After shouting, he realized that the enemy was Prosen, and they generally didn’t understand Antenese.
But Podoliskov didn’t understand Prosenese either.
As he was scratching his head in confusion, two shells hit the Revenge at the sa ti!
Ivan shouted in surprise, “The enemy is aiming at us!”
The Military Chaplain standing behind the turret also yelled, “It looks like the enemy is trying to encircle us! They’re planning to surround us!”
Podoliskov: “Get out of the tank, the enemy will definitely have to co closer to penetrate our armor, and that’s when you can take them out with the rocket launcher! Rember not to hit the front, it might not penetrate!”
The Infantry Chaplain: “Roger that! Good luck to you! Davarish, get out!”
Echoing in unison, the infantry leaped out of the tanks with high spirit.
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