Arc of Fire

Chapter 613: Chapter 56: Hometown (Extra 28/81)

The Army Group Commander of Prosen’s 30th Infantry Division stared at the second mushroom cloud.

"What did the Anteans deploy?” he murmured to himself.

Nothing, just 500 kilograms of TNT.

The communication staff entered, tense, and reported, “The 200th Infantry Division reports that we’ve lost contact with the 580th Regiment.”

The corps commander immediately went to the city defense map, found the marker for the 580th Regiment, “Didn’t they establish a support point here? And now we’ve suddenly lost contact?”

The communication staff pointed toward the mushroom cloud outside: “That is the support point.”

The corps commander turned to look outside, murmuring, “Was this done with explosives? How much explosive would be needed to create such an effect?”

The Chief of Staff forced a smile, “The Anteans’ anti-infantry mines have a 2-kilogram charge. The manual we captured states a kill radius of 20 meters, though we believe they underreported it.”

"Report to the Corps Command,” the corps commander could only say.

General Frederick frowned as he looked at the Chief of Staff, “What? The Anteans deployed new weapons, leading to an adverse situation? Didn’t the 30th Army just report they were about to assault the enemy’s weak spot—that riverbed tunnel? A single new weapon could change the course of the battle? No, that’s impossible!

"Modern warfare doesn’t turn around fundamentally just because of one or two new weapons!”

The Chief of Staff, holding a telephone receiver, said, “But, the 30th Army reported seeing a huge mushroom cloud.”

"Enough explosives could produce that effect too, we’ve seen it in the last war on the plains of Flanders, where the enemy tunneled beneath our positions and detonated a massive amount of explosives, throwing the entire position into the air.”

"The entire position?”

"Yes, the entire position, including the reinforced concrete permanent works, all went flying! A huge mushroom cloud rose from the position,” General Frederick waved his hand, “Don’t be intimidated by the mushroom cloud! Continue the attack, their previous strategy was correct, just capture that river tunnel and the Antean army’s resistance here will end. Then we can even cross the river!”

The Chief of Staff pushed the receiver forward, “You tell the 30th Army’s commander yourself.”

Frederick took the receiver and roared, “Listen, don’t be scared of the mushroom cloud, it might just be the enemy deploying sufficient explosives underground through the sewers and then detonating it! Hold your formation, we have reinforcements arriving soon, and we can definitely take the whole city. Your approach to strike where the enemy must save is very good! Keep it up!”

On the other end, the commander of the 30th Army sounded relatively calm, “Frontline reports, Rocossov personally drove a new type of combat vehicle, destroying our support points one by one, creating huge mushroom clouds!

"I’ve already seen two mushroom clouds, and after each appears, I lose contact with a support point, first the remnants of the assault cluster occupied the Post Office Building and then the 580th Regiment’s… My God.”

Frederick: “What happened?”

"Third mushroom cloud! Quick, contact each support point! Confirm who’s hit!”

The last sentence was clearly not addressed to General Frederick.

The general: “Calm down, even if there really is a new weapon, it’s just an explosive charge launcher, it can certainly be destroyed, you have PAK40 anti-tank guns, Sturmgeschütz III assault guns, and some Long-barreled Fours, stay calm!”

"Okay, I understand, general,” the commander of the 30th Army evidently took several deep breaths, “I’m going to check the situation and report back to you in an hour.”

The phone then clicked off.

General Frederick put down the receiver, looking at the Chief of Staff, “The 30th Army has definitely encountered trouble, if Rocossov personally went to the front, we can expect the enemy’s morale to soar. According to yesterday’s report, there’s already fierce fighting in the city, and the side with higher morale has a greater advantage.”

The Chief of Staff nodded, “Yes, unless we get massive reinforcements, otherwise this city… might not be taken. Perhaps, ask the B Army Group Command for permission to retreat.”

Frederick shook his head, “The B Army Group Command can’t decide this, the Emperor won’t agree. We must find a way, break through the city! The approach of the 30th Army has shown us a way, we need to gather an elite force to push toward the tunnel entrance!”

The Chief of Staff asked, “But where can we get these forces?”

Frederick: “How many units can the 41st Armored Army still deploy?”

Chief of Staff: “They reported that they still have one third of their tanks combat-ready. Should we deploy them into the city?”

Frederick: “Only infantry and anti-tank guns on the beachhead, right? They can’t initiate an attack if we pull out the tanks, the remaining troops can still encircle them in the narrow beachhead.

"Of course, to prevent the Moravians from breaking away, we need to shell the opposite bank to stop enemy reinforcements.

"Pull out the remaining tanks from the 41st Army, combine them with infantry units into an assault cluster, and make another strike toward the tunnel entrance!”

Beachhead Position One.

When the tank engines began sounding from the enemy positions, all the warriors on the beachhead woke up.

"The enemy is attacking!”

"But why is there no preparatory artillery fire?”

"Never mind preparation, quickly get to positions!”

What had been a silent position suddenly came alive with everyone rushing to their battle stations.

However, the enemy’s attack didn’t come, and the sound of tank engines kept moving away; evidently, the enemy’s tanks were retreating.

After a brief hesitation, someone started cheering, “The enemy tanks are pulling back!”

Officers shouted, “Don’t underestimate them! It might be a feint! Stay alert!”

Nelly ignored the noise around, simply continuing to stuff checked bullets into her pockets.

She still had her original Mosin-Nagant rifle, with no scope, no bayonet.

Pus continuously flowed from her eyepatch, clearly indicating a severe infection that likely couldn’t be saved.

A young nurse ran over to Nelly and said, “They’re saying the enemy’s tanks are pulling back!”

"The battle is not over yet.” Nelly responded, taking out a cigarette, placing it in her mouth, and lighting it with a match.

The young nurse asked, puzzled, “Maids generally don’t smoke, do they?”

"Just quit then. If you can survive the battlefield, then quitting smoking should be easy,” Nelly said disdainfully. “Without cigarettes, I might not even have the courage to bury you, Tatiana.”

The nurse before her was already the eighth one to share a shelter with Nelly.

Tatiana hesitated for a moment, then tentatively reached out her hand, “May I have one? Can this really soothe anxiety?”

"It might,” Nelly replied, handing her a lit cigarette.

The nurse took a drag and then started coughing violently.

As she coughed, a photo fell out.

Nelly bent down to pick up the photo, looking at the young man in it, “A lover?”

"No, the younger brother from the neighbor’s house, named Alyosha… Aleksei.”

Nelly remarked, “He shares the same name as the general.”

"Really? Then he must be able to cross the war and hardships just like the general,” Tatiana smiled. “He is only seventeen, not even old enough to be drafted. Though our hometown is in Abawahan, he should have already been evacuated.”

Nelly, looking at the nurse, asked softly, “Worried about your hometown?”

"Of course, my parents and grandparents are there. I thought we were so far away that the people of Prosen couldn’t possibly reach us!

"But now, they say the people of Prosen have entered the city, my home is just in the western suburbs, I don’t know if our house is still there.”

As she spoke, the nurse covered her face and began to cry, still holding the cigarette.

"Our street where we grew up has a big birch tree. On my birthday, Aleksei made a swing from the tree branches, I sat on it, and he pushed me from behind, I could fly very high

Wang Zhong suddenly noticed that the young guide, called Griff, was staring at something.

He turned to look and saw a birch tree, its leaves burned off and the trunk scorched to an ugly bareness, resembling damaged coral.

On the thickest branch, there were two thick ropes that had miraculously not burned, but the ends of the ropes had been uniformly cut off by bullets or shrapnel.

It was a swing, just that the wooden seat tied to the ropes was missing.

Wang Zhong asked Griff, “Did you make this swing?”

Griff shook his head, “No, it was made by Alyosha for Tatiana, we could only avoid them and play secretly.”

Wang Zhong placed his hand on Griff’s shoulder, “The people you know are gone, the familiar streets are gone too, but you are still here. Drive out the enemy and you can start over.”

"Yes, General, yes. The enemy’s support point is just ahead! General, can you hear it? The machine gun fire is getting intense!”

Wang Zhong: “I hear it, to the Combat Room, Warrior Griff!”

"Yes!” Little Griff crawled into the hatch, closing the hatch cover behind him.

Wang Zhong also ducked, lying behind the hatch.

Prototype vehicle number 422 turned the street corner, the route pointed out by Griff, just right to target the enemy’s support point.

Wang Zhong once again called out the distance: “440 meters, aim! Fire!”

A mushroom cloud rose, the blast wave sweeping through the streets.

The remains of the birch tree’s branches, the two swing ropes soaring high, twisting in the air like twin ponytails.

November 2, 915, the heart of the Empire of Prosen, Eagle’s Nest.

"Didn’t you say that Abawahan would fall in three days?” the Imperial Emperor slammed the table, “Three days, three days! And now, what about Abawahan?”

Celtic Chief of General Staff: “The Sixth Army Group has reported that they will launch another assault tomorrow morning, aiming to sever the enemy’s connection with the East Bank and cut off all logistics for the Antean forces on the West Bank.”

Emperor: “He said the same thing before.”

The Chief of Staff fell silent. At that moment, Army Commander Walter von Blenheim Marshal spoke up, “Perhaps we should fulfill his request for three armies. Right now, two armies have just moved to the Eastern Front, just in time to reinforce Frederick.”

Emperor: “But the Central Army Group is also crying out, without troops they are going to fall!”

Celtic Marshal: “The Anteans have adopted a very reckless offensive strategy, flooding the entire line and then finding our weak spots. The situation is indeed a bit dangerous for the Central Army Group now, according to the front-line reports, they’ve thrown four fresh Army Groups into the attack.”

Blenheim Marshal: “If we continue to reinforce, it will just be feeding the flame. Personally, I believe we should bear it a bit longer in the Central Army Group, let’s allocate the troops to the Sixth Army Group.”

Celtic Marshal: “I’m afraid we can’t do that because the two Army Groups of Moravians are putting huge pressure on the logistics, we don’t have enough transport capacity to send two armies that far.”

Emperor looking back and forth between the Army Commander and Chief of General Staff: “Are you two ganging up on me?”

"Of course not.”

"Absolutely not.”

After a few seconds of thought, Emperor decreed, “One army stays central, send one army to the Sixth Army Group. Then, let Duke Meyer and the Air Force figure out something!”

Duke Meyer: “We’ve just received intelligence that Rocossov will personally board the red Pe-3 reconnaissance plane to scout the front lines, if we manage to shoot down this reconnaissance plane, kill Rocossov, victory in Abawahan will be within our reach.”

"Then do it,” the Emperor waved his hand.

At that moment, someone knocked and entered, it was the Armored Corps Director General Moochi, along with the Imperial Military Science Academy’s Dr. von Krauln.

The Emperor seeing Dr. von Krauln immediately relaxed his brow, “I guess you’ve brought me some good news!”

"Yes, we’re ready to use the latest radar-guided anti-ship missiles in the Aegean Sea. After our continuous failures with the Fritz X guided bomb, this new weapon will definitely regain control of the sea and restore the supply line to the African corps!”

The Emperor banged the table with force, “Excellent, very good! After trial use in the Aegean Sea, immediately equip it widely on the West Wall, making the enemy’s landing completely impossible! Then we can redeploy troops from the West Wall to the Eastern Front.”

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