Arc of Fire

Ilyich climbed to his feet, "Thank you, you saved me."

"I saved you because if you had fallen, this position would have collapsed. Then none of us would survive!" Stepan picked up Ilyich’s pistol and handed it to him, "You should go to the machine gun position and see why they’ve stopped firing. I’ll organize the Grenadiers to bomb the tank!"

"Okay." Ilyich didn’t argue and directly sprinted past Stepan along the trench toward the silent machine gun point.

Stepan leaned against the trench wall and peeked to observe the approaching Prosen Tanks.

At that moment, a nurse walked along the trench, checking the breathing of the fallen people as she passed.

"There are no survivors here!" Stepan shouted, "Go back to the medical station quickly, nurse! Soon there will be only corpses here!"

The nurse glanced at Stepan, then directly lifted the arm of a fallen warrior, slung it over her shoulder, took a deep breath, and with one strong effort, hoisted the warrior onto her back.

Stepan recognized that this was the method taught by the field medical teams, which even a single person could use to hoist someone much heavier than themselves.

Stepan watched as the nurse carried the man, who was significantly larger than herself, and disappeared at the end of the trench.

Just then, the machine gun point that had gone silent began firing again, and Stepan was reminded that he was still on the battlefield with important tasks to undertake.

He took out the issued incendiary bomb, lay on the edge of the trench, and waited for the Prosen Tank to come closer.

As an experienced veteran, Stepan knew that the closer to the tank, the bigger the blind spot in the tank’s field of vision making it safer to attack. If he kept his distance, he might be sent to meet King Yan by the hull machine gun or coaxial machine gun.

Of course, approaching an enemy tank required great courage, something new recruits couldn’t manage.

That’s what trenches were for; one only had to lie low in the trench, and the tank would come right up to them.

Stepan listened to the tank engine, counted silently one, two, three, then suddenly rose to his feet, and sure enough, saw the tank just a few meters away, its turret facing the other side of the vehicle.

Perfect angle for a sneak attack!

Stepan pulled the trigger on the incendiary bomb, letting the fuse spit out red sparks like fireworks, then threw it with all his strength.

The incendiary bomb traced a perfect arc in the air, landing precisely on the tank’s engine vent cover.

Flames immediately enveloped the entire engine radiator.

The Tank Commander first opened the hatch and looked out, holding a submachine gun and searching for the person who threw the incendiary bomb, but Stepan fired first, bullets striking the turret making a BIUBIU sound.

The Tank Commander, still holding the submachine gun, fell backward and lay still.

Then the other tank hatches opened, and the Tank Operators scrambled out and ran backward.

With his submachine gun, Stepan executed short, precise bursts, shooting all of them down.

At that moment, a nearby trench’s Grenadier threw an Incendiary Bomb, but missed slightly, igniting only half of the tank’s tracks.

Seeing this, the Grenadier immediately rushed onto the tank, intending to lift the cover of the turret to throw a hand grenade inside.

Stepan shouted, "Don’t! The enemies will cover each other!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a follow-up half-track vehicle opened fire, bullets hitting around the turret, and the Ante Grenadier clutched his chest and fell backward.

Stepan cursed, grabbed a new incendiary bomb, and sprinted along the trench in that direction.

By the time he reached the spot, the Prosen Tank had already crossed over the trench—the body of the Ante Grenadier who had just been killed still hung on the tank.

Stepan immediately pulled the fuse, and with a hook shot, the Incendiary Bomb landed on the tank’s engine vent cover like a basketball shot.

Flames quickly covered the radiator grille.

However, the tank was not immediately ignited, and the Tank Operators, unaware that the grille was on fire, continued to drive the tank forward!

Stepan cursed again, picked up a Cluster Grenade from the ground, pulled the pin, and threw it onto the burning engine radiator grille.

A cloud of black smoke exploded behind the tank, which then finally stopped.

Stepan was already ready with his submachine gun, opening fire as soon as the hatch opened, killing the Tank Commander who popped his head out.

But that didn’t stop other Tank Operators from escaping the tank. As he fired, Stepan shouted, "Doesn’t your army song sing that only loyal tanks will give you a steel grave? Now the tank is right here, why do you keep escaping from your graves?"

Before the echo of his words faded, his Papasha jammed. He didn’t bother to clear the malfunction, threw away the Papasha, picked up another and continued firing.

On Ilyich’s side, he had reached the machine gun position and found all the Machine Gunners were dead.

"Damn it!" Ilyich swore for the second time today as he pushed aside the bodies of the Machine Gunners and then tried to recall his machine gun training.

As the battalion’s Military Chaplain, he was the most educated person in the unit. According to the new military regulations, those with a higher education level in the unit were required to master all necessary combat skills to replace the soldiers killed in action quickly.

That’s why Ilyich could operate an Anti-tank Rifle.

But an Anti-tank Rifle was essentially just a rifle and fairly simple to operate, whereas operating a machine gun required recalling some details.

"It should be like this." He began to check the gun mechanism according to his memory, "It should be fine... now load the belt and chamber..."

Ilyich grabbed the handle of the machine gun, completely forgetting to check the sight, and just opened fire.

The machine gun spat out flames, sweeping over the Prosen soldiers who had just mustered their courage. Although it didn’t hit anyone (because the sights weren’t adjusted), it still scared everyone to the ground.

Ilyich instinctively realized the shots were too high, but he didn’t adjust the sights; instead, he just pressed down the muzzle.

He also didn’t use one hand to support the ammunition belt, just gripping the machine gun’s handle with both hands and firing, allowing the belt to convulse freely.

It could only be said that it was fortunate that the Maxims issued to the temporary Infantry Division were old models; their outdated design meant they were highly reliable, and thus, this method didn’t jam the gun.

After firing one belt, Ilyich changed the ammo, shouting as he did so, "Ammunition belt! Someone bring an ammo belt over!"

"Priest! The enemy’s turret is turning towards you!" the observer shouted.

That’s when Ilyich realized a Panzer III was rotating its turret towards him.

He didn’t bother to reload but instead grabbed the machine gun and started running—it was equipped with wheels and a shield.

A high-explosive shell landed right behind him; fortunately, the 50mm gun of the Panzer III had an explosive effect similar to a hand grenade, and Ilyich only felt a shove on his back, staggering a bit before steadying himself.

The observer ran over, "Let’s go to the second position; we were supposed to go there anyway!"

"Okay, where is the second position again?" Ilyich asked, removing his helmet and pouring out the sand within.

"Follow me!"

Corporal Maria had already carried back four soldiers, each more robust than herself.

She laid the fifth man at the entrance to the medical bunker and yelled to the doctor, "This one’s got an abdominal gunshot wound! I applied first aid!"

The doctor conducting triage came over, checked the soldier’s nose, and said, "He’s dead."

Corporal Maria was surprised. "He was alive when I carried him!"

The doctor pulled the body up, checked its back, then told Maria, "While you were carrying him, he was hit in the back by a shrapnel. It’s not your fault; he was just unlucky."

Maria’s visible disappointment was palpable as a nearby wounded soldier spoke, "This is Karlov; he would have been happy knowing he blocked that shrapnel for you before he died."

Maria didn’t respond, and the doctor moved on to other patients. Meanwhile, an entire team of female nurses kept bringing in more wounded soldiers into the bunker.

The bunker was filled with wounded awaiting triage, the air thick with the smell of blood and decay.

Flies buzzed about happily as if they had found a cellar full of rotting meat, flying around the bunker annoyingly like a swarm of Stukas.

Maria stared at the deceased soldier, suddenly raised her hand to vigorously wipe her eyes, adjusted her cap properly, and dashed out of the bunker.

She moved along the trench, continually checking on soldiers lying on the ground.

At that moment, she heard the sound of a tank engine.

Turning around, she saw a Prosen tank just as it was crossing the trench, its tracks spinning close to her head like a chainsaw’s chain.

Maria crouched down, gasping for air.

—I should find an incendiary bomb! I can take down this tank!

Thinking so, she searched for an incendiary bomb, unaware that the tank had no intention of genuinely crossing the trench.

The next instant, dirt was scattered on Maria’s head.

She looked up in surprise as more dirt fell, rushing into her nose and mouth.

Stay tuned to

She quickly crawled back, finally moving away from the continuously collapsing dirt.

After wiping her face several times with her sleeve, she opened her eyes again, only to see the enemy tank grinding its "butt" on the trench.

The enemy planned to use the tank’s tracks and weight to "flatten" the trench, burying the Ante warriors inside alive!

Maria looked for an incendiary bomb or a grenade, didn’t find anything, and despairingly started throwing stones at the Prosen tank erasing the trench—

The moment a stone hit the tank turret, the tank exploded!

Maria was stunned.

Then, a green tank, starkly different in paint from the Prosen tank, appeared!

Maria didn’t recognize the model of the tank, but she knew that Prosen tanks were either gray or camouflaged, never this nondescript green.

She heard other warriors cheering.

"Haha!"

"Our tank has arrived!"

"Good job KV!"

The green tank opened fire, mowing down all the Prosen troops that had charged forward with the tank.

Suddenly, someone patted Maria on the shoulder, "Nurse, are you alright?"

Maria turned and saw a rugged, composed face, but she couldn’t remember his name.

"If you’re okay, quickly get moving! Help me pull out those who were buried! There must be survivors!"

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