Arc of Fire

November 1st, early morning, 0800 hours, Abawahan Front Army Headquarters.

Wang Zhong had already been sitting in the headquarters, sipping half a cup of tea.

It was unknown what method the Ceres chef brought back from the Federation had used, but this morning Wang Zhong had a hot pastry, so he was in a very good mood, as if the hot pastry had swept away the oppressive mood brought about by the heavy sacrifices of recent days.

Wang Zhong was even seriously considering catching up on some sleep.

Just then, the telephone rang.

Pavlov, with a half-eaten pastry in hand, frowned, "What’s the matter? It’s not time for the daily routine report yet."

Although he said this, he still picked up the receiver, "Front Army Headquarters. What? How many troops have crossed your defense area? Why didn’t you stop them? Alright, I understand, make sure to close the breach and block the subsequent troops."

After hanging up, Pavlov looked at Wang Zhong, "The enemy used a heavy troop cluster to blow up the barriers set by the 277th Division of the 62nd Army Group before dawn, taking advantage of our warriors’ exhaustion, and passed through that division’s defense area on Saint Andrew Avenue."

Wang Zhong immediately stuffed the pastry into his mouth, chewing as he moved to the city defense map, "Saint Andrew Avenue? That road connects to Tsar Avenue and leads directly to the tunnel entrance."

Pavlov did not respond as he was on the phone, "Hello? Is this the headquarters of the 161st Division? Get your Division Commander here! This is the Front Army Headquarters, the enemy’s heavy troop cluster is advancing along Saint Andrew Avenue! Yes, you must hold them back, at all costs!"

Wang Zhong looked at the map at the defense area of the 161st Division; Pavlov had skipped a division’s area and directly issued orders to the division guarding the intersection of Saint Andrew Avenue and Tsar Avenue.

The Chief of Staff had just hung up when the phone rang again; he picked it up, "Headquarters! I know you’re being attacked, block the enemy’s heavy troop cluster at all costs, at least buy time for the 161st Division behind you.

"What? The troops have disintegrated, with no large organized forces to intercept? What are your Guard Corps doing?"

At this time, Wang Zhong, with the help of an external aid, had already understood the situation—while Pavlov was talking to these divisions, Wang Zhong could obtain their perspective.

Pavlov was currently communicating with the 186th Division of the 62nd Army Group, their

Prosen forces concentrated the equivalent of an enhanced brigade’s combined strength, leading with a dozen Flamethrower Tanks, attempting a blitz along the broad Saint Andrew Avenue.

It should be said, this tactic effectively targeted Wang Zhong’s strategy of disintegration.

However, at the intersection of Saint Andrew Avenue and Tsar Avenue, there was a sturdy defensive support point.

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The support point was originally the Abawahan Grand Theater, a robust structure of reinforced concrete and marble; after half a month’s reinforcement, it had now become a fortress, which even Prosen’s heaviest 210mm Heavy Artillery could not easily destroy.

In the grand theater, a reinforced battalion of defenders was deployed, equipped with more than ten 76mm anti-tank guns and several dozen machine guns.

Even for Prosen’s elite combat group, it was challenging to pass such a strongly defended fortress.

Wang Zhong paid attention to the movements of the Prosen combat group.

The 186th Division indeed couldn’t stop the organized Prosen combat group on short notice; the disintegrated Antean Warriors could inflict casualties on the Prosens, obtaining a not too favorable exchange rate, but could not stop the enemy’s breakthrough.

Although all Antean Warriors along the way were firing, bursting into a chaotic firefight, the Prosens were still determinedly advancing.

Only the barriers laid across the roads slightly delayed the enemy, but regrettably, the enemy’s combat engineers quickly completed the demolition of the barriers—The 186th Division didn’t have sufficient troops to prevent the demolition.

Just as the Prosens were about to break through, a battalion of Antean Warriors appeared.

Wang Zhong’s perspective immediately identified these people; aside from the division’s Guard Troops, there were also staff officers, clerks, and various other mixed personnel – the entire division had come.

He even saw the Division Commander of the 186th Division taking the lead. Holding a submachine gun in one hand and a pistol in the other, he stood on the roadside flowerbeds shouting something.

The Prosens responded quickly, immediately setting up a crossfire network.

Flamethrower Tanks advanced against the advancing large force from the 186th Division headquarters, spraying a fan-shaped torrent of flames from the tank guns.

Even the most resolute warriors, when set on fire, would forget to fight in the agony, rolling on the ground.

Wang Zhong couldn’t bear to watch any longer, he elevated his perspective; just then, Pavlov hung up the phone, which meant that in a few dozen seconds, Wang Zhong would lose his vision.

He switched the view directly, beginning to inspect the defenses at the tunnel entrance.

"Pavlov," he began, "the defenses at the grand theater should be able to stop the enemy’s advance. But I see they’re very determined; they might use Smoke Bombs to block visibility, then quickly move past the theater."

Pavlov: "Indeed, that’s possible, we should order the theater’s defenders to adopt the ’fire belt’ tactic."

This was the tactic Wang Zhong had used before at Loktov; disregard the firing range, just have all firepower sweep along pre-set parameters, the Machine Gunners simply shake the cranks mindlessly, and Gunners fire blindly.

On Earth, this was a tactic used by the Americans to deal with Japanese night raids, very effective, except for the waste of ammunition.

And Wang Zhong was not short of ammunition now.

While Pavlov made the call, Wang Zhong continued to use the bird’s-eye view to inspect Tsar Avenue.

"Just in case, we should set a few barriers on Tsar Avenue using trucks."

He turned and instructed Yakov, "Go outside, stop the motor regiment that is returning through the tunnel, and have the Regiment Commander come to see me."

The returning motor regiment was either empty or carrying corpses or seriously injured personnel.

Stopping the empty vehicles and deploying them to the avenue to strengthen the barriers should be feasible.

Pavlov put down the receiver and said to Wang Zhong, "The Grand Theater has received its orders, even if the enemy uses smoke, it won’t be easy for them to get through."

At that moment, Yakov came in with the head of the motorized battalion. Wang Zhong directly addressed the commander, "No salutes, we’re in an emergency, an enemy brigade is charging towards the tunnel. All the empty trucks in your battalion need to move to Tsar Avenue immediately. Here, here, and here, we have set up roadblocks. Use the trucks to reinforce them, and find a way to make the roadblocks impregnable."

"Yes," the commander still saluted, "We saw the positions of the roadblocks on the way here, we’ll take position immediately."

"Good luck. It’s urgent, so no time for dinner," Wang Zhong picked up the fried soybeans on the table, "Have some of these."

The commander grabbed a handful, stuffed them into his mouth, and turned to leave.

Pavlov commented, "You actually remembered the position of every roadblock?"

Wang Zhong replied nonchalantly, "Just some random memory."

After a brief silence, Wang Zhong added, "I don’t think that’s enough, we need to mobilize troops to block the enemy at this position, and prevent them from entering the firing range of the tunnel entrance."

He pointed at a spot on the map.

Pavlov agreed, "Indeed. We can block the view by burning tires, but stopping the enemy’s elite combined operations group... that’s going to be tough. I still have a tank brigade in reserve, hidden in the nearby school. Should we send them out?"

Wang Zhong responded, "Send them out, and tell them that a T34 destroyed on the road also serves as a roadblock. Tell them to block the road with their deaths if necessary."

Pavlov looked at Wang Zhong’s profile and said, "I thought you would lead the charge yourself."

Wang Zhong was silent for a few seconds, then asked, "Would you allow me to do that?"

"I wouldn’t, because we no longer have the advantage in armor-piercing capability. Against the Prosen Armored Troops, the T34 is just cannon fodder. I can’t let you go to your death," Pavlov answered.

Wang Zhong reached for the soybeans on the table but didn’t find any, then remembered he had already given them to the motorized battalion commander.

He then recalled the day last year when he left the militiamen, who had pulled him from under the vehicle, behind.

He always felt he would spend the rest of his life guilty about that decision.

To dilute this guilt, he commanded, "Bring the radio here; I want to listen to what the tank operators are saying."

Actually, it was to gain a visual.

Prosen-Hoffman temporary combat group.

Brigadier Hoffman loudly ordered, "Stop, stop! Yes, stop right at the roadside, I need to assess the situation!"

The command vehicle braked, rocking the body and cannon back and forth.

Brigadier Hoffman picked up the binoculars and observed from afar, "It looks like they are using trucks as roadblocks. We can’t let them succeed, continue the attack! The Anteans are short on trucks, them using trucks as roadblocks means we are close to our goal!"

At that moment, Brigadier Hoffman’s earpiece transmitted a report from a support vehicle, "Look in the distance, they’ve lit something that’s creating a black curtain to obscure our view, might be burning tires."

"That must mean the tunnel is right behind them," the Brigadier put down his binoculars, turned back to his troops and shouted, "Advance! The target is right up ahead, today we will claim victory!"

Then, the sudden exclamation in his earpiece, "T34!"

"Don’t panic, destroy them!" the Brigadier ordered.

The support vehicle fired first.

The leading T34 was hit and stopped at the roadside, with two tank operators carrying Papasha jumping out of the tank, shooting while finding cover.

Long-barreled Four in the combat group continued firing, T34s rushing along the road exploded one after another.

"Hmph, downright senseless death!" Brigadier Hoffman scoffed, but then realized something, "Wait, they’re trying to block the street with wreckage! Damn! They are using the debris to block the road!"

"But we can only destroy them. Their main gun can penetrate us; it’s either they die, or we do," said an officer.

"Damn!" cursed Brigadier Hoffman, looking down at the city road map.

"Wait, there’s another road beside us, let’s divert to that road. It’s narrower and doesn’t have a direct firing line to the tunnel entrance, but it still leads to our destination! Everyone, follow the order, turn right! Into the sideroad!"

Wang Zhong stood beside the radio, pretending to listen, but actually watched from an aerial view as the enemy turned onto the forked road.

The forked road also had roadblocks, but seemingly only the sort that combat engineers could blast through.

And because of Wang Zhong’s tactics, there were only a little over one hundred Ante Warriors divided into threes along the forked road.

He immediately ordered Pavlov, "Have the Anti-Air Artillery Corps and the Guard Corps under the Front Army Headquarters move to Pozharsky Street, ready to intercept the enemy."

Pavlov immediately grabbed the phone, then remembered these orders didn’t need a phone, just a loud shout was sufficient, as messengers could relay the command outside the door.

Thus, he began to shout.

(Nelly progress, the artist originally wanted to draw scars like Balalaika, but I stopped them)

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