Wang Zhong, upon seeing the Prussian Army advance in such a manner, immediately ordered over the radio, “Retreat! All tanks, retreat! Avoid close combat with infantry!”
His Tank 422 started moving at once, and, from an overhead perspective, all platoon command vehicles equipped with radios were set into motion, but the rest of the tanks remained stationary, firing away!
In the face of the enemy, the tank commanders simply didn’t notice that the platoon command vehicles had started moving!
Dammit, this setup where only platoon command vehicles have radios is a huge pitfall! Whoever approved this design should be executed by firing squad five hundred times!
But there are always more solutions than difficulties, and Wang Zhong, frantic, managed to think of one.
Wang Zhong pressed the microphone against his throat, “Platoon command vehicles, use your coaxial machine guns to fire on the other vehicles in your platoon, letting them know it’s time to retreat!”
————
Inside Tank 213, combat was raging fiercely.
Casings from the hull machine gun and the coaxial machine gun clattered as they fell on the floor of the combat room.
Suddenly, the commander stopped firing, listening intently, “Is someone shooting at us from behind?”
Then he saw tracers flying forward from behind through the gunner’s scope.
He immediately turned his head, looked out through the narrow observation slot of the turret, and discovered the platoon leader had already fallen back quite a distance!
“The platoon leader is retreating!” the commander shouted.
The loader, Aleksei, shoved a shell into the breech: “A high-explosive shell, good! That coward of a platoon leader is scared, huh!”
“That’s not right! Why would he shoot us with a machine gun then?” the commander thought, and then, “No, this is the general’s order, move back quickly!”
Seeing Tank 213 begin to retreat, the platoon command vehicle quickly switched its targeting to Tank 214.
The commander, having a brainwave, turned the gun barrel and used the coaxial machine gun to fire at Tank 212, which was at the far left of the formation.
The electrician continued operating the hull machine gun, sweeping the approaching enemy infantry with fire.
Tank 212 quickly realized what was happening and also began to retreat, but it was already too late, Prussian infantry from a blind spot on the side had gotten close, climbing right onto the turret—
The commander didn’t hesitate to use the coaxial machine gun to mow down all of those Prussians.
However, Tank 212 itself blocked most of the field of fire, and Prussians in the blind spot threw a smoking grenade.
The grenade landed on the engine deck of Tank 212 and immediately exploded, spreading flames over a range of several meters while producing a large amount of white smoke.
The white smoke completely obscured the view of Tank 213, and the commander could only see the crew of Tank 212, ablaze, jumping out of their tank, rolling on the ground trying to put out the fire.
Another grenade was thrown, passing the burning Tank 212 and exploding on the ground.
The tank operator on the ground stopped rolling, letting the flames consume him.
The commander fell silent for a second and then yelled, “Retreat! Tank 212 is done for!”
He continued to fire into the thick smoke, trying to hold back the approach of the Prussian infantry.
————
Wang Zhong watched the battlefield, his heart wrenching.
Having laboriously repaired five T34s last night, their casualties had been reduced to three, yet in these few short minutes, twelve had been lost!
Apart from the six platoon leader tanks, only Armor Platoon 1 had been relatively well-preserved, leaving only Tanks 213 and 214!
The bastard who had decided to equip only platoon leader tanks with radios should be dragged out to the shooting range alongside the idiot who decided to merge the roles of tank commander and gunner into one person!
In his profound grief and anger, Wang Zhong didn’t even notice that the Prussians were using incendiary grenades—a weapon they had developed specifically, although Molotov cocktails could have achieved the same effect.
Grief aside, he still needed to find a solution. The good news was that six of the remaining tanks had radios and could be commanded. The bad news was the Prussians had spread so much smoke everywhere that it was impossible to fully utilize the tanks’ firepower.
The Guardian Army fought valorously, but without gas masks, the tear gas significantly weakened their combat effectiveness.
Prussia’s elite armored grenadiers were clearing each house with practiced efficiency.
Although the situation was dire, Wang Zhong did not cease to think.
No visibility—
Suddenly, Wang Zhong remembered World War II on Earth, when the Americans on Guadalcanal Island grappled with the Japanese in a brutal melee.
The Japanese were adept at night fighting, and the Americans, as usual, struggled with it. However, the U.S. troops defending Henderson Field came up with a method to counter Japanese night raids.
In essence, it was, “If I can’t see you at night, then I don’t need to see you. Just arrange your firepower properly during the day and sweep indiscriminately at night.”
Every weapon was set to specific standards and firing zones, and all the American soldiers had to do was mechanically sweep their fire to seal off the entire front. Then, it was just a matter of waiting for the Japanese to run into the bullets.
Looking at the southeastern part of the city now entirely engulfed in smoke, Wang Zhong decided it was time to see what this was all about.
First, he needed an open space, and this open space had to be directly in the enemy’s inevitable path of advance.
With an aerial view, Wang Zhong immediately located the right place: the square in front of the train station.
Incidentally, the Military Transport Command Headquarters was nearby, with another square in front. The two squares together formed an open space about one hundred meters long and wide.
The best part was that the hospital, train station, train dispatching yard, and Military Transport Command Headquarters were all on the north side of this square, so securing the square would protect these vital areas.
If he set up a fire support area here, he could hold off the enemy even if they used smoke.
But tanks alone were not enough. It would be better with some cooperation from elite veterans—
Wang Zhong suddenly noticed a station with his troops’ mark.
The Fifth Byshensky Regiment!
He had transferred 81 men from the Fifth Byshensky Regiment to the train station, wishing to preserve the regiment’s core.