The enemy showed no sign of a next move, and Wang Zhong confirmed through his overhead view that the enemy had no intention of further action beyond the smoke and called for a “ceasefire”.
After the gunfire ceased, silence fell over the square.
Only then did Wang Zhong remember he was still on the phone, “Pavlov, the situation is extremely urgent, we can barely hold the enemy, and ensure the station, the command headquarters are safe, but the enemy might split their forces for a sneak attack on the regimental headquarters.”
Pavlov responded, “I have already ordered the machine guns to be mounted and the anti-aircraft cannons to be leveled.”
“Good,” Wang Zhong paused and then said, “Don’t you die.”
“You either, General.”
The call ended.
At the same time, the enemy’s operations began, and mortar shells fell on the square, with smoke quickly spreading out from the point of impact.
Here it comes!
Wang Zhong commanded, “Fire on my mark!”
Soon the entire square was covered in smoke.
Although everyone was wearing gas masks, it appeared to be just ordinary smoke. The enemy’s mortars might not have been loaded with tear gas shells.
Then Wang Zhong clearly saw the enemy infantry appear.
Wang Zhong ordered, “Fire!”
Tank 422’s machine guns all opened fire simultaneously, and it also lobbed a high-explosive shell at a pre-aimed position.
Wang Zhong, through his overhead view, was satisfied to see a dozen Prussian soldiers who had charged out get taken down in an instant.
But more Prussian soldiers poured out from various entrances on the south side of the square.
And what greeted them was a dense, omnipresent barrage of fire.
Within tens of seconds, more than fifty Prussian soldiers had fallen, and the rest were all lying flat on the ground, not daring to move.
Wang Zhong pulled over the anti-aircraft machine gun from the tank’s turret, and leaning on the external mount, he precisely targeted the enemies lying on the ground.
After all, a lucky shot was just that, and no one would notice any anomalies.
The enemy began to crawl forward on the ground, but the barrage was so dense that even if Wang Zhong did not concentrate on certain targets, the enemy could be shot by stray bullets after crawling just a few dozen meters.
Is this the supreme skill of the Amelicans that massacred wildly back in the day?
It sure works!
Wang Zhong was enjoying himself, shooting the machine gun when he ran out of bullets.
He hurriedly changed the magazine—remembering an experience where a BT-7’s anti-aircraft machine gun jammed, resulting in the sacrifice of everyone aboard, Wang Zhong carefully straightened out the belt before completing the ammunition reload.
He resumed firing immediately.
Finally, the enemy gave up the assault and retreated into the buildings on the south side of the square.
Subsequently, the enemy’s vehicle-mounted mortars began to fire high-explosive shells.
Shells kept falling on the north side of the square.
Wang Zhong retreated into the tank, closed the hatch, and waited for the enemy’s second attack.
In the following two hours, they repelled seven charges by the Prussians.
In the end, the enemy’s mortars ran out of smoke bombs, and the smoke over the entire square gradually dissipated, leading to a face-off across the square.
Wang Zhong, with few infantry accompanying him, didn’t dare to charge with the tanks, and the enemy, lacking effective anti-tank firepower, couldn’t do anything about the tanks stuck on the square.
The square quieted down so much that crows from the sky descended and started pecking at the eyes of the dead on the ground.
Wang Zhong let out a breath of relief, at least the enemy’s offensive had been stalled—
Suddenly, he noticed enemy infantry crossing Loktov’s main street on the eastern side.
The Guardian Army opened fire!
Wang Zhong ordered, “We’ll go to support, all other tanks stay in place!”
Without waiting for his command, the driver Beliyakov turned Tank 422 around.
It was almost at this moment that Wang Zhong heard a bugle sound.
He seemed to have heard this kind of bugle in movies describing the Napoleonic Wars, which should signify a cavalry charge!
Cavalry?
Wang Zhong looked towards the northeast and then saw a large number of cavalry clad in black cloaks, mounted on horses, charging into the streets of Loktov from the north.
They spread out like a tide, seeping into Loktov’s streets and alleyways in countless streams.
The horses galloped, and the Prussians were taken completely by surprise—or rather, they had never imagined they would face a cavalry charge of this magnitude on a modern battlefield.
Although they were cavalry, this unit did not hold high their sabers, but carried pistols and submachine guns.
They advanced like a sweeping storm, continuously firing as they went.
One in every three cavalrymen was a grenadier, accurately throwing grenades into enemy-occupied buildings through windows.
Wang Zhong watched all this in amazement, then remembered Pavlov’s words from two hours ago: The 63rd Army Group had sent a “rapid” unit to support Loktov.
So that’s what he meant by rapid!
At this point, after hours of brutal urban close combat, the Prussian infantry was exhausted, and the irresistible cavalry charge shattered their last will to fight.
Then, four cavalry officers on chestnut horses came up to Wang Zhong’s vehicle, with the leading general glancing at the white horse emblem on Wang Zhong’s tank.
He saluted Wang Zhong, “The 7th Cavalry Army salutes you, General Rocossov. Our 15,000 cavalrymen are sweeping the city. You’ve done hard work.”
Only then did Wang Zhong finally take a long, deep breath of relief.
—”During a defense, fortifications, tactics, and firepower deployment are all important, but what’s most crucial is a ceaseless supply of reinforcements.”
————
One hour after repelling the enemy’s attack, at 1530 on July 8th.
Wang Zhong directed Tank 422 back to their original reserve firing position where the enemy’s assault had first started.
The surviving civilians had already moved the fallen Guardian Army soldiers onto the main road, neatly lined up side by side.
“Stop.” Following Wang Zhong’s command, the tank came to a halt.