Ante Army, Argesukov, Southwestern Front Army Headquarters.
Crown Prince Ivan Nikolayevich Andronov entered a noisy map room and at first glance saw the bandage on General Skorobo’s hand, and he exclaimed in shock, “What happened? Did the enemy reach the headquarters?”
Skorobo waved his hand: “It’s nothing, I just got too emotional and punched the table.”
“Punched the table?” The volume of the Crown Prince’s voice rose sharply, drawing the attention of the surrounding staff officers. Fortunately, at that moment, the headquarters was filled with roars of “Speak up,” so it was not particularly noticeable.
The Crown Prince lowered his voice and asked, “So, Rocossov is right? The enemy really launched a pincer movement, didn’t they?”
“He’s right about that part,” Skorobo paused, then raised his voice, “But he’s completely wrong about what comes next! Our armored counterattack will crush the enemy’s offensive! Look here!”
Skorobo stood up and moved in front of the map: “The latest intelligence suggests that the enemy might have committed a part of their second Armored Division. We believe they have three divisions, nine Armored Battalions, approximately 400 tanks.”
“And we have launched a counterattack with three Tank Armies; we have over a hundred T34s alone! Plus dozens of KV1s, and more than two hundred BT tanks.”
“These tanks are well-supplied with fuel and ammunition, utterly different from those forces that launched counterattacks in the first month of the war with a shortage of both! They will completely shatter the enemy’s offensive.”
The Crown Prince stared at General Skorobo: “Can we really push them back?”
The General hesitated for a moment before responding decisively, “Yes! Absolutely!”
The Crown Prince nodded, “Then what should I do?”
“Your Highness should return to Yekaterinburg! The enemy’s planes have bombed the Argesukov airfield, but there is an intact field airport on the east side of the city, capable of launching transport planes. We have arranged a flight to Yekaterinburg…”
The Crown Prince: “I’m not going anywhere. Since you are convinced the counterattack can stop the enemy, then I’ll stay here. News of my departure would affect morale!”
The General was silenced abruptly, struggling for a few seconds before saying, “Our victory does not mean this place isn’t dangerous.”
At that moment, a communications officer rushed in with a telegram and saluted General Skorobo: “General! An urgent message from the High Command in Yekaterinburg.”
Skorobo snatched the message and glanced at it.
The Crown Prince: “What does it say?”
General Skorobo: “His Majesty the Tsar commands us to decisively repel the enemy’s attack.”
“The Tsar said that? I think my father may not understand what’s happening on the front line; I could call him…”
General Skorobo: “You can fly back to Yekaterinburg and tell His Majesty the Tsar in person.”
The Crown Prince bit his lip and shook his head, “My mission is to supervise the army here and boost morale. Since my father has ordered you to hold your ground, I should set an example.”
General Skorobo stared at the Crown Prince for a few seconds before saying, “I think I may have had some misunderstandings about you before. Since you’ve decided to stay, then we can only give our all-out effort to thwart the enemy’s advance!
“We have a vast army and an array of technical weaponry at our disposal; we are not weaker than the enemy!
“As soon as the Sixth Tank Army launches their offensive, everything will start to improve!”
————
Ante Army, Sixth Tank Army, Chesnokov commanding the tank.
Army commander Chesnokov heard a report on the radio: “This is the Fifth Tank Battalion; we have already lost six tanks, should we stop the charge?”
“No! Let the tank operators of the broken tanks hitch a ride on other tanks, so if any crew members fall later in the battle, they can replace them and keep fighting!” Major General Chesnokov’s voice was cold and merciless.
“Yes, General!” The response came through the static noise from the crew.
Chesnokov wanted to see the situation ahead, so he put his eye to the tank gun’s sight, but the violent shaking almost made him vomit.
He had no choice but to push open the turret hatch and stick his head out to observe the front.
Then he noticed dust clouds up ahead; it looked as if a “wall formation” of cavalry in a horizontal line was charging forward.
“All tanks, attention!” Chesnokov pressed the microphone against his throat, “The enemy tank cluster is right ahead! This time, they don’t have their Air Force to help them, let’s show them what we’re made of!”
Scattered “Ura” cries came through the headset, mainly because the T34 radios were so poor in quality.
Chesnokov, still in a head-out position, used his binoculars to observe the front, excitedly spotting Prosen tanks arranged in a dense Strike Formation.
At the start of the war, the Prussians had used this dense formation to gain a localized advantage and quickly broke through the Ante Army’s anti-tank positions at the border.
“Enemy tanks!” Major General Chesnokov shouted over the radio, “Combat ready!”
As he said this, he retracted back into the tank turret.
Just as he closed the hatch, he looked back to confirm that the majority of the Sixth Tank Army was following right behind him.
Back inside the tank, Chesnokov immediately put his eye to the gunsight and started selecting a target.
Unfortunately, the enemy was too far, and the tank was shaking violently due to the high-speed charge, so every time Chesnokov spotted a target, it was lost to the shaking before he could even align the crosshair on the enemy.
“Mikhail! Stop, let me pick a target and fire a shot!”
As soon as he finished speaking, the tank braked hard, and Chesnokov’s body slammed forward, his head knocking against the handrest above the gunsight.
Chesnokov cursed, quickly maneuvered the turret to find a target, chose a Prosen tank that was almost facing directly toward the gun barrel, and fired!
First shot, a hit!
The Prosen tank lost power, slid forward gradually slowing down, and the crew members opened the hatches and scattered to escape.
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Meanwhile, enemy attacks also struck Chesnokov’s tank, but they merely produced a dull thud against the armor, sounding as if someone was hammering on it.
“Hahaha, that’s it! The White General earned splendid victories with this! Soon, every crew will have that level of success! Load quickly!”
More shells hit Chesnokov’s vehicle, yet completely failed to penetrate the robust armor of the T34.
One armor-piercing shell seemed to have been deflected by the T34’s shape, leaving a sound like long fingernails scraping on the surface of a cast-iron pot, which raised goosebumps on the tank operators.
Loader: “Armor-piercing shell, good!”
“Send off another one!”
Chesnokov fired, and the shell hit the target tank on the side, bounced off the ground, and flew into the air, as if it had become a distant star.
“What’s going on! Load again!”
At that point, the enemy released smoke.
“Cowards!” cursed Chesnokov, “Mikhail, forward! Get the tank moving! We’ll roll over them, crush them! From today on, the Prussians’ armor advantage is done for!”
The T34 started up again, with the engine and transmission mechanisms making so much noise that even internal communication was scarcely effective.
Due to excessive vibration, the gun sight lost its ability to search for enemies, and Chesnokov had to rely on the viewing ports on the sides.
However, the design of the T34’s turret made it very difficult for him, as the gunner, to use the viewing port on the loader’s side, almost making it impossible to observe properly.
After all, with the two-man turret of the T34, the loader and gunner sat side by side, completely blocking each other.
It wouldn’t be long before the enemy’s Prussian armored troops discovered this and developed targeted tactics.
Chesnokov struggled for a while, finding it awkward no matter how he tried and he had to once again stick his upper body out of the hatch.
The enemy tanks had released a smoke screen that totally obscured the front, making it impossible to see the other side of the smoke.
But Chesnokov believed that the enemy’s smoke couldn’t be released indefinitely, and once they broke through the smoke, it would be the moment for the enemy’s armored division to be obliterated!
By doing so, he might even earn himself the Ante Hero Medal!
At that moment, his tank charged into the smoke first.
In the smoke, even sticking his head outside the tank, the visibility was terribly poor, so Chesnokov retreated back inside the turret.
After a moment, the previously obscured gun sight in front of Chesnokov suddenly displayed an image again!
Chesnokov immediately leaned in, trying to find the fleeing enemy’s Number 3 tank.
However, there was nothing up ahead.
“Where did they go?”
At that time, the tank’s engine and transmission system were as noisy as ever, drowning out almost all sound outside the tank.
Major General Chesnokov rotated the turret, trying to find the vanished Number 3 tank cluster.
Suddenly, a panicked voice came through the radio: “Who’s shooting at us? Has anyone seen the enemy firing? Where is that cannon from?”
A cannon?
Major General Chesnokov tossed aside the gun sight, glanced through the observation port on his side, and all the T34s charging with him seemed fine, with no sign of attack.
Then he turned to the other side, pushed the loader back, and looked out through the observation port.
What’s the matter? Isn’t my tactical Number 671 fellow tank fine?
In the blink of an eye, a streak of light flashed across the Number 671 T34, which immediately slowed down, slid for a few meters, and then came to a complete stop, moving out of the narrow field of view of the observation port.
What happened?
What was that just now?
Major General Chesnokov wanted to check the status of Tank 671, so he turned and pressed his eye to the observation port at the rear of the turret.
However, he couldn’t see anything through the narrow viewing port.
He was about to use the radio then remembered that the wingman tank was not a command vehicle and did not have a radio.
Chesnokov turned back, trying to spot the enemy attacking their forces through the gun sight.
But the gun sight was too shaky.
To get a clear view, Major General Chesnokov gave a very brave, but also very foolish command: “Mikhail! Stop!”
The tank screeched to a halt, and before it even steadied, Chesnokov was rotating the turret searching the front—
He hadn’t seen anything when way off in the distance, there was a flash!
An 88mm flak cannon’s shell sliced through the T34’s front armor as easily as cutting through butter.
Because the shot came from a great distance, the falling angle negated part of the slant of the T34’s frontal armor.
The shell went straight through driver Mikhail and exploded behind him.
The entire combat room—that is, the turret—flew up into the sky in the explosion.