Yeisk, under Prussian Army control. Experience more content on empire
Beyond Colonel Busse’s combat group, another tank battalion and accompanying infantry arrived here yesterday evening.
The Prussian tank battalion differs from Ante’s tank battalion; Ante’s tank battalion and the tank regiment are of the same organization, differing in name only, with a total of 21 tanks.
Whereas a Prussian tank battalion, typically called an armored battalion, now consists of three Panther companies and one Tiger company, fielding 80 Panzers and 28 Tigers.
A standard Prussian Armored Division usually has two such armored battalions as well as an Armored Grenadier Battalion, along with a multitude of support troops.
So, essentially half of a division’s armored forces has arrived in Yeisk, along with Busse’s combat group’s original armored units, two hundred tanks now completely occupy every available open space in Yeisk.
For a city without railways, finding so much open space in Yeisk isn’t easy—railways indicate large freight yards, and cities with railways usually have a higher level of industrialization and more vehicles, meaning more parking lots as well.
In any case, Yeisk is now crammed full of tanks and armored vehicles.
Therefore, when Colonel Busse heard from the radio that Vehicle 217 reported 24 four-engine heavy bombers were heading their way, his heart sank.
He dropped the headset and shouted to the staff officer beside him, “Air raid alarm! Have the infantry deploy smoke to cover the tank assembly area!”
The staff officer immediately turned and ran out.
Busse’s combat group had integrated air defense units, and the Prussian air defense forces had hand-cranked air raid sirens, considering the sounding of alarms a part of their air defense operation.
Soon, air raid alarms echoed throughout Yeisk.
After the staff officer returned, he said to Colonel Busse, “Why don’t we depart now? Staying in the city, even with smoke cover, we’ll suffer heavy losses if bombed, especially our infantry. High-altitude bombing has little effect on moving convoys.”
Colonel Busse’s expression was serious, “The armored battalion that arrived yesterday isn’t part of our original assault formation. To depart in haste to evade bombing would result in chaos.”
Colonel Busse’s original plan was to depart after breakfast and an equipment check to meet up with the marooned vanguards.
As the entire force’s vanguard, one platoon from the 333rd Motorized Reconnaissance Battalion had already departed, this platoon reinforced by two Panzer IIs, totaling three motorcycles with sidecars, four half-tracks, and two Panzer IIs.
Yesterday, the leading company reported that the enemy forces that wiped out their reconnaissance group did not possess weapons larger than 20mm, likely just light infantry. The motorized reconnaissance platoon’s firepower was deemed sufficient against regular light infantry.
As for the rest of the combat group’s units, the staff had already arranged the departure sequence.
However, the tank battalion that arrived last night was not included in this departure queue, and if they all were to head out of the city now, it would certainly result in chaos.
So after a brief moment of hesitation, Colonel Busse decided, “No advance, we’ll defend against air attacks here in the city. The city is so large, they might not be able to hit our parking lot.
“After the bombing ends, we’ll depart according to the original order. The recently arrived tank battalion will decide their own departure time after we’ve all left.”
The Chief of Staff replied, “Understood.”
————
The first platoon of the third company from the already departed Prussian 333rd Motorized Reconnaissance Battalion had in fact heard the communication between Commander John and Vehicle 217.
When the platoon leader heard the news of the 24 heavy bombers, he looked up at the sky.
They might have already spotted the contrails of the high-altitude bombers.
The platoon leader clicked his tongue, “This reminds me of when we entered Ante, back then the Prosen Air Force’s bombers also flew towards the heart of Ante in an overwhelming force. What goes around comes around.”
The sun had just risen in the east, so the platoon leader had to squint as he looked at the sky, and thus he did not see the dive-bombing fighters—fighters bristling with bombs.
By the time he saw the fighters, it was too late.
“Enemy planes! Air raid!”
As the platoon leader shouted, the first dive-bombing fighter had already begun to pull upwards.
Immediately after, the platoon leader saw a bomb drop into the road ahead of the half-track he was in.
The bomb’s delay fuse prevented it from detonating immediately, allowing the platoon leader just enough time to shrink back into the half-track, letting the surrounding steel offer a bit of protection—at least psychologically.
The next moment, he felt a sensation of weightlessness as he realized the half-track had been flipped into the air.
Before he could react, the vehicle slammed onto the ground, and the platoon leader lost consciousness.
After the air raid ended, the sergeant in the following Panzer II poked his head out of the vehicle and, upon seeing the overturned platoon leader’s vehicle, shouted through the radio, “Deputy platoon leader, the platoon leader’s fate is unknown, you’re in command now.”
In the Prussian Army, a platoon normally has just one officer, the deputy platoon leader is the highest-ranked non-commissioned officer, and the NCOs generally have a better relationship with the soldiers.
Sometimes, the soldiers even prefer to be commanded by the NCO.
Through the radio, the deputy platoon leader’s voice was heard, “Just overturned, right? Open the rear door and see if the people inside can be rescued. Don’t flip the vehicle right away, it could cause secondary injuries.”
“Roger that,” replied the sergeant. He immediately ordered his squad, “Open the tailgate, rescue the people inside.”
At that moment, the machine gunner on the half-track suddenly said, “Look! Dust ahead!”
The sergeant looked forward and indeed saw a large cloud of dust.
Standing up, he grabbed his binoculars to observe—the Prussian squad leaders usually commanded the machine gun and were therefore equipped with binoculars.
Through the binoculars, he could only see a small leading vehicle of the enemy, the marching column behind it completely obscured by dust.
The sergeant had never seen that leading vehicle before; it might belong to the Federation’s equipment.
“Damn it,” the sergeant cursed, as he picked up the radio handset and shouted, “Enemy forces are nearing! Enemy forces are nearing!”
The deputy platoon leader was very calm, “Don’t panic, it could just be the enemy’s light infantry. Tanks 137 and 138, spread out to the left and right wings!”
“Understood.”
The two Panzer II tanks immediately dispersed to the left and right flanks, forming a divide sign with the staggered column halted on the highway.
But the tank commander lost his nerve first, “With such a huge cloud of dust, it must be the enemy’s tank force, right? My 20mm cannon can only polish a T34!”
At that moment, the small car at the very front started to sweep this way with its vehicle-mounted machine gun.
Tank commander, “If the enemy dares to charge at us with tanks, it has to be Ante’s armored force! Release smoke bombs and retreat fast!”
The deputy platoon leader hesitated for a second, then ordered, “Release the smoke bombs, retreat!”
At this point, the sergeant from the second vehicle asked, “What about the platoon leader? He might still be alive!”
“We can’t worry about that now, retreat quickly.”
The second tank had already activated its smoke dischargers, firing off smoke bombs.
Although the sergeant from the second vehicle seemed to want to say more, he still obeyed the order, operating the half-track’s smoke bomb launcher to fire.
————
Wang Zhong suddenly received a call from one of the two deception units, “Khalat calls Genghis Khan, Khalat calls Genghis Khan. Enemy ahead releasing smoke, I repeat, enemy ahead releasing smoke.”
While responding, Wang Zhong switched the view and indeed saw enemy smoke ahead of the deception unit’s Willys jeep.
Then, Wang Zhong noticed something. Although the shared vision given to him by the troop wasn’t highlighted, the view wasn’t obscured by smoke either.
As long as the enemy didn’t hide in the smoke, he could see them.
Of course, the dust stirred up by the movement of enemy vehicles still interfered with his vision, but not to the point where he couldn’t see at all.
The Willys jeep was dragging a broom behind it, so the dust was too thick, and it was truly hard to see clearly.
In any case, Wang Zhong clearly saw in front of the Willys jeep convoy were two Panzer II tanks, which alone could beat the jeep convoy into a mess.
But now that the enemy had started to run, it was a different story.
The armor of the Panzer II tanks was just so-so after all; their sides and rear armor could be penetrated by the M2 heavy machine gun.
The key point was that the enemy had started to flee, and if the deception troops didn’t pursue, the enemy might realize what was happening and stage a counterattack, turning the tables and making it dangerous.
So Wang Zhong gave the order, “Continue the pursuit, strive to annihilate the enemy.”
According to the predefined code, “strive to annihilate the enemy” meant, “Maintain contact with the enemy, apply firm pressure.”
Even if the Prussians were eavesdropping on the radio communication, it wouldn’t be a problem!
“Understood!” the deception unit replied with conviction, seemingly unaware of the enemy Panzer IIs, “Strive to annihilate the enemy!”
————
Colonel Busse’s eyebrows twisted into a knot, “We’ve been air-raided?”
“Yes, and we’ve also encountered the enemy’s armored force.” The chief of staff said seriously, “The fate of the reconnaissance platoon leader is unknown, and the remaining forces are retreating towards Yeisk under the deputy platoon leader’s command.”
Captain John, “This must be one of the two armored forces reported by vehicle 217.”
Colonel Busse nodded, “Are the new tanks operational yet?”
Captain John looked embarrassed, “Not yet, we’ve just fixed the malfunction, and the maintenance camp technicians are fitting the road wheels now. It will take some more time.”
“How much is ‘some’? Captain, you should know that we shouldn’t use such vague terms on the battlefield.”
Captain John, “Yes! At most eight hours, Colonel.”
“Eight hours to fit some wheels?” the colonel was taken aback.
Captain John, “At most. If it goes fast, it could be done in five hours.”
Colonel, “Five hours and you’re still proud?”
With a helpless tone and a shrug, Captain John replied, “There’s no help for it. To ensure the best mobility, the new tanks feature dual row road wheels, and each assembly and disassembly takes one to two days. The maintenance camp is already doing its best.”
Colonel Busse clicked his tongue, “So you’re saying you can’t participate in the upcoming defensive operations? Looks like we’ll have to let the boys with the long-barreled Mark IVs earn some Iron Crosses.”
Captain John smiled as well, “That shouldn’t be a problem.”
Just then the air raid alert sounded outside again, and Colonel Busse and his associates immediately hit the deck.
However, after waiting for quite a while, no bombs fell.
The door to the command post suddenly opened, and a staff officer came in to report, “The Anti-Air Battalion requests cancellation of the air raid alert; the enemy’s heavy bombers are not targeting us.”
Colonel Busse stood up cursing, “How many more unreliable reports are we going to receive this morning?”