“`
Lieutenant Linden had been intently listening to the friendly radio communications ever since Ante’s plane flew overhead.
Then he heard the report from the motorized reconnaissance battalion that was approaching.
He took off his headphones and looked at the driver and mechanic, who were busy with repair work. The latter, just having wiped his sweat, looked up and their eyes met.
“What’s wrong?” asked the veteran driver, who seemed to understand something from Lieutenant Linden’s expression but still inquired.
Lieutenant Linden said, “The enemy counterattack group is rushing towards Colonel Busse’s combat team, we won’t be getting any support for the time being.”
The driver clicked his tongue, “Is that so. But it’s strange, why haven’t the enemies attacked us? Wouldn’t it be easier to wipe out our small vanguard than to eliminate Colonel Busse’s combat team?”
Lieutenant Linden shrugged, “How would I know?”
At that moment, the alert infantry suddenly shouted, “Unidentified armored vehicles spotted from the northeast!”
Lieutenant Linden immediately looked towards the northeast and indeed saw armored vehicles advancing through the wheat field. Judging by their height — could they be assault guns?
Then, sentinels from another side also yelled out, “There are some in the southeast as well!”
“And the front! We’re surrounded on three sides!”
————
Wang Zhong didn’t have time to worry about the Willis Jeep Brigade that was currently chasing down the enemy armored reconnaissance forces. His “Tiger Hunting” team had already engaged the enemy.
Fifteen Whirlwind units were divided into three groups, approaching the enemy’s small unit that was tucked away in the vast grassland from three directions.
The Whirlwind units in the front were already less than 2,400 meters away from the enemy; the ones enveloping from the north and south were still maneuvering and a bit further out.
The infantry squads carried by the Whirlwind had already dismounted and formed skirmish lines in front of the vehicles.
In total, one company of infantry accompanied the advancement of the Whirlwind, spread out into squads in three directions.
Wang Zhong had the walkie-talkies distributed down to the squad level, which was a configuration seen in Vietnam-era U.S. forces on Earth. Even in World War II, the U.S. military, which had the most radios, only equipped its units up to the company level.
Wang Zhong had taken it a step further, outfitting walkie-talkies down to the squad level like the U.S. forces in the Vietnam War. To maximize the effectiveness of the walkie-talkies, he had specifically selected two high school graduates to learn radio technology, acquire general troubleshooting skills for walkie-talkies, and master basic coordinate measurement.
Having every Naval Infantryman be a high school graduate was truly a luxury and must be condemned; the Navy is foolish — Army General Rocossov thought this.
However, the radios now distributed down to the squad level weren’t yet showing their full potential, as neither the division nor the Army Group’s artillery had caught up.
For now, the walkie-talkies with the infantry squads positioned in front of the Whirlwind could only serve as “eyes” for Wang Zhong, and they weren’t even the highlightable kind.
Wang Zhong repeatedly called these infantry squads to ensure that he clearly understood the enemy movements.
The enemy was surrounded on three sides — well, considering the position of the supporting forces, the enemy forces were actually encircled on all sides — totaling about three hundred men with four new-model heavy tanks, eight Panzer IIIs, four long-barreled Panzer IVs, twenty half-tracks, and what seemed like a company of infantry.
If it was highlightable, Wang Zhong could directly see their unit numbers to determine how many of the enemy were trapped in the center. Unfortunately, the highlight effect was a “benefit” only within Wang Zhong’s visual range; the troop’s eyes didn’t have this special effect.
So Wang Zhong could only endeavor to count heads, and it felt almost like observing ants move house.
The enemy clearly noticed the Whirlwind and began rotating their tank turrets.
Several Panzer III and IVs turned their hulls along with their turrets and visibly split into three groups ready to counterattack.
The remaining tanks were probably those that had their tracks damaged by the Air Force, so they stayed in place and rotated their turrets.
Wang Zhong opened the radio communication to the five Whirlwind units approaching from the front, “Open fire at 1500 meters, distance is at your commander’s discretion.”
“Roger!”
No sooner said than done, Tank #218 of the tactical identification fired.
The 88mm gun roared, and the dust stirred up by the blast at the muzzle was clear for Wang Zhong to see from his bird’s-eye view!
Wang Zhong clearly saw the trajectory of the shell as it struck Whirlwind #461 on its “back”, but because of the shallow angle of impact, it ricocheted.
“Wait a moment, is the enemy trying to use plunging fire to attack from above?” Wang Zhong furrowed his brow. If that was the case, it meant this Prosen gunner was being presumptuous.
Battleships engaged in plunging fire to strike horizontal armor because of the long engagement distance, with encounters often exceeding ten or twenty kilometers.
Now you’re trying to plunge fire from just two kilometers away? Ridiculous!
After Tank #218 fired, #220 also fired soon after. This time, the shell accurately hit the mantlet of Whirlwind Tank Destroyer #458.
Wang Zhong snorted disdainfully; at this distance, an 88mm gun trying to penetrate the mantlet of a Whirlwind? Wishful thinking.
However, the tremendous impact of a direct hit did cause Whirlwind #458 to slow down temporarily, gradually falling behind — the crew inside was likely stunned.
This was a common occurrence; the great force of a shell striking armor could incapacitate crew members even without penetration.
The incapacitation could last just three to five seconds.
Sure enough, Whirlwind #458 speeded up again and caught up with the advancing allies.
The enemy began firing one shot after another.
“`
But whether it was the 43-caliber 75mm gun (the main gun of the Panzer IV) or the short 88 (the main gun of the new heavy tank), they seemed to be at a loss against the frontal armor of the Whirlwind.
The sight of five Whirlwinds advancing under enemy fire reminded Wang Zhong of pre-crossing footage he had seen: Soviet maggot tanks rampaging through enemy positions.
Suddenly, Whirlwind number 460 stopped!
Wang Zhong was shocked, thinking the enemy had inflicted the first casualties on our forces before they could open fire, but upon closer inspection, he discovered its track had been broken.
A tank destroyer is useless once its track is broken, and perhaps for that reason, the hatch of number 460 opened, the commander threw out several smoke bombs, and then crawled out of the tank under the cover of the smoke.
After the enemy had been firing for about two minutes, Whirlwind number 458 suddenly stopped, swiveled its chassis to aim, and then fired its first shot as fast as lightning.
The effects caused by the muzzle blast of the 100mm gun were more spectacular than those of the 88 or 75.
At the moment of firing, the tank destroyer’s visibility was ruined, filled with the dust and smoke strewn up by the muzzle blast—the Whirlwind tank destroyers were rather low, and were completely obstructed.
Wang Zhong immediately turned towards the enemy and indeed saw a Panzer IV burst into flames, its crew scrambling out with some of them even on fire, forced to roll on the grass to extinguish the flames.
“Well done,” Wang Zhong couldn’t help but shout out, only to realize after the fact that he might not be able to directly observe the battlefield.
So he pretended the Tiger group had reported to him.
All the Whirlwinds at the front had opened fire, except for the one unlucky enough to have its track broken.
Both the Panzer III and Panzer IV were doomed if hit by the 100mm gun, even if there was no catastrophic ammo detonation, they would catch fire and burn until completely destroyed.
However, several of the new heavy tanks still stood firm.
Wang Zhong checked the range and realized that the commander of the Whirlwinds in front had been too impatient, stopping to fire too soon, which meant they were still 1700 to 1800 meters away from the new heavy tanks.
Penetrating at that range would be a miracle.
Wang Zhong picked up his walkie-talkie, about to give an order, but then he remembered, isn’t this micromanagement too much like a certain bald man?
As he hesitated, the staff officer leading the assault, Alexandria, said, “General, it seems our 100mm guns can’t penetrate these new Prussian weapons!”
Wang Zhong: “What’s the panic! It’s definitely because the distance is too far. Advance to 1500 meters, then try again!”
Just advancing another three hundred meters would cause a qualitative leap in the effect of the damage.
The command, transmitted by radio waves, pleased Wang Zhong as he saw the previously halted tank destroyers at the front resuming their advance in a simple “line formation”—except for the one with the broken track.
On the approach, another tank destroyer stopped, and Wang Zhong hastily took a closer look, finding once again that its track had been broken.
But this clearly didn’t shake the resolve of the assault group at the front.
At this time, the tank destroyers on the northern and southern flanks circling around to envelop the enemy also turned, charging at the small group of the surrounded Prussian Army.
And the Whirlwind tank destroyers in position at the enemy’s front only stopped at a range of 1400 meters from the enemy.
They opened fire again.
Wang Zhong saw a flash hit the front armor of the new heavy tank numbered 220, and it seemed to hit the driver’s viewing port.
The next moment, the hatch of tank 220 opened, and the crew crawled out with their trousers wet, followed by black smoke billowing from the rear of the vehicle.
The flames appeared last, and as he watched the burning Tiger tank, Wang Zhong felt a pang of regret, thinking Prussians, what are you doing, put out the fire! That’s equipment I need to use!
Tank 217 was the second to be hit; it had been rotating its turret, but as the shell approached, a large ring of sparks flew from near the turret ring.
The turret froze in place the next moment.
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All the Prussian tank crew bailed out, and Wang Zhong counted heads—an entire crew of five, and not a single one injured.
Wang Zhong began to wonder if he had loaded too little explosive into the shells, as they were hitting the tanks without killing any crew inside.
While pondering these matters, he watched the Whirlwinds battle the Tiger tanks.
The other Panzers III and Panzer IVs had already been blown open, some completely burned to cinders.
There were two more surviving Tiger tanks putting up a desperate fight.
In the meantime, infantry had quietly approached the enemy.
The threading machines opened fire, and the enemy infantry, also focused on the tank battle, hadn’t anticipated an assault, let alone one from silenced automatic rifles.
Wang Zhong watched an Ante sergeant wielding a threading machine cut down about a squad’s worth of men, while the rest of the enemy, focused on the new types of armored vehicle to vehicle shell combat, failed to notice they had already lost a squad.
It wasn’t until the threading machines had taken down nearly eighty people that the Prussians finally became aware of the ambush. Officers and NCOs began to organize for battle.
Though the Ante infantry had lost the element of surprise, their recent combat had already granted them favorable positions, and the overlapping fields of fire from their threading machines swiftly took down the enemy’s accompanying infantry.
The disembarked armored troops tried to make contact with the new heavy tanks embroiled in fierce exchanges of fire but were blocked by Ante infantry.
By the time the third Tiger had been blown up, the Ante infantry had temporarily taken control of the battlefield, and it seemed the last new tank was about to become a prize for the infantry.
Wang Zhong shouted: “Stop! Don’t throw Molotov cocktails onto the last new tank! I’ll go negotiate their surrender!”