After Wang Zhong’s order was issued, the commander of the annihilator battalion deployed all the vortices that had been hidden behind the high slopes into the attack.
A line nearly two kilometers long was formed by the vortices, and they opened fire at a distance of fifteen hundred meters.
Tanks left by the enemy to cover their retreat were hit one after another.
Although the 100mm gun’s armor-piercing shell had limited killing effect on the crew when attacking the enemy’s new heavy tanks, it was surprisingly effective against the Mark III tanks, igniting them upon impact, and rarely did any tank operators survive and climb out of the tanks.
The prairie was filled with the sound of cannons, occasionally punctuated by the explosion of Prosen tanks.
————
Colonel Busse was in his armored command vehicle when his adjutant, wearing headphones, was monitoring wireless communications on the battlefield suddenly said, “The rearguard troops are calling in.”
Colonel Busse frowned slightly and picked up another pair of headphones—no sooner had he put them on than someone shouted over the radio, “The enemy doesn’t have anti-tank gun crews hidden in the bushes, they’ve got assault guns! The enemy’s assault guns are advancing!”
“The enemy’s assault guns are slaughtering us! God, the Mark III tanks are being destroyed like toys!”
“God, we can’t penetrate the front of the assault guns!”
“Mother!”
Colonel Busse took off his headphones, his expression complex.
The adjutant, still wearing his headphones, picked up the latest identification booklet and turned to the section on assault guns, saying, “The enemy’s assault guns mainly comprise SU76s and a few 57mm gun carriers we’ve encountered before, all capable of penetrating the Mark III tank. But the 50mm guns on our Mark IIIs can destroy these assault guns—we don’t have any old Mark IIIs with the 37mm guns.”
Colonel Busse’s expression was grave, “It might be a new weapon, which would explain how our new heavy tanks were lost.”
Colonel Busse leaned back in his chair, his upper body swaying with the jolting of the vehicle, pondering seriously.
The adjutant said, “The enemy has developed new weapons at the same time as we did, and they’ve even countered our new weapons. Colonel, this…”
Colonel Busse coughed and reminded him sternly, “Speak cautiously.”
The adjutant fell silent.
The colonel glanced at him and continued, “Return to Yeisk and immediately report to our superiors about the enemy’s new tank destroyer vehicles. Tonight, you lead the team yourself to collect the routed soldiers and get their firsthand testimonies.”
“Yes, sir,” the adjutant nodded.
————
When Wang Zhong rode Bucephalus to the battlefield, all that was left on the prairie were burning Prosen tanks.
Following him in a jeep, Vasily shouted, “General! Be careful of enemies hidden in the grass!”
Wang Zhong waved his hand dismissively.
Enemies hidden in the grass? What a joke, do they think my highlighting is fake?
Wang Zhong surveyed the battlefield, thinking that capturing enemy officers alive probably wouldn’t be possible again, and even if he did manage to catch one, they’d likely be severely burned. With the current level of medical care, it was uncertain how many days they would survive, let alone be able to speak.
Just then, a gust of wind blew towards him, carrying the scent of hot oily steel, the foul smell of fat burning, and a slight odor of meat that had been fried in oil until blackened.
It must have been the charred remains of the tank operators inside the tanks.
This was the smell of the battlefield after a great battle.
At that moment, a jeep drove up and stopped in front of the horse; the captain aboard saluted Wang Zhong, “General! The first motorized company of the 51st motorized reconnaissance battalion has returned from their mission to encircle the enemy!”
Wang Zhong returned the salute, “You’ve had a hard time. How many soldiers have survived?”
“Quite a few, considering only the drivers and machine-gunners were in the vehicles during the encirclement. Out of a total of 15 jeeps, seven returned.”
Wang Zhong raised his hand to salute the captain again, “I salute your courage. Nothing can compensate for the precious lives of our soldiers, but I assure you, every fallen soldier will be awarded a medal, and their families will be properly taken care of.”
After a brief pause, he added, “The surviving soldiers will also receive medals, I promise.”
The captain smiled, “Medals and all, vodka would be better—that’s the real deal.”
“Of course, there will be vodka, and cigarettes too,” Wang Zhong reassured.
“That’s great to hear,” the captain beamed.
Another jeep was approaching from the distance, the captain pointed to it and said, “That’s the second company; they’ve returned as well.”
As they spoke, the jeep arrived in front of Bucephalus.
The company commander of the second company stood up in the jeep, saluting General Wang while exclaiming, “This vehicle is fantastic, it’s fuel-efficient and faster than the best military horses!”
Bucephalus turned its head to glance at the captain of the second company, snorted loudly, and looked away.
Clearly, Bucephalus wasn’t interested in arguing with the captain.
Wang Zhong asked, “How many of you came back?”
“We tried to get close to the enemy to throw Molotov cocktails but suffered heavy losses. Only eight vehicles returned, and three of those lost their machine-gunners.”
Wang Zhong repeated what he had just said to the first company.
No sooner had he finished speaking than the company commander of the second company said, “We don’t have long-range anti-tank weapons. If we could mount a 25mm cannon on the jeeps, we could give the enemy tanks a run for their money!”
Wang Zhong responded, “I will consider signing a new aid agreement with the Federation to get you some bazookas or recoilless rifles.”
The commander of the first company laughed, “That would be great. Not to undermine our spirit, but the Federation’s stuff is really good.”
Wang Zhong agreed, “Yes, since it’s good stuff, we should make full use of it.”
A Vortex tank approached, and the tank destroyer battalion commander climbed out of the combat room, saluting Wang Zhong, “The casualty report for the entire battalion is complete. During the noon battle where we annihilated the enemy’s new tanks, three Vortex tanks had their tracks broken. We’ve confirmed using radio that two of them have already completed repairs by themselves and are en route to the rendezvous. One is waiting for a tractor to tow it.”
“In the recent blocking battle, five Vortex tanks had their tracks damaged, one had its sighting scope broken, and another Vortex tank left in Trinka is still undergoing repairs. Currently, there are 23 operational Vortex tanks.”
Wang Zhong: “Would Prosen’s armored troops even think to aim at the tracks under those circumstances?”
“Yes, it was quite outrageous,” the tank destroyer battalion commander nodded. “Despite them being the enemy, they still deserve some respect.”
Wang Zhong: “Don’t respect the enemy. These elite adversaries will cause us severe losses.”
“Sorry,” the battalion commander bowed his head.
Wang Zhong waved his hand, “Today we should be celebrating victory, don’t be so downcast. Let’s rejoice in our success. Vasily, sing!”
Vasily turned around, “Filippov—oh, he’s with the infantry, hasn’t come up yet. So, I guess I’ll have to do it.”
As he spoke, Vasily took a helmet, and began to beat a rhythm with it, starting off—
Wang Zhong: “Stop, we’re celebrating a victory, what are you doing singing ‘I Still Have One Last Grenade’? Pick a victorious song!”
Vasily scratched his head, “I can’t think of a song that glorifies victory off the top of my head…”
“Then sing something festive.”
After thinking for a bit, Vasily began to sing “Dark-skinned Girl,” whose lively melody was indeed very festive.
Wang Zhong clapped along with the rhythm, and even Bucephalus started to shuffle his legs.
————
In the early hours of July 13th, inside the heartland of the Prosen Empire, Eagle’s Nest.
The Imperial Emperor Reinhard put down the documents in his hand and vigorously massaged his temples.
At that moment, the door opened, and Giles, with two confidential secretaries, entered the study.
The Emperor frowned, “What is it? A visit from the confidential secretaries at this hour usually means no good news. What’s gone wrong at the front?”
Giles: “Indeed, there is bad news. The first phase of Operation Blue did not go well against the enemy’s Suhayaveli Front Army.”
“Didn’t go well? Didn’t we reinforce the spearhead with our new heavy tanks? Weren’t they supposed to easily destroy all the enemy’s tanks?”
Giles: “But today, the enemy deployed a new weapon, a kind of assault gun. We lost four of the new tanks. When the Busse combat group at the forefront attempted a rescue, they were ambushed by over 30 assault guns, suffering heavy losses.”
The Emperor sat in his place, looking at Giles with a puzzled face, “Assault guns? Our new heavy tanks were destroyed by the enemy’s assault guns?”
“That’s what Colonel Busse’s report from the front states; he’s the commander of the advanced combat group for the Sede Division. Moreover…”
Giles seemed hesitant.
Emperor: “Moreover what?”
Giles: “The enemy commander is General Rokossovsky.”
“What?” The Emperor stood up so abruptly that he bumped his leg against the table, causing him to bend over in pain.
Giles: “That’s why I hesitated to tell you now. I was afraid you’d lose sleep tonight.”
“Would you keeping it to yourself let me sleep in peace? Our new tanks have been destroyed by the enemy, outdone by assault guns!” The Emperor walked around from behind the desk to confront Giles, snatching the telegram out of his hands to read it.
Giles discreetly gestured to the confidential secretaries, and the two secretaries left the study, quietly closing the door behind them.
Having read the telegram, the Emperor cursed, “This damned Rokossovsky! It must be his doing with these weapons!
“Rabowell said he’s in charge of school education now, fallen from grace in the political struggle. And now he’s come up with new weapons! Summon Duke Redweitz immediately, I want to interrogate him!”
Giles: “It may not necessarily be Rokossovsky’s doing…”
“It must be!” The Emperor interrupted his friend, “I have this feeling, it must be his work! I can sense it, a grand, fateful showdown exists between him and me! It has to be like this!”
Giles appeared somewhat helpless, but seeing the Emperor in an excited state, he suggested a compromise, “How about tomorrow then? It’s so late already, you can’t keep staying up.”
“No! I want to interrogate him now! Right now, immediately! Why do I stay up late if not because of these incompetent people below me!”
Giles immediately went to the desk, picked up the phone, “Connect me to Duke Redweitz’s residence.”
————
Duke Redweitz entered the study, first cautiously observing the Emperor’s expression, then looking towards Giles, he mouthed, “What happened?”
Giles mouthed back, “Just speak as usual.”
The Emperor demanded, “Your Krat Bureau said Rokossovsky was out of political favor and reassigned to a school, didn’t they? Now he shows up with new weapons and has severely hit our forces!”
Immediately, Duke Redweitz responded, “New weapons? The Krat Bureau has many reports, including ones that say Rokossovsky is responsible for the development of new weapons.”
The Emperor’s eyes widened, “Then why wasn’t I informed?”
“Because the intel of Rokossovsky taking a position as a school headmaster was confirmed by other sources, we considered it contradictory to the report without additional sources and so disregarded it.”
The Emperor slammed the desk, “Now Rokossovsky has appeared with new weapons! Could you bunch of incompetents not think he might have taken on both roles?! The Krat Bureau is wasted on you; let it report directly to me!”
Duke Redweitz looked troubled, “We could, but the volume of intelligence the Krat Bureau offers is vast and mostly inaccurate…”
Emperor: “Then I’ll organize people I trust to analyze the Krat Bureau’s intelligence! This agency will report directly to me!”
With that, he slammed the table forcefully, causing a water glass to jump and then topple to the side, spilling tea across the desk, spreading like flowing blood.