Private Andreas and Sergeant Kosolek were talking when they suddenly heard the sound of engines.
The sergeant went to the window facing the interior of Yeisk city, looked out, and saw a continuous stream of motorcycles and wheeled armored vehicles from the motorized reconnaissance battalion moving along the street.
Andreas also came over, “What’s going on? Didn’t they say the enemy was going to attack?”
“The enemy hasn’t come, so the higher-ups sent out scouts,” said Sergeant Kosolek. “Being machine gunners has its benefits, we don’t have to do that kind of stuff, and organizing patrol teams doesn’t fall to us either.”
“Patrol teams?” Andreas asked with confusion, “I participated in patrol teams during training camp.”
Surprised, Kosolek asked, “They also organize patrols inside the country?”
“No, our training camp was in Melania, with Melanian resistance guerrillas around us, part of what they called the Salvation Alliance Army. Reportedly, in the coastal provinces, the United Kingdom’s airplanes even airdrop weapons to them, they transport these weapons to the inland, and occasionally launch attacks on us.”
Kosolek cursed, “Those wretches, when we invaded Melania many of them were starving and jobless. The Great Depression destroyed everything. We offered them the chance to join the glorious Empire, yet they’re so ungrateful!”
Kosolek paused then asked, “So you participated in a patrol team, then what?”
“It was the siege of an Allied Forces position, our patrol team was responsible for the perimeter blockade. We encountered a few guerrillas, the lieutenant leading the team fired a flare toward the enemy’s direction, and we greenhorns just shot in the direction where the flare fell, without seeing where the enemy was.
“After a while, the lieutenant shouted to cease fire, and we stopped shooting, not feeling at all like we had been in real combat. I thought we surely hadn’t hit anything, but later, we found four bodies, with no idea how they were hit.”
After listening to Andreas’s story, Sergeant Kosolek laughed, “Not bad for a rookie’s experience. As a machine gunner, most of the time, you also can’t see who you’ve hit. Most of the time, you’re just holding the machine gun grip, moving it smoothly from one side to the other.
“The aiming is determined by the traverse wheel on the tripod. However many turns you give it, such is the trajectory of the machine gun.”
A machine gun fixed to a tripod actually has a very limited range of vertical movement; to make major adjustments to the gun’s elevation you have to rely on the wheel. It’s only when you take the machine gun off and shoot with a bipod that the sights on the machine gun become useful. When it’s mounted on a tripod, the wheel takes on the function of those sights.
Kosolek continued, “On a tripod, the machine gun can even hit someone 1500 meters away. Do you know what a person 1500 meters away looks like? Just a speck, like an ant, you can’t aim at that, it’s physically impossible—unless you put a sniper’s scope on the machine gun.
“You just turn the traverse wheel to the 1500 meters setting, and then rock the grip like this.”
The sergeant demonstrated the action of swinging the machine gun grip from side to side.
“That’s what the battlefield is like, actually seeing who you hit is the exception. Plus, honestly, not seeing is better, once you see, you’ll realize you’re taking out someone about your age, and that gives you nightmares. For us machine gunners, that’s especially important.
“Remember what I told you about Argesukov?”
Andreas nodded, “I remember, sergeant, you took out over a thousand Ante People with more than twenty thousand bullets.”
“Right, afterwards they went to clear the battlefield and called me to join, said I could take some trophies from the Ante People, but I refused.”
Andreas: “To avoid nightmares?”
Sergeant: “To avoid nightmares. Isn’t that obvious?”
At that moment, the sound of tracks pressing against the road surface came from below.
Curious, Andreas looked out the window.
The sergeant said, “Definitely a Mark II tank. The only reliable fire support for the reconnaissance units is the 20mm cannon on the Mark II tank. If they encounter the enemy’s armored forces, they’ll get their asses kicked.”
Sure enough, Andreas saw the Mark II tanks mixed in with the motorized reconnaissance units.
He said, “Mark IIs, they’re everywhere in Melania, and Mark I tanks too. The national guard divisions had a lot of them. You hardly see Mark Is on the frontlines anymore.”
“The engineers still use them, to throw explosive packs, like catapults,” the sergeant demonstrated with a gesture.
Andreas leaned on the windowsill, watching the advancing reconnaissance battalion below, and asked, “Sergeant, if the reconnaissance battalion finds out that the enemy really doesn’t intend to attack, will we attack? Will we be operating the machine guns on the tanks when we do?”
“Of course not, when the time comes, we’ll be riding in half-tracks, advancing with the infantry. When needed, the platoon leader will bellow ‘Get off the vehicle, you swine, machine gunners take the high ground,’ and then we’ll scramble to the highest point in sight, perhaps a barn, perhaps a small hill, or maybe rubble.”
“And then?” Andreas asked.
“Then you go up and shoot until death,” the sergeant shrugged, “I feel I should’ve died at Argesukov, after all, the second team was already prepared, just waiting to see when the Ante People will come to claim my life.”
Andreas didn’t know what to say, able only to lean on the windowsill, watching the scouting team move forward.
————
Ante Army, position outside the city.
The commander of the 1st Tank Destroyer Battalion was observing the enemy, “Strange, how did the white smoke like dust mix in with the black smoke from the fires?”
Then he saw the enemy’s motorized reconnaissance team leaving the city.
He immediately picked up the handset, “Genghis Khan, Genghis Khan, the enemy has left the city, it’s a motorized reconnaissance unit! The direction they’re exiting is not within my firing range.”
The vortex gun’s reticle was set to 2200 meters, personally determined by Major General Rocossov.
Even with a longer reticle, with Ante’s level of optical lenses, it was impossible to shoot accurately, so the 1st Tank Destroyer Battalion really could not deal with the enemy’s reconnaissance team leaving the city; they could only report it up the chain of command.
At that moment, a robust voice came over the radio, “Leave it to the armored troops, Guards Tank Battalion One, it’s your turn!”
The tank destroyer battalion commander frowned, “This violates radio discipline, doesn’t it? One shouldn’t use unit numbers—wait a minute, division commander?”
“Correct, it’s me. I just arrived and didn’t know your call signs; eat up the exiting reconnaissance battalion regardless, we can’t let the enemy find out that we’re not attacking because the infantry isn’t in place.”
The commander was at a loss, he could tell that the latter half of the sentence was meant to deceive the Prussians, but he couldn’t help but wonder, could such deception really fool the Prussians?
At that moment, the voice of the commander of Guards Tank Battalion One came on the radio, “Division commander, you’ve finally arrived! So, we’re under your command now?”
“Yes, the general’s tank brigade has arrived with all-new tanks, your duty as the reserve is over! Now you’re back under my command, Yegorov!”
The destroyer battalion commander twisted his eyebrows.
Similarly, upon hearing the conversation over the radio, the gunner asked, “Can the enemy believe such an obvious flaw? When the general said to ‘give the enemy plenty of leeway,’ wasn’t this violating that principle?”
The destroyer battalion commander shrugged. At that moment, the sound of engines came from the rear right; he turned his head and saw distant dust—Guard Tank Battalion One must have moved out.
Then, the jeep unit responsible for monitoring the other side reported, “We also have enemies leaving the city on this side, approximately the size of a reconnaissance company with Mark II tanks; we can’t handle them.”
Yegorov: “Tank Battalion of the 225th Division will handle it, don’t worry about it!”
————
“Report.”
Major General Vitz turned his head, looking at the staff officer, “Speak if there’s something to report.”
“Radio surveillance heard Ante Army communications, confirming enemy troops in our northeast are of the 225th Division, southeast enemy unit numbers unknown, but the commander is named Yegorov.”
Major General Vitz twisted his eyebrows, “Yegorov?”
His adjutant immediately stepped forward, “He’s Rocossov’s favorite officer, according to High Command bulletins, he’s been with Rocossov since the battle of Ronied, and has been through many battles together, a formidable enemy indeed.”
Major General Vitz, “So to our southeast is Rocossov’s direct Guard Mechanized Infantry One? What’s the story with the 225th Division to the northeast?”
All present shook their heads.
“Never heard of them.”
“They don’t have the title of Guards, so they might not be elite troops?”
Major General Vitz shook his head, “But Yegorov trusts this unit very much—”
Just then, another person came in to report, “The reconnaissance forces exiting the city to the southeast have encountered enemy tank forces and lost contact after contacting us, presumed to be annihilated.”
Colonel Busse spoke with conviction, “See! To immediately render a reconnaissance company incapable of reporting, with the Ante people’s poor shooting skills, there must have been dozens of tanks firing in unison!”
“Report,” the first communication staff officer to enter said, “We also intercepted a conversation, someone claiming to be Yegorov declared that the lack of an attack was due to the infantry not having arrived.”
Major General Vitz paced the room with his hands behind his back.
At that moment, the Chief of Staff of the Zed Division said, “We have two full battalions of armored forces at our disposal, albeit the first battalion suffered some losses yesterday, mostly Mark III tanks; there are also 27 long-barreled Mark IVs ready for combat this morning. Combined, the two battalions have 58 long-barreled Mark IVs, plus Captain John’s 8 new heavy tanks, and about 150 Mark IIIs, totally capable of leaving the city to fight the enemy.”
Major General Vitz thought for a moment, then asked Colonel Busse, “Are you sure that it was assault guns that destroyed our heavy tanks?”
“Yes, assault guns,” Colonel Busse declared with certainty.
“No,” Major General Vitz told the Chief of Staff, “Assault guns excel in defense, if we launch an armored offensive, that’s exactly what the enemy wants. Recall the reconnaissance team moving to the northeast; there’s no need to lose scouts unnecessarily. Send a report to Army Group that my division is being attacked by a concentrated Ante force, request reinforcements to catch up as soon as possible.”
After a brief pause, Major General Vitz continued, “Also cc the report to the headquarters of the Southern Army Group, especially highlighting our encounter with Rocossov, Rocossov!”