Cannon Fire Arc-Chapter 682 - 20 Battlefield Yellow Flowers

Chapter 682: Chapter 20 Battlefield Yellow Flowers

Shostka City Suburbs, Prosen Controlled Area, June 21st at 05:10.

Lieutenant Hansen used his binoculars to observe the area controlled by the Anteans.

Yesterday, the Anteans had launched an attack that lasted all day, forcing Lieutenant Hansen’s camp back to their current position, and then they suffered heavy casualties in front of the strong steel-reinforced concrete fortress.

The Anteans deployed new assault guns, attempting to destroy the fortress with cannons said to be one hundred millimeters thick, yet the fortress remained unscathed.

Later, the Anteans brought in heavy artillery and opened fire on the fortress from a distance of 500 meters, and again they failed.

Within Lieutenant Hansen’s field of view lay the wreckage of three Antean heavy artillery pieces. The Ante Artillery were very brave, approaching the bastion with these unarmed weapons, and despite paying a high price in casualties, they managed only to blast the surface of the fortress’s outer wall, exposing the steel reinforcements.

Today, the Anteans were likely to continue their attack, but they would surely struggle in front of the sturdy fortress—Lieutenant Hansen believed so.

At that moment, his orderly made his way through the long tunnel and entered the bunker he was commanding: “Sir, it’s time for breakfast.”

Lieutenant Hansen turned around and glanced at the dish the orderly was holding: “Didn’t I say to prepare enough for everyone? I cannot enjoy food alone at my battle station.”

The orderly replied, “I tried my best, but the kitchen said the egg storage was taken over by the Anteans yesterday, and there were not enough eggs. That’s why only one egg was fried for you. The rest are one portion per person.”

Machine Gunner Hawke laughed and said, “With ham sandwiches, we’re already satisfied. Look, there’s even lettuce in the sandwiches.”

The orderly added, “I also put in cheese! It’s just that there were no fried eggs.”

“With cheese too! Here, Bavarian, this one’s for you!” Hawke took a big bite of his own sandwich while also handing one to the assistant gunner.

Nobody remembered the Bavarian’s real name, mainly because his Bavarian accent was so strong that even when someone mentioned “that Bavarian” within the company, everyone immediately thought of him.

He took the sandwich and ate while looking out the shooting window.

Right then, the sound of artillery shells whooshing by came from outside; before anyone could react, an explosion followed, and the ground began to tremble.

Though the men were sheltered in the secure bunker, the intensity of the artillery fire still caused everyone to instinctively duck their heads.

The orderly even crouched down against the wall.

Machine Gunner Hawke laughed and said, “Leaning against the wall is actually more dangerous. The vibrations from the shells will travel through the wall and shake your insides to bits! The safest position during a bombardment is like this; let me show you!”

The machine gunner lay on the ground, demonstrating the standard protective posture: “It’s strenuous, but it can protect you to the greatest extent. Of course, if a shell explodes within ten meters of you, no position will help, not even lying in a trench.

“If a shell explodes within twenty meters of you, even if you survive, you’ll likely suffer a concussion and have to be carried away.”

The orderly frowned, “Are you trying to scare me? According to what you’re saying, couldn’t the enemy just empty the fortress with artillery? One shell hits the outside, and everyone inside gets shaken silly.”

Lieutenant Hansen spoke up, “What do you think caused all those casualties in the main fort yesterday? The enemy’s 210 heavy artillery directly hit the main fort (actually it was 203, but Prosen does not have 203 caliber, only 210, so the lieutenant said so), and although it did not break through, it still caused a bunch of people inside to be injured.”

Machine Gunner commented, “I heard several people were even shaken to death. It’s terrifying; people were killed through such thick steel-reinforced concrete.”

Lieutenant Hansen continued, “The reason the Anteans started advancing after firing yesterday was because they knew that the main fort bombarded wouldn’t be capable of an effective counterattack for a while. In fact, yesterday was very dangerous, and had it not been for the alert people in the adjacent bunkers, we would have had to retreat again.”

Just then, the earth-shaking sensation suddenly stopped.

Lieutenant Hansen looked at his watch, “How come it stopped so soon? It’s only been half an hour!”

Hawke suggested, “Maybe the enemy ran out of shells yesterday? The newspapers back home have been claiming that the Anteans now lack sufficient artillery shells.”

Lieutenant Hansen retorted, “How is that possible? Even when we are bombarded at home, we have enough shells delivered to the frontline. The Anteans have a secure rear and support from the Federation; they definitely have enough shells.”

“Maybe they all went to Rocossov?” said the orderly. “He seems very adept at using artillery.”

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Just as Lieutenant Hansen was about to answer, the Bavarian shouted, “Something’s happening! The enemy is coming.”

After he shouted, the others also noticed the roar of engines and the noise of gearboxes.

The gearbox noise of Antean tanks was completely distinct from that of Prosen, reportedly because Antean gearboxes were designed very simply.

Lieutenant Hansen crawled to the shooting port and raised his binoculars.

Through the dust raised in the distance, he spotted armored vehicles maneuvering behind the riddled buildings!

But Lieutenant Hansen’s bunker lacked anti-tank firepower, so these armored units were not his concern; his job was solely to intercept and eliminate the enemy infantry.

“Get ready, check the machine guns!” the lieutenant ordered.

Hawke stuffed the last bite of the sandwich into his mouth and joined the assistant gunner in checking the machine guns.

There were three machine guns inside the bunker, but one was reserved for use to maintain continuous fire when the other two needed their barrels changed.

Lieutenant Hansen’s binoculars continued to chase the dust behind the buildings.

Suddenly, the dust stopped, and correspondingly, the mechanical roaring sound also temporarily lowered.

Then there was a change in the noise of the gearboxes; it felt as though the armored vehicles were turning.

Immediately afterward, the patchy brick wall in Lieutenant Hansen’s binoculars collapsed with a crash, and a boxy armored vehicle emerged through the dense dust, crossing over the wall and crushing the bodies of soldiers behind it, advancing toward the fortress.

The anti-tank guns of the other bunkers opened fire right away, and a direct hit from a PAK40 shell bounced off that thing!

The more terrifying thing was that the front of the armored vehicle had no openings at all, not even a gun barrel—it was just a solid armor plate.

Lieutenant Hansen heard the sound of the anti-tank rifle and saw the direction of the tracer bullets flying. They should have been aiming at the observation port above the enemy’s main armor.

However, Lieutenant Hansen, based on his knowledge of armored vehicles, thought that the observation port was likely a periscope and that even if the reflective mirror was shattered, it could still function to some extent.

Sure enough, the armored vehicle continued to advance towards the bunker.

Ante infantry flanked the armored vehicle on both sides, their movements practiced as they alternately covered each other’s advance. One look at this rhythm of advancement and you knew they were old soldiers.

Not to mention, they also wore the cloaks of the Imperial Guard.

Hawke cursed, “Damn, it’s the cloak cockroaches!”

This was what the Federation soldiers called the Antean Imperial Guard because these guys were as tough as cockroaches and impossible to exterminate.

Lieutenant Hansen said, “The enemy has crossed the 400-meter mark, open fire!”

Hawke pulled the trigger, and the distinctive sound of tearing fabric from the Prosen machine gun immediately rang out, sweeping a dense web of fire across the Antean formation.

But only one man was hit and stopped; the rest all promptly took cover.

Then the “cloak cockroaches” began to leap forward adeptly. Wherever the machine gun swept, soldiers from the other side would stand and charge forward, entering the next cover.

As he fired, Hawke cursed, “Two years ago they were still charging forward like greenhorns! Goddamn, goddamn!”

Inside Lieutenant Hansen’s bunker, no one paid attention to the still slowly advancing armored vehicle.

The lieutenant’s attention was fully on the enemy infantry, continuously issuing commands until Hawke yelled “Change the barrel!” Then he glanced at the armored vehicle.

That’s when he saw the anti-tank gun firing at the tracks of the armored vehicle.

However, there was a mine roller at the front and a dozer blade, and even two armor-piercing shells failed to hit the tracks hidden behind, only managing to knock off one side of the mine roller.

After all, it was difficult to hit the tracks in the first place—there was too much debris and blockage on the ground, and now there was a bunch of other stuff piled up.

Finally, the moment the third armor-piercing shell hit, the armored vehicle came to a halt.

The lieutenant shouted, “Good! Hit the tracks!”

Then he saw a bright Novae rising from behind the armored vehicle.

The back of Lieutenant Hansen’s neck tingled, and he suddenly remembered a report that said the Anteans had acquired a new type of weapon that fired large-caliber rockets.

The Empire had also come up with something called the Land Stuka, based on Antean designs.

Was it that kind of weapon?

It was said that this thing could blast all kinds of bunkers sky high and leave behind a huge mushroom cloud.

Lieutenant Hansen watched the Novae until it disappeared from his field of vision.

Hawke kept firing nonstop, not caring about the rocket that had been launched.

After all, he was just a machine gunner; he couldn’t do anything else even if he wanted to.

Lieutenant Hansen sighed.

The shockwave from the explosion engulfed the small bunker, knocking everyone inside unconscious in an instant.

————

Lieutenant Andrei watched the rising mushroom cloud and dashed out of the shelter, “The enemy must be stunned! Charge now!”

“Ura!”

Guards soldiers poured out from behind the shelter, rushing towards the fortress.

Yesterday, all day long, Ante troops had been working hard to determine the positions of the enemy’s heavily fortified strongholds because these fortresses were hard to spot when not firing.

Today, the Guard First and the Urban Assault Gun brigade of rocket artillery were deployed, guiding the infantry to take out the enemy’s fortresses one by one.

The Guard’s 53rd Infantry Regiment cooperated in the assault.

The rising mushroom cloud was the signal for the offensive.

Lieutenant Andrei, leading his troops, charged towards the completely silent fortress.

“Flamethrowers! Spray into the firing ports! Burn them alive!” After Andrei shouted, flamethrower soldiers rushed forward, pulling the trigger at the firing ports.

Brilliant flames engulfed the firing ports, spewing out from other windows of the fortress.

Immediately after, sounds of ammunition cooking off came from inside the fortress, crackling like fireworks.

“Continue!” Andrei yelled, “Burn them all! Advance! For the motherland!”

The massive wave swallowed everything.