Chapter 123
Ant Army, Agsukov, Southwestern Front Army Group Headquarters.
Crown Prince Ivan Nikolayev Antonov entered a noisy map room and immediately noticed the bandage on General Skorobo's hand, exclaiming, "What happened? Have the enemy reached the headquarters?"
Skorobo waved his hand. "It's nothing, I just got too emotional and punched the table."
"Punched the table?" the Crown Prince's voice rose sharply, drawing glances from the surrounding staff. Fortunately, the headquarters was full of people shouting "Speak louder!", so it wasn't particularly conspicuous.
The Crown Prince lowered his voice and asked, "So Rokosov was right? The enemy really launched a pincer offensive, didn't they?"
"He was right about that part." Skorobo paused, then raised his voice, "But the next part he got completely wrong! Our armored counterattack will crush the enemy offensive! Come and look!"
Skorobo stood up and moved to the map. "According to the latest intelligence, the enemy may have deployed part of the 2nd Armored Cluster. We estimate three divisions, totaling nine armored battalions, around 400 tanks."
"And our counterattack involves three tank corps, with over a hundred T34s alone! Plus dozens of KV1s, and over two hundred BT tanks."
"These tanks are well supplied with fuel and ammunition, completely different from the under-fueled, under-supplied units we counterattacked with in the first month of the war! They will completely crush the enemy offensive!"
The Crown Prince stared at General Skorobo. "Can we really push them back?"
The General hesitated briefly, then responded firmly, "Yes! Absolutely!"
The Crown Prince nodded. "Then what should I do?"
"You should return to Saint Yekaterinburg! The enemy bombed Agsukov's airfield, but there's a field airstrip on the eastern side of the city that is still intact and can launch transport planes. We've already arranged a direct flight to Saint Yekaterinburg..."
The Crown Prince said, "I'm not going anywhere. Since you believe the counterattack will stop the enemy, I'll stay here. News of my departure would hurt morale!"
The General was momentarily stunned into silence, then said after a few seconds, "Just because we can win doesn't mean it's not dangerous here."
At that moment, a communications officer ran in with a telegram and saluted General Skorobo. "General! An urgent message from the Supreme High Command in Saint Yekaterinburg."
Skorobo snatched the message and glanced at it.
The Crown Prince asked, "What does it say?"
General Skorobo said, "His Majesty the Tsar orders us to resolutely repel the enemy's attack."
"Father said that? I think he might not understand what's happening on the front. I could call him..."
General Skorobo said, "You could fly back to Saint Yekaterinburg and tell His Majesty the Tsar in person."
The Crown Prince bit his lip and shook his head. "My duty is to oversee the troops here and boost morale. Since Father has ordered you to hold the line, then I should lead by example."
General Skorobo stared at the Crown Prince for a few seconds before saying, "I think I may have misunderstood you before. Since you've decided to stay, then we must give 120,000% effort to defeat the enemy's attack!"
"We have a massive army and vast technological weaponry in our hands. We are not weaker than the enemy!"
"Once the 6th Tank Corps launches its assault, everything will turn for the better!"
----
Ant Army, 6th Tank Corps, Chesnokov commands the tanks.
Corps Commander Chesnokov heard a radio report. "This is the 5th Tank Battalion. We've already had six tanks fall behind. Should we stop the assault?"
"No! Have the crews of the broken-down tanks ride with other tanks. That way, if any crew members are lost in battle, they can take over and continue fighting!" Lieutenant General Chesnokov's voice was cold and ruthless.
"Yes, Lieutenant General!" came the crew's reply through static noise.
Chesnokov wanted to see what was happening ahead, so he pressed his eyes to the sight, but the violent shaking nearly made him puke.
He had no choice but to push open the hatch on top of the turret and stick his head out to observe the front.
Then he noticed dust ahead-it looked like a cavalry line forming a "wall formation" was charging.
"All tanks, attention!" Chesnokov pressed the microphone at his throat. "Enemy tank cluster straight ahead! This time the enemy doesn't have air support-let's show them what we're made of!"
Fragmented cries of "Ura" came through the headset, mostly due to how terrible the T34's radios were.
Chesnokov remained in his lookout position, observing the front through binoculars. He was thrilled to see the Prossenian tanks lined up in a dense assault formation.
Early in the war, the Prossenians used this kind of dense formation to gain local superiority and quickly broke through the Ant Army's anti-tank positions at the border.
"Enemy tanks!" Lieutenant General Chesnokov shouted over the radio, "Prepare for combat!"
As he spoke, he ducked back into the tank turret.
Just before closing the hatch, he glanced back to confirm that the main force of the 6th Tank Corps was following behind him.
Back inside the tank, Chesnokov immediately pressed his eyes to the sight and began selecting a target.
Unfortunately, the enemy was too far away, and the tank was shaking violently from the charge. Every time Chesnokov saw a target, the jolting made him lose it. Let alone align the reticle with the enemy.
"Mikhail! Stop so I can pick a target and fire a shot!"
As soon as he said it, the tank braked hard, throwing Chesnokov forward and slamming his head against the handrail above the sight.
Chesnokov cursed and quickly operated the turret to find a target. He selected a Prossenian tank moving almost directly into the gun's line of fire and opened fire!
First shot hit!
The Prossenian tank lost power and gradually slowed while sliding forward. The crew opened the hatch and scattered.
Meanwhile, the enemy's return fire struck Chesnokov's tank, but only made a dull thud on the armor, like someone banging it with a hammer.
"Hahaha, that's it! That's how the White Horse General achieved his brilliant results! Every crew should get that kind of result too! Reload fast!"
More shells hit Chesnokov's tank but failed to penetrate the thick T34 armor.
One armor-piercing round might have deflected off the T34's surface, scraping it like long fingernails on an iron pot, giving the tankers goosebumps.
Loader: "Armor-piercing shell, got it!"
"Send another one!"
Chesnokov fired again. The shell hit the side of the target tank, bounced off the ground, and shot up into the sky like a distant star.
"What the hell! Reload again!"
At that moment, the enemy released smoke.
"Cowards!" Chesnokov cursed. "Mikhail, move forward! Keep the tank going! We'll roll over them and crush them! From today on, the Prossenians' armored advantage is over!"
The T34 started up again, and the noise from the engine and transmission made internal communication nearly impossible.
Due to the intense shaking, the sight lost its ability to search for targets, and Chesnokov had to rely on the side observation ports.
But the T34 turret design made it extremely difficult for him, as the gunner, to use the loader's side observation window-he could barely observe anything.
After all, in the T34's two-man turret, the loader and gunner sat side by side, completely blocking each other.
Before long, the Prossenian tank crews across from them would realize this and develop tactics to exploit it.
Chesnokov struggled for a while and finally gave up. He opened the hatch again and stuck his upper body out.
The smoke released by the enemy tanks had completely blocked the front-he couldn't see anything beyond it.
But Chesnokov believed the enemy couldn't release smoke forever. Once they broke through the smoke, it would be the end for the enemy's armored division!
If that happened, maybe he could even earn the Ant Hero Medal!
At that moment, his tank charged into the smoke at the forefront.
Inside the smoke, even sticking his head out gave him a terrible view, so Chesnokov withdrew into the turret.
A moment later, the sight that had been obscured by smoke suddenly showed an image again!
Chesnokov pressed up close, trying to spot the retreating Type 3 tank.
But there was nothing in front of him.
"Where did they go?"
At that moment, the engine and transmission system of the tank roared on as usual, drowning out nearly all external sounds.
Lieutenant General Chesnokov rotated the turret, trying to locate the vanished Type 3 tank group.
Then a voice full of panic came through the radio: "Who's firing at us? Did anyone see where the shot came from? Where's the cannon fire coming from?"
Cannon?
Lieutenant General Chesnokov tossed aside the sight and checked the observation window on his side. The T34s that charged with him were all fine-no sign of anyone attacking.
Then he turned to the other side, pushing the loader aside and looking out the observation window.
Nothing special there either. His wingman Vehicle 671 was still perfectly fine, wasn't it?
But in the blink of an eye, a flash streaked across the T34 with tactical number 671. It immediately slowed down, slid a few meters, then came to a complete stop, disappearing from the narrow view of the observation port.
What's going on?
What was that just now?
Lieutenant General Chesnokov wanted to confirm the status of Vehicle 671, so he turned and pressed his eyes to the observation window at the rear of the turret.
But the tiny observation port showed nothing.
He was about to use the radio, then remembered the wingman wasn't a command tank-it didn't have a radio.
Chesnokov turned back and tried to use the sight to find the enemy attacking his troops.
But the sight was shaking too much.
To get a clear view, Lieutenant General Chesnokov made a bold-and very foolish-order: "Mikhail! Stop!"
The tank braked hard. Chesnokov didn't wait for it to stop completely before rotating the turret to search ahead--
He saw nothing-until a flash flickered far, far away!
An 88mm anti-aircraft shell sliced through the T34's front armor like cutting butter.
Because it was fired from a great distance, its descending angle canceled out part of the T34's frontal armor slope.
The shell passed straight through driver Mikhail, exploding behind him.
The entire fighting compartment-that is, the turret-was blown into the sky in the explosion.
(End of Chapter)