Arc of Fire

The tank crew was busily disassembling the limiters and brushing on tactical numbers, while Wang Zhong said to Alexandria, “Call all the platoon commanders of the tank battalion over.”

Aside from this parade tank, there were a total of 24 T-34s; that made six platoons, which even in the severely understrength Ante Army could not be considered a tank battalion, even though it was indeed a battalion-level organization.

Soon, all the officers of the battalion gathered by Tank 422, which was being repainted.

Upon seeing Wang Zhong, the battalion’s original commander, Colonel Kopov, saluted and said, “I must remind Your Excellency the General, aside from these few who were specially transferred from the armor training unit, the rest of us are only proficient in washing vehicles.”

Wang Zhong frowned, wondering if he had heard wrong, “Washing vehicles?”

“Perhaps they are also good at painting vehicles. Look at our tanks, all beautifully decorated for parades, the road wheels even have white rims,” the colonel added.

It was only then that Wang Zhong looked down at the road wheels, which indeed had those circular white rims; they would look impressive in a parade formation.

But on the battlefield, this would only make the blood of the enemies splatter more noticeably, though, hmm, it seemed not entirely useless after all.

Wang Zhong: “Indeed, the rims are painted well. They will leave more noticeable blood marks when running over enemy corpses, and that can shock our enemies.”

“I’m serious. The current situation is…”

The colonel interrupted Wang Zhong again: “General! We can’t possibly hit the enemy because most of us haven’t adjusted the gun sights or used the elevation drum since leaving school.

“We aren’t even sure we can aim accurately because these tanks have not had their sights maintained since being issued to us.”

Wang Zhong: “What about the main gun?”

“That has been maintained, because sometimes we need to demonstrate live-firing to His Majesty, so it can be fired.”

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“How could you demonstrate live-firing without adjusting the sights?” Wang Zhong was even more puzzled.

Colonel Kopov looked at the sky: “That’s because, during demonstrations, we use blank shells, and the impact effect is completely dependent on pre-set explosives.”

Wang Zhong thought damn, you’re cheating the emperor, and there’s no crime of deceiving the sovereign in the Ante Empire?

At this point, Warrant Officer Alexandria interjected, “As long as we advance to within 300 meters, even an unadjusted gun sight can hit the target without adjusting the micrometer drum; you just need to match the crosshair and shoot, even a monkey could do it.”

Wang Zhong: “That will do.”

As he spoke, he picked up a stick and began drawing on the ground while explaining:

“The current situation is this: the enemy’s first echelon has already entered the city and is fighting fiercely with our forces. So far, the enemy’s second echelon is still on the open field, showing no intention of joining in.”

“I guess the enemy commander has judged that there is no need to commit the second echelon yet.”

“We will leave the city from the southeast road and then swing to the flank of the enemy’s formation on the plain.”

As he explained, Wang Zhong looked up at the flag that had been attached to the communications antenna: “Recognize this flag and move with us. Remember, as soon as you see the tank in front of you turn right, immediately turn right and face the enemy head-on.

“Can you execute that maneuver?”

Wang Zhong was actually worried they would mess up during the formation change, leading to disarray.

History was full of examples where inexperienced soldiers got decimated during formation changes.

Colonel Kopov spoke up: “If you’re talking about formation changes, we’re quite proficient at that. Our unit is specialized for parades. We could even perform a change to a V-formation for the enemy.”

“Ah, that won’t be necessary,” hastily waved off Wang Zhong, “A simple line formation will suffice. After the change of formation, we will stop every fifty meters to conduct one or two volleys of fire, taking aim at enemies close to you. Don’t be afraid, our frontal armor has a significant advantage over the enemy! Our firepower will ensure the destruction of the enemy.”

Indeed, the T-34 had an overwhelming advantage over Prosen’s tanks of that time.

While not as absolute as the KV, it was still quite difficult for the 50 mm gun on a Panzer III to penetrate the front of a T-34.

Especially since the Panzer III mounted an early version of the gun, not the later “extremely long-barreled” 50 mm, which in later video games even got the nickname “jellybean launcher,” indicating its armor-piercing shells were as ineffective as jellybeans, only good for leaving paint marks on the enemy.

Wang Zhong continued, “Once the enemy realizes they can’t effectively threaten our front, their fighting spirit will surely lead them to try to close in and strike at our side armor.

“They will engage us in a close fight, seeking to win with experience and superior tactics and technique.

“At such times, remember this: the enemy’s Panzer IVs weigh only 18 tons, the Panzer IIIs even less at 15 tons, whereas we are at 32 tons. A collision would surely result in greater losses for the enemy!”

Having finished, Wang Zhong looked at the platoon leaders: “Any questions?”

All six shook their heads.

Their faces were ashen.

At this point, Wang Zhong recalled the gunner Alexandria’s comment on their replacements for those original crew members: “Drunkards barely keeping their shape every day.”

Clearly, today’s bunch hadn’t had a drink, hence the nervousness.

If Wang Zhong had seasoned tank operators, he would have swapped them out. Unfortunately, he did not.

So he gestured: “Then return to your units, make sure every tank commander knows the plan! We move out in ten minutes! Dismissed!”

The platoon leaders turned and anxiously hurried back to their units.

Alexandria: “I wouldn’t recommend taking these people to fight in the open.”

“Trust me,” said Wang Zhong, “Urban combat is more complex, this bunch would be killed by the experienced Prosen infantry with grenades, Molotov cocktails, or even bayonets — climbing onto the tanks and stabbing them through the hatches.”