Arc of Fire

Commander Shrifen, Major Shrifen, scrutinized the dust clouds on the hillside for a while before sneering, “The enemy’s scouts don’t even carry field telephones. The Ante Empire is more decayed than we imagined.”

Over the headset, the voice of his tank platoon leader came through: “They are an inferior race, yet they occupy the fertile black earth!”

"We’ve come to exterminate the pests!”

"Exactly, hahaha!”

Shrifen replied coldly: “The enemy is in front of us, no idle chit-chat over the radio.”

"Sorry, Major.”

"My apologies.”

Shrifen then asked, “What’s the result of the truck inspection?”

Although the Major had not issued an order to inspect the truck, he believed that his subordinates would definitely have it checked after the marching column stopped.

True to his expectations, the radio immediately relayed, “Major, it’s our truck. Before dawn today, a squad of mechanized infantry passed us. It might belong to that unit. But I didn’t find any of our army’s bodies in the truck.”

Shrifen cursed, “Why weren’t they stopped and checked when the convoy passed through? We are the spearhead of the attack, and according to the march order, the other units are all behind us!”

The radio fell silent.

Shrifen: “Who was on duty last night? I’ll spare you confinement with the enemy before us. But if you survive the fight, await your punishment!”

Having spoken, Shrifen momentarily shut off the tank’s transmitter and gave the driver orders through the internal comms: “Leave the main road, up the mountain!”

His Panzer III with the tactical number 141 left the road and climbed the hill which concealed Ante Army sentries.

The voice of the combat group’s staff officer came through the earphones: “Major, shouldn’t we let the infantry scout it out first?”

Shrifen: “There’s no need. Ante People have no talent for warfare. They only fight by the book. Just consider how poorly they fared in the Winter War!”

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"The Ante People will set up sniper positions on the hilltops since that’s what their textbooks teach them! If we haven’t been attacked by now, then there’s no one atop the hill. I’ll prove it!”

Having said that, Shrifen straightened up, exposing half his upper body from the protection of the tank hatch—the Panzer III’s hatch was specially designed to open forward and could serve as a shield for the commander when peering out.

Vehicle 141 made its way almost to the top of the hill.

It was then Shrifen’s line of sight could finally overlook the hilltop to see beyond, so he shouted, “Stop!”

The tank halted abruptly, jolting heavily.

Shrifen raised his binoculars. He had lost an eye in the Carolingian campaign but stubbornly continued to use binoculars as though he had never become a cyclops.

"The Ante People have fortified the town, with some buildings appearing quite solid.”

Momentarily, the staff officer riding in the command half-track also arrived up the hill. He jumped out of the vehicle and stood next to Tank 141, raising his binoculars.

"Considering that Ante Army unit that passed us off as ours this pre-dawn, they must…”

"Major!” an ensign officer interrupted the staff officer’s words, “Look here, there are track marks on the ground; an Ante Army tank stopped here!”

Shrifen turned toward the ensign: “Well done, Ensign, can you tell where the tracks go?”

"Down to the village on the hillside, Major!”

The chief of staff frowned, “Tanks and infantry, plus this kind of strong brick construction, we should wait for the heavy artillery. They actually gave up this high ground just like that. If we set up artillery observation posts here, the heavy artillery coming up could blast them to ashes!”

Shrifen: “The heavy artillery is stuck on the roads, and by the time they arrive, it’ll be too late. Ante People’s tanks are very outdated, and the Air Force has mostly destroyed them; a few tanks won’t make much difference.

"Deploy the troops. How many smoke bombs does the mortar platoon have left?”

The logistics staff replied, “Not many, officer; we’ve been pushing forward with no systematic resupply.”

"Then let’s not use them yet.”

Shrifen looked down at the village below again and said, “If the enemy has a ‘Divine Arrow’, it will be in that clock tower.”

After finishing his observation, Shrifen put down his binoculars and lifted his thumb as a reference, estimating the distance by sight.

"Two kilometers, the enemy’s Divine Arrows are not so precise at this distance, have Hoffman’s crew take over. The shooting position is right here!”

Soon, a number three tank with the tactical number 170 drove up the hill and stopped near Shrifen’s number 141.

Shrifen pressed his throat microphone and said, “Hoffman, the target is that bell tower, the enemy’s Divine Arrow team is definitely inside. The 50mm high-explosive shells of the Panzer III might not penetrate the stone walls, so I want you to accurately deliver the shells through the windows of the bell tower.”

Armor-Piercing Shells could naturally penetrate stone walls, but their damaging effect might not be very good.

However, hitting the windows accurately from two kilometers away required not only superb shooting skills but also a bit of luck.

In fact, hitting the bell tower at this distance would already be considered passing.

But Shrifen had confidence in his team’s ace gunner.

Shrifen: “Hit it and I’ll reward you with a pack of canned food!”

Laughter from the tankers came over the radio: “Major, who needs your canned food now? Look around—there’s an endless supply of beef and women to sleep with!”

"Indeed, we are only a bit short on bread!”

Shrifen: “Then the reward will be in Imperial Marks, and if you miss, it’s solitary confinement for you!”

Hoffman whistled: “Just watch me!”

Tank number 170 rotated its turret, beginning to aim.

Shrifen glanced at his subordinates, then turned back to look at the foot of the hill, pleased to see his troops had completed deployment for combat, ready to launch an attack.

At that moment, the gun fired.

————

"They’ve fired?” Monk Yeca Neiko was shocked as the whistling sound of the shell passed overhead; everyone instinctively looked up.

The next moment, the explosion came from behind.

Monk Yeca Neiko rushed to the opposite window, just in time to see dust breaking through the bell tower’s windows.

Then he saw two guards running out of the bell tower’s main door, panic-stricken onto the street.

The next moment, the large bell crashed onto the first floor of the bell tower, and the bell, as tall as a person, started bouncing, with its dull toll torturing everyone’s ears.

Monk Yeca Neiko cursed: “Sukabule!”

He looked at the others.

A munitions handler said, “If we were in the bell tower now, we’d be like that bell…”

Ludmila: “We can counterattack! The one who fired must be their best gunner! Taking him out could save many of us!”

"No!” Yeca Neiko reprimanded the people who started to move after Ludmila’s words, “They’d just reverse and evade now, which would only expose us! Wait for them to come into the open, when they have nowhere to hide, then we shoot!”

After stopping everyone, Yeca Neiko muttered to himself, “It actually hit as predicted… could he really be a genius?”

————

Shrifen frowned, observing the village’s response.

The Chief of Staff said, “It seems there’s no Divine Arrow stationed in the tower. The enemy might have abandoned this village.”

Shrifen: “Even so, we must advance into the village in combat formation. Second Armored Platoon and infantry, begin the push!”

The Second Platoon mainly equipped the Panzer IV tanks for infantry support, with their short-barrel 75mm howitzers not suitable for anti-tank but extremely effective against infantry.

The Chief of Staff glanced at the staff officer already standing by and nodded gently.

So the staff officer blew the whistle that signaled the start of the offensive.

The Panzer IV tanks of the Second Platoon emitted thick smoke from their exhaust pipes as their tracks crushed the black soil, rolling over the hill.