Arc of Fire

Karamazov dropped the sapper shovel, sat on the ZIS30, and gasped for air.

He had dug an emplacement to hide the ZIS30, but honestly, he didn’t think it was of any use.

The ZIS30 was already quite compact, just piling some grass on it made it nearly invisible from a distance.

Putting the vehicle in the emplacement merely made an already concealed vehicle more hidden. But when it came to concealment, if the enemy couldn’t see it, they couldn’t see it. Making something that was already well hidden even more so seemed like a futile effort.

The loader asked Karamazov, "Do you think the enemy will counterattack? If they don’t, aren’t we just wasting our time? We could follow the naval infantry in their attack and be useful by blowing up bunkers or something."

Karamazov took out some loose tobacco, then fished out a piece of newspaper to tear off a corner and began rolling a cigarette. As he rolled, he answered, "There’s no need for us to worry about the port attack. They’ve got destroyers with naval guns for that."

"Saying it’s a naval gun, when I first got to Abawahan, I went on a destroyer and saw for myself, their caliber is about the same as ours, they just switched to rapid-fire guns. It went ’tat-tat-tat,’ just like a machine gun. Although those destroyers are called destroyers, they are actually coastal defense ships used for harbor patrols by the real navy."

The Inland Sea, as the name implies, is completely inland, outside ships wanting to get in would have to navigate dry land, so they can’t be too large.

The Ante Empire has shipyards around the Inland Sea, they certainly could build large warships, but considering building them too large would be pointless, as long as they are larger than the warships from other countries around the Inland Sea, that’s enough.

So Rocossov proposed a plan for fire support, using large cargo ships converted into fire support vessels, stuffed with the army’s 152mm howitzers or Katyusha rocket artillery.

But this plan was eventually scrapped due to a limited number of large cargo vessels available for transport on the Inland Sea.

In any case, the Inland Navy’s "destroyers" had to take up the task of fire support, forcibly entering the port and using direct fire from their naval guns against the defenders.

Karamazov rolled up the cigarette, put it in his mouth, and started patting his pockets for a match.

The loader casually took out a box of matches and struck one.

Karamazov leaned in to light his handmade cigarette, took a strong drag, then exhaled a smoke ring.

He watched the smoke ring slowly rise and disappear into the sunlight at seven in the morning.

At that moment, artillery fire was heard from the north.

Karamazov: "It’s started at the port, even if the enemy is stupid, they should be counterattacking by now."

Loader: "But... the Balasians on the beach were beaten so badly, we shattered their morale with armor-piercing shells, they probably don’t have the guts to counterattack now, do they?"

"Yes, just the Balasians probably wouldn’t dare to counterattack." Karamazov exhaled another smoke ring and looked towards the city through it.

Although it was called a city, Karamazov didn’t see any buildings taller than three stories—not many were even two stories—and there were hardly any reinforced concrete buildings or even a few red-brick houses.

Karamazov: "If it weren’t for the transport routes, I reckon nobody would bother to occupy this dump."

As soon as he finished speaking, the battalion commander of the Anti-tank Artillery Battalion came riding on a motorcycle, shouting, "The observation post has spotted dust clouds, the enemy should be arriving soon, prepare for battle!"

Karamazov shouted, "Are they really coming? Is it tanks? I hope it’s not another bunch of cavalry!"

"If it’s cavalry coming, the machine gun company left by the naval infantry will deal with them. Don’t worry, Karamazov. We’ll take care of the tanks. Remember the weak spot diagram of the Matilda tank given to you. It’s compiled from our own testing results and data from the United Kingdom, it should work."

Karamazov waved his hand, signaling he understood.

The battalion commander rode off on his motorcycle.

The loader pulled out the diagram, "Want to take a look?"

Karamazov shook his head, "I’ve seen it, really seen it. I know where to hit to take out the United Kingdom’s turtle shell. Can you believe this thing moves at infantry pace in the field?"

"Moves at the same pace as infantry?" The loader exclaimed in surprise.

"Yeah, maybe that’s why it’s called an infantry tank."

As he finished speaking, Karamazov spotted a dust cloud in the distance.

Under the sun, the dust cloud was very apparent.

He threw his cigarette butt to the ground and stamped it out with his military boot, then loudly commanded, "Load armor-piercing shells, quick! The enemy is coming!"

The other vehicles nearby also promptly entered combat readiness, and the atmosphere at the previously relaxed position suddenly became tense.

The dust cloud in the distance grew thicker, even obscuring part of the city.

At that moment, the battalion commander came back riding his motorcycle, shouting as he rode, "This dust cloud doesn’t look like cavalry. A tough fight is coming, boys! If we hit the tanks, they’re done for! If we miss, they can still blast us to pieces! We can only fire as much as we can before the enemy spots us, keep firing constantly!"

The commander’s motorcycle passed by Karamazov.

Karamazov watched the commander’s retreating figure for a while, making sure he had gone far before opening the emergency supplies box next to his fighting position and taking out binoculars to look towards the enemy.

These binoculars were previously confiscated equipment and, according to military regulations, should have been turned in for redistribution among the troops based on need.

But Karamazov kept the illicitly obtained binoculars, with a quite righteous-sounding reason, "General Rocossov demands the Whirlwind to penetrate and destroy the enemy tanks at 1800 meters. Then, we who operate self-propelled anti-tank guns should do the same. Without binoculars, how can I spot the enemy at 1800 meters?"

This excuse was agreed upon by everyone else on the crew, they just didn’t dare to tell the battalion commander.

Karamazov used a captured Zeiss telescope to observe the enemy charging over, "One, two, three...twenty, a total of twenty Matildas, and behind the formation, together with the infantry. The front is all filled with Crusader light tanks."

The United Kingdom calls them cruiser tanks.

Karamazov observed the light tanks for a moment and then, perplexed, asked the loader, "Do you remember how much the Crusader light tank weighs according to the data?"

The loader shrugged his shoulders, "I can’t remember, isn’t it about the same as our BT series?"

Karamazov replied, "Then why are they moving so slowly? Could it be due to a lousy engine? But how come I remember that the United Kingdom’s engine technology is more advanced than ours? Even our Air Force uses engines licensed for production by the Rolls-Royce Company."

"Is it really slow?" The loader, without a telescope, couldn’t see the specifics and could only stare at the approaching dust and say so.

Karamazov followed a Crusader with his telescopic field of view, "Yes, quite slow, maybe just a bit faster than the off-road speed of a T34. Could it be that they’ve equipped the tanks with speed limiters? But why would they do that?"

"For more accurate firing while on the move?" the loader suggested, spreading his hands.

"Stop talking, they’ve passed the marker, quickly getting within range!" Karamazov put down his telescope, plastering himself to the gun sight, locking onto a Crusader at the front line.

He fired.

There were sparks on the shell of the Crusader, hit!

Then the Crusader continued advancing unharmed!

The shell had exploded behind the Crusader tank!

Karamazov was shocked, "Over-penetration?" Read the latest on empire

Over-penetration: it means that the armor-piercing capability of the shell far exceeds the target’s defense, causing the shell to pass through as if it were paper, piercing right through the target and exploding on the other side.

"Wait! Stop loading armor-piercing shells, load the high-explosive shells! Good, during the landing, we used up lots of armor-piercing shells, but we didn’t consume many high-explosive ones!"

The loader, reluctantly, pulled out the shell already shoved into the barrel and pushed in a high-explosive shell instead.

Karamazov fired again.

This time the Crusader exploded, its turret flying into the sky.

Karamazov laughed loudly, "Good! Continue clearing out the Crusader light tanks! Load quickly."

At this moment, all 30 ZIS30s of the battalion began to fire, but many didn’t realize that the armor of the Crusader tanks was too thin for the 57mm guns; many gun crews dutifully used armor-piercing shells.

Some Crusaders, hit by armor-piercing shells, began to smoke heavily, then a bunch of tank operators scrambled out and fled in all directions.

The concentrated firing went on for a few minutes, and more than half of the enemy vanguard Crusaders were destroyed; the rest turned around to retreat.

By the way, it seems like all the Crusader tanks had no intention of counterattacking and not a single shot was fired back at the anti-tank position.

And the Matildas, not until all the Crusaders had run away, had yet to come forward.

"Switch to armor-piercing shells!" Karamazov, who had resumed observation with his telescope, ordered as such, "High-explosives probably won’t be effective against the Matildas."

By then, the whole position had fallen silent, everyone waiting for the Matilda tanks to come into range.

But these abstract contraptions, with cross-country speeds matching that of infantry, took a formidable seven minutes and still hadn’t reached the rubble of the Crusader tanks.

Finally, Karamazov could no longer bear it and adjusted the scale using the gun sight, aiming at a Matilda and fired!

The shell fell at a steep angle onto the front of the Matilda, only to be bounced away.

Karamazov cursed loudly.

The loader consoled him, "It’s too far, the energy of the shell has decreased significantly."

"You even know the word energy!" Karamazov said mockingly.

The loader replied, "I too attended night school opened by the General! I really want to advance, buddy!"

Karamazov didn’t respond and continued to observe the distance, waiting for these slow movers to enter effective range.

Five minutes later, the first Matilda crossed the marker.

Karamazov immediately put down the telescope, pressing his eye to the gun sight, carefully aimed, adjusted the scale, and fired!

Sparks appeared on the front armor of the Matilda tank, which then stopped, with thick smoke emerging from the rear of the vehicle. The tank crew hurriedly ran out of the tank and scattered in all directions.

Karamazov clenched his fist, "Good! Armor-piercing shells are effective against this thing too! Load quickly!"

The other ZIS30s also fired, and this time the heavy tank—the infantry tank cluster—held out for just over a minute before beginning to reverse and retreat.

Karamazov urged, "Load quickly! Quicker! They’re about to move out of our effective range! Hurry!"

"We’re out of armor-piercing shells!" the loader shouted, "You used too many on the beach just now!"

Karamazov slapped his thigh and didn’t know who he was cursing, "Sukabule!"

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!