Cannon Fire Arc

Filippov charged into the fog at the forefront.

The remaining four were also old hands; they had acted together with Filippov when they attacked Yeisk in the thick fog last time.

Seeing Filippov taking the lead, the four exchanged glances and each chose a direction to scatter in, all of them disappearing into the dense fog.

Soon, a scream in Prussian could be heard from the fog, followed by an explosion.

Prussians, shouting in pain, poured towards the direction of the explosion, and the next moment, the rat-a-tat of sewing machine guns hitting the ground could be heard, accompanied by the sound of heavy objects falling.

The Prussians were shouting, "Little Fogsprites!" Experience exclusive tales on empire

"Shut up! This is clearly an ambush by the Ante People, find them! Hurry!"

Then again, the sound of bullets striking the ground rat-a-tat.

The second explosion sounded.

A Prussian cried out in a voice full of fear, "They are everywhere!"

"Don't panic! Such a silent attack is usually carried out by a handful of elite..."

The voice that was probably an officer's suddenly ended.

Such a command post already had plenty of non-combatants, such as staff officers, clerks, and the like. A non-combatant's nerves gave out first, screaming, "This is magic! Damn, this is magic! The enemy are warriors who practice magic, using evil witchcraft to merge people with Little Fogsprites to create freaks! We're all going to die!"

Sharp gunfire, the wailing abruptly stopped, followed by a middle-aged man's voice, "(In Prussian) It is forbidden to spread such remarks that demoralize the troops. If Little Fogsprites really exist, then we must shoot them down and hand them over to the Imperial Academy of Sciences!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the third explosion was heard, followed by the fourth.

After the two explosions, silence fell.

Distant gunshots and explosions made this silence all the more eerie.

Suddenly, a voice in Ante came from the fog, "Is anyone still alive? Misha, Grishka?"

"Grishka's been hit!"

"Drag him over here!"

"He's beyond saving, and so is Panjelevich. There are just the three of us left!"

"Get into the bunker! Follow my voice!"

Soon, the three remaining members of this raiding squad met up in the Prussian command bunker.

Filippov, holding a captured map, looked at it and said, "This is a regimental headquarters, not the division headquarters I thought it would be, no wonder there's only this much guard force. We've far exceeded the attack stop line set by General Rokossovsky; we need to start heading back immediately. Last time we attacked using the fog, it cleared up about thirty to forty minutes earlier."

"So we need to leave now! Just grab any documents you can from the rooms, whether they're important or not, leave it to the Judges to decide."

"Alright!"

Just as everyone was grabbing documents, the phone suddenly rang.

Filippov answered the phone, "Hello?"

There was a pause on the other end, "Hmm? Hello? Why are you using the Ante phone response method?"

Filippov replied directly in Ante, "Because we are Ante People, we are from General Rokossovsky's elite First Guard Mechanized Infantry Division! We are here to tell the Prussian bastards that blood debts must be paid in blood!"

After speaking, Filippov hung up the phone and gestured to his subordinates, "Let's go!"

-------------

General Boke put down the receiver, his expression somber.

The others in the command post all looked puzzled.

The Chief of Staff asked, "What happened?"

"The person on the other side spoke to me in Ante, I didn't understand, but his disdain was conveyed through his tone," said General Boke with a grave expression, "We can be sure that at least two regiments on the front line of the 113th Division have been breached."

The adjutant said, "It could also be Ante Army soldiers who stumbled into the regimental headquarters by mistake in the fog."

General Boke stared at the adjutant, "Even if it's a regimental headquarters, can it be taken by troops that stumble upon it by mistake? Impossible! A regimental headquarters of an infantry division indeed lacks its own tank squadron, but there are many half-tracked vehicles! With the half-tracked vehicles as a stronghold, it shouldn't be possible for stragglers to take it down!"

The adjutant, without yielding, said seriously, "Maybe the half-tracked vehicles were destroyed by preparatory fire. General, we must take action. I suggest that the armored forces that have not yet fully replenished their fuel and ammunition launch an immediate counterattack!"

General Boke pursed his lips, staring at the adjutant for a few seconds before saying, "You make sense, thank you Fred. Contact the 14th Armored Division and the 16th Armored Grenadier Division, and launch a counterattack with them at the core!"

The Chief of Staff asked, "Setting out in the fog? That could easily cause accidents, along with other mishaps!"

General Boke checked the time, "It's about time, yesterday I reviewed the information from their last fog assault, the fog started to lift after an hour or so. Once the armored forces are ready, the weather should have cleared up, and as soon as it does, they will immediately start the counterattack!"

-------------

On Wang Zhong's side, he was also looking at his watch.

"Based on the previous experience, the fog should be lifting by now. Order all units involved in the offensive to start retreating," Wang Zhong commanded.

Pavlov: "What if the enemy doesn't fall for it?"

Wang Zhong: "It's okay, our strategy has changed now. In the past, we wanted to launch an offensive to divert the enemy's attention this way, but now the offensive is just a secondary tool, the real killer is those fake tanks. Whether it's launching an attack or gathering troops and supplies here, it's all to make the fake tanks look real.

"Of course, if the enemy encounters our ambush after counterattacking and suffers heavy casualties, then the entire deception plan will seem even more realistic."

Pavlov nodded: "Let's do it your way. Communication staff, call the attacking troops and tell them to retreat to the starting line as soon as possible!"

"Yes!"

Then the radio crackled with the communication staff's call: "Attila Attila! Respond if you hear this!"

Attila was the radio call sign of the assault group in this attack.

"Attila Attila, respond if you hear this!"

Pacing back and forth in the warehouse, taking a few steps and looking up at the window to check if the fog outside had dissipated.

————

At this moment, Vasily was smearing mud on the tank while sighing, "Ah! Why do I always end up doing this kind of work?"

"Don't you like it?" A young, abrupt voice rang out.

Vasily turned his head and saw that it was the eldest of the group of war orphans taken in by the general.

"How could I not!" Vasily quickly said, "The general's tasks are all very important. This is about... you wouldn't understand it anyway!"

Child King: "How would I not understand? You're making a mistake now. You'll be punished by being sent to haul manure! The guards from the Army Group talked about you, they all say you're an expert in hauling manure, that it's all you do because of the penalties!"

Vasily's eyes widened: "How can you slander someone out of the blue?"

"We saw it too, you were carrying the manure bucket, walking and humming a tune at the same time. They say it was some kind of aria!"

Vasily opened his mouth, unable to say anything in return, and could only continue to plaster mud on the tank.

The tank he was working on was a Panzer III; honestly, turning a Panzer III, which had a lot of vertical armor, into the likes of a T34 was a bit of a challenge.

Firstly, the T34's turret was located at the front of the chassis, whereas the Panzer III's turret wasn't as forward. Secondly, the Panzer III's turret was larger than the T34's, and this model even had a commander's cupola — something the regular version of the T34 didn't have.

Moreover, the T34W was produced in limited quantities and was unlikely to appear en masse.

Vasily turned his head to look at the people who were unfolding a huge piece of cloth.

They were going to use the cloth to create a camouflage net, to cover the "new" tanks.

But this camouflage net was designed to achieve the opposite effect of what camouflage nets usually sought.

This net was intended to ensure that the Prosen Air Force could accurately locate these tanks, while also concealing various unmasked flaws on the tanks.

Vasily looked at the makeshift camouflage net and could only hope that the Prosen would maintain their usual rigid style and be duped once again.

Just as they were in front of Loktov's fake mines.

————

At 7:40 a.m. on the 23rd, Prosen Army 14th Armored Division.

After days of rest and reorganization, the number of tanks in the 14th had somewhat recovered — although Ante cavalry kept trying to interfere with the armored recovery teams retrieving the broken-down tanks, the Prosen still relied on a sound battlefield maintenance system to restore the number of the 14th's tanks to around seventy percent of what it was a few days ago.

Another portion of tanks was undergoing major repairs, and once these repaired tanks were redeployed, the 14th's combat-ready tank numbers would reach eighty percent.

Of course, this eighty percent refers to the situation a few days before, prior to the contraction from the pincer attack position. Compared to before the launch of the Blue Advance, the 14th's tank numbers had halved.

Even so, the 14th still retained a powerful force; most importantly, its tank operators were all veterans of many battles, and there weren't many new recruits.

Now, after being frustrated for many days, the 14th was preparing for a vigorous blitz attack.

However, at that moment, Schultz, the division commander of the 16th Armored Grenadier Division, arrived beside the 14th's armored command vehicle in a bucket car.

Schultz got out of the vehicle and glanced at the sky, which was beginning to clear up.

Just as the division commander of the 14th opened the door of the armored command vehicle, the two met and immediately started the standard exchange of pleasantries.

Once the formalities were over, Schultz said to the commander of the 14th: "I have a personal feeling that something is fishy. Rokossov's attack reeks of strangeness."

Major General Karl of the 14th asked, "On what grounds?"

"Intuition. Previous attacks by Rokossov were executed in one go, with an air of grandeur. To compare it to eating, Rokossov used to wolf down his food ravenously, but now he has started to chew slowly and carefully."

Major General Karl's brows furrowed: "A soldier should not make judgments based on 'intuition'."

"I know! I know that! But I have a very bad feeling, that our counterattack may achieve its goals too easily. I suggest that once you have completely recovered the positions lost by the 113th, you stop advancing immediately to avoid any deceit!"

Major General Karl snorted coldly and answered: "You can stop your advance, but my troops have been very constrained, endlessly harassed by the enemy cavalry. No, I will continue to advance to see the true strength of the Ante People."

Schultz shouted: "Then you might fall into a trap!"

Major General Karl shrugged: "The entire combat area is a vast steppe, with no terrain conducive to ambushes, so I don't think there's much to worry about."