Arc of Fire

Leading them was a platoon leader’s vehicle, equipped with a long radio antenna. As soon as the vehicle stopped, a burly tank operator major struggled to climb out of the small tank and made his way towards Wang Zhong with urgency.

Wang Zhong thought the man’s approach seemed to indicate a handshake, so he extended his hand.

The major, without thinking too much, grabbed Wang Zhong’s hand and shook it vigorously before realizing something was amiss and snapped to attention, saluting properly.

After returning the salute, Wang Zhong said, “You’ve had a difficult journey. Where are the other units of the tank army?”

The major’s mood immediately darkened, “They’re gone. We thought we wouldn’t have to worry about enemy air forces this time with fighter cover, but we didn’t expect to encounter such fierce armored troops!

“We mainly faced enemy units equipped with 38-type tanks. In theory, we should have been able to go toe-to-toe since our main guns could easily pierce through that kind of tank. But the battle turned out to be a complete surprise!

“We usually achieve effective hits at 300 meters, but the enemy could hit us from 700 meters! That extra 400 meters distance could mean the difference between life and death!”

Pavlov, standing to the side, tried to offer some comfort, “The enemy’s scopes are more advanced than ours, and they’re better trained. It’s not your fault.”

Wang Zhong asked, “Where did you encounter the units equipped with 38-type tanks? What kind of identification marks were on their vehicles?”

Recognizing the insignia could help determine which division it was, and Wang Zhong was intimately familiar with the war history of Earth. He could easily guess the enemy’s strength composition based on a division’s number.

The major asked, “Do you have a map?”

Wang Zhong gestured invitingly, “Please come inside.”

Then he and Pavlov led the major into the command headquarters.

The remaining members of the Fifth Tank Army stayed outside with their tanks, staring at the division headquarters’ guard battalion soldiers.

That was when Nelly came out, “You must be hungry by now, come and have some food.”

As she spoke, Nelly began to mobilize the field cooking team’s girls, who carried buckets of thick soup on shoulder poles.

The savory aroma of the thick soup instantly drew the attention of the tank operators.

“This Kalcho thick soup is actually made with real beef!”

“Fantastic, I could eat three big bowls of this!”

Soon, all the tank operators were served thick soup, with each one receiving a generous piece of meat in their bowl.

A young tank operator, after a few sips, suddenly became overwhelmed with emotion and began to choke up.

His tank commander immediately scolded him, “What are you crying for! The brother units are watching! You’re disgracing our Fifth Tank Army!”

But the commander’s reprimand only made the young tank operator cry even harder.

“You idiot!”

Popov suddenly appeared, grabbing the raised hand of the commander, “That’s enough. He’s been holding it together after such a terrible defeat. It’s understandable that he’d break down after relaxing with some good soup.” �

“But, Your Grace the Judge, his behavior could affect the morale of the troops…”

Popov replied, “Not at all. Everyone feels fear, everyone falters, everyone must stay strong. Letting it out in tears is good for him. He’ll be braver afterwards.”

The young tank operator nodded repeatedly.

Popov encouraged, “Go on, drink your soup before it gets cold!”

The tank operator obediently bowed his head and resumed drinking his soup.

Inside the headquarters, Wang Zhong was surprised, “It looks like the enemy units we’re facing on the farthest left flank—or rather, the western flank—are a motley division equipped with 38-type and a considerable number of Mark II tanks.”

Both the Mark II and the 38-type tanks were outdated by this point in time.

These outdated tanks could be dealt with using 45mm Anti-tank Rifles and PTRD-41 Anti-tank Rifles.

Of course, they could be addressed by T26 tanks as well.

However, taking on these tanks with T26s required clever tactics.

Wang Zhong’s gaze shifted from the situation map on the wall to the topographical map on the table near Orachi as he pondered how to effectively use the T26 tanks to deal with the potential enemy assorted armored units, thereby reducing the losses to more powerful units like the T34.

At that moment, Nelly came in with a bowl of thick soup for the major, “Time to eat.”

The major’s stomach immediately let out a heartily mournful growl.

Outside, the remnants of the 5th Tank Army were enjoying their hot thick soup and rye bread when a group of about a dozen warhorses trotted into the yard of the headquarters.

The leading captain looked bewildered at the sight of so many T26 tanks.

At this point, the tank operators of the T26 tanks noticed the person riding with the knights.

“He’s got a Prosen with him!”

“Damn, kill that bastard!”

“Crap, he’s in a black uniform, it’s definitely Prosen Armored Troops!”

“`

“Kill him!”

The cavalry captain, seeing the situation, hurriedly shouted, “Don’t lay a hand on him! He’s a prisoner we finally caught! The general wants to interrogate him! We lost two men just to capture him!”

It was only then that everyone realized there were two riderless horses in the cavalry squad.

The tank operators, who had been so impassioned just moments before, fell silent.

The Prosen lieutenant looked terrified, watching the surrounding people with fearful eyes.

One of the tank operators noticed this and shouted, “Odd, aren’t they supposed to be the superior race? Why are they so afraid of us?”

“Yeah! Just look at this scaredy-cat!”

The captain dismounted, took the prisoner from the saddle, placed him on the ground to stand up, and then escorted him into the headquarters, flanked on either side by his men.

As they entered the door, they happened to run into a major from the fifth army coming out of the headquarters.

The major jumped in surprise, but quickly realized this was a prisoner, spat on the prisoner’s face, and cursed, “You dog!”

The prisoner was thus escorted into the division headquarters.

As soon as they entered the map room, the captain saluted General Rokossovsky, “General Rokossovsky! We have captured the enemy armored reconnaissance team leader! We’ve seized his briefcase and map case!”

Wang Zhong was overjoyed and immediately came over to examine the prisoner.

He noticed that the prisoner’s insignia was different from that of the average Prosen soldier.

The typical Prosen soldiers’ insignia looked very simple, without any fancy frills, emphasizing practicality and functionality.

However, the prisoner’s insignia was well-crafted and quite elaborate, depicting Zeus holding a spear made of lightning, glaring down from above.

The spear made of lightning, Wang Zhong vaguely remembered, seemed to be called Gungnir.

Wang Zhong frowned, recalling that on Earth there had been an infamous unit whose insignia featured twin lightning bolts, though he wasn’t sure what the impact of removing one bolt would have on a unit’s combat effectiveness.

Wang Zhong called over Vasily, “Come here, be an interpreter.”

“Alright!”

Vasily immediately put down his headset and ran over excitedly, “Just ask away, I’ll translate perfectly.”

Wang Zhong, “Which unit are you with?”

Wang Zhong was a little worried the prisoner might just play the stoic, but to his surprise, the prisoner readily opened up, “Captain of the armored reconnaissance battalion of the Asgard Knights’ Anpula Armored Division.”

Wang Zhong looked at him in surprise, “Is it really okay for you to say that outright?”

After Vasily translated, the prisoner smirked disdainfully, “Why wouldn’t it be? Anyway, by tomorrow you’ll be annihilated by the Anpula Division, not even the dregs will be left! We’ll also be winning the war very soon, very soon!

“Next spring, we’ll be freely selecting our own plots of land across the vast fields.”

Wang Zhong, “Next spring, huh? I thought you’d say you were going to win the war before Christmas!”

His own men were the first to be startled by his words, and they all looked at Wang Zhong.

The judge responsible for overseeing the codebooks even gave Wang Zhong a sharp look.

Vasily, sensing the sarcasm in Wang Zhong’s words, almost couldn’t hold back a smile as he translated.

Whatever he translated, the prisoner’s eyes bulged as he shouted a few incomprehensible words.

Vasily, “He says even we wouldn’t be so optimistic!”

Wang Zhong, “You are already quite optimistic, a little more wouldn’t hurt. As for me, I believe the war will last at least four more years, and after four years, we will march into the ruins of your capital!”

Vasily proudly translated Wang Zhong’s declaration to the Prosen prisoner.

The Prussian laughed heartily, saying, “You? With those outdated T26s in your yard? You probably don’t know that even your latest T34s can be easily destroyed by our 88-mm anti-aircraft guns!”

Wang Zhong, “I don’t believe it!”

The prisoner, “Hmph! Our division was attacked today by more than two hundred of your sixth tank army’s T34s, and not a single one got close enough to our anti-aircraft positions to spot them!

“Our technology has far surpassed your imagination!”

No, it’s just a high-velocity anti-aircraft gun, after all; its performance is indeed excellent, but in the end, it is just an anti-aircraft gun. Don’t overplay it.

Wang Zhong, “Hmph, I don’t believe you!”

Right then, the prisoner grew agitated, “Then just wait to be crushed under our tracks!”

Wang Zhong, “So, when are you planning to roll over us?”

“Of course, tomorrow morning! Our division will take this city and obliterate your outdated T26 tanks and infantry in just a morning!”

Wang Zhong, “Tomorrow morning, huh… Are you sure you aren’t revealing any military secrets?”

The prisoner sneered, “What difference does it make? Even if you knew the exact time of the attack, you have no way to stop our offensive! You’ve never been able to hold off our attacks!”

Wang Zhong, “Is that so? Well, you’d better stay alive to see how we thrash that — what’s it called? The Asgard Knights? The Asgard Knights’ Anpula Armored Division?”

The prisoner, “Hmph, ignorant primitive!”