Cannon Fire Arc-Chapter 640 - 82: The Hammer

Chapter 640: Chapter 82: The Hammer

Wang Zhong sat in his new tank and said to his old partner, gunner Alexandria, “This new tank is a lot more stable than the T34. When the T34 moved fast, even wearing a helmet wouldn’t prevent one from bumping their heads.”

Alexandria’s voice came through the headphones, “Indeed. Moreover, the designer also considered the convenience of refitting. All the controls are just like those of the T34. Anyone used to the T34W can operate it immediately.”

“No,” the driver said, “It’s different here on my side. I’ve been crammed into this arrow-shaped protrusion at the front, the space has shrunk a lot!”

If the Russians think the space is tight, then it must really be tight.

Wang Zhong said, “Remember to tell Chief Engineer Ke Jing about it when we get back.”

The new tank had eliminated the machine-gunner, reducing the crew to four. This slightly diminished its infantry combat capabilities since now it only had the coaxial machine gun and the anti-aircraft gun on the turret.

The advantage was clear, the frontal hull had no openings, which meant a stronger armor plate and greater resistance to penetration.

With Ke Jing’s experience in heavy tanks, a redesign might concentrate protection at the front, possibly resulting in a 30-ton Egg-shaped Turret medium tank.

Just thinking about a T54 battling a Leopard was pictorial.

However, Wang Zhong thought the Tiger Prototype had already been destroyed by the Whirlwind. Perhaps the Tiger wouldn’t make it to the battlefield after all, and who knows what the Prosens, stimulated by this, might bring out.

As he was contemplating, he suddenly saw a bright red in his overhead view.

He immediately grabbed the microphone and shouted, “Stop!”

The tank made an abrupt stop, and the slender 100-mm gun oscillated few times.

Ke Jing had mentioned that the Yeburg research team was reversing the Federation’s Sherman Tank’s simple stabilization device, but the current imitation wasn’t very effective and only added weight, so he had not adopted it.

Most of the time, heavy tanks halted to fire; they didn’t need the capacity for high-speed motion and abrupt firing like medium tanks, so it shouldn’t matter much.

Wang Zhong lifted his binoculars and switched to the overhead view, watching the busy enemy at the Red outpost.

“Strange,” he muttered subconsciously and then quickly shut his mouth.

The enemy was only moving within the bunkers, not entering the trenches!

Could it be that they were afraid of artillery fire if I entered the trenches?

But this time, I was just eager to use the new tank!

The rapid advance of the Abawahan Front Army brought many consequences, including the lagging of the heavy artillery.

This was exactly the same issue the Prosen Army faced at the beginning of the war in 914.

But Wang Zhong figured, even though the heavy artillery hadn’t caught up, new heavy armor had, and it was worth trying out the new tank when the heavy artillery hadn’t yet, and then using the “Ulban” heavy gun to send the exposed enemy shelters flying.

Indeed, the other T34s didn’t plan to attack; they all stopped 2.5 kilometers from the Prosen defense line as per Wang Zhong’s orders.

After observing for about ten seconds, Wang Zhong was sure that only PAK40 and 88 guns were on the enemy position, nothing more devilish. Up to now, besides the Whirlwind, the Prosens hadn’t faced anything that 88 guns and PAK40 couldn’t handle.

The Whirlwind, being few in number and inconvenient for offense, would at most shoot out with anti-tank guns in the open field.

Convinced that he could advance safely, Wang Zhong radioed, “All units, remain on standby. Ulban One, follow me, do not exceed me.”

“Understood, Commander… White Wolf Davarish.”

The tank commander of Ulban One almost called out Commander Davarish.

Wang Zhong patted the turret armor, “Move out!”

The tank roared into life, its wide tracks trampling over the snowfield, heading towards the 16th Armored Grenadiers Division position, with Ulban One closely following.

————

“Damn!” Schultz nearly shouted, “Is that the Red Flag? Is that the fucking Red Flag? Rocossov is charging at us in a tank we’ve never seen before!”

The anti-tank gun battalion commander said, “That’s great, once it enters a range of 2000 meters—no, 1500 meters, fire the 88 gun, target Rocossov’s new tank!”

“Yes!” the operator responded loudly, then began to turn the 88 gun, aiming it at the enemy silhouette.

The gunner, puzzled, asked, “What kind of tank is that? It looks like a giant turtle!”

“Something the Anteans have conjured,” Schultz said irritably, “A new tank can’t come out that quickly, just by blowing on it! Impossible, it must be another modification of the KV series! No matter how you modify a KV, it can’t withstand an 88 gun!”

Battalion commander, “Load the armor-piercing shell, fast! Once within range, keep firing. Even if it withstands the first few hits, the inferior Antean armor will soon be penetrated due to metal fatigue!”

Schultz gave way to the observer, lying on the firing port of the bunker to look outside.

With the naked eye, one could clearly see the silhouette of the new tank, which indeed looked like a turtle.

Schultz suddenly realized that the tank’s all-round sloped armor was an excellent anti-ballistic shape.

It was just unknown how thick the armor of the tank was.

The observer reported, “2000 meters! The enemy has passed the 2000-meter mark!”

“Fire!” the battalion commander shouted.

The 88 gun fired. The gunpowder gas that couldn’t reach outside the bunker irritated Schultz’s nostrils, but he didn’t mind this, lying at the shooting window watching the shell fly out.

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The initial velocity of the 88 gun was fast, and it covered the 2000 meters in an instant.

Schultz watched as the shell hit the front of the tank, was deflected, arced towards the sky behind the tank, and he had no idea where it would land.

“Not successful! Load quickly!” Schultz urged loudly, even drowning out the battalion commander’s voice.

The loader yelled, “Done!!”

Artillery Captain: “Fire!”

The second shot was fired, hitting the turret again and being deflected amidst a shower of sparks.

Schultz had a vague feeling of foreboding.

Still, he loudly urged the gunners to reload.

Despite the chaos inside the fortress, the artillery observer continued to dutifully report the distance: “The enemy has crossed the 1500-meter mark!”

Schultz: “Stop it quick! Yes, aim for the tracks, target the tracks!”

Gunner: “The snow is too thick, the tracks are almost covered by the snow! I’ll fire one shot to try!”

While the gunner was operating the cannon with the crank handle, the loader completed loading the next shell and shouted, “Ready!”

The gunner fired.

Schultz saw the shell hit the ground before striking the tank, bouncing twice, then exploding, creating a column mixed with snow and mud right in front of the new tank bearing a red flag.

That’s when the tank stopped.

Schultz cried out joyfully, “It’s penetrated!”

Then he saw the tank turret turning towards them.

Immediately, a blast from the cannon blew the snow off the ground, concealing the shape of the tank.

Schultz hit the ground fast.

The next moment, the shockwave from the explosion gushed through the firing port, knocking over the artillery mirror.

The artillery observer, who was using the artillery mirror, screamed in agony, clutching his eyes, possibly poked by the edges of the eyepiece.

Schultz lay on the ground for a second before looking up to find the bunker still intact, though dust continued to fall from the ceiling.

The artillery captain got up: “Don’t be afraid, keep operating the 88! At this distance, with the Anteans’ poor gunnery, they can’t hit us through the narrow firing port! Keep firing!”

Loader: “Ready!”

Gunner: “The dust from the enemy’s shot is too thick, I can’t locate them!”

Artillery Captain: “Then fire at the position through the snow mist, betting that the enemy hasn’t moved.”

Gunner: “Yes!”

The 88 fired again.

And possibly because the enemy tank had passed the 1200-meter mark, the anti-tank units equipped with PAK40 also opened fire, continuously shooting into the snow mist.

The firing continued for three minutes, Schultz shouted: “Stop! Everyone stop! Perhaps the enemy tank has been destroyed, Rocossov is dead!”

The firing sound eventually subsided.

The snow mist that had obstructed the view was now settling, and the turtle-shaped new tank was exposed once again.

It sat motionless.

Schultz swallowed.

Suddenly, the tank started moving, emitting a large amount of smoke from the exhaust port, and the steel tracks began to turn again.

The moment it started, without needing orders from Schultz, all anti-tank guns fired madly at it.

Armor-piercing shells were continuously deflected, only leaving a trail of sparks on the tank.

The artillery captain suddenly shouted: “Hit the turret ring! Jam its turret! Also figure out how to break the tracks! Just stop it!”

————

“Damn!”

Wang Zhong had just woken from the concussion-induced stupor, when he heard the gunner shout: “Our turret ring is jammed, the turret can’t turn!”

Wang Zhong: “Don’t be afraid, advance! We are mainly here to draw fire for Ulban One to move behind! They can’t handle our armor-piercing shells, but Ulban One only has this defense on the front! If it gets hit on the side, it’s finished! Advance!”

The driver roared as if to speed up the vehicle.

Wang Zhong, taking shelter inside the turret and judging the distance based on the ground map, finally commanded: “Stop! We are 450 meters from the enemy, getting closer might get us penetrated! That’s still within the range of the 88 and PAK40!”

The tank stopped.

Wang Zhong turned on the radio and yelled: “Ulban One, it’s up to you! The shot I just fired was to indicate the position of the 88 for you!”

“We see it! Aiming! Aim complete, we are firing now!”

Wang Zhong heard the unique whistling sound as the 500mm caliber rocket took off.

Regrettably, with almost no upward vision, he couldn’t see the giant rocket shell tracing a high-arching trajectory.

He could only witness the moment it struck.

The next second, a fireball rose into the sky.

Wang Zhong thought of the classic line from the “Fallout” series: If you see a mushroom cloud, hold up your thumb, if the mushroom cloud is smaller than your thumb, run; if it’s bigger, give up, you can’t escape.

Then Wang Zhong gave a thumbs-up, not to measure the size of the mushroom cloud, but simply as a salute.