Cannon Fire Arc-Chapter 659 - 101 "Is There Any Justice Left?" (Extra 39/81)

Chapter 659: Chapter 101 “Is There Any Justice Left?” (Extra 39/81)

On January 17, General Steiermark personally went to the seaside to supervise the troop embarkation.

He set up a command post on the beach that was small in scale, but fully equipped.

The core of the command post consisted of a radio car, a telegraph car, and a matching generator car. Besides, to deal with possible Antean attacks, there were four long-barreled Panzer IV tanks next to the headquarters.

Throughout the morning, everything was normal. The White Sea Fleet dispatched five large cargo ships with a tonnage of ten thousand each, escorted by five destroyers, and additionally, a heavy cruiser led two destroyers to patrol the nearby waters, ready to confront the Antean navy.

It could be heard from the radio communication that General Steiermark instructed the radio operator to connect the receiver and the speakers on the car, so that the conversations from the radio were broadcasted through the speakers without missing a detail.

Everyone speaking on the radio throughout the morning was calm and composed, not at all like those about to be surrounded.

After all, they held control of the sea, and although the retreat was a bit slow at the moment, they were still able to evacuate ten to twenty thousand people each day.

Today, the navy had stepped up efforts, dispatching five ten-thousand-ton behemoths all at once, aiming to evacuate a start of fifty thousand people.

The only problem was that there were indeed too few small boats to transport the soldiers. Tens of thousands of Prosen soldiers were crowded on the beach, and after a day of transportation, there was no noticeable decrease in their number.

It was uncertain if the five ships could be filled within one day.

Just as General Steiermark worried about this, an exclamation suddenly came from the speaker connected to the radio: “Enemy planes above, diving rapidly!”

The General immediately turned around, only to hear someone shouting from the speaker: “Enemy planes are diving! We…”

The words were swallowed by static and it was not clear what they were saying. The operator quickly adjusted the knobs, and soon the static cleared, allowing an anxious voice to shout, “Luzov is hit! Luzov—”

The sound of the explosion distorted the speakers and everyone present winced, their ears ringing painfully.

General Steiermark’s face showed that something was terribly wrong as he picked up the microphone and shouted, “What’s happened? What’s happened?”

The Deputy Officer laid a hand on his shoulder to remind him, “Don’t use plain language! Use code!”

General Steiermark waved the hand away, “Nevermind me! I am General Steiermark, answer me, what exactly has happened?”

After a moment of silence on the other end, the voice that had previously yelled “Luzov” said, “The Luzov has been attacked by enemy dive bombers; a massive boiler explosion just occurred, it’s sinking… it’s sinking.”

General Steiermark’s body stiffened, the news striking him like a bolt from the blue, shattering the good mood he had maintained all morning.

The Deputy Officer kept reminding, “General, talking about this on the radio can be a devastating blow to our soldiers’ morale, General!”

General Steiermark realized the Deputy Officer was right and was about to say something when the speaker called out again, “The enemy torpedo planes are abandoning the attack! Luzov fleet calling ‘Merchant’, the enemy torpedo planes are heading your way!”

Merchant was the radio call sign for the transport convoy of five ten-thousand-ton cargo ships.

General Steiermark threw down the microphone and rushed out of his small temporary headquarters, standing on the edge of the high ground, he lifted binoculars to his eyes.

Soon, he saw planes skimming the surface of the water, which were not painted in the usual Antean Air Force colors, but in a uniform deep blue, the insignia on their wings was not the Antean symbol, but a blue ring with a white five-pointed star containing a red dot (the early Federation naval aircraft insignia had a red dot in the middle of the white star, which was later removed to distinguish from the Empire of Fusang).

These planes flew almost touching the sea, resembling flying fish leaping through the waves.

Although an enemy, General Steiermark couldn’t help but lament: Is this the elite group of pilots that defeated the Empire of Fusang so thoroughly?

No! This was not the time to admire the enemy!

The enemy planes broke formation, attacking the five ten-thousand-ton ships anchored at sea in pairs.

The first pair of enemy planes immediately launched their attack, circling to the port side of the cargo ship number 131 before veering right into their attack run.

The sole anti-aircraft gun on the cargo ship fired futilely, with shells continuously landing in the water behind the enemy planes.

General Steiermark, not familiar with naval combat, but versed in mathematics, knew that such a low density of fire was unlikely to bring down the enemy planes or prevent them from releasing torpedoes.

Through the binoculars, he clearly saw two enemy planes drop something into the sea.

From his vantage point, he couldn’t see the track of the torpedoes, he could only see two torpedo planes, having completed their attacks, turning back towards the beachhead.

Towards the beachhead???

By the time General Steiermark realized what these two enemy planes were about to do, they had already opened fire, sweeping their forward machine guns across the Prosen soldiers on the beach.

The people on the beach were still spectating when suddenly, death itself swept over them, and the machine gun fire mowed down many people in an instant.

After the attack, two unidentified aircraft flew away into the distance (they were actually TBF Avenger torpedo planes).

Steiermark pushed away the Deputy Officer who had toppled onto him, got up, and brushed off the dirt from his uniform, taking his military cap from the Deputy Officer’s hand: “Damn it, not doing a great job with my actual duties, but quite a lot of thoughts elsewhere—”

He thought the enemy’s attack on the ten-thousand-ton ship had been ineffective, but in fact, it was just that the aerial torpedoes were slow.

No sooner had the words left his mouth than two columns of water erupted on the port side of the ten-thousand tonner with the hull number 131.

Steiermark clamped his mouth shut and watched in despair as flames engulfed the 131 ship, and the people on board frantically jumped into the sea.

Then, the ten-thousand-tonner with the hull number 132 was also hit.

The two torpedo planes that carried out the attack skimmed over the beach, strafed in passing, and then flew off.

Then the third and fourth group of torpedo planes followed in succession.

They even discovered Steiermark’s Headquarters and came straight for it, their machine guns clattering on tanks and armored command vehicles.

After the torpedo planes left, Steiermark could only crawl out from under the tank, not even bothering to brush the sand off any longer, as he gazed blankly at the sea.

All five ten-thousand-tonners were on fire; those that were sinking faster were already tilting, their deck almost touching the water’s surface.

People who had just been transported onto the ships by small boats were now thrashing in the water, desperately trying to swim ashore. Wherever one looked, there were splashes made by people floundering in the water – no waves could be seen at all.

General Steiermark finally snapped back to reality and screamed, “Quick, save them! At least half of our soldiers can’t swim! Save them!”

Soon after, the small boats that had been busy transporting soldiers started to pick people up, when suddenly, deep blue aircraft dove from the sky!

They actually started strafing the small boats that were rescuing people!

Moreover, these planes were clearly different from the previous torpedo attack planes; their frontal firepower was exceptionally fierce (the attacking planes were F6F Hellcat fighters, armed with six 12.7mm machine guns). Most small boats would catch fire and burn after being strafed, and those who had just been rescued had no choice but to jump back into the water.

Aside from strafing the small boats, these fighters also opened fire as they swept past the beach, leaving the exposed Prosens overturned and scattered.

Steiermark stomped his feet in fury and yelled at the sky, then two enemy planes spotted him, circled back, and strafed his temporary Headquarters.

When he saw them returning, Steiermark wanted to show his mettle and face death head-on, but the Deputy Officer grabbed him and threw him under a tank.

After several waves of strafing, the headquarters’ generator vehicle exploded.

Lying under the tank for what seemed like an eternity, Steiermark only crawled out again when the roar of enemy engines and the sound of gunfire had ceased. He looked at the burning half-track vehicles, then at the chaotic beachhead.

At this time, the White Sea was rising with the tide, pushing the reddened waves up to the shore, piling layer upon layer of bodies.

Steiermark cursed, “This is against international law! They will pay for these inhumane acts!”

————

“Your courageous actions will be honored with the highest award of the Ante!” Wang Zhong said jubilantly, patting Worcester’s shoulder, “You will become the first, and perhaps the last group of Federation warriors to receive the Venus Medal!”

Amelia faithfully completed the task of simultaneous interpretation.

Worcester smiled modestly, “Just a heavy cruiser, in the Pacific, such a feat is only worth 50 gallons of ice cream.”

Wang Zhong replied, “Then I give you a hundred gallons! A hundred gallons for each person! The torpedo plane pilots who attacked the ships will also have a share!”

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After he finished, he saw the VF6 fighter pilots and quickly added, “You too! But since you didn’t achieve a great victory, you only get one ice cream cone each!”

The fighter pilots looked at each other, and the team leader spoke for everyone, “Actually, we don’t really want to eat ice cream in minus 30-degree weather. Some hot soup and stew would be nice, and that chicken made by your chef, really good!”

To entertain the pilots of the Federation, Wang Zhong personally gave the Ceres chefs his recipe and invented “General Tso’s Chicken” in advance. It proved to be very popular with the Federation pilots; they would finish every chicken served to them, no matter how many.

Wang Zhong responded, “Fine, fine! Today you have earned a victory for the Antean people, you can have whatever you want to eat! But, be careful not to get diarrhea tomorrow and be unable to fly! We are counting on you to finish off the Prosen Navy and completely crush the enemy’s thought of escaping by sea!”

After the translation, the pilots all laughed.

However, Worcester was a bit worried and asked Wang Zhong, “We volunteered to come to this front-line airfield, but is it okay for your Headquarters to also be so close to the front?”

Wang Zhong reassured him, “Don’t worry, the enemy has been pushed back, and there are no significant threats nearby. Soon, I will personally go to see the waves of the White Sea.”

After saying this, he looked toward the west, “Do you know? The beginning of my legend was in Ronied, on the banks of the White Sea. When I reach the White Sea shore, rounding up, I am also returning to my origins—in a manner of speaking.”

As he said this, suddenly a hand landed on his shoulder. He turned his head to see Ludmila smiling at him.