Cannon Fire Arc

Lieutenant Joseph climbed aboard a half-track, came up beside the machine gunner, "Suppressive fire! Hurry!"

The machine gunner held the gun with his right hand and the ammunition belt with his left, firing short bursts.

Lieutenant Joseph, "Sight! It's too high! Set the sight to 500!"

Not all models of Prosen's half-tracks came equipped with machine gun mounts. The one Lieutenant Joseph mounted had a gun that was rigged somewhat haphazardly and could only be aimed using tracer rounds.

The machine gunner clearly lacked training—well, it wasn't surprising considering the new recruits who ended up in the rear mobile brigade were generally of poor quality.

The best reinforcements were assigned to armored training camps to become reserve armored troops. The next best went to armored grenadiers and various hunter divisions, and those of lower quality were sent to the regular infantry divisions.

And as for the rear mobile brigades and national guard divisions, they received either second-class national soldiers or recruits who had performed very poorly in training.

Lieutenant Joseph watched the gunner clumsily adjusting the sight, sighed, pushed him aside, took the machine gun himself, set the sight properly, and began to fire at the enemy.

He quickly realized that firing in bursts wasn't very effective against the cavalry.

Moreover, the Ante cavalry had fired smoke bombs using signal pistols, covering the charge of the subsequent cavalry troops and making accurate shooting even more difficult.

Lieutenant Joseph gritted his teeth and started to spray fire.

Two cavalrymen were struck down, one horse struggled to its feet and continued galloping while the rider was dragged on the ground, half-hidden by the grass.

Lieutenant Joseph hosed down the wave of charging cavalry, toppling several more horses.

The soldier he had just pushed away shouted, "Lieutenant! The barrel! If we don't change it, it's going to jam!"

Lieutenant Joseph swore under his breath and stopped firing, unlocking the section containing the barrel, then grabbed the scalding barrel with both hands.

Immediately, there was the sizzling sound of meat hitting a hot pan, and smoke rose from between Joseph's hands and the barrel.

Agony struck his brain like lightning, but an overwhelming will to live made him roar, yanking out the barrel and throwing it on the ground, "Quick! Change the barrel!"

The replaced shooter swiftly took out the spare barrel and inserted it into the machine gun.

While the shooter operated, Joseph glanced at his palms; the skin that had been in contact with the barrel was completely stripped away, the exposed flesh looked cooked, and bubbles of fluid had formed on both sides of the contact area.

"Ready!" the shooter called out.

Joseph took off his shirt, wrapped it around his hands, and continued to fire the machine gun.

By this time, the cavalry had already reached the edge of the position.

Apart from Joseph's machine gun, there was another one firing, but how could just two machine guns hold back the flood of charging cavalry?

The cavalry rolled in like a tidal wave, and the scattered half-tracks on the prairie seemed like rocks that were swiftly overwhelmed by the surge, sweeping away all the dispersed infantry.

Joseph's mind was so flooded with adrenaline that he lost the capacity for thought, intent only on shooting and shooting some more!

Suddenly, he heard a clang and looked down to see an Ante-made hand grenade on the floor of the half-track.

The lieutenant immediately bent over to pick it up, but the grenade exploded.

Lieutenant Joseph was hurled high into the air.

For an instant, he thought he saw the Valkyries coming to greet him—ah, am I going to Valhalla?

What a pleasant thought—

Lieutenant Joseph landed hard on the ground, hitting headfirst, and then his neck snapped under the combined force of inertia and gravity.

————

Colonel Gorokhov of the 33rd Division, 20th Cavalry Army, fiercely pulled back on the reins, halting his somewhat crazed horse; then he turned to look back at the Prosen Army defensive line they had just charged through.

It seemed these Prosen soldiers had wanted to rely on their half-tracks to form a circular defense, but they had been suddenly attacked.

Gorokhov turned to the deputy regimental commander, "Was it our artillery shelling that helped pry open the enemy's defense?"

The deputy regimental commander pulled out a map and examined it, "That's unlikely, we've already moved out of the artillery's support range. Could it have been the Air Force that bombed them?"

Gorokhov turned and yelled to the staff in his regiment, "Stepan!"

"Present!" The bespectacled staff officer rode up on his horse, "What's the matter?"

"Go ask the prisoners what blasted them into this state?"

"Yes, sir!"

The staff officer turned his horse around and rode toward the surrendering enemies to disarm them.

Meanwhile, Gorokhov stood up in his saddle and raised his binoculars to scan the horizon, "Sukabule, I can't see anything, it's all prairie!"

Deputy commander: "Isn't that a good thing? When we run, no one will be able to catch us."

"Yes, a good thing."

At this time, Stepan returned.

Stepan: "I asked around, these enemies are from their rear mobile brigade, ordered to stand ground. Their original task was to supply the 17th Armored Division."

Gorokhov: "Take all the food and gather the remaining ammunition and fuel together, and set it on fire!"

Stepan pushed his glasses up and turned his horse around to relay the orders.

Deputy commander: "It's quite a haul; if things could always go this smoothly, the two armored divisions of the enemy's pincer attack are going to starve."

Just then, the Military Chaplain came over riding a maroon horse: "Gorokhov, there are a dozen wounded."

"Check if there are any usable trucks among the enemy's, and send one who can drive to take them back," said Gorokhov. "That's all we can do under these circumstances."

The Military Chaplain nodded: "Okay, I'll go to hear their prayers."

Gorokhov: "Thank you."

No sooner had the Priest left than Gorokhov heard the sound of an engine coming from afar.

"Airplane!" he shouted while lifting his binoculars, looking towards the direction of the sound and spotted an FW189 reconnaissance plane.

"Enemy scout plane incoming!" Gorokhov turned his head, "Use the machine guns on the enemy half-track vehicles for anti-aircraft defense and chase it off!"

As the words fell, the asymmetric fuselage of the FW189 appeared in everyone's field of vision, the iron crosses on its wings clearly visible.

The machine guns opened fire, with tracer bullets desperately chasing the scout plane. But cavalrymen were not professional gunners after all, and hitting a plane flying one or two hundred meters high was too difficult.

Gorokhov: "We've been spotted. Set the fire quickly and move out! Otherwise, the enemy's Stukas will come after us!"

Shortly after the order was given, flames shot up into the sky; the cavalry troops continued forward, heading into the northwest with the burning flames at their backs.

————

Prosen Tenth Army Group Command.

A signaler entered the tent and saluted General Boke: "General! Many units report sighting enemy cavalry!"

General Boke: "Those reporting cavalry sightings have probably established a solid defense and driven the enemy cavalry away. The key is those who didn't have time to report the cavalry. Our orders were issued too late, some of our supply detachments have likely suffered."

Chief of Staff: "We will find out when we receive the fixed reports. The units that didn't report are probably gone."

General Boke, with hands behind his back, stared at the map and snorted: "Cavalry, damn it, cavalry! This Rocossov really knows how to use everything to its fullest."

Chief of Staff clicked his tongue: "Those in the rear hearing about Rocossov deploying cavalry will probably laugh at us."

General Boke's face turned ashen, but he did not reply.

————

The night of the 16th, within Prosen Empire territory, Eagle's Nest.

"To think that cavalry could turn everything upside down!" the Prosen Emperor raged, "Cavalry! An outdated branch! Our propaganda even made a joke of Melania using sabers to attack tanks, and now we've been slashed by sabers!"

Giles: "Reports sent back from the front indicate that the steppes are very suitable for this type of cavalry combat. Rocossov must have sharply observed this and thus decisively committed this ancient branch of troops."

"Cavalry!" the Emperor snorted.

At that moment, Chief of General Staff William Kyle suggested, "Why not try the Moravian cavalry troops? They should still maintain a considerable size of cavalry units, and even after joining the Empire, they were not disbanded."

Emperor Reinhard: "You mean, we should rely on an outdated branch from second-class citizens to rescue our elite Prosen troops?"

William Kyle fell silent.

After some thought, the Emperor shook his head: "We can't be choosers at this point. Tell the Moravians, if they perform well, we will upgrade their national rating within the empire! By then, they'll be higher ranked than the Melanians!"

As he spoke, the Emperor slammed his fist on the table.

A report on the table was about the activities of the restorative forces in Melania.

William Kyle immediately made a gesture to his subordinates.

Von Bulein said: "But moving the Moravian cavalry over will take time, what do we do in the meantime?"

The Emperor was silent for a few seconds then looked up at Grand Duke Meyer of the Air Force.

The Grand Duke pointed at himself: "Me?"