Cannon Fire Arc

The 21st Army's night attack was successful, and at the same time, the 20th Army's cavalry also harassed the Prussian supply convoys on the grasslands.

Even the herdsmen on the grasslands joined the attack, reportedly because the Prussians forcibly abducted their cattle, sheep, and some horses.

The herdsmen's livelihoods heavily relied on cattle and sheep, and without them they might not survive the winter. What to do if they couldn't get through? They had no choice but to damn well fight the Prussian devils.

In the blink of an eye, the sun rose again, and the morning of the 18th arrived.

The Prussian 10th Army Group had planned to launch a pincer movement that morning, but all units designated for the offensive were now preparing to consolidate their forces, then join in the operation to relieve the encircled 190th Division.

————

First Mobile Group Army Headquarters.

Pavlov looked at his watch, then turned his head to Wang Zhong.

Wang Zhong, "Wait a minute, didn't this scene happen yesterday?"

"Yes, but the target of the bombardment is different. Yesterday we mainly bombarded the flanks of the 190th Division, and only carried out a feint attack on the core positions. Today we will focus on bombarding the core area." Pavlov paused, then asked, "So shall we begin?"

"Of course, let's start, please!" Wang Zhong gestured towards the telephone invitingly.

Pavlov picked up the receiver, "Artillery position, are you there? Fire."

As he put down the receiver, the sound of rolling "thunder" emerged from outside.

Wang Zhong switched his view. He couldn't directly see the Melania 1st Division preparing to attack from the headquarters, but he could see the artillery positions.

All types of artillery from the entire Army Group were roaring in anger, a scene reminiscent of an iconic moment from "The Great Battle."

Wang Zhong searched for a moment and indeed found birds flying in the sky. Although he couldn't remember the voice-over for this scene, the image of the birds calmly flying amidst the sound of gunfire was deeply etched in his memory.

At this time, Pavlov gave the order to fire to the rocket artillery brigade, and Wang Zhong consequently got the perspective of the rocket artillery brigade.

From the overhead view, you couldn't hear the sounds from the field, but the sight of Katyushas firing in unison, with such a destructive force, led Wang Zhong to automatically fill in the "whizzing" sound of the rockets firing in his mind.

With such intense firepower, the enemy deployed on the grasslands was surely already blown to pieces—this was what Wang Zhong thought.

————

By this time, the Melania 1st Division's troops were deployed less than three kilometers from the enemy. The shells passed over their heads one after the other, emitting a buzzing sound that made their scalps tingle.

When the rocket artillery opened fire, the noise in the sky reached its climax, causing even the bravest of veterans to shrink their necks.

The uniform of the Melania People's Army was based on that of the Ante People, but some modifications were made to reflect their cultural identity. Mainly, some decorations were added, and their hats were different from those of the Ante People—this highlighted the differences from the Ante troops without putting too much pressure on supplies.

Now, the Melanians, who had been trained for more than half a year, were waiting for their moment of vengeance.

Some of them had been forced to leave their homeland three years ago, unable to contact any friends or family. Others had escaped from Melania to Ante within the last two years, already familiar with the Prussian atrocities before leaving their homeland.

Now, all these experiences were transformed into fury and courage etched on young but weathered faces.

They awaited the cessation of artillery fire, waiting for the whistle to attack.

The veterans who had fought with the Melania National Army were the first to notice the artillery fire transitioning to the Xu Jin barrage.

"It's starting!"

"You Prussian bastards born of bitches! Your Melania grandfathers are coming for you!"

The call to attack spread across the entire starting line.

The next moment, the rumble of tank engines drowned out the whistles.

The Melania 1st Division's Shermans and M3 Grant tanks took the lead, with half-track vehicles and infantry lines following behind the tanks.

Not long after they set off, someone started singing the famous Melania song "Wisława Waltz": "The wind of hatred roars overhead~"

Others immediately joined in: "The demon has played his cruel hand!"

"Get up and fight to the death with the enemy, no need to ask what lies ahead!"

"Rise bravely, rise proudly!"

"Brave falcons, fight for the cause of liberation!"

The red flag with the white eagle of Melania flew at the forefront of the troops, the eagle on the flag seemed to come alive, leading a flock of falcons over the prairie.

————

On the Prussian side, because the prairie was really not suitable for digging anti-gun bunkers, the troops had already lost more than half.

The surviving machine gunners were struggling to dig out their machine guns from the dirt, while the surviving gunners tried hard to flip the overturned anti-tank guns back over.

Medics were running everywhere, vainly trying to snatch some lives back from the hands of the Grim Reaper.

Suddenly, someone shouted, "Listen!"

Everyone stopped.

The roar of tank engines and solemn singing floated through the air.

Some of the veterans understood: "Melanian language! Damn it, it's the Melanians, I've seen their methods when I was fighting bandits in Melania, they don't take prisoners! Falling into their hands means having your eyes and nose cut off, tied to a tree, and left to die slowly!"

No sooner had the voice faded than the red flag appeared.

This time many reacted, "It's Rocossov's troops!"

In the Prussian forces, the red flag equaled Rocossov's troops, a widely known fact.

At that moment, an officer ran along the trench that had been blasted into segments, "Gather the weapons of our fallen comrades! Prepare to fight!"

"Prepare to fight!"

The Prussians repositioned their machine guns and readied their anti-tank guns.

On the severely reduced artillery positions, sergeants replaced the fallen officers, observing the approaching tanks with blood-stained binoculars.

"Damn, I've never seen such tanks, they don't look like T34s! Nor do they look like Matildas or Valentines (both are tanks from the United Kingdom, seen in the Carolingian campaign)!" Stay updated with empire

The gunner asked the acting commander, "Where should we aim?"

The Prussian anti-tank gunners all had a manual that taught them where to aim when facing different tanks.

But there were no instructions for this new type of tank in the manual.

The sergeant hesitated for a moment and then said, "Just aim for the front of the chassis near the driver's observation window!"

They didn't know that this model of Sherman had no driver's observation window; the driver mainly relied on a periscope to observe the outside during combat.

The correct action was to aim for the machine gun muzzle.

Following the sergeant's instructions, the gunners searched for the observation window and soon found something amiss, "How could the observation window be on the top of the tank chassis?"

However, by that time the enemy's tanks had moved past the target.

"Fire!"

Despite their doubts, the Prussian gunners still executed the order, so the shells hit the upper front of the hull, deflecting off the highly angled armor.

The tanks did not stop their advance but instead fired back while moving!

The stabilizer, kid!

The mixed contingent of Shermans and Grants just like that stormed over the Prussian positions.

The artillerymen scattered, leaving the anti-tank guns to be flattened by the treads—just as the Prussian tanks had done to the Ante people's 45mm anti-tank guns last year.