Cannon Fire Arc

Chapter 918: Chapter 30 The Dull Spear

Colonel Shrifen also saw the massive column of dust ahead.

He put down his binoculars and snatched the microphone from the radio operator’s hand: “This is Colonel Shrifen. The enemy has deliberately planted so many explosives just to intimidate us. Keep advancing!”

After speaking, he took the headset from the radio operator and pressed it to his right ear, just in time to hear the tank operator respond: “Yes, keep advancing.”

Colonel Shrifen felt relieved, but a troubling thought crossed his mind, prompting him to say hurriedly: “Advance in combat formation!”

“Ah? Yes, we’ll halt and form a combat—”

The subordinate’s words were cut off by the sound of an explosion.

On the other end of the radio, there was chaos, forcing Colonel Shrifen to shout repeatedly: “Hello! Hello! Speak! What’s happening?”

He waited a few seconds, but there was no response, so he shouted again.

Finally, a panicked voice came through the headset: “Another tank stepped on a landmine, Colonel!”

Colonel Shrifen: “Stop advancing, form a combat formation and wait, mark the coordinates of the minefield, I’ll clear a path for you with artillery fire.”

“Yes.”

The colonel put down the headset and microphone, turned to the messenger and said: “Have the accompanying artillery move out and use firepower to cover the minefield marked by the vanguard.”

After the messenger left, Colonel Shrifen picked up the binoculars again and observed the distant Melania Capital.

Suddenly, he laughed at himself: “Six years ago, I observed this city in the same way. At that time, their government had already fled to the United Kingdom, and the commander of the army had surrendered, but the ordinary soldiers were still resisting.

“Now, six years later, it’s as if time has reversed.”

Beside him, a staff officer quickly said: “We will gloriously occupy this city, just like six years ago.”

Colonel Shrifen remained silent, not responding to the staff officer’s flattery.

He waited for a while before putting down the binoculars, glanced at his watch, and then cursed: “Why hasn’t the artillery fire started yet? Are the accompanying artillery not deployed? Go and find out what’s going on!”

Immediately, a staff officer ran off.

After waiting a bit longer, the staff officer returned and reported loudly: “The vanguard hasn’t reported the coordinates of the minefield yet! They are inquiring intensively.”

Colonel Shrifen looked at his watch again, then sighed: “This isn’t time reversing; six years ago, my troops were all elite, but now they’re all incompetents!”

Everyone around him remained silent.

At this moment, the artillery finally fired, and the sound relaxed Colonel Shrifen’s expression.

But soon his expression froze again because he heard the radio operator shouting beside him: “What? Speak louder, I can’t hear you.”

Colonel Shrifen picked up the headset on the table, put it to his ear, and heard the vanguard shouting: “The artillery hit us! Cease fire! The artillery landed on us! Damn it, you’re hitting friendly forces!”

Colonel Shrifen: “Cease fire! Order the artillery to cease fire! Find out who set those firing data, they will face courts-martial!”

The staff officer jogged off again, and soon the shelling stopped. The staff officer returned to report: “The firing data was set according to the coordinates given by the vanguard; it was the vanguard’s coordinates that were wrong.”

Colonel Shrifen remained silent for quite a while until the staff officer cautiously asked: “Colonel? What should we do now?”

The colonel: “Tell the vanguard to retreat one kilometer, then fire at the coordinates they reported earlier, using advancing barrage; this way, the minefield will also be blown away.”

“Yes.”

At this time, the radio operator said: “General Hawke is inquiring about the progress of the attack.”

The colonel: “Tell the general that we encountered a minefield, caught my troops off guard, and they were sacrificed needlessly. We’re trying to find a solution!”

————

General Hawke sighed deeply after hearing the deputy officer’s report: “I didn’t want to assign him such troops, but having troops at all is already a blessing.”

As he finished speaking, the secretary came in with a telegram: “Report, a telegram from Admiral Steiner.”

“Read.”

“My unit has retreated across the Vistula River and is fortifying along the river, regrouping to restore command structure. As long as you capture Melania Capital and eliminate the Antean bridgehead, we can fortify along the Vistula River.”

General Hawke: “Tell them we’re doing our best.”

————

Vasily glanced at the report just delivered by his subordinate and turned to report to Wang Zhong: “The enemy’s armored troops have stopped after encountering a minefield. Our observation post saw them being shelled. Do we have artillery units?”

Wang Zhong: “The artillery units haven’t arrived yet. We only have armored trains that have entered the city, but I didn’t order them to open fire—did I give such an order, are you not aware?”

Currently, Vasily is the one responsible for implementing Wang Zhong’s orders, and theoretically, he should be aware of every command Wang Zhong issues.

Vasily: “That’s strange, they can’t possibly have been shelled by their own artillery, can they?”

At this point, another report was delivered.

After reading it, Vasily looked up at Wang Zhong in bewilderment.

Wang Zhong: “What’s wrong?”

“They retreated, the Prosen armored troops encountered mines and did nothing but retreat. The observation post reports they abandoned three tanks and seven half-track vehicles.”

Wang Zhong: “The quality of enemy troops has deteriorated severely! Probably because all their veterans are blockaded around Kebao. Good! Have the observation post find a way to confirm where the enemy has retreated to, also check if the armored train’s shells have arrived, see if we can give them a bombardment.”

“Yes.” As Vasily executed the order, the phone on the table rang.

Wang Zhong picked it up: “This is City Defense Command, speak.”

“Report to Marshal, enemy infantry is approaching from the south of the city.”

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!