Chapter 776 "Until Death"

December 3, 0930, Ante Front Command, 51 kilometers from the center of Prosinia.

When General Eugene entered the door, Wang Zhong and Pavlov were gesturing at the defense map of Prosinia.

General Eugene: "Report! Marshal, I'm here."

The two people in front of the map turned around, and then Pavlov looked at Wang Zhong.

Wang Zhong: "Why are you looking at me?"

"You are a marshal, and I am still a general."

Popov: "You are almost there, but I am different. There are very few bishops who are promoted to marshals."

Wang Zhong: "You can go to be a cardinal archbishop, and you are not in the same system as us. Eugene, you are here, we specially asked you to come here, there is a mission."

Wang Zhong made a "come here" gesture, and the former mine director immediately trotted to the map, with a puzzled look on his face: "What's wrong?"

Wang Zhong pointed to a Prosin-controlled area on the map more than 20 kilometers away from the center of Prosinia.

"The Asgard Knights in this place have been resisting fiercely."

General Eugene: "Yes, we adopted the encirclement strategy according to the order, and launched attacks from time to time to consume their ammunition. But now it seems that the enemy has a lot of ammunition in stock, and has not run out of ammunition yet."

Pavlov: "But now we need you to take this place. After comprehensively considering the situation in the entire war zone, the headquarters hopes to set up a supply center here. The enemy's defense has not lost its basic tactical literacy. They put this nail here, which makes us very uncomfortable."

Wang Zhong: "The headquarters will give you the best attacking force. You must crush the resistance of the Asgard Knights, which can also be regarded as providing some help for Davarish in Stas to carry out his work."

General Eugene, He touched his heels and saluted: "I promise to complete the mission."

Popov: "Hey, you look like you have something to say. Tell us what difficulties you have and we will help you solve them."

General Eugene: "This... is nothing. Should the General Command not move forward?"

Pavlov clapped his hands: "Good! This is a good suggestion!"

Wang Zhong held Pavlov's shoulders: "Don't get excited. Eugene, why do you suggest this? Did the Chief of Staff invite you for coffee?"

General Eugene shook his head: "No! I really think the General Command is running too far ahead. If you move forward, our front headquarters cannot fall behind.

"The current situation is that our front headquarters was forced to move into the coverage of the enemy's artillery. It was bombarded yesterday and more than 20 people died.

"The army and division headquarters of the front troops are also all within the enemy's artillery range. Fortunately, the enemy's artillery force has been greatly weakened now, otherwise it would really be a disaster!"

It was really rare for the size of the front headquarters to lose more than 20 people in the heavy artillery bombardment.

Wang Zhong: "How did your position get exposed?"

"It was the guerrillas." Eugene hurriedly added, "Davarich of Stas has rooted out the lurking guerrillas. They actually reported the situation by phone. We have completely mastered the phone system."

Wang Zhong was shocked.

Pavlov: "I told you that we couldn't move forward, but you didn't listen. Now there are casualties below. It's your fault! If I hadn't held you back, you might have really dueled with Emperor Prosin!"

Wang Zhong: "Okay, the headquarters will not move forward until we completely occupy Prosinia."

"You can't move forward either!" Pavlov raised his voice.

Wang Zhong was about to say yes when the confidential staff entered the room: "Report, we received a telegram from the Third Melania Front."

Wang Zhong: "Read it!"

Pavlov did not hide his disappointment because he didn't wait for a positive answer.

The confidential secretary didn't care about that and read directly: "My unit received a call from the 9th Army of Proson. They plan to revolt on the battlefield and give up the army's defense zone."

Wang Zhong: "9th Army? Weren't they eliminated?"

Pavlov: "The newly formed new army, from the commander to the soldiers, is new, and the equipment is also new. An army is going to revolt as a whole?"

Pavlov walked up to the confidential secretary, took the telegram and read it carefully.

A few seconds later, he muttered: "It's true."

General Eugene: "I remember that the defense zone of the 9th Army is quite large. If they give it up like this, the 3rd Melania Front can march straight in."

Wang Zhong looked at Pavlov: "What is the equipment situation of the 3rd Front?"

"They have replenished all the technical equipment and soldiers. The only problem is that there are only 60% of grassroots non-commissioned officers, and a corporal squad leader has to lead 20 soldiers." Pavlov answered.

Wang Zhong: "What about the grassroots NCOs?"

"In the hospital. Currently, most NCOs have cancelled their recuperation and vacations and rushed back to the front line, but even this is not enough. There are about 300,000 NCOs in the hospital. The situation will be greatly improved when they all return to the team."

Wang Zhong was silent.

Confidential Secretary: "How should we respond?"

Wang Zhong hesitated slightly and replied: "Accept their uprising. Once the defensive position is given up, launch an attack immediately. The news of an army uprising will greatly shake the enemy's confidence, and our army's direct advance will further shake the enemy.

"This will be of great benefit to Stas's surrender operation."

Just as the confidential secretary was about to leave, Pavlov stopped him: "Don't leave in a hurry! I personally drafted the message and made it clear what the interests were."

As he spoke, Pavlov sat down behind the desk and began writing furiously.

General Eugene said to Wang Zhong: "I will go back to the headquarters now, and we will launch an attack on the target area tomorrow."

Wang Zhong: "Please."

General Eugene saluted, turned and left the room.

Popov looked at his back and said, "Can you believe he was a mine director before the war started?"

Wang Zhong: "Before the war started, I was still in last place."

"Don't mention your last place."

————

That night.

Although Andreas had experienced a day of fierce fighting, he volunteered to stand on the first shift that night.

Kosrek also came to the sentry post and stood side by side with him.

"What do you think of the enemy's attack today?" Kosrek asked.

Andreas: "They didn't really want to defeat us, they were just consuming our ammunition and our morale. Ant's tank stayed far away and only fired. This is the first time I've seen it. Normal. In this case, they had already rushed up with the infantry and filled the trenches with caterpillar tracks. "

Ant's tank crew would straddle them across the trench, then twist left and right, using their own weight and tracks to scrape the soil off the sides of the trench, eventually burying the trench.

Veterans like Andreas and Koslyk had experienced this many times, and Ant tankers would rush in to do this once they noticed a lack of anti-tank firepower in their position.

Many Plosen soldiers were buried in the trenches and suffocated to death.

It is said that this was the tactics used by the Prosen tank crews at the beginning of the war, and many Ant soldiers who were guarding the trenches were buried in this way.

Kosrek: "Yes, the enemy is just consuming us. They just want to see us slowly starve to death."

Andreas: “Isn’t there still a lot of dry food?”

"Yes, yes." Kosrek paused and suddenly said, "You remember the Hessian in the 3rd row, right?"

"Remember, he owes me five packs of tobacco," Andreas replied.

"He ran away."

"What?" Andreas looked at Kosrek, "Are you sure?"

"Yes, everyone knows that he ran away, but the officers all said that he died. Damn it, which soldier died and the officers would deliberately come over and tell everyone, 'He died'? It's obviously a cover-up."

Andreas silently touched the matches in his pocket.

The appearance of the match was the same as the assigned match, but the inside was completely different. It was made of solid materials and could be struck with just one stroke.

This match was probably a gift from a Stas priest, and perhaps it could be used to bring a better life to the family, if they were still alive.

Kosrek seemed to have guessed what Andreas was thinking, and said, "Have you received any letters from your family?"

"No. Last time I wrote about it, the Ant people had already advanced to the river at the foot of my mountain. They should have fallen by now."

Kosrek: "Then if you surrender now, maybe you can go home directly."

Andreas was silent for a few seconds and then asked: "If I surrender, will you hate me for betraying you?"

Kosrek held a cigarette in his mouth: "I don't know. You have to surrender so I can find out. I have all the matches struck."

Andreas took out a match and lit Koslyk's cigarette at once.

Please...you...collect 6...books...!

At this moment, gunshots were heard from the darkness on the right side of the post.

The two veterans immediately picked up their guns and opened the safety.

The gunfire continued, and many fire points were alerted and began to spit out tongues of fire.

Kosrek cursed: "Asshole, this is a blow to the head. The enemy is obviously testing our firepower. Maybe they will take action tomorrow."

Andreas: "Well, being active the night before the attack is indeed like the practice of Ant troops. The firepower exposed tonight will not survive the first round of direct fire tomorrow."

Kosrek interrupted Andreas: "No, this is not the time! If you want to leave, you have to leave now. Anyway, no one will find out about this situation tonight!"

Andreas stared at Kosrek for a few seconds: "You promised you wouldn't let me die, didn't you? Man, do you remember the motto of the unit when we met? Until death do we part!"

Kosrek: "That unit has been wiped out by Rokossov, and we have changed our numbers several times! Come on, let's go!"

"No!" Andreas said, "It would be risky to leave. Just wait until the Anters attack me tomorrow and then surrender."

Koslake didn't answer.

————

December 4, 0500 hours.

The whistling of shells suddenly woke Andreas from his nap.

"Prepare artillery fire!" he shouted, "enter the artillery hole quickly!"

As he spoke, he pulled up the private beside him.

After the changing of the guard for the first shift yesterday, Andreas returned to the bunker and fell asleep. Only now did he realize that he slept in the wrong place and ran into the pile of new recruits.

Andreas: "Quick, don't sleep! This bunker can't withstand heavy artillery attacks. Get into the anti-gun cave!"

The private he was holding shouted in horror: "Ahhhhhh, what's going on?"

Andreas: "It's artillery preparation, you idiot!"

At this time, many recruits also showed symptoms. They were lying on the ground amid the tremors, unable to do anything but scream.

This is actually a kind of shell shock. When a new soldier encounters a fierce artillery preparation for the first time, he will be hysterical like this.

Not to mention the new soldiers, Andreas was also shocked. He has experienced the artillery preparation of the Ants many times, but none of them is as good as this time.

It feels that the firepower of the Ants is getting stronger and stronger, and more and more crazy.

Suddenly, the roof of the bunker collapsed, and Andreas fell unconscious.

When he opened his eyes again, he saw Koslake's face.

"Are you okay?"

Andreas: "Where is my new soldier?"

"No, I dragged you out." Koslake grinned, "It depends on the two of us, let's go, go to the machine gun position."

"Is the artillery preparation over?" Andreas asked.

"You have been unconscious for more than two hours, and the artillery preparation has just ended." Koslake led him into the machine gun position.

The tripod of the machine gun was miraculously standing, and the machine gun on it looked intact.

Andreas and Kosrek immediately prepared for battle.

Just at this time, the ground began to tremble.

In the distance came the roar of tank engines, the creaking sound of the running mechanism, and from time to time there was a huge metal friction - the two veterans knew that it might be the Ante tank turning.

"Damn, when the attack just started, was that how the Ante people waited for our tanks?" Andreas said.

Kosrek: "At that time, the largest tank they were waiting for was only the Type 4, which could be destroyed by hitting the weak point with an anti-tank gun. Now we are facing the enemy's iron bastard."

As soon as the voice fell, an assault gun entered the field of vision of the two.

Then came a row of assault guns, all with thick tubes.

The assault gun stopped and raised the barrel.

The next moment, the first wave of 152mm howitzer direct fire came.

Although Andreas and Kosrek's position was not exposed last night, a grenade still fell in the center of the position.

...

After a while, Kosrek opened his eyes. After a brief moment of daze, he checked his body, hands and feet, and then laughed hysterically.

"Hahahahaha, I'm not dead! I'm fine! Andreas, look!"

He turned his head to look for his partner, and found that he was not far away, so he went over and patted his shoulder: "I'm fine! How are you?"

As soon as he exerted force, Andreas' body was pulled over, and it was incredibly light.

Then Kosrek found that Andreas's lower body was gone, and his intestines drooped from his upper body and dragged on the ground.

Andreas was probably dead.

Kosrek left his comrade and covered his mouth.

This big man sobbed for the first time.

At this time he heard the Ant language.

He was shocked and made a decision in an instant. He took out his non-commissioned officer certificate and threw it away, and also tore off the sergeant major rank on his shoulder.

Then Kosrek took the certificate from Andreas and put it in his pocket.

Finally, he did not forget the matches in Andreas' pocket.

After getting ready, he took a deep breath and whispered: "I am Corporal Andreas, I live in..."

Before he finished reading, the Ante soldiers crossed the sandbags: "Don't move, raise your hands! Surrender your guns and you won't be killed!"

Kosrek raised his hands: "I surrender! I joined the army during your counterattack, and I didn't kill any Ante people!"