Cannon Fire Arc

The Commando squad entered the sewers under the guidance of a Balas guide.

Gonif immediately started complaining as soon as he entered the sewer, "Why do they have us compete with paratroopers and Antwerp regular infantry? What's the point?"

Jonathan responded, "It's obviously to fuel everyone's fighting spirit with patriotism. The person who decided this had a good idea."

"We are a special forces unit, look how few of us there are! The other two participating groups are entire brigade combat teams," Gonif continued.

Walking behind him, Jerry, one of the brothers along with Tommy, opened up, "I heard that Antean brigade took heavy losses during the landing, they are not at full strength. But they have received new equipment that might have enhanced their combat capabilities."

Tommy nodded, "I heard about a silent repeating weapon; it really should have been given to us. If we had silent automatic weapons, many battles would be much easier. But look at what we've been equipped with?"

Tommy lifted the Sten submachine gun he was holding and smacked it hard.
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Jonathan quickly said, "Don't slap it, what if it goes off? It's so narrow in this sewer, and there are so many brothers around. Let's go."

Tommy shook his head, slung his gun, and continued walking.

At this moment, Lieutenant Ke turned back and said, "We might be few, but we've been assigned demolition tasks, like blowing up telegraph poles, cutting telephone lines, and throwing bombs into enemy headquarters.

"These tasks don't require us to hold positions against counterattacks; we just need to break through, throw the bombs, and leave. I'd say the tasks the Ante Expeditionary Army Headquarters assigned to us are quite suitable."

Jonathan added, "Of course they're suitable. That's Rocossov's headquarters, their staff must be exceptionally brilliant, capable of devising perfect battle plans."

At that moment, the group passed a manhole cover with an iron grid, through which they could suddenly hear gunshots erupting outside.

Jonathan stated, "Ante 393rd Naval Infantry Brigade and the United Kingdom's First Paratrooper Division Task Force have started fighting; we better hurry while they're drawing attention. Let's get out there and find the buildings on the list to blow up."

At this point, the doctor spoke up, "Though our task is only for demolition, there are many targets assigned to us. That bear-like Chief of Staff probably thinks blowing up a quarter of them will cause enough chaos, that's why he's set these targets.

"But I think we can blow them all up."

Gonif patted the large pile of TNT explosives he was carrying, "Of course, otherwise why the hell am I carrying so much TNT? We're going to blow up every single target assigned to us, not leaving a single one!"

After Gonif spoke, the members of Commando all agreed, their morale high.

Lieutenant Ke said, "Let's hurry, the Balas guide said the exit is just ahead."

————

The task for the Ante 393rd Naval Infantry Brigade was to attack the north-western gate of the city walls, directly facing the front of the Ante Expeditionary Force.

Once the gate was conquered and the city gates opened, the Expeditionary Force's Armored Troops could drive directly into the city, supporting the infantry within the city with direct tank gun fire.

The Naval Infantry were equipped with brand new Thread Cutter Assault Rifles with suppressors. Initially unfamiliar with this weapon, they employed a Papasha firing style – spraying bullets.

But the Black Death, wearing their sailor shirts, soon found out the Thread Cutter was highly accurate, not needing to spray bullets like the Papasha; a few bursts of four or five shots would hit the target.

The Naval Infantry soon began using longer, precise bursts, significantly reducing ammunition consumption.

They discovered that the bullets fired from the Thread Cutter were incredibly lethal, often incapacitating enemies from a single hit.

This feature immediately received everyone's praise.

The Naval Infantry swiftly eliminated the enemies around the gatehouse and its annexes and knocked out the few opposing firepower points directed towards the city interior.

However, at the gatehouse entrance, the Naval Infantry faced trouble.

Prosens soldiers – replaced by Balasians – had piled sandbags inside the entrance, constructing a makeshift bunker and mounted an MG34 machine gun, start to fire through the entrance.

The Naval Infantry, not true Grim Reapers and merely flesh and blood, suddenly found themselves outgunned by the machine gun.

But as Naval Infantry seasoned in combat against the Prosens, all the soldiers patiently waited for the enemy to change the gun barrel.

Suddenly, the machine gun fire stopped.

A young Naval Infantry private dashed out; his older comrade didn't manage to hold him back.

The Prosens' machine gun opened fire again, continuously hitting the young soldier in the abdomen, chest, and neck, instantly claiming his young life.

The Prosens' machine gun fell silent once more.

The old soldier stationed by the door threw a stone out.

As expected, the stone's landing elicited a burst of machine gun fire.

As the machine gun paused, the old soldier who had thrown the stone suddenly dashed out, unleashing a burst of fire from his Thread Cutter.

Bullets stirred a great cloud of dust on the sandbag bunker, hitting both the Prosens' main and assistant gunner who were changing the barrel, causing them to slump over the machine gun.

Hit by bullets from the Thread Cutter, their faces were nearly unrecognizable.

Holding his Thread Cutter, the old soldier cautiously entered the space housing the machine gun bunker.

A Prosens soldier, clad in Balasian uniform, burst out diagonally and yelled as he tried to snatch the veteran's gun. However, the veteran landed a swift kick to the soldier's groin, halting the attack due to severe pain.

The veteran then swung the thread cutter he held, smashing its butt into the Prosens soldier's cheek, shattering his face completely.

Having repelled the enemy, the veteran swiftly turned the gun around and fired a three-round burst at the enemy.

Three terrifying bullet holes appeared on the enemy's body, turning his flesh into a bloody mess.

While the veteran dealt with the assailant, naval infantry flooded in behind him into the city gate tower, beginning their climb to the second floor.

—

By this time, Wang Zhong had just woken up from a short nap and was now on the hillside, where he had observed the city during the day, holding a pair of binoculars and looking towards the city gate tower.

Saying he was looking through the binoculars was just a pose; his real consciousness was hovering above everyone, looking down.

Wang Zhong trusted the naval infantry to handle the situation, but he couldn't help but worry.

Inside Balas City, gunfire was rampant, and now and then, there were loud explosions—it was unclear whether they were set off by the Commandos.

Pavlov noticed Wang Zhong's worry and said, "We still have a backup plan. Tomorrow's heavy breakthrough artillery group will definitely breach the city walls with their 203mm heavy artillery. Although it's not as powerful as the siege tanks you designed, it will be enough."

"The city walls of Balas," he continued, "were surveyed by engineers after nightfall, and although they look formidable, the layer between the two layers of brick and stone is probably just dirt. A few shots from the 203 heavy artillery will crumble it."

Just as Wang Zhong was about to reply, he suddenly saw lights appearing on the city gate tower, flashing on and off, clearly signaling in Morse code!

He immediately handed the binoculars to Yakov: "Quick! Light signals, decode!"

Yakov raised the binoculars and began translating, word by word: "The city gate tower is guarded by Prosens soldiers dressed in Balasian uniforms..."

Wang Zhong didn't wait for Yakov to finish, he slapped Pavlov on the arm, "What did I tell you? They definitely changed guards! They always follow the book to a T!"

Pavlov: "Why do you always argue these points with me? I never doubted your judgment! If you want to brag, go brag to Miss Emilia."

Wang Zhong wanted to argue back, but Yakov was still translating the signals, so he didn't want to say too much and just shut his mouth.

Yakov: "Our forces have taken the passage leading to the city wall, but the Prosens are still resisting near the gate's mechanical device; it will take some time to clear the Prosens' defenses."

Wang Zhong: "No need to seize the mechanical mechanism for the gate. Can't TNT blast open an ancient iron gate? If that really doesn't work, you can just blow up the city gate tower and leave the gate standing."

"Eh?" Yakov looked surprised at Wang Zhong, "Should I really send such a message?"

Meanwhile, someone from Pavlov's staff had already pulled out a flashlight and started to signal to the people on the city wall.

Within a minute, thick smoke billowed out from under the city gate tower.

Following that, two men with lanterns ran out through the smoke, drawing circles in the night sky.

It appeared the naval infantry had successfully blasted the city gate. There was no need to demolish the entire city gate tower now, thankfully preserving some proud history for Balas.

Right then, two massive explosions sounded from within the city.

Wang Zhong: "That was definitely the work of the Commandos. The Prosens only use so much explosives when demolishing buildings."

Pavlov: "I wonder if they could destroy a fifth of the targets I marked. Blasting away a fifth is enough to severely disrupt the enemy's command and coordination."

"You only need a fifth?" Wang Zhong remarked, "You really set them an achievable target."

"That's called leaving a margin," Pavlov replied somewhat smugly.

Wang Zhong turned his binoculars back towards today's target for the first Paratrooper Division task force.

Turning the binoculars was just for emotional effect; Wang Zhong had already shifted his bird's-eye view to the Red Devils' target.

He saw the Red Devils fiercely fighting in the streets, because in the square between the three targeted buildings, there was a Panzer IV tank!

Wang Zhong instantly wanted to curse the Prosens for their cunning in secretly bringing in the tank, but then he remembered that with the binoculars' perspective, he definitely couldn't have seen the Panzer IV under the building. Cursing about the tank seemed a bit odd.

He could only watch as the paratroopers were mowed down by the tank.

Although the paratroopers had set up smoke screens, the tank seemed to have learned from Wang Zhong's tactics; it continuously fired into the smoke-covered streets, extinguishing any chance of sneaking through.

At that moment, Wang Zhong saw a team of paratroopers climb to the rooftop, briefly looking down at the tank below before hurling three grenades.

Wang Zhong clearly saw the second grenade dropping into the open hatch where the Prosens tank operator was commanding.

The next moment, thick smoke burst from the tank turret's hatch, and the commanding Prosens tank operator immediately slumped over.

Soon, flames burst from around the turret ring, quickly spreading to the engine compartment.

The remaining surviving Prosens tank operators leaped from the tank one after another and scattered.

And that's when the Red Devils launched their charge; from Wang Zhong's viewpoint, it looked like a flurry of red berets storming towards the three targeted buildings.

Looks like the Red Devils had prevailed too.