Cannon Fire Arc

Ludmila, performing her duties as a cleric, belted out a song to boost morale as, in the Prosen-controlled zone, Commando Gonif landed on his feet.

Then he fell flat on his buttocks.

Gonif, grumbling, stood up—"Why do I always land on my ass every time I parachute?"

Casino, who had landed just before him, walked over as he gathered his parachute, "Because you always try to cut corners in parachute training. That's why. Cut the chat. We're in enemy-occupied territory; someone might have seen our parachutes and could be coming to search."

Gonif, hearing this, hurriedly stood and began to efficiently gather his parachute.

Casino quickly folded his parachute into a cube, stuffed it into a camouflaged bag, and found a nearby tree to hide it under the roots, covering it with some fallen leaves and dirt.

Then he checked the weapons he carried.

By this time, Gonif had also finished with his parachute and found a tree to hide it, asking as he did, "Did you see where our weapons pack landed?"

"Saw it, less than a hundred meters north. Let's check our weapons and then go fetch it."

For the safety of parachuting, paratroopers could not carry too much heavy equipment, thus aside from personal weapons and a few magazines, all heavy equipment and extra ammunition had to be airdropped in special containers.

But Commandos and paratroopers were different; they carried out special sabotage missions requiring explosives, detonators, and other such items. Carrying these items on one's person not only posed a danger, but was also prone to damage (specifically the detonators) during the landing.

Thus, each Commando team normally had a weapons box dropped with them.

Soon, Casino and Gonif located the weapons box assigned to them and retrieved timing devices, explosives, and additional weapons.

As Gonif armed himself, he asked, "Should I steal some Prosen uniforms? You know Prosenese, so if something happens, you can bluff our way through."

Casino responded, "Forget it. In these uniforms, we're military personnel protected by the Geneva Conventions. In Prosen uniforms, we're just spies without any protection from the conventions."

Gonif questioned, "Do you think the Prosens will respect the conventions?"

"We've been captured; it's a gamble now. It's best to avoid capture. Luckily, this mission is simple. We just need to direct the Ante Air Force. We don't have to do the bombing ourselves. We can sneak in, leave a timed bomb, sneak out, and move on to the next target."

Gonif, puzzled, asked, "Then why bring so much explosives?"

"I'm worried what if the Ante Air Force misses their target. Rocossov needs time to assemble his troops; it's all on us to buy that time."

"You really care, and you're not even from Ante," Gonif remarked.

Casino sighed, "I fell in love with a doctor at the hospital. Can you believe they actually have female doctors?"

"What? A female doctor?" Gonif exclaimed, surprised. "Girls can go to medical school? She's not a nurse thrown in over her head?"

"No, no, I talked with her. She really graduated from medical school. I've never seen anything like it, and I'm really smitten!"

"Cut it out, you Castilian. When have you ever not been smitten!"

As they talked, Gonif stuffed all his equipment onto himself, "I'm ready. Let's go set this bomb for the sake of your love!"

"You should find someone, too," Casino suggested. "Antean girls are quite nice, and they have a unique beauty."

"I don't speak Antenese, you jerk!" Gonif cursed, standing up to leave but suddenly crouched down.

Casino alarmed, asked, "What's wrong?"

"Shh, listen."

Casino leaned over next to Gonif, soon hearing an engine noise.

"Sounds like a Prosen bucket truck," Casino, more familiar with such things, immediately recognized.

Sure enough, a bucket truck stopped nearby, and four Prosens got out, loudly speaking in Prosenese.

Casino whispered, "They just noticed a plane flew over, didn't see parachutes. They're just checking things out. Good, we can go."

"Hey, wait a moment," Gonif pulled Casino back, "there are only four of them. We could use the vehicle. It's a long walk, and we have two targets, ten kilometers apart."

Casino thought it over and nodded, "You're right. We'll take the truck."

Thus, the two men set down their explosives and other gear, drew their tactical knives, and silently split up, stalking towards the four enemies, vanishing into the night.

The enemies were spread out, in a searching formation, but their 98K rifles were not even safety-off. Continue reading at My Virtual Library Empire

After all, they were Eastern Front troops, unaccustomed to Commando attacks.

The first unlucky ones were on the left and right flanks, pulled into the darkness like by invisible hands, disappearing without a sound.

The remaining two continued talking loudly, completely unaware that two of their comrades had already fallen.

Several seconds later, one of them finally sensed something wrong, turned his head, and called out, "Hans? Hans, stop playing; I know you're trying to scare us!"

At that moment, Casino stood in front of him and exclaimed, "Ha-ha!"

The Prosens were startled, about to raise their rifles, but were silenced by a swift slash to the throat.

The last one was distracted by Casino, suddenly turned around, pulled the trigger, and then realized the safety was on.

Gonif, like a fish suddenly darting out of water, grabbed a Prosen by the chin with one hand, elegantly cutting open his throat with the other.

As the last enemy thunderously fell, Gonif lifted his hand and tossed something shiny to Casino, "The keys! No idea which one is for the vehicle."

Casino caught the keys, "You even remembered which enemy drove?"

"Of course; it's not that hard."

Casino ran toward the barrel truck, while Gonif efficiently ran back to their previous hiding spot, grabbed their gear, and swiftly returned.

And like that, they drove off.

At the same time, multiple commando groups paratrooped into an area spanning over a hundred kilometers long and thirty kilometers wide, rushing toward their designated targets.

They were to install timed bombs at daytime bombing targets; these resulting fires and smoke would guide the Antean Air Force bombers to their targets.

This tactic was adopted because many of the Antean pilots had less than two hundred hours of flying experience, making direct target identification quite challenging for them.

Furthermore, since the commandos were veterans, they could choose critical targets for the bombs, ensuring some damage even if the air raid missed entirely.

In addition, commandos were particularly adept at slashing car tires.

The Prosens were completely unaware of all these preparations.

October 19, morning, 0830 hours, at the Headquarters of the Prosen Sixth Army Group.

General Frederick William von Frederick entered the Headquarters on time.

The staff, busy, didn't stop to salute but looked up and greeted, "Good morning, General."

Frederick nodded in response and reached the map table before asking the Chief of Staff, "Anything last night I need to know?"

"Many units heard the sound of Antean planes, not the Dark Night Witches, but large transport aircraft. Many units sent out search teams to anticipate Antean paratroopers," reported the Chief of Staff, "No enemies found so far."

General Frederick nodded. At that moment, an orderly brought over coffee and breakfast, placing it on the table.

The General picked up his coffee cup, "Thank you, Hank."

The veteran orderly nodded and turned to leave, just as a messenger burst into the Headquarters, "General! The anti-air observations have spotted a large formation of Antean aircraft heading towards our rear."

General Frederick looked at the messenger, "How large a formation? Give me precise numbers."

The messenger replied, "Many, some outposts reported seeing hundreds."

The Chief of Staff added, "This must be the new Front Army Commander's first big move, although it's quite different from what I had imagined."

"How so?" General Frederick looked at his Chief of Staff, "You're supposed to have thoroughly studied that Rocossov; does this action not fit your predictions?"

The Chief of Staff nodded, "Rocossov would likely take immediate, visible actions to alleviate the situation the Antean Army faced in Yeisk. But an air raid? Previous Antean air strikes on our supply lines were intense, but because of your excellent deception strategy, General, they bombed false targets."

"My deception strategy was also learned from Rocossov," chuckled General Frederick, "I am not like those delusional at the High Command who naively think the Anteans are worthless. In the end, they were completely outplayed by Rocossov."

The Chief of Staff said, "Acknowledging and learning from the enemy's strengths is what makes a great general."

General Frederick smiled again and asked, "By the way, are our anti-air defenses ready? Once our deception is exposed, we need to quickly establish an anti-air fire network at critical points."

"Of course, all the anti-air artillery units are prepared; they can move to predetermined positions within an hour to provide anti-air firepower."

"Very good, very good," Frederick said satisfied, squinting his eyes and gazing at the map, then sipping his coffee.

Then the phone rang.

The Chief of Staff answered, "Corps Headquarters. Where was bombed? What? Okay, got it."

He put down the phone, looking sternly at General Frederick, "General, our largest supply station has been—"

The phone rang again.

"Sorry." The Chief of Staff quickly picked up the receiver, "Headquarters. What? Bombed again?"

As more phones started ringing, within moments, the entire headquarters was filled with the tingling sounds of phone rings, as if those two calls had awakened a beast called 'the telephone.'

General Frederick maintained his coffee-drinking posture but somberly watched everyone in the room.

The Chief of Staff put down the receiver, looked around at the others, pulled out his handkerchief, wiped the sweat from his forehead, then reported to Frederick, "General, almost all of our critical supply nodes have been attacked by aerial strikes."

General Frederick took a deep breath, put down his coffee cup, "Send in the air defense teams to stop further air strikes. Then tell me, how did the enemy find these supply nodes?"