Episode 53 Dawn Attack

The roar of the sky swarm faded away, and there was no cannon fire in the distance, no machine gun sound, no flares or anything like that. In the darkness, there was another insect chirping and frog chirping.

The tension of the group of planes passing across the night sky just now seems to have vanished. Even the soldier who was most adamant that this was the Blues attacking just now hesitated at the moment, feeling that he was nervous.

As we all know, if the Blues attack at dawn, they will at least fire signal flares for a while, and then prepare for several hours of artillery fire, and when the other side "pours shells" on their own positions, the drill judges on their own camps will jump out and shout loudly who is dead and who is dead, and those unlucky people who did not jump into the trench in time will have to take out their own "killed" signs and put them on, and then lie on the ground and pretend to be dead.

However, no one could explain the roar of the aircraft just now.

Unable to get an answer, the soldiers simply stopped thinking about it, and went back to their sleeping bags to force themselves to fall back asleep. It's almost dawn, and I can't sleep for a while.

After a while, something was wrong with the atmosphere again.

Some soldiers found that the insects and frogs outside were now gone. It was as if all the birds and insects in the field had been silenced and frightened by something.

After another moment, some sensitive soldiers suddenly opened their eyes. Through their sleeping bags, they felt the dirt beneath them vibrate.

……

"Hey, do you feel it?"

"What?"

"The ground trembles a little."

"Sleep, don't think about it, I'll see what you do tomorrow."

"Hey, it's a little trembling."

"Earthquake?"

It was the same soldiers again, digging out of their sleeping bags and tents in twos and threes, looking at each other in confusion.

The western half of the sky is still dark blue, but the eastern half of the sky has already seen the first hints of fish belly white. It's almost five o'clock.

Although most of the soldiers had slept soundly, and the sound of the plane just now and the tremor of the ground had not woken them up, about a quarter of the soldiers had been woken up twice. They all got out of their tents and started cursing. Tomorrow is the end of the exercise, and the night before was all odd.

But this time, unlike the roar of the plane, it did not pass in a while, but became more and more obvious. Soon, more soldiers woke up. The dust and sand on the ground danced gently, and some soldiers knelt down and put their ears to the ground to listen.

"What sound?"

"Like...... Motor. ”

"It can't be a tank, right?"

"Ah, it's a tank!"

"Tank!"

"Tank!"

"Tanks" were shouted from the positions, but most of the soldiers were either still asleep or stood there dazed, not knowing what to do.

Is this a drill? But that's not what the drill says!

……

Now you can clearly hear the roar of the engine even if you are not lying on the ground. The sound of "rumbling" came from the east, from north to south, and the sound was connected in a large area, and it was getting closer and closer.

It's already starting to dawn. This moment it lit up the fastest, and the eastern sky was still white just now, but now it is red. It was still dark and I couldn't see far away, but now it was gray, and I could see hundreds of meters at once.

The morning dew, in the trembling of the earth, rolled down from the blades of grass.

More and more, the soldiers of the 2nd Red Division came out of their tents and stood on the ground randomly dumbfounded.

Five or six hundred meters to the east, countless tanks appeared. Those tanks were lined up in a dense line, one at intervals of one or twenty meters. With the roar of the earth, the mountains rushed towards their side.

The barrels of those tanks were pressed low, and the black holes seemed to point directly at them. Every few vehicles, a tank turret lid was lifted, and a tankman with a headset, gesticulating, and at the same time shouting something.

All the Red soldiers here were stunned.

This...... That's what the drill is?

"It's not acting, is it?"

"Yes, the drill must be preceded by firepower......"

"Did they get their Blues tanks to move to our side?"

"I don't know......"

The referees of the exercise among the Red Army soldiers were ready, and they were staring at the Blue Army tanks in the distance. If there is an "exchange of fire" between the two armies, then they will immediately start counting casualties.

……

The tank cluster of the opposite blue army drove to a distance of three or four hundred meters, as if receiving a signal, and all the crew members outside the tank turret retracted and closed the top cover.

Immediately after, the barrels of those black holes erupted dazzling fire.

Countless thunderous noises came, and the eardrums of the Red Army soldiers felt a sense of oppression, and they subconsciously held their heads and fell to the ground.

Everything is clear.

There was a terrible shout on the battlefield:

"The Blues are attacking!"

"The drill has begun!"

"Quick, get into the gun position!"

"Two-in-a-row, two-in-a-row!"

"Three rows of assembled! Three rows of gathering! ”

"What about anti-tank guns?"

"Fast into the trench!"

"Mom, who is going to wear my shoes?"

"Where's my pants?"

Above this shout, there were many voices shouting desperately, almost overpowering all the voices:

"The shell exploded here, and all three of you were killed!"

"The two of you, and the two of you, are dead!"

"You, and you, are dead! You, seriously injured! ”

"You, you, and you, what are you running, and you're still running when you're dead!"

"Say you, say you, you're dead, where do you lie down!"

……

When the Red Army positions had just reacted and were still a pot of porridge, the Blue Army tank cluster had already crossed several trenches and was close at hand. The coaxial machine guns and course machine guns of the tanks in the front row began to breathe tongues of fire and "strafe" at the places where the Red Army soldiers were gathered. It seemed that the referees of the exercise were insufficient, and a large number of Red Army soldiers behaved very "unconsciously", and even though they had been strafed back and forth by machine gun fire several times, they still continued to flee with "whoops". But despite this, hundreds of people were already lying on the ground.

In order to be as fair and realistic as possible, and to prevent soldiers from becoming death squads one by one because they would not really die during the exercise, the exercise stipulates that once a soldier is "killed," he must lie down in the place of death and pretend to be a dead corpse all the time...... Therefore, all soldiers, like in real war, cherish their lives, do not want to die, and prefer to surrender as a last resort. Because the exercise stipulates that as long as you surrender, you can immediately evacuate the battlefield and withdraw from the exercise.

A small number of Red Army soldiers began to run towards the west, and immediately more followed. The herd instinct of humanity plays a big role at this time. Within minutes, most of the Red Army soldiers had joined the ranks of those fleeing westward. None of them now doubted that the exercise had begun, and they all knew that if they ran slowly, they would either be captured or have to lie on the ground for a day. The best option is to follow everyone to the west.

The Red Army soldiers ran and ran only to find that the Blue Army tanks were already in front, behind, left and right on their own. And he ran faster than himself, and he became a follower to chase. The tank machine gun behind him constantly spewed tongues of fire, and the sound of machine guns came and went, deafening, and those Red Army soldiers became more and more "unconscious", all of them became like Rambo, and they couldn't be killed at all. The crew of the Blue Army tank was very dissatisfied, and they leaned out of the turret one after another, and shouted and ridiculed the Red Army soldiers under the car:

"Hey, how many times have you died?"

"Do you want to be shameless?"

"Surrender if you don't want to die, what's that!"

As the tanks rumbled past, more armored vehicles followed. The Blue Army soldiers in the car jumped down with submachine guns and began to take prisoners on a large scale. Soon, on the two-kilometre frontage of the initial breakthrough, the Blues had captured between 3,000 and 4,000 prisoners.

These Red Army soldiers threw down their guns and marched in the opposite direction in large groups. On the same road, one after another, military vehicles drove in the opposite direction of the prisoners' queue. Behind the car were pulling various artillery pieces.

……

However, not all areas are as unrelenting as this one. On the front, two kilometers south of this, there was the defense of the 3rd Regiment of the 2nd Red Division. The three regiments reacted quickly, the regimental commander was calmer and commanded properly, and at least a third of the soldiers pounced on their gun positions and machine-gun fire points.