It's better to conquer them than to command the steel torrent

Chapter 128 | Do you recognize the chimney effect? ​​(Combined into one long chapter for a refreshing read)

Sergeant Major Zoe tucked her submachine gun under her right armpit, grabbed the rope with her left hand, and slid down to the first floor with her legs together.

Before the war, Zoe was a repeat student at the Mary Church Secondary School. To be honest, she had little interest in studying and preferred swimming in the Danube River.

The teacher advised her to write diligently and at least finish her studies. Unfortunately, the teacher's wish was not fulfilled, as Zoe was specially recruited into the Royal Army shortly after the start of widespread conscription.

For someone like her with Type IV supernatural abilities, the military will objectively consider the psychological resilience of these girls. Only those with strong enough mental fortitude are suitable for participating in close-quarters combat on the front lines.

Those of slightly lower rank would receive sniper training, which would at least keep them a little further away from the bloody battlefield.

The worst person could only receive radio operator training, but that was still a good use of their talents.

Zoe is one of the best in terms of mental fortitude.

After training and several encounters, she was confident enough to call herself an excellent soldier in her letters to her parents.

"Tap—tap—"

The corporal and the private followed her down, one carrying a Steyr double-barreled shotgun and the other a Mauser automatic pistol.

For superpowered warriors, the rank of sergeant major is more of a special privilege. In actual combat, who they take command of depends on their seniority and experience.

The corporal gestured forward, and then the three men left the storeroom one by one.

This place is protected by our own mental perception shield, so there's no need to worry about being exposed; we just need to approach quietly.

Zoe thought the person who came up with this indoor three-dimensional tactic was a genius—cunning and shrewd!

After passing a room, you can hear shouts in Ivanros from the next room.

Zoe peeked out and understood immediately.

She wanted to take another look, but just then an enemy also looked in her direction, and their eyes met.

Do it!

Zoe immediately stepped forward, raised her gun, and opened fire.

"Bang bang—bang bang—"

Two short bursts of fire caught the two enemies off guard, both of them being hit.

The others around them fared no better; they were all killed in the blink of an eye by a barrage of sharp, short bursts of fire.

One magazine was empty, and the smoldering spent cartridges fell to the ground. Zoe used the closet as cover to change the magazine.

At that moment, an enemy bravely rushed out, attempting to take the opportunity to fire a shot.

"Boom!"

With a muffled thud, the corporal promptly fired his Steyr double-barreled shotgun, taking down the enemy, and then fired another shot to finish him off.

After her initial shock, Zoe breathed a sigh of relief—she had just been preparing to drop her submachine gun and draw her pistol in self-defense.

Just as they caught their breath, the three of them heard urgent shouts and loud footsteps coming from next door.

Seeing her eagerness, the corporal whispered a reminder: "The first two bites of cake are the best."

This means knowing when to stop while you're ahead.

Just then, the Imperial Russian soldiers in the next hall threw a grenade over.

In a flash, Zoe instinctively reached out and slapped the lemon grenade that was flying through the air back into the air.

Ouch! My hand hurts a little!

"boom!"

The loud noise and screams came from next door, clearly audible.

The corporal's surprise vanished in an instant, but the private was stunned for two seconds by the action.

A moment later, the three hurriedly turned and left, leaving behind six or seven corpses in the room.

After retreating to the storage room, the three of them quickly climbed back to the second floor using the hanging rope.

Even at this point, the Tsarist Russian officers and soldiers, lacking experience in indoor combat, were still at a loss.

Not long after, suddenly, the north-facing window was also pushed open.

Two or three figures flashed by outside, then a burst of bullets came, and two grenades were thrown into the house.

The soldiers hurriedly turned their guns around and fired indiscriminately while seeking cover.

The lieutenant in charge was shocked, furious, and terrified that his own side had been so thoroughly defeated.

Ivan Ross's army prioritized concentrating Category IV warriors in tank units, followed by fighter units, and finally ground reconnaissance units. Ordinary infantry units simply couldn't allocate many of these valuable assets.

"Get out of the room!" The lieutenant had no choice but to order a retreat.

You can't expect to use a bolt-action rifle against a submachine gun and shotgun, can you? That's tantamount to suicide.

Upon discovering that the enemy who had hidden inside the house had fled in panic, Shank couldn't help but smile.

The show isn't over yet.

The streets outside were in chaos as well.

Smoke grenades emitted grayish-white smoke, the area was shrouded in mist, the ground was covered with broken bricks and stones, and countless bullets flew around, clanging as they hit the tank armor.

A private in front of Sorokina was hit by a stray bullet, and blood splattered all over her face.

Startled, she instinctively dodged to the side, only to have a friendly tank suddenly rush out of the smoke while rapidly reversing.

Before Sorokina could react, she was caught under the tracks.

The girl's body shattered like a broken watermelon, spreading out unevenly in a mass of scarlet and pale yellow fragments, like a messy scrambled eggs with tomatoes.

The pale yellow substance is fat—women typically have about 10 percent more fat than men.

"Sorokina!!!"

By the time the lieutenant witnessed all of this, it was too late. He rushed over without thinking, but he was powerless to stop the bloody scene before him.

The tank continued reversing, crashing directly into a damaged tank behind it. The driver of that tank had just jumped out to escape when his own tank came charging towards him.

The two cars collided, and the driver was crushed to death, his blood gushing out like a bursting juice.

Just then, a figure flashed by on the rooftop.

A dark object was thrown down, landing on top of the tank turret with a thud.

The lieutenant looked closely and realized it looked like a cone.
"boom!!!"

The magnetic hollow explosive bomb was firmly attached to the top of the tank by three strong magnets and exploded violently.

In an instant, the energy of the blast wave melted the hemispherical soft steel shaped charge shield, condensing it into a high-speed metal jet.

The metal jet easily pierced the thin top armor, traveling downwards, penetrating the gunner's head and flesh, then piercing the fuel tank and chassis, and drilling into the brick street.

With armor thickness of only 15 millimeters at most, the T-26 could not withstand this level of attack; the fuel tank exploded and the tank was immediately engulfed in flames.

As instructed by Mr. Shang, the tank at the end of the column was immediately disabled by concentrated anti-tank fire, so the three tanks were stuck together and unable to move.

"This is called 'closing the door to beat the dog,' and it's quite effective." Shang Ke added, emphasizing, "The Fourth Company can move out now. Don't engage in prolonged firefights; the charge must be swift and decisive!"

The remaining dozens of enemies were still fighting like cornered beasts, but had lost their organized resistance.

A small number of people desperately tried to run back, but most fell in the artillery-blocked zone. Only a very few survived by lying down and feigning death in low-lying areas. The rest fled back to the houses by the roadside, barely managing to capture one building, where they held out under the command of a sergeant, awaiting reinforcements.

Seeing this, the Hungarian captain, who was nominally in charge of commanding the battle, excitedly said, "Colonel Shang, I think we can move ladders, lay them flat on the roof of the building next door to build a bridge, and wipe them out from above!"

Just as Shang Ke was about to agree, he suddenly had a new idea.

He pointed to the building's chimney and said mysteriously, "Do you know? There's a physical phenomenon called... the chimney effect."

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Chimney effect?

Shang Ke picked up a bayonet and casually traced a few lines on the wall, then grinned wickedly, "If we do it this way, the fire will spread extremely fast, so... let's bring some gasoline."

The major nodded, gave a thumbs-up, and exclaimed, "That's brilliant! That's the power of science! Burn them!"

Due to the thermal pressure difference caused by the temperature difference in the air, the convection velocity in vertical spaces is greatly enhanced, such as in chimneys or elevator shafts.

During a fire, this physical phenomenon greatly accelerates the spread of flames—the vertical spread speed is almost ten times faster than the horizontal spread speed, which is extremely dangerous. Therefore, fire safety regulations must be carefully considered when designing high-rise buildings in the future.

The Hungarian army formed a small squad of about ten men, carrying two ladders and three gasoline drums.

They walked through the streets and alleys, quickly arrived at the building next door, and climbed the stairs to the top floor.

The exchange of fire outside continued, with bullets flying back and forth in the air every second.

Stray bullets occasionally hit the building, even penetrating the walls and sending debris flying inside.

The sergeant in charge waved, and two soldiers carrying a ladder cautiously approached.

The group worked together to tie the two ladders together with rope.

After being lengthened, the ladder was just long enough to be laid horizontally between the two buildings, and then several asbestos corrugated boards were laid on top.

Zoe took the lead again, with Danuvia's submachine gun slung in front of her. She treated it as if she were walking on a narrow bridge, trying her best to keep her eyes straight ahead and not look to either side.

After arriving safely, she stood guard in the stairwell with a gun.

Then, the other soldiers also came over carrying gasoline cans.

These days, gasoline cans don't look like the ones we're used to. They're just smooth, square containers made of thin sheet metal. The gasoline cans with cross-shaped creases that we're used to are historically a German invention, and because they were so useful, they were later imitated by many other countries.

【Picture】

At 17:05 PM, in the Krakop district, Hungarian troops poured three cans of gasoline, totaling 45 liters, into the chimneys of buildings where the remnants of the Imperial Russian vanguard were trapped.

Gasoline gushed down the coal-ash-filled chimney, and the continuous gunfire and shouts perfectly masked their movements.

No one noticed anything unusual until someone smelled the pervasive odor of gasoline.

"Gasoline? Huh? Can you smell gasoline?"

The Russian soldiers were under immense pressure and fighting fiercely, so they ignored this idle talk.

Yuri has been killed!

"Don't go near the window, you idiot!"

Does anyone have any bullets left?

Meanwhile, on the rooftop...

The sergeant pulled out a box of matches.

"Zovie, come here, get ready to go back." The sergeant took out three matches, struck them, and said softly, "May Saint István bless and burn the invaders."

The burning match fell into the chimney in a graceful parabola, and orange-yellow flames instantly shot out from it.

The flickering flames were reflected in Zoe's eyes, making the scene resemble a blazing rocket furnace.

The team immediately moved away from this troublesome place.

A little further away, Shang Ke and many soldiers also witnessed this extraordinary sight.

The ground floor of the building seemed to be submerged in lava, with flames pouring out of every window, and even some bullet holes were on fire.

Within minutes, the fire spread upwards to the top floor, completely engulfing the entire building.

Seeing someone escape from inside, Shang Ke decisively ordered, "No more silence at concealed firing positions! Free fire! Open fire!"

In this neighborhood, six or seven .31M light machine guns and Schwarz heavy machine guns opened fire simultaneously, spraying hundreds and thousands of Mannlicher 8×56mm rifle and machine gun rounds onto the street.

The tracer rounds interspersed among the barrage made this fire net clearly visible!
In an instant, more than a dozen fleeing Imperial Russian soldiers were all knocked to the ground.

The dying wounded cried out pitifully, struggling to crawl back.

However, several mortar shells landed in succession, making the already chaotic street even more disorderly.

The few remaining enemies could no longer organize an effective resistance. They scattered and hid in alleys to put up a last-ditch fight, or pretended to be dead among the corpses.

Without hesitation, Shang gave the order to launch an attack.

Two platoons of Hungarian soldiers rushed forward and wiped out the last stragglers of the vanguard in a whirlwind.

"Advisor, the observation post reports that the enemy's follow-up forces have crossed the blocking line."

"Alright, stop cleaning up the battlefield and retreat."

The Imperial Russian support troops from the starting position arrived late, but it was too late.

All that remains in the Krakop district are scattered corpses and the burning wreckage of tanks.

In addition to the smell of gunpowder, the air was filled with a nauseating burnt smell.

Some survivors shouted for help with all their might, and were moved to tears when they were rescued.

The enemy, having been dealt a heavy blow, reluctantly retreated to their starting position, not forgetting to pick up the scattered guns from beside the corpses before leaving.

The battle taking place on this street was also taking place on the two streets next door, except that the Imperial Russian soldiers there fared slightly better, at least they weren't burned.

"These hateful Huns still don't realize their predicament!"

Lieutenant Colonel Smirnov was so angry he wanted to smash his binoculars.

Two companies were wiped out in just one probing attack? The remnants can't even be pieced together to form a complete infantry company?
Even if Ivanros has no shortage of manpower, he can't afford to waste it like this.

The most regrettable thing is the tanks. A T-26 costs 19 rubles, which is enough to recruit a hundred or so privates. You should know that a Mosin-Nagant rifle only costs 195 rubles.

The staff officer beside him quickly tried to save face for him, saying in a serious tone, "The Huns' determination to resist is stronger than we expected."

Lieutenant Colonel Smirnov said in a deep voice, "Assess the locations of enemy firing positions. Postpone the attack until tomorrow morning. We must pay attention to coordination and keep the tanks away from danger zones."

Then he ordered a rescue team to return to the battleground after dark and try to tow back the tanks that had not caught fire or burned.

The Ivanros Empire produces only a few hundred thousand cars a year, which is only half of the Varland Empire, one-third of the United Kingdom, and one-fourteenth of the Grand Unified Federation.

With limited resources, careful budgeting is essential.

For Ivan Russ's army, technological equipment was far more valuable than the lives of ordinary soldiers; that was the cold, hard truth.

(End of this chapter)