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

Chapter 145 | Raiding the Camp and Slaying the General! (Two chapters combined into one)

Meanwhile, in Budapest's XII district, sewers 12 and 14...

The air was incredibly polluted; every breath was filled with a foul and rotten smell.

A series of figures were walking briskly along the narrow passageway, which was pitch black in front and behind, with a filthy sewage ditch on one side.

"Dorina, keep your voice down. Have the enemy noticed us?"

“No, Lieutenant, they couldn’t possibly sense our presence. The Ivanross would never suspect we’re here.”

At 2:15 a.m., a close combat patrol belonging to the 4th Infantry Division of Hungary attempted to raid the enemy's rear.

The surface was fraught with danger and difficult to penetrate, so they chose to go underground!
What Mr. Shang said is absolutely right—urban warfare requires good three-dimensional thinking and spatial imagination.

The sewers are a complex network, and although the enemy has deployed troops at some points, it's easy to find a way around them.

And so, they arrived unnoticed at the ruins of a dental clinic in the center of Košice.

According to the enemy confessions captured yesterday, the Koshtse district was the temporary garrison of an engineer battalion belonging to the 113th Infantry Division of Imperial Russia, and a battalion of the 188th Volkssai Rifle Brigade was also stationed there.

In addition, the enemy also set up a supply depot here to provide logistical support to nearby troops.

Therefore, following the principle of 'harassing the enemy when they are stationed, launching surprise attacks when the enemy is exhausted, and retreating when the enemy is pursuing,' the Hungarian troops decided to take active action.

Therefore, this close-combat patrol risked extremely high risks to infiltrate the occupied area.

"Otto, you and Zoe take two men to scout next door. Don't go too far, and come back as soon as possible," Captain Lieutenant Benedik instructed in a low voice.

The close-combat patrol used the ruins of the dental clinic as a temporary base, rested briefly, and then sent out men to scout ahead.

Serko Zoe suffered a minor injury last week and only recovered yesterday. She couldn't wait to apply to join the fight, vowing to take revenge on the enemy.

As for Otto, he was the corporal at the very beginning of the defense, and has now been promoted to sergeant on the front lines.

The group quietly approached the nearby broken wall and carefully scouted the enemy's position.

They dared not go too far, for they would be exposed as soon as they left the range of the perception shield.

By the bright moonlight, the group roughly figured out the enemy's deployment here.

After quickly returning to the ruins of the clinic, Sergeant Otto handed the sketch he had drawn to Lieutenant Benedek.

“There is a heavy machine gun here, two five-man mobile sentries next to Pito Street, and two-man sentries everywhere else.”

As he spoke, Otto pointed into the distance and added, "There are two more armored vehicles over there."

Upon learning of the enemy's situation, Benedik immediately devised a surprise attack plan: the demolition team would strike the enemy's firing positions and armored vehicles, two assault teams would attack from the front and left flank, and the support team would remain in place and await further orders.

This confidence stems from their advanced weaponry; recently, the Budapest garrison acquired a small number of anti-tank rifle grenades.

This is the hollow-charge rifle grenade that Mr. Shang urgently urged the arsenal to trial-produce. It is filled with 86 grams of TNT and uses the base fuse of a 20mm anti-aircraft gun tracer round, but the spring length has been shortened. It is barely usable. Rough test results show that the static armor penetration depth of this rifle grenade is about 35 to 40 millimeters, and even less in actual combat.

The major factories had already relocated to Jer, and these grenades were actually manufactured by an ammunition factory that was originally located in Jer. The first batch of 10,000 grenades was rushed over overnight and delivered.

This hastily produced product is very mediocre in terms of performance; Shanker himself only described it as "good enough."

Of course, as a time traveler, Mr. Shang was used to seeing good things, which is why he gave such a low evaluation.

In fact, these anti-tank rifle grenades are enough to penetrate the side armor of almost all tanks except the T-34. For example, the T-35 multi-turret heavy tank only has 25 mm of armor on its side.

Admittedly, the optimal range of a rifle grenade is only forty or fifty meters, which is not comparable to that of a rocket launcher, which can reach over a hundred meters.

But compared to explosive charges and magnetic bombs that require getting extremely close, isn't this a qualitative leap?
At 3:30 a.m., the temperature was 9°C, and the moon and stars were few.

Three or four in the morning is usually the time when people are most tired, which is naturally the best time for a surprise attack.

A gunshot rang out, and in the distance, on the third floor of a small building, an enemy who was smoking against a hole in the wall fell to the ground with a thud.

The battle begins.

"enemy!"

"The Huns are attacking!"

"Where are they?!"

In an instant, the Ivanos army camp here erupted into chaos, with shouts and exclamations filling the air.

The Maxim heavy machine gun on duty began firing aimlessly, attempting to deter the invading enemy.

However, just seconds later, a grenade landed next to the cover, and after the explosion, only screams could be heard from there.

Caught completely off guard, the Tsarist Russian soldiers were bewildered in the chaos.

"Where did they come from? Damn it!" The captain, jolted awake from his sleep, ordered his men to hold their ground while yelling, "Warrant Lieutenant Safina, you've failed in your duty!"

Safina, clutching her Mosin-Nagant carbine, said aggrievedly, "Captain... I don't know... Neither Maresheva nor I were sure there were enemies nearby... They appeared like ghosts."

The captain was furious and uttered a classic curse, "Sukabré," but now was not the time to assign blame.

The Hungarian soldiers attacked from two directions simultaneously!
The close-combat patrol members were all elites, and the Hungarian soldiers charged forward bravely, fighting fiercely all the way.

Caught off guard, the Tsarist Russian soldiers suffered heavy casualties; many were shot down as soon as they rushed out, with little time to react.

Another Degtyarev light machine gun fired, and bullets came from a window of the small building to the right, knocking down two people.

Zoe lunged toward the iron gate beside her, then sprang forward with half her body to return fire with her submachine gun. In the darkness, she fired several shots at the flashing muzzle flash, relying solely on her instincts.

The Tsarist machine gunner was shot in the head and died instantly because he was too hasty to put on his helmet after waking up.

However, given the powerful pistol bullets fired by the Danuvia submachine gun, even wearing a helmet would likely have been a fatal mistake.

Just then, two BA-20 armored vehicles parked at the next intersection accelerated and opened fire with their 7.62mm DT vehicle-mounted machine guns!

A barrage of bullets rained down, instantly halting the second assault team's attempt to cross the street and pinning them down.

Sergeant Otto lay in a shell crater, calmly changing the magazine in his semi-automatic rifle.

He shouted, "Use grenade launchers! Take them down!"

The two members of the demolition team took a detour from a coffee shop next door, ignoring the broken glass scattered all over the ground, and knelt down.

Load blank rounds!
Aim at the target!

Pull the trigger!
The propellant gases propelled the rifle grenade, which struck the lead armored vehicle in a parabolic trajectory.

The firing pin in the mechanical fuse ignited due to inertia, detonating the detonator and then causing all the explosives to detonate instantly. The jet of hot metal penetrated the thin steel plate and ignited the fuel tank.

The armored vehicle gradually came to a stop, turning into a large fireball within ten seconds, from which came a miserable, muffled howl.

"Don't stop! Charge!"

"Charge into the yard!"

With the pressure greatly reduced, the dozen or so Hungarian soldiers in the second assault group immediately got up and charged into the ruins with unstoppable force...

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After rushing past, a bright and clear view appeared. This place, adjacent to Pito Street, was the location of the supply station.

Looking around, dozens of trucks and horse-drawn carriages were parked there, with ammunition boxes, oil drums, canned goods, and flour sacks piled up next to them.

Sergeant Otto leaned against the wall, pulled out a German-made egg-shaped grenade, ripped off the pull cord, and threw it far away.

After the grenade landed, it rolled under the chassis of a truck and exploded with a loud bang, killing several enemies hiding behind the truck.

"Zovie! You go first!"

"Understood, I'm ready. Three, two, one, go!"

After so many days of fighting, Serko-Zovie's combat experience has become increasingly rich. She has learned many tricks on her own, such as binding the two magazines of her submachine gun together with tape, so that changing the magazine is a second or two faster than taking it from her waist.

That may not seem like much? But often, half a second is enough to decide whether someone lives or dies.

The first and second assault teams stormed into the supply depot from two directions!
Ivanos's army failed to mount an effective resistance and scattered in disarray. The few who resisted were quickly killed.

The gunfire gradually died down.

Just then, someone shouted loudly.

"That car was trying to escape!"

Zoe was about to change the magazine on her submachine gun when she heard the sound and immediately looked in the direction of the noise.

A hundred meters away, an officer's car started up and gradually accelerated, trying to escape. There were more than a dozen enemies providing cover beside the car.

“Those guys are shouting ‘Protect the general and evacuate,’” the second lieutenant who understood Russian said loudly.

Oh?
Zoe crouched down and fired two shots while kneeling, emptying the magazine.

The car's rear windshield shattered instantly, and it went out of control, crashing into a truck next to it before coming to a stop.

The group jogged over, wiped out the remaining enemy, and then cautiously surrounded the officer's car.

At least one bullet pierced the glass and killed the driver; in the darkness, the bullet hit the bullseye from a hundred paces away, and Sergeant Otto couldn't help but praise the amazing marksmanship.

But just as Zoe opened the back door, suddenly, the submachine gun in her hand fired, and gunshots rang out from inside the car!
The next second, Zoe clutched her stomach and stumbled to the ground.

Two seconds later, the soldiers rushed forward and dragged the 'general' out of the car, where he was covered in blood.

It happened so fast that the others didn't even see what happened in those few seconds...

"Pour gasoline and set this place on fire, quick!" Lieutenant Benedik ordered as he walked over.

The Hungarian soldiers began pouring gasoline on piles of military supplies and burning the supply depot.

"Lieutenant, look, we've killed a red deer."

A red deer is a good prey, which is essentially equivalent to catching a big fish.

Upon discovering that the prisoner was actually a brigadier general, Lieutenant Benedek was overjoyed and immediately ordered everyone to prepare for retreat.

Zoe had recovered by this time.

"I'm fine. That guy's bullet didn't penetrate the steel plate. God bless me."

She was shot in the abdomen, but the bullet did not penetrate the hardened steel plate inside the canvas vest; only a few metal fragments scratched her chin.

Just now, she was holding a gun in her right hand while pulling the car door with her left hand. The Russian brigadier general inside shot at her with his pistol, and she immediately shot and killed him.

At the time, Mr. Shang ordered a batch of hardened angled steel plates for the Royal Guard. Later, more were ordered, but because the arsenal was hastily evacuated from Budapest, only a few hundred pieces were completed.

He felt there was no point in keeping them, so he handed these makeshift shrapnel vests over to the city defense command for distribution, suggesting that the fourth-category soldiers wear them when on missions.

At near-zero distance, the Russian-made 7.62mm Tokarev pistol bullet, known for its high penetrating power, can penetrate 2.5mm of ordinary silicon-manganese steel, which is not professional armor steel.

Fortunately, senior officers disliked the bulky and heavy Tokarev pistols, and this brigadier general was no exception; he used a delicate and exquisite Browning pistol.

This is what was historically known as the flower-mouthed oar, which many officers liked, but it was relatively weak.

The Browning 7.65mm ACP pistol cartridge has a muzzle energy of only 220 joules, less than half that of the 9mm Parabellum pistol cartridge.

For Zoe, it felt like she had been punched, and she couldn't help but feel a little scared.

Fortunately, Sergeant Otto made sure he wore this shrapnel vest before setting off, even though he initially thought it was too bulky.

The inventor of this kind of individual protective gear is truly a genius... no! The person who invented this kind of individual protective gear is a genius!
"We should go!"

"Watch out for ammunition detonation!"

Give me a box of matches.

Several burning matches fell to the ground, igniting the gasoline. Everyone saw bright flames spread rapidly along the gasoline.

In just ten seconds, flames engulfed the entire supply station, turning it into a sea of ​​fire.

Zoe was completely absorbed in the heatwave, when a thought suddenly popped into her mind—how wonderful it would be if this scene happened in the enemy's capital.

At 3:51 a.m., 21 minutes after the battle began, the Hungarian patrol decisively withdrew.

Ivanros's army, which rushed from neighboring streets to reinforce the troops, found nothing but raging fire and the constant explosions of ammunition.

The dozens of tons of supplies stockpiled at the supply depot were completely destroyed, and more than fifty trucks and horse-drawn carriages were also burned. What was most infuriating was that the Hungarian soldiers even shot and killed the more than thirty mules and horses next to them.

However, this is not the biggest loss.

"Where is Brigadier General Rybakov?"

"Has anyone seen Brigadier General Rybakov?!"

"Go find it quickly!"

Are there any living people here?

Finally, a deserter returned from nearby in a panic and stammered a report of the situation.

Brigadier General Rybakov was the logistics chief of the 36th Infantry Corps. He had been extremely busy lately, running around overseeing the logistical support for various units, when he unexpectedly died at Supply Station No. 13.

They besieged Budapest with superior forces, but the battle has dragged on for so long, and a general has inexplicably died, most importantly, in his own territory.

This was an utter disgrace, like a slap in the face, and Ivan Rus's army was thrown into chaos in an instant.

"That's pretty lucky. We even managed to kill a general along the way. Let's spread the word."

Upon learning of this, Shang Ke couldn't help but exclaim that sometimes luck comes knocking and you can't stop it.

He said to those around him, "There's a Chinese idiom, 'Good things come in pairs,' so now that I've killed one general, I'll find a way to kill another one."

"Huh?" Major Mirko asked in surprise, "Kill another enemy general?"

(End of this chapter)