World War: Battleship Arms Dealers

"Kim," Lee Sung-chan leaned closer and lowered his voice, "If things don't look good today... don't force your way in. Only by staying alive can you have a chance for revenge."

"Revenge?" Kim Soon-sik stared at the outline of the German lines in the distance. "Whom to take revenge on? The Japanese? The Germans? The British?"

"Whoever kills us, we'll report them," Li Chengchan said, "but we have to stay alive first."

As dawn broke through the rain, the British artillery bombardment began at 6:30 a.m.

The same routine as yesterday: shrieks, explosions, and the earth trembled. The German third line of defense was engulfed in smoke and fire, with dirt and debris flying into the air. The bombardment lasted for twenty minutes, and at 7:00 sharp, the whistle blew.

"Forward! Forward, all!"

But today, the tank engines sound a little different.

Kim Soon-sik lay prone on the edge of the trench, observing. Fourteen surviving Mark I tanks slowly rolled out from the rear positions—six fewer than yesterday. They clumsily lined up in two rows, their tracks grinding through the mud, their bodies swaying between shell craters. The British tank crews in the driver's compartments looked grim, clearly aware that today's objective was the last intact German defensive line, and that the resistance would be even fiercer than yesterday.

The soldiers from Cao County were driven out of the trenches and followed the tanks two hundred yards behind. When Kim Soon-sik was in the third wave, running with the crowd across the slippery mud, he subconsciously glanced back at the supervisory team—the fingers of those Japanese machine gunners were on the triggers, their guns pointed at their backs.

"Hurry up! Keep up!"

The open ground was a death trap. Machine gun bullets swept across the German lines, clanging as they hit the tank armor, and making dull thuds as they struck human bodies. People fell continuously, their screams drowned out by the explosions. Kim Soon-sik ran with his head down, his lungs burning with pain.

The first wave had already approached the German lines by about 300 yards.

At that moment, a sudden change occurred.

Behind the German lines, a completely new engine roar came from behind—not the rough, noisy sound of the Mark I diesel engine, but a deeper, smoother roar with a certain mechanical beauty. The sound initially seemed to come from underground, and then, steel silhouettes slowly rose from the concealed positions behind the German trenches.

Kim Soon-sik will never forget that scene in her life.

More than thirty tanks, painted in the iron-gray camouflage of the German army, had a silhouette unlike any tank he had ever seen. They were not the bulky diamond shape, but a more streamlined design, with noticeably sloped front armor, low and compact turrets, and wider tracks, making them significantly smoother and faster when moving.

"What is that?" a soldier from Cao County exclaimed.

"German tanks!" someone shouted.

No, it wasn't just tanks. The vehicles had already formed ranks as they moved—not in clumsy lines, but in wedge-shaped groups of three. They crossed the German trenches with astonishing speed, their tracks barely slipping on the mud.

The first German tank at the forefront rotated its turret and aimed at the lead Mark I tank.

400 yards away.

A flash of light appeared from the muzzle of the cannon.

"boom--!"

The whistling of the shells was completely different—sharper and more rapid. The next second, blinding sparks erupted from the frontal armor of the Mark I tank, followed by a dull thud of metal tearing. The tank jolted and came to a stop, thick smoke billowing from the front of the hull, flames shooting out from the observation slits.

The driver's hatch was pushed open, and a British tank crewman, engulfed in flames, crawled out, screaming as he tumbled onto the muddy ground. The moment he hit the ground, the machine gun on the German tank opened fire, riddling him with bullets.

The entire battlefield seemed to freeze for a second.

"My God..." In the rear observation post, British Major General Horatio, the commander, put down his binoculars, his face ashen. "What the hell is that?"

"New tank, General." The staff officer's voice was dry. "The intelligence department mentioned that the Germans might have obtained advanced designs from Lanfang, but we didn't expect... to put them into actual combat so quickly."

Horatio raised his binoculars again. The second and third Mark I tanks were hit almost simultaneously. The German artillery fire was terrifyingly accurate, every shot striking the weakest vertical surface of the Mark I's frontal armor. The new tanks didn't even stop firing; they fired while moving, then immediately maneuvered to avoid potential counterattacks.

"Order the tank units to retreat!" Horatio roared. "Immediately!"

But the order came too late.

The German tanks—later identified as "Panzer I"—had completed their tactical deployment. They were divided into three battle groups, with the left and right flanks rapidly flanking and the center launching a frontal assault. The Mark I's clumsy maneuvering proved fatal to the enemy.

Kim Soon-sik lay prone in a shell crater, watching helplessly as a Mark I tank attempted to maneuver to engage a German tank flanking it. Its turret rotated as slowly as an ox pulling a cart, and before it could even aim, the German tank's 37mm gun had already opened fire again.

This shot hit the turret ring.

With a piercing metallic screech, the entire turret was blown off, tumbling twice in the air before crashing heavily into the mud fifty yards away. The headless tank continued forward a few meters, plunging into a crater and bursting into flames.

"Retreat! Tank units, retreat!"

A hoarse roar from the British commander came through the radio. The remaining eleven Mark I tanks began a hasty retreat, but the German tanks had no intention of letting them go. Three Panzer I tanks targeted a lone Mark I, and like a pack of wolves hunting, they opened fire from three directions in alternating bursts. The Mark I's armor was repeatedly penetrated at close range, and it finally collapsed on the battlefield like a punctured tin can, flames spewing from every crack.

The entire tank duel lasted only ten minutes.

Ten minutes later, all fourteen Mark I tanks were reduced to burning wreckage. On the German side, only two Panzer I tanks were hit in the side by the Mark I's cannon and disabled; the remaining twenty-eight were intact.

The steel barrier has disappeared.

Now, exposed to German firepower are 1,200 unarmed—no, armed with rifles but meaningless against tanks—Caoxian soldiers.

"Scatter! Find cover!" shouted the Japanese officer.

But what cover could they find in the open? Shell craters, corpses, tank wreckage. Kim Soon-sik and Lee Sung-chan rolled into a deep shell crater, the bottom half-filled with blood and water, where half a German soldier's body lay. The stench assaulted their nostrils, but they couldn't care less.

German firepower began to cover the area.

Machine guns, rifles, mortars, and the machine guns and cannons of those Panzer I tanks. A hail of bullets swept across the battlefield like scythes. Soldiers from Cao County fell in droves, their screams echoing across the battlefield. Some tried to run back, but were mowed down by the machine guns of the supervising squad. Others feigned death on the ground, only to be crushed by tank tracks and turned into mincemeat.

"At this rate, we'll all die!" Lee Sung-chan roared amidst the explosions.

Kim Soon-sik peered out from the edge of the crater. German tanks were advancing, with infantry following behind, beginning to clear the battlefield. The nearest tank was less than 150 yards away, and the machine gunner on its turret was firing at a running soldier from Cao County.