Chapter Nine: The Great Mouse

  When the commander of the Berlin operation, Oleg Losik, stationed in Berkenbrück, saw Merkulov's appearance, he could hardly believe his eyes. The commander of the 10th Guards Tank Corps, General-Lieutenant Merkulov, who had been considered a reliable ally, was standing before him in such a state.

  His 12-centimeter-long beard is now charred and blackened by the fire, his hair has been burned a lot, and his originally neat military uniform is now torn with holes everywhere. His whole body is now covered in soot. At first glance, he looks no different from a beggar.

  But behind him, hundreds of defeated soldiers gathered at the gate, their faces filled with regret, their heads hung so low they were almost level with their chests. And these defeated soldiers couldn't be further from the proud and invincible Red Flag 10th Tank Division that had once been. The contrast was just too great! Was this really his pride, the Red Flag 10th Guards Tank Division?

  Oleg was furious beyond consolation. He waved his hand and ordered the guards at the door of the command room: "Guards, take this trash out and shoot him!"

  Merkurov's face changed color when he heard this, but he still stood firmly in place. He knew that even if he resisted here, it would be useless. Not to mention where he could escape to, and besides, as a soldier, it was only right to die for one's comrades. If it weren't for General Oleg's recognition of him and his promotion to captain, he would still be just an infantry lieutenant, and then die in some unknown battle.

  The guard stepped forward, just about to put the cold handcuffs on Melkurov, when Deputy Lieutenant Colonel Derepkin hastily intervened in front of the commander and said loudly: "Comrade General, I think we should first figure out how this guy lost, and then draw conclusions?"

  It turns out that Oleg actually regretted saying he wanted to shoot Merkurov, after all, this was a loyal subordinate who had fought bloody battles for him for 8 years. Which commander would want to kill his own subordinates? The previous sentence was just because he saw the miserable appearance of his soldiers and got angry. To be honest, Oleg, this 'good old man', would not mistakenly kill his subordinates due to loss of reason.

  With a wave of his hand, he signaled the guards to unlock the handcuffs. Only then did Oleg sit down in an armchair, puffing on a cigar and pointing at Merkurov with the tip of his dagger: "Alright, you little scamp, you have to tell me every detail of how you lost, without leaving out a single word. If you hide even half a situation from me, just wait..."

  Mell, who had just returned from a stroll around the Yama Temple, was now covered in cold sweat and hastily wiped it off with her gloves. Then, she straightened up like a new recruit and reported to her superior officer about the battle situation at that time.

  "Charge! Charge! Charge!" Lieutenant Akado laughed maniacally, commanding his men to rush towards the Red Army's formation.

  And his subordinates, a group of old-fashioned Nazi undead, were like a pack of starving wolves, ignoring the enemy's counterattack and recklessly charging towards the opponent's army. From up close, the eyes of these old-fashioned troops had already turned into bloodthirsty red pupils, like a bunch of soulless zombies driven solely by instinct.

  They hysterically shouted the most vicious insults in German, while their hands continued to manipulate the still sharp armor-piercing gun.

  BOOM! The 120mm super-powerful armor-piercing cannon easily pierced the seemingly sturdy armor of the opposing Iron Fist tank, and then turned into a dazzling fireball in a burst of flames.

  Just as he fired this salvo of cannon fire, he himself was hit by a return shot from an Ironclad tank's breech-loading cannon.

  But what didn't please the tank driver in front was that the damn old tank didn't explode as he had thought, but instead fired its tungsten-core armor-piercing shell like a thrown egg to the side of the road, and then continued to charge towards him fearlessly in the flames of the exploding shell like a death chariot trampling fiercely in hell.

  Bump

  The German driver, like a mad tiger, stepped on the accelerator and heavily crashed the 50-ton Tiger King tank into the Iron Hammer tank that was loading ammunition in front of him.

  The iron hammer tank's body suddenly tilted to one side, and the poor red army tanker inside was instantly dazed. What's worse, since the Tiger King tank hit the side of the Iron Hammer tank, it is now in a very awkward position, unable to retreat from the battlefield or fire its cannon in an emergency, and can only be slaughtered by the Tiger King tank at will.

  "Go to hell! Russian mongrel!!" The Tiger tank's driver cursed in German, then it was a very dangerous zero-distance departure from the gun. Under the huge explosive shock, the turret of the Iron Fist tank was blown up instantly and then turned into fragments in a burst of flames...

  The rearguard scythe mech troops are now in an awkward situation, originally as anti-infantry weapons they shouldn't be here. But to deal with the Allied despicable rocket infantrymen, they had no choice but to follow the tank corps onto the battlefield, however the battle situation on the field doesn't seem too optimistic. They aren't unwilling to fight, it's just that in large-scale tank battles the effect of those few Gatling machine guns on their bodies is simply hopeless.

  What's more, from the moment that mysterious tank corps appeared earlier, the Allied infantrymen on the battlefield suddenly decreased by a large number. It is unknown whether they really escaped, but now on the battlefield, except for the continuous gunfire, not even a single shadow of an infantryman can be found anymore.

  Relying on the excellent command and positioning system of his Iron Hammer tank, Merkurov painfully discovered that all the Iron Hammer tanks that had been taking point in front of him seemed to have been taken out. Now relying on the infrared guidance system inside the vehicle, he found more and more Tiger Kings closing in around him.

  "Execute Plan 3, exhaust these damned wolves to death!!!" Melkurov hastily gave the order into the intercom.

  Received the commander's order. The Iron Fist Tank Corps, which was still fighting hard, abandoned its original position and retreated to the rear of their companions.

  "Want to escape? Fantasy! All troops! Charge, charge, charge, charge! We are hungry wolves! Hungry wolves! Hungry wolves!" Lieutenant Akado exclaimed the three "wolves" to express his extremely pleasant inner heart.

  "Wooooo!" The driver of the Tiger King tank let out a strange cry as he increased the throttle and charged forward.

  "Damn it... Action begins! Launch 'Tsar' beam cannon!" Looking at the Tiger King tank advancing forward, Melkurov hastily gave orders.

  The red button in the small slot inside the car compartment was pressed, and a faint green ray was instantly emitted from the hatch that was originally covered by an iron plate at the front of the car. The target is the Tiger King tank that is chasing forward with all its might.

  The driver of the Tiger tank at the forefront suddenly felt a jolt inside the vehicle after being hit by the shell, and what surprised him most was that his front windscreen suddenly flew towards the Iron Fist tank in front. Moreover, the worst part was that the lights inside his vehicle suddenly went out for no reason, and he felt another jolt of the vehicle's body.

  The swaying became more and more intense, and the parts on the vehicle flew towards the opposing Iron Fist tank more and more, gradually... Smoke began to emerge from the vehicle, and in the end, it didn't even give the driver a chance to escape before turning into scrap metal in a burst of flames.

  The iron hammer tank in the distance that was emitting green light immediately stopped and switched to cannon mode, taking over the front line to protect its wounded companions. The iron hammer tank that had already started smoking suddenly activated its beam shield and retreated behind its companion's back, continuing its previous tactic.

  And on the battlefield, such things are happening more and more, one by one, the Tiger King tanks have unknowingly turned into iron fragments, while the Iron Fist tank army in the distance has already formed a military formation, making a counterattack.

  This is what the Allies called the most despicable and lowest tactic in the war - Iron Hammer Sucking Fan Formation!

  When the Iron Hammer tanks encounter many more opponents on the plains, they usually use this tactic. The heavily damaged Iron Hammer tank first activates the TS-1 "Tsar" beam to hide behind its own companion, and the front one uses its companion to resist while it secretly uses this beam to absorb small metal fragments from the enemy's body to wrap itself, although this method is only treating the symptoms but not the root cause, after the battle, it's best for the tank to go to the repair factory for repairs. Then, after completing the iron filings wrapping, they will take over their companion's position, and their companion will continue this despicable tactic to constantly wear down the opponent.

  The situation has reversed!!!

  Merkurov's mouth curled up in a cold smile. Hmph, now we've got the upper hand again...

  On the opposing Tiger King command tank, Colonel Ingram, as the highest commander, also had a cold smile at the corner of his mouth.

  You think you can defeat us, the mighty German Tigers, so easily?! How naive!!!

  He coldly raised the walkie-talkie in his hand and gave a chilly order into it.

  "Use graphite jamming shells."

  Having received the order from their superior, the well-trained German Tigers immediately began another of their specialties.

  A specially decorated shell was stuffed into the barrel, but instead of firing at the enemy's tank like a normal shell, the muzzle was raised and fired this seemingly special shell into the sky.

  The shells flying towards the sky were different from the deafening explosion of ordinary shells, but a terrible sound similar to the howling of a fierce wolf.

  There was no dazzling flame, no deafening explosion, nor even a stunning impact. Instead, these shells suddenly disintegrated in mid-air, releasing countless black powder from their bodies before falling powerlessly to the ground.

  The iron hammer tanks that were originally about to launch a counterattack suddenly stopped one by one like they had run out of gasoline after being stained with those black powders on the battlefield.

  "What the devil! What's going on here?!" Melkurov thundered at the driver, who was bathed in cold sweat and couldn't get the tank to budge no matter what he did.

  As far as the eye can see, these dark green camouflaged tanks were stained with black powder and stopped on the road, the red army drivers inside cursed, complained, and begged, but couldn't make the tanks move an inch.

  Colonel Ingraham took a look at the poor Red Army tanks that were motionless on the side of the road with his night vision binoculars, and a hint of chill that seemed to freeze flames appeared at the corner of his mouth.

  "It's time for those Red Army bastards to take a look at our 'mouse'... Hehe..."

  "Colonel... you're really evil..." Akardo's mouth also curled up into a sly smile, his seemingly frivolous tone hiding an undisguised murderous intent in his eyes.

  "Of course, if men weren't bad, how could women possibly be fascinated with you? This is what the leader himself taught us..."

  "It's true what you said... Hehe, look. Our big 'mouse' has arrived." Lieutenant Akado glanced back at a massive war chariot advancing with a thunderous roar.

  "Are the Allies really so brave? Are the Allies really having such a huge tank? The Allies have such magical shells?" Oleg hastily said three "really"s to express his extremely shocked inner heart.

  "Yes, Comrade Lieutenant General. The enemy's tanks are so powerful and huge that our tanks will be crushed one by one..."

  Oleg listened to Merkulov's report and looked at the map in silence for half a minute.

  Seeing the commander behave like this, the other subordinates also fell silent instantly.

  When he spoke again, he had already smoked away 4 big cigars.

  "Remember this enemy. One day he will become our most formidable opponent!!"

  Oleg gazed at the surrounding officers and said seriously.