Chapter 1102: Vampire

For the soldiers on the front line, this was another sleepless night. Tracers drew long trails in the darkness, then vanished into the quiet gloom. Soviet soldiers returned fire with all their might, and the German troops, under the cover of heavy weapons, launched a fierce assault on the Soviet positions. Two hours passed quickly, and as the sky began to show the first light of dawn, the gunfire gradually died down.

When the sun once again illuminated this land, the smoke from the craters had not yet completely dispersed. The brief firefight had littered the ground with the bodies of soldiers from both sides. And behind these bodies, behind a patch of lush forest, were the houses and fences of the Moscow suburbs.

These buildings had already been hit by artillery and had collapsed into a pile of rubble. Amidst these ruins of collapsed houses was a new defensive line for the Soviet defenders. Mines and concealed anti-tank guns, interlocking machine-gun fire and hidden snipers… the Soviet soldiers, having been tested in the suburbs, were no longer the new recruits who had just been gathered.

In a concealed trench, some engineers from the German technical department were discussing the performance of their new equipment on the battlefield with some soldiers who had just returned from the front. In a trench not far away, some artillery observers were using their battery commander’s scopes to search for and record the targets they were to attack.

“This individual night vision system is very unstable. I personally feel that to use it on the battlefield does not play any special role,” a German officer said, his complaints directed at the bulky, new-style equipment at his feet. This was the latest individual night vision system developed by Germany. It used an infrared light source to find targets at night. But as a first-generation night combat system, this thing indeed had great limitations.

First of all, under battlefield conditions, this expensive equipment was very unstable, which was the soldiers’ biggest complaint. This officer, with a hint of dissatisfaction, complained to the staff who was taking notes, “A total of 20 units participated in yesterday’s attack, but 3 of them had all kinds of failures. And the battery for this equipment is too big. It’s as bulky as carrying two radios.”

“Major, I hope you understand one thing. Even if you were carrying three radios, you wouldn’t be able to see the enemy at night,” an engineer said as he recorded these problems. “Apart from the problems with reliability and size, are there no other problems with this equipment?”

“The image from this thing is not particularly clear. We have no way to distinguish some of the smaller things. In the night battle just now, it was because the soldier who was leading the way did not see the can on the ground, and triggered a sound, that the Soviets were alerted,” this major, who was the commander of the unit that had just launched a surprise attack on the Soviet positions, said. The other purpose of that battle had been to test this new weapon, which had just been put into the battlefield.

A night vision system called “Vampire,” a powerful weapon that the German army was preparing to use to dominate the night battlefield in the future. However, this weapon had performed very poorly in the combat just now. The viewing distance, and some other problems, had made the popularization of this weapon extremely difficult.

“A viewing distance of a few dozen meters is really not enough. At this distance, the enemy can even spot us by the moonlight. Although they can’t aim and shoot at us directly like we can, it’s enough to provide an early warning,” the major continued. “In this situation, a flare, along with all their weapons firing at once, is enough to make up for their disadvantage in aiming at night.”

The several engineers nodded after hearing this, and then continued to write down these problems in their notebooks. They knew that this kind of night vision device, after further development, would definitely be able to rule the night battlefield in the future. But the current technical means were not enough for them to make the “Vampire” night vision system to everyone’s satisfaction.

It was impossible for this kind of equipment to be taken directly to the battlefield without being tested. But in the experiments that had been conducted in the rear, and in the several local operations of the special forces, they had indeed not encountered many of the problems that were encountered on a regular battlefield. For example, the problem of flares and dense fire suppression had only just been discovered.

“What if… what if it’s used in a night-time defensive operation?” the leading staff member suddenly looked up and asked. “If it’s to deal with an enemy’s night-time counter-charge, would this thing be effective?”

“Of course! If our sentries were equipped with this device, to carry out guard and sentry duty, then that would indeed be a very good idea,” the major said after thinking for a moment. He nodded, which was his acknowledgment of a very good use for this device. “If the enemy attacks first, we can discover them more accurately, and we can open fire on them first.”

The others did not speak, but continued to write down the combat experience that these frontline units had summarized. While they were still recording, the four 75mm infantry guns, which were directly under the regimental headquarters, began to fire fiercely. The roar of the cannons drowned out many of the sounds, and everyone’s attention was drawn to the artillery position.

The radiance of the morning sun had not yet completely dissipated, and the harsh sunlight was still silhouetted against the distinct outlines of the buildings in the distance of Moscow. But soon, everything became restless. One after another, the howitzer shells landed on the ruins of the collapsed buildings on the outskirts of Moscow, once again sending up a shower of debris and rubble.

“What’s going on? They just opened fire without any warning.” The sound of the cannons had clearly given the several engineers a fright. And because the shelling had begun, some of the German grenadiers had also begun to grab their weapons and to move quickly in the trenches. The battle seemed to have erupted very suddenly. Everything had happened in an instant.

“What’s going on?” The major, who had just been answering the engineer’s questions, grabbed an officer who was passing by him and demanded, with a frown, “Why has the regimental support fire suddenly opened up? What’s happened?”

“A platoon leader from the 1st Company of the 2nd Battalion was, while observing the enemy’s position, attacked by an enemy sniper. The marksmanship was very accurate. He was shot directly in the head. By the time the medic had arrived, it was already too late… The 2nd Battalion over there has requested fire support, so the regimental artillery has opened fire,” the officer who had been grabbed by his superior replied, his head ducked, his hand on his helmet, as he spoke at top speed.

For fire to suddenly erupt on this position was a very common occurrence. Generally speaking, the commander would just confirm the reason for the firing, and would not pursue the question of whether the reason for initiating the battle was appropriate. After all, this was a battlefield where every rustle in the grass could be an enemy. No one could investigate everything clearly before making a judgment.

It was possible that a large-scale battle, in which both sides had used tanks and artillery and had fought for a full three hours, and in which hundreds of men had been killed in action, had been started by just one soldier who was overly nervous and had fired a shot at a haystack in the distance.

“Damn it,” this major said with a frown. He then, with an apologetic look, said to the several engineers who had come to investigate, “I’m very sorry, but this is as far as I can accompany you. The battle has already begun. My unit has lost a platoon leader. This is no small matter.”

After speaking, he ran towards the concealed observation post over there. And these engineers and their assistants, under the escort of several soldiers, left this already-war-torn position from the other side of the trench. The bullets were flying everywhere, kicking up sparks as they hit the mud. The Soviet troops, not to be outdone, were returning fire with all their might, and some 122mm shells were also landing on the German positions.

It was clear that these 122mm shells belonged to a higher-level Soviet support unit. It could have been the division or the corps. In any case, this heavy fire support was not something this small German infantry regiment could deal with. But in just a few seconds, the German retaliatory fire had once again escalated.

The 105mm cannons began to join this artillery duel. The German towed artillery roared in chorus. The shells landing on the German positions were sparse, but the Soviet positions were already engulfed in a thick smoke of explosions. Although the Soviet support artillery had a certain advantage in caliber, in terms of numbers, they could no longer overwhelm their German opponents, whom they had once been able to completely crush.

Although the Soviet artillery was destined to be suppressed, they still stubbornly returned fire, as if trying to find some memory of their former glory. These Soviet artillerymen were hidden in the urban area of Moscow, desperately firing their shells at the German positions. But in just two or three minutes, the German corps-level artillery began to join this feast of firepower, and at this time, the Soviet artillery fire was not so much a counter-attack as a gasp for breath.

The 150mm heavy artillery had already completely suppressed the Soviet 122mm guns in terms of caliber. And the number of 152mm guns in the city of Moscow was not large to begin with, so there was simply no way for them to carry out an effective suppressive fire on the German 150mm batteries.

After two rounds of German artillery fire, the Soviet artillery positions had already given up their resistance. In the countless previous exchanges, the scene before them had been repeated countless times. The Germans would open fire first, the Soviets would immediately return fire, and then more and more cannons would join in. In the end, the Soviet artillery would be silenced, the Germans would shell for a little while longer, and then they would gradually stop.

Although they had been defeated countless times, the next time, the Soviet artillery would still return fire. They seemed to never care about their own weakness, nor did they fear the strength of the German army. They had once been the largest artillery force in this world, so they would never give up easily. Even if they had already lost this artillery duel countless times, when the next one began, they still had the guts to return fire. This was the Soviet artillery.

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