“Stop the engine!” I opened the hatch and looked in the sky.

There was a long white trail high above, with a single dot – aircraft flying.

The aircraft was flying in a straight line, and then rapidly turned to the left.

“Beril-Main, we are done. Returning home.” (Ca)

As the time passed, I started hearing whistling. It was growing stronger and stronger, until it became a howl.

BO-BO-BO-BO-BO-BO-BO-BOOM

The wall exploded and the ground shook. Both we and the allied troops were curling to hide from the shockwave.

When I looked at the wall, I saw a line of rubble, neatly placed right where the wall was.

“Forward…”

‘WRRR’

I looked at the disappearing white trail and braced myself for the coming fight.

“Scarp!” I shouted when we approached a large pile.

‘BOM’

‘WrrRRRUUUM’

Through the optics I saw allied infantry climb over the rock piles, the remnants of the fortress wall. The tank was crawling too. Our gun was useless here but it didn’t remove the AA machine gun.

An engagement right here was not planned but we were ready.

As we drove over the top of the rubble pile, the tank dived and the gun was back in action.

“Load HE!”

‘Whuuuu-ch-whuu’

“Ready!” (J)

“Old man, move slowly. We need to cover the infantry.”

“Understood.” (O)

The main battle tank entered the streets of the city.

The city was mostly unscathed. There were burned down houses and broken doors but it didn’t look like a combat zone. Yet.

---

“Keep your eyes open, do not fire unless engaged. Keep allied casualties minimal.”

Those are small streets, where a tank can be attacked from any direction. There are few ways to disable us, so I used the Great Patriotic War tactic of assault – infantry moves forward and the tank fires from behind their backs.

“Will do. … Thermal contact, 100 meters ahead. In the building at the end of the street.” (J)

I checked with the optics and confirmed enemies.

“Second floor, clear to fire.”

“Shooting!” I pulled my face away from the optics.

BOOM

A cloud of dust and gunpowder smoke covered the area. The dust, that the tank was collecting for the past days, was blown off, and then returned when the dust cloud settled.

I saw a hole in the target building. The shell exploded right inside, killing anything that was in the vicinity.

“You have permission to continue.”

‘Whuuuu-ch-whuu’

“Shooting!” (J)

BOOM

I partially opened the hatch and shouted at the infantry that was standing behind the tank.

“Advance! We will provide cover!”

“You are here to cover us, so use your armor!” The soldier shouted back.

“Then we will be standing here until we…”

BOOM

“You a*hole! At least warn me! Until we move out!”

The allied officer was shouting something but I already closed the hatch.

“I am firing at the rightmost part.”

Bu-bu-bu-bum

12.7mm bullets left a line in the building, cutting across a window. The wooden walls could only protect from shrapnel but not from a bullet.

“Forward.”

After we suppressed the enemies, we continued moving. We reached the damaged building and turned to the left. According to the briefing, the enemy HQ is located in 300 meters from here but we lost the main point of this assault – the suddenness.

“Better safe than sorry.”

“Also, those who don’t risk don’t drink champagne.” (J)

“Then go and attack, on foot.”

“I take my words back. The slower, the better.” (J)

“Right, 90. … Stop.”

I saw a long narrow street and it was the thing that bothered me the most.

“Infantry, move forward!”

“No way!” The allies refused again but this time it is not my problem.

“I don’t want to be at the spearhead!” The allies grumbled but started walking.

Everything was proceeding smoothly.

“Forward, slowly.”

The tracks bit into the dirt road and the tank moved. We had to move slowly not only to match the infantry speed but also to maneuver through the street.

Tra-ta-ta-ta-ta

We were suppressing the occasional archers and troops that were trying to attack the allied formation.

The goal is within 100 meters.