Middle Eastern tyrants

Chapter 24 Fury (Part Two)
The infantry in the anti-tank ditch have already engaged in combat.

Sergeant Hassan lay prone in the foxhole, his heart pounding, clutching a rocket-propelled grenade tightly to his chest.

In the distance, Zion's tank formations were rolling over sand dunes, the dust kicked up by their steel tracks obscuring half the sky.

As a Chieftain tank rolled over the cordon, a loud roar reached the ears of all the soldiers.

"Nar!!"

This means "fire" in Arabic. Three RPGs simultaneously shot out from behind the bunker, the rockets trailing white smoke as they crashed into the chieftain's side armor.

Two of the missiles were detonated prematurely by the reactive armor, but the third successfully penetrated the right track.

The steel tracks twisted and fell off like a severed centipede, and the tank immediately became stuck at the edge of the trench, its traction wheels spinning freely.

"Molotov cocktails! Quickly!"

Seeing that the tank had stopped, Sergeant Hassan led four infantrymen from Shuangzhi out of their bunker and charged toward the disabled tank, braving machine gun fire.

The proportion of new recruits in the dual-class system is relatively high. Usually, a veteran soldier leads the charge, followed by several new recruits.

If a new recruit survives, then he becomes a veteran.

Abdul's Molotov cocktail slammed into the engine hood, and flames instantly engulfed the rear half of the vehicle. The tank hatch was violently flung open, and a Zion commander, who had just poked half his body out, was mowed down by Sergeant Hassan with his submachine gun; his body burned and became lodged in the hatch.

Before Abdul could even catch his breath, he saw another Chieftain tank approaching, its turret turning.

The tank's main gun fired the next second. The moment the high-explosive shell landed, he saw Sergeant Hassan being thrown into the air by the shockwave, and he was missing a leg when he landed.

"Get down!"

Another high-explosive grenade exploded five meters away, sending Abdul flying and instantly rupturing his eardrums.

He staggered toward the nearest foxhole, only to find his comrades from the same squad using bandages to plug his ruptured abdomen.

Meanwhile, another infantry squad not far away was using the same tactic, but they were unlucky. The Molotov cocktail hit the tank's armor and bounced back, turning the soldier who threw it into a wailing fireball.

The recruits immediately scattered, and what awaited them was the harvesting of rifles.

Zion infantry are advancing steadily, using tanks as mobile cover, and their assault rifle bursts are terrifyingly accurate.

Abdul looked to the east and saw a Chieftain tank running over a burning human figure, or perhaps just a burning coat.

This cannot continue.

Abdul looked toward the battlefield. Zion's forces were advancing steadily, and he could feel the artillery fire weakening, though it was also possible that he was deaf.

But this also made him fearless.

He touched the signal flare at his waist, and as he looked at the tanks approaching, an idea came to him.

Abdul lay quietly in the shell crater. When the Chieftain tank drove up to him, he did not hesitate. He raised the signal gun, aimed it at the tank formation, and pulled the trigger.

The sudden rise of the figure startled the Zion infantry, but they immediately opened fire.

Abdul, clutching the remaining fuse, fell backward.

Major Bandar spotted the brave soldier through his binoculars and radioed the artillery position: "Fire in the direction of that signal flare!"

The M115 howitzers quickly covered the area.

Meanwhile, the situation at the outpost was not optimistic either. The Sherman's 76mm main gun was like a tickle to the Chieftain's armor. Although the AMX-13's 105mm main gun could penetrate the Chieftain's turret, it had to be at close range, and the "armor" of this thing was too low.

If only we could have brought the Bofors over earlier! With its horizontal firing capability, even if it couldn't penetrate the frontal armor, its precision in single shots along the tracks would be far superior to the Sherman's. If Lieutenant Colonel Amir were here, he would definitely have done that.

Major Bandar thought to himself for no apparent reason.

At that moment, the radio crackled with communication between the tank crews: "A-3 crew, fire! Armor-piercing rounds failed to penetrate the side armor of the enemy tank! Requesting a retreat!"

The major immediately turned his binoculars to the left flank and saw a Sherman moving away from its pre-arranged ambush position, while another Sherman was still firing not far away. This action directly betrayed his teammates who were lying in ambush on the other side.

Three question marks appeared above Bandar's head.

Immediately afterward, the Chieftain tank turned its turret around, and the L11A5 main gun spat fire. The 120mm armor-piercing rounds cut through the frontal armor of the Sherman tank like a hot knife through butter, exploding into a fireball inside the vehicle. The turret was blown off by the exploding ammunition and crashed heavily onto the sand twenty meters away.

The other Sherman crews weren't faring much better. The messages from the A-3 crew made them realize that a direct confrontation might just be suicide, and they had already forgotten their orders to "target their tracks and sighting equipment."

A very close explosion brought Major Bandar back to his senses. He was unaware that Zion's tanks had already advanced to their front lines and were attacking their fortified positions.

The stone bunker was riddled with holes by grenades; it was originally a watchtower for a sentry post, and now there are probably only a few soldiers left hiding inside.

Only by confronting Zion's armored forces head-on can one truly understand how terrifying their ground troops are.

"That's more like it! This is our true level!" Colonel Avi looked at the battle, his face glowing with excitement. "Let these country bumpkins see how a real army fights!"

Just then, he saw a light tank rushing towards him at extremely high speed. At first, Colonel Avi didn't pay any attention until the other side fired two shots, punching a hole in the side armor of a Chieftain at very close range.

It's actually the enemy's tank?

When Colonel Avi discovered that it was actually an AMX-13, he found it even more ridiculous. These glass cannons made in France were already obsolete in Zion, since their armor was so thin that even machine guns could penetrate them!
He then sneered, "Have the infantry concentrate their firepower and blow this overconfident guy into the sky!"

At this moment, Major Bandar also noticed the AMX-13. From his perspective, he could see that the light tank was using cover and speed to circle around the cumbersome Chieftain.

The Chieftain tank's turret rotates relatively slowly, and the commander of the AMX-13 clearly understood this, so he frantically circled around to the rear and opened fire on the Chieftain's rear.

Meanwhile, a Chieftain on the other side clearly spotted this formidable opponent as well, and fired in one swift motion.

During World War II, tanks had to stop before they could aim and fire. However, in the second generation of tanks, such as the Chieftain, the built-in stabilized fire control system can maintain a first-shot hit rate even at off-road speeds of 40 km/h.

However, the AMX-13 unexpectedly came to an abrupt stop, and the Chieftain's high-explosive shell flew past the front armor!
"pretty!!"

Major Bandar slapped his thigh, overjoyed: "I never expected Jassim to have this trick up his sleeve. I'll personally help him apply for the medal!"

There are only two AMX-13s at the Nukoshir outpost. One is commanded by Jassim, and the other by Talod.

Talod led Lieutenant Colonel Amir to retreat, so in Major Bandar's mind, that vehicle was naturally the one Jassim was directing.

The adjutant hesitated for a moment and said, "Well, actually, Lieutenant Jassim's vehicle broke down a couple of days ago and is still being repaired at the outpost."

"what?"

Major Bandar was taken aback, and then he saw a man rushing in through the door in a panic.

Upon seeing that the visitor was Talod, Bandar broke out in a cold sweat.

"Where's the lieutenant colonel? Lieutenant colonel!"

Major Bandar grabbed Talod and lifted him up like a chick.

The soldiers behind him, panting heavily, reported, "The lieutenant colonel left him at the gate of the outpost and personally led the tank in a charge!"

"It's over!" Major Bandar nearly fainted: "Get me a tank right now, I need to rescue the lieutenant colonel!"

(End of this chapter)