“This damned artillery fire, I’m truly fed up!”
Feeling the shells continuously falling overhead, Andrei couldn’t help but curse again, a murderous impulse rising in his heart!
Fortunately, this round of artillery fire did not linger on their own positions for too long, but quickly extended towards the enemy’s positions.
Facing the extending artillery fire, the enemy Soldiers who had rushed to the center of the two sections of trenches in the previous battle and hadn’t had time to retreat were in big trouble.
Many Soldiers chose to hide in shell craters, praying that no more shells would fall on their heads. After all, from a probability standpoint, the chance of two shells hitting the exact same spot is quite low, which is one of the many superstitions circulating among Soldiers.
But if they truly understood probability, they would know:
Actually, no matter where they hide, whether in a shell crater or in other corners, the probability of being hit by a shell is the same.
It’s like flipping a coin and getting heads ten times in a row, but the probability of getting tails next time is still half! No matter how many times heads comes up, this probability will not change!
Taking advantage of the enemy’s positions in the distance being covered by artillery fire, Andrei cautiously peered out, wanting to see what the situation was like.
But then, he noticed that Players had already emerged from their hiding places.
“Officer, how are you? Are you still alive?”
That Player looked at the unrecognizable position and shouted loudly, but before Andrei could answer him, a Player next to him spoke out their location in the chat area.
Immediately after, that Player quickly ran in, seemingly waiting for Andrei to give orders.
“Don’t worry, I’m still alive!”
Andrei shook off the dust from his body and, along with the others, crawled out of the dugout. He now understood why Soldiers in wartime should normally be covered in dust and grime.
Smoke filled the air everywhere, and hiding in the dugout, the dirt from above fell down like it was free, making him feel as if he was buried in sand.
Those who drank coffee in the trenches must have been seriously ill in the head. After such a commotion, the sand in the coffee cup would probably be several times more than the coffee beans. They were clearly drinking mud soup!
In addition to that, Soldiers also had to crawl and roll in trenches, and even in various muddy places. If anyone could still maintain a pristine appearance under such circumstances, he either had special abilities or was a pretentious protagonist from an anti-Japanese drama!
“Everyone, we must leave here immediately; we need to break through!”
“Those pieces of shit, I don’t know what’s going on, they forgot about us!”
“There aren’t many living people left on this position now. If we don’t leave soon, when the enemy charges, all of us will die!”
Andrei shouted to the surrounding Soldiers in a hurried tone, looking at the enemy positions covered by artillery fire in the distance, he didn’t feel particularly lucky.
Because he knew that as soon as the shelling ended, the enemy would rush forward!
At that time, facing thousands of enemy troops, it would be impossible for them to survive with just their small group.
Andrei was not someone willing to surrender. Who knew if these enemies he was facing now respected the Geneva Convention, or if there was such a thing as a ‘Geneva Convention’ in this world?
Lest these guys be as brutal as the Japanese and just slaughter them all!
So they could only try their best to break through and find a way to escape.
Taking advantage of this time, Andrei quickly counted the number of people in his company. He eventually found that his company now had only 66 people left.
Based on the previous conversation, Andrei, combined with his military rank, confirmed that he should be the Officer of this company.
And now an entire company was left with only 66 people. Considering that there were a total of 20 Players in this company, that meant there were actually only 46 living people in this company!
“Brothers, while the enemy hasn’t charged yet, let’s move along the side of the trench and enter the forest to the north first!”
Checking a simple hand-drawn map tucked into his body, Andrei spoke to everyone, but immediately an Officer raised his hand and asked:
“Captain, I don’t understand, why are we retreating north along the side of the trench instead of running directly back?”
“Our division hasn’t gone far. As long as we march quickly, we should be able to catch up with the main force soon!”
But Andrei shrugged and pointed to a massive steel wreck on the battlefield, saying:
“You’re right, running like this can indeed catch up with the main force, but have you considered a problem? The enemy will catch up to us even faster!”
“Next, the main direction of the enemy’s attack will inevitably be consistent with the direction of our main force’s retreat. At that time, if we climb out of the trenches and encounter such monsters in open terrain, what will we use to fight?”
Then, Andrei continued to explain:
“I have a feeling that our division might be completely surrounded by the enemy, otherwise the shelling shouldn’t have been so rushed!”
“If we want to survive now, we must do the opposite. First, move along the side to reach the less intense edge of the battlefield, and then we’ll break through in the opposite direction!”
“While the enemy is busy attacking and pursuing us, they certainly won’t imagine that a unit will emerge from their flank. This way, it will be easier for us to break through their blockade!”
Some Soldiers believed Andrei’s words, while others doubted them, but Andrei was their Officer after all, so they all ultimately chose to obey orders.
This also demonstrated the benefit of the basic leadership skill Andrei had previously acquired. With this skill, Andrei’s unit, even after suffering such heavy casualties, did not completely collapse.
Although they were emotional and physically and mentally exhausted, they were able to organize themselves, obey the Officer’s commands, and still maintain their fighting spirit.
However, compared to ordinary Soldiers, the Players were already discussing animatedly in the chat area.
These Players, who enjoyed watching chaos, showed no tension at all about the upcoming breakthrough battle; instead, they were all speculating about how the game’s plot would unfold.
Glancing at the Players’ mental state, Andrei couldn’t help but feel both amused and exasperated. These Players truly became happier the more critical the situation became!
After gathering as much ammunition and supplies as possible, Andrei’s team quickly set off, moving rapidly along the trenches towards the side of the battlefield.
At the same time, Andrei spent 500 influence points to exchange for a local map in his mind, quickly examining it.
This map function was different from the mini-map; it couldn’t mark enemy and friendly deployments, just like a regular paper map.
However, this map function would quickly draw a sufficiently clear and standard map based on the terrain within a 50-kilometer radius of Andrei’s location, allowing Andrei to have a general concept of the surrounding terrain.
Looking at the map in his mind, Andrei quickly formulated a plan.