Chapter 172: The Battle of Peril

Driving hundreds of meters past the Soviet checkpoint, Lynn arrived at a three-way intersection and turned slightly to the south. It was a wide, straight road, with remnants of landscaping vegetation still visible in the median strip. The fallen streetlights should have illuminated the road like giants, and judging from the debris of the buildings on both sides, this neighborhood was once neat, orderly, and modern.

The densely populated urban area with gunfire was now behind them, and although there were still intense bursts of gunfire nearby, the road ahead was empty and quiet. If it weren't for the scattered rubble on the road surface, Lynn could have driven his military "bucket car" at top speed here. It was strange; there were no conspicuous buildings around this spacious road. Naturally, it wouldn't become a high point of Soviet firepower blockade like the previous buildings, and those who had the strength to break through would have easily known the current situation in the southern part of Berlin and its suburbs. Why didn't they choose to evacuate from this side early on? Was it because of the distance, or some other reason?

Lynn temporarily had no way of knowing the answer. Without turning on the lights, he could only drive cautiously at 30 kilometers per hour. Even so, the slightly larger stones on the road made the car constantly bounce and bump, fully testing the durability of German machinery. To guard against any Soviet soldiers lurking in the ruins, everyone in the car remained silent, except for Wolfram humming unfamiliar songs. Some had no words, only cheerful tunes, and some lyrics, although sung with rolled "r" sounds, were completely different from German. Perhaps, like Lynn, other soldiers were also curious about Wolfram's fluent Russian, but they didn't want the invisible atmosphere of racial prejudice to harm their intimate comrades.

If they could continue like this smoothly, Lynn wouldn't mind leading his troops to escape Berlin alone. However, as they drove on, suddenly, a truck without lights emerged from the left fork in the road. Although they didn't collide, Lynn quickly turned to the right to maintain a certain distance. At first glance, he thought it was "Katyusha," but what was loaded on the truck was not multiple rocket launchers, but a high-power searchlight installed on a bracket, with several Soviet soldiers sitting next to it. Immediately after, three similar-looking trucks drove out from the same fork. Their slightly curved engine hoods and cab outlines had typical Soviet style, with low guardrails on the carriages, also equipped with searchlights, and configured with four wheels at the rear and two at the front.

The four hastily moving trucks, relying on their large tire diameters, swiftly traveled on the streets strewn with rubble, leaving Lynn's military bucket car behind in no time. Watching their disappearing figures for a while, Lynn suddenly remembered that it was these Soviet searchlights that almost cost him his life in Oranienburg. Seeing them in such a hurry, could it be that they were heading for the German armored unit that broke through?

The German infrared night vision equipment, although not the most advanced, was the first night combat equipment to be put into practical use in this era. German tanks, armored vehicles, and infantry proficient in using this equipment were like "vampires," possessing unparalleled combat power in battles that took place in dark environments. Traditional battlefield illumination methods such as searchlights and illumination flares were the natural enemies of "vampires," especially in terms of effective range, far surpassing the current infrared night vision equipment. It was obvious that once these four high-power searchlights entered the battlefield, the advantages of the German "Panthers" and night vision armored vehicles would be completely lost, and they might even be interfered with, greatly affecting their own shooting accuracy, leading to a fatal reversal of the battlefield situation.

Between selfishness and selflessness, Lynn made a difficult choice—he couldn't clearly say whether it was intuition driving him or a hope for his fate. To be honest, the potential danger to Laurentz Bach was just a trivial factor, but Lynn did take it into consideration.

After the four trucks turned into the right fork ahead, Lynn followed suit, and quietly informed everyone to "prepare for battle."

Gradually, the gunfire that had once been distant became clearer again.

Despite the obvious speed difference with those trucks and the distance gradually widening, this was not a rally race of endurance. After two blocks, the four trucks carrying searchlights finally slowed down and stopped by the roadside, despite the Soviet checkpoints, the guards apparently took the military bucket car following behind as a command vehicle for their own officers and let them pass without questioning.

Seeing those trucks stop, Lynn also slowed down and smoothly drove into the ruins beside the street, turned off the engine, and ordered the soldiers to spread out in vigilance. He quickly climbed up the debris pile and pulled out a delicate but very limited magnification binoculars. Following the clear gunfire, the battle was just one block away. It seemed that the German armored column advancing in the firefight was much slower than his small car. In his line of sight, bullets flew out in strings from the collapsed buildings on both sides of the road, and such intense ambush firepower was fierce. However, ordinary bullets could not stop German tanks; it was the tanks and anti-tank guns hidden among the ruins that posed real threats. However, after observing for a while, Lynn found that once those Soviet tanks and artillery opened fire, they would soon face precise counterattacks from the Germans. Although such firepower might not cause fatal damage, it made the Soviet tank crews and gunners extremely wary, to the point that the defensive firepower remained suppressed.

In a moment, as the first searchlight lit up, the dim battlefield underwent a huge change in visual brightness. This thick beam of light shot directly to the north, towards the direction of Berlin's downtown. Lynn immediately saw the leading "Panthers" through the binoculars. Three of them were at the forefront of the column, arranged in a somewhat non-standard "Pi" shape, with their gun barrels almost horizontal to the ground, their turrets slightly angled, looking majestic and domineering from the front, like ancient cavalry generals in vivid armor. The "Black Panthers" behind them were elite heavy cavalry ready to charge at any time. This scene was deeply imprinted in Lynn's mind. Combined with everything he had experienced before, for a moment, he felt genuinely proud of the faction fate had chosen for him.

Unfortunately, heroes age, and the grand Second World War was nearing its end. These great battles would only be relived in memory and on the silver screen in the future.

Putting aside his regret, Lynn turned to Tank Z and Noah. The young corporals had been observing with rifle scopes under the ruins for a while and quickly climbed up at the command, with Noah loading rockets into the anti-tank launcher and climbing onto the rubble. Frederick once again played the role of loader, carrying a rifle and a rocket on his shoulder, following behind.

"Markus, start shooting from the farthest one, and move closer after taking it out!" Lynn instructed Tank Z before turning to Noah. "Can you hit them from here?"

At this moment, while the soldiers were coming up, two more searchlights lit up in the distance, making this rubble-covered neighborhood exceptionally bright. There was a small pond in the middle of the battlefield, probably originally a decorative pool or a small artificial lake. The thick and bright light beams shot across the water's surface, giving Lynn a somewhat dreamy feeling from his position.

To avoid being wiped out by the German tanks in one shot, the four Soviet trucks were spaced several tens of meters apart. The nearest one was within the effective range of an 88mm anti-tank rocket launcher, while the farthest one was about six to seven hundred meters away. These trucks weren't staying still; as soon as they turned on their lights, they moved laterally—advancing and retreating intermittently, and turning off the lights every half minute or so for a few seconds before turning them back on again, repeating this process to avoid the attacks of the German tanks ahead. This method seemed simple but effective. The German tank column soon fired several shells, but none directly hit the trucks or searchlights. Although the shrapnel from the explosions caused some casualties among the Soviet soldiers on the trucks, the remaining ones bravely operated the searchlights to illuminate the battlefield.

Glancing at the situation, Noah replied, "We only have two rockets, so we can take out at most two trucks!"

Lynn had always been aware of the quantity of weapons and ammunition, and even if there were more rockets, it would be impossible to directly destroy the targets too far away. Tank Z's sniper rifle had enough range, but firing from the side or rear didn't guarantee hitting the searchlights.

Generous yet composed, Lynn gave the order, "Once we get closer from the rear, Noah, target the nearest truck, and Markus, start shooting from the farthest one as I said. Take out as many as you can; don't worry about us. Whatever you can't handle, we'll figure it out!"