The enemy had run out of options. Once the attack order came down, their troops had to be committed en masse; no matter how many men fell, they had to push forward.
Right now, they were doing everything in their power to suppress Gao Fei and his companions, and once suppression was achieved, the infantry charge would inevitably follow.
Whether it was an unintended stroke of luck or sheer fortune, Andrey’s timing in blowing up the communication trench had been nothing short of immaculate.
The enemy had unquestionably prepared an operational plan, and Gao Fei’s position was clearly designated as their primary breakthrough point; otherwise, so many troops would never have been concentrated here.
The sheer number of enemy grenade launchers gave it away.
Under normal circumstances, a squad only fielded one or two grenade launchers. Even with reinforced high-angle fire support, a squad of a dozen men would have three or four at most.
Yet at this very moment, there were at least thirty grenade launchers firing in unison. Assuming an average of three launchers per squad, at least ten squads were packed into the communication trench directly facing Gao Fei and his squad.
Ten squads meant a force of over a hundred and twenty men—at the very least, a full company.
Had the communication trench not been destroyed before the assault commenced, the enemy could have driven straight through. If several dozen rifle grenades and dozens or even hundreds of hand grenades had come raining down simultaneously, not even a god could have repelled such an onslaught.
Once enemy numbers reached a certain threshold, even the finest marksmanship became useless. It was a classic case of quantity transforming into quality.
Now, however, the enemy was bottled up inside the trench, forced to rely on inaccurate mortars and rifle grenades to pry open an assault corridor and create an opening to charge. Against such tactics, a sharpshooter like Gao Fei was their living nightmare.
Their rifle grenades were fired blind, which meant their accuracy was virtually nonexistent.
The enemy certainly wanted to take visual aim before firing, but Gao Fei gave them no such chance.
Almost the instant he dropped the enemy observer with a single bullet, a dozen heads popped up in unison from the communication trench.
Stretched out in a line spanning roughly a hundred meters, they were attempting to fire simultaneously—a desperate bid to trade volume for accuracy.
The enemy commander had to be under immense pressure. Over a hundred men were wedged into a narrow communication trench, unable to advance or retreat. If an artillery shell came crashing down on them, the bodies alone would pave the entire trench.
Gao Fei opened fire, and Glaski’s machine gun joined in immediately. After a split-second delay, every man along 1st Squad’s defensive line began firing toward the enemy.
They couldn't afford to let the enemy aim and loose their rifle grenades undisturbed.
A hail of bullets swept over the enemy's positions. Gao Fei only saw himself hit one, but the rest instantly ducked back out of sight.
Gao Fei’s mind had stopped strategizing altogether. No tactic mattered anymore—the moment an enemy stuck his head out, he shot him. Nothing else worked, and there was no time to think.
Just then, someone came running in from their right flank.
"Friendly, friendly! You guys are taking the brunt of the breakthrough! Need support?"
It was a man from D Company, asking if they needed reinforcements.
That was the reality of fighting side by side. The pressure on D Company's line was light because the enemy had funneled entirely down the communication trench, bunching up squarely in front of Gao Fei's position.
D Company knew that if 1st Squad of E Company lost this position, they would be next in line to get wiped out. They didn't even wait for a distress call; they took the initiative to send help on their own.
Gao Fei’s ears were still ringing so badly that he couldn't hear the friendly shouts, but Samir heard them and reacted at once.
"Send a machine gun, and a sniper too! Hurry, hurry!"
Samir didn't hesitate to demand what they needed, and since D Company had asked, they were already fully prepared to commit forces.
Veterans of brutal combat knew instinctively what a defensive action like this demanded.
A two-man machine gun team came sprinting over, carrying their weapon. They didn't need to bunch up right next to Gao Fei; some ten meters away, they mounted a light machine gun onto the trench parapet, and the assistant gunner carrying the ammunition belts slipped straight into an adjacent dugout.
The assistant gunner stood by to reload, ready to take over the gun if the primary gunner was wounded or killed.
The other man sent to reinforce them was D Company’s sniper—the very one who had once given Gao Fei pointers.
"What was that explosion just now?" the sniper yelled at Gao Fei, but Gao Fei gave no response.
Samir shouted, "His hearing's shot! Watch for enemy observers—they're zeroing in with mortars!"
The sniper looked out at the collapsed, churned earth ahead and turned to Samir. "What happened? Did you guys blow the communication trench?"
"Yeah!"
"Did high command authorize that?"
The sniper had too many questions. Samir whipped his head around, his eyes brimming with murderous intent. "Are you here to file a report on us, or are you here to help us hold this damn trench?"
The sniper snapped back, "I was just asking! Who's filing a report!"
Any idiot knew this communication trench would be contested back and forth as a vital corridor, but how to launch a counterattack was a problem for the relief units to worry about. For the cannon fodder holding the line right now, blowing the trench was the only sensible choice.
Just then, another mortar shell came down, slamming into the flat ground barely two or three meters in front of their position.
The impact was some twenty meters away from Gao Fei, but it was far too close to the trench lip. It meant the enemy had regained visual spotters and was gradually adjusting their firing coordinates.
Once they locked in the coordinates and unleashed a dozen mortars at once, shells would inevitably land inside the trench.
The sniper yelled in frustration, "I don't see any observers! Anyone spotted one?"
Gao Fei remained deaf to the commotion. Right now, he truly couldn't hear a thing.
Being unable to hear wasn't the main issue; the fatal problem was that they couldn't spot the observer, yet the enemy mortar rounds were growing deadlier by the second.
The sniper grew frantic, but as a marksman himself, he knew better than to disrupt another shooter’s rhythm. He turned to Samir instead. "Where's your squad leader? We need a plan! If things go south, we have to pull back early. Once their mortars saturate us, we won't even be able to retreat!"
Samir shouted, "He's on the other flank! Who's your commanding officer? If we pull back, we pull back together!"
They had to support each other, but they also had to watch their backs.
If the position fell and D Company claimed they had provided support while E Company’s soldiers simply fled, Gao Fei and his men would face severe consequences.
The sniper understood the politics and the stakes. "I'll go talk to your squad leader," he said hurriedly.
D Company’s commander had sent a familiar face precisely to coordinate and ensure they moved in lockstep. If things truly turned dire, they would withdraw together, with neither side stabbing the other in the back.
Just as the sniper was about to move out to consult whoever was in charge of 1st Squad, Andrey, coated from head to toe in dirt, suddenly shoved his way over to Gao Fei.
Looking like he had just been dug out of a grave, Andrey pushed Gao Fei’s arm, snapping him out of his rapid scanning routine.
"Boss, we can't hold! Let's countercharge!"
"What did you say?"
"Boss, let's countercharge!"
"What the hell are you doing?"
It was the blind leading the deaf; Gao Fei couldn't hear, and Andrey couldn't hear a thing either.
Samir and the sniper, however, heard every word, and both were infuriated.
The sniper fought down the urge to smash his rifle butt into Andrey's face and roared, "Are you insane?! You fucking idiot! A countercharge in this situation?! Are you out of your goddamn mind?! Are you stupid?!"
He was so enraged that he hadn't realized Andrey was stone-deaf.
Samir swung around Gao Fei and planted a kick square into Andrey’s hip, knocking him aside, before screaming at the top of his lungs, "Get the fuck back!"
Andrey’s suggestion wasn't entirely wrong in principle—it was just suicidal, the kind of suicidal sacrifice made to save others.
Seeing that Gao Fei had a levelheaded man beside him, the sniper shot Andrey one last hateful glare before sprinting toward Glaski’s machine gun position.
Right at that moment, another mortar shell crashed down.
It didn't land inside the trench, but struck right on the parapet's edge.
For mortar accuracy, that coordinate was close enough. All that remained was for them to walk continuous salvos straight into the ditch.
Samir screamed with all the breath in his lungs, "Incoming! Take cover, take cover!"
Diving into an artillery shelter was a gamble on fate, pure and simple.
Samir grabbed Gao Fei by the shoulder and shoved him toward a shelter.
Furious as he was at Andrey’s utter lack of brains, Samir couldn't bear to watch him die. He kicked Andrey again and pointed toward the nearest shelter, roaring, "Get in!"
Andrey scrambled on all fours into the shelter, while Gao Fei, pushed along by Samir, tumbled inside right behind him.
Mortar shells traveled at a relatively slow velocity. Once zeroed, a shell took ten to fifteen seconds from leaving the tube to impacting the earth.
There was plenty of time to dive for cover. As Gao Fei huddled inside the artillery shelter, he watched a sudden shroud of dust billow across the entrance.
The enemy mortar rounds had finally begun landing inside the trench.
Once they started, they didn't let up. Over a hundred shells pounded down in a relentless barrage, with at least twenty detonating directly inside the trench line, thoroughly blanketing this entire sector.
It felt profoundly helpless.
The enemy infantry was bound to use this window to scramble out of the communication trench and swarm forward.
The moment the mortar fire lifted, close-quarters combat inside the trench would begin.
By that stage, the position was virtually lost.
Over a hundred enemy soldiers were pressing in relentlessly. They didn't need to trade rifle fire with Gao Fei; once they closed the distance, their hand grenades would be deadly accurate. When ten or twenty grenades came flying over at once, there would be no fighting back.
You could do everything right, execute everything to absolute perfection, and still lose when fate dictated it.
There were limits to what human strength could achieve.
Gao Fei slammed a fresh magazine into his rifle. There was nothing else he could do.
The instant he felt the mortar blasts subside, Gao Fei let out a roar and leaned out of the dugout. Before he could even scramble to his feet, a dark silhouette dropped down from right above his head.
So close, so fast—reunited in the trench.
The brutal melee had begun.
Chapter 75