artillery arc

Chapter 159 Situation on August 8 (7 monthly votes plus more updates)

Afterwards, Wang Zhong followed Duke Mei Shijin's advice and fell down to have a good sleep.

He didn't expect that he would sleep for so long.

When he opened his eyes and got up, the calendar on the table showed that it was August 8th.

As soon as he sat up, Nelly opened the door and came in: "Want to have breakfast?"

Only then did Wang Zhong realize that his belly was already in a state where his chest was touching his back - after all, he had slept for almost 20 hours.

"Just have some."

As soon as he finished speaking, Nellie came in pushing the cart.

Nellie: "I saw that you like walnut butter, so I made some, but there is no softer bread in the city. In addition, there is no ready-made beef in the city, so I cooked some cabbage soup from cans. Yogurt is also canned.”

Wang Zhong asked in surprise: "Why are the supplies so poor? We can always eat fresh meat, eggs, and milk in Aolaqi!"

Nellie looked at him angrily: "There is a large ranch in Orachi, but there is no one here, and all the people in the surrounding countryside have run away, so we can only eat cans and sausages delivered by the railway."

Wang Zhong stood in front of and under the table in the room, posing as if he was having a meal: "Canned food is fine, too. You make it very fragrant. My appetite increases as soon as I smell it."

Neli brought the dishes to the table one by one, and Wang Zhong picked up the spoon and started drinking the soup. The sour soup was very appetizing.

Nelly held the pot of sour cream and asked, "Would you like sour cream?"

At first, Wang Zhong couldn't understand the habit of adding sour cream to this kind of sour soup, but now he has adapted to this practice, just like Indians can't live without masala.

"Have some!"

So Nellie poured a large amount of sour cream into Wang Zhong's soup bowl.

Wang Zhong stirred up the sour cream with a spoon and asked, "Where's Liu Xia? Last night - yesterday she went to church and didn't come back?"

"You're back. Miss saw that you were sleeping soundly, so she didn't wake you up and went back to attend the collective funeral of the Divine Arrow Company."

Wang Zhong frowned: "Who died in the Divine Arrow Company?"

"She was the only one left in the Miss Arrow team. The nuns and skitarii responsible for launching, as well as the skitarii responsible for protection, all died. Many people from other teams also died, and it is said that a praying hand also died. "

Wang Zhong stopped stirring the soup with a spoon: "On the way out yesterday, Liu Xia's condition was hard to tell."

Nellie didn't answer, just made oatmeal with milk and placed it next to Wang Zhong's soup bowl.

Wang Zhong continued to eat and asked while eating: "Has Pavlov established the headquarters?"

"It's on the opposite floor."

"Has the casualty count been finished?"

"Yesterday he wanted to come over and report, but I drove him away." Nelly paused and asked cautiously, "Did I do the right thing?"

"You did the right thing." Wang Zhong nodded, drank the oatmeal as quickly as possible, ate all the sour soup and the chopped sausage in it, and finally took a few bites of bread with walnut jam.

After eating, he stood up and said, "I'll go to the headquarters and get my uniform."

Nellie immediately brought over the military uniform and hat, as well as the polished leather shoes.

----

As soon as Wang Zhong entered the headquarters, he directly saw the map on the wall.

Moreover, the telegraph team was not divided and was placed directly next to the map table. The huge headquarters looked extremely busy.

Pavlov was looking at the report in his hand in front of the map: "How can it be possible that there are only so few people left in the anti-aircraft artillery battalion?"

Wang Zhong walked to him: "What's going on?"

Pavlov raised his head: "Are you awake? You look good."

Wang Zhong stared at Pavlov's dark circles for a few seconds and replied, "And you seem to be about to die suddenly. I suggest you take a nap."

"You put it lightly. Do you know how much energy it takes to gather such a scattered army? Apart from anything else, my staff department still has five staff officers who have not returned to the team, and there are also twenty-seven clerks missing. I have a total of A clerk with less than a hundred people!

"Our division company's combatants and logistics have only assembled less than 6,000 people now. When we set off, the logistics alone only numbered more than 10,000!"

Wang Zhong: "Has a point been set up at the entrance of the village or outside the city to guide the returning troops?"

It's almost like the entrance to a village. Shepetovka is a railway hub and a big city.

"It's set up, and a big pot filled with food and enough water are prepared there. People returning from the team will be brought here every once in a while."

As soon as he finished speaking, singing came from outside, so Pavlov came to the window, opened the curtains and took a look, and then said to Wang Zhong: "Look, there are more than a hundred people outside. Who knows how many more there are?" People are rushing here. By the way, look at this roster, the gathering efficiency of combatants is much higher than we expected. Now there are more than 3,000 people gathered." Wang Zhong said with a look of surprise: "There are still more than 3,000. People? I thought they were all gone.”

“Some battalions are all gone, such as the Beshensk Regiment on Highland 153, which includes infantry, armor, and anti-tank gun crews, just a few people.

"I think more combatants can be gathered. Judging from the enemy's situation, they are in a hurry to go south and don't have that much energy to catch our people scattered on the plains.

"But logistics... The logistics personnel are not as well organized as the combat troops. Many people don't know how to read maps at all and will get lost in unfamiliar places. They don't have any tactical skills and are not good at concealing themselves when encountering enemies..."

Pavlov shook his head.

Wang Zhong: "Where is your sixth-level clerk?"

"The old man ran out very smoothly. Did you hear the sound of the seal being stamped?"

Only then did Wang Zhong realize that among the beeping sounds there was also the sound of Peng Peng's seal.

"What kind of seal is this?" Wang Zhong asked doubtfully.

Pavlov replied casually: "Death notice."

Wang Zhong was suddenly silenced.

Pavlov raised his eyebrows: "Why, you haven't gotten used to it yet? I thought you would get used to this kind of thing after you went to deliver the relics in person."

Wang Zhong: "I hope I never get used to it."

He turned to the map and fell silent again.

Pavlov looked at the map and said: "That's it, the situation is very bad. After the Second Armored Group passed Aorach, it rushed southward. The good news is that the speed of the First Armored Group in the south was slowed down, and the naval infantry showed its full strength. It’s very effective, but... it’s still not slow enough.”

Wang Zhong: "Isn't it about to be surrounded in three to five days? Why don't you retreat? Does General Skorobo refuse to retreat?"

"No, the Front Army Headquarters requested a retreat last night, but His Majesty the Tsar did not agree." Pavlov pursed his lips, "Perhaps Your Majesty feels that there is such a wide area on the map that can be used to transport supplies. No need to retreat."

At this time, the judge overseeing the use of the codebook at the radio station raised his head and glanced here, but didn't say much.

----

"Isn't this very wide?" Tsar Nicholas V cursed as he tapped the map, "You can't send supplies to such a wide area?"

"My Majesty," the Chief of Logistics of the Headquarters tried to explain, "Logistics transportation requires roads and railways. Now most of the roads have been cut off, and the railways have also been blown up due to the advance of the enemy's field airport. Your Majesty, if you don't retreat……"

Nicholas V knocked on the table: "You told me I could defend it! You said it!"

All the generals fell silent for a moment.

Because they have indeed patted their chests and said they can defend it.

Nicholas V continued to pound the table: "You also said that the enemy has reached the end of its strength, and you also used the enemy's heavy troop group in the middle to stop advancing as an example! You said that the enemy suffered heavy losses. Then what? What now?"

The Chief of General Staff said: "The enemy stopped at that time and should just wait for supplies and infantry units to follow up..."

"That's not what you said at the time!" Nicholas V interrupted the Chief of General Staff, "I should record everything you said at that time! And then play it here! Wait a minute, there should be minutes of the meeting. ? Take it out and let's see what my generals said!"

Chief of General Staff: "The situation on the battlefield is always changing, so the judgment will also keep changing. We came to a conclusion that we can stick to based on the situation at that time. What is proven to be wrong now is wrong. Since it is wrong, we must base it on the current situation. Make changes.”

"Since you are wrong," Nicholas V glared at the generals fiercely, "you should be pulled out and shot!"

"Even if we are shot, we should retreat now." said the chief of general staff.

Nicholas V was silent for a few seconds and said in a much gentler tone: "Agsukov is our most important core city and the origin of Guant! Losing this place will severely damage our morale! Can you shoulder this responsibility?"

"Future Skorobo can be asked to take on this responsibility." said the Chief of General Staff.

Nicholas V sighed: "That's all we can do. Can we withdraw all the troops now?"

Several generals looked at each other, and finally Marshal Semyon Konstantinovich said: "It's difficult. In the current situation, we estimate that we can withdraw 200,000 to 300,000 troops."

Nicholas V was shocked: "Nearly one million troops can only withdraw so much? What is the difference between that and no withdrawal?"

Marshal Semyon: "There are no more millions. The enemy's attack is very fierce. Now Agsukov's organized troops are about 700,000. The rest have been scattered and need to be regrouped and replenished. But There are currently no conditions to assemble and replenish troops in the encirclement.”

Nicholas V: "Seven hundred thousand is not a lot! We can only escape with 300,000! No, I refuse such a retreat! Either you give me a solid plan and at least escape with 600,000, I don't care about you How about using troops to respond? Anyway, if we want to retreat, we must withdraw in large numbers! "

After speaking, Nicholas stood up, turned around and walked out of the conference room angrily.

People in the room looked at each other.

"Failed again." The Chief of General Staff sighed, "If Her Royal Highness hadn't done that, it wouldn't have been so difficult to persuade."

(End of this chapter)