artillery arc

Chapter 373 Picking up maps is an art

The reconnaissance team led by Wang Zhong had just set out when they heard a horse neighing from behind.

When he turned around, he saw Bucephalus catching up with him with light steps, as if catching up with a combustion engine vehicle was a trivial matter.

Wang Zhong asked Vasily in surprise: "What happened? The stable was bombed again? Stop the car, wait a minute!"

The car braked, but Busifalas lost his strength and jumped forward, slipping on the ground. He struggled for a long time before standing up and looking at Wang Zhong.

Vasily: "I'm not very familiar with horses. Can this be done with ordinary horses?"

Gregory shook his head: "No, a normal horse with this kind of shin bone would definitely have its leg fractured. Even if the injury is relatively minor, it can no longer run freely in the future. It can only be used for breeding, not as a war horse."

Wang Zhong: "It must be because the grass on the ground is very thick, so it buffers the impact. That must be the case! You have to believe in science!"

At least wait until Ma Du and I are a hundred years old before we talk about "the loyalty that never ends until death makes Ma Du a heroic spirit."

However, this world really does have mysterious powers, and perhaps Bucephalus is also protected by quantum mechanics.

Bucephalus approached Wang Zhong and began to chew his hat.

At this time, two riders caught up with the squad from behind. The leading lieutenant said, "Sorry, General, your horse ran away when we were transferring. We will catch up with you immediately."

Wang Zhong nodded: "I don't blame you, my horse is too smart."

Bucephalus blew his nose.

Wang Zhong: "Take off a saddle and give it to my horse. Then you can ride one of the horses back. I will take it with me to scout."

Gregory's eyes widened: "You want to compete with the enemy planes again?"

Wang Zhong: "No, look at the enemy planes. They haven't bothered us all day..."

Vasily: "There was heavy fog in the morning. Maybe the fog cleared late at the airport, or maybe the pilots from Prosen had to wait until after lunch before they could take off. If they took off in the afternoon, the enemy planes would have arrived by about this time."

The next moment, Wang Zhong heard the roar of an engine in the sky.

Wang Zhong: "You are such a bad mouth! Hide!"

Vasily: "Ah? Not competing with enemy aircraft?"

"Are you blind? There's such tall grass nearby! Hide!"

Wang Zhong grabbed Vasily by the collar and dragged him into the grass.

The others also showed their skills, and suddenly the entire convoy disappeared in the grass, leaving only the empty jeeps parked on the road.

There were also three horses eating grass leisurely.

The roar of the engine gradually attacked the top of the group's heads and flew towards Yeisk. At the same time, the sound of anti-aircraft guns came from the direction of Yeisk.

Wang Zhong changed the view and made sure there were no other enemy planes before he poked his head out from the grass.

Vasily also stood up and kept spitting out the grass in his mouth: "Pfft! General, I'm not a herbivore, don't shove my face into the grass."

Wang Zhong: "I'm sorry. I was in a hurry and I used too much force just now. My."

"Ah? Uh..." Vasily was embarrassed. "I... I don't really care that much. You don't have to apologize to me so seriously."

Wang Zhong looked at Vasily. As a man of almost the same age as Vasily, he suddenly wanted to play a trick on this guy, but a voice in his head said, "An enemy plane just passed by and there might be more enemy planes coming to attack," and "Now is not the time to do this."

So he gave up the idea of ​​teasing and nodded seriously: "Let's set off quickly before the enemy planes come back."

Gregory: "No, we should wait until the enemy planes finish bombing and leave. They will definitely pass by again, and they will finish bombing and leave at low altitude. Here they come! Get down!"

Wang Zhong and others hurriedly squatted in the grass - this time everyone realized that there was no need to lie down. In fact, if they lay down, more grass would be crushed and it might even be more obvious.

Soon, eight Stukas passed over the crowd. One of the engines was emitting black smoke. It was obvious that the radiator was broken and the engine temperature was soaring.

Wang Zhong could see very clearly from the bird's-eye view that the pilot's face was covered in oil. Apparently the oil pipe or something in the cockpit had been punctured, and the plane was likely to fall soon.

He also saw a map board on the pilot's body, which should be used by the pilot for navigation.

I really want to seize that map board!

At this time, Wang Zhong heard Gregory say, "Okay, the enemy plane has passed."

He then realized that the distance from which he captured the flying object from his bird's-eye view was very far, and to Gregory, the enemy plane had been out of sight for a long time.

He switched back to the view, stood up, and said to Gregory, "An enemy plane was seriously damaged. I don't think it can fly back to the base. Let's go in the direction of the enemy plane and try to find its wreckage. Pilots have map boards, and they will update the latest enemy and friendly situation map before takeoff!"

Updating the situation map is intended, on the one hand, to prevent accidental bombings, and on the other hand, to allow pilots to land in their own controlled areas when parachuting.

Conversely, as long as the pilot's map board is seized, the enemy's deployment can be easily understood - at least the deployment before the plane takes off.

There is no way around some lags, but having intelligence is always better than having no intelligence.

Gregory: "Okay, let's go after him."

Wang Zhong turned to the two men who were chasing Bucephalus and said, "Don't chase me anymore. Do you have weapons with you?"

The rider pulls up the thread cutter that is hung on the saddle.

Wang Zhong: "Okay! You are cavalry, follow us! Maybe there will be a place where we can use cavalry. Get in the car!" The group quickly climbed into the undamaged vehicle and rushed in the direction where the enemy plane left.

Vasily was scratching his head in the car: "We were not discovered by the enemy planes just now. Is it because Bucephalus came that we stopped and the dust raised by the driving was blown away by the wind?"

Vasily looked at Wang Zhong, and seeing that Wang Zhong did not understand what he meant, he explained, "The wind on the grassland is strong, so the dust will completely dissipate after the vehicle passes a few hundred meters.

“If the convoy stops, the dust will soon disappear.

"Without the dust, the enemy planes attacking Yeisk at high altitudes might not be able to see the grass-green Willys Jeep at all - it's too small to be seen from a distance on the ground.

"When the enemy planes returned, they were probably too busy trying to escape to look carefully at the vehicles on the ground—and the vehicles hadn't raised any dust yet. General, do you think that's the case?"

After Vasily said this, Wang Zhong scratched his cheek and said, "It seems to be the case... No, no, no, don't be superstitious. It's just a coincidence! Coincidence!"

If this is really not a coincidence, then it can only be said that Proson’s loss was not unfair.

But Wang Zhong thought about it and felt that it was just a coincidence. There were many wonderful coincidences on the battlefield. After the war, they would become stories told by veterans, and if he was lucky, they would be made into a movie.

The jeep brigade soon saw something smoking on the grassland ahead.

When we got closer, we found that it was a plane stuck upside down in the grassland, with its tail raised high, looking like a tombstone stuck in the ground.

The plane was emitting smoke, but there did not appear to be any open flames or burning.

Wang Zhong stood up, personally grabbed the handle of the M2 Lao Gan Ma heavy machine gun, pressed the button and fired a long burst, then said to Vasily: "Shout! Tell the driver to surrender. Cavalry will surround from both sides!"

"No, the wheels can't go into the grass, and the war horses can't run fast even if they go in! The grass is too tall!" the horse breeder shouted.

Vasily spoke to the plane in Prosen.

No response.

Gregory parked the car beside the endless meadow and picked up the thread cutter: "Looks like I have to go over and take a look. You stay on guard here. There are two members of the Stuka, right?"

Wang Zhong and Vasily nodded together: "Yes!"

Gregory: "Yes, I can handle it."

He got out of the car and crouched down into the meadow.

Wang Zhong switched to a bird's-eye view, and then he remembered that he could just switch to a bird's-eye view himself - damn, it seemed like his desire to perform was a bit too strong just now.

Forget it, it won’t hurt to just act it out to avoid being exposed.

At this moment he was quite sure that both men on the Stuka were dead on the plane, but he tried to appear nervous, gripping the handle of the M2 Lao Gan Ma.

Gregory reached the side of the plane, checked it out, and turned back to shout, "Both of them are dead, come here!"

Wang Zhong: “Map package!”

Gregory turned around, pushed open the cockpit window, leaned his upper body into the cockpit, and quickly took out a 16-inch wooden board and waved it towards this side.

Wang Zhong took his hands from the grip of the machine gun and made a trumpet at his mouth: "Come over here first! The plane is still smoking, it might catch fire!"

Gregory did not follow the order, but searched the cockpit again, then ran over here with the pilot's bag, map board, and a pistol.

Wang Zhong originally thought that the plane would explode as soon as he left, and that a real man would never watch an explosion. However, it did not happen. The plane just smoked quietly, like a steel tombstone in the sun.

A few minutes later Gregory returned to the jeep and handed the map board to Wang Zhong.

Wang Zhong had just started reading when he remembered that he didn’t understand Prosen, so he nudged Vasily with his elbow: “Translate!”

"Then you have to give it to me first!"

Wang Zhong stuffed the map board to Vasily: "Hurry up!"

Vasily: "The owner of this map is Captain Enshilik of the 54th Tactical Bomber Aviation Squadron. The content on the drawing board - wow, I've found a treasure. Although it is very brief, it is indeed the enemy's troop deployment map, down to the division level!"

When it comes to the troop deployment diagram at the division level, it has basically no tactical significance.

Vasily: "The enemy is in two pincers to the northwest and southwest of us, with one armored division and one grenadier division in each, and then - in front of us there are one, two, three, four - four infantry divisions! Four!
"The nearest infantry division—"

Vasily looked down at the scale, then gestured with his hands and said in surprise: "It's less than 20 kilometers away from us!"

Wang Zhong: "What? So close?"

Vasily: "Yes, and look at this line, this is the advance line, these infantry divisions are advancing towards us!"

Wang Zhong was shocked: "When is the map updated?"

Vasily looked at the time on the map, then at his watch: "Two hours ago! The infantry division is almost here!"

The next moment, cannon fire was heard in the distance.

Gregory: "It's not our guns. The direction is wrong! The enemy is firing at us!"

Wang Zhong: "Return to the division headquarters! No, return to the army group headquarters!"

(End of this chapter)