artillery arc

Chapter 379: July 7 Battle Summary
By the time Wang Zhong returned to the army headquarters, night had already fallen.

The holes on the warehouse shell have been patched up with canvas, and all the windows have been covered with cloth. The huge warehouse lies quietly in the night, with only a little light leaking out from the side door that opens from time to time.

Wang Zhong walked into the door and wanted to take off his hat, but when he touched his head, he only felt his forehead. Then he remembered that he had given the hat to a child as a family heirloom.

Because his hand was already raised, it would be awkward if he didn't do anything, so he patted his forehead and said, "Oh, I need a new hat. Hey, go to the quartermaster department and get me a new hat!"

Nellie: "I'm not called that person."

"Mom, I want a new hat!"

"I'm not your mother either." Nellie said seriously, "A new hat, right? Got it."

After saying that, she stuffed the Coke in her hand into Wang Zhong's hand, picked up her skirt and ran away.

Wang Zhong looked at Pavlov while drinking Coke, and then saw that the two female pilots in front of him were looking at him.

"Uh," Wang Zhong put down his Coke, walked towards the two ladies and extended his hand, "Hello, I'm Rokossov. Why are there two new female pilots? The one who sent the photos last time, uh... Lieutenant Colonel Smianova, why didn't she come? I remember her partner was called Katya."

"They were hit by enemy anti-aircraft artillery and were injured when they made an emergency landing across the battle line," said the female pilot, who carried the rank of major. "They will probably have to stay behind for half a year."

Wang Zhong nodded: "I see. Fortunately, the flying performance of Wave 2 is good."

The Bo-2 aircraft had amazing gliding capabilities. Female pilots of the night bombing squadron often turned off the engine and let the aircraft float in the air. They would only start the engine in the air when approaching the target in order to achieve surprise.

The major pilot nodded. "Yes, if it was another plane, they might not be able to come back because they would have landed deep in the enemy's controlled area. You are really as familiar with airplanes as the rumors say."

Wang Zhong: "Ah, my adjutant taught me."

Vasily: "Huh? Yes, I taught you that."

He patted his chest and asked, "By the way, how is Ms. Katya? Is she seriously injured?"

Wang Zhong: "Why, the miller's daughter is not fragrant anymore?"

"I'm concerned about my comrades."

Major pilot: "She can still walk, there shouldn't be any big problems, she should be back in the squadron in half a year. Shouldn't we get down to business?"

Wang Zhong: "Yes, what are your names?"

Vasily: “Is this business?”

The major pilot smiled, then stood at attention and saluted Wang Zhong: "I am Euphilia, the acting commander of the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, and I have been ordered to deliver the aerial reconnaissance photos. This is my partner, Lenia."

Wang Zhong raised his eyebrows: "Are you not from Ant?"

Major: "My ancestors have some blood from other countries. Why can't we fight against Proson if we are not Ante people?"

"Of course not. Our group army also has Dawarich from the Melania People's Army." Wang Zhong said quickly, and then turned the topic to the photos, "Where are the aerial photos?"

Pavlov raised his hand and said, "In my opinion, the Air Force's photography skills have improved."

Wang Zhong hurriedly walked to Pavlov and took the photo from him.

Popov also came closer and peered over Wang Zhong's shoulder.

Wang Zhong flipped through the photos quickly, handing each one to the army commander.

Just as Pavlov said, the Air Force's photography technology has made obvious progress. Of course, it may also be that the scenery on the grassland is relatively monotonous, which highlights the Plossen target.

Major Euphilia introduced: "Aerial reconnaissance found that there are enemy armored units in the northwest and southwest of Yeisk, but the grassland seems to have caused them some trouble. We photographed many temporarily abandoned armored vehicles."

As she was talking, Wang Zhong happened to flip through a photo. The photo showed seven or eight vehicles abandoned on the grassland and a small rescue team of Proson people.

Wang Zhong picked out the photo and asked, "Where is this photo from?"

"The coordinates of the shooting are on the back." Major Euphilia said.

Wang Zhong turned the photo over and saw the coordinates, but they were just grid coordinates on a map.

"Find out which map square it is." Wang Zhong said as he handed the photo to Vasily.

Vasily ran with the photo to where the map staff were gathered. They were probably sorting out the information provided by the royalist old man.

Wang Zhong found all the photos in the same map block according to the numbers.

"No guard troops." He muttered.

Pavlov took a photo from him and looked at it. "There are indeed no guard troops. They look like logistics and maintenance troops."

Wang Zhong: "This is the enemy's weak spot. If we use cavalry to attack here, the Prosen people's supply system will immediately fall into chaos."

Pavlov nodded, then suddenly remembered something and said, "Wait a minute, our radio monitoring department also intercepted the enemy's traffic control department's communications. Although they used some code words, so we don't know what unit is reporting, but from the content we can infer that the enemy's supply transportation has been congested."

Wang Zhong: “Is there a report?”

"Yes." Pavlov snapped his fingers. "Bring me the surveillance records."

Immediately, a staff officer came over with a clipboard on which was a thick stack of surveillance reports. "They are all summarized here."

Pavlov turned his hand over and the writing board fell into Wang Zhong's hands.

The content is all about trivial matters, like a car broke down and the road was blocked at section 53, or section 113 was confirmed to be impassable and the route had to be replanned, blah blah.

Every piece of information is confidential because no one knows which unit sent it or where it is talking about.

But putting all the information together, we can see that the enemy's logistics are blocked.

Wang Zhong: "Very good, very good. Our poor infrastructure has been used again." Popov frowned: "Your words will be taken out of context and thought to be attacking the church's five-year plan for not investing enough in infrastructure - but you are not afraid of being taken out of context. If we say such things, we may be finished."

Wang Zhong ignored Popov and focused on the photo: "Now we just have to wait for the cavalry to arrive. If the grassland is vast, the Prosen people can't set up defenses everywhere. If they sweep away all the supply troops scattered on the grassland, their pincer attack will be impossible!"

Vasily asked excitedly, "Then we'll fight a war of annihilation?"

Wang Zhong shook his head: "No, to annihilate the enemy we have to maintain the encirclement. How can we ensure the supply of the encirclement troops on the grassland? We should still defeat them this time. Don't be in a hurry to eat a fat man in one go. Our current goal is to delay the enemy and prevent them from piercing the Sukhayaveli River Front in one wave, and cooperate with Duke Myshkin in the battle."

If the Sukhayaveli River Front was breached, Prince Myshkin's Borsk Front would be in danger.

The enemy would pour into the steppe and head straight for Abawahan.

At this time, Major Euphilia said, "We won't bother you guys while you discuss strategy. I think the plane should have finished refueling, so let's say goodbye."

Wang Zhong: "Okay, Vasily, I'll take you two to the plane."

"Okay." Vasily made a gesture of invitation, "This way, please."

The two pilots walked towards the gate one after the other.

Popov watched them go away, and suddenly said, "You know what? The captured Proson people said that our night flying team are all monsters mixed with cats, and their eyes are like cats with vertical pupils."

Wang Zhong looked back at the female pilots who had already reached the gate: "Really? I didn't see them!"

"Of course it's fake. How can someone's pupils be vertical? The Plossans believe they can do magic. What they throw every night are not bombs, but magic fireballs."

Wang Zhong shook his head and continued to look at the photos. He said as he looked at them, "The people of Proson are quite imaginative. I would get angry if anyone said they were rigid."

Then the phone rang.

Pavlov picked it up: "Army Headquarters. Your Majesty? Okay, I'll let him listen."

Wang Zhong frowned: "Why are you calling me now?"

Pavlov shrugged and handed over the receiver.

As soon as Wang Zhong put the receiver to his ear, he heard Olga say unhappily: "You said you would call me in the evening!"

"The headquarters' telephone line is very busy. And it's almost midnight now, you should go to bed!"

"I won't go to bed unless you tell me about today's battle!"

Wang Zhong: "We will send a secret telegram to the headquarters tonight to summarize the battle situation. You will know it at the imperial meeting tomorrow morning!"

"I don't want Turgenev to read to me, I want ..."

"Your Majesty!" Wang Zhong raised his voice, "We are at war! I just witnessed the funerals of a dozen young children on the street. I am in no mood to coax you. Grow up!"

There was no funeral for the young child.

It is likely that some children died in the gunfire, but Wang Zhong did not personally see them off.

Olga shut up.

Wang Zhong: "I still prefer Olga, who is smart and sensible."

Olga: "Well... I'm sorry, I thought you might need to talk to me or something without Lyuda around..."

Wang Zhongxin, you think too much. I have Nellie who will hug me.

The next moment, Olga's voice became serious: "Well, the housekeeper also advised me not to call the front line so often. I promise this is the last time. Please tell me, is everything okay?"

Wang Zhong: "Fortunately, we recaptured Yeisk, which was occupied by the enemy a few days ago, and defeated the enemy's elite Asgard Knights' Said Division."

As he said this, Pavlov next to him muttered, "The Yeisk victory will be on the front page tomorrow."

Olga: "Very good, did you catch the general again?"

"No, this time all the enemy's senior officers ran away. When we publicize it, we can say that they were terrified and fled."

"Okay, okay!" Olga's mood had obviously improved a lot. "That's good! Remember to report the battle situation every day! I look forward to the imperial meeting every morning! Promise me!"

"Okay. I promise you."

"Well, good night then." Olga's voice sounded a little reluctant, but she still hung up the phone.

Wang Zhong put down the receiver and said to Pavlov, "Write a detailed battle report every night and submit it in secret code."

Pavlov turned around and said to a staff officer: "You, write a detailed battle report every day--"

Just at this moment, a staff officer came over with a document: "Report, the preliminary summary of today's losses has been completed."

Wang Zhong took the document directly and began to read it with his head down.

His expression suddenly became serious.

After reading it, he handed the report to Pavlov, turned to the map with his hands behind his back, and sighed heavily: "Although it was a great victory, the losses were not small."

"Be happy," Pavlov said. "The prisoner exchange ratio is now three to one, which is a big improvement. Previously, we had to exchange six people for one Prosen. And most of them are casualties of the 401st Provisional Infantry Division, which came up later. If we only count our casualties, we would even have the upper hand. In a war, it is impossible for no one to die. There is nothing we can do about it."

Wang Zhong: "There should not be a single person who has to sacrifice because there is no other way. Although I know there will be no loss, as a commander, what we should strive for is to bring everyone home."

Pavlov: "That's something only magic can do. Be realistic."

Wang Zhong pursed his lips and did not answer.

(End of this chapter)