artillery arc

Chapter 384 "Reciprocity"

First Mobile Army, fake artillery position.

As the bombs fell, a Stuka bomber from Proshen crashed to the ground, trailing a thick cloud of smoke.

The second arrow also took off, turned in the air and chased the low-flying enemy plane.

The Stuka was bitten by the arrow, and the machine gunner desperately fired at the approaching arrow. Unfortunately, the firepower density of the machine gun was not as good as that of a close-range defense weapon, and the accuracy of manual aiming could not catch up with the radar plus optoelectronic aiming of later generations.

The divine arrow caught up with the Stuka and exploded into a ball of orange-yellow light.

The Stuka caught fire, even its wings were on fire, and it rushed towards the ground.

The third arrow was fired, chasing the enemy who had disappeared over the horizon.

At the launch site, the Skitarii soldiers were already moving the launch pad and other things, but Prayer Hands was still kneeling on the cushion, maintaining the prayer posture.

"Katyusha, we should move."

Katyusha is Catherine's nickname. After fighting together for so long, the Crusaders and Praying Hands have become familiar with each other, so they call her by that nickname.

And because Katyusha was very short, everyone treated her like a little sister.

The girl did not respond and continued to pray, obviously hoping very much that the arrow she had just shot would hit the target.

Deputy Knight Yetsemenko glanced at his watch and patted Katyusha on the shoulder: "Okay, the rocket has already left the power stage. If it doesn't hit, it won't be able to catch up with the enemy plane flying close to the ground."

Katyusha then let out a long sigh and opened her eyes: "How many were shot down?"

She is different from other praying hands. Rocket launch does not require visual sight of the target, so she will actively close her eyes when praying, which makes her look more pious.

"Two." Yetsemenko held up two fingers. "For the last one, you can ask the infantry to see if they have recovered the wreckage of the fallen arrow. If there are no enemy planes near the wreckage, it probably didn't hit us. Okay, let's move."

As he said this, Yetsemenko reached out and pulled Katyusha up, and walked towards the truck that was already on standby.

Katyusha followed him and said as she walked: "So I have shot down sixteen enemy planes, should I get a gold star?"

"There should be. You are now our best praying hand for combat results, so you should be given a gold star. I will write a report to the higher-ups." Yetsemenko replied.

Katyusha: "I got the gold star. Should the army commander give me a medal?"

"I think so. Why, you also secretly like Rokossov?"

"No," Katyusha answered immediately, and then a few seconds later, "But everyone would hope that the person who awarded them the gold star would be more powerful, right? When the war is over and I become an old grandmother, I can say to my grandchildren: 'It was Rokossov who awarded grandma this medal.'"

Yetsemenko laughed: "When he led us to break out of Roniezh, we thought, 'This time we have a bad commander.' I even had a quarrel with him because he did not allow us to set the magic arrow on the top of the bell tower."

Katyusha was shocked: "Really?"

"Really? The enemy demolished the bell tower with their first shot. If the general hadn't ordered us to change our position, the general's wife and I would have died there."

"That's it."

Yetsemenko got into the car first and then held out his hand to Katyusha.

Katyusha didn't hesitate and pulled his hand to climb onto the truck - if she did it on her own she would probably have to climb up by holding onto the wheels.

Katyusha sat down in the truck bed and asked with concern: "So the general saved your life?"

"I guess so. But the battle was so intense that I was ready to die for my country. At one point, the enemy tanks and infantry were less than 20 meters away from us, and we had no angle to fire our arrows.

"As a result, the general personally commanded a tank to go around the enemy and rescue us."

Katyusha didn't know why, but her expression looked somewhat fascinated: "Is that so?"

At this time, the private soldier of the Skitarii Army sitting opposite Katyusha said: "Thanks to the general, the arrows were used for air defense, and the death rate of the Prayer Hands dropped suddenly. Otherwise, we would still be on the front line, facing the impact of enemy tanks at any time."

Yetsemenko: "Fortunately, that didn't happen. Otherwise, Praying Hands and Divine Arrows would soon become a historical term. I don't know how long it would take to find enough Praying Hands to form a Divine Arrow Battalion."

"There is no Divine Archer Battalion anymore," the Skitarii soldier said. "Look, we only have five praying hands. That's the number of people in the entire army."

Katyusha looked up at the blue sky and sighed: "Saint Andrew once said that the more productivity develops, the larger the war scale will be, and the less we will be needed. Now it has come true."

Yetsemenko said solemnly: "Glory to Saint Andrew, Amen."

Others followed suit and murmured, "Amen."

----

"The enemy bombed our fake artillery position." Pavlov put down the report in his hand and looked at Wang Zhong.

Wang Zhong: "General! Let's see how you run!"

"You focus too much on attacking." Popov laughed, moved his castle, easily resolved Wang Zhong's offensive, and then reminded, "You're going to die soon." Wang Zhong hurriedly looked at his king. After a long silence, he dragged out an "oh" and complained, "This chess piece can always move diagonally, and the soldier can transform when it reaches the bottom line. It's too complicated. Especially this soldier's transformation at the bottom line. I can understand if you said it can transform into a castle, a horse, and a bishop, but what does it mean to transform into a queen? Is it a man dressed as a woman?"

Popov laughed.

Wang Zhong: "What are you laughing at? Isn't what you said wrong? Can this soldier become the queen and give birth to a prince? It doesn't make sense!"

Vasily crossed his arms and said, "You are a terrible chess player, General."

Nonsense, I never played chess as a kid!

Why don’t you try Chinese chess, Chu River and Han River?
At this time, Pavlov raised his voice: "The enemy launched an air raid on our fake artillery position!"

Wang Zhong: "Okay, let's find another place and set up a fake position. And quickly camouflage the real artillery position. Come on, let's start over. I think I've figured out the trick to chess."

Pavlov: "Can't you just stop playing chess?"

Wang Zhong: "Isn't this a sign of trust in your ability? How about this, I go to the front and drive a small tank?"

"Have you ever thought of coming here to do something that a commander should do?"

Wang Zhong: "I have finished reviewing the documents! It's such a thick stack!"

"How come you, a commander, are so confident about not doing your job?"

Wang Zhong sighed and said, “The enemy is dead, no matter if it is a frontal attack or a pincer attack, they have not launched it.

"I guess their supply was also hindered by the grassland. After all, it's nearly 2 kilometers from their logistics center to here. Many supply trucks got stuck in the grassland and were bombed by our Pe- bombers. Oh no."

As Popov rearranged the chess pieces, he said, "The Prosons probably mistook the steppes of Nanant for the black soil of Khazaria. They didn't even think about why there were so many villages in Khazaria, but so few people here."

Wang Zhong: "I didn't know about the situation here when I first came. As a result, the telephone lines were chewed by field mice all day long, the terrain was so dangerous that even tanks couldn't pass, and the grass was so high that it could wrap around the wheels of trucks - what a mess.

"No wonder Xia Boyang spent so much time suppressing bandits on the grassland, but in the end his headquarters was ambushed. If you are not familiar with the terrain of this grassland, you will be ambushed."

Vasily: "And we are preparing to launch a surprise attack on the enemy!"

Wang Zhong: "Not accurate. It was a surprise attack on the enemy's logistics. A saber cannot destroy a tank."

"But we are equipped with anti-tank incendiary bombs." The voice came from the entrance of the headquarters.

Wang Zhong turned his head and saw two officers wearing cavalry breeches coming in. In order to save resources, the new cavalry uniforms now basically have the same upper body as ordinary soldiers, with only the breeches retained, so cavalrymen can only be identified by their breeches.

Pavlov faithfully performed his duties as chief of staff and stepped forward to ask, "Who are you?"

"Gorokov, commander of the 20st Cavalry Regiment of the 33rd Cavalry Division of the th Cavalry Army, has arrived with the vanguard of the Cavalry Army!" The two officers saluted Wang Zhong.

Wang Zhong stood up, straightened his clothes, and returned the greeting: "Hello. You came just in time. We just summarized the situation we learned from the herdsmen on the map."

Pavlov looked at Wang Zhong sideways.

It was normal for him to have this expression. After all, Wang Zhong made it sound as if the compilation of this information had a lot to do with himself as the commander. But in fact, it had nothing to do with it. It was all thanks to the map staff.

Wang Zhong ignored Pavlov and enthusiastically introduced to the cavalry officers: "Look at the map. If you have any questions, ask the old herdsman. The herdsman is an officer of the Tsar's Guards and has very high military literacy."

Gorokov said: "There are also local herders in our team. They left the team on the way here to find their fellow villagers. They should bring back many fellow villagers who are familiar with the terrain."

Wang Zhong asked worriedly, "Can we mobilize them? That old herdsman is quite a die-hard."

"I asked my military chaplain to go with them, so it should be possible. According to what our soldiers said, many of the herdsmen have already become secularists."

Wang Zhong nodded and said, "Okay, we have also asked the old herdsman to write a letter to the herdsmen's elders. When the main force of your cavalry arrives, there should be enough guides. But you must be careful to protect the people and not let the guides get hurt. You would rather sacrifice yourself to ensure their safety."

Gorokov stared at Wang Zhong for a few seconds and said, "You are indeed the same as the rumors say."

Wang Zhong: "What's the rumor?"

"If you break out, you must take the people with you. If you defend a place, you must evacuate women and children first."

Wang Zhong: "I am just repaying the people for saving me many times. This is not worth mentioning. Don't mention it again in the future."

"Yes." Gorokov saluted.

Wang Zhong: "By the way, are you familiar with Kirinenko?"

"He is a good friend of our commander," said Gorokov.

"Is that so?" Wang Zhong nodded. "Hurry up and familiarize yourself with the terrain. You have a heavy task tomorrow. Whether you can break the enemy's pincer attack depends on how well you can run on horses on the grassland!"

(End of this chapter)