artillery arc

Chapter 389: Suvorov Operation Day

"What, you can't do it?" Chief of Staff William Celtic stared at Grand Duke Mayer.

The Grand Duke wiped his sweat with a handkerchief with the family crest and gold edging. "The air force's current close ground support may not be very effective against the Mercedes cavalry. We can only use machine guns to fire. The grass in this grassland is very high, which has a great impact on the air force's search for the enemy."

Emperor of the Empire: "You mean the air force can do nothing against the cavalry?"

"There is a way. We can just have fighter jets strafe the place, but—"

"But what?" demanded the Emperor.

Marshal Meyer shrugged and said: "Our fighter planes only have two machine guns and 1000 rounds of ammunition. This firepower is relatively weak in ground attacks, and the firepower density is not enough.

"The new bomber that the Ants obtained from the United States has eight machine guns, based on the wreckage we obtained, and is specialized for ground attacks."

In fact, it isn't. This is a complete air combat firepower configuration. As long as the firepower is strong, the pilot can shoot down the enemy plane even if he has poor shooting skills.

The emperor stared at Grand Duke Mayer. Although he said nothing, the pressure he released still made the Duke sweat profusely.

He said quickly: "Maybe we can try to have the BF110 fighters fly at low altitudes to strafe. This type of aircraft has sufficient firepower, but——"

"But?" William Celtic could hardly hide his desire to watch the fun.

Grand Duke Meyer: "This type of fighter is currently deployed on the Western Front to deal with the all-pervasive attacks of the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force. The handsome fighters of the Royal Air Force have excellent damage tolerance. Our 109 fighters only have 20mm cannons that can effectively kill them, but the 20mm cannons only have 200 rounds of ammunition."

The emperor waved his hand and said, "Immediately dispatch an air force to search for and destroy the enemy's cavalry!"

Grand Duke Meyer nodded: "Yes, right away. But..."

"What's the matter?" asked the emperor.

"I suggest that the Army also take action to deal with the enemy's cavalry, rather than just relying on our Air Force to do the work."

William Celtic: "Of course, we will help. Once the Moravian cavalry arrives, we will immediately send them out to fight the enemy cavalry. But now the Ante Air Force is attacking our train stations and various transportation hubs more and more frequently. The Air Force has not completely mastered the air superiority as promised."

Grand Duke Meyer had been teased for so long that his temper flared up. He slammed the table and said angrily, "That's because Ant is too vast. Unless we build more radar stations in Ant, it will be basically impossible to effectively guarantee air superiority!

"But when we wanted to transport the materials and equipment needed to build radar stations to the front line, we were blocked by the army, who wanted to give priority to transporting ammunition and fuel!"

Chief of Staff William Celtic retorted: "You finally got the radar station up there!"

"So we have also guaranteed air superiority in the areas covered by radar! If you want more air superiority, you must transport more radars and build more radar stations!"

At this time, Army Commander-in-Chief von Bryan came out to smooth things over: "Well, the front line has been accumulating ammunition and fuel for Operation Blue. There is nothing we can do about it. Ant's infrastructure is so poor!"

Emperor Reinhardt suddenly interrupted him: "Then build a highway in Ante according to our standards! And upgrade the equipment at the railway hub."

The entire Eagle's Nest map room fell silent.

The emperor frowned and said, "What's wrong? I should have asked you to build the road last year."

"Yes, we started building asphalt roads in the occupied areas last winter. After half a year of construction, we have achieved certain results. The smooth logistics this time is also due to the road construction last year, but... highways and so on..."

Emperor: "We did the same thing in Melania. Building highways can consolidate our rule. The Ante territory we have occupied now will belong to us forever in the future. There is nothing wrong with building highways to strengthen control! It will also make it easier for our mobile forces in the rear to encircle and suppress the guerrillas!"

The generals looked at each other.

Finally, General von Moltke, the director of the armored forces, spoke up: "Ante will be defeated this year. It is a good thing to build these roads to consolidate the rule. In the future, we will have to compete with the United States for world hegemony. Now it seems that the possibility of the Fuso Empire defeating the United States alone is not great.

"We may also need to support the Fuso Empire through the railway in Ante. Building roads to strengthen control will only benefit us."

After the Director of Armored Forces finished speaking, the whole room remained silent.

The emperor asked angrily, "Or do you all think that the war cannot be ended this year?"

"Of course not, but now the first phase of Operation Blue has begun to be delayed." William Celtic chose his words carefully, "and Rokossov launched an unexpected cavalry attack. We are worried..."

The emperor raised his voice: "There is nothing to worry about! The cavalry's sabers cannot cut the tanks. The cavalry failed in Melania, and now they will fail again! The blue plan will be successfully completed. We will control Abavahan and block the passage of inland sea ships directly into the Valdai River. Our air force will cut off the routes on the inland sea.

“Then we will seize Kuba’s oil fields, and Ante will surrender in hunger and cold!
"They are just some cavalrymen who have been eliminated by the times. They can't change the overall situation!"

After saying this, the emperor slammed the table, setting the tone for the entire discussion.

----

The headquarters of the 1st Mobile Army of the Ante Army, Yeisk. Because the headquarters was directly in the large warehouse, Wang Zhong could stand next to the radio battalion and watch them call the cavalry.

The signalman's loud voice kept echoing in Wang Zhong's ears: "Augustus calling Cassius, Augustus calling Cassius!"

Augustus was the radio call sign of the army headquarters, and Cassius represented the 20th Cavalry Corps.

The signalman had been calling for two hours, with absolutely no response.

The commander of the communications battalion came over and saluted Wang Zhong, saying, "The radios the cavalrymen carry are too weak and may not be able to receive our calls. When they stop to camp, they may use a hand-cranked generator to power a more powerful radio, and then we may be able to get in touch."

Popov: "Why not just send a telegram after you stop? I'm sure it will be received."

Battalion Commander: "The telegram needs to be decoded. It should be early tomorrow morning when we receive it."

Wang Zhong raised his hand and looked at his watch: "It's not much different."

At this time, a decoder on the other end of the telegram stood up, ran quickly to the communications battalion commander, and handed the telegram in his hand to him.

Wang Zhong: "Where did the telegram come from?"

"From the Air Force." The battalion commander took a look and began to read, "'The Air Force sent a letter to the First Mobile Army. The Air Force discovered a large number of cavalry units advancing on the ground. They determined that they were our cavalry, so they bombed the enemy units in front of the cavalry. We would like to inform you of this.'"

Wang Zhong took the telegram, glanced at it, and handed it to Popov: "It seems that the Air Force is unaware that we have temporarily reinforced two cavalry armies."

"Who would have thought that the cavalry would suddenly be entrusted with such an important task? The cavalry units are being reorganized into armored units," Popov replied.

Wang Zhong walked towards the map and looked at the arrows of the cavalry attack on the map: "I hope we can achieve better results this time."

Pavlov, who was signing a document, raised his head and said, "The key now is not the effect of the cavalry, but the next step. After the cavalry runs out of supplies and retreats, the enemy will inevitably continue to attack. What should we do then?"

Wang Zhong: "Here's what I was thinking. We were facing the enemy's 190th Infantry Division. Could we destroy this infantry division? We originally planned to destroy the enemy's Asgard Knights' Armored Division, but a wave of assaults in the fog drove the enemy out of the city. We lost the opportunity to encircle and annihilate them, so we could only defeat this division.

"Now the 190th Division is in front of us. Can we use the mobile forces at hand to take advantage of the chaos caused by the cavalry and launch a small pincer attack?"

Pavlov: "Only one division? You have a small appetite."

Wang Zhong shrugged his shoulders. "I can't help it. If possible, I would like to eat a big meal like I did during the siege of Kalanskaya last year. It's okay to eat a small meal now. Don't complain about the small amount. Eat the rice one bite at a time."

At this time, Wang Zhong caught a glimpse of a messenger entering the headquarters, saluted Vasily, handed him a letter, and then said a few words.

Wang Zhong: "Vassily, what's going on?"

Vasily immediately reported: "The reconnaissance unit of the 225th Division reported that a new enemy symbol had been confirmed. After comparison, it was found to be the enemy's 74th Infantry Division. The envelope delivered by the messenger contained a photo of this number."

As he said this, he opened the envelope, took out the photo and showed it to Wang Zhong.

Wang Zhong only recognized the insignia of the more famous divisions, and he really didn't recognize the photo of the 74th Division. But since the staff of the 225th Division had already compared the Plossen unit logo issued by the headquarters, there shouldn't be any big problems.

Pavlov: "Now two divisions."

Wang Zhong: "Two infantry divisions are still viable. A pincer attack will cut off the enemy's logistics, and then heavy artillery bombardment for a few days should be enough."

Pavlov stared at Wang Zhong: "If you decide, I will make a battle plan."

"Do it, and try to finish the battle within five days. This is a small-scale, local battle."

Pavlov nodded, picked up the document he had just written, and handed it to the clerk: "Do as written. And call all the military staff over."

Wang Zhong watched the staff officers rushing in from all over the headquarters and starting to work on the new battle plan under Pavlov's command, and silently took a step back.

Vasily: "Are you so confident in handing over the entire fighter to the Chief of Staff?"

Wang Zhong: "I am the last one, and I am not as good as them in drawing up battle plans. If you don't believe me, go ask Pavlov, he will definitely say, 'The commander just needs to drive a small tank and charge around, but a battle plan requires a lot of considerations.'"

Vasily was about to answer when someone from the communications battalion shouted, "We've received a telegram from the cavalry."

Wang Zhong hurried over and found that the telegraph operator was concentrating on recording the telegram and had not even started the decoding step.

He could only shut up and watch the telegraph operator record a series of dots and lines in the notebook.

(End of this chapter)