artillery arc

Chapter 536 Forged Steel
At nightfall on October 10, on the east bank of the Valdai River, at the dock opposite the No. 29 landing site.

Lyudmila was next to the arrow launch team, watching the soldiers boarding the ship.

After sending soldiers with healthy hands and feet, these ships would bring back the wounded with missing limbs. Since yesterday, there were no lightly wounded soldiers on the return ship. Lyudmila asked and found out that the lightly wounded soldiers were unwilling to leave their comrades behind and return.

As for the corpses, there simply was not enough transportation capacity to transport so many.

The soldiers who returned said that the bodies on the battlefield had been blown to pieces by the enemy's artillery fire and mixed with the soil, and the only smell of blood was the smell of blood on the entire beach.

Lyudmila even specifically asked the wounded soldiers who had returned whether they had seen Nellie.

As a result, every wounded soldier became excited when they heard Neli's name, and began to talk incoherently about something like the goddess of battle, the general's angel, and in short, a bunch of things that even Lyudmila didn't understand.

As a clergyman, Lyudmila even wanted to perform a ritual to exorcise the evil spirits of these people, but unfortunately the secular world does not practice exorcism. Instead, specialized psychologists treat the symptoms that were previously believed to be possessed by evil spirits.

In the end, Lyudmila only knew that Nelly was still alive.

Just live.

These days Lyudmila asked when the floating bridge could be restored, and the answer she got was that there were too many ships on the river and there was no time to build a bridge again.

The entire shipping department is working overtime to transport the troops to Abawahan.

During the day on the 29th, Lyudmila saw two ships being sunk by Prosen bombers. The entire river was full of soldiers who had fallen into the water, and there was no idea how many people were crammed on the boats.

Prosen's bombers seemed to specifically avoid the section of the river controlled by Lyudmila's Arrow Group, and frantically attacked ships on the river upstream and downstream.

The Ante Air Force was also fighting bravely, with the latest version of the Yak-1 engaged in aerial combat with Plossen aircraft all day long.

Lyudmila had seen several Yak-1s trying to fly towards the east coast after catching fire - the east coast was entirely under the control of Ante, and after parachuting, they would be sent back to the base by ground troops, so the survival rate was relatively high.

The Prosens on the other side of the river have already controlled the river bank outside the beachhead, but they have not yet deployed their artillery on the shore. If you parachute onto the west bank, you will most likely be taken prisoner.

Lyudmila heard the whistle, which meant that the transport for the evening was about to begin.

She looked out at the river and whispered a prayer for the soldiers heading into danger.

At this time, several flares were launched from the river beach controlled by the enemy on the opposite bank, illuminating the river surface.

The enemy's machine guns began to fire at extremely long distances, and tracer bullets cut through the night sky.

The artillery on this side of the river immediately opened fire on the enemy positions to cover the troops crossing the river.

The originally quiet night was immediately filled with blood and fire.

----

Beachhead No. 1, west bank of the Valdai River.

Nellie heard someone talking outside the shelter, so she stood up, lifted the curtain and went outside to look at the infantry officer who was talking.

Officer: "We need to organize a nighttime suicide squad to clear the river beach that is being bombed. Can you Marine infantry send any men?"

"I'll go." Nellie raised her hand.

The officer glanced at the gauze covering Nellie's right eye and said, "No, Ms. Nellie, you can't go. We are counting on you to boost morale tomorrow. And this kind of close combat may require hand-to-hand combat, which is not suitable for you."

Nellie silently picked up the engineer shovel: "I am short, but sometimes it is an advantage."

The officer sighed and said, "Let us do it. You really can't sit still. You can go to the river to greet the newcomers. They lost their companions while crossing the river. They must be very sad."

Nellie turned her head and looked toward the Valdai River.

Officer: "They need encouragement, leave the night raid to us."

Nellie could only nod, turned around, climbed out of the trench, and ran towards the river.

When she reached the river, she shouted to the first batch of ships that came ashore: "Welcome to Hell! We must hold the beach, otherwise there will be no place for the Ants to stand on the west bank of the Valdai River! Welcome to join us!"

"Oh my God," she heard a soldier exclaim, "Girls my sister's age are going to the battlefield!"

Nellie held a shovel in one hand and a bobosha in the other: "Ante's mother is in danger, everyone should fight for her!"

The soldiers, exhausted by the enemy's firepower and the sudden casualties, looked at each other in bewilderment.

The priests who accompanied the army were the first to respond: "Are you not as brave as little girls? Are you still gentlemen? Run! These ships still need to transport the wounded back! Don't occupy the ships!"

I don't know who started shouting first, but all of a sudden, all the recruits on the beach roared, jumped off the boat, and waded onto the beach. Nellie stood on the destroyed tank on the shore and encouraged the soldiers loudly: "Can you imagine your mothers and sisters fighting on the battlefield like me? If not, get into position!"

At this time, the nanny who had crossed the river with Nellie appeared holding the Ant army flag high and stood behind Nellie.

There was also a bandage wrapped around the nanny's head. The bandage had lost its original color due to the blood and was now dark red.

The military flag in the nanny's hand was also dirty and full of bullet holes.

But it still flies in the wind.

----

The commander of the 41st Armored Corps of Plossen looked at the division commanders in front of him and said, "It's just a flat beach. Because it's a beach, we can't even build a solid offensive. But you guys can't take it down after two days of fierce attack?"

Josette, commander of the 5th Armored Division of the Asgard Knights, replied: "They are reinforced every night from across the river. If we cannot organize artillery bombardment to block the enemy's transportation operations, the beachhead will never be taken."

The commander was so angry that he laughed: "You are the Asgard Knights Armored Division, and you told me that you can't take down a position with only mud attacks, and you have to cut off the reinforcements? Are you really an armored division?"

"We are really an armored division, but the enemy's desire to fight is stronger than we can imagine. The accompanying infantry suffered heavy losses. Without infantry support, tanks are just fat meat to be slaughtered on the enemy's position!" Joset argued, "I believe we have achieved a huge casualty ratio, at least one for three. But if the enemy replenishes four people every day, we will never be able to occupy the position!"

The army commander shook his head: "When the enemy's T34s attack our infantry, they can force us to suffer heavy casualties. If our tanks reach the enemy's position, will they be slaughtered?"

At this time, the commander of the infantry division who was watching the show nearby spoke up: "That's not the case. In fact, we also destroyed a large number of T34 tanks last year and in the first half of this year. Tanks are very vulnerable when they lose infantry cover in the preset positions.

“But the Ants have a crazy way of fighting. Their infantry charge on tanks and only get off in front of their positions. The overall attack speed is faster and the combination is tighter.

"Our infantry got off the half-track vehicles when they were two kilometers away from the enemy and followed the tanks in a skirmish line. Even in the most ideal situation, there was still a distance of about 25 meters between our tanks and infantry."

The commander of the 41st Army was silent for a few seconds. "It's too late to change the combat method. I'll call the army headquarters to see if we can solve the enemy's transportation problem. You can go now. I hope to make progress tomorrow, instead of letting the headquarters suspect that we are a bunch of rubbish that can't even take the beachhead."

----

"You mean shelling the other side?" Chief of Staff of the Ninth Army, Proson, frowned and shouted into the phone, "We have lost all the artillery deployed on the shore, all of them, you know? All of them! Now the army's artillery must be used to break through the enemy's defense line. We are less than five kilometers away from the city of Abavahan. We can't withdraw artillery units at this time and take risks."

At this time, Admiral Frederick spoke up: "Give me the phone."

The chief of staff immediately handed the receiver to the admiral.

"I'm Frederick. What the hell are you doing? I was counting on you to quickly capture the beach and then turn around to attack Abawahan!"

The voice of the commander of the 41st Army on the other end of the phone sounded very nervous: "The enemy's resistance is fiercer than we can imagine, and the enemy has a constant supply of support. My division commanders said that if we don't cut off the reinforcements, we will never be able to occupy the beachhead."

Frederick: "But that's a position on the riverbank! It will be shattered by a shell! You can't even take it, and you want me to block the enemy's reinforcements. This is outrageous!"

"But this is the situation now, Admiral. We need to bombard the other side to prevent them from reinforcing!"

Admiral Frederick sighed and said, "Okay, I'll think of a way. I mean, if you can't take the position tomorrow."

After saying that, he hung up the phone.

Chief of Staff: "If we want to bombard the other side, we will have to push the artillery positions towards the river again. The previous situation may happen again."

Frederick: "No, this time we have armored forces on the beach. The enemy tanks can't avoid our armor this time. You make a plan. If the beach is not taken tomorrow, move the artillery forward in the afternoon and prepare to bombard the other side to stop the transportation."

At this time, the logistics staff came to report to Frederick: "General, reinforcements have arrived!"

Frederick was overjoyed: "How many?"

"Two army groups plus an army! There are hundreds of thousands of people!"

Frederick's eyes widened: "Really?"

"Yes, one army of the Wehrmacht, and two Moravian Army Groups."

Frederick's smile froze on his face. "What? Why give me the Moravian troops?"

The chief of staff seemed to have known this for a long time, and said at this time: "These Moravian troops are equipped with the same equipment as us, or even better. And they have been training for a long time, at least better than Ant's temporary infantry divisions."

Frederick frowned. “Really?”

The chief of staff suggested: "We can try to put them on the beachhead. According to the losses reported by the 41st Armored Corps today, they should be very short of infantry. Oh, and the Moravians have artillery units. We can let them suppress the other side and block transportation."

Frederick was silent for a few seconds, then nodded: "Well, it's better than letting them eat the food here for free, let them go!"

(End of this chapter)