artillery arc

Chapter 563 Hello, Your Marshal's Staff Express

On December 915, 12, 2 troops of the Second Guards Cavalry Army crossed the frozen Valdai River in a mighty force.

The army's mission was to destroy Plossen's lines of communication and create the illusion of encircling the Plossen-Shiprin Army, which was responsible for rescuing it.

Regardless of whether the mission to create the illusion was successful, these 100,000 cavalrymen could cause serious damage to Plossen's supply lines.

If General Shiplin did not retreat quickly, his army might have to cross the frozen Nanant steppe on foot.

This is not much better than being surrounded. I don't know how many people will freeze to death on the grassland in minus 40 degrees Celsius.

----

At the Shiplin Army Group Headquarters, General Shiplin frowned when he saw the report that had been summarized.

The army chief of staff said: "Based on my military common sense, I bet that this is a deception operation and only cavalry units are involved."

General Shiplin: "But these cavalrymen will seriously disrupt our logistics. We are already extremely short of fuel, and then that idiot Meyer actually used our fuel to airdrop to the Sixth Army!

"If we don't retreat now, we will have to leave the Nanant Steppe on foot. Rokossov is an interesting person. He sent the cavalry to force us to retreat, and then created such a perfect reason for us.

"He actually gave us the illusion that he was going to eat us all."

The general stood up and paced back and forth in front of his desk.

After walking two circles, he stopped, turned to the chief of staff and said, "Then let's take advantage of Rokossov's kindness. Report to the emperor that we are in danger of being surrounded and annihilated."

"Is this really a good idea?" the Chief of Staff asked uncertainly.

"Of course, we did not lie. Allowing a large number of enemy cavalry to destroy our transportation lines will only result in our annihilation. This explanation can be used later, but now we are reporting it as a matter of urgency. Rokossov has begun to encircle and attack the reinforcements." General Shiplin looked very happy.

The commander of the 51st Infantry Corps asked, "What about the Sixth Army?"

Shiplin put his hand to his heart: "The Proson Empire is with them."

The generals looked at each other.

General Shiplin: "Send the message, but it may not be accepted. His Majesty the Emperor may call us with stern words and order us to rescue the Sixth Army. In that case, we can only hope that Rokossov will really treat the prisoners well as rumored."

The chief of staff looked at the others and made up his mind: "Okay, I'll draft the telegram right away."

----

After reading the latest urgent telegram, Emperor Proson said to everyone in the war room: "All of you get out."

Gil Ace: "Should I stay?"

"No, everyone go out." The emperor said calmly.

So a group of people left the room one after another.

When they got outside, Marshal Brian asked Giles, "Your Majesty has been in a very low mood recently, as if you have aged ten years in an instant."

Gil Ace: "His Majesty has realized that defeat at Abavahan is inevitable. He just can't accept it."

Celtic Marshal: "He didn't act like this when we retreated from Yebao last year."

"Because we lost this time, the possibility of winning the war is very slim. Even if we start a general mobilization right now, we can only end up in a tie with the Allies." Giles looked very depressed.

Marshal Brian patted him on the shoulder and said, "Relax, there is still a chance to win the support of the allies and fight against the secular Ante together."

Giles nodded.

At this time, the Junker officers present looked at each other, and it was obvious that there was a little secret between them.

At this time, the door opened, and Emperor Proson walked out of the war room with his hands behind his back: "Order Shiplin to retreat. But tell him that the retreat can only be to the control line in August this year, no, at the end of August!"

Marshal Brian: "It should be no problem. Our troops are sufficient to block the possible counterattack of the Ants at the actual control line at the end of August."

The emperor pointed his right index finger at Marshal Brian: "Make sure you do it!"

"I promise." Marshal Brian said.

Emperor: "If you can't do it, your position as the army commander will end here. You should know that I have wanted to replace you for a long time, so take care of yourself."

Brian's expression was unusually serious.

----

It was sunny on March 12.

As usual, Wang Zhong sat in the Peugeot 3 driven by Emilia and flew across the vast grassland.

"It looks like..." He chose his words carefully, "It looks like the enemy is making a big move!"

In fact, he had already seen clearly within the highlighted range that this group of people were preparing to retreat.

Emilia: "If you feel that the enemy is making a big move, then it should be. Our witches' intuition is very accurate." Please don't call me "our" witch! I obviously have a little brother!

Wait a minute, this didn’t seem to be a problem in the world before the time travel. All I had to do was awaken the female in my heart.

Wang Zhong forced himself not to think about it and continued to observe the ground.

The more he looked, the more certain he became that Shiplin's Army Group was about to retreat, and that all the offensive preparations at the front were a scheme to deceive the enemy.

The enemy's General Shiplin is quite powerful. He did not hesitate when he decided to escape.

Wang Zhong suddenly thought that if Plossen's Sixth Army surrendered now, the million-strong army under his command would be suddenly released, and he wondered whether they could catch up with the fleeing Shiplin Army.

Damn General Frederick, why haven't you surrendered yet? You should be more diligent after being humiliated by the cake!

----

General Frederick had developed a high fever three days ago, and his headquarters was basically paralyzed. Every staff member was trying to protect himself as much as possible in the severe cold, and there was no way for them to complete their staff work.

There are only a few exceptions.

For example, the loyal confidential secretary of the army group insisted on translating the telegrams sent by His Majesty the Emperor every day and submitting them to General Frederick.

The same is true today.

The general was lying on the bed holding the telegram: "You know I have a high fever of 39 degrees, right?"

Confidential Secretary: "The above news will certainly be of interest to you."

The general then looked at the telegram, and suddenly sat up and read the text aloud: "Because Shiplin's army is at risk of being surrounded, the 15-day rescue operation is officially over. I hope that everyone in the Sixth Army will remember the honor of the Plosson soldiers and fight to the last moment under extremely difficult circumstances.

"Emperor Reinhard..."

After reading the last signature, the general looked a little depressed: "Although I knew this would be the final result, when the news really came... it was still so hard to accept."

Confidential Secretary: "Do you want to reply to the High Command and His Majesty the Emperor?"

The general thought for a moment and said, "Smash the radio and the Enigma machine and say that our fuel supply has been cut off and the hand-cranked generator cannot support high-power equipment."

"This... there will be no way to contact the headquarters from now on. Is this okay?"

"Yes," General Frederick said. "The High Command will no longer give us valuable instructions and intelligence. At most, they will tell us to 'hold on firmly and there will be a way.'"

Confidential Secretary: "Should we defend? There are frostbite and frozen deaths in the headquarters. We really can't fight any further."

General Frederick: "Didn't you hear the order just now? If you hold on firmly, there will be a way."

"Yes." The confidential secretary took a step back. "Then I will arrange for the destruction of the cipher machine and the radio station."

"Go ahead." The general lay down again and pulled the quilt to cover his head.

----

December 12th, Eagle's Nest, the heart of the Proson Empire.

The emperor held the phone and said, "Why are you still staying so far away? Didn't Rokossov say he was going to surround the enemy and attack the reinforcements?"

"Yes," General Shiprin replied on the other end of the receiver, "We are advancing slowly because we have to break through the enemy's resistance. Fortunately, Rokossov launched this offensive hastily and had a large number of cavalry troops, so the resistance we encountered was not serious, but... hundreds or even thousands of us were killed every day."

Emperor: "I don't care what your reasons are, bring the troops back from that damn place."

General Shiplin: "Of course I will do my best. I named this operation Dynamo! Operation Dynamo lasted for 15 days, mainly to rescue Shiplin's Army Group, which was relatively short of fuel and supplies."

The emperor said sullenly, "If you want your plan to succeed, you must act quickly. Don't wait until Rokossov wipes out the Sixth Army!"

General Shiplin: "This is why I called today, Your Majesty. We must keep the Sixth Army in the encirclement until December 12th, so that we can..."

"That's enough," the Emperor interrupted General Shiplin, "You didn't even think about saving the Sixth Army! You just wanted to get the job done and be done with it. The only thing you cared about the whole time was whether you could get away with it! This is the first time I know you are such a person!"

General Shiplin: "Saving the Sixth Army is an impossible task. It requires a large number of artillery, tanks and infantry, but I only have such a small force. Rokossov is very strong now. If the Sixth Army cannot hold on a little longer, the elite veterans under my command will be in danger."

"Okay, I got it. I'll find a way." The emperor was actually persuaded by General Shiplin.

He put down the phone and looked at Marshal Celtic: "What do you think we should do now to make General Frederick hold on until the last moment?"

Marshal Celtic glanced at General Moltke, the Director General of the Armored Forces, and his eyes lingered on the rank of general on his collar for a few seconds.

However, the old marshal pushed up his glasses and said, "I think we can promote General Wilhelm von Frederick to the rank of marshal and award him the marshal's baton."

The emperor frowned: "Will this work?"

"This is the only reliable method among so many unreliable ones." Marshal Celtic said with a wry smile, "But to be honest, the probability of it being effective is very small, and the Ants may capture our marshal alive. Is this okay, Your Majesty?"

The emperor thought about it and said, "Let's do it. I will write the letter of appointment myself!"

(End of this chapter)