artillery arc

Chapter 579: The First Phase of the Winter Campaign Completed (Update 33/81)

On December 12, the Abawakhan Front established a new headquarters.

Pavlov threw the report in front of Wang Zhong: "Sign it, Commander Davarishi. The Proson troops on the east bank of the Sukhayaveli River have been cleared. The first phase of the counterattack can now be ended."

Wang Zhong picked up the report and turned to the page about casualties. Looking at the still huge number on it, he let out a long sigh.

Pavlov: "Considering the previous battles, this is already a good number of casualties. Especially in the battle of Yarvik, the losses were much lower than expected. The equipment you developed worked. Be happy."

Wang Zhong was about to reply when he heard the sound of artillery fire outside, so he turned his head to look toward the window.

Pavlov: "It sounds like the density of firepower is much lower, which means our artillery attack last time was effective."

A few days ago, Wang Zhong took a reconnaissance plane to the other side of the Sukhayaveli River, marked out the enemy's artillery positions, and then organized a round of surprise attacks by artillery fire from all fronts.

Then the enemy bombardment ceased for several days.

Now it is estimated that artillery units have been assembled and started to bombard the most important stations and train dispatching yards.

Wang Zhong was shocked: "It's time to look for this artillery position again."

As soon as he finished speaking, the enemy's artillery fire stopped.

Pavlov: "I guess the enemy got scared too, so they moved their positions right after the fight. This kind of bombardment shouldn't have much impact on us."

Wang Zhong: "How long will it take to complete the material preparations for the second phase of the offensive?"

"As long as we don't encounter too much interference, 15 days will be enough time for the troops to rest and replenish. During the pursuit, the organization of many troops was disrupted. Each unit has incorporated a large number of people from brother units, all of whom fell behind on the way." Pavlov said confidently.

Wang Zhong: "Very good, fifteen days is in line with my expectations. How about setting the attack time on January 1? It gives you a little redundancy and increases fault tolerance."

"That's great, although I have already reserved a margin of slack for the 15 days, so it is a very conservative estimate."

Wang Zhong looked at his old friend: "I knew you were reliable."

Vasily opened the door and came in: "General!"

Wang Zhong: "Have you completed the mission of deceiving the enemy?"

"It's done. I just personally took a plane to drop off our fake body in the countryside of Shepetovka. When the time is right, the locals will 'inform' the Proson occupation authorities and ask them to come and find the body. In addition, the spies within the Shepetovka resistance organization have also received a hint in advance."

As Vasily spoke, he raised his eyebrows, highlighting his lively expression.

Wang Zhong: "It's a pity that you didn't study music performance. I think you have a talent for performance."

Pavlov agreed, "Yes, you just played the role of a jester very vividly."

"Yes, thank you." Vasily bowed as an opera singer would when leaving the stage.

Just as Wang Zhong was about to continue criticizing his adjutant, the door opened again and Emilia came in with a group of soldiers wearing United States Navy uniforms.

"General," Emilia introduced, "These are the pilots from the 6th and 8th Carrier Aircraft Wings who came to support us from the United States."

As soon as he finished speaking, the pilots stood at attention and saluted in unison, not at all like the casual naval pilots in the movie "Top Gun".

Wang Zhong also stood up and returned the greeting solemnly: "Salute to the heroes of Midway."

Emilia finished translating, and the leading major grinned, "General, the heroes of Midway have been transferred to the Naval Aviation School to train rookies. They are not on the team anymore."

Wang Zhong waited until the simultaneous interpretation was over before exclaiming, "That's great. It preserves the experience of the veteran pilots to the greatest extent possible. We would like to follow suit, but unfortunately the battle situation is too urgent and we don't have the luxury to take the veteran pilots off the front line."

The leading major: "We have heard that you are fighting a great and arduous war. It would be great if we could help."

Wang Zhong switched his view and looked at the name, then said, “Thank you very much for your support, Major Worcester, but we don’t need elite naval dive bomber pilots to attack enemy tanks and bunkers for the time being, our pilots can do it.

"We asked you to come here to attack the enemy's retreating fleet at sea."

After hearing the translation, the major was shocked: "Is this okay? Won't it leak secrets? Isn't this equivalent to telling us the direction of your next attack?"

Without waiting for the translation to finish, Vasily said in Angsa: "You don't have to worry about this. I mean, we fully believe in your ability to keep secrets!"

In fact, the leak by the United States pilot was itself part of the plan to deceive the enemy.

This time, I will teach Emperor Proson what it means to use deception in war.

As we were talking here, there was a whistling sound suddenly coming from outside.

The pilots had never heard of such a noise and were all startled, but they were elite naval aviation pilots after all, so although they were frightened, they did not panic.

Vasily: "Don't worry, it's a rocket launcher, giving the Prosen people on the other side of the river a little surprise. It happens every day at this time."

Major Wooster: "The Plossans won't fight back?"

Wang Zhong: "The Prosons have a poor supply system. Behind them is a desolate prairie. Even though the ground is frozen, it is difficult to transport. So we rely on sufficient supplies and keep plowing the land with artillery shells. They have no temper at all." Major Worcester: "It's incredible. In October, the newspapers secretly supported by the Prosons were still saying that Proson was making rapid progress and Ant was about to be defeated. As a result, the situation was reversed in such a short time.

"Now those newspapers can only say that it is General Dong's credit. You are a person who is good for nothing except bragging."

Wang Zhong: "Let them talk. When I invade Prothenia and wipe the mud off my boots with their emperor's clothes, they will have nothing to say."

Vasily: "It's better to step on the shit before wiping it, so it's more insulting."

Everyone in the room looked at Vasily.

He spoke in Ant language, so people who understood Ant language looked very helpless, and the pilots might have sensed something with their keen intuition.

Vasily: “Well, I thought that was a good suggestion!”

Wang Zhong could only shake his head: "You, you."

Pavlov: "Or punish him as usual..."

Wang Zhong: "No, no, today he is a meritorious major, forget it."

Vasily: "Oh, is that it? That's great."

Wang Zhong ignored him and looked at the pilots: "You have come from afar, so I will treat you to a meal today. Vasily, go inform the kitchen to make today's meal more suitable for the taste of the Chinese people, and prepare General Tso's chicken or something like that."

"Yes." Vasily turned and ran away.

----

Across the Sukhaveli River, the 10th Army Headquarters.

Admiral Pok looked at the burning city outside the window and cursed, "Damn Rokossov, he's attacking us with rockets every day, it's really too much! If this continues, we will be exhausted by his rockets sooner or later. Where are the reinforcements sent to us by the command?"

Chief of Staff: “They said they are on the way.”

A young staff officer in the room asked in confusion: "I don't understand, why doesn't Rokossov attack? What is he waiting for?"

Admiral Poke looked at the staff officer and found a stranger: "Did you just join the front line?"

"Yes, I just graduated from the Officer Academy, General. I was supposed to graduate next year, but the war situation forced us to cut short our time in school."

Admiral Pok sighed: "There is a shortage of staff officers. This is not good news. Explain to the young man why Rokossov did not attack."

The chief of staff nodded, turned to the young staff officer and said, "Rokossov's troops have just marched hundreds of kilometers, his troops are very tired, and their organization must have been messed up during the pursuit.

"Generally, after such a large-scale march, we need to stop and rest for a week - a week is the standard for our Proson Army. The Ante Army is poorly trained, and the density of the backbone configuration of the troops is much lower than ours. We can be assigned one non-commissioned officer for about seven to eight people. All of this allows our troops to recover faster."

The young staff officer nodded: "I understand. Rokossov is resting."

"Not only is he resting, he also needs to stockpile supplies. Once an army of a million like his begins an attack, the consumption of supplies is alarming. If he doesn't stockpile supplies, he won't even last a week after the attack begins."

Admiral Bock took over the chief of staff's words: "In short, on the battlefield, calm usually means future storms. When Rokossov starts his attack, it is estimated that our army will suffer heavy losses.

"No, that's not true. We've already suffered heavy losses before we crossed the river. If we don't get more troops and new troops sent over, we'll probably be crushed by Rokossov. He'll soon recapture Yeisk and march on Shepetovka."

Young staff officer: "Is Shepetovka the enemy's next target? I thought he would turn left and encircle Army Group A."

Admiral Poke came to the map, stared at it and said, "It's possible, but we can't tell which direction his main attack will be. He has a million troops, and we can't handle it no matter which direction he attacks."

----

"Rokosov is definitely planning to attack Shepetovka!" Emperor Proson said firmly, "He is a man who does not play by the rules. Since even you idiots think he can throw a right hook, then he definitely can't!"

The young emperor slammed the table.

Marshal Bryan said: "No, we agree with you this time, Your Majesty. Rokossov has sent too many clear signals."

Raberville's chief also agreed: "According to the intelligence sent back by our 'mole' (referring to senior spies) in the United States, he even invited naval bomber pilots and aircraft with great fanfare, pretending that naval bombers were needed to deal with our naval fleet in the White Sea."

Celtic Marshal: "Is it possible that he is playing a counter-logical game again this time, blatantly pretending to attack Borsk, but in fact he really intends to attack Borsk."

"No, no, no," Emperor Reinhardt waved his hands repeatedly, "With such a large army, he cannot fully deploy it to attack Shepetovka, so based on military common sense, he will not attack Shepetovka. Don't be fooled by appearances, his real focus is on going against common sense! Just like what I did in the Ardennes Forest back then, going against common sense!"

General Moltke glanced at Marshal Celtic. In fact, the plan of the Ardennes surprise attack was not proposed by the emperor himself.

But no one would point this out at this time.

Reinhardt supported himself on the table with both hands. "He has so many troops now. He may launch a feint attack in the direction of Borsk to cover up his real goal. We can't be fooled!"

(End of this chapter)