artillery arc

Chapter 585 Two Emperors
January 916, 1, Eagle's Nest, the heart of the Plosson Empire, 8 local time.

The emperor sat in his seat with a gloomy face, listening to the Celtic Marshal's report on the situation.

Marshal Kelt: “Not only has Rokossov not attacked the Tenth Army on the west bank of the Sukhayaveli River, but he has also cancelled his usual reconnaissance flights and conventional bombing.

"And several units of the 150th Army in the Borsk direction have come into contact with the well-equipped and experienced Ant troops. These units are all equipped with sufficient artillery firepower, and heavy artillery of mm or above is assigned to almost every regiment."

The emperor interrupted Marshal Celtic and said, "It's impossible. Even if all the artillery in Ante is concentrated, it is impossible to assign 150mm heavy artillery to each regiment! They don't have 150mm heavy infantry guns like us."

Marshal Celtic: "Of course, this may be the result of the troops under heavy attack exaggerating the situation. This is very common, even for experienced commanders."

"Or they simply exaggerated the military situation on purpose in order to gain the attention of the higher command." The emperor said coldly.

Celtic Marshal: "Uh, this..."

Marshal Bryan immediately came out to smooth things over: "Most commanders don't think that much in an emergency, and our military academies teach officers of every level to distinguish what is exaggeration by their subordinates."

The emperor sneered: "Yes, I have learned that too. Continue your report, Chief of Staff."

Marshal Celtic cleared his throat and continued, "The 11th Army has interrogated some wounded prisoners and has confirmed the numbers of at least four army groups."

Emperor: "Ante's army is relatively small, with four armies numbering between 100,000 and 200,000 men."

Marshal Celtic: "But we have confirmed six units with Guards designations under these army groups, and there may be more. These are all veterans of Ant, and their weapons and equipment are much better than those of ordinary mobilized soldiers."

The emperor raised his head and stared at Marshal Celtic: "You said so much just to tell me that Borsk is Rokossov's main attack direction?"

Marshal Celtic glanced at Marshal Brian.

The old marshal sighed, "Yes, but we don't mean to blame your Majesty. After all, we were also fooled by Rokossov. His cunning was beyond our expectations."

Emperor: "So we missed the first 24 hours after he started his attack?"

"Yes." Marshal Celtic replied, "But the situation is not that bad. General Steiermark and General Shiplin have taken measures, so we are still in control of the area around Borsk. However, there is intelligence claiming that Ant's cavalry was seen northeast of Borsk."

Marshal Brian added: "Rokosov divided the cavalry into small groups and asked them to advance deep into our territory to disrupt our command system. However, such small groups of cavalry are not capable of attacking cities, so it is not a big problem."

Emperor: "His cavalry has already reached the northeast of Borsk. You tell me it's not a big problem? Do we have a way to wipe out these cavalry?"

The marshals looked at each other, and finally put the pressure on General Moltke, the director of armored forces, who had always been very trusted by the emperor.

General Moltke: "We don't have a good way to deal with these cavalry. We discovered this problem in the winter of the year before last. The Imperial Military Academy of Sciences was ordered to solve this problem, but no solution has been found so far.

"Instead, we decided to rebuild the cavalry, but our cavalry had all been transformed into armored reconnaissance battalions, and the officers had all been transformed into commanders of motorized units or armored units. So far, we have established three new cavalry regiments."

The emperor asked, "Why is it so slow to form a cavalry regiment?"

"Because the horses were sent to the front to be used as pack horses," Marshal Celtic replied, "We deployed 800,000 horses to the front. If it weren't for these horses, we wouldn't be able to support the Sixth Army to reach the city of Abavahan."

Emperor: "Eight hundred thousand horses! Have you ever thought of leaving at least ten thousand horses to reorganize the cavalry?"

"No, because we can't find that many young people who can ride horses. Since the popularity of trucks, even young people in the countryside who can ride horses are few and far between."

The emperor couldn't help but hold his forehead with his hand: "Damn it, now you are telling me that you can't even deal with the cavalry? When attacking Melania, the joke about Melania's cavalry using sabers to chop tanks was the most popular joke since the war started!"

Gilais couldn't help but say, "This is related to the terrain of Ante. Although Melania has plains, the roads are dense and the villages and towns are scattered all over the place. The most important thing is that the overall battle line is very short, and the cavalry can't play a full role.

"The distance between villages on the Nanant Grassland is often 30 kilometers, so there is a lot of room for cavalry to play."

The Emperor looked frustrated. "So you're telling me that Rokossov's use of cavalry was a brilliant move that took advantage of local conditions?"

Celtic Marshal: "Yes, it seems so at the moment."

"Okay, let's not talk about these useless things. The question now is how we should deal with this situation. Can the 11th Army hold Borsk?"

Marshal Bryan: "They reported yesterday that they only have 60% of their troops. In addition, the armored corps under the army group is seriously short of tanks. Most of the tanks are under long-term maintenance, and some have returned to the factory.

"General Steiermark also gave his last two armored divisions to reinforce the 11th Army, but these two armored divisions only have 100 tanks in combat readiness." Emperor: "Well, it sounds much better than when the 6th Army was surrounded. At least there are only 7 tanks left without an armored division."

After that, the emperor stood up and said: "I will not make the same mistake twice. Since it is full of uncertainty to hold Borsk now, let's be conservative. Army Group B has been defeated, and we can't afford the loss of another army group.

"The High Command must take action and formulate a plan to withdraw Army Group A by launching a simultaneous land and sea attack."

The Celtic Marshal seemed to not believe his ears: "You said retreat, Your Majesty?"

"Yes, retreat! Or do you think I'm someone who won't learn from my mistakes? No, I've come this far by constantly learning from my mistakes.

"Withdraw Army Group A. If you can defend Borsk, then defend it. If you can't, then retreat to our starting line last summer. There is perfect logistical support and ready-made strong fortifications there."

Marshal Celtic immediately turned around and gave orders to his staff, and the entire operations room suddenly became busy.

The emperor sat there, sighed deeply, and then gritted his teeth and pronounced the name: "Rokossov!"

----

In the days after Christmas in 916, the first thing Olga did when she woke up every day was to run to the headquarters to look at the updated battle map.

On the morning of January 1, she was so anxious that she even avoided the pursuit of the maids, but was scolded by the lady of state for almost half an hour.

"You are His Majesty the Tsar. How can you appear in front of the staff without makeup? For the staff and officers who work hard all night, you must stay beautiful and smile at them!"

The Lady of State complained like this.

So on the morning of the 10th, Olga dressed up beautifully and hurried to the operations room to look at the map.

As a result, because she took the time to dress up, the staff officers on night shift went off work, and the operations room was filled with staff officers who had just started work.

General Turgenev was also in the operations room. When he saw Olga, he sighed, "Your Majesty, it's good to pay attention to the situation at the front, but your frequent visits to the operations room have a huge impact on our work efficiency."

Olga: "Why? I've smiled at everyone. Shouldn't everyone be full of energy?"

"No, on the contrary, everyone is being reserved in order not to lose manners while you are here. Please go to the office and wait for the daily battle summary. You probably have a lot of documents to review."

Olga pouted and looked at the map. She confirmed that the area controlled by the Abavakhan Front led by Rokossov had become larger today. Then she turned around contentedly and said, "Okay, okay, handling documents is my job. Hey, most of the documents have annotations from the church or even Belinsky. I'm just a vase that stamps them."

Everyone who heard this looked serious and tried their best to pretend that they didn't hear it.

General Turgenev: "Your Majesty, if you say that, people will misunderstand that the relationship between the church and the royal family or even the military is not good. It is better not to say such things in the future. In addition to relying on the assistance of the United States, we have been able to resist until now and we also rely heavily on the strong mobilization and organizational capabilities of the church.

"If it were the old Ante, the soldiers would have mutinied by now and would be riding the train back to the capital, ready to do something big."

Olga: "Ah, I know, you told me about this in your history of the Civil War!"

"Studying history can help us see into the future, Your Majesty," said Turgenev.

At this moment, the confidential secretary came in with a telegram: "Telegram from the Abavakhan Front."

Turgenev glanced at Olga, sighed, and said to his confidential secretary: "Just read it directly. His Majesty wants to hear it too."

The secretary took out a telegram from the folder and began to read: "Our troops captured some of the outer positions of Borsk this morning. Our cavalry has circled to the rear of Borsk and laid mines on the main road. It is expected that our troops will complete the encirclement of Borsk within two days - General Rokossov, commander of the Abavakhan Front."

Olga: "Good! Great! Write a commendation letter in my name!"

"No!" Turgenev shouted, "It's not the right time yet. At least wait until we take Borsk. Then we can send a message to the whole country, and the important town of Borsk will be liberated six months after its fall. But now, you can't do anything!"

Olga: “Okay.”

Turgenev: "Go and deal with the documents, Your Majesty! This work is also very important!"

"Okay." Olga left angrily.

(End of this chapter)