artillery arc

Chapter 587 General Shiplin's Decision
At 916 hours on January 1, 12, the 0105th Army Headquarters in Plossen was in a blackout.

General Shiplin held a candlestick and looked at the map in the dim light of the candlestick.

"What kind of magic potion have we drunk to make us think that such a large-scale attack is a feint?" The general said in a self-deprecating tone, "I can't say whether Rokossov is proficient in the art of war, but he does understand human nature very well and has taken control of us all."

"So what should we do? Hold on?" asked the chief of staff.

General: "We tried counterattacks before, but the effect was not good, right? Even with the two tank divisions given to us by Army Group A, we still have too few tanks.

"Rokosov hasn't even deployed his vortex yet, and our counterattack troops have been fighting back and forth with Ant's anti-tank troops and tank troops. Although we claim that the results of the battle are five times the number of losses, what's the use?
"We may have destroyed only one-fifth of the enemy's tanks, and the remaining four-fifths will be fought by infantry and anti-tank forces."

General Shiplin paced back and forth in front of the map with a candlestick in his hand, and continued his previous words: "Numerical advantage, numerical advantage again! The Ante people can get dozens of T34s every day.

"They suffered greater losses than us, their maintenance capabilities were weaker than ours, and many times we controlled the battlefield after the battle. As a result, they had an endless supply of tanks, while we had fewer and fewer."

Generally, repairing damaged tanks requires controlling the battlefield after the battle. In other words, the winning side can repair a bunch of tanks from the battlefield, and in theory, the advantage should be getting bigger and bigger.

During the summer offensive of 915, the Plossen people won most of the tank battles, so the Plossen maintenance department recovered quite a number of tanks from the battlefield, and even repaired some T34s and painted cross logos on them for use by the Plossen armored troops.

It was just that the Plossen armored troops were not impressed by the two-man turret of the T34, and were also worried about accidental fire from their own side, so these repaired T34s were not put into service on a large scale.

Under such circumstances, the Ants still had an overwhelming numerical advantage, which was incredible from the perspective of the Prosens.

Shiplin continued his "talk show": "The year before last, the Ants had to have a five-fold advantage in strength to capture our positions. Last year, the Ants had to have a three-fold advantage in strength - and they couldn't be the newly recruited conscripted troops. I don't think they can even use a three-fold advantage this year.

"Rokossov has just the right number of troops to defeat us! Many people in the troops below are worried about Rokossov's new weapons, but in fact, there are only a few new weapons and the battle line is so long. What is really fatal is this difference in troops.

"Last year, Ant's Western Front launched an all-out offensive that took advantage of the difference in manpower, which the High Command contemptuously called 'flooding', and achieved some progress.

"And that happens to be the best way to fight when you have more troops than the enemy and the battlefield is extremely vast. If I were in your place, I would do the same."

Having said this, Shiplin sighed and didn't continue.

His adjutant asked tentatively: "So, you mean that we will not defend Borsk?"

The general waved his hand: "How is that possible! But we cannot defend to the death. We must implement the tactical principle of flexible defense and cannot fight the enemy to death. We must make good use of our artillery and armor, as well as our advantage in combat experience.

"Anyway, the mission given to us by the High Command is to delay time before Army Group A completes its retreat, not to hold on to Borsk. We can even give Borsk to the enemy and plant enough mines in the city before giving it up.

"As long as the mines are buried in places that are tricky and dispersed enough, the enemy's artillery fire will not be able to clear all the mines."

Generally, one of the main responsibilities of fire preparation before an attack is to clear the enemy's minefields. The overpressure caused by the explosion of heavy artillery shells will detonate all the mines in a large area.

However, if the mines are placed in places that are not easily overpressured, or if fuses such as tripwires are used that are not easily triggered by overpressure, they can continue to kill the enemy after the heavy artillery has plowed the ground.

General Shiplin laughed when he said this: "Rokosov is also a person who likes to play with booby traps. This time, let him also have a taste of the fear and terror after entering the city."

The Chief of Staff of Episode 11 said, "We have laid a considerable number of booby traps in the city in accordance with the general's request. Some pressure mines have also been scattered at various intersections in the city and placed under the floor tiles."

"Very good. Let the engineering troops work harder and try to bury twice as many mines before retreating. Bury all our mine supplies in the city."

After saying this, the general looked at the map again.

"If you have any other ideas that can delay the enemy, please share them."

----

Ante Abavakhan Front Headquarters, 0120 hours.

Pavlov waved the latest report: "We are beginning to encounter tough opponents in our advance. They are all troops from the 11th Army. The enemy is short of manpower, but they have a strong fighting spirit and combat experience. We are beginning to be difficult to deal with."

Popov: "We can continue to use the previous strategy of dividing and encircling the enemy, surrounding them without attacking them."

Pavlov was about to answer when Wang Zhong interrupted him, "We are getting closer to Borsk. The density of the town has increased suddenly. After all, it is an important industrial city. Now it is time to test our ability to attack with great strength. Didn't the Ordnance Bureau send a new Urban?"

"not yet."

Wang Zhong: "Then we won't wait. B4 flat-fire cleaning is also quite efficient, but it doesn't boost morale."

This means that the noise made by the B4 bombarding the bunker is not loud enough.

Pavlov: "Tomorrow we will attack Plinka, the first satellite city of Borsk, to test the enemy's defense strength. The main attack is led by the 33rd Guards Infantry Army. In addition to their artillery, I have also reinforced them with a breakthrough heavy artillery division and two Guards rocket artillery brigades.

"Before the attack begins, the barreled artillery (referring to the 152 and 203 artillery with barrels) will conduct two hours of fire preparation, and the rocket artillery units will cover the skirmish line after it sets out, so that the skirmish line will be in front of us just after the rocket artillery has finished covering it." The 21st Guards Tank Brigade and the 12th Guards Breakthrough Tank Regiment will cooperate with the 33rd Infantry Army's attack. "

Popov laughed and said, "Great! So many troops with the title of Guards are deployed all at once."

Wang Zhong: "Let's test the enemy's quality. If we can't defeat them with troops deployed like this, it means we don't have the ability to attack them with our own strength. We can think of other ways then."

When encircling the Sixth Army, Wang Zhong's strategy was to bypass the enemy's strongholds whenever he encountered one, and to bombard the enemies surrounding the strongholds.

Now we have reached the developed areas of Khazaria, and the urban density has increased, so we can’t do this anymore.

Moreover, future attacks on Shepetovka, Agsukov and even Prosinia will all be siege battles in a jungle of reinforced concrete, so there is no problem in training the troops' siege capabilities in advance.

Wang Zhong looked at his watch and said, "Okay, I'll go take a rest first, and let my wife wake me up before the firing tomorrow morning."

Pavlov and Popov said in unison: "Go ahead."

----

On January 1, Wang Zhong was woken up early by Lyudmila.

"We are going to attack today. Didn't you say you were going to the headquarters to take charge?" Lyudmila said as she threw the clothes that had been warmed by the stove onto the bed.

Wang Zhong answered while putting on his clothes: "That's right. But I have a feeling that there shouldn't be any big problems. We are in Abawahan, but we are determined to fight the enemy to the death. The Prosen people don't have such awareness. After all, this is not their hometown, not their land. They will waver, shrink, and run away."

As he spoke, he got out of bed and put on his clothes.

Lyudmila picked up Yakov's relic scarf and gently wrapped it around Wang Zhong's neck: "This scarf has some stitches that are wrong. The girl who knitted it is not very good at knitting."

Wang Zhong: "But I think this must be Yakov's favorite scarf. He just gave it to me."

Lyudmila: "When the winter campaign is over, go to Yeburg to see the widow."

Wang Zhong: "Yeah."

Even if Lyudmila didn't say it, Wang Zhong would have gone.

He wanted to tell Yakov's wife in person that Yakov had behaved well and bravely.

But now, Wang Zhong’s primary task is to crush the Plossen Army in front of him and close the encirclement.

He kissed his wife on the lips, turned, opened the door, and walked into the winter sunshine.

----

Pulinka, 13 hours on the morning of the 0700th.

A whistling sound came from the sky, and before the Prosen people defending the city could react, intensive artillery fire fell from the sky.

More than 400 heavy artillery pieces and an even greater number of 122mm guns were ravaging this Prosen defensive stronghold.

In the city defense command room, the commander of the infantry division defending the city shouted on the phone: "We are under heavy shelling! Heavy shelling!"

In response to his words, gravel and dust continued to fall from the ceiling.

Suddenly, a heavy artillery shell exploded right next to the headquarters, and a whole piece of lime from the ceiling fell off and landed on the table where the telephone was placed.

Division Commander: "We are under heavy shelling! Heavy shelling!"

The person on the other end of the phone was very calm: "Provide appropriate resistance. If you can't win, withdraw from the city. Use space to buy time! Do you understand? Use space to buy time!"

Division Commander: "We are an infantry division! Are you asking us to leave our bunkers and go into the wilderness? Do you want us to be strangled by armored forces and cavalry?"

The other end of the phone: "Then you just hold on firmly. No matter what, just consume and delay the enemy. The army will launch a counterattack at the appropriate time! When the time comes, we will--"

The commander slammed the receiver on the table: "Fuck it!"

Before he could continue cursing, a 152mm heavy artillery shell hit the division headquarters building. The violent tremor caused the division commander to kneel on the ground.

Then the chandelier on the ceiling finally fell down, smashing the map table to pieces, and the crystal glass on the chandelier shattered all over the floor.

(End of this chapter)