artillery arc

Chapter 692: Attack Decision Made
September 9, Agsukov, 2st Khazaria Front Headquarters, a.m.

As soon as Pavlov entered the headquarters, he saw a large pile of meat, eggs and milk placed at the entrance of the gate, so he asked the guard: "Is it sent by the locals again?"

"Yes, Staff Officer Davarish. It's all anonymous. I don't know who it was returned to. The Inquisitor has checked it and there are no poisons or explosives."

Pavlov: "Take them all out and distribute them to the people around us. At this stage, our headquarters staff cannot afford to fall ill."

"Yes."

Pavlov walked through the entrance hall, passed the Ante-style hall, and entered the central map room of the headquarters, where the staff officers were already busy.

"Has today's investigation report arrived?" he asked.

Popov, who was on night duty, pointed to the brown paper bag on the table and said, "It's here. I'm not a military officer, so I didn't open it."

Pavlov picked up the brown paper bag, opened it and took out a thick stack of reports. "Huh, there are quite a few reports today. Let me take a look... Hmm? The report forwarded by the Inquisition? "Summary of Intelligence from the Underground Parish Behind Enemy Lines"? This is quite new. I thought this kind of report would be sent directly to Rokossov who is still in Yeburg."

Pavlov took out the document with the Secular Seal and St. Andrew's emblem on the cover, opened it and read the summary first: "...My God, according to this report, Plossen's Southern Army Group may have received reinforcements from four armored divisions on the Western Front."

Popov, who was filling his pipe, looked up and said, "Four divisions?"

"Yes, the underground parish also obtained the numbers and organization of four divisions. Unlike the divisions on the Eastern Front that have been reduced to one division and one armored battalion, these four divisions are fully staffed with two armored battalions and one armored grenadier battalion."

Popov did some calculations in his head: "Doesn't that mean that the Southern Army Group in front of us has added at least 800 tanks?"

When Pavlov flipped through the documents, he went straight to the page with the paper clip, and then he found that the paper clip was actually used to fix the photo.

"Comrades from the underground parish did a great job. They took photos of the enemy tanks and attached the results of the intelligence department's interpretation. This is Proson's latest Panzer IV H-type tank. Is this model among the tanks we captured and destroyed?"

As soon as Pavlov finished asking, a staff officer replied: "No, Comrade Chief of Staff. The most we have destroyed so far are the G-type, and we haven't found the H-type yet."

"Then how does the Inquisition know that this is type H?" Pavlov looked at Popov.

Popov: "The Inquisition has its own intelligence channels, and of course it may also be intelligence shared by the Allies. So is this H-type any different?"

Pavlov took the photo off the file and handed it to Popov: "Look for yourself, there is too much additional armor on the exterior."

"It looks very thin. What's the use of this armor?" Popov looked puzzled.

Pavlov read the words on the document: "'It is speculated that the shaped charge warhead of the rocket launcher can be detonated in advance'. Damn it, didn't we just use rocket launchers with shaped charge warheads on a large scale in June? Why did we make targeted changes now?"

Popov: "The troops equipped with rocket launchers should be informed of this situation."

Pavlov nodded: "Okay, someone come!"

"Here, Staff Officer Davarishi."

"Draft an order immediately. Draw this photo into a diagram and attach it to the order to remind all troops that when they encounter H-type tanks, they should be careful that their additional armor may detonate the rocket launcher warhead in advance."

"Yes!"

After the staff officer left with the photo, Pavlov continued to look through the documents: "Other aspects... basically confirmed our judgment. The Prosen people have no way to replenish their troops or build strong fortifications in such a short time. If we cross the river now, we can catch the enemy off guard.

"Look here, 'The enemy's infantry units are still very short of manpower. The previous retreat has left most infantry divisions with less than 50% of their troops, and some regiments have less than people left.'"

Popov: "Did we kill so many enemies?"

"It's possible that he was forced to leave the front line due to injuries after retreating to the other side of the river, or he may have fallen behind and been eaten by wild dogs. After two years of war, the wilderness is full of wild dogs that have lost their owners. They will gradually regain their wolf nature and become prairie wolves."

Popov: "When I was a child, the village master would organize a wolf-hunting team to kill wolves on the grassland, but I haven't heard of it since I was 30."

Pavlov: "Now there are wolves again. When the war is over, we will definitely organize cavalry troops to encircle and eliminate the wolves on the grassland."

As he said this he handed the document to Popov.

While Popov was reading the document, he came to the map and said, "Rokosov is right. Our recovery speed is faster than the enemy. If we launch an attack now, we can catch the enemy off guard. But the new four armored divisions are a variable. Maybe we should postpone the attack and wait for more T54s to arrive at the front."

Popov: "You and I can't decide this matter. The commander of the front can make the final decision, and the commander of the front is still in Yeburg--"

"I'm back." A familiar voice came from the door.

Everyone in the headquarters stood up and turned to the door.

Marshal Rokossov walked into the room wearing brand new shoulder straps with only one big star, and the gold star on his chest had increased from one to two.

Popov: "Comrade Marshal, I recognize the extra gold star, what is the other medal?"

Rokossov looked down at his chest and said, "This? This is the Congressional Medal of Honor awarded to me by the United States." Pavlov said, "You seem to like this medal very much."

"It's all right." Marshal Rokossov shrugged. "What were you talking about just now?"

----

After listening to Pavlov's report, Wang Zhong came to the map and said, "Where are the four new armored divisions deployed?"

Pavlov immediately picked up the document, looked at the information on it, and personally marked the location of the enemy's new manpower on the map.

Wang Zhong laughed: "How can we fight the enemy? The underground diocese has figured out their troop deployment, and the entire battlefield is transparent to us."

That's right, there's no need for me to even take off and conduct reconnaissance myself.

Popov: "Our victory has inspired the underground parish, and also made many traitors who had previously defected to the Prosons change their minds, so the work behind enemy lines is much easier now."

Wang Zhong: "What does the court think of these opportunists who have 'changed their minds'?"

"Of course, merits and demerits are counted separately. If the merits can offset the demerits, then they will be forgiven. As for the heinous crimes..." Popov changed the subject, "Why did you come back now?"

"To deceive the enemy. The Prosen people must think that I will not attack if I am still in Yebao. So I released the information that I will return on September 9. In fact, I took a lot of photos. In the next ten days, there will be news about me in the newspapers of Yebao. But in fact, it was all prepared in advance."

Wang Zhong: "We will attack at No. 5 and catch them off guard!"

----

"Rokosov released the information on purpose!" Emperor Proson pounded on the conference table. "I've figured him out! He's definitely going to attack soon! Our four fully equipped armored divisions will definitely give him a hard time!"

The generals looked at each other. Shiplin and other front-line generals had already returned to their headquarters, so the Eagle's Nest operations room seemed a little empty at the moment. There were many empty chairs on the huge desk, which were the seats reserved for the front-line generals.

Marshal Celtic: "In our judgment, Rokossov will not be ready to cross the river until at least September 9th. It is too hasty to cross the river now."

The emperor stood up and said, "That's why you were played around by Rokossov!"

Marshal Rundstedt: “But, Your Majesty, even if we really guessed the time when Rokossov would cross the river, it would be difficult for us to stop him now. The only thing we can rely on is the four new armored divisions.

“But if—I mean if—the number of new tanks in Rokossov’s possession exceeds our estimate, these four armored divisions may not be able to stop him.

“These four armored divisions are all equipped with Type 3 and Type 4 tanks. They may not be a match for Rokossov’s new tanks.

"We only have four battalions of Panthers and Tiger IIs that can deal with Rokossov's new tanks, and only one battalion of the latest L70 Panzer IV tank destroyers. If Rokossov deploys more than 300 new tanks, I'm afraid the situation will become quite tricky."

Emperor: "Then shall we not resist? Hand over the Tiber River to Rokossov? No! In the summer, although we lost the tank decisive battle, we still had the advantage in the exchange ratio! We were only defeated by the Ante tank soldiers with their lives!
"Now we increase the number, this time Rokossov will definitely be the first to bleed him dry!"

----

Pavlov: "We currently have two complete T54 brigades. If the enemy's armored division is composed entirely of Type and Type tanks, it is entirely possible to use one brigade plus enough infantry units to fight against a division.

"But even if you still have two divisions, I personally think that these divisions should not be handed over to the troops that still use T34W."

Wang Zhong: "Where are our heavy breakthrough tanks?"

"All of them are deployed in the main breakthrough direction. The current combat plan is to use them to break through the enemy's defense line."

Wang Zhong: "Since the enemy infantry divisions are in such poor condition in terms of personnel and fortifications, we can consider pulling out these breakthrough tanks to fight a tank battle with the enemy's armored forces. How many regiments are there in total?"

"Six regiments, 126 vehicles, Comrade Marshal," a staff officer replied.

Wang Zhong: "Very good, have you repaired all the broken parts from the summer offensive?"

"Most of them have been repaired, and there are new ones," Pavlov said. "I heard that the regiments that were originally going to be sent to the Western Front were all transferred here."

Wang Zhong: "Very good, our basic principles remain unchanged. We will hand over the enemy's main armored forces to the new tank brigade and heavy breakthrough tank regiment that have the advantage of armored shells. The tank units equipped with T34W will mainly focus on bullying the enemy's infantry units. When encountering enemy armored units, we will avoid fighting as much as possible.

"The battle was launched on the morning of September 9th, with the goal of liberating Roniezh before the autumn mud set in."

Roniezh, the place where Wang Zhong traveled through, was the starting point of this war for him.

Wang Zhong's hands trembled slightly when he thought that in just over a month, he would be able to return to the city he had fled in such a hurry.

He quietly clenched his fists and put his hands in his pockets.

(End of this chapter)