artillery arc

Chapter 725 Across the Swamp
April 4, Yekaterinburg, map room of the High Command.

Wang Zhong put down the report of the Kosalia Third Front and looked at Marshal Gorky: "It seems unreal that Moravia has turned against us."

Marshal Gorky: "You should ask the church's external relations department. They have been contacting the King of Moravia since last year."

Wang Zhong: "The church contacted you? Doesn't Moravia know what the church's attitude is towards the royal family and the nobility?"

Marshal Gorky: "They may not know, but they know your attitude towards the Tsar."

Wang Zhong glanced at Gorky and took a second to decide not to tell him that he had already built a villa in the place chosen by Olga.

That is most likely where the future Tsar will spend the rest of his life.

Sure, she might make a cameo in a movie from time to time, playing herself, like some map head on Earth.

Wang Zhong was just thinking about it when the ceremonial officer outside the door shouted, "His Majesty the Tsar has arrived!"

All the generals stood up, held their heads high and looked forward.

Olga entered the room and nodded to everyone: "Hello gentlemen, is there any news worth noting while I was sleeping?"

Marshal Gorky: "Moravia announced yesterday morning that he does not agree with the invasion and occupation of other countries by the Proson Empire, and said that he will stand on the side of justice."

"Humph." Olga sneered, "When they were being domineering before, why didn't they say anything bad about the Proson Empire? The Moravians have done a lot of bad things in our country, haven't they?"

Marshal Gorky: "Indeed, but now we need to save our troops. The Third Salia Front actually has only 300,000 troops, claiming to have 700,000. We need those 300,000 Moravians."

Olga pouted: "I know, I know, but I don't accept that they got such a big benefit just because we needed their help."

Wang Zhong: "Don't worry, the secular faction is now trying to expand its influence in Moravia. When the war is over, we can put the Emperor of Moravia on trial."

"Okay." Olga immediately became happy. "Anyway, they surrender now because the church still wants me as the Tsar. When I am no longer the Tsar, they will have no way to complain!"

All the generals showed expressions of "What the hell did I hear?"

Olga pushed the topic nonchalantly: "What about other directions? Kashukh's absence means his front has taken action?"

Marshal Gorky: "His front has been in action, but yesterday the chief of staff called and said that he had encountered some problems, so he flew back."

Wang Zhong: "It seems that Proson's 502 Heavy Armored Battalion has caused him a lot of trouble again."

Olga: "Can't we find a way to destroy this battalion?"

Wang Zhong: "The enemy's use of the heavy tank battalion has changed compared to before. They no longer gather the entire heavy tank battalion together to attack us. Of course, this is also related to the terrain of the northern front. The northern front cannot deploy so many heavy tanks."

In fact, it can still be unfolded, but it will be very awkward to play.

This is the case on Earth. Carl Juss, known as the "Tiger King", recorded in his memoir "Tigers in the Mud" the actions taken by his heavy armored battalion in a place called the **Man's Nose. At that time, too many tigers were dispatched and directly choked their own people to death.

Later, the 502nd Battalion often split the troops into small groups, with two vehicles in a group, to serve as fire brigades everywhere.

In the swampy and forested terrain of the north, this approach of breaking down the whole into smaller pieces achieved quite good results.

At this time and space, it is estimated that the 502nd Heavy Armored Battalion is doing the same thing.

Wang Zhong explained all this to Olga in detail.

Olga: "I see. So if we want to annihilate the 502nd Battalion, the best way is to surround the entire Northern Group Army Group, right?"

"Yes." Wang Zhong and Marshal Gorky nodded together.

Olga: "When will the Berisk Front start its offensive?"

Wang Zhong: "They are still making swamp shoes and cutting trees. There is almost an inexhaustible supply of wood nearby, but we have to allocate people to cut it. So we adjusted the order of attack according to the situation. Kirinenko's Western Front will take action first, but it will be a feint."

Marshal Gorky: "In order to prevent the enemy from seeing that this is a feint through our casualties, we set the time for the last week of April. When Belyakov's Berisk Front begins its operation in May, the enemy will have no time to distinguish whether the Western Front is a feint or not."

Olga asked curiously, "How will the enemy know our casualties?"

"Judging from the bodies and the seized documents," Marshal Gorky explained, "Last year, when I launched an offensive, the enemy repelled a large number of bodies, including those of middle and lower-level officers.

"The enemy only roughly estimated the total number of bodies, but they would definitely carefully analyze the captured documents. So in the end they concluded that I suffered nearly 10 million casualties in the attack."

Wang Zhong looked at Marshal Gorky: "Ten million casualties?"

"How is that possible? He is just talking nonsense. I fought badly, but not this badly." Marshal Gorky said indignantly.

In fact, Marshal Gorky’s poor fighting ability was only relative to Wang Zhong. There were army generals in the United States and the United Kingdom who fought worse than him.

Wang Zhong: "In short, in another week, the Western Front will launch an attack - or pretend to launch an attack."

Kirinenko: "I prepared a huge amount of ammunition. In the first three days, the enemy would definitely think that we were really attacking. From the fourth day on, they would see our engineering troops building a pontoon bridge under their artillery fire, and then they would rack their brains to dismantle the pontoon bridge.

"By the time our artillery shells and wooden pontoons were almost used up, the Salia Front had already set out."

Marshal Gorky: "Five close-knit offensives, this is the grand picture of our entire summer campaign. We adopted Marshal Rokossov's proposal and named it 'Operation Bagration'."

Olga: "Five times? The attack on Kashukh, the attack on Moravia from the south, the attack on the Berisk Front, and the attack on the Salia Front. Isn't that only four times? Where is the other one? Or did I miscalculate?"

Wang Zhong: "A feint also counts as one."

Kirinenko quickly added: "No, we will launch a real attack after the encirclement is completed. After all, we cannot give the enemy time to prepare for a breakout."

Olga: "That makes sense. Then what? What should we do after these five attacks are over?"

Wang Zhong: "We also have an autumn combat plan, but the content of the plan has not yet been decided. After all, after the summer offensive, we expect the battle line to undergo very drastic changes. We don't know what kind of situation we will face in the autumn, so we can't formulate a combat plan.

“Of course, we still have several ideas. The first is to completely liberate Melania and Livonia. If this is completed, we will look at Prothenia by the Oder River.

"The second is to increase troops on the southern front, launch an attack, sweep across the Buda Basin, and capture Vilna. Emperor Plossen's palace, Schönbrunn Palace, is right there, and we can exhibit his collection of art."

After Wang Zhong finished speaking, he picked up the cup and drank some water.

Olga: "And then? Is this the end? Just two directions?"

Wang Zhong: “Yes, another plan is to attack the waist of the Proson Empire. There are indeed a large number of factories here, but it is also a densely populated area with a large number of reinforced concrete buildings, which is not very suitable for advancement.

"This is still enemy territory. We may encounter resistance from the local military and civilians. We are worried that our troops will suffer heavy casualties here."

Marshal Gorky added: "Just as the enemy suffered in Abavakhan, we may fall into the same situation."

Olga: "That's strange. According to common sense, the most urbanized place in a country should be the capital, right? You didn't attack the middle part of the country which is full of large and medium-sized cities, but attacked Prothenia, which is a super city? Is there something wrong?"

Wang Zhong: "The key is that there is no point in Proson's waist that can cause them a fatal blow. But if we take Proson's capital, it will be like a disaster for them."

Olga: "Wouldn't the enemy evacuate Prothenia first and move back to the old capital before they moved there?"

Wang Zhong: "If this city is not called Prosonia, then they can indeed do so. But this city was built at great expense to prove that Prosonia will become a thousand-year empire in the future. The people of Prosonia cannot abandon this city. It is impossible, Your Majesty the Tsar."

Marshal Gorky: "The name of this city is Prothenia, which means 'the promised land of the Prothenic people' in the Prothenic language."

Wang Zhong thought to himself, I really didn’t know this, it turns out XXXnia means the promised land.

Then America should be called Anglo-Saxonia, and it can also be called the Scalp Hunting Ground.

Wang Zhong: "In short, if we liberate the Promised Land of the Proson people, the Proson people's faith will collapse, and they will lose their will to resist. They may end up like the King of Moravia yesterday."

Olga nodded repeatedly: "I understand, I understand. I am beginning to look forward to the future."

----

April 4, Plossen, Headquarters of Army Group Center.

"Hello? Hello? Speak louder!"

The headquarters was filled with the sound of staff officers shouting into microphones.

Marshal von Borg, commander of the Army Group, held a coffee cup and said, "Well, now we are also under attack, but the most powerful First Front of Kosalia has not made any moves, which means that the attacks in other directions are just feints, and the fatal blow will be delivered by Rokossov's direct line.

“It’s always been like this.”

As soon as he finished speaking, as if in response to him, the phone on the table rang.

Marshal Borg picked up the receiver: "This is von Borg."

The Emperor's voice came from the other side: "Marshal von Borg, I heard that the Western Front in front of you launched an attack?" "Yes, the troops below are crazy, and everyone claims to have seen a pontoon bridge." Von Borg sneered, "The Ants can't have so many pontoon bridges. When they attacked last year, the pontoon bridges were still shaky. I think our side is a feint, my respected Majesty."

"No, your place may be Rokossov's main attack direction."

"But your majesty, so many pontoon bridges cannot appear out of thin air. There must be a matching transport force. Our aerial reconnaissance shows that the enemy's transport force has not increased significantly. They cannot send so many pontoon bridges up without anyone noticing."

His Majesty the Emperor: "That's when facing a normal Ante general. Rokossov is different! You must deal with the attack as you would a frontal assault by the enemy! Rokossov's main force hasn't made any moves yet!"

Marshal Borg's heart was filled with anxiety: It was because there was no movement from the First Front Army of Kosalia that I suspected that my attack was just a feint, okay? How come it was the other way around on your side, Your Majesty?
"Because Rokossov's troops did not launch an attack, we must regard all attacks as Rokossov's real main attack direction." Is there a causal connection between this long and difficult sentence?

Marshal Pogue swore incoherently, using the local dialect from his hometown to curse.

Emperor: "What did you say?"

Marshal Pogue: "Your Majesty, your opinion is great!"

Emperor: "Well, I know Rokossov best. Last year I was the only one who predicted that he would attack in September! Only me! Stop him!"

After saying this, the emperor hung up the phone and obviously slammed the receiver hard.

Marshal Pogue put the microphone on the landline and looked around the studio while holding the microphone.

The Chief of Staff asked, "What's going on? Your Majesty...has made another request?"

Marshal Pogue did not answer immediately, but walked to the other side of the map room and ran his hand along the edge of the window that had been recently blocked.

At that time, Marshal Pogue's headquarters could maintain daytime office needs with natural light.

As a result, Rokossov developed the "Urban" assault gun, which led to the Plossen headquarters issuing the most stern instructions, requiring command posts at all levels to reinforce the bunkers and block the windows. The bunkers of the army group headquarters were the first to become "demonstration units."

Now Marshal Pogue's headquarters has become a "catacomb" where it is pitch dark without turning on the lights.

Marshal Borg was very skeptical whether the patched-up part of the bunker, with just that layer of bricks, could block the fire from Urban's cannon.

The feeling is unstoppable.

Chief of Staff: "So, your Majesty..."

"He thinks this may be the main attack direction." Marshal Pogue summarized it succinctly.

Chief of Staff: "Judging from the exclamations and alarmist reports from the frontline troops, this is indeed possible."

"Humph," Marshal Pogue sneered, "Then let's wait and see."

----

May 5, Berisk Front.

The chaplain of the Sharp Knife Battalion wore "swamp shoes" and walked to the front of the queue with difficulty.

"Davarishi!" he said loudly, "Today is a holiday for all workers! We celebrate the holiday with our labor! We use the enemy's artillery fire as fireworks to celebrate!"

Then he drew his pistol, turned around and headed for the swamp first.

Uncle "Baba Yaga" followed him, reminding the soldiers as they walked: "Pay attention to your center of gravity, and don't expect anything from the swamp's grip. When you feel the grip becomes stable, it means you are about to sink, and you need to clean your swamp shoes!"

The biggest problem with using swamp shoes is that they "slip". If you try to walk without an stable grip, you will easily fall.

People like Baba Yaga, who have lived in the swamp for many years, have learned to "slide", or to be more precise, to slide like water cockroaches.

The advance team set out like this. Except for the front row of fighters, the rest of the team members were carrying sticks and throwing them into the swamp in rows to open up a path for attack.

The engineer officer in charge of paving the road shouted, "Put the wood closer together! This way, if a piece of wood tries to roll around, it will be caught by the wood on both sides."

The officer looked down at the notes in his hand—those were the “key points” he had written down when he had listened to old man Baba Yaga’s explanation.

Officer: "Also, thin sticks and thick sticks should be arranged alternately, so that the cross section looks like a serrated shape. This will ensure that the heavy combat equipment can cross the swamp safely!"

Uncle Baba Yaga nodded repeatedly, thinking that the officer had learned well, though he was a little rote.

But to be honest, Uncle Baba Yaga has never tried to let a big guy like a tank rush through the swamp. It is said that the pot-covered tank used this time is still a "medium tank", which means that there are heavier tanks, but they are too heavy to pass through the swamp.

Uncle Baba Yaga was still full of worries. Although the Prosen people on the opposite side were a second-rate force of the 25th wave, without heavy tanks he was always worried about encountering a tough bone that he could not handle.

As for the artillery, the heavy artillery in the division and the army group will definitely not be able to pass through the swamp for a while. Can this attack be successful?

However, at this time, some priest in the army shouted: "Don't be so dull, sing, be cheerful! Let's sing "The Black Girl"."

Immediately, someone started playing the bayan, and someone else sang:

"One morning, just after dawn, I looked toward my neighbor's house.
"I saw a dark-skinned girl picking baskets of grapes~"

Uncle Baba Yaga had never heard of this song, so he asked the young soldier beside him, "What song is this?"

"You don't know? It's the latest song, about a girl and a guerrilla boy in love." The soldier responded with a smile.

More people joined in the chorus: "I couldn't help but blush and feel flustered. I wanted to say to her: Please come to the river, let's welcome the dawn together!"

Uncle Baba Yaga frowned and said, "What a lie! We haven't even talked for a few minutes, but you're already inviting the girl to greet the dawn together. Are you still naked?"

The young man next to me said: "In wartime, you might die tomorrow, so of course you have to hurry up!"

The song continues: "Hey, hey, hey, hey ~ The green maple trees rustle ~
"In front of you, I don't know where to put my hands and feet~
"Green maple tree, lush maple tree, I want to sing for you~"

Uncle Baba Yaga: "Last year, the most popular song was 'I Still Have One Last Grenade'!"

"It's popular now, sir!"

At this time, the song entered the interlude, the bayan played an extremely cheerful melody, and the troops advancing in the swamp also quickened their pace to the music.

Even with all the commotion, there was no reaction from the Prosen people.

The song enters the second verse:

"The dark-skinned girl, the Moldavia girl, she said kindly to the boy:

"We are gathering our troops to defend our country and fight the wolves! This morning, the guerrillas will leave their hometown~
"If you want to join us, there is a barrack deep in the forest~ Hey, the green maple trees rustle, we parted beside a tall maple tree~
"Green maple tree, lush maple tree, I will sing for you~"

Uncle Baba Yaga laughed, "That's right! All that love-making stuff is unnecessary! Just fight the jackal!"

"Sir, you don't understand!"

"Why shouldn't I understand? When I was young like you, I fought against the Petliura gang! I know that some of you were scared out of your wits and tried desperately to find a girl to have a child with! Humph!"

As he was speaking, several Ant men wearing old military uniforms came out from the front.

They were stunned when they saw the swamp full of Ante soldiers.

"Hold on, who are you?" the leading priest shouted.

Uncle Baba Yaga: "Don't get excited. They are the guerrillas who are leading the way for us. Didn't you just sing in the song? There are barracks deep in the jungle!"

When the guerrillas saw the old man, they came over and shook his hand: "Uncle, you said you wanted to attack. We thought we could only kill a whole company! Are you going to launch a full-scale attack with such a large force?"

Uncle Baba Yaga smiled and said, "Yes, I was afraid that you would be caught, so I didn't tell you the truth and made you think it was a small infiltration force. Lead the way quickly, we will pave the road directly to the Prosen camp and let the tanks drive directly through!"

At this time, the officer came over with a radio and shook the guerrilla's hand: "Comrade, you have worked hard in the past few years! Please tell me the enemy's strength and number, and I will report to the rear as soon as possible!"

Guerrillas: "The enemy's forces were very weak and poorly trained. Some Proson soldiers even exchanged bullets with us for daily necessities, and then reported to their superiors that they were killed by guerrillas while on patrol.

"A force like this is definitely not going to last! We all do something big from time to time!"

After that, the guerrilla proudly displayed the Proson submachine gun on his chest: "Look! Our level of armament is even better than that of the Proson people. If we encounter them at close range in the forest, they can't beat us. After all, we all have submachine guns."

Another guerrilla laughed and said: "If we have no food or clothes, the enemy will provide them for us. If we have no guns or cannons, the enemy will make them for us!
"We grew up here, and every inch of land belongs to us. No matter who wants to seize it, we will fight him to the end! If you don't attack us, maybe in a few years, we will liberate ourselves!"

Uncle Baba Yaga: "Okay, I know you've been getting better and better lately. Hurry up and lead the way. Once we defeat the enemy, you can become ordinary people again and live a peaceful life!"

"How can this be possible!" Several guerrillas became serious. "We still have to fight back to the Proson Empire. We agreed to see you in Prosonnia!"

Uncle Baba Yaga laughed loudly: "Okay! See you in Prosenya! Stop talking nonsense and lead the way! Let's show the Prosen people a taste of our power!"

(End of this chapter)