artillery arc

Chapter 728 Preparations for Attack
July 917, 7, the 12st Battalion, st Regiment, st Division of the Melania People's Army, st Khazaria Front.

Lieutenant Henry Skarlitz, a Melania native, is reading a newspaper.

"What's the news?"

Sergeant Raskid lay lazily on the simple sofa in the room, looking at Henry.

"The Ants launched an unexpected attack across the swamp and are about to surround Plossen's Northern Army Group between the sea and the swamp. The Plossen are mobilizing a large number of troops from the south of the front line to reinforce the north." Henry said.

"Indeed, yesterday the infiltration reconnaissance team led by old Charlie caught a tongue," said Raskid, "the prisoner said that the troops were being transferred to the north in large numbers."

Henry put down the newspaper, stood up and went to the window.

The windows of the wooden house where they lived faced west, and when the weather was clear, they could directly see the other end of the blockade line covered with barbed wire.

Henry: "Less than thirty kilometers to the west is the Melania border. We live so close to our motherland, but we stayed there for eight months! I thought we should have returned to our motherland during the winter offensive last year!"

"Who isn't?" Raskid agreed, "But at that time, the tanks were all broken, there were not enough shells, and the troops were severely reduced in number, so we had no choice but to stop."

No one knew better than junior officers and NCOs like Henry and Raskid about the situation of Rokossov's troops after last year's great march of hundreds of kilometers.

Last year, the troops really couldn't push forward.

Raskid: "This time last year, I was so skinny I couldn't even get on the scale. I bet I weighed maybe 60 kilograms."

Raskid is only 60 meters tall and weighs kilograms, which makes him look unrecognizable.

Henry: "I was very thin at that time. I was always on the march, and I didn't eat or sleep well. I also had malaria. In order to prevent the military priests from finding out that I was sick and sending me back to the rear to recuperate, I tied my belly with a belt every day!"

Raskid: "I heard that there was a brother in the second company who also had malaria and didn't want to leave the front line, so he used a plug to try to plug PY. It's amazing that he came up with this idea."

Henry smiled bitterly and continued to look at the western sky outside the window glass.

"But we are about to return to our homeland! When Marshal Rokossov returned to his homeland, he returned the soil in his lunch box to his hometown. When I left my hometown, I didn't even think of taking a little soil from my hometown with me!

"I have already thought about it. When I walk on Melania's land, I will kneel down next to the team, hold the soil in my hands and kiss it."

Raskid: "Won't that give me diarrhea again?"

"Then I will also receive treatment and rest on the land of my hometown!"

"Yes, as long as we can return to our hometown, everything else is fine. So when will we cross the last thirty kilometers? Did you receive any news when you went to the division headquarters for a meeting?"

Lieutenant Henry Scaritz shook his head: "No. I asked the staff officer who I have a good relationship with, and he just vaguely said that we will attack when the enemy's troops are empty.

"I don't know how much the enemy's strength must be reduced to be considered empty."

Raskid: "Marshal Rokossov prefers exchanges to fighting, so we have been waiting. If it was Marshal Gorky who was commanding us, the offensive would have started long ago."

The two marshals have very different command styles, and everyone from officers to soldiers likes to talk about related topics.

At this moment, a messenger suddenly opened the door and shouted, "The battalion commander wants all company and platoon leaders to come to the battalion headquarters for a meeting!"

"Got it!" Henry said excitedly.

The messenger ran to the next cabin, leaving the door open.

Lieutenant Henry put away the newspaper and other things and hurried to the door. Raskid shouted at his back: "If it's good news, let me know as soon as possible!"

Lieutenant Henry had already run away.

----

Battalion Commander: "Just as you thought, the offensive is about to begin. In order to avoid leaks, the specific date is still unknown, but according to past practice, it should be this week."

The officers in the room immediately cheered.

Battalion Commander: "Don't be too quick to cheer, the Prosen army in front of us is still quite strong, and they still have a fortress that they have built for six months.

“The good news is that during last year’s winter campaign, we were able to gain a more suitable starting position for the attack, and the enemy’s fortresses had almost no natural barriers to exploit.

“The 1st Guards Heavy Breakthrough Tank Regiment and the 15th Guards Self-Propelled Artillery Brigade will reinforce our division, and our battalion is expected to receive support from three Rokossov I heavy tanks and three Urban assault guns.

"These troops will arrive later today. Who of you would like to ride on the back of a tank as 'armored troopers'?"

The Guards Heavy Breakthrough Tank Regiment generally does not have its own accompanying infantry now, and the infantry from the attached units are all temporary guests.

Henry raised his right hand: "Of course it's our company. We are the spearhead company of the entire battalion. We must rush into the enemy camp with the tanks as soon as possible."

"Anyone else want this job?"

Someone immediately responded: "We want to measure the land of our hometown with our own feet, Battalion Commander!"

Everyone laughed.

----

The heart of the Plossom Empire, the Eagle's Nest.

Emperor Proson stood with his hands behind his back, looking at the huge map of the war room.

"Damn Rokossov! I have a feeling that he will take an offensive stance at the front of the Southern Army Group in order to prevent us from withdrawing troops from the Southern Army Group to the north."

At this time, there were no other senior generals around him, only two loyal major generals.

One of the two said: "Is it really a gesture? We have transferred so many troops to the north. Will Rokossov miss this good opportunity?"

"But he also needs troops to attack!" The emperor put his hands behind his back. "According to our conservative estimate, he has deployed a total of four million troops in the north, the center, and Moravia further south. He has at most five million troops on the front line, and the rest should be in the rear and the Far East. Even a good cook cannot cook without rice."

The emperor continued after a brief pause: "Let's relax the estimation standard a little bit. Assuming that Rokossov has 6 million troops on the front line, he still has 2 million troops. Although our Southern Army Group has withdrawn a lot of troops to the north, it still has 700,000 troops left, as well as a solid fortified area.

"Even if Rokossov deploys two million troops, it will be difficult to break through the defense of the Southern Army Group. What's more, he does not have two million troops, absolutely not!" As he said this, the emperor waved his hands vigorously, looking very confident.

----

Yebao, Ante Command Headquarters.

"The most important offensive in the first phase of our summer offensive will soon be launched by Marshal Rokossov's First Khazaria Front." Marshal Gorky explained in front of a huge map, holding a map stick.

Olga looked at Wang Zhong with a smile: "You will definitely defeat the enemy, right?"

Wang Zhong stood up and took the map stick from Marshal Gorky: "We have concentrated 240 million troops on the front of the Southern Army Group, of course these troops do not only belong to my front.

"We estimate the enemy to be between 600,000 and 700,000 men, so we will have a three-fold or even a four-fold advantage in numbers.

"Across the entire front, our forces have increased to seven million, and the density of our forces has exceeded the highest record since the invasion of Plossom. If these troops are to defend, such a crowded situation will cause many casualties."

The higher the density of troops, the greater the losses they will suffer when subjected to enemy artillery and bombing. Moreover, the more troops assembled in the same area, the less sufficient facilities such as anti-artillery shelters will be.

Therefore, when conducting defensive operations, it is not appropriate to pile up so many troops at once, but the troops should be arranged in a step-by-step manner, layer by layer.

But it is different when attacking. As the party holding the initiative, the troops fifteen kilometers behind the front line are less likely to be bombarded by the enemy.

After all, as the battle line is pushed forward, the areas that the enemy's artillery can cover will only get farther and farther away from where the troops are assembled.

Wang Zhong pointed with his map stick at the route from Khazaria to the Baltic Sea: "After breaking through the frontal defense of Plossen, our troops will gallop across the East Europa Plain. The Melania Resistance Army will help us. According to the plan, their representatives will cross the front line today and contact us."

"Oh, I see." Olga suddenly asked worriedly, "Will they cooperate with us with all their strength? When we liberated the country before, the local resistance organization helped us with all their strength because the core of the resistance organization was the underground church, and they shared the same language and culture with us. Melania doesn't have a church, and her language and customs are different from ours, right?"

Wang Zhong was actually a little worried that Melania would not cooperate well.

This is the situation on Earth. The resistance army of Great Popo on Earth is called the Great Popo National Army. After Marshal Rokossovsky's troops broke into Great Popo, instead of providing full support, they also killed the liaison officer sent by the Russians and insisted on launching an uprising when the Russians clearly stated that they could not push forward for the time being.

The result was that Marshal Rokossovsky's troops tried their best to rescue them but failed, and the uprising of the National Army was ultimately brutally suppressed by Sandezi.

Wang Zhong was a little worried that this time and space would also evolve into this.

----

That evening, the headquarters of the First Khazaria Front had moved to the vicinity of the front line.

Pavlov met Melania's resistance liaison team in the conference room.

"Why are you so dusty?" Pavlov asked in confusion, "What happened on the road?"

"Nothing. We suddenly encountered a random inspection by the Prossen gendarmerie. We had no choice but to lie down in the grass and wait for the inspection to be over." The leader of the liaison team looked down at his clothes that were already covered in mud.

"Arrange a change of clothes immediately." Pavlov waved his hand and ordered, then changed the subject, "Where is the contact person? And how is your support plan arranged?"

Team leader: “We have arranged two thousand guides who are familiar with the terrain. Once you enter Melania, the guides will join your troops.

“These two thousand people can speak Ante.

"In addition, we will also completely destroy the Proson people's telephone lines and telegraph lines, and disrupt the Proson people's railway transportation schedule. Stronger resistance organizations will also launch attacks on Proson military stations in the activity area and ambush Proson troop transport convoys."

General Pavlov nodded: "Very good, these are what we need."

The team leader took out an envelope from his pocket and said, "We now have information about the Southern Army Group of Proson. The Southern Army Group is mainly deployed in Ant. We don't know their detailed situation, but we have estimated the current strength of the Southern Army Group by observing and recording the transportation situation in Melania."

Pavlov opened the envelope, took out a thick pile of documents inside and quickly flipped through them.

Popov came over and asked, "How is it?"

Pavlov: "According to this report, since the emergency on the northern front, the Prosen people have withdrawn at least one army group. Now the Southern Army Group has only two complete army groups and two army groups with a lot of troops withdrawn, about 600,000 people.

"It's similar to the information we got from catching the tongue."

Popov: "It seems that the Marshal's plan was successful. We artificially stretched the Prosen's deployment and created a huge weakness."

At this time, Team Leader Melania asked, "How many troops have you prepared to attack the Prosons? Since the end of last year, the resistance organization has discovered that the Prosons have been continuously transporting cement and steel bars to the front line. We believe that the Prosons have built permanent fortifications of considerable size."

"They did." Pavlov turned around and took the document bag from the staff officer, pouring out the aerial reconnaissance photos from it. "Look, this is the bunker our plane found. There must be more bunkers hidden on the battlefield. They are all reinforced concrete buildings."

Melania asked worriedly, "How do you deal with this?"

"We sent out the Front Air Force yesterday to attack these fortifications with giant bombs carried by Pe-8 bombers, but since high-altitude bombers cannot be accurately aimed, there has not been much success so far.

"But we guarantee that when the offensive begins, the Urban assault guns will destroy these reinforced concrete buildings."

Melania nodded: "That's great!"

----

July 7, 13st Company, st Battalion, st Division of the Melania People’s Army.

After Lieutenant Henry Scaritz woke up and washed up, he picked up today's newspaper again - to be more precise, "the newspapers that were delivered today". These newspapers were no longer timely on the way from Yebao.

Henry's roommate, Raskid, asked, "How's it going?"

"The counterattack went smoothly, and the Ante Command in Yebao publicly announced that the next step would be for the Khazaria First Front to launch an offensive."

"Why do we take the initiative to tell the enemy that we are going to attack?" Raskid asked in surprise.

"I think the Marshal is going to defy logic," Henry replied, glancing quickly through the newspaper. "Nothing noteworthy, I think--"

The messenger entered the room again: "The tank troops that are going to reinforce us have arrived!"

Henry threw down the newspaper and stood up: "Let's go and take a look!"

(End of this chapter)