Cannon Fire Arc

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In the next half-day, troops from the 33rd Cavalry Division gradually arrived, and the village was suddenly crammed with cavalry.

Wang Zhong said to the division commander of the 33rd, “Eat if you need to eat, and quickly replenish whatever you need. Once you’re done, set up tents outside the city to prepare for the night. The city is within the enemy’s artillery range, so try not to cram too many people inside.”

The division commander saluted, “Yes. No wonder I saw a lot of infantry and armored troops outside the city, it’s to avoid artillery fire.”

Wang Zhong, “Isn’t that the case? If it weren’t for the possibility of enemy artillery fire, I wouldn’t have my troops out in the sun like this.”

The division commander, “We could send out a small detachment to scout out the enemy’s artillery positions.”

Wang Zhong, “Air Force reconnaissance did indeed locate the grid on the map where the enemy’s artillery positions are, but according to the photos, the enemy has deployed heavy forces around the artillery, including a battalion of anti-aircraft guns and a considerable number of infantry.

“I suggest you send a suicide squad, and don’t sacrifice too many men. The real target is this vast grassland. The enemy definitely doesn’t have the power to defend such a wide expanse of grassland.”

As Wang Zhong spoke, he used a long stick to draw a large circle on the map.

Pavlov, “The Air Force reconnaissance also didn’t find many well-defended positions on the grasslands, and even if there were, they wouldn’t be able to supply them. The more mechanized and composite the army, the more disadvantaged they are on the grasslands, while your cavalry can move freely.”

Wang Zhong, “That’s why I’ve requested High Command to provide me with cavalry. You two armies, one on the left and one on the right, ride across the grasslands. I know you’ve been equipped with incendiary grenades, but I ask you not to engage directly with the enemy’s armored forces, even if it’s just a half-tracked vehicle, go around them.

“Your only targets are the enemy’s logistical troops.”

“Only the logistics?”

“Yes.”

At this point, Pavlov said, “The cavalry hasn’t all arrived yet, you’re only telling one division commander. You’ll have to repeat it again tomorrow.”

At this point, the division commander of the 33rd spoke up, “Actually, our army only has two divisions, and the 21st Cavalry Army only has one division, even the army headquarters has been streamlined.”

Wang Zhong frowned slightly, “Why?”

“Because there is no cavalry left,” the division commander shrugged, “most of the cavalry divisions have been transformed into tank divisions, and the division and corps commanders of the cavalry units have readily become the commanders of tank divisions and tank corps.”

Wang Zhong’s brows knitted tightly, “Even if cavalry isn’t suited to modern warfare, this isn’t the right way to do things. Cavalry and tanks have nothing in common! Only amateurs would treat them as the same thing.”

The division commander said awkwardly, “Maybe the higher-ups think that both tanks and cavalry are meant for deep maneuver operations after breaking through the enemy’s defenses.”

“Nonsense!” Wang Zhong cursed, “The way cavalry and tanks are used is worlds apart. I’m going to call General Tugenev to get him to stop these kinds of troop transformations.”

At this time, Pavlov spoke up, “The transformation from cavalry to Armored Troops isn’t problematic. We maintained such a large-scale cavalry organization. If not change it, what then? Can cavalry be used on the great grasslands of Nan’ant? Can they operate on the chernozem soils of Kazarlia? In the forests and swamps of Livonia?

“The key is to provide enough training for the cavalry officers and soldiers! Let them understand how to use tank forces, right?”

Wang Zhong thought for a moment and felt that Pavlov had a point, so he dropped the issue and instead asked the cavalry division commander in front of him, “So, the strength of your two armies is not equal? Then, the original plan of having one army responsible for one side won’t work.”

The division commander, “We can detach a part of our other division and strengthen the 21st Army.”

“Would the soldiers mind?” Wang Zhong asked.

“Why would they mind? They are all comrades who have shared hardship together,” the division commander said with a slight smile.

“Very good,” Wang Zhong turned to Pavlov, “Begin the detachment process immediately.”

“Leave it to me.”

Then Wang Zhong patted the division commander on the shoulder, “You’ll have to rough it in tents tonight. After all cavalry troops arrive tomorrow, we’ll launch a night attack. Taking advantage of the cover of darkness, we’ll burst into the grasslands and catch the enemy off guard.”

————

The Army Group headquarters of the Prussian 10th, an oil tank truck carrying an Air Force liaison officer, arrived at the command tent.

It was already nine o’clock in the evening, but it wasn’t dark yet.

The Air Force colonel got out of the vehicle and strode into the tent.

Inside the tent, General Boke was cursing as he swatted at mosquitoes, “Damn it! Rocossov must be trying to kill us with mosquitoes! Mosquitoes, and lice too!”

Hearing about lice, the Air Force colonel decisively stopped and kept his distance from the general.

The general glared at him, “I don’t have lice, my clothes have been boiled in hot water! But if I stay in the grasslands for a few more days, that’s no longer certain! A lot of the soldiers are already covered in lice! So, I hope the Air Force has some good news!”

The Air Force colonel took out a document bag, “Of course there’s good news. We’ve destroyed Rocossov’s artillery positions. These positions were defended by Divine Arrows, and in order to destroy them, we lost four Stuka planes, four experienced crews never to return! This proves that those positions were real, Rocossov’s artillery has suffered heavy losses!” Sёarch* The Novёlƒire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

The general made a gesture, and his aide immediately stepped forward to take the document bag, opening it and taking out the contents, “These are photos.”

General, “Are these photos of the enemy artillery positions being destroyed?”

“Yes, and also photos of Rocossov’s headquarters being bombed.”

“Hmph.” The general snatched the photos from his aide’s hands, flipped through them quickly, and then cursed, “Idiots! Do these artillery positions look destroyed to you? Where are the remnants of the guns and vehicles?”

“Our intelligence experts believe they have been moved,” the colonel said.

“The remnants too?” the general asked, “That doesn’t make sense!”

The colonel answered calmly, “It might be to confuse our judgement. Rocossov is very cunning…”

“`

“Rocossov is very cunning, so these could be false positions! There were such reports during the Orachi campaign, and Loktov had them too!”

The colonel: “But these positions are protected by Divine Arrow. The losses among the Ante People’s Divine Arrow prayer hands have been very severe, it’s not likely they would use them to protect false positions.”

General Boke stopped, because he too was a Prosen, and he had the Prosen’s meticulousness, which now told him that indeed, it was not likely to use the already precious prayer hands to defend false positions.

But he felt something was off, so he said to the chief of staff, “Call the 190th Division and ask if they were shelled today.”

The chief of staff nodded.

Soon the report came in, “The 190th Division did not experience shelling today.”

In fact, it was because Wang Zhong hadn’t conducted frontline reconnaissance and didn’t know where to shell. But General Boke had no way of knowing this.

He looked toward the Air Force colonel, who proudly raised his head, his nose pointing skyward.

General Boke: “Well, let’s assume for the moment that the Air Force has completed their objective. Anything else we should pay attention to?”

The colonel immediately replied, “Yes, please turn to photos number 110 to 143.”

General Boke looked down to flip through the photos, but before he had flipped through a few pages, his aide-de-camp handed him the corresponding numbered photos all at once.

The general quickly flipped through a few pages and asked, “What’s this on top? Armored Troops moving in?”

“No, such a large dust cloud looks like a large-scale Cavalry Troop moving in on the main road. Additionally, subsequent photos captured the cavalry resting on the grassland, with their horses scattered on the grassland grazing.”

General Boke’s brows were tightly knit: “Cavalry?”

His aide-de-camp said with a smile, “They wouldn’t be planning to repeat the foolishness of the Melania people, would they?”

General Boke glared at his aide-de-camp, “Don’t be like that, that’s Imperial propaganda! The truth is, Melania’s cavalry almost broke through our infantry lines, but then half-tracks and assault guns arrived. Back then, our infantry units didn’t have so many armored units, they were real infantry divisions, the situation was actually very dangerous.”

After finishing his thoughts, General Boke carefully examined the photos in his hand.

The headquarters grew quiet.

But then, the sound of a loudly chirping cricket came from outside.

The general swore, “Make it shut up!”

“What? The cricket?” the aide-de-camp asked in shock.

“Yes, whatever means you use, just make it shut up!”

The aide-de-camp, looking helpless, went outside the tent.

As soon as he left, General Boke slapped his thigh, “I’ve got it, this Rocossov plans to use the cavalry to burst into the grasslands and disrupt our logistics!”

The chief of staff: “Using cavalry? Wouldn’t that be a bit too fanciful, how would they deal with our armored vehicles?”

“They don’t need to deal with them!” said General Boke, “Just run when they encounter armored vehicles and tank units! We only have one rear mobile brigade and one national guard brigade responsible for rear defense, which basically can only ensure key points. They can’t cope at all if there are too many cavalry!”

The chief of staff: “But cavalry is an outdated branch, we don’t even have cavalry divisions in our military structure anymore, as far as I know neither does the United Kingdom, only the federated states of the United Kingdom have them.”

“The key isn’t the outdated branch, it’s the environment, this vast, sparsely populated environment! Armored Troops are restricted by logistics and can’t be fully deployed, but Cavalry Troops can gallop across the grasslands! Rocossov has spotted this, so he’s gathering Cavalry Troops to prepare to launch raiding operations on us!”

The Air Force colonel: “That’s a naval term…”

“Never mind where the word comes from! A raiding battle is the most accurate description, or you could call it a supply line disruption battle! Cavalry Troops will, like naval cruisers, attack our supply lines everywhere, bypassing all our defenses.

“Soon our truck convoys will be too scared to set off without escort troops, and then the armored vehicles of the escort troops will quickly be consumed by the grassland, understand? Think about how many tanks and vehicles we’ve lost to non-combat losses since entering the grassland!”

After speaking, General Boke began pacing back and forth in the headquarters.

At that moment, his aide-de-camp came in, holding a metal lunchbox, “Report! The cricket was caught!”

General Boke was alarmed, “What cricket?”

“Huh?”

“You have time for crickets now? Throw it away!”

“But, what if it makes noise again?” the aide-de-camp said.

“Then let it make noise!”

“Huh?”

The chief of staff desperately gestured at the aide-de-camp, mouthing: “Kill it, get moving.”

At that moment, the cricket in the lunchbox began chirping robustly.

The scene became very awkward.

General Boke couldn’t bear it any longer: “Make it shut up!”