Cannon Fire Arc

Chapter 896: Chapter 21 Weekday Offensive_2

Evans half-opened his mouth, and after a long pause, he asked: “What’s going on here? We can still handle it ourselves now, but what about when we go further inland?”

The sergeant just shrugged.

At this moment, a quartermaster soldier entered the tent: “We’ve piled the things you just requested on your jeep, Captain.”

Evans glanced at the soldier and then at the sergeant: “Alright, I’ll go check out the beach.”

Sergeant: “You’ll thank me for this suggestion.”

Evans: “Hopefully.”

————

It wasn’t long before Evans realized that he indeed owed thanks to the quartermaster sergeant.

The beach was piled high with fuel and ammunition, and trucks and jeeps of combat units were everywhere pulling supplies, creating chaos over the entire beachhead.

Evans stopped the car, watching the scene as if it were a market day, and muttered to himself: “What if Ploson Air Force comes to bomb us?”

The nearby constitutional guard heard him and replied: “They’ve already been here. See that large pile of debris over there? That’s the result of the Ploson airplanes bombing. The commander of the nearby anti-aircraft units got a severe scolding, had his moment of insight, and then ended up shooting down three of our own planes yesterday.”

Evans: “Really?”

“Yes, and see that officer over there? That’s the commander I’m talking about, he’s handing over command to the new officer now. But we all know, the one that really needs to be replaced now is General Jin from the Allied Logistic Command. That fool is right now busy planning to move to Champagne, and that’s why the beachhead is in this state.”

Evans doubted what he heard: “Move where?”

“Champagne, the capital of the Duke of Champagne’s domain, it’s the largest city we control now.”

Evans: “Isn’t that the frontline? What’s the Logistics Command doing there?”

The Constitutional Guard was about to reply, but a military police officer approached on patrol, so he kept silent.

The officer glanced at the constitutional guard, then at Evans, and gestured: “Queue up over there for fuel and ammunition.”

Having said that, the officer walked away with a measured pace.

The chatty constitutional guard leaned closer to Evans and whispered: “It’s said that there’s a castle in Champagne. General Jin thinks that his status should have him working from there. Underneath the castle is a wine cellar, and the general is very tempted by those invaluable wines.”

Evans: “What the hell? The front-line supply is almost falling apart, look at how many trucks are here to pull ammo and fuel themselves!”

“Complaining to me won’t help, I’m just a constitutional guard, responsible for maintaining order here.”

Evans shook his head repeatedly, thinking that it would be better to prioritize securing the unit’s fuel and supplies.

————

Prime Minister Leonard banged on the table: “My General Margo, Qin Castle has been besieged for half a month, and it’s this difficult to deal with just three Prosen divisions?”

Margo: “The enemy relies on reinforced concrete buildings to resist. We have to clear them room by room, and their snipers are hidden in various corners, with no consideration for retreat. Some snipers even plant mines on their own exit routes, intending to fight to the death at their sniper positions.

“We haven’t seen such a savage way of fighting.”

Leonard: “Then why are the Anteans so fast at taking cities?”

“According to our interrogations of prisoners, they admitted it was experience brought back from the Eastern Front. The Anteans fought in cities this way.” Margo stated confidently, “Additionally, reports from the units indicate that Plosure sergeants with service medals from the Eastern Front are extremely cunning, with stronger combat will. These veterans have brought us significant trouble.”

Prime Minister Leonard: “Damn Rocossov, is it him again?”

Margo: “It may not necessarily be Rocossov that’s driven these Prosens to this.”

Leonard sighed: “Then why don’t we learn from Rocossov’s advanced experiences? Use enough explosives to blow the Prosens and their shelters away.”

Margo: “Actually, our flamethrower heavy tanks have been quite effective against the enemy, but there are too few flamethrower heavy tanks. The light flamethrower tanks often get destroyed by Prosen units before they are within flamethrowing range.”

Leonard thought for a long time and said to Margo: “Anyway, speed up the progress. The good news is that Ante’s Rocossov has also paused; the front line hasn’t moved on the map for ten days. The liaison officer says he won’t launch a new attack until September 1st.”

Margo: “That’s impossible. His troops must have suffered heavy losses in earlier battles; it’s impossible to launch another attack after such a short rest!”

Prime Minister Leonard: “It implies he is also caught up in Melania’s situation, which is good news. The result of his all-out advance could mean he will need an even longer rest, perhaps even half a year waiting for the wounded core troops to return.

“That would give us half a year’s time! In half a year, we could push into the heart of Prosen, perhaps even occupy Plowsonia!”

Margo: “That’s impossible.”

“What?”

Margo: “First of all, Carolingian is vast, and fully reclaiming it would take a long time. Secondly, there are three roads from Carolingian to Prosen. One is to cross the original Mano Defense Line, but that’s likely been modified by the Prosens and will be very difficult to break through.

“The second is to go through Arden, but the Prosens have blocked this gap with a fortification zone. Aerial photographs show an astonishing number of anti-tank obstacles, making it impossible for engineers to quickly open a path.

“Lastly, there’s the route through the Low Countries, but the Low Countries have many rivers. No, we cannot end the war within half a year, that’s my professional judgment.”

“If you don’t take Qin Castle soon, I’ll begin to question your professionalism.” Leonard said, “At least the Prosens have steadied themselves on the Eastern Front now; those 150 kilometers in front of Rocossov aren’t going to be that easy to cross. His core forces will suffer significant losses here!”

————

Wang Zhong: “After aerial reconnaissance, I discovered that there are still gaps in the enemy’s defense. We’ve already sent infiltration teams to verify some of these gaps, and they successfully delivered weapons to the Melanian insurgents.

“However, there are traitors among the Melanians, and these gaps were quickly sealed by the Prosens.”

The expressions of the commanders in the meeting room were all serious.

Wang Zhong: “But this was also part of my plan. The Prosens can’t conjure defensive forces out of thin air. To seal these gaps, the enemy’s defenses have been further spread out. I believe that a quick breakthrough of these 150 kilometers with 500,000 men has a fifty percent chance of success.”

A Melanian officer loudly asked among the officers: “Only fifty percent, Marshal?”

“Yes, only fifty percent. This is 150 kilometers, and our ammunition, fuel, and other resources aren’t very sufficient, although the troops have recovered quite a bit after a twenty-day rest.”

“Given such a situation, I plan to adopt a bold strategy. I plan to try using light infantry and cavalry to infiltrate the enemy’s lines.

“The entire operation will be conducted in weekly phases, in a wave-like manner. Just one week of fierce offensives, using infantry infiltration and limited armored troops attacks to assault, encircle, and annihilate some of the enemy, then pause to resupply for a week.”

Wang Zhong had no other choice, so he played with light infantry in this manner, a tactic undoubtedly learned from Earth’s strongest light infantry.

Kashuk on the Northern Front has already proven that the current Ante veterans can execute such tactics, so Wang Zhong decided to ‘pay homage’ to his own country.

As to whether it will work—he was uncertain, as his troops were still different from that iron army.

Let’s see if it works by trying it first.

Wang Zhong: “The operation plan has been sent to you, and you will notice that it requires you all to exercise your own subjective initiative.”