Arc of Gunfire

Army Group Center Headquarters, temporary airport.

The senior generals of the army group gathered in the waiting area on the side of the airport, chatting in low voices.

"This time they are probably here to urge us to turn south again." General Heinz Wilhelm von Moltke, commander of the 2nd Armored Group and director of the Plossen Armored Forces, said to Field Marshal von Pogg, commander of the Army Group beside him. , "But we are already very close to Ant's capital! To go south and complete the encirclement, we need to advance 500 kilometers! And it only takes 300 kilometers to capture the capital!"

Marshal Pogg reassured: "You are not fighting these five hundred kilometers alone. General von Steiermark of the First Armored Group will also attack from the south. It is a pincer offensive! In addition, the south is full of great plains. Now is the time for tank maneuvers.

"And if you attack eastward, you will not only have forests and rivers, but also enemy fortification areas."

General Moltke: "There are also rivers going south!"

"But most of them are in the dry season, and your tanks can swim through them." Marshal Pogg paused and added, "Most of them."

General Moltke: "Well, maybe there is not much of a tactical problem in attacking south, but strategically, our time to attack the enemy's capital will be greatly delayed! I think this is strategically wrong!"

Marshal Pogg comforted him: "Don't be impatient. His Majesty just arrived at the front line. You can explain your interests to your Majesty. After convincing your Majesty, you can continue to advance to St. Yekaterinburg after the repairs are completed."

General Mao Qi pursed his lips.

At this time, the Junkers three-engine passenger plane with the royal eagle emblem fell from the sky and landed lightly on the airport.

The plane gradually slowed down, then turned and taxied towards the generals.

The ground staff at the airport pushed the boarding stairs towards the plane.

The plane stopped just in front of the boarding stairs, and the door was facing the boarding stairs.

General Moltke muttered: "Just do such formalistic things!"

Marshal Pogg: "Even if you are deeply trusted by His Majesty, you should not say such things directly."

General Moltke: "I think Your Majesty has such magnanimity! That's why I respect Your Majesty!"

Marshal Pogg stopped talking. After all, he couldn't say that His Majesty didn't have such magnanimity.

At this time, the cabin door opened, and Emperor Plossen Reinhard von Hohenzollern stepped out of the plane happily.

"Ah, my brave generals!" He said this before he walked in front of everyone.

The generals stood at attention and saluted together.

The Emperor simply waved his hand in response and began to embrace the officers in order of rank.

After the hug ended, the emperor said: "I am here to ask for your opinions! Because I found that a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity has been placed in front of us!

“Seizing this opportunity will effectively prove that our Plosen nation is the best nation!

"We will discuss this opportunity in a suitable place! Lead the way, Marshal Pogg!"

The marshal bowed immediately. At this time, the car that had been waiting nearby was already driving over.

The marshal opened the car door for the emperor himself and acted as a waiter without any complaints.

No one sees anything wrong with this.

After the emperor got on the car, a group of people quickly got on the car, and the convoy drove all the way to the headquarters of Army Group Center.

Ten minutes later, the generals were already seated in the conference room of the headquarters.

The emperor paced back and forth in front of the big map: "You must have heard that I am going to send General Moltke's armored group south, and cooperate with the first armored group to launch a pincer attack on Agsukov, the capital of the Kingdom of Kozalia. Offensive!"

General Moltke stood up: "Your Majesty! I am only 300 kilometers away from St. Yekaterinburg! Give me another month, and I can advance to the city!"

The emperor frowned, clearly showing his dissatisfaction: "You may know a lot about military affairs, but you don't understand economics and politics!

“We need Agsukov, we need Khazalia’s coal, steel and grain, their beef and milk!

"Moreover, once the siege is completed, one million enemies will be wiped out, and the Ant Empire will no longer have the strength and morale to fight with us! By then, St. Yekaterinburg will be nothing more than grapes waiting to be picked!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the attendant brought the washed grapes.

The emperor was overjoyed when he saw the grapes. He reached out and picked one: "Look! Grapes! Just like this, swallow it in one gulp! But some of you don't have enough knowledge about destroying the enemy's vitality!"

"Currently, it seems that the resistance of the Ant people will last for five to six months at most! And annihilating their heavy troop cluster in Agsukov will greatly shorten this time!"

"But," General Moltke said, "the Ant Empire was known as a steamroller in the past, and soldiers were the least important to them."

The emperor turned around sharply, an action that made his blond hair fly: "It used to be like this, but times have changed! In the past, the Tsar's gray beast could be armed with a gun, or even without a gun!

"But now, if the infantry does not have technical equipment, it is just garbage and will be easily wiped out! The same goes for infantry who lack training!

“And now, Agsukov’s heavy enemy group has a large amount of technical equipment, including new tanks that have been reported in many places!

"If we do not eliminate this heavy group, but focus on attacking St. Yekaterinburg, this group will be a serious threat if it recovers from our devastating attack! In order to eliminate this threat, we must eliminate it, we must!"

General Mao Qi hesitated to speak.

The emperor stared at him for a while and nodded with satisfaction: "It seems that you have realized this. Defeating the Ant Empire has never been difficult, we knew from the beginning that we would defeat them!

“When we were planning the attack in December last year, we knew the war would be over within a year, we knew that!

"But victory is not enough! The important thing is that we must defeat them beautifully! Eliminating the enemy's millions of soldiers at once can greatly shock our enemies, and make the United Kingdom still stubbornly resisting, as well as the United Nations watching the fire from across the bank. The country is afraid of us!”

The entire venue was silent.

I don't know who shouted "Long live the Emperor", and everyone shouted together: "Long live the Emperor!"

Hohenzollern raised his hand to suppress the cheers and looked at General Moltke again: "What is the current situation of the Second Armored Group?"

General Moltke immediately replied: "All our armored divisions stopped combat operations yesterday and went into rest. The report I got before flying here is that the number of combat-ready tanks in our group has decreased compared to when the attack was launched on June 22. 230 vehicles.”

"230 vehicles!" The emperor raised his voice, obviously this number was beyond his expectation.

General Moltke hurriedly explained: "110 of them can be repaired through field repairs, and 50 can be returned to the factory for repair. My young man has marked the locations of these tanks.

"But only two of our ten field repair groups have reached the front line so far, and the tank repair factory has not arrived at the scheduled location. Originally, we planned to set up the tank repair center in Chehalsky, where there should be a large front-line repair shop. , can repair those severely damaged tanks.

"But there's nothing there now."

The emperor frowned: "What's the reason for advancing so slowly?"

Before General Moltke could speak, Marshal Pogg said: "The condition of the roads is much worse than we expected, and the condition of the railways is also not good. We originally planned the supplies according to the standards of our country's railways, but now we have The railway system within the Empire can only fulfill thirty percent of our scheduled shipments.

"Currently, there is a shortage of ammunition and fuel everywhere on the front line, and we need to stop and wait for replenishment."

Emperor: "The high command told me it was a traffic jam!"

"It is indeed a traffic jam," Marshal Pogg nodded. "The manifestation is a traffic jam, and the underlying reason is that the road conditions are too bad. The headquarters did not tell you this underlying reason, probably because they were afraid that you would think they were shirking their responsibilities."

The corner of the emperor's mouth twitched: "These damn Junker nobles!"

In fact, most of the people present were Junker nobles, but they all pretended not to hear.

The emperor asked General Mao Qi again: "Then when can you start going south?"

General Moltke: "Our current repair rate is ten vehicles per day. It is expected that the combat readiness of the armored forces' tanks will be restored to its peak by August 5. Ammunition and fuel will also be replenished by that time, and the soldiers will also complete their rest and be ready to fight again. Preparation for the attack."

The emperor shook his head: "No, no, it's too slow. The enemy's heavy troop group may detect our intentions at any time. In fact, there are already signs of detection in their deployment. To your south, aerial reconnaissance shows that there are three enemy tank corps. , are all brand new tank armies.

"These three armies are obviously used to delay you. Even - they may even want to use these three armies to completely defeat your group and cut off our offensive spearhead!"

General Moltke said confidently: "They will not succeed. Most of Ant's tanks are inferior products. Although there are a small number of noteworthy new tanks, most of the new tanks were destroyed without engaging us. . We are definitely ahead in armor technology.”

Emperor: "Then you should launch the attack earlier. I think you should start the attack on August 2nd at the latest. Your group is the outer layer of the encirclement, and the inner layer is the infantry unit of the 11th Army, crossing the river here to launch the offensive.

"Army Group South will cross the Tiber River here and detour south of Agsukov."

General Moltke: "If we start the attack on the 2nd, some of our divisions will have relatively large gaps in tanks. After all, the tanks we lose are not evenly distributed to each division!"

"Don't worry about this!" The emperor shook his finger back and forth, "I will strengthen the Asgard Knights Ampra Armored Division and the Asgard Knights Emperor's Guard Division to you. This is brand new The elite troops formed will be the mainstay of protecting our kingdom of Asgard in the future!"

Although all the people present were soldiers, these words still caused a lot of discussion. After all, everyone has long heard that the emperor plans to establish a force independent of the Imperial Defense Force. This is the first time that the rumor has come to fruition.

The emperor proudly declared: "These troops are very elite, commanded by Siegfried, whom I trust most. They are composed of carefully selected veterans and are equipped with the latest weapons. They will crush our enemies!"

When saying this, the emperor made fists with both hands to express his emotions.

General Moltke: "Understood, we will launch the attack on August 2, not earlier."

"Okay." The emperor agreed simply. "The Battle of Agsukov will end in twenty to thirty days, and then we can rush to Saint Catherine!"