Arc of Gunfire

Chapter 211 The War of Giles (Updated 3/33)

Within the Prosen Empire, the Eagle's Nest is the headquarters of Emperor Reinhardt.

At the supporting airport near the Eagle's Nest, a Junkers 52 three-engine passenger plane landed lightly. After the plane stopped, a jeep and a medium-sized truck carrying a squad of soldiers drove up to the plane.

Giles stepped out of the plane, glanced at the empty airport, and frowned slightly.

The major who greeted us at this time said: "Your Majesty is waiting for you at the Eagle's Nest. Military affairs are urgent, so no one else except the security personnel has been arranged to receive you."

"I know." Giles walked down the gangway and got into the jeep. His adjutant, Feliz, sat directly in the passenger seat.

When the major who came to greet him saw this, he stood directly on the pedal outside the door of the truck behind him, held the door, and then made a gesture: "Let's go."

The jeep driver stepped on the accelerator, and the convoy drove out of the airport and drove along the winding mountain road toward the Eagle's Nest.

Passing by a ruins on the road, Giles asked curiously: "What's going on in the ruins?"

Then he discovered that because of his adjutant's actions, the receptionist who could answer this question was in the guard car.

Giles could only shut his mouth.

After a while, the car drove into the tunnel halfway up the mountain, drove all the way to the deepest point, and entered the large elevator.

Then with the sound of the motor, the elevator began to rise.

This elevator seemed to be built to show off the mechanical and electrical achievements of the Prosin Empire. It could actually lift a jeep and a truck plus the weight of seventeen adults at the same time.

After the elevator stopped, the major who greeted him made a gesture: "Please."

The elevator door opened, Giles walked into the passage of the Eagle's Nest, and walked to the emperor's office in a familiar manner. At the door of the office, Giles was about to hand over his gun to the secretary, but the secretary said: "His Majesty said you can enter the office with a gun."

Giles hesitated for a moment, then took off the gun and holster: "I can enter with a gun, but I don't have to enter with a gun, right?"

The secretary bowed: "Then I will keep it for you."

After putting away the gun, the secretary pressed the button on the table, and the door to the office opened automatically.

This fortress, as if to show off Proson's technical prowess, is filled with machine-driven doors.

Prosen Emperor Reinhard was standing in front of the huge sand table, staring at the entire battlefield, as if he was a giant god in control of everything.

Hearing the sound of the door opening, Reinhardt didn't look back and asked directly: "I heard that you stopped attacking and started soil work?"

"Yes, I find that our armored forces are not suitable for such an attack."

Reinhardt: "Nonsense! In the Carolingian, our armored forces broke through the fortification area! At that time, the army still had many No. 1 and No. 2 tanks!"

"Now the army also has a lot of No. 1 and No. 2 tanks. We did achieve a brilliant victory in the Carolingian, but here, I attacked for a day and gained nothing except hundreds of casualties and the loss of seventy tanks!"

Giles was neither arrogant nor humble, and continued: "Your Majesty! I know that destroying the symbol of the enemy's will to resist is of decisive significance. War is indeed an extension of politics, but war is not politics after all!

"I know that you pursue the benefits of having the Asgardian Knights, who symbolize your ideals, destroy the enemy's imperial iron wall, but it is an ironclad fact that armored divisions are not suitable for attacking fortified areas!

"In fact, our armored divisions in the Carolingian were mainly responsible for outflanking the enemy and cutting off logistical supplies. It was a bad idea to place the armored divisions in front of the enemies fortified along the river!"

Facing Gil-Ais's sonorous and powerful statement, Reinhard looked at the sky: "You...what you said makes sense. Is Ant's iron wall that powerful? In one day, someone as famous as our ancient heroes was killed. Siegfried gave up?"

Giles: "I am as famous as the hero because my father was named after the hero. This is not a coincidence, nor is it the coming of some divine power. It is my father's beautiful wish."

"But it's no longer the case under the propaganda. Sieg, you have to defeat your enemy!" Reinhard stepped forward in three steps and grabbed Giles' shoulders. "Do you understand?"

"That's why I came to tell you the pros and cons! We need engineering troops to do groundwork to deal with the enemy who is good at using artillery! As long as the arc drawn by the artillery fire above our heads fails, we can approach the river and then ignore it. It's easy to cross the river with smoke or use the hidden 88-gun to destroy the enemy's armored train!" Giles said.

The emperor let go of Giles' shoulders and walked to the map: "What about the armored troops? The armored troops can't drive to the front through the tunnel, right?"

Giles: "Then the armored forces can be mobilized to the north to participate in the offensive there. In terms of organization, the northern and southern pliers are both troops of Army Group Center, so this kind of transfer is not particularly troublesome."

"But what about the distance?" Reinhard looked at his classmates from the military academy. "Ante is not a Carolingian. In the Carolingians, such mobilization is easy, just transport it by train. But in Ant... if there is no need for railway transportation, By the time we get there, most of the armored divisions in the north will be hunkered down, with no more than thirty tanks available. "

The emperor returned to the map: "As for using railways, look at Ant's railway lines. All railways are radial. If we want to mobilize your armored division to the north, we must take such a V-shaped route.

"Ante's railway is designed to continuously transport his troops from the rear to the front. If you think about it from the perspective of transporting the assembled reserves to the front, their railway is extremely efficient!"

Giles: "Don't worry. After our infantry and engineers break through the defense line and occupy Shostka, the armored forces will still have the opportunity to gallop on the plains. After crossing the Duwa River, it will be a smooth journey to Yeburg. "

Reinhard looked at the map and was silent for a long time, then asked: "How long do you think it will take to break through the Duwa River and capture Shostka?"

"Twenty days. This is a conservative estimate. In fact, the latest report submitted by the engineers before I took off said that the excavation operation will take almost ten days to reach the river bank, and then we can consider erecting a pontoon bridge under the cover of smoke."

Reinhard looked at the calendar: "Well, yes. A 20-day breakthrough is acceptable."

The emperor came to Giles: "I ask you, can you declare to the outside world that you will break through the enemy's last hope of defense within 20 days?"

Giles nodded: "No problem at all. Then my armored army will gallop across Ant's wilderness."

The emperor nodded: "Okay! Then do as you say. Break through the Duwa River on October 12th and occupy Shostka!"

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Jules 914, September 23, Shostka.

Wang Zhong arrived at the division headquarters bunker early in the morning and found that only a few staff officers were on duty, and Popov, who was on the night shift, was missing.

"What's going on? Where's the bishop?"

"He was late this morning and had diarrhea," the staff officer said.

Wang Zhong sighed. It was no wonder that he had diarrhea. He couldn't be allowed to have diarrhea in the division headquarters bunker. The smell was too testing.

He came to the observation port, picked up the telescope and looked across the river, and sure enough he couldn't see anything.

Then he casually cut the perspective.

This time he actually saw the enemy!

Yesterday, the enemy did not appear in the range that he could highlight at all. He almost wondered whether the enemy suddenly "dropped offline".

Now the enemy finally appears!

Wang Zhong hurried to see what the enemy was doing, and found that the enemy was digging trenches!

Soil work? ? ?

Because there are relatively few depictions of soil work in various World War II games, most of the time everyone is fighting soldiers against soldiers and tanks against tanks, just like this.

The last time he saw large-scale soil work was in the movie "Armageddon". In order to use inferior equipment to eat up the enemy with superior firepower, our army directly used soil work to approach the enemy's position.

There is also a long shot in the movie that simulates walking through the trenches from a first-person perspective, which has become a classic in film history.

I remember the line in the movie at that time said: "The trenches must be dug to 50 meters away from the enemy's position!"

Does the enemy also want to play this trick?

Don't you drive your little tanks anymore?

Wang Zhong suddenly realized that since he saw the enemy, he could not ignore it. No matter what the enemy is doing, just explode.

So he said to the staff officer on duty: "Receive the artillery regiment! The enemy is doing soil work, No. 1 fire plan, fire!"

Five minutes later, the shells fell.

Hearing the sound of artillery, Pavlov and Popov rushed to the division command post together.

Pavlov: "What's going on?"

Wang Zhong: "I discovered that the enemy was advancing its soil work, so I ordered a wave of bombings."

Pavlov and Popov hurried to the observation port with telescopes to look outside.

"There is indeed soil work, and the mound of soil clearly looks like excavated soil. Yesterday, I was very sure that there was no such thing." Pavlov put down the telescope, "I suggest that Lieutenant Colonel Eugene come and take a look. He is He was born as a miner and basically presided over the construction of all our fortifications.”

————

Lieutenant Colonel Eugene observed seriously for half an hour before putting down the telescope and said to Wang Zhong: "It must be soil work."

Wang Zhongxin thought that I was cheating and saw it, and said something I didn't know.

Eugene continued: "This morning's bombing seems to have little effect, mainly because our army's artillery shells cannot be guaranteed to land in the trenches. Moreover, trenches are generally W-shaped. If the artillery shells fall in, they will kill at most those in this section of the trench. people."

Wang Zhong: "So the bombardment is useless?"

"Yes, it is impossible for the enemy to work when bombing with artillery shells. As long as we have enough artillery shells to continue bombing, it will be impossible for the enemy to advance at all."

Wang Zhong's whole face wrinkled.

Eugene understood immediately: "We can't keep bombing, can we?"

"Yes." Wang Zhong nodded and had to think of a solution.

He started pacing the bunker.

Popov also comforted him: "It's not like being dug in will inevitably lead to loss. Our plan also includes the part where the enemy successfully crosses the river and then engages in a fierce battle with the enemy on the beach."

Wang Zhong pursed his lips.

Suddenly, he asked Lieutenant Colonel Eugene: "How long do you think it will take for the enemy to dig through this tunnel?"

Eugene: "When we were building the bridgehead opposite, I measured the soil quality on the west bank. I estimated that it would take fifteen days."

Wang Zhong turned to Pavlov and asked: "Is there a meteorological team at the airport? Where is the latest weather forecast? How long until it rains?"

Pavlov: "According to the weather forecast, there are still 20 days."

Wang Zhong slapped his thigh: "We should tell the commander on the other side about this situation! Let him know that he has no time!"