Arc of Gunfire

On November 18, in front of the headquarters of the 2nd Armored Group of the Prosen Army.

Walter Mendel dismounted, handed the reins to the guard, then strode towards the headquarters, entered the door, turned left and went straight to the hall - now the map room and command room.

As soon as he entered, Mendel glanced at the fireplace and said, "How dare you live in a ready-made house? Aren't you afraid of Rokosov's cannon?"

Von Moltke: "Unless his artillery can hit twenty-five kilometers. He is currently busy cleaning up our troops in the encirclement. At present, it seems that there are about 100,000 of our soldiers who still have fighting ability are resisting."

Mendel said loudly: "Isn't that all inside? After two months of consumption, these seven divisions have suffered heavy losses. More than half of the combatants have been sent to the hospital!"

Von Moltke said with a dark face: "Because most of the troops voluntarily stayed to break up the main force's rear. They actually rejected the plan to retreat from the frozen soil, which is why we launched a rescue operation."

Mendel: "Use my division!"

"It is His Majesty the Emperor's division." Von Moltke corrected him.

Mendel: "But they were drawn from my army group. I know their situation well. Although these three divisions are not in the forward assault, the supply situation of these three divisions is relatively good, and each person has been issued a blanket, but they lack artillery shells—— No, lacking everything!

"I am opposed to counterattack, please put this on record!"

As he spoke, Mendel looked at the staff officer responsible for recording various decisions made by the headquarters.

Von Moltke laughed dumbly: "What you did reminds me of my old enemy, Duke Shipling. He is always like this. As long as he loses the battle, it must not be his fault."

Mendel: "Do you think I'm shirking the blame? No, I'm just telling you that attacking at this time has no meaning and can't be defeated. The opponent is an expert in defensive warfare. Our current supply situation is like this. It's impossible to win. Progress possible!

"And you launched the attack just to get an explanation from His Majesty the Emperor, isn't that it? Is there any difference between you and him? No!"

Von Moltke looked at the adjutant: "I see that Lieutenant General Mendel is tired from traveling and traveling..."

"No! I won't stay overnight! I just came to express my opinion. Now that I have finished expressing my opinion, you should withdraw quickly. If you don't withdraw, the Ant people will counterattack on a large scale. My reconnaissance force has discovered more and more people. I believe a large-scale attack is coming soon. The key now is not attack, but defense! ”

After speaking, Mendel turned around and strode away.

Others in the headquarters looked at von Moltke.

The general sighed: "Launch the attack according to the original plan."

————

After the Prosin artillery preparations were completed, Yegorov got up: "Isn't this too fast? Does the enemy really have the determination to attack?"

Vasily, who was sent here to establish communications, said: "I don't know, maybe the enemy knows that they can't dig out any decent fortifications in this place day and night, so they just bombard it casually."

At this time the artillery observer shouted: "Enemy tanks, southwest!"

Yegorov hurriedly lay down on the edge of a simple bunker made of wood and sandbags, raised his telescope, and observed while saying: "There are about sixty tanks, but there are a lot of infantry. What is going on?"

Vasily: "Maybe they are all broken. We have so many broken tanks. No matter how good the enemy's maintenance support is, it is impossible to guarantee the condition of the tanks under such circumstances."

Yegorov was speechless: "No matter what, our strategy remains the same. We first block the infantry and let the mortars fire."

After saying that, he turned around and looked at the 88mm anti-aircraft gun position right next to the command post. In fact, his command post was a supporting fortification originally built by the Prosen people. It originally had a three-layer wooden roof. Ant's artillery fire was ready.

Then the position was completely captured, because the 88 guns and machine guns were frozen.

Of course, these cannons and machine guns have been well roasted by fire and can be used normally.

The first wave of mortars had already fallen on the enemy lines.

At this time, the observer guarding the artillery mirror shouted: "Pass the 1,500-meter mark!"

Dimitri Ivanovich, who temporarily served as the commander of this anti-aircraft gun position, shouted: "Aim at the target and fire!"

The gunners are all from the anti-tank artillery unit. The educational level of ordinary infantrymen in Ant is not high, so it takes a long time for them to learn to operate the cannon.

Because they were not familiar with cannons and there were few people, the four 88-guns were temporarily silent after the first wave of firing.

Yegorov used a telescope to observe the impact point, and only saw the shell bouncing off the ground like a table tennis ball.

No Plosen tanks were hit.

At this time, there was an even denser mortar barrage, and the vehicles separated the Prosen infantry and tanks.

And the 88-gun finally fired its second round of attack.

Yegorov saw a hole in the front of a Prosen tank, and then fire broke out from the engine cover. Two tank crews got out of the tank and rolled on the ground.

Yegorov: "Okay! Good fight! Keep going!"

At this time, the smoke of the Proscenians finally came down.

Yegorov: "This is a normal situation. This is the Prosen army I am familiar with."

As soon as he finished speaking, he heard the sound of an engine on his side of the position. When he looked back, he found that the ZIS30 company, which was blocked from view, began to move.

"Oh, these things run really fast. Can they use their firepower around the enemy's smoke? That would be great."

Yegorov beamed with joy: "It's changed, it's all changed. It's no longer the same army that used to beg for food and need equipment."

After speaking, Yegorov pulled out his pistol and said to the infantry: "You should also perform well! When there was no equipment, we won purely by infantry! Show the momentum of the 31st Guards Regiment!"

"But we are from the Fifth Beshensk Regiment." someone said.

"It's all the same! The 5th Beshensk Regiment is also a unit that fought hard in Loktov! Don't embarrass the sacrificed seniors! Let them see how powerful they are! Machine guns, start shooting! Form a fire net!"

The machine guns on the position opened fire immediately. These machine guns were all organized according to the fire zone method proposed by General Rokossov, creating a fire network with no blind spots. Even if it was obscured by smoke, it could effectively organize the enemy's attack - but it was relatively expensive on ammunition. .

General Rokossov's style was to pile ammunition to kill the enemy. This was true for artillery fire, and so was the "fire zone".

At this time, the ZIS30 that had been moved into position fired again.

Yegorov couldn't see the effect of the ZIS30 strike, so he could only stretch his neck and worry: "Damn, I can't see anything. This smoke is really annoying."

At this time Vasily said: "I don't know if it's my imagination, but I always feel that General Rokossov can see through smoke."

Before Yegorov could speak, Popov, who came to the front to supervise the battle, spoke: "It's normal for you to think like this. If a general performs so well, your perception of him will change and you will constantly beautify him. This As for St. Andrew, he said that he was actually an ordinary person, but we mythologized him.

“St. Andrew throughout his life was very averse to mythologizing him.”

Vasily frowned: "But... I really think the general can see a lot of things that I can't see. Even though everyone is in the same observation window, he seems to be able to control the overall situation."

Yegorov smiled: "Isn't that nonsense? After all, he took the advanced command course and graduated from the Suvorov Military Academy. You took the warrant officer course. If you want to be a senior staff officer, you have to go to Suvorov Military Academy." He is studying at the Wolof Military Academy.

"I don't even understand what the general learned!"

Vasily opened his mouth, but in the end he still did not say that General Rokossov was the last.

————

On November 19, at 0800 hours, the headquarters of Army Group Center of the Prossen Army.

Marshal von Pogg looked at the communications officer who entered the door: "How is the situation?"

The staff officer looked at the telegram in his hand: "The combat readiness rates of armored vehicles of each unit have been summarized. Do you want me to read it from the beginning?"

Marshal von Pogg nodded: "Read it."

Staff officer: "First Armored Division, number of combat-ready tanks, 1 Panzer III tank, 1 Panzer IV tank. Second..."

"Wait a minute!" Marshal von Pogg raised his right hand, "There are only two tanks left in the First Armored Division that can be dispatched?"

"Yes, the severe cold destroyed the tank's transmission system. Even after thawing, it does not run perfectly. All armored units reported a spike in failure rates. The good news is that more than half of the tank crews in each division are alive."

Marshal von Pog waved his hand: "Okay, don't read it. We must retreat, otherwise we won't even be able to save these tank crews. Experienced tank crews, like pilots, are valuable assets. Now is the time for a full retreat. ”

Chief of Staff: "Don't care about the 100,000 people being surrounded?"

Field Marshal von Pog looked at the small patch of blue on the map surrounded by enemy symbols.

"I actually... doubt that there are any resisting troops in the encirclement now. The enemy did not eat this army in order to attract us so that their troops could prepare for a large-scale counterattack and then eat more of our troops. force."

————

Wang Zhong took the receiver and said to the other side of the phone: "As long as the enemy is still attacking and trying to break the siege, we should encircle it but not annihilate it. We can even shout to the Pulosen people in the encirclement and ask them to come over and eat. , Keep them here so that our army can carry out a larger-scale annihilation operation when it is ready."

Belinsky: "Your idea is good, but at present we urgently need to demonstrate the results of the counterattack on a large scale. This matter cannot be considered solely from a military perspective."

Wang Zhong: "Wouldn't it be better to launch an attack as soon as possible?"

Belinsky: "The severe cold has also affected us. Please discuss the specific matters with Chief of Staff Tukhachev."

Wang Zhong frowned slightly, wondering if this wasn't the Tsar's licking dog. Why is it still there? Could it be... to ensure the unity of the whole...?

At this time, Tukhachev's voice came from the phone receiver: "The troops currently deployed in the counterattack are all our troops. The other troops will not be ready until December 5th at the earliest. In addition, you have also used almost all of our troops. All the ammunition, logistical issues...well, Admiral Turgenev will tell you."

No, how about you playing football?

A moment later Turgenev's voice sounded: "The impact of the factory relocation is very serious. Now we don't even have enough chemical raw materials to produce explosives because the factory has been moved backward. Now we are short of everything and need to show the results as soon as possible." . This is... a diplomatic consideration."

Got it, we need the United States to approve the Lend-Lease Act, otherwise Ant will be unable to fight here.

Wang Zhong stood up straight: "Tomorrow, that is, November 20, I will launch a full-scale attack to annihilate the enemies in the encirclement."