Arc of Gunfire

Time went forward a little bit, 11 o'clock in the morning on the 21st, at the headquarters of the 10th Army of Plosson.

Admiral Bock lifted the rainproof cloth curtain, yawned as he entered the headquarters, and greeted the staff: "Hello, gentlemen. Is the enemy shelling?"

"No, General." said the chief of staff.

Admiral Bock snapped his fingers: "Okay! Then they shouldn't attack today. Air Force reconnaissance found that there were tank troops rushing to Yeisk. I thought Rokosov was going to attack!"

Chief of Staff: "Rokosov likes to use tanks for cover shooting when defending. Those tanks may be his way to consolidate the front-line defense."

Admiral Bock still looked suspicious: "So many tanks to consolidate the front line? Or a city? This doesn't make sense. No, he should be attacking. The photos taken by the plane yesterday showed that at least two hundred tanks were gathering towards his army group. These are the forces used for attack. "

Admiral Bock stared at the map for a while, and then said: "But he may not be ready yet. It's eleven o'clock today, and the bombardment will not come soon."

The chief of staff laughed and said: "Rokosov must not have thought that we will take the lead in attacking tomorrow, and show him some strength."

Admiral Bock also smiled: "Very good, these days we have been harassed by Rokosov's cavalry, and our supply and morale have suffered a relatively large blow. Now we can finally vent our anger."

Seeing the admiral laughing, other people in the headquarters also laughed. For the first time in a few days, the entire headquarters was in a relaxed atmosphere.

After laughing, Admiral Bock asked: "How is the supply of the armored forces?"

The chief of staff immediately reported: "Currently, 60% has been completed, and it will definitely be completed before tomorrow. The harassment of the enemy cavalry has been significantly weakened, although we dare not send the recovery battalion to tow the tanks and armored vehicles abandoned on the grassland back for repair.

"When the attack starts tomorrow, we can put in 200 tanks and 300 half-track personnel carriers."

"Good. "Admiral Bock nodded repeatedly.

At this time, the communications staff came in with a telegram: "An urgent telegram from the headquarters."

Admiral Bock looked helpless: "It should be urging us to attack again."

He motioned to the chief of staff to get the telegram.

The chief of staff stepped forward to take the telegram, glanced at it and said: "It is indeed asking us to attack, and the wording is even more severe than the last one. We have clearly informed the superiors of our offensive plan, but they are still urging us like this, every day."

Admiral Bock shook his head: "The headquarters will not be so unreasonable, His Majesty has put pressure on them. Call back and tell His Majesty - tell the headquarters that I will attack tomorrow. I will definitely attack tomorrow."

After the staff saluted and left, Admiral Bock asked the chief of staff: "What about tomorrow's offensive plan?"

"It has been issued to various units. ”

The chief of staff snapped his fingers, and a staff officer immediately unfolded a map with an attack plan.

“First, the armored forces and armored grenadiers will pass through the defense zones of the infantry divisions and deploy in front of the enemy. After two hours of artillery preparation, they will launch an attack.

“The goal of the first phase of the attack is to drive most of the enemy's troops on the grassland into Yeisk and achieve a semi-encirclement of the city.

“In the second phase, we will encircle Yeisk and trap Rokosov's main force in the city.

“Rokosov is good at defense, so we will conduct three days of artillery preparation, completely flatten the city, and then launch the attack.”

Admiral Bock stared at the map with the battle plan intently, as if he wanted to imprint the map in his mind.

The chief of staff began to explain in detail the part that each division was responsible for.

After listening carefully, Admiral Bock nodded and said, "No problem, it's a good plan. If I were still teaching at the Military Academy, I would give you full marks for this plan in your exam."

The admiral had taught at the Military Academy for a period of time, and he only took command of the combat troops again during the Battle of Melania.

"To celebrate your excellent battle plan, let's have lunch."

The admiral clapped his hands, and his orderly came in through the curtain and asked, "What can I do for you?"

"Prepare lunch for everyone in the headquarters."

As soon as the admiral finished speaking, the communications staff came in through the curtain, without a telegram in his hand. He reported loudly: "General, the front-line infantry reported through the radio that they were bombarded!"

"What?" Admiral Bock hurriedly looked down at his watch, "It's this time! What if the night falls in the middle of the attack, it will be a mess!"

Chief of Staff: "Maybe it's just a Rokossov-style sudden bombardment? He likes to waste shells like this, as if their logistics will never run out."

The admiral shook his head: "No, Rokossov just got a large number of tank troops, we only have infantry divisions on the front, and the ground conditions make it impossible to dig too strong fortifications. His artillery destroyed all the fortifications with one explosion.

"This is an attack, he is going to attack. "

The general walked around the tent twice and made up his mind: "I'm going to talk to the commander of the infantry division! Can I still call him?"

"We'll try our best." The communications staff replied.

————

At the headquarters of the 151st Infantry Division in Plossen, Major General Franz was holding the microphone of the radio and shouting: "Hello! Hello! Do you hear me? This is Wolverine, this is Wolverine, we are under heavy bombardment by the enemy! Repeat, heavy bombardment!"

The radio was full of static noise.

The rustling sound formed a sharp contrast with the rumbling of artillery outside the divisional bunker.

Franz shrank his neck, as if this action could save his head when the unfortunate shell fell! The other people in the division had already fallen to the ground.

The chief of staff still remembered to maintain the anti-artillery posture, and several staff officers who had never seen the world fell to the ground directly.

The shells did not need to hit this simple bunker directly, and the shock of falling nearby would teach these staff officers enough lessons.

Franz's call was finally responded to, and a rough voice floated out from the headset: "Wolverine, how are you?"

"The enemy is bombarding us, and the shells are falling on the position like raindrops. We are about to kill all the shells!"

"Calm down, Wolverine, aren't you still alive? I want you to stand up now and use the telescope to look in the direction of the Ants. Can you see the enemy's armored forces?"

Major General Franz stood up tremblingly, picked up the telescope and took a look--

The T34 tanks were lined up in a row. From Franz's perspective, it looked like a battle fleet in battle formation before a decisive battle at sea.

He even forgot to squat down again, and just stood there and shouted into the microphone: "Battleship, battleship! No, I mean, the tank brigade! The tank brigade is rushing towards me!"