Arc of Gunfire

At one o'clock in the morning on the 23rd, Wang Zhong said to Pavlov: "Let's start."

Pavlov picked up the phone.

Popov complained next to him: "I feel like this scene has happened many times."

"In fact, it happened many times," Wang Zhong recalled, raising his right hand and counting his fingers, "Three times, right? Each time, he took a small bite of the enemy, and kept repeating it."

Popov sighed: "It would be good to achieve a small-scale victory now. It is impossible to achieve a complete and decisive victory with one attack like Prosen did last year."

Wang Zhong said: "I really thought that now that the First Mobile Group Army is in hand, it can conquer the world, but the situation is not as I expected. Pu Luosen is very strong, and we are not as powerful as we imagined."

As he spoke, Wang Zhong walked to the map, clasped his hands behind his back, and fell into deep thought.

After giving the order, Pavlov also came to the map and said: "The battlefield is a furnace. The new formation needs to be heated in the furnace, tempered, and finally put into water to cool before it can gradually become an invincible sword. "

Wang Zhong nodded, and then suddenly thought of something: "Why didn't you hear the sound of the cannon?"

Pavlov smiled: "The artillery position has been pushed forward twice. If we can hear the sound of artillery now, it means that the enemy's artillery has used some evil method to get near us. That would be terrible."

Wang Zhong raised his eyebrows: "Is that so?"

"We have made several major advances in the past two days. Although we have not been able to completely eliminate the enemy, it is already a very impressive result." Pavlov said, "Last night the front army headquarters sent a special congratulatory message."

Wang Zhong smiled bitterly and said: "The main reason is that we cannot build a strong defensive position on this ground. The grassland is full of holes made by voles. If the cannon explodes, all fortifications will be gone."

"Don't worry about how you win, it's victory anyway. What's important is the result, not the process!" Pavlov said.

At this time, Su Fang led a nun into the warehouse of the headquarters, came all the way to Wang Zhong, and saluted: "The preparations for the ceremony are over. The researchers asked me to remind you to stop the shelling before the fog starts."

Wang Zhong: "Don't worry, we are already 'repeating our old tricks', and we all know how to do it. On your side, you must ensure the fog, because this time we are attacking in an open area, and without the cover of fog, we will suffer heavy losses." of."

Pavlov said: "Although smoke bombs can be used to achieve the same effect, the wind on the grassland has been strong recently and the smoke does not last long enough. Moreover, our artillery shells are also very tight, so the transportation of smoke bombs has been delayed."

The First Mobile Group Army has too many artillery pieces. It is scary when the firepower is at full range, but it also puts great pressure on logistics.

The grassland's infrastructure is poor, so we have no choice but to focus on ensuring the transportation of high-explosive bombs. Although some smoke bombs and other items have been transported, they may not be able to fully cover a division's positions.

If a firepower point is not covered, the attacking infantry unit may pay a heavy price.

After hearing what Wang Zhong and Pavlov said, Su Fang smiled and said: "Don't worry, the fog will definitely come, but the researcher sisters also asked me to inform the general that the fog may not be summoned next month. "

Wang Zhong was shocked. Is it because the temperature rises and the air becomes dry that there is no heavy fog in August? Your magic is quite scientific.

Su Fang seemed to have guessed Wang Zhong's thoughts, and reminded with a smile: "We are secularists. We originally believe that these so-called miracles and magic can have scientific explanations."

Only then did Wang Zhong remember that the secular sect was indeed like this.

Pavlov asked: "Besides stopping the bombardment early, is there anything else we can do to help?"

"No more." Su Fang shook her head, "The fog may not last as long as the two hours promised by the mothers-in-law, just like last time. You seize the time to attack."

Wang Zhong nodded: "Don't worry, this time we only plan to seize the frontal position of the enemy's infantry division and defeat one or two enemy regiments."

The infantry does not have as strong mobility as the armored troops, and does not have the strength to develop in depth after breaking through the position.

Therefore, the plans formulated by Pavlov and his staff were very conservative. After destroying the enemy's frontal position, they would retreat to the area where the tank destroyer and anti-tank artillery units were ambushed, preparing to deal with the enemy's armored counterattack.

Wang Zhong approved the plan.

When he was playing games before time travel, he liked insurance plans. Even when playing a war-themed game called "Preliminary Order", he did not like to play radical deep attacks, but instead played steadily and steadily.

Therefore, in the advance order, the battle groups he selected were all solid armored divisions or mechanized infantry division battle groups, and rarely used air assault divisions with high risks and high returns.

Of course, no one except Wang Zhong himself knew about these things.

Su Fang nodded: "That's good, then I'll leave first, otherwise I'm afraid your orderly will come and bite me."

Nellie said coldly: "I'm not a dog, so of course I won't bite you."

"But you stared at me like you were going to bite me."

"That's your misunderstanding. As a maid, my expression management is professional and I won't make mistakes like this. Also, in a place like the headquarters, please restrain your words and deeds and don't interfere with the operation of the headquarters with personal matters. "Nellie said a lot.

Su Fang smiled and said: "Okay, then I'll leave."

She turned and walked towards the door. The nun who came with her quickly bowed to Wang Zhong and trotted after her.

Nellie stepped forward.

Wang Zhong: "Stop sprinkling salt, everyone is watching."

Nellie stopped immediately and turned back to look at Wang Zhong.

Pavlov shouted to the staff and clerks who stopped working and looked over: "Stop looking, get to work! There is still a lot to do before the attack tomorrow morning!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Wang Zhong saw a telegraph operator at the radio station stand up, leave his position and run to the radio company commander with a piece of paper.

The company commander waved his hand and said something, and the telegraph operator looked up at Wang Zhong, then ran to Wang Zhong with the telegram.

"Urgent telegram from the headquarters."

Wang Zhong took the telegram and looked at it, his brows twisted into a knot.

Pavlov: "What's wrong?"

Wang Zhong: "Myshkin requested to send another general to the Borsk Front to prepare to take over his command."

Pavlov hurriedly took the telegram and looked at it: "Damn, at this time?"

Popov also came over and took the telegram from Pavlov. After confirming the content, he said: "Duke Myshkin has been in poor health. Is his body finally unable to hold on?"

Wang Zhong: "It's possible. If he leaves the command post now... the situation will be bad. After all, the current task of the Borsk Front is to retreat to the Caucasus Mountains while fighting. The organization of the retreat is more complicated than the attack."

Pavlov glanced at Wang Zhong: "You, the hands-off boss, did not participate in the formulation of the retreat plan. During the retreat, you were only responsible for driving a small tank in the front."

Wang Zhong: "The retreat war is like this. The staff only needs to compile the retreat plan and distribute it to the troops. As the person who has opened the retreat route, I have to consider a lot."

Pavlov shook his head and changed the topic Back to the situation: "If Duke Myshkin suddenly cannot command his troops, the situation will be bad. Now the enemy may launch a relatively small-scale encirclement against him."

Wang Zhong was about to answer when the second telegraph operator ran over from the area where the telegraph was sent and handed the paper in his hand to Wang Zhong: "An urgent telegram from the front headquarters."

Wang Zhong took it and took a look: "It was sent by General Gorky. He believes that in the current situation, we need to launch a large-scale attack to hurt the enemy, so that the enemy will put the forces that might have been used to encircle Myshkin on our side."

After speaking, he handed the telegram to Pavlov, walked to the map, looked at the map and muttered to himself: "A large-scale attack... on the grassland? The enemy's armored division has been tossing for so long, it should have replenished its ammunition and fuel, and rested for a while. I would be crazy to do this to fight against Prosen's armored forces on the grassland."

On Earth, until Bagration, Sandezi's armored forces could still achieve a relatively good exchange ratio against the Russian armored forces. Even in the Battle of the Oder River in 1945, Sandezi fought a beautiful armored counterattack - but in the end he still lost because the gap between Sandezi's troops other than the armored troops and the Soviet army's elite troops was too big.

In addition to the "historical lessons" of another time and space, Wang Zhong personally experienced the well-trained Prosen armored troops in the battles in the past month. He judged that he could not fight against this group of elite troops at present.

He was staring at the map and thinking hard, and Pavlov came over: "The only tank reserve of the front has been given to us. If we want a large-scale offensive, where will so many tank troops come from?"

Wang Zhong nodded: "Indeed. Unless we continue to send tank troops from the rear. I read the tank production report before I set off. Judging from the tank production, the headquarters and the reserve front should have several tank troops."

Pavlov: "And then lost half of the tanks on the way here?"

Wang Zhong smiled bitterly.

Suddenly, he had an idea.

"We don't have real tanks, so we can use fake tanks. Do you remember what you said when we first arrived in Yeisk? It's hard for artillery and tanks to hide on the grassland. They need to dig shelters for camouflage, but there are not many trees on the grassland, and there is a lack of 'raw materials' for camouflage, right?"

Pavlov thought for a moment and nodded: "I said so."

Wang Zhong snapped his fingers: "That's right! The enemy will think so too! We can make hundreds of fake tanks for him and put them there for the enemy's aerial reconnaissance to take pictures."

Pavlov nodded: "Brother Peter should have monitoring reports. Enemy reconnaissance planes do visit us frequently. But... I've said before that there is no camouflage material here. It's hard to make fake cannons with wood. Where can you get materials to make fake tanks?"