Arc of Gunfire

At 2 a.m. on July 9, the heart of the Plosson Empire, the Eagle's Nest.

When the attendant pushed the dining cart to the door of the emperor's office, he was stunned.

A large group of marshals and generals heard the sound of the dining cart's wheels, turned their heads and stared at the attendant.

"Uh," the boy was a little afraid, but this position of the palace attendant was obtained by his family through many connections, and there could be no mistakes, so he plucked up the courage to say, "The head chef of the palace asked me to send supper here. The imperial physician thinks that His Majesty must eat."

The marshals and generals were completely unmoved and just stared at the boy.

Just when the boy's courage was about to run out, the red-haired young general came over and took the cart from the boy: "Leave it to me, I will try to let His Majesty eat as much as possible, but in this situation, I'm afraid I have to ask the imperial sister to come forward. Anyway, you go down and rest."

The attendant boy was a little embarrassed: "I still have a lot of work to do, and my duty time is until six o'clock tomorrow morning."

"Then go to do your work." The red-haired general said.

The boy took a step back, bowed deeply, and then turned and ran away.

————

Gil Es pushed the dining cart towards the generals: "Everyone, you haven't eaten for a long time, eat something."

Marshal Rundstedt hesitated: "Is this appropriate? Isn't it a midnight snack for His Majesty?"

Gil Es: "His Majesty is here and will share these waffles with everyone."

The generals and marshals then picked up the cakes and talked in a low voice while eating.

Marshal Rundstedt: "To be honest, I'm not sure if the outcome will be better if we launch the attack as planned. Rokossov's technical weapons have been in place for a long time. If we attack, he can still use the guards infantry and carefully constructed bunkers to delay us."

Marshal Celtic nodded: "The armored troops actually lost in the fight. I didn't see such a situation last year."

General Moltke was immediately unhappy when he heard it: "The enemy has a manpower advantage, and our total exchange ratio is still superior. When facing the Ant troops equipped with T34, we still have a three-to-one exchange ratio, and most of the members have successfully evacuated the battle area by barrel car!

"And the Ant armored troops suffered heavy casualties, because their T34 members have poor survivability and are too compact. One shot penetrates, and half of the members will die on average! And we are often penetrated and only one person dies and one is injured. "

Marshal Celtic: "Really? Then can I reduce the replenishment of the armored forces and replenish more high-quality recruits to the air defense forces and fighter forces? "

Marshal Meyer immediately became alert: "My fighter director Sir Aland will thank you, Marshal Celtic. Recently, the enemy's bombers have been escorted by fighter formations, and my boys have suffered heavy losses."

General Moltke hesitated and sighed: "Well, the losses have indeed increased recently, but that's because more and more destroyers like the Vortex have appeared on the front line! We still have an overwhelming advantage over the Ants in terms of skills and tactics.

"According to the confessions of Ant prisoners, the new recruits added to the Ant armored forces generally have only 60 hours of driving time and less than three months of training. The Ants also regard technical arms such as armored troops as consumables!"

Marshal Rundstedt reminded the director of the armored forces: "We are not discussing whether our armored troops or the enemy's armored troops have better skills and tactics. We are discussing our losses.

"The fact is, no matter how you emphasize our excellent exchange ratio, General Moltke, the enemy just dragged us down and exhausted us. Damn, did the Ants' tanks and soldiers grow out of the ground? ”

Marshal Celtic: "The Allies sent them a lot of machine tools and production lines, and helped train workers. The weapons and equipment of the United States also participated in the war directly. We destroyed many United States trucks and Willys Jeeps, and seized a lot of them. ”

Rundstedt: "And our allies only sent submarines to ask us for technology and equipment. I heard that the navy originally thought that their submarines had some advanced technology that could travel so far, and they were happy to use their technology to build ocean-going submarines to attack the United States.

"Result!"

The marshal shook his head, obviously not wanting to continue.

When the navy visited the submarine of the Fuso Empire, they were fume from the stench on the submarine. The Fuso Empire did not have any new technology, and they could sail far simply because their sailors were good at endurance.

This news has been spread among senior officers as a joke.

Sometimes it is used to mock the emperor and cabinet members. After all, the alliance with the Fuso Empire was promoted by the emperor, and the propaganda minister and foreign minister also made great efforts.

Now the Fuso Empire keeps boasting about how many victories it has won, but the intelligence obtained by the senior officials of Proson from the "friendly countries" in South America shows that the situation of the Fuso Empire is not good.

In the past year, they had to retreat from several islands, and the aircraft carrier force that once created miracles is no longer powerful.

Just one year ago, the Fuso Empire claimed to fight to the Suez Canal and join Proson, which is amazing.

Perhaps they all thought of this unreliable ally, and all the officers present fell silent.

Finally, Marshal Rundstedt broke the silence: "We can't wait any longer. We should let the Southern Army Group retreat to Shepetovka, split the Army Group into two battle groups AB, and set up defenses along the Tiber River.

"In this case, there is hope that we can rely on the Tiber River to block the Ant attack. After all, the infantry units of Army Group South have not suffered too much of a blow."

Marshal Celtic nodded: "Last year we found a way to build a fortification group on the west bank of the Tiber River. This should be able to prevent the Anters from advancing before the Tiber River freezes."

General Moltke also echoed: "In this way, our supply line will be shorter. With Agsukov, the capital of Khazalia, the supply problem that has been bothering us can be solved."

Rundstel immediately said: "Then I'll ask General Moltke to convince your Majesty."

General Moltke looked at Giles: "Obviously there is a more suitable candidate for this task."

Giles nodded: "I'll go ahead and tell you."

As soon as he finished speaking, the door of the emperor's office opened, and Wagner's famous song "Ride of the Valkyries" came from the room.

The emperor himself walked out of the office to the passionate melody. His expression, demeanor, and movements were reminiscent of the time when he agreed to the general mobilization half a year ago.

"Can Army Group Center maintain the front?" the emperor asked.

Marshal Rundsteyer immediately replied: "Of course, Your Majesty. The troops of the Western Front are not as elite as Rokossov's troops, and they don't have the damn Rokossov-1 heavy tanks. We transferred them from Army Group South. Armored troops blocked all breaches."

Marshal Celtic immediately added: "We estimate that the Western Front has suffered at least 1 million casualties in the past two weeks (this is the Plossian estimate, but it is actually not that many), and they are no longer able to win a decisive victory. .

"Of course, they still took down some small protrusions, but they weren't too big of an issue."

The emperor nodded slightly: "At least we have defended the center of the front. What we need to consider now is to defend the Tiber River and wait for our recruits to complete their training and wait for us to come up with a new tank design that surpasses Ant!"

The generals present were relieved.

Until just now, they were worried that His Majesty the Emperor was stubborn.

Emperor: "What do you mean by this expression? Am I so incapable of judging the situation?"

"No, we never meant that."

The emperor snorted and said to the Celtic marshal: "Draft the order and I will sign it."

The marshal immediately turned around and strode away.

Giles: "Your Majesty, the late night snack is here. The royal doctor and the head chef are very worried about you..."

"Well, bring them in. There are also waffles. You can share them. Today is a difficult day for all of us."

Emperor Prosen let out a long sigh.

————

At 0300 hours on July 9, the headquarters of the 63rd Infantry Group.

"General, the commander of the 1st Guards Heavy Breakthrough Artillery Division to support us has arrived." The chief of staff of the group army said and took a step aside.

The stalwart artillery division commander saluted Lieutenant General Eugene: "General! It's an honor to fight alongside General Rokossov's old men!"

Lieutenant General Eugene responded: "I heard about your deeds in Abawahan. It is not easy for artillery soldiers to get the title of Guards!"

"We just keep our heads down and fire artillery. It's all physical work, but you are admirable." The division commander stopped, a little confused, "When I just came in, I saw that your expression was a little solemn, General. What happened?"

Lieutenant General Eugene shook his head: "It's nothing, everything is normal. I just...forget it, don't worry about it."

Andrei, chief of staff of the group army, said: "The general's home is in the direction of our assault. You can get there within a day by driving."

"What? Are you from the Basque mining area?" The artillery division commander looked surprised.

"I am the mine director of Mine No. 3. The troops I originally led were the Skitarii militia organized by the miners. They were transformed into regular troops when they met the general." Lieutenant General Eugene walked to the window and looked to the northeast.

The division commander once again saluted Lieutenant General Eugene: "Within today, your hometown will be recovered!"

The lieutenant general looked at him and nodded slightly: "On behalf of those comrades who can never go home, thank you."

Then the phone rang.

Chief of Staff Andrei answered the phone: "Sixty-third Infantry Group. Yes, they are here. Understood, don't worry, Commander Davarich."

After putting down the phone, Andri said to the commander of the 1st Guards Heavy Breakthrough Artillery Division: "Enter the position and prepare to fight."

"Understood, we have already entered the position and are waiting to fire."

Lieutenant General Eugene: "One last check, go ahead, Major General Davarich, see you in Prosonia."

"See you Prosonia!"