Arc of Gunfire

Headquarters of Army Group South in Plossen.

General Eric von Shipling rubbed his eyes and said: "Damn it, now I wonder if Marshal Gron knew that the situation would be so bad, so he hurriedly handed over the commander to me."

Colonel Fisher, his old subordinate who was transferred from the Marina Fortress, replied: "That is certainly true. However, our situation was not desperate yet. The Greyhound Division successfully delayed the enemy's Shepetovka Front's offensive. "

"That's because Army Group Center is cooperating with us and putting considerable pressure on the Antshepetovka Front." General Shiplin looked at the map. "Fortunately, Army Group Center blocked General Gorky's offensive. If the center line collapsed, Well, the situation is unimaginable. How many troops have we left now?"

The chief of staff left by Marshal Gron immediately replied: "Twenty percent of the troops have reported arriving at the Tiber River."

Shipling: "Five days, twenty percent."

"General, with such a long distance and the constant harassment of enemy cavalry, so many are not bad." the chief of staff defended.

"I know." General Shipling waved his hand, "I don't mean to blame you. How long will it take for these troops to join the Tiber River defense line?"

"The ministries reported that it would take about a week to gather the troops. Soldiers in many units were separated during the long retreat - or they may have been wiped out by the cavalry."

General Shiplin: "Tell them there is no need to rush. Rokossov will not be able to launch an attack so quickly after eating Shepetovka. Let them carefully confirm how many people are missing and try to return the veterans to their original positions as much as possible." Establishment.

"We may not be able to get additional troops before Rokossov attacks the Tiber River defense line. At this time, it is very important to maintain the organizational integrity of the original troops."

General Shipling was well aware of the speed at which Prossen was replenishing troops to the front. By September, each division would be able to recruit a battalion of new recruits.

He will most likely use these troops to defend the Tiber River.

Fisher asked: "What about the remaining 80% of the troops?"

"No, no, 80% of the troops have not reached the Tiber River, but they are already on the road, and have been on the road for five days. Look at Shepetovka outside. In addition to the troops at the rear and our headquarters, there are also How many troops? No more."

Fisher: "That's true. I see that even the anti-aircraft artillery regiments protecting the railway station have been withdrawn. The engineers are loading explosives on the remaining anti-aircraft guns."

As soon as he finished speaking, there were continuous explosions outside.

Fisher: "This should be the engineers blowing up the anti-aircraft guns and the locomotives in the train station."

General Shiplin: "If we can blow up everything, our destruction of Shepetovka will be transformed into future advantages! The later Rokosov restores the functions of Shepetovka, the more we build on the Tiber River The longer the defense line lasts!”

Suddenly, there was a fierce exchange of fire outside.

General Shipling asked: "What's going on?"

The staff officers who were burning documents in the room looked at each other, no one knew.

At this time, a captain came in from the door and saluted General Shiplin: "General, the guerrillas are preventing us from blowing up the Shepetovka Textile Factory, and the textile workers have also organized themselves!"

General Shipling: "We kept the fire-breathing tanks just for this moment. We dispatched the fire-breathing tank troops and burned the factory buildings and the Ants to ashes. Not a single textile machine or a piece of cotton yarn was left to the Ants! "

"Yes!" The captain saluted again, turned and left.

Fisher asked worriedly: "Is this going too far? What if the Ants counterattack into the empire and do what we have done again?"

General Shipling looked at Fisher: "Have you forgotten what happened when the invasion just started? Do you think that now that we are pretending to be kind to the Ant people, they will give up revenge?

"No, they won't. It's better to be cruel and destroy their production as much as possible and slow down the rhythm of their attack."

At this time, the communications staff came in with a telegram: "Report, we just received a telegram from the Schulz Battle Group. General Adel Schulz believes that a collapse is about to happen, and we should make plans in advance."

"Crash?" Shipling took the telegram and frowned as he looked at the text on it. "Is there no error in the decoding?"

"No, the settings of the Enigma machine are completely correct and there is no way it can go wrong."

Shipling asked again: "Can I contact Adel Schulz?"

"No, by the way, we also lost contact with the 332nd Division. Most of the troops near Pochayev did not respond to our call."

Shiplin's face became elongated: "Pochaev was lost, Battle Group Schulz was destroyed, and the defense line was destroyed. It was too fast, Rokossov came too fast!"

Fisher: "If you stay to deal with the rebel troops now, does that mean you have been abandoned?"

Shiplin shook his head: "No, the situation has changed. All troops have given up their current tasks, including military police, engineers and Spitfire tank troops, and have all begun to retreat. Rokossov will not wait for us, his troops will use As fast as possible, he thrust into Orachi, and the Schulz battle group was wiped out, and nothing could stop him."

As he spoke, Shipling looked at the staff officers who were still burning the documents: "Don't burn them either. Let the engineers light the fire. Whether they can be completely destroyed depends on luck. Retreat immediately!"

Fisher: "There is a Junkers plane waiting at the airport. We can take that one."

Shipling shook his head: "I left by plane, and everything was in chaos down there. No, I left by bucket truck."

"The enemy's cavalry..."

"The enemy's cavalry has been galloping and killing on the grassland for five days, and their swords should be blunt! Now there is no need to worry about their cavalry!" Shiplin stopped and looked at the long road leading to the Tiber River on the map.

"Hunger and thirst are the biggest enemies of the soldiers. It is unrealistic to provide supplies to all of us, but when our barrel trucks pass by, they will at least know that they have not been abandoned."

After a short silence, Shiplin said to Fisher: "This is very important. Whether we can defend the Tiber River and Agsukov depends on this. Without morale, even the most experienced soldiers cannot exert their combat effectiveness!"

Fisher: "Put yourself in danger just for this?"

"Yes, Rokossov did this. He risked his life again and again to turn the tide. I think an outstanding general should know how to learn from the enemy's excellence."

General Shiplin paused and repeated as if to convince himself: "Learn from the enemy's excellence! Yes, excellence!"

When he said this, the gunfire outside became more and more intense, as if the city could not wait for liberation to come, and could not wait to liberate itself.