Arc of Gunfire

September 2, Agsukov, headquarters of the 1st Khazalia Front, six o'clock in the morning.

As soon as Pavlov entered the headquarters, he saw a large amount of meat, eggs, and milk placed in the entrance hall, and asked the guard: "Did the locals send it again?"

"Yes, Staff Officer Davarisi. They are all anonymous. I don't know who they will be returned to. The Inquisitor has checked them. There are no poisons or explosives."

Pavlov: "Take them all out and distribute them to the surrounding people. At this stage, the staff of our headquarters cannot fall ill."

"yes."

Pavlov walked through the entrance hall, passed the Ant-style hall, and entered the central map room of the headquarters. The staff officers inside were already busy.

"Has today's investigation report arrived?" he asked.

Popov, who was working the night shift, pointed to the brown paper bag on the table: "Here you go, I'm not a military cadre, so I didn't open it."

Pavlov picked up the brown paper bag, opened it and took out a thick stack of reports: "Huo, there are a lot of reports today. Let me take a look... hmm? The report forwarded by the trial court? "Information Summary of Underground Parish Behind Enemy Lines" ? This is quite new. I thought this kind of report would be sent directly to Rokosov who is still in Yebao."

Pavlov took out a document with the Secular Seal and St. Andrew's emblem printed on the cover, and opened it to read the summary: "...My God, according to this report, the Prosen Southern Army Group may have received four soldiers from Reinforcements of armored divisions on the Western Front."

Popov was filling his pipe when he heard this and raised his head: "Four divisions?"

"Yes, the underground diocese has also obtained the numbers and organization of four divisions. Unlike the divisions on the Eastern Front that have been reduced to one division and one armored battalion, these four divisions have two armored battalions plus an armored missile launcher. The full configuration of the bombardment battalion."

Popov did a little mental calculation: "Doesn't that mean that the Army Group South in front of us has added at least 800 tanks?"

As soon as Pavlov flipped through the document, he turned directly to the page with the paper clip, and then discovered that the paper clip was actually used to secure the photo.

"The comrades of the Underground Parish did a good job. They also took photos of the enemy tanks. They also thoughtfully attached the results of the intelligence department's interpretation. This is Prosen's latest Panzer IV H-type tank. We captured and destroyed it. Do you have this model in your tank?”

As soon as Pavlov finished asking, a staff officer replied: "No, Comrade Chief of Staff. The ones we have destroyed the most so far are the G-types, and we haven't discovered the H-types yet."

"Then how did the Inquisition know that this was Type H?" Pavlov looked at Popov.

Popov: "The Inquisition has its own intelligence channels, and of course it may be intelligence shared by the Allies. So is this H-type any different?"

Pavlov took off the photo from the document and handed it to Popov: "See for yourself, it looks like there is too much additional armor."

"It looks very thin. What's the use of this armor?" Popov looked confused.

Pavlov read the text on the document: "'It is speculated that the shaped charge warhead of the rocket launcher can be detonated in advance.' Damn it, didn't we use the rocket launcher with the shaped charge warhead on a large scale only in June? This is Made targeted changes?”

Popov: "The troops equipped with rocket launchers should be informed of this situation."

Pavlov nodded: "Okay, come here!"

"Here, Staff Officer Davarisi."

"Draft an order immediately, draw this photo as a schematic, and attach it to the order to remind all troops when encountering H-type tanks to be careful that their additional armor detonates the rocket launcher warhead in advance."

"yes!"

After the staff officer left with the photo, Pavlov continued to look through the documents: "Other aspects... basically confirmed our judgment. In such a short period of time, the Plosans were unable to replenish their troops or build strong defenses. . We can catch the other side by surprise when we cross the river now.

"Look here, 'The enemy's infantry troops are still very short of men. The previous retreat left most infantry divisions with less than 50% of their men, and some regiments with less than 700 men left.'"

Popov: "Did we kill so many enemies?"

"Maybe they were injured and had to leave the front line after retreating to the other side of the river, or maybe they were eaten by wild dogs after falling behind. After two years of war, the wilderness is full of wild dogs that have lost their owners. They will gradually regain their wolf nature and become Become a steppe wolf.”

Popov: "When I was a child, Mr. Boyer in the village would organize wolf hunting teams to clean up wolves on the prairie, but I have never heard of it since I was 30 years old."

Pavlov: "Now there is another one. When the war is over, we will definitely organize cavalry troops to encircle and suppress the wolves on the grassland."

With that he handed the document to Popov.

While Popov was reading the document, he came to the map: "Rokossov's opinion is right. Our recovery speed is faster than the enemy's. If we go on the offensive now, we can catch the enemy by surprise. But the four new armors The division is a variable, maybe we should delay the attack and wait for more T54s to arrive at the front.”

Popov: "You and I can't decide this matter. Only the commander of the front army can make the decision, and the commander of the front army is still in Yebao——"

"I'm back." A familiar voice came from the door.

Everyone in the headquarters stood up and turned to the door.

Marshal Rokossov walked into the room wearing a brand new shoulder patch with only one big star, and the gold star on his chest changed from one to two.

Popov: "Comrade Marshal, I know many gold stars. What is the other medal?"

Rokossov looked down at his chest: "This? This is the Congressional Medal of Honor awarded to me by the United States."

Pavlov: "You seem to like this medal."

"It's okay." Marshal Rokossov shrugged, "What were you talking about just now?"

————

After listening to Pavlov's report, Wang Zhong came to the map: "The locations where the four new armored divisions are deployed are -"

Pavlov immediately picked up the document, looked at the information in the document, and personally marked the location of the enemy's new active force on the map.

Wang Zhong smiled: "How can the enemy fight? The underground diocese has clearly figured out their troop deployment, and the entire battlefield is one-way transparent to us."

That's right, I don't even need to fly up to conduct reconnaissance myself.

Popov: "Our victory has inspired the underground parish, and it has also made many traitors who had previously defected to the Prossens change their minds, so the work behind enemy lines is much easier now."

Wang Zhong: "What does the Inquisition think of these 'change of heart' speculators?"

"Of course, the merits and demerits are calculated separately. Those who can offset the merits can forget the blame. The crimes are heinous..." Popov changed the subject, "Why are you back now?"

"In order to deceive the enemy. The Plosans must have thought that I would not attack while I was still in Yebao. So I released the information that I would return on September 15th. In fact, I took a lot of photos. The newspapers of Yebao were published in the next ten days. There are constant messages from me in the city, but they are actually prepared in advance.”

Wang Zhong: "We attack No. 5 and catch them off guard!"

————

"Rokossov deliberately released the information!" Emperor Prosin was banging on the conference table. "I have figured him out! He must be attacking soon! Our four fully equipped armored divisions will definitely It will make him drink a lot!"

The generals looked at each other. Shipling and other front-line generals had returned to their headquarters, so the war room in the Eagle's Nest seemed a little empty at the moment. There were many empty chairs on the huge desk, which were reserved for the front-line generals. .

Marshal Celt: "Our judgment is that Rokossov will not be ready to cross the river until at least September 20. Crossing the river now is too hasty."

The emperor stood up: "That's why you were played by Rokossov in the midst of applause!"

Marshal Lundsteyer: "But, Your Majesty, even if we really guess the time for Rokossov to cross the river, it will be difficult for us to stop him now. The only thing we can rely on is four brand-new armored divisions.

“But if—I mean if, Rokossov has more new tanks than we estimated, these four armored divisions may not be able to stop him.

"These four armored divisions are all equipped with No. 3 and No. 4 tanks. They may not be opponents against Rokossov's new tanks.

"We can deal with Rokossov's new tanks, the Leopard and King Tiger, with only four battalions in total, and the latest L70 Panzer IV tank destroyer with only one battalion. If Rokossov invests more than 300 new tanks, I'm afraid It’s going to get pretty tricky.”

Emperor: "Then we won't resist? Give up the Tiber River to Rokossov? No! In the summer, although we lost the decisive battle of tanks, the exchange ratio still gave us an advantage! We were just defeated by Ant tank soldiers Win with your life!

"Now we increase the number, this time it will be Rokosov who drains the blood first!"

————

Pavlov: "We currently have two complete T54 brigades. If the enemy's armored divisions are all No. 3 and No. 4, it is entirely possible to use one brigade plus enough infantry troops to fight against one division.

"But even if you still have two divisions like this, I personally think that these divisions should not be handed over to troops who still use T34W."

Wang Zhong: "Where is our heavy breakthrough tank?"

"All are deployed in the main breakthrough direction. The current combat plan is to use them to break through the enemy's defense lines."

Wang Zhong: "Since the enemy's infantry division's soldiers and fortifications are in such poor condition, we can consider deploying these breakthrough tanks to engage in tank battles with the enemy's armored forces. How many regiments are there in total?"

"Six regiments, 126 vehicles, Comrade Marshal." A staff officer replied.

Wang Zhong: "It's very good. This has repaired everything that was broken during the summer offensive?"

"Most of them have been repaired, and some are newly added," Pavlov said. "I heard that all the regiments that were originally going to be added to the Western Front were transferred here."

Wang Zhong: "Very good, our basic principles remain unchanged. Let the enemy's main armored forces be handed over to the new tank brigades and heavy breakthrough tank regiments that have the advantage of armor-plated bomb resistance. The main task of the tank units equipped with T34W is to bully the enemy. Infantry units should avoid fighting as much as possible when encountering enemy armored units.

"The campaign was launched in the early morning of September 5. The goal was to liberate Rognez before the autumn mud came."

Ronezh, the place where Wang Zhong traveled, for him, was the starting point of this war.

Wang Zhong's hands trembled slightly at the thought of returning to the city where he fled in a hurry in more than a month.

He quietly clenched his fists and hid his hands in his pockets.