Arc of Gunfire

It’s 4:30 in the morning on July 7th.

Wang Zhong was suddenly awakened by the "thunder".

"Is it thundering?" He asked Yegorov on the bed next to him as he sat up, "Is it thundering so hard this season?"

"It's a shelling, General." Yegorov stood by the window, leaning against the edge of the window and looking out.

Wang Zhong quickly stood up and stuck to the other side of the window.

On the plain outside, countless large flowers made of smoke and dust have risen, and new "flowers" bloom every second.

Wang Zhong: "The caliber looks very big."

"It's a 152mm heavy artillery," Yegorov said. "The enemy's heavy artillery is coming up. The enemy's most direct firepower in Upper Penier is 75mm infantry artillery. If they had heavy artillery at that time, we wouldn't be able to defend it at all."

Wang Zhong nodded and asked again: "Are they clearing our 'minefield'?"

"Yes, we will probably start advancing after the explosion."

Wang Zhong nodded. At this time, he switched to a bird's-eye view to see if he could catch the enemy's artillery with a plug-in.

This is a common technique for playing the "War Game" series. In that game, even if the enemy's artillery is not in your field of vision, you can still see the animation of the artillery shells rising into the air. Therefore, you can use this method to quickly locate the enemy's artillery and use your own Artillery counterattack.

Wang Zhong wants to give it a try, what if? If this can deflect the enemy's heavy artillery, it will be much easier to fight later.

However, there was no such good thing. He could only see the trajectory of the cannonball that had entered the process of falling. Maybe a math expert could use this trajectory to deduce the launch position, but Wang Zhong was not a math expert. He only passed the high-level mathematics courses in college after making up the exam. .

At this moment, the phone rang from the other side of the door.

Five seconds later, the student on duty came in and reported: "Your Excellency General, Brother Peter heard a Tao 215 flying high in the sky. He was sure it was not the Tao 217 with terrible weapons yesterday."

Wang Zhong looked at Yegorov: "Is this... waiting to observe our artillery position?"

"It's possible, but if the enemy really launches an attack later, they still have to fire to block the enemy's subsequent troops." Yegorov looked at Wang Zhong.

Wang Zhong: "If you have anything to say, just say it."

Yegorov shook his head: "No, I originally wanted to remind you that sometimes the commander has to decide which part to sacrifice to ensure the overall situation, but when I think of the battle on Penier, I don't think you need me to remind you."

Wang Zhong understood. What Yegorov meant was to only let half of the B4s fire. If someone discovered the counterattack, they would lose an artillery position, and exchange the people on the artillery position for the enemy's offensive force.

However, is this really the only way to go?

He rubbed his chin, listened to the rumble of artillery outside, and racked his brains to think of countermeasures.

Then I really thought of one for him.

He thought of the movie "Black Hawk Down" in which Somali warlords burned tires to produce black smoke to block the US military's aerial reconnaissance.

In fact, if there are enough smoke-generating devices, you can create smoke around the artillery position. However, the Ant Army does not have so many smoke bombs.

Then we can only imitate fellow Somalis and burn tires.

Anyway, the direct-fire artillery does not need a direct line of sight, just fire according to the set data.

Wang Zhong looked at Yegorov.

Yegorov: "You have another idea?"

Wang Zhong: "Yes. We piled tires upwind of the city and then lit them on fire. Burning tires will produce a large amount of black smoke, which will interfere with the observation of aerial reconnaissance aircraft."

Yegorov was speechless: "This is really a solution."

Wang Zhong continued to think divergently: "Don't we have captured smoke bombs? Use smoke bombs at our fake artillery positions to make the enemy think that is the area we want to protect."

"It's feasible." Yegorov nodded repeatedly, "I'll give the order right away."

————

Major General Randolph was enjoying breakfast in his command vehicle when suddenly someone stood at the door of the command vehicle and knocked on the door.

The major general raised his head and saw that it was the chief of staff, so he asked: "What happened? How did the Ant people react?"

Chief of Staff: "The artillery observation post reported that there was a large amount of thick smoke rising in the southeast of the city. It may be a fire."

The major general frowned: "It's on fire? What a coincidence?"

He put down his knife and fork, pulled up his napkin and wiped his mouth. He drank the coffee in one gulp and stood up.

The orderly immediately brought over the hat and civilized stick.

The major general dressed neatly, finally took the telescope handed by the orderly, and strode out of the command vehicle.

The division's artillery mirror was set up next to the command vehicle. The major general walked over and patted the shoulder of the staff officer who was using the artillery mirror.

The staff officer immediately gave up his position, stood at attention and saluted.

Randolph observed it himself and said, "There's something fishy about this smoke."

Suddenly, he raised his eyebrows and asked, "Has the Air Force reconnaissance plane arrived? We applied like this yesterday, and no reconnaissance plane has arrived today?"

"We're here," said the chief of staff, "and radio contact has been established with the division's artillery, which is observing Loktov from high altitude."

Major General Randolph was speechless: "Could this be the smoke specially created by the Ants to block the sight of the reconnaissance plane?"

Chief of Staff: "...There is a possibility."

Randolph: "Do you know who is commanding the Ant army on the front?"

"According to the note we found in Kalinovka, it should be Alexei Konstantinovich Rokosov."

Randolph frowned: "Why is Ant's name so long? So who is he?"

"General White Horse," said the chief of staff.

Major General Randolph turned his head sharply: "Is it that General White Horse?"

"Yes."

Major General Randolph pursed his lips, left the artillery mirror, and walked around.

At this moment, the communications staff officer ran over with a message: "Armored Group Headquarters message."

Randolph took the telegram, glanced at it and handed it to the chief of staff.

The chief of staff read out: "The siege mission of Bogdanovka has now been handed over to the infantry unit of the Sixth Army. Our group will recuperate on the spot for a day before starting to advance. Your troops should strive to capture Loktov before dawn tomorrow." .

"We believe there are only up to two brigades of infantry there."

After the chief of staff finished reading, Major General Randolph asked: "The shell fragments we found yesterday were 203 mm, right?"

"Yes, General."

"There are 203 infantry in two brigades? This is the artillery of the army group!"

None of the staff spoke.

Major General Randolph thought for a while and then said: "Did the artillery observation post see many mines detonated by artillery?"

"rare."

Randolph asked again: "How many booby traps did the engineers lay down in Kalinovka?"

"Four, and they are all simple booby traps made with grenades. They are easy to eliminate as long as you don't pull the strings."

Randolph was speechless: "This White Horse General likes to make lies. It is estimated that only part of the minefield is real, and the rest is fake. However, if we want to expand the scale of our attack, we will need time to assemble our troops.

“Let the artillery turn over all those fake minefields!

"Start shelling enemy positions in the city at six o'clock. Our attack will be postponed to eight o'clock in the morning. Our troop strength will be doubled based on the original plan!"

Launching an attack is a complex science, only slightly simpler than organizing a retreat. Doubling the number of troops participating in the attack often means reorganizing the offensive formation.

"Also!" Major General Randolph added, "Don't release smoke when attacking. The Air Force said yesterday that it had eliminated the enemy's only divine arrow launcher. Although I don't believe in the Air Force, the enemy has been using divine arrows to hit targets in the air. The reconnaissance plane did not hit our armored reconnaissance battalion. I think they may not have many magic arrows. "

————

Wang Zhong's side, it's six o'clock sharp.

The first person to notice that the enemy's artillery fire began to move was Yegorov. He shouted: "The enemy's artillery fire has begun to extend into the city!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the cannonball landed in front of the window pointed to.

Although all the glass had been removed before the enemy arrived in order to prevent the window fragments from injuring people after the fighting started, the shock wave still poured into the room, completely tearing down the wooden window frame that had no glass, and smashed it on the table and telephone behind the window. .

The artillery mirror was pushed backwards and fell onto Dimitri. He hugged the mirror and carefully placed it on the ground before lying down.

Wang Zhong also lay on the ground.

Yegorov shouted to him: "Your Majesty General! You can't lie down like that! Your internal organs will be shattered!"

Wang Zhong raised his head and looked at Yegorov's lying method - isn't this really a static support in place?

With Wang Zhong's physical strength before time travel, his muscles would have dissolved within a short time of lying like this.

But he still did as he was told. This Alexei here was not good at anything else. He had been exercising quite well, so he might be able to hold on.

The shells continued to fall, and nothing could be heard except the explosion.

Wang Zhong always felt that the house was shaking and could even hear the screams of steel bars.

Fine sand and gravel kept falling on his head, neck, and collar.

Suddenly, a palm-sized cement block landed not far in front of Wang Zhong. He couldn't help but look up, just in time to see the decoration on the ceiling collapse and crash down.

The bombardment continued as if it would never stop.

Wang Zhong heard someone yelling hysterically.

He cut to an overhead view, and at a glance he saw that the shouts came from a few young people in charge of wiring next door. They were huddled in the corner, holding their heads, and yelling to relieve their fear.

The shelling seemed to never stop. As the shelling time increased, Wang Zhong became more and more worried that the house where his front finger was located would not be able to hold on.

The feeling of the earth shaking made him feel that the house would fall on him in the next moment.

The urge to stand up and run out of the house became stronger and stronger, making his breathing quicken.

Is it so difficult to prepare for enemy artillery fire? No wonder some troops with low morale and organization collapsed after being bombed.

This is a collapse. If it weren’t for the courage required to stand up and run...

The bombardment was finally over.

Wang Zhong waited for a while before raising his head: "Is it over?"

Just by raising his head, a large amount of white dust fell from his head. Now he was covered in a layer of dust, as if he had been lying in the snow for two hours when it snowed.

Popov spat, wiped off the dust on his watch and looked at it: "Damn it, you bombarded us for two hours!"

Wang Zhong was shocked: I actually stayed static for two hours?

The moment he realized this, his muscles began to ache, so he lay directly on the ground and let out a long breath.

Dimitri got up, put the artillery frame back to the window, then looked outside and said: "The field... has been completely blown into another color. Can crops still grow on this land? The ground is full of Iron!"

Popov also got up: "Don't worry, the scars on the earth will heal themselves, just like people."

Yegorov picked up the telephone from the ground and grabbed the receiver: "Pick up Brother Peter! Pick up Brother Peter! What? The phone line was blown up? Repair it quickly!"

Putting down the receiver, Yegorov looked at Wang Zhong: "The enemy should be attacking. We need to find Brother Peter to confirm the scale."

Wang Zhong thought that the monk's ears were almost as good as radar. Except for the inability to accurately locate and measure distance, the reconnaissance effect was really good.

He also climbed up with sore shoulders, came to the window, and cut into a bird's-eye view to observe the distance.

Then he found that Brother Peter was not needed at all.

The enemy's armored forces deployed an inverted V formation in the wilderness and drove towards the city in a mighty manner. Behind each tank was a large group of infantry.

The Prosen people didn't even lay smoke!

In this way, the enemy's superior direct firepower can be fully utilized!

Does the enemy know that there are not many magic arrows here?

Wang Zhong: "Quick, notify artillery position A to block the shooting!"

Yegorov: "I'll go fire a flare."

This is a backup contact plan prepared at Yegorov's strong request, specifically for the situation where the telephone line is interrupted.

However, this kind of communication cannot specify the coordinates of the bombardment in detail. The B4 will bombard a fixed area according to the previously determined data.

That is the area where the enemy is about to pass.

While Yegorov was firing the signal flare, Wang Zhong checked the various positions.

Yegorov carefully told Wang Zhong about his defense concept: make full use of the experience summarized in Upper Penier, put the enemy into the rugged terrain, use automatic firepower and grenades to eliminate the accompanying infantry of the tank, and then get close to throw incendiary bombs.

Of course, before entering the close battle, it is still necessary to make full use of the outer fortifications to weaken the enemy.

Among the only three anti-tank guns of the 31st Guards Regiment, the 76 gun was arranged in the most solid and best concealed gun position in the outer fortifications, with a platoon of infantry covering it next to it.

This platoon also has captured smoke bombs to cover the artillerymen's retreat to the next gun position.

In order to facilitate the mobility of the 76 gun, Yegorov prepared a mule in the house next door and asked someone to take care of it. If there is a need to move, the mule can be used to tow the cannon.

As for the 45mm gun, it can be dragged by the infantry. Yegorov cleared the retreat route in advance.

However, the 45mm gun has a poor frontal penetration effect on enemy tanks, so Yegorov originally meant to let them share the attention and cover the 76 gun.

To put it bluntly, the 45 gun is used to block the 76 gun, and the gunners assigned to the 45 gun are the cannon fodder of the 76 gun.

Wang Zhong, who knew this, looked at the young faces who were nervously operating the 45 gun, and silently reviewed their names.

This is the only thing he can do as a brigade commander at this stage:

Order the soldiers to die, and then remember their names.

Suddenly, Wang Zhong noticed a name: Alexei Barfionovich.

It was the guy who had a date with the battlefield, and he was actually responsible for operating the 45mm gun! He looked like a gunner!

Obviously, the 45mm gun was just an outdated weapon, but it was assigned to ten people to operate it.

The gunner, loader, aimer, breechblock, ammunition handler, and five grooms responsible for managing mules and horses were also reserve personnel, ready to take over if the operator died.

However, the mules and horses assigned to this artillery group had been killed by the explosion.

The ammunition truck was intact, and the ammunition handler was squatting beside it holding an armor-piercing shell.

Wang Zhong looked at every face carefully.

The young people were not afraid, but excited. Obviously, the previous bombardment and the dead mules and horses around them did not scare them.

The blood of the mules and horses wet their shiny and dust-free boots.

At this time, the signal flare was launched.

There was only one signal flare, which meant that the A artillery position began to fire at the designated area.

The sound of artillery came from the city immediately, and the whistling sound of the heavy artillery passing over his head made Wang Zhong's back of the head sore.

He immediately turned his sights to the enemy and saw the shells landed right in front of the enemy's queue.

All four shells in this round hit the front of the enemy's queue without causing any damage.

After all, the artillery was fired according to the pre-set coordinates.

If the telephone line hadn't been broken, the enemy would have been in trouble!

Wang Zhong could already hear the click of the enemy tank's gearbox from his position.

At this time, the second wave of shells passed overhead.

This time, all the shells landed accurately in the middle of the enemy's advancing column!

A Type 4 tank was blown upside down, and the infantry behind it were all knocked down by the shock wave.

Some people's legs were broken by shrapnel and flew high into the sky.

This wave of four 203s directly stopped the four tanks from moving forward, and the infantry behind the tanks suffered heavy casualties.

However, the Plosson Army did not stop moving forward, but instead accelerated!

They may have realized that the artillery was aimed at this area, and the faster they passed through the area, the safer it would be, and the fewer people would die!

When the third round of heavy artillery fell, most of the enemy had passed the targeted area, but a shell was seriously off target and exploded between two tanks, breaking the tracks of both tanks at once.

This is not a game. It takes a long time to repair a broken track, so the enemy tank crew directly abandoned the vehicle and ran back, waiting for the battle to end before repairing the tank.

The infantry following the tank joined the queue next to it.

Although they are enemies, Wang Zhong has to admit that the enemy is indeed well-trained.

————

At this moment, in the air.

Dao 215 of the 103rd Air Reconnaissance Brigade is hovering over Loktov.

The observer reported: "Due to the thick smoke on the ground, the location of the heavy artillery position was unclear."

After thinking briefly, the captain pushed the control stick forward slightly, and the aircraft began to enter a shallow dive.

The co-pilot immediately exclaimed: "If you rush to low altitude, you will be hit by the enemy's arrows!"

Captain: "So we have to calculate the coordinates of the enemy's artillery position before falling and inform the artillery on the ground!"

Co-pilot: "What?"

"This is our mission, we have to complete it! The self-defense gunner, co-pilot, and navigator can parachute!"

The captain then unbuckled the co-pilot's seat belt with his own hands: "Let's go!"

At this time, Road 215 got into the thick smoke caused by burning tires on the ground.

Thick smoke even penetrated through the gaps, choking the captain and coughing.

The first officer looked at the captain seriously: "See you in Valhalla."

After saying that, he turned around resolutely.

At this time, the plane passed through the thick smoke and the ground was close at hand.

Captain: "Observer! Did you see the artillery position that is firing? I saw it all! Tell the artillery the coordinates!"

"15-pack artillery! The coordinates of the enemy's artillery position are..."

Someone shouted in the internal communication: "Magic Arrow!"

The next moment the plane was shot, the captain was hit by a fragment of the divine arrow, and his flight jacket was stained red with blood.

He still tried his best to maintain the plane's heading and shouted: "Report the position quickly!"

Observer: "Artillery! Enemy artillery position coordinates...repeat..."

————

Vasily suddenly shouted: "The enemy's plane has seen our artillery position! It is reporting to the enemy's artillery!"

Wang Zhong glanced at the sky through the window on the back: "How did you see it? Such thick black smoke!"

Then he saw through the window a plane falling to the ground trailing black smoke from burning.

Is this a reconnaissance plane that was originally at high altitude forced to descend under the black smoke to confirm the artillery position?

No, this is not the time to sigh, you must immediately notify A to move the position! Wang Zhong picked up the receiver of the phone and found that there was no sound from the other side.

He remembered that the phone line was damaged by the gunfire just now!

This is too much of a delay! However, one of the goals of the artillery preparation was to destroy the command communication system, which seemed normal.

Why doesn’t Antjun pay attention to radio?

Wang Zhong: "The messenger! The messenger!"

Before the messengers arrived, there was the sound of artillery shells piercing the sky, obviously aimed at the city behind the position.

Artilleryman Dimitri muttered: "So fast?"

The sound of explosions came from inside the city.

Wang Zhong took a chance and took a bird's-eye view, and then saw the enemy's artillery shells falling around the artillery unit sign in position A.

I don’t know how many of the four-door B4s in position A can survive.

At this time Dimitri shouted: "The 76 anti-tank gun opened fire!"