Cannon Fire Arc

At 1 a.m. on the 23rd, Wang Zhong said to Pavlov, "Begin."

Pavlov picked up the phone.

Popov muttered beside him, "I feel like we've been through this scene many times before."

"In fact, it has happened many times," Wang Zhong recalled, raising his right hand to count his fingers, "three times, right? Each time we take a small bite out of the enemy, over and over again."

Popov sighed, "Now it would be great to achieve a small-scale victory. To expect a thorough and decisive victory like last year at Prosen is hardly possible now."

Wang Zhong added, "I really thought that with the First Mobile Group Army at hand, I could conquer everywhere, but things have not gone as I wished. Prosen is strong, and we are not as formidable as we imagined."

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

After giving the orders, Pavlov too came to the map and said, "The battlefield is a crucible. New formations need to be heated in the crucible, hammered, and finally cooled in water to slowly become an unbeatable sword."

Wang Zhong nodded, then suddenly thought of something, "Why haven't I heard any artillery fire?"

Pavlov laughed, "Our artillery positions have been moved forward twice. If we could hear artillery now, it would mean the enemy's artillery has somehow used evil sorcery to get close to us, and that would be terrible."

Wang Zhong raised an eyebrow, "Is that so?"

"In the past few days, we've made several significant advances. Although we haven't been able to annihilate the enemy en masse, the results have been very impressive," Pavlov said. "The Front Army headquarters even sent a congratulatory telegram last night."

Wang Zhong said with a wry smile, "The main issue is that it's impossible to construct solid defensive positions on this ground. Underneath the grassland, there are holes made by field mice, and artillery fire destroys any fortifications."

"Don't worry about how we achieved victory. Victory is victory. The important thing is the result, not the process!" Pavlov exclaimed.

At that moment, Su Fang, accompanied by a nun, entered the headquarters' warehouse and made her way to Wang Zhong, saluting, "The preparations for the ritual are complete. The researchers have asked me to remind you to stop shelling before the fog rises."

Wang Zhong replied, "Rest assured, we've already 'been there, done that'; we know what to do. It's on your end that you must ensure there's thick fog because if we attack in the open without it, the losses will be heavy."

Pavlov joined in, "Although smoke bombs can achieve the same effect, there's been a strong wind on the grassland lately, which limits the duration of the smoke. Besides, our shells are in short supply, so the transportation of smoke bombs has been delayed."

The First Mobile Group Army had too many big guns, which were certainly terrifying when firing full force, but also put a tremendous strain on logistics.

With the grassland's poor infrastructure, there was no choice but to prioritize transporting high-explosive shells; although some smoke bombs had been delivered, they were unlikely to cover an entire division's position comprehensively.

If even one firepower point was left uncovered, the attacking infantry troops could pay a heavy price.

After listening to the discussion between Wang Zhong and Pavlov, Su Fang smiled reassuringly, "Don't worry, the thick fog will definitely come. But the mamas from the research team also asked me to inform the general that next month it might not be possible to summon the fog."

Wang Zhong was surprised. Could it be that it's impossible to summon fog in August because the rising temperatures make the air too dry? Your magic is quite scientific then.

Guessing Wang Zhong's thoughts, Su Fang smiled and reminded him, "We are the Secular faction. We've always believed that these so-called miracles and magic can have a scientific explanation."

It was then Wang Zhong remembered, that was indeed the way of the Secular faction.

Pavlov asked, "Besides stopping artillery fire early, is there anything else we can help with?"

"Nothing else," Su Fang shook her head, "The duration of the fog might not meet the two hours promised by the grandmothers, just like last time. You should hurry with your attack."

Wang Zhong nodded, "Don't worry. This time we're only planning to take the enemy's infantry division's forward positions and break through one or two of their regiments."

Infantry don't have the same mobility as armored troops, and once through the defenses, they lack the strength to advance deeply.

Therefore, the plans drawn up by Pavlov and his staff were very conservative: after destroying the enemy's forward positions, they would retreat to the area where the tank destroyer and anti-tank artillery troops were ambushing, ready to deal with the enemy's armored counterattack.

Wang Zhong approved this plan. Your adventure continues at empire

Before he traveled through time, when playing games, he favored conservative plans; even in the war-themed game "Advance Command," he disliked aggressive deep strikes and preferred to play it safe and secure ground step by step.

So, in Advance Command, his combat groups were all solid Armored Divisions or mechanized Infantry Divisions, seldom employing the riskier but potentially more rewarding airborne assault divisions.

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

Su Fang nodded, "Good, then I'll be on my way, otherwise I'm afraid your orderly might come bite me."

Nelly said coldly, "I'm not a dog, so of course I wouldn't bite you."

"But you're staring at me with a look like you want to bite me."

"That's your illusion. As a maid, my expression management is professional. Such oversights won't occur. Moreover, in a place like the headquarters, please restrain your behavior and do not let personal matters interfere with the operation of the headquarters," Nelly rambled on.

Sufang laughed, "Alright, alright, I'm leaving now."

She turned around and walked toward the main entrance, with the nun who had come with her hurriedly bowing to Wang Zhong before scampering after her.

Nelly stepped forward.

Wang Zhong, "Stop rubbing salt in the wound, everyone is looking."

Nelly immediately stopped her actions and turned back to look at Wang Zhong.

Pavlov shouted at the surrounding staff officers and clerks who had stopped working to watch, "Stop looking, get back to work! There's still a lot to be done 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 post, and dash with a piece of paper to the radio company commander.

The company commander waved his hand, said something, and the telegraph operator looked up at Wang Zhong before running over to him with the telegram.

"Urgent dispatch from High Command."

Wang Zhong took the telegram and frowned deeply after a glance.

Pavlov, "What's wrong?"

Wang Zhong, "Meishikin is requesting another general to be sent to the Bolsk Front Army to prepare to take over his command."

Pavlov hurriedly snatched the telegram for a look, "Damn, at this time?"

Popov also came over to take the telegram from Pavlov and after confirming its content, he said, "Duke Meishikin has always been in poor health, could it be that his body can't hold up anymore?"

Wang Zhong, "Possibly. If he leaves his command post now... the situation could get messy, especially since the Bolsk Front Army's current mission is to fight and retreat to the line of the Caucasus Mountains. Organizing a retreat is even more complex than an attack."

Pavlov looked at Wang Zhong, "You, the hands-off shopkeeper, didn't participate in the planning of the retreat. During the retreat, you were only responsible for charging ahead in your little tank."

Wang Zhong, "Retreat battles are like this, the staff just need to write a good retreat plan and issue it to the troops. As someone creating a route for the retreat, I have to consider a lot."

Pavlov shook his head and brought the topic back to the situation, "If Duke Meishikin suddenly cannot command the troops, the situation would indeed be bad. The enemy might possibly launch a small-scale encirclement on him."

Wang Zhong was about to answer when a second telegraph operator ran over from the telegraph area and handed Wang Zhong a piece of paper, "Urgent dispatch from the Army Group headquarters."

Wang Zhong took it and after a glance said, "It's from General Golikov. He believes that given the current situation, we need to launch a large-scale attack to hurt the enemy, thereby causing the enemy to divert forces that might have been used to encircle Meishikin to our side."

After finishing, he passed the telegram to Pavlov and walked over to the map, muttering to himself while looking at it, "Large-scale attack... on the steppe? The enemy's Armored Division has been making preparations for a while, they should have resupplied ammunition and fuel, and rested for some time. Attacking Prosen's armored forces head-on in the steppes is madness."

On Earth, up until Bagration, the Sturmtiger armored forces could still manage a decent exchange ratio against the Soviets' armor. Even during the Oder River battle in '45, Sturmtiger carried out a very impressive armored counterattack—only to still lose their shirts in the end, because besides the armored forces, the disparity between Sturmtiger troops and the battle-hardened Soviet forces was too great.

Apart from the "historical lessons" from another timeline, in the recent month of combat, Wang Zhong had personally experienced just how well-trained Prosen's armored forces were. His judgment was that they were not yet ready to go head-to-head with these elites.

As he stared intently at the map, deep in thought, Pavlov came over, "The only tank reserve of the Army Group has been given to us. Where are we supposed to get so many tank forces for a major offensive?"

Wang Zhong nodded, "Indeed. Unless they continue to send tank armies from the rear. I saw the tank production report before I left. Based on the production of tanks, the High Command and the Reserve Army should still have several tank armies."

Pavlov, "Then again, we'd lose half the tanks on their way here, wouldn't we?"

Wang Zhong gave a wry smile.

Suddenly, he had an idea.

"We may not have real tanks, but we can use fake ones. Do you remember what you said when we just arrived at Yeisk? Artillery and tanks are hard to hide in the steppe, they need to dig emplacements and use camouflage, but the steppe is lacking in trees, lacking 'raw materials' for camouflage, right?"

Pavlov thought for a moment and nodded, "I did say that."

Wang Zhong snapped his fingers, "That's right! The enemy will think the same! We'll put up a few hundred fake tanks for the enemy's aerial reconnaissance to photograph."

Pavlov nodded in agreement, "Brother Peter's side should have surveillance reports, the enemy reconnaissance planes do indeed frequently visit our area. But as I've said before, we don't even have materials for camouflage here, it's hard to make fake cannons out of wood, so where will you get the materials for fake tanks?"