Chapter 96: Chapter 20: The Arc of Fire

When Wang Zhong arrived at the forward command, the enemy’s engineers had already been blasted into retreat.

However, that isn’t entirely accurate, as after losing three of their modified breach vehicles from the number one tanks, they still managed to successfully launch rockets with explosive cords.

From his bird’s eye view, Wang Zhong could clearly see the traces left by the explosive cords in the middle of the road.

After observing for a while, Wang Zhong clicked his tongue and said, “Now the enemy knows we haven’t buried mines on the main road.”

Yegorov added, “If the enemy attacks via the main road, aren’t they just asking to be hit? We’ve already destroyed three of the engineers’ number one tanks; they would certainly suffer more losses if they advanced along the road.

“Once they’re blocked on the road, they’re sitting ducks. They can’t even disperse, since the actual minefields are on both sides of the road.”

Wang Zhong nodded and said, “Indeed, let’s see what the enemy does.”

————

Major General Randolph, commander of the 15th Armored Division, stood on top of his armored command vehicle, observing the destroyed number one tanks through his binoculars.

“The enemy has already calculated the shooting elements, even managing to hit our engineers’ tanks through the smoke,” Randolph put down his binoculars, “Although the Ante Army has long been a cluster of expendable goods, this time they did a good job. An attack through the main road would result in serious losses.”

The chief of staff agreed, “We absolutely can’t take the main road. The engineers also reported that both sides of the road are mined without warning signs. If the attacking troops get stuck on the main road, they would truly be sitting ducks.

“Perhaps we should deploy more comprehensive smoke cover and let the engineers begin mine clearance?”

Major General Randolph hummed and, with his chin in hand, fell into deep thought.

————

It was at this moment that Wang Zhong noticed something: the enemy’s mortar carriers were within his line of sight.

Previously, while up on Peniye, he’d been able to see the enemy’s mortar carriers. It seemed this was a standard operation in the Prussian military tactics manual, to push mortar carriers to this distance to fire.

Back on Peniye, Wang Zhong had no indirect fire capability, and the enemy parked their vehicles behind the reverse slope of a high ground, so indeed, there was not much he could do about these mortar carriers.

But now, the situation was different. First of all, there was a vast plain to the southwest, completely devoid of reverse slopes, and secondly, Wang Zhong now had indirect fire capability.

From his high vantage point, Wang Zhong watched the enemy’s mortar carriers: it appeared to be a battalion of vehicle-mounted mortars, with twelve carriers, various ammunition trucks, and half-tracked vehicles transporting the gunners, all huddled together on the plain in a big cluster.

The enemy’s other units, to avoid 203mm fire, were spread out quite far, but this battalion seemed to limit its formation spread for operational convenience.

Indeed, who would anticipate having clairvoyance here, to see past so much smoke to the mortar carriers.

Of course, the position Wang Zhong was in was elevated, so it wasn’t entirely impossible to see the half-tracked vehicles housing the mortars, but such poor visibility made it difficult to accurately determine the target’s location.

Therefore, they could only try firing blindly, and then adjust the point of impact.

By then, the mortar battalion would have long fled, since they were all half-tracked vehicles with decent mobility.

But if they didn’t adjust the fire, and just slammed them with a large volley, the mortar battalion would likely be half destroyed.

Wang Zhong was confident in the power of the B4 heavy artillery.

So, he picked up the telephone handset—after yesterday’s “live test,” the phone had been moved close to the window.

“Connect to Artillery Position A.”

After getting through, Wang Zhong read out a series of coordinates and called for a barrage.

Dietrich, curious, who was over at the artillery team, asked, “What are we firing at? These coordinates are quite a way behind where we targeted the enemy yesterday… will it hit anything?”

Before Wang Zhong could speak, Yegorov chimed in, “Aren’t we hitting the enemy’s mortars? Just now, when the enemy released smoke, I saw the trajectory of the shells in the sky; the mortars can’t be that far from the front line.”

The flight of mortar shells was indeed slow, but to visually confirm the trajectory was a bit terrifying.

However, thanks to Yegorov, the shelling of the enemy mortar positions now seemed reasonable, as it was impossible for them to know if they hit the target on this side, making it purely a guess from their perspective.

As for why the guess was so precise, that must be Saint Andrew showing his power!

After hanging up the phone, feeling that a barrage from one position wasn’t enough, he picked up the phone again and said, “Connect to Position B!”

Take my eight massive 203mm shells, invaders!

————

After a brief period of contemplation, Major General Randolph made a decision: “The mortar battalion will continue laying smoke to thoroughly obscure the enemy’s line of sight, and have the engineers prepare for de-mining.”

No sooner had he spoken than a howling came from the sky.

Randolph, being an old soldier, knew upon hearing the howl that the shells would land behind him, so he immediately turned around—

At that moment, the engine hood of a half-tracked vehicle carrying a 105mm heavy mortar suddenly caved in, the edges of the cover flipping up under the stress.

Randolph couldn’t see what was causing this phenomenon because the next moment, the half-tracked vehicle exploded violently.

A handbrake flew over the top of Randolph’s head, and the gust of wind blew off his crookedly worn cap.

The major general dove from the top of the command vehicle.

With his hands over his head, he couldn’t see the second shell fall.

It was only when the third shell landed that the major general thought to prop his body up to keep a distance from the ground, to prevent his organs from being damaged by the shock.

The explosions continued, and amid the cacophony of the heavy artillery, smaller blasts could be heard, likely mortar shells being detonated.

The artillery bombardment came quickly and left just as fast; it appeared that the enemy’s heavy artillery battalion had only fired a salvo.

Once the whistling and explosions had stopped, Major General Randolph got up.

The orderly immediately rushed out to start dusting off the Major General’s uniform, but inadvertently slapped the knee that the Major General had injured when he had dived from the command vehicle.

With an angry roar, Randolph yelled, “Be gentle! You’re killing me! Get the medic! My leg, it’s…”

As it happened, Randolph already had a condition of bone hyperplasia, and this incident had opened the gates to his agony; he was in so much pain that he couldn’t stand firmly and sat down abruptly.

Two guards rushed over and helped the Major General lean against the side of the nearby command vehicle.

It was then that the Major General had a chance to survey the damage to his troops.

Across the field lay many half-track vehicles ablaze, and it seemed like some of the half-tracks had tried to move out of the artillery zone only to have their tracks broken, leaving them skewed across the field.

The bodies of the artillerymen were scattered among the half-tracks. Randolph knew without needing a casualty count that the artillery battalion would not be combat-ready for a long time.

He was about to issue an order when suddenly an ammunition vehicle exploded in a sympathetic detonation, scattering shells around it that triggered secondary explosions, sending up orange fireballs that made the sun seem dim in comparison.

Randolph, a nobleman, rarely cursed, but he couldn’t help himself at that moment: “Damn it! Reconnaissance battalion! Sweep through all the high ground outside the city, and find the enemy’s artillery observation team! Even if it takes using radio detection vehicles, find them!”

Randolph naturally assumed that this was the result of cunning Ante Army observers concealed at high vantage points outside the city; it never occurred to him that the enemy had something like Brother.

One should say, within the realm of common sense, he had made the most correct judgment.

At this moment, the division staff officer came limping over, clearly having also made an intense move to hit the ground just before.

“General, should we wait for the divisional artillery to arrive before acting? With the help of observation planes, the divisional artillery can locate the enemy’s artillery positions. According to our intelligence, the enemy’s heavy artillery is not easily moved, and our artillery can counter-battery them and they won’t be able to escape.”

Randolph nodded, then added, “Also, have the 223rd Regiment ready to try to capture Lininy Village and flank Loktov from the side. I’ll reinforce them with a tank battalion to make up for the losses they suffered last night.”

The staff officer replied, “No problem. And the front?”

Randolph looked out at the glimpses of Loktov’s grey urban area through the smoke and shook his head, “Unless we take out the enemy’s heavy artillery, a frontal assault on the city would be too costly. We can’t afford that kind of loss.

“We still have to strike at Argesukov. We have to carefully use the troops that His Imperial Majesty has entrusted to us! Pull back three kilometers and establish sentry positions to prevent enemy observers from infiltrating out of the city.”

The staff officer nodded and shouted to the signalman, “Pull back three kilometers!”

————-

Wang Zhong was the first person on the scene to notice the enemy starting to retreat, and he might have been the only one to see it.

He couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

Were the Prosen people so dependent on their routines? So, a few bombed smoke launchers and you can’t fight anymore?

He thought about how this “cheat” combined with artillery was really useful. He could foresee a time when he would be known for masterful artillery deployment.

“If I ever write an autobiography, maybe I’ll call it ‘The Arc of Fire’.”

Unfortunately, this “cheat” only had a slightly longer range of vision compared to someone using binoculars. In the future, he might have to personally go on a reconnaissance plane, circle over the enemy’s heads to see all of their deployments, and then command the troops via radio—ah, given the Ante Army’s radio proficiency, perhaps air-dropping orders would be quicker.

…

At that moment, the phone rang, and Yegorov picked it up, “Field command, go ahead. Are you sure? Uh-huh, I understand.”

Wang Zhong guessed who was calling even before Yegorov hung up, and true enough, Yegorov said after hanging up the phone, “Brother Peter heard engines of enemy vehicles moving away in the distance. The enemy might be retreating.”

Although Wang Zhong already knew, he still feigned surprise, “Really? That’s great!”

The others in the room also sighed in relief.

Vasily, who was manning the field telephone, stretched lazily, “The enemy is too weak! Is that all? I never knew war was such an easy business. Just blow them up with the B4, and they run away!”

Popov put on a stern face, ready to fulfill his duties as a chaplain to eliminate the soldiers’ complacence, when the phone rang again.

This time it was Pavlov.

“I couldn’t get the 203 shells. They are deployed along the border, and so is the ammunition. The rear services have told us they have sufficient 122 and 152mm shells.”

Wang Zhong replied, “Then why don’t they just give me 122 or 152 mm howitzers!”

Actually, the 152mm gun had overall better performance than the B4, with nearly the same range, slightly less power, but a much faster rate of fire.

When loading a B4 howitzer, you had to use the crane attached to the ammunition vehicle; it was simply impossible to load it by hand, whereas the 152 could certainly be manually loaded by strong Ante men.

“No,” a sigh came from Pavlov over the phone. “Also, the supply train that was supposed to arrive today was destroyed en route by the enemy’s bombers, and the wreckage has blocked the railway. I don’t know when it will be cleared.”

Wang Zhong asked, “What about our reinforcements? If they want us to hold until the evening of the 11th, we need reinforcements!”

There was silence for a long while before the reply came, “I’m trying.”

Wang Zhong clicked his tongue in disbelief.

He knew it wasn’t Pavlov’s fault; in the current situation where defeat was cascading, simply holding the line was already an achievement.

The good news was that they had repelled the enemy’s morning offensive.

The bad news was, it was only July 6th, and the order had been to hold out until July 11th.

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