Arc of Fire

“Withdraw from the position immediately and move to the third ambush position, leaving behind a lookout with signal flares.”

The Company Commander of the Second confirmed again, “We’re withdrawing from the position?”

“Yes. The enemy knows the locations of our first two positions, and I suspect they will shell them first. Your unit has excellently completed the task of defending against the enemy’s night attack; there’s no need to stay in the position and get shelled.”

The Company Commander of the Second saluted and said “Yes,” then turned and left.

Wang Zhong led his men towards the city, all the way to the third ambush position. Last night, the tank unit had encamped here, and the tanks were parked on the bottom level of the bunker, thoroughly camouflaged.

Upon entering the position, Wang Zhong saw soldiers from the Third Company gathered around a pot, drinking leftover soup from yesterday.

Wang Zhong said, “Be careful drinking that cold soup, or you might get diarrhea.”

Everyone was stunned, then burst into laughter.

Wang Zhong, looking confused, asked, “What’s the matter?”

“General, who gets diarrhea from drinking a little cold soup?” someone asked.

Is that not the case?

Back on Earth, Wang Zhong’s father had always taught him to reheat leftovers before eating as they could easily cause diarrhea, so he had always believed that to be true.

It seemed that the Russians didn’t have such concerns.

Of course, it could also be because Russia was at a higher latitude where the cold meant food didn’t spoil as easily, and their stomachs had adapted to the cold.

Probably.

A soldier called out to Wang Zhong, “General, won’t you have some?”

Wang Zhong checked his stomach and indeed felt hungry after riding for two hours that morning.

“Alright, I’ll have some.”

“Hey, General, you really should try this. It’s delicious, even cold! Look, it’s even frozen, this part is the best, all for you!”

Wang Zhong dismounted, mingled with the soldiers, and had a big mouthful of the thick soup turned to ice.

It was indeed delicious, rich but not greasy, with a tangy note of sour cream.

“This is really good stuff,” Wang Zhong exclaimed, “Come on, have some for yourselves too.”

Right then, the Second Company arrived, moving along the road into the position. The leader glanced at the company commander and the accompanying Priest, saw that they wouldn’t interfere, and shouted, “Hey, Third Company, what good stuff are you eating?”

“Leftovers from last night’s soup! Come and join us!”

Just at that moment, the sound of a whistling shell tore through the sky.

In the past, the new recruits would hesitate while the veterans hit the dirt. Today, upon hearing the whistle, all the new recruits dropped down, while the veterans remained standing.

“Don’t be scared!” a veteran shouted, “It’s not for us.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a column of smoke rose from the first ambush position due to the explosion.

Then, explosions occurred at the second ambush position as well.

The enemy’s artillery poured their furious barrages into these two positions.

Meanwhile, Wang Zhong watched with his armored troops and two infantry companies from the third position as the enemy wasted their firepower.

The trenches of the third position were dug especially deep and could accommodate three full companies; it was originally built as a standby defense position for the reserve forces and the main defense.

It was precisely because the third position had such a large capacity that the cooking team had delivered meals for three companies the day before.

Soldiers from two companies shared yesterday’s leftover soup while watching the enemy squander their firepower.

Wang Zhong heard someone ask, “General, did you calculate all this?”

He looked at the person who had spoken and realized it was one of the trio who had stealthily gone to scavenge enemy bodies that morning and had been caught red-handed by him.

The soldier, now obviously cowed under Wang Zhong’s direct gaze, shrank his neck, looking like he wanted to change the subject.

Wang Zhong just smiled and replied, “It’s just a little bit of military common sense. The enemy is certain to prepare artillery fire for positions we’ve already exposed, so we withdraw and let them prepare.

“If the enemy is aggressive and manages to move up during the artillery preparation, and we are not able to occupy our positions in time, we simply cover them again.

“The trenches we’ve constructed only offer proper artillery protection in your current position; the trenches in the first two positions are shallow, and if shelled, the enemy would undoubtedly suffer heavy casualties.”

The surrounding soldiers listening to Wang Zhong all illuminated with understanding:

“So that’s why!”

“The General is so clever!”

In truth, this wasn’t something Wang Zhong had figured out on his own; post-war Soviet tactical manuals spelled it out in black and white.

As Wang Zhong was enjoying the flattery from the soldiers, the Third Company’s signalman came over with a telephone in hand, dragging the phone line, “General, a call from the rear!”

Wang Zhong took the receiver, “This is Rocossov. Who’s speaking?”

“This is the artillery observation post on Hill 153. General, we’ve spotted enemy tank units maneuvering to our west side. The enemy tank units are maneuvering to our west side! The number is…”

In fact, without needing the observation post to report, Wang Zhong pulled up a bird’s-eye view and saw everything.

It wasn’t his own view, so there was no highlighting effect, but the situation was clear enough anyway.

It looks like about one and a half battalions of Panzer III and Panzer IV are maneuvering west of Hill 153, and in front of this one and a half armored battalions, there is—is that a large group of Panzer I and II tanks?

Prosen’s Armored Division, like the Sturmtiger from Earth, has the distinction between rich divisions and pauper divisions.

The main thing is the proportion of Panzer III and IV.

Some of the poorer divisions might have over a hundred Panzer I and II tanks just to make up the numbers, with Panzer III and IV combined making up only one battalion.

Yesterday, the Asgard Knights’ Ampraa Division, which clashed with the 151st Division, also had a number of make-do Panzer IIs, but more than half of the division consisted of Panzer III and IV tanks.

Moreover, this division didn’t have Panzer I, the least they had were Panzer II. Even among the make-do tanks, there were 38Ts, which actually weren’t too bad.

Therefore, yesterday’s Ampraa Division was absolutely a well-off division.

Now, seeing this large swarm of Panzer I tanks like cockroaches, Wang Zhong immediately realized that the forces in front of him consisted of more than just that well-off division.

My goodness, I’m an infantry division, how am I supposed to fight against two armored divisions?

Luckily the one replenishing them is a pauper division; it would be even harder to fight if another well-off division showed up.

As Wang Zhong was assessing the situation, someone from the artillery observation post, not knowing Wang Zhong was doing the same thing, asked anxiously, “General? General? What do we do? The enemy tanks are moving fast and they’ll cut off our supply line!”

In fact, the 151st Division wasn’t too reliant on the supply line at the moment, mainly because they had stockpiled a lot of provisions for the war and could hold out for a few days even if their supplies were cut off.

Moreover, with the forces of Duke Meishikin next to them, even if the supply line of Argesukov was cut off, they could still get supplies from Duke Meishikin’s side.

However, Wang Zhong’s main goal in holding his ground here was to clear a path of survival for Ante’s troops from Argesukov.

What kind of path of survival would it be if the highway were cut off?

Of course, Wang Zhong had made preparations for such a situation long ago. He had deployed eight anti-tank guns on Hill 153. Although they were only 45mm anti-tank guns, they were effective enough to handle Panzer I and II tanks.

As for the enemy’s Panzer III and IV tanks…

Wang Zhong decided to entrust them to the T26 of the original 5th Tank Army’s 13th Armored Battalion.

Based on yesterday’s combat experience, the new tank shelters proved to be effective in preventing the enemy from spotting ambush tanks. Even if discovered, it was difficult for the enemy to achieve a successful hit.

Yesterday, Wang Zhong’s T34s, from their shelters, engaged in a firefight with the enemy, and most of the enemy’s shells didn’t hit the T34s.

Since that was the case, having the T26s enter shelters to delay the enemy’s attack should be no problem.

Therefore, Wang Zhong ordered the observation post, “Get the anti-tank guns on alert, open fire as soon as the enemy approaches. I will command the 13th Armored Battalion of the 5th Tank Army to rush to Hill 153 to assist you in repelling the enemy.

“Remember to guide the T26 into the tank shelters.”

“Yes!”

Wang Zhong hung up the phone, took the handset of the field radio carried by Vasily directly, and then said to Vasily, “Change the frequency, I want the 5th Tank Army’s 13th Armored Battalion.”

Vasily, “It’s this frequency, just call and it’s done.”

Wang Zhong, “White Horse calling Lame Wolf, White Horse calling Lame Wolf.”

“This is Lame Wolf, do we finally have a mission given to us?”

Wang Zhong, “Proceed to Hill 153, proceed to Hill 153, over.”

“Understood! White Horse, can we really hit the enemy this time?”

The 5th Tank Army seemed not to have engaged much with the enemy before being completely wiped out, that’s why the commander of the 13th Armored Battalion asked. They probably chose “Lame Wolf” as their radio call sign, out of frustration.

Wang Zhong, “You will hit them, and this time you will win! Hit them hard!”

At the same time, Argesukov, Crown Prince Ivan Nikolayevich Andronov, was pacing back and forth anxiously in the command post.

Finally, the communication officer came through the door, saluted the Crown Prince, “Your Highness! The reply from the capital has arrived!”

The Crown Prince was overjoyed, “Is it my sister? Or has she already convinced the Emperor?”

The communication officer, with an embarrassed face, handed over the telegram, “You’d better see for yourself.”

Since it had to be decoded, the communication officer must have read it. Confused by his expression, the Crown Prince snatched the telegram and began to read, “Dear brother, unfortunately, I already angered the Emperor yesterday, and the generals are saying that unless you suffer a major defeat, it is unlikely that the Emperor will order a retreat. I will try again once the Emperor has cooled off.”

Crown Prince Ivan Nikolayevich Andronov sighed deeply, “My sister, oh what are you doing!”

He clasped his hands together, as if intending to crumple the telegram into a ball, but stopped halfway through the motion, then slowly spread the telegram out again, handing it to General Skorobo.

The General was embarrassed, “I don’t think I should look at the Royal Family’s telegrams, right?”

“Indeed,” the Crown Prince replied, handing the telegram back to the communication officer, “Take care of this for me. I don’t want future generations to know about this.”

The others in the room all looked embarrassed.

After all, the idea that an Army Group of several hundred thousand could be annihilated because of the Emperor’s pique sounded far-fetched.

The Crown Prince, watching as the communication officer reduced the telegram to ashes, then looked up to ask General Skorobo, “Is it possible to send reinforcements to Rokossov?”

The General’s face was ashen, “His defensive line hasn’t had any problems yet, and to the south, the enemy’s armored groups are pushing forward furiously. Any reinforcements we send now would inevitably go to the south.”

At that moment, another communication officer came in with a message, “Report! Urgent dispatch from the 35th Army Group, they say they cannot plug the gap! It’s as if the enemy is flooding through the breach like a tide.”

General Skorobo turned to the Crown Prince, “You see. I have no reason to send the reserve to an area that has no apparent issues. I’m not formulating any grudges against General Rokossovsky; I admit he’s an outstanding commander, but…”

The Crown Prince sighed, “I understand. Let’s see if my little sister can think of a solution. She…”

Suddenly, the Crown Prince slapped his forehead, “My sister doesn’t have my seal! Damn.”