artillery arc

Chapter 405 Concerns before the Attack
After saying goodbye to the children he met by chance, Wang Zhong let Bucephalus jog around the city.

Yeisk was now crammed with tanks, and the flash of welding could be seen everywhere in the streets.

In the past, Wang Zhong did not dare to place a large number of troops in the city for fear of being bombarded. Now that the 190th Division of Prosen has been defeated, no more Prosen artillery units can cover Yeisk.

Therefore, Wang Zhong ordered the troops that had suffered heavy losses to be transferred back for rest and recuperation, and the tank repair factory that was originally located outside the city was also moved from the tent to the city.

The faulty tanks of the 40th Tank Army were also brought to the city for repair.

When everyone saw Wang Zhong coming on his tall horse, they put down their work and saluted him.

When Wang Zhong passed by, he would definitely hear the gossiping voice behind him: "See? That's Rokossov!"

"We are fighting in his name, and we are finally going to win the battle!"

"That's right. We were just fighting like a coward before and were chased by the Prosen people."

"We saw trucks carrying prisoners on the way here. It was really refreshing."

Wang Zhong took all this as flattery and was secretly happy. Vasily said, "General, your presence boosts morale. Priests like Popov will be out of work!"

"Don't try to sow discord among our three-man command group." Wang Zhong glanced at Vasily. "The priest team led by the bishop is indispensable. The morale of the soldiers cannot be achieved by blindly worshipping the commander. That would be too dangerous."

Vasily: "Okay, I understand."

At this time, the roar of an engine was heard from the front of the street. Wang Zhong raised his head and immediately changed the view. He saw a tractor towing a broken tank into the yard which was currently used as a tank repair yard.

That roar is the tractor engine.

There were already several tanks in the compound, and almost all of them were having their engines dismantled.

President Wang came back and said to Vasily and Gregory, "Let's go check out the maintenance yard."

Vasily asked in surprise: "How do you know there is a maintenance yard ahead?"

Wang Zhong smiled slightly. "Most of the tanks are being repaired right now, so they won't start their engines. The loud roar should be from the tractors of the recovery troops, so I guess there must be a maintenance yard ahead."

Vasily suddenly realized: "Oh, that's great."

Wang Zhong rode his horse forward and when he turned the intersection he saw another tractor pulling a T34 into the repair shop.

There was a row of T34s parked at the entrance of the venue, all under maintenance.

Ant is not like Proson. Each armored company is equipped with a welder, and all tanks that need welding repairs are handed over to professional maintenance battalions.

The entire road in front of the maintenance yard was filled with welding flames, and the air was filled with the smell of ozone produced by welding.

Seeing Wang Zhong coming, everyone stood up and saluted as usual, but Wang Zhong said first: "Okay, no need to salute, continue your work! This is the most important thing."

Everyone then squatted down and continued to work.

A clerk holding a writing board came up to Wang Zhong and reported loudly: "General, we completed minor repairs on 10 tanks during the day, and there are tanks in the yard that are replacing their engines. We expect to complete the repairs tomorrow night.

"Also, the recovery battalion is still towing tanks back, and we are running out of repair manpower. We can only repair vehicles with minor problems first."

Wang Zhong nodded: "Okay, you have worked hard. Can I go into the yard to take a look?" "Of course, you are the commander, there is no place in Yeisk that you cannot go. Please come in! But there is not much space inside, please dismount."

Wang Zhong dismounted, tied the reins to the fire hydrant beside the gate, and then walked into the yard.

In fact, through the bird's-eye view, he has almost grasped the situation inside. Now he came in for a walk around to let everyone in the maintenance yard feel the attention of the army headquarters and improve work efficiency.

He came to a tank whose engine had been lifted out and craned his neck to look into the opening left by the engine.

Just by looking at the welding of the engine compartment, you can tell that the manufacturer of this tank is a complete novice. The welds are crooked and there are many bulges.

Seeing the weld, Wang Zhong suddenly became worried about the tank's armor protection, so he walked around to the front and took a look at the tank's gun shield.

It was a complete mess. Even someone like Wang Zhong who knew nothing about welding, after seeing the welding of the gun shield and the entire front half of the turret, knew that the strength of this thing must not be very good.

It seems that this batch of T34s are completely inadequate in terms of reliability and protection capabilities.

Meanwhile, Proshen on the opposite side has already started mass-producing the long-barreled Type 50, and it is estimated that the Type will soon be equipped with a long mm gun. Proshen's armored troops should be able to achieve great results again.

As the chairman of the New Equipment Review Committee, Wang Zhong is now extremely anxious. He must produce better and qualified tanks as soon as possible, otherwise Ant's armored soldiers will die in vain and will not be able to accumulate combat experience or train many elite tank crews.

With this thought in mind, Wang Zhong turned to the mechanic who was repairing the engine and asked, "Has the problem with the engine been determined?"

"This one is confirmed." The mechanic shook his head. "We originally thought that a specific part kept having problems, but we've disassembled ten engines so far today, and each one has a different problem. This is scary, and it means that there's something wrong with the factory's production."

If there is a problem with a specific component, we can locate the specific production link and then solve the problem.

There is no way to solve the problem now, and we will have to endure poor quality for a long time to come.

Wang Zhong patted the technician on the shoulder and said, "Thank you for your hard work, master. Do your best to repair it. If we can deploy more tanks during the attack, we will have a better chance of winning."

"Don't worry." The technician smiled at Wang Zhong, "You think so highly of us, so we certainly won't let you down, General."

Wang Zhong nodded, withdrew his hand from the mechanic's shoulder, and paced in the yard filled with the smell of engine oil.

The dismantled tank engines were in very poor condition, as the technicians were busy working beside them, sweating profusely.

Wang Zhong turned around, full of worries about No. 21's attack.

However, the decision to attack has been made and cannot be easily changed - changing orders every day will affect the morale of the troops and their trust in the commander.

A force that doubts its commander will certainly not be able to achieve the commander's intentions.

So the only thing we can do is try to attack on the 21st. The good news is that it is not easy to dig a strong bunker in the place where the Plossen Infantry Division is stationed. If the artillery bombards well, even if the tanks are in a bad condition, there will be no problem.

Wang Zhong took a deep breath and looked up at the fiery clouds in the sky.

----

November 7th, 21 noon.

Pavlov looked at his watch, then at Wang Zhong, and picked up the phone: "Connect to the artillery command post. Fire."

(End of this chapter)