artillery arc

Chapter 406: Tank 40th Army's Attack Begins

Moving forward a little bit in time, at 21 o'clock in the morning on the st, at the headquarters of the th Army of Plossen.

Admiral Polk lifted the rainproof cloth curtain, yawned as he entered the headquarters, and greeted the staff: "Hello, gentlemen. Is the enemy shelling?"

"No, General," said the Chief of Staff.

Admiral Pok snapped his fingers and said, "Good! Then they won't attack today. Air Force reconnaissance detected tank troops heading to Yeisk. I thought Rokossov was going to attack!"

Chief of Staff: "Rokossov likes to use tanks for covering fire when defending. Those tanks may be used to strengthen the front line defense."

Admiral Bock still had a look of doubt on his face. "So many tanks to consolidate the front line? Or a city? This doesn't make sense. No, he should be attacking. The photos taken by the aircraft yesterday showed that at least two hundred tanks were gathering towards his army group. These are the forces used for attack."

Admiral Polk stared at the map for a while, then added, "But he may not be ready yet. It's already eleven o'clock today, and the bombardment won't come if it doesn't come."

The chief of staff laughed and said, "Rokosov certainly didn't expect that we would attack first tomorrow and give him a taste of our power."

Admiral Pok also smiled. "Very good. These days we have been harassed by Rokossov's cavalry. Our supplies and morale have suffered a great blow. Now we can finally vent our anger."

Seeing the admiral smile, other people in the headquarters also laughed. The entire headquarters was in a relaxed atmosphere for the first time in several days.

After laughing, Admiral Poker asked, "How is the supply situation of the armored forces?"

The chief of staff immediately reported: "Currently 60% has been completed, and it will definitely be completed before tomorrow. The harassment of the enemy cavalry has obviously weakened, although we dare not send the recovery battalion to tow back the tanks and armored vehicles abandoned on the grassland for repair.

"When the offensive begins tomorrow, we will be able to deploy two hundred tanks and three hundred half-tracks."

"Okay." Admiral Poke nodded repeatedly.

At this time, the communications staff came in with a telegram: "Urgent message from the headquarters."

Admiral Poker looked helpless: "It should be to urge us to attack again."

He motioned to the Chief of Staff to get the message.

The chief of staff stepped forward, took the message, glanced at it and said, "It is indeed asking us to attack, and the wording is even harsher than the last one. We have clearly informed our superiors of our attack plan, but they are still urging us to do so, every day."

Admiral Polk shook his head. "The High Command is not so unreasonable. Your Majesty has put pressure on them. Call back and tell Your Majesty - tell the High Command that I will attack tomorrow. I will definitely attack tomorrow."

After the staff saluted and left, Admiral Polk asked the Chief of Staff, "What about the plan for tomorrow's attack?"

“It has been distributed to all units.”

The chief of staff snapped his fingers, and immediately a staff officer unfolded a map with the attack plan drawn on it.

"First, the armored and panzergrenadier units will pass through the defenses of the infantry divisions, deploy in front of the enemy, and launch the attack after two hours of artillery preparation.

“The goal of the first stage of the attack was to drive most of the enemy’s troops on the steppe into Yeisk and achieve a semi-encirclement of the city.

“In the second stage, we will encircle Yeisk and trap Rokossov’s main force in the city.

"Rokosov is good at defense, so we will conduct three days of artillery preparation to completely flatten the city before launching an attack."

Admiral Poke stared intently at the map with the battle plan drawn on it, as if he wanted to imprint the map in his mind.

The chief of staff began to explain in detail the parts that each division was responsible for. After listening carefully, Admiral Polk nodded and said, "No problem, it's a good plan. If I were still teaching at the military academy, I would give you full marks if you took out this plan in the exam."

The general taught at the Military Academy for a period of time before returning to command combat troops during the Melania Campaign.

"To celebrate your brilliant battle plan, let's have lunch."

The Admiral clapped his hands, and his orderly came in, parting the curtain, and asked, "How can I help you?"

"Prepare lunch for everyone in the headquarters."

As soon as the admiral finished speaking, the communications officer came in, without a telegram in his hand. He reported in a loud voice: "General, the front-line infantry unit reported via radio that it was bombarded!"

"What?" Admiral Poke looked down at his watch. "It's already this late! If night falls in the middle of the attack, we'll be in chaos!"

Chief of Staff: "Maybe just a Rokossov-style surprise bombardment? He likes to waste shells like this, as if their logistics will never run out."

The general shook his head: "No, Rokossov has just received a large number of tank troops. We only have infantry divisions in front of us, and the ground conditions make it impossible to dig strong fortifications. His artillery bombarded all the fortifications.

"This is an attack, he's going to attack."

The general walked around the tent twice and made up his mind: "I'm going to talk to the commander of the infantry division! Can I still call him?"

"We'll try our best," the communications officer replied.

----

At the headquarters of the 151st Infantry Division of Plossen, Major General Franz was holding the microphone of the radio and shouting: "Hello! Hello! Do you hear me? This is Wolverine, this is Wolverine, we are under heavy bombardment by the enemy! Repeat, heavy bombardment!"

The radio was filled with static.

The rustling sound formed a sharp contrast with the rumbling of artillery outside the division headquarters bunker.

Franz shrank his neck, as if this action could save his head when the unfortunate shell fell! The rest of the division headquarters had already fallen to the ground.

The chief of staff still remembered to maintain an anti-artillery posture, while several staff officers who had never seen the world simply lay on the ground.

The shells didn't have to hit this crude bunker directly. The shockwaves from falling nearby were enough to teach these staff officers a lesson.

Franz's call was finally answered, and a rough voice floated out of the headset: "Wolverine, how are you doing?"

"The enemy is shelling us. Shells are raining down on our positions. We are almost out of shells!"

"Calm down, Wolverine, you are still alive, right? I want you to stand up now and use the telescope to look in the direction of the Ants. Can you see the enemy's armored forces?"

Major General Franz stood up tremblingly, picked up the telescope and took a look -

The T34 tanks were lined up in rows, and from Franz's perspective, they looked like a battle fleet arranged in battle formation before a decisive battle at sea.

He even forgot to squat down again, and just stood there and shouted into the microphone: "Battleship, battleship! No, I mean, the tank brigade! The tank brigade is rushing towards me!"

(End of this chapter)