artillery arc

Chapter 424 Wishful thinking
The telegram was delivered to the Eagle's Nest in Plossen during lunch time - the lunch time in the Eagle's Nest was originally late, and because the emperor liked to have dinner as a midnight snack at nine or ten o'clock, lunch was also delayed.

The emperor was having a meal at that time. When he saw the telegram, he put down his knife and fork temporarily, picked up the cup of coffee, and stretched out his hand while drinking.

The confidential secretary who delivered the telegram did not dare to delay and quickly stepped forward to hand the telegram to the emperor.

The emperor was drinking coffee and reading a telegram at the same time, when he spat out a mouthful of coffee onto the table, creating a fountain shape on the tablecloth.

He put down his coffee, stood up, reread the telegram, and then looked up to confirm with the confidential secretary: "Is there any translation error?"

"No. We used five Enigma machines to translate it. It's impossible that all five Enigma machines had the wrong initial parameters. We also carefully compared the decoded messages and found them to be completely consistent, which ruled out the possibility of a mistranslation."

The emperor put down the telegram, put his hands behind his back, lowered his head, walked to the window and looked out while thinking.

The scenery of the Eagle's Nest was in full view, but the emperor was not in the mood to appreciate it at the moment.

"Rokossov has assembled more than a thousand tanks? Is that a conservative estimate? What is he going to do?"

There were no military-related personnel in the dining room at that time, except for the confidential secretary who graduated from a military academy - unfortunately, he majored in military cryptography, so everyone looked at each other in bewilderment.

Just then, the door opened and the guards came in and announced loudly: "Chief of the General Staff Wilhelm Celtic and Army Commander-in-Chief Walter von Bryan have arrived!"

The emperor turned around and saw two top officers of the Wehrmacht walking into the dining room with serious expressions.

William Celtic saw the telegram on the table and immediately understood what was going on. He just said: "Marshal Steiermark believes that Rokossov is preparing to break through the Tenth Army."

Emperor: "If we let the Sixth Army take the lead, can it stop Rokossov?"

Marshal von Bryan shook his head: "It's difficult. The local infrastructure cannot support the deployment of so many troops, but the High Command has a new plan."

He snapped his fingers, and a group of staff officers came in carrying a display board with a map on it.

Marshal Bryan took the map stick from his adjutant and began to explain by pointing at the map: “We are going to send the 19th Army, which was originally going to be deployed to encircle and annihilate the enemy in Borsk, to the south of the Sukhayaveli River Basin and let them take the attack route originally planned by our Orange Plan.

"The orange plan is not as bold as the blue plan. It only intends to destroy the heavy troops of Ant on the Sukhayaveli River. Because it is too conservative, the plan was rejected. But now, if we can destroy Rokossov's heavy troops, we may be able to force Ant to surrender in one fell swoop.

"Because you know, His Majesty Tsar Antshin is Rokossov's lover. A woman in love will lose her judgment and there is a high possibility that she will surrender in exchange for the man she loves."

The emperor frowned: "Do Junker officers also take matters like love between men and women into consideration?"

Marshal Brian: "I just said there is such a possibility."

The emperor did not answer, but walked slowly towards the map, stood a few meters away, and carefully looked at the newly drawn attack route.

Proson's map-drawing method has a unique advantage in showing the offensive plans of various troops. The carefully drawn marching routes are clear and organized. As long as you look carefully, you can find out what each troop should do.

Of course, when the offensive is actually carried out, these routes of advance are rarely fully executed. At that time, the commander's ability to respond and the number of contingency plans of the staff will be tested.

The emperor himself actually prefers Ant's style of drawing battle maps in a grand and sweeping manner. He would frown every time he looked at such overly detailed maps.

Now his frown was even tighter.

Just at this moment, the emperor's favorite general, Giles, entered the dining room. The attendants shouted, "Admiral Giles is here!"

The emperor glanced at his best friend and said, "Come and take a look. The High Command has modified a response plan based on Plan Orange to deal with Rokossov's heavy troops that were just discovered today."

Giles: "I heard that the Air Force saw the hundreds of thousands of troops that Rokossov hid?"

"Has it spread like this?" the emperor cursed. "These people have no sense of confidentiality at all!"

Marshal von Brünn said: "I think the staff thinks, as I do, that everyone in the Eagle's Nest can be trusted."

The emperor glared at him and continued, "That has nothing to do with whether you want to keep your staff in check, Marshal von Bryan. Let's take a look at your plan. Encircling and annihilating Rokossov will indeed greatly undermine the enemy's morale.

"But will it cause us to lose the chance to win completely, just like last year?" Feng Brian looked at the emperor with some surprise: "You..."

"I'm reflecting on myself, Brian! I know that in the eyes of some of you Junker officers, I am a fool, but I am not, so now I am the one leading you! I will reflect on my mistakes at any time, and I have been reflecting on them for half a year!
"Tell me now, will this make us repeat the same mistakes?"

Bryan and Chief of Staff William Celt looked at each other before answering, "No. If we don't take action, the Tenth Army won't have the strength to break through Rokossov, who has such a strong force."

Giles said, "I think if the Tenth Army continues to attack, there is still a chance. I feel that Rokossov is bluffing. He used continuous attacks to defeat our division-level units and create an atmosphere that he is very strong.

"Rokossov is a man who fights with both truth and falsehood. He is the kind of person who will attack with all his strength even when he is clearly very weak and cannot attack anymore, and inflict heavy damage on you skillfully, making you think he is still very strong."

At this time, William Celt took out an envelope and poured the photos inside onto the dining table which had been cleaned and the tablecloth changed.

William Celtic: "Are you trying to say that the tanks in the photos are fake?"

Giles: "Rokossov likes to falsify information. I have carefully studied every battle he commanded. He is particularly good at creating false impressions and influencing judgment.

"These tanks, no matter how real they look, could be a Rokossov trick!"

William Celtic: "Ridiculous! Assuming these tanks are really fake, how do you explain how these fake tanks were made all of a sudden? Did they use magic? Let the fake tanks grow out of the mud?"

Gilais shook his head. “I don’t know. Maybe these are just wreckage. Rokossov dragged the wreckage together and made a few fake tanks. He covered the others with camouflage nets.”

At this time, the emperor patted Gilais on the shoulder and asked seriously: "Gilais, do you dare to pat your chest and say that this is a false impression created by Rokossov?"

Marshal von Bryan: "Even if he pats his chest, you can't believe him. The Ante people don't have many tank trailers. It's impossible to tow so many tanks over overnight. And there are not so many tank wrecks around Yeisk for him to tow. No, these are real tanks. Rokossov is preparing for an attack."

Giles sighed: "Marshal Brian is right. I can't guarantee that this is 100% an illusion. But I think, since Rokossov wants to attack, can we wait until he really attacks? The Tenth Army should be able to stop his attack!"

The emperor shook his head. "The Tenth Army currently has only one intact armored division and two intact armored grenadier divisions. In addition, it has two second-tier infantry divisions and two third-tier divisions. Do you think these troops can stop Rokossov, my dear Giles?"

Giles pursed his lips, hesitated for a moment, and said, "Then we should strengthen the Tenth Army. We can consider splitting off a part of the 300,000 troops of the Sixth Army and strengthening the Tenth Army..."

Feng Brian: "That will delay the opportunity! We should start mobilizing the 19th Army right now."

The emperor suddenly raised his voice: "Enough! Marshal Brian, carry out your plan. But remember, this is the result of your efforts against all odds. If your plan fails, you must accept the punishment, otherwise you will not be able to convince the people."

Marshal Brian bit his lower lip and replied, "Okay, I'm willing to take responsibility!"

At this time, Gilais asked worriedly: "What about our original plan to conduct a small outflanking and destroy the enemy's heavy troops in Borsk? Do we still have an army?"

Chief of the General Staff William Celtic: "Yes, there are, but they need to be mobilized from the Viking Peninsula and the Minotaur Island. In addition, in the port of the Carolingian puppet state, there is an army group ready to board the ship to the Mamluk battlefield. This is the reinforcement that Admiral Erwin has been looking forward to for a long time.

"He promised that as long as he got this army, he could attack the Mamluk capital and cut off the lifeline of the United Kingdom - the Grand Canal."

The emperor turned around and walked to the globe in the room, gently turning the globe: "The enemy is everywhere, and they are trying to wipe out the Prosen people! This is a battle for the survival of the Prosen people, and no front can be abandoned."

Giles: "Then we should mobilize all forces. This way, at least we will have more troops."

The emperor was silent for a few seconds and said, "No, Ant will surrender this year, and then we will go all out to fight against the United Kingdom and the United States. Only then will we need to mobilize. Mobilizing before then may cause the people of the empire to lose confidence in the war."

Giles: "They are already losing confidence."

"It doesn't matter! This is just a small matter. We can make up for it by defeating Ant! But if we start a general mobilization, what was originally just a guess will be taken as reality! Siegfried, I think you should understand this! We can't mobilize, that's Pandora's Box!"

At this time, Marshal Brian coughed.

The emperor waved his hand impatiently: "Go and carry out your plan! Capture Rokossov! And then see if you can force Ant to surrender!"

(End of this chapter)