artillery arc

Chapter 654 The Beginning of the Hard March (Update 46/84)

On the evening of July 7, Plossen, Army Group South Headquarters.

General Shiplin did not wait for the commander of the 8th Armored Division, Adel Schulz, but instead waited for the commanders of several armored grenadier divisions.

The five division commanders entered the headquarters with murderous intent, and then were stunned when they saw Marshal Goron and General Shiplin sitting in front of the map table.

Marshal Goron pointed at General Shiplin and said, "You may not know yet, but General Shiplin has been promoted to the commander of the Southern Army Group. I haven't left yet because I want to help him complete the handover smoothly. If you have any questions, please come to the general."

Bishop, the commander of the 10th Armored Grenadier Division, immediately spoke up: "Whose idea was it to break up the Armored Grenadier Division? We have already suffered heavy losses. If we break them up again, we will not be able to form a combined force. When the enemy attacks, we will collapse!"

General Shiplin: "When the enemy attacks, the two army-level battle groups we have formed will be responsible for responding. Your current task is to use your armored advantage to cover the retreat of the infantry and supply convoys.

"A large number of Ante cavalry have crossed the dividing line between the two armies. Aerial reconnaissance shows that they are heading towards the ruins of Orachi. If we don't take action, they will crazily slaughter our infantry and truck teams."

Major General Bishop asked: "Why not let the Air Force do this? Let them use fighter planes to strafe the cavalry on the ground!"

Marshal Goron answered on his behalf: "We have tried, but the results were not good. Moreover, many of the Air Force fighter pilots have been transferred back to the country to participate in national air defense operations. We do not have enough fighters to seize air superiority and carry out ground attacks at the same time."

Several armored grenadier division commanders looked at each other.

Finally, it was Major General Bishop who spoke up: "It's too stupid to break up the Panzergrenadier Division into smaller units! What about the assault guns of the infantry division? Wouldn't it be good to use assault guns to deal with cavalry?"

General Shiplin: "The assault guns suffered the same losses as you. They alone cannot deal with so many cavalry.

“More importantly, since the assault gun was reclassified as a tank destroyer at the beginning of the year, it has been under the supervision of the Armored Forces. The assault gun battalion has changed into black uniforms, and the newly formed infantry divisions rarely get a complete assault gun battalion.

"More than half of the assault gun battalions in our infantry divisions are short of staff."

Several teachers looked at each other.

General Shiplin: "Stop complaining, complete the mission. When we retreat to the Tiber River, your troops will be reorganized. We will need you as a defensive and counterattack force at that time."

Just as he finished speaking, Adel Schulz, the commander of the 8th Armored Division, entered the room. When he saw his fellow armored grenadiers, he hesitated for a moment and said, "Uh, shall I go outside and have a cigarette first?"

"No, we have finished talking." General Shiplin said, "Several division commanders have understood my intentions. They will complete the task."

"Wait a minute!" Major General Bishop once again acted as everyone's spokesperson. "It's too absurd to split us up. We can actually use the Type 2 tanks to do this. The Type 2 tanks of the armored reconnaissance battalion can completely chase the cavalry in the wilderness, right?"

General Shiplin: "How many Panzer II tanks does your 10th Panzer Grenadier Division have left, my Excellency Major General Bishop?"

The major general was speechless for a moment: "This... there are less than ten."

Marshal Goron interrupted, "I heard that the Imperial Armament Department plans to reuse the production line of the Type 2 tank to manufacture Lynx reconnaissance tanks. Now it seems that using them to fight against cavalry might be a good idea?"

General Shiplin: "It would be better to remove the guard plate of the furniture truck and put the machine gun flat. I don't know which idiot designer designed this thing. The anti-aircraft gun can't be put flat."

Everyone realized at this moment that perhaps a good way to deal with the Ant Cavalry had just been born.

General Shiplin turned to the chief of staff and asked, "I remember we have whirlwind anti-aircraft guns?"

"A small number of experimental models were sent to the front line for testing." The chief of staff replied.

General Shiplin: "Send all these cyclones to cover the convoy and infantry!"

"Yes."

The general looked at the grenadier division commanders again: "Any questions?"

Several commanders shook their heads.

"Then go and follow the order. The enemy's cavalry is already galloping across the grassland. The infantry and transport convoys need you!"

The teachers then saluted and left.

General Shiplin turned to Adel Schultz and held out his hand: "I have heard of your name, 'Armored Schultz'."

"This is just a title made up by the propaganda department to counter Rokossov." Adel Schulz said modestly, shook the general's outstretched hand, shook it gently and then let go.

General Shiplin: "Humility is a virtue, very good. I called you here because..."

"To deal with the Ant cavalry?" Schultz asked, but immediately shook his head. "No, the cavalry is too fast for the tanks to catch up. We shouldn't waste precious motorcycle time on this kind of thing."

General Shiplin nodded and said, "You are right. In fact, we are going to form the Schultz Group, which will gather all the armored forces we can gather. Our only mission is to launch a counterattack when Rokossov's armored forces launch an attack."

Schultz: "No problem. That's what we did in Army Group Center, and we did a pretty good job, and many ace tank crews were born.

"I think my boys can't wait to compete with Rokossov's Guards Tank Corps."

Marshal Goron interrupted and said, "Don't take it lightly. Rokossov has a lot of new tanks, and there are also a lot of vortex anti-tank destroyers."

Schultz: "In the early days of the war, my troops also performed well against KV tanks. I think the same should be true for Rokossov's new tanks. There will always be a way to deal with them."

General Shiplin: "Intelligence shows that Rokossov's new tanks are almost exhausted. Your opponents before August should all be T34Ws, with some vortex tanks at most."

"That's great, just wait and see." Schultz said confidently.

----

At 7 on July 21, on the road northeast of Orachi.

Andreas was carrying the machine gun tripod on his back, moving breathlessly.

The newly repaired asphalt road was scorching hot under the midsummer sun.

Andreas was very thirsty, so he took out the kettle and shook it, but the kettle made no sound, obviously it was empty.

He twisted the lid off and licked the mouth of the bottle. At this time, a water bottle was handed over: "Drink it. You still haven't learned it. You should bring more water bottles for this kind of retreat."

Andreas looked at the person who handed him the canteen and found it was Sergeant Kosrek, so he took the canteen and took a big sip, then asked, "How do you have experience in retreat?"

Sergeant Kosrek: "During the Plossan Unification War, my grandfather was on the defeated side. He taught me."

As he spoke, the sergeant adjusted the position of the machine gun on his shoulder.

At this moment, the soldier in front suddenly threw away the gun in his hand and took off the magazine bag.

Andreas and Kosrek shouted together: "Hold your weapons, soldiers!"

The recruit looked back and fell to the ground: "I can't do it anymore. Let me stay here with my weapon and face the tyranny of the Ants!"

Andreas and Kosrek looked at each other, then pulled up the recruits on the left and right.

Koslake: "Cheer up! Think about your family, don't you want to go back and see them?"

Andreas: "The Ants will have the Inquisitor interrogate you, and then send you to a labor camp, where you will be worked until you die! (This is all propaganda)"

New recruit: "It's not that I don't want to walk, I really can't walk anymore. I haven't eaten for two days!"

Andreas took out some compressed biscuits, tore open the wrapper, broke off a piece and was about to stuff it into the recruit's mouth.

Kosrek stopped Andreas, picked up the kettle and unscrewed the lid: "There is no water in his mouth, so he can't dissolve the compressed biscuits!"

After drinking three sips of water, the recruit's throat finally began to move.

Andreas stuffed the biscuit into the recruit's mouth.

The recruit chewed his biscuit and coughed violently as he swallowed.

Andreas patted the recruit's back to help him steady his breath.

New recruit: "You go ahead, I'll catch up with you in a while—"

At this time, a cry of surprise came from behind: "Cavalry! Ant's cavalry is coming!"

Sergeant Koslake and Corporal Andreas looked at each other.

The sergeant rushed to the wreckage of the car next to him carrying a machine gun, opened the bipod of the machine gun, and mounted it on the roof of the car.

The MG42 without a tripod is just a light machine gun. Its shooting accuracy is not enough to fight against the cavalry galloping on the grassland, but it is better than nothing.

The first cavalryman appeared, and Sergeant Koslake immediately opened fire. The iconic sound of tearing canvas rang out, which seemed to give a reassurance to the panicked Plossen fleeing soldiers.

More cavalry appeared in view. Instead of forming a traditional cavalry wall formation, they dispersed.

Sergeant Koslake cursed: "Damn it! The enemy has learned their lesson. Now it takes more bullets to knock down a horse!"

Andreas crouched down beside Kosrek and held up the bandolier with his hands.

When this belt was almost finished, Andreas reminded: "Change the barrel!"

"Change after the fight!"

While he was talking, the bullet belt was empty. Andreas stood up, skillfully removed the fixings of the barrel, and pulled out the already red-hot tube.

Although his hand touched the red-hot barrel when changing the barrel, as an experienced machine gunner, he was accustomed to this degree of burns.

Soon, the machine gun fire was restored, and several Ante cavalrymen rushed to a very close place.

Kosrek immediately mowed them down, but was too late to stop the grenade that had already been thrown.

The sergeant rolled down the wreckage holding his machine gun.

The moment Andreas, who was a little slow, rolled down, the grenade exploded, and the shrapnel hit the wreckage with a clanging sound.

Andreas raised his submachine gun, supported his upper body and fired at the cavalry who seized the opportunity.

The sound of MP40 is much weaker than that of the "cloth ripper".

Moreover, in a hurry, Andreas missed his gun. He fired almost ten shots but missed the knight who was rushing towards him.

At this moment, the sound of the cloth tearing machine rang out again.

Andreas looked up and found that Kosrek, who had just rolled off the wreckage, was lying on top of the wreckage and shooting again.

At this moment, a more reassuring voice sounded.

Andreas knew it was the sound of a 20mm machine gun.

But he didn't remember that there were any hand-propelled 20mm machine guns left in his division. These things should have been thrown away near Aoboyang together with the Opel Lightning truck that towed them.

He stood up and looked in the direction of the sound, and saw an unfamiliar tank moving forward while pouring fire from its 20mm machine gun.

Ant's cavalry turned around and retreated, dropping smoke bombs - yes, now the Ant people are also masters of using smoke.

Andreas breathed a sigh of relief and said to himself: "I'm still alive, yes, I'm still alive."

He raised his voice: "Kosrek, we are still alive!"

"I saw it, and I will never stop until I die!"

(End of this chapter)