artillery arc

Chapter 87 A tragic victory
Two flowers bloom, one on each side.

On the 15th Division's side, not only the division commander, Major General Randolph, was lost, but several senior staff officers were also blamed for rescuing the general.

Had the division chief of staff not wisely chosen to leave in the opposite direction, the situation might have been even worse.

When the engine sound of the enemy tank faded away, the chief of staff got up from the ground and shouted: "General! General!"

The few staff officers who were still alive got up, checked the general's breathing and pulse, and then shook their heads at the chief of staff.

The chief of staff was speechless and looked in the direction of Loktov. At this time, because of the smoke grenades deployed by the guards, he could not see the city at all, nor could he see the fighting in the open space between the headquarters and the city.

Of course, now the chief of staff only needs to walk a few dozen meters more and walk outside the smoke to see the battlefield normally.

However, the Special 34 that had just raided left such a deep impression on the Chief of Staff that even though reason told him that the enemy was gone, he was still unwilling to leave the smoke screen.

"Is that General White Horse..." the chief of staff muttered in a low voice, but he immediately realized that he was now the temporary commander of the army, and he should not show off to the enemy with such a performance.

So he cleared his throat and put on a stern expression that he had never shown since putting on the staff armband: "Start to regroup the troops immediately. The attacking troops must have dispersed. Send messengers to gather them again.

"Everyone retreats to Kalinovka and sets up anti-tank gun positions. Also, let the artillery regiment retreat to prevent the enemy from coming out for sneak attacks at night."

The T-34 tank was so maneuverable that the chief of staff simply did not dare to leave the division's artillery in an unprotected place overnight.

After the order was passed on, the chief of staff asked: "Where is the 513th Air Defense Artillery Regiment moving now? Their 88 guns are needed now!"

The surviving mapping staff immediately reported: "According to the map updated at noon today, the 513th Regiment has crossed the perimeter of Bogdanovka and is marching at full strength."

Chief of Staff: "Let them speed up! They must arrive tomorrow!"

----

When bus No. 422 drove into Loktov, the streets were already crowded with people.

Before the tanks entered the city, someone shouted "It's coming, it's coming", and then the deafening sound of urrahs was heard.

The crowd cheered as if the whole war had been won.

Wang Zhong shouted on the tank: "Don't gather! What if the enemy fires artillery? The enemy has a 15-centimeter heavy artillery! Don't gather! Disperse! Go home!"

He didn't know that his assault had scared away the enemy's deployed artillery regiment.

After shouting five times, the crowd reluctantly dispersed.

Then a second lieutenant in a dusty uniform appeared and followed the tank.

"Stop." Wang Zhong patted the steel plate of the turret, and then heard the sound of the hammer hitting the control lever again - he was almost used to it, and he couldn't even hear it if he didn't pay attention.

Wang Zhong leaned over the turret and looked at the second lieutenant: "Are you from the 5th Beshensk Regiment?"

"Yes General."

"Where is your group leader?"

"Sacrificed, I am now the commander. Give the order, general."

The joy of winning just faded away in an instant.

Wang Zhong bit his lip: "I know, what is your name?"

"Pavel Alexeevich, General."

Wang Zhong: "How many more of you are there?"

"81 of them were intact, and the rest were taken to the hospital by the stretcher team even if they were alive."

Wang Zhong: "Thank you for your hard work. I will let the Skitarii take over your defense area. You go to the train station and prepare to take the next train to retreat."

The second lieutenant was stunned when he heard this: "Don't you want us anymore? We can still fight."

Wang Zhong was speechless for a moment. He clearly wanted them to retreat and recuperate, but when Pavel said it, it was as if he had abandoned them.

Wang Zhong: "No such thing. I just..."

Second Lieutenant: "We can guard the station, we still have two machine guns, and we have captured a lot of equipment. Our technical equipment has never been as abundant as it is now! We can still fight, General!"

Wang Zhong was silent for a few seconds and replied: "I want you to shrink into a company and carry the smoke bombs captured by the enemy - are there smoke bombs?"

"Yes, a lot."

"Okay, bring smoke bombs, find a place to eat and drink, and sleep for three hours. When it gets dark, I want you to go out of the city to cover the workers repairing the tanks."

"no problem."

In fact, there shouldn't be any danger in this mission. The enemy is probably in chaos right now, so there shouldn't be any movement tonight.

Wang Zhong just didn't want these soldiers to feel abandoned.

Although the enemy has been repelled, there is still a lot to do tonight.

Wang Zhong said to the driver: "Drive back to Brigade Zhi, uh, do you know where Brigade Zhi is?"

"I don't know." Belyakov replied simply, "Should we find you or the sergeant major would lead us the way." Wang Zhong: "I will show you the way. Go forward, drive to the intersection in front of you and turn left. .”

----

When Wang Zhong entered the battle group headquarters - actually the brigade headquarters, Pavlov raised his head and said: "You can hear cheers three miles away from here, Your Excellency, General White Horse."

Wang Zhong: "I need to organize the workers in the auto repair shop to go out of the city tonight to repair the tanks. There are eight tanks that are just malfunctioning and can be repaired."

"Okay, there are still three hours until nightfall, so we should be able to organize it." Pavlov turned around and said, "Su Fang, go to the auto repair shop to find someone. They said they will need a team of skilled workers in three hours."

Su Fang nodded, and then ran towards the door. When she passed Wang Zhong, she paused and smiled.

Wang Zhong:?
"War heroes will be favored by girls. This has always been the case." Pavlov said, "What else do I need to do?"

Wang Zhong: "I need to replenish ammunition and fuel. In addition, I need a lot of anti-aircraft camouflage nets and branches to hide my tanks. The enemy will definitely launch an air attack tomorrow, and the Stuka is a great threat to these tanks."

Pavlov: "Lushenko! Order the Skitarii to disguise themselves as tanks!"

Wang Zhong: "The Skitarii?"

"The church gave us five apostolic camps. They are all organized locals. The equipment is very poor, but they have enough bullet tubes. They are suitable for doing chores. As for the artillery shells, let me confirm, the guns on the tanks, and Our 76 anti-tank gun is the same thing, right?"

Wang Zhong was silent. This involved a blind spot in his knowledge.

It's true that he is a military fan, but he is not hard-core enough to know what shells each type of artillery fires.

Although the caliber of the T34's L11 gun is indeed 76.2, which is the same as the ZIS-3 anti-tank gun, he really doesn't know if the two use the same ammunition.

Pavlov waited for a few seconds and sighed: "Only at this time will I think of your previous rumors. General."

Wang Zhong: "My gunner is the instructor of the armored training team. He must know that I am right to send him to the depot headquarters to collect the artillery shells!"

"Indeed, let him do it."

Wang Zhong: "What are the casualties of the troops?"

When asked, he remembered the second lieutenant of the 5th Beshensk Regiment.

Pavlov stopped, took off his glasses, took out the glasses cloth and wiped them without answering.

Wang Zhong: "Tell me, I'm mentally prepared."

"We are still looking for the wounded and so on. The counting of the living has been completed. After all, we only need to gather and report the number. Now the 31st Guards Regiment is still alive, and there are 611 people who can come out to report. One third of them are injured.

"I estimate that there are still hundreds of wounded people to be pulled out from the pile of dead people. It's hard to say how many of them can be cured and returned to the team."

Wang Zhong pursed his lips: "Is the loss so big?"

Pavlov continued: "The good news is that the enemy suffered greater losses. In the past, even if the enemy was the attacking party, their battle losses were lower than ours. This time they suffered."

Wang Zhong nodded: "This may be the only gratifying thing."

"However, the enemy's battle losses are higher, and most of them are caused by the tank troops you personally command. Including BT-7 and the T34 behind. The enemy's battle losses in the front are still won."

Wang Zhong: "The enemy is well-trained, I already fully understand this."

"In addition, there is good news. Although position A is suppressed by enemy artillery fire, miraculously there is still one 203. We now have five 203s, and we can give the enemy a big wave tomorrow."

Wang Zhong frowned: "Can we call for air reconnaissance to find the enemy's artillery positions? It has been seven days since we first saw our air force. Isn't it time for the air force behind to be replenished?"

Pavlov: "You ask this question to a brigade chief of staff? You should ask the front army chief of staff, so that he can take charge of the air force. I..."

Before he could finish speaking, an inquisitor came in with a telegram: "The latest order from the Front Army Headquarters."

Wang Zhong was stunned for a moment before realizing that his telegram was handled by a group of inquisitors. He stretched out his hand: "Give it to me."

After taking the telegram, he read aloud: "The 63rd Army is expected to arrive in Loktov tomorrow afternoon. Your troops should try their best to delay the enemy. The information we have obtained shows that there may be an integrated armored division of the enemy in front of your troops, plus an Part of the Panzergrenadier Division.

"We believe that the enemy armored group is passing through Bogdanovka, and it is expected that your troops will be hit by a fierce armored attack tomorrow."

Wang Zhong looked up at Pavlov: "That's what they (the front army) said."

Pavlov snorted: "What a 'timely' notification. Does the front army know that if it weren't for the T34 sent by the Crown Prince, this place would have been lost? I don't know."

Wang Zhong: "Then let's tell them!"

He turned to the judge and said: "The call back is as follows, take note of it!"

The judge immediately took out his notebook and pencil and got ready to record.

Wang Zhong: "Our department suffered heavy losses today. If it were not for the good performance of the newly joined T34 unit and the remnants of the 23rd Tank Corps, Loktov would have fallen. Our department is in urgent need of replenishing ammunition and personnel, especially armor and anti-tank technical weapons. , In addition, our department needs air support, Alexei Konstantinovich Rokosov."

The judge wrote quickly, and after writing the last word, he looked up at Wang Zhong.

Wang Zhong always felt that something was missing. He thought for a while and said, "Repeat it again!"

(End of this chapter)