Arc of Gunfire

On June 5, 915, Wang Zhong received a call from General Gorky from the Western Front Headquarters early in the morning.

Wang Zhong: "Don't attack my home, maybe the secrets will be leaked. Don't tell military secrets."

General Gorky: "Then you quickly go to the city defense headquarters. You can call us at any time."

Then General Gorky hung up the phone.

Wang Zhong put down the receiver and looked at the map in the bedroom. Since Proson and the Western Front started attacking respectively, Wang Zhong moved the map to the room so that he could stare at the map while accompanying his fiancée, who had grown pregnant. Thinking.

There didn't seem to be any major problems with the battle lines on the map. The update time written in pencil on the edge of the map was 11 o'clock last night, which should have been updated just before going to bed.

Lyudmila asked curiously: "What's going on?"

Wang Zhong: "I don't know, but it's probably not an emergency on the front line. In that case, the caller wouldn't be General Gorky, but Olga."

Lyudmila: "Then why did you call so early?"

Wang Zhong: "I guess his breach was filled in by the Prossens. It took so long to fill it in, which shows that our army performed well, much better than last year's tofu dregs that fell apart in a single blow."

Lyudmila smiled and said: "You said tofu again. Do you like this kind of Seris food that much?"

Wang Zhong: "Butter, I mean, our army's performance last year was the same as butter, or cheese."

Lyudmila smiled happily: "Okay, okay, let's see if we can get some canned tofu from the United States."

Wang Zhong smiled bitterly, because he knew that there were no canned tofu in the United States at this time, and maybe people didn't know what tofu was.

He kissed Lyudmila who was still about to say something, and then touched her belly: "I'm leaving."

Lyudmila pretended to be disappointed: "You only touch your belly now. I am no longer attractive in your eyes."

Wang Zhong quickly made up for painting the front armor: "I was wrong, I was wrong, you are interested, you are interested!"

Lyudmila pushed him: "Let's go, the front line is waiting for you."

Wang Zhong nodded, and just then Nelli appeared with a military cap and polished leather shoes.

————

When Wang Zhong walked into the city defense headquarters, the staff were surprised: "You didn't go to the imperial meeting?"

"As a lieutenant general, I always attend those meetings and serve as a staff officer like you. Do you really think I can influence any decisions?" Wang Zhong said, "Has the confidential secretary gone to work? Let him squat at the switchboard."

"Yes, General." The staff officer immediately executed the order.

Wang Zhong went directly into his office, took off his hat and hung it on the coat rack, and then opened one of the buckles - the weather had started to get hot, and he would definitely be sweating if he kept buttoning the buckles.

On the other hand, the heat can only be dealt with by turning on the wind. It's a joke.

As soon as Wang Zhong sat down behind his desk, the phone rang, and the confidential secretary answered: "I'm at the switchboard."

Wang Zhong: "Go to the Western Front Headquarters. General Gorky is waiting for me."

A moment later, General Gorky's voice came from the receiver: "Rokossov?"

Wang Zhong: "Yes, what's going on?"

"The enemy killed all our troops who broke through to the other side of the river. Our troops disintegrated faster than expected. The good news is that this time it was not a retreat. In addition to the scattered troops, many people from other troops were able to withdraw. ”

Wang Zhong: "Did you order the retreat?"

"Yes, the engineering troops originally told me that the pontoon bridge could be erected at midnight on June 3, but the pontoon bridge has not been completed yet, so I ordered a retreat at four o'clock this morning and used front army-level artillery to cover the retreat of the large forces.

"The retreat is not over yet, but the Plosans are already sweeping along the east coast, trying to drive us away from the ferry completely."

Wang Zhong: "Invest the troops who have not yet crossed the river. There should be many troops who did not cross because of the delay on the pontoon bridge, right?"

"You guessed it right, we are currently working hard to hold at least one bridgehead."

"I already know the situation, but I still don't understand why you called me."

General Gorky: "Did you know the result from the beginning?"

Wang Zhong: "I just made an inference based on the situation of our army and the enemy's army, but in war, we won't know the outcome until we actually fight it. And..."

Wang Zhong's mood suddenly dropped because he was about to say something very cruel.

"And what?" General Gorky asked.

Wang Zhong: "We need to use this method to train our commanders and check for leaks and fill them. The Prosen Army was not so strong from the beginning. They have maintained their military tradition for so many years. Do we have a military tradition?" "

Ant said that there is a military tradition, and indeed there is, but the gap between it and Prossenby is a bit big.

A sigh came from the receiver: "It's really uncomfortable to hear that sacrifices are needed to train commanders."

Wang Zhong: "I look forward to your experience summary."

General Gorky smiled bitterly and said: "If someone else said this, I would take it as a sarcasm, but you, I suspect you are planning to take me to class as a counterexample!"

Wang Zhong: "Yes, and you are required to speak to the students in person and analyze it yourself. When you go on stage, I will also provide you with powerful music."

"Suka Bule, you guy. Okay, when the battle here comes to an end, I will go back to Ye Castle to give you a good summary!"

Wang Zhong: "For the ferry, if the casualties are too great in defending, you can consider abandoning it. There is no need for unnecessary sacrifices."

General Gorky: "I have heard your opinion. I will consider it. I promise. But now I have to defend it for a while. Maybe I can consume some of Proson's manpower and reduce the pressure on the Binhai side.

"However, the Binhai side may... No, it is always good to reduce a little pressure."

Wang Zhong nodded: "Yes."

He knew what Gorky meant. The Binhai side had begun to retreat, but the only way was within the coverage of the enemy's naval guns. There was no choice but to retreat at night. Duke Myshkin was also trying to launch an attack and try to open up the land route from Borsk to the Binhai Fortress.

But like the problem encountered by General Gorky, the quality of the Ante Army's soldiers is too poor, especially the level of grassroots commanders is too poor, resulting in a mess of offensive organization.

The poor level of commanders is due to the fact that too many experienced commanders were sacrificed in the war in the past six months, and on the other hand, the cleaning of the quick victory faction and the surrender faction washed out many experienced commanders.

Now the military command is in There was a discussion about re-employing some of the quick-victory factions who had repented, but it was blocked by Belinsky.

Belinsky firmly believed that the students taught by Wang Zhong in the crash course for half a year would grow into independent officers after being trained in actual combat.

Moreover, a new batch of students would soon graduate from the Suvorov Military Academy. These people would first serve as deputy positions on the front line to accumulate experience, and they would grow into divisional and brigade-level cadres in a year.

That is, before they grow up, the Ante Army would have to shed a lot of blood.

It seems that the hundreds of thousands of people in the Primorsky Fortress were the first wave of sacrifices.

General Gorky suddenly said: "If you transport your First Mobile Army over there, can you rescue the troops in the Primorsky Fortress?"

Wang Zhong: "I don't know. Regardless of whether my First Mobile Army can be transported over now, even if it is transported over, there will be no problem with logistics, and I don't know whether it can achieve results.

"You know my first attack was a pure tailwind game - that is, sailing with the wind and downstream. I have to actually fight to know if I can attack well."

General Gorky: "Now I always feel that you say this to save my face."

Wang Zhong: "If you don't want me to take away the title of the best attacker, then sum up your experience, Georgil."

Here Wang Zhong deliberately used Gorky's nickname to call him.

The general responded: "You should also be careful not to let me take away the title of the empire's iron wall! I now have a little experience in defense."

Wang Zhong: "The fire captain said that he has a little experience in defense? Well, let's not talk about it. See you in July."

————

On June 29, 1915, General Eric von Shipling, commander of the 11th Army of Plossen, boarded the Peter the Great I Battery, the core of the fortress.

Standing on the top of the turret, he looked down at the huge crater left by the armor-piercing shells of the giant cannon and exclaimed: "It's so deep that you can't see the bottom, as if it leads directly to hell."

The commander of the 191st Division who accompanied him on the tour said: "We are in hell, General."

The 191st Infantry Division was left with only a frame in the fierce close-range battle, so it is understandable that he said this.

General Eric von Shipling patted the commander of the 191st Division on the shoulder and turned to the fortress city without saying much.

Like the Liezan Fortress, the Primorsky Fortress also has an urban area, where 150,000 civilians live, most of whom work in the fortress's shipyard and affiliated factories.

At this moment, the battle is still going on in the city, and fierce gunfire can be heard.

Looking down at the city from the Peter I Fortress, all you can see are black smoke columns everywhere, as if the whole city is burning.

Shiplin took out a postcard from his pocket and looked at the picture of the coastal fortress city as usual: "I don't know how long it will take for this city to restore the beauty on the postcard." The commander of the 191st Division was obviously a little irritable because of the high casualties, so he said directly: "Such words coming from the mouth of the people who destroyed this city will only make people feel hypocritical." Shiplin looked at the postcard and nodded: "Indeed." At this time, the communications staff led a communications soldier with a radio on his back and came over: "Report to the commander, the 1st Battalion of the 222nd Infantry Regiment of the 65th Division reported the capture of the headquarters of the coastal fortress garrison." Shiplin: "Very good, very good." The army chief of staff asked: "Do you want to stay in the city overnight?" Shiplin shook his head: "No, find a house near the artillery fort to stay overnight, it's not conspicuous. The Ants like to catch our headquarters and bombard them now." "Please come this way." His adjutant immediately made a gesture of invitation. "Oh? Already found it? Okay, take me to see it."

After a while, the group came to a wooden hut, but the person who should have lived here was nowhere to be found.

From the decoration, this should be the hut of the Tatars who have lived here for generations.

Shipulin entered the hut, looked at the decoration inside with satisfaction and said: "Good, very good, set up the headquarters here, and quickly set up the antennas. I can't wait to send the news of victory to His Majesty."

————

On July 2, 1915, Shipulin and his staff were drinking coffee in the room. Suddenly, a staff officer walked in and saluted: "Your Excellency the Admiral, I request to turn on the radio!"

Shipulin raised his eyebrows: "Oh? Turn it on."

The radio was immediately turned on, and the staff skillfully adjusted the frequency, and soon the voice of Reinhardt, the emperor of the Proson Empire, came from the radio.

"Everyone, I can't wait to inform you of a wonderful news. The coastal fortress that has been blocking our country's advance since last year was completely controlled by our army yesterday! The Ante Empire once again suffered a huge defeat, which means that they have completely lost the control of the White Sea!

"Last year, our attempt to force them to surrender like Carolingian failed, but this year, we still have hope to end the war! Ante is already at the end of its strength. They have lost five million troops in the past year! They will soon have no soldiers to fight! "

The broadcast was still going on, but the senior officers of the 11th Army in the room all had serious expressions.

They could no longer be as optimistic as before. Although it was mainly General Ni, General Dong and the overly long supply lines that defeated the Proson Army in front of Yebao last year, and although the Ant Army still couldn't stop Proson's attack now, but...

The officers all felt that the level and fighting will of the Ant Army were far different from last year.

Everyone listened to the emperor's speech quietly, but not because of respect for the emperor.

Finally, when the emperor said that the Ant people were in trouble now, Shiplin picked up the can that was used as an ashtray on the table, turned it to the front, and looked at the word "Spam" spelled in Ansa on it.

Obviously, Ant was starving only in the imagination of His Majesty the Emperor.

The speech ended, and Shiplin waved his hand: "Continue our plan, occupying the fortress is not the end. Now there are about 90,000 people squeezed by us to the small area on the seaside, and they are still resisting stubbornly..."

The confidential secretary came in with a telegram: "Report, General, His Majesty the Emperor has an urgent telegram. "

"Read it. "

"Admiral Eric von Shipling, your victory undoubtedly opened a good start for our offensive in 915, and it became possible for our army to sweep across the entire southern Ant. In view of your outstanding performance, I have decided to promote you to Field Marshal! Imperial Emperor Reinhard von Hohenzollern." Shipling frowned: "Promoted twice in a row, this is creating a gap between me and other generals." He shook his head repeatedly, but couldn't hide the smile on his mouth. The chief of staff suggested: "On this happy day, let's hold a banquet in the evening and invite all the officers and cross medal winners currently in the city to dinner." Shipling nodded: "Okay! In addition, there is no need to wait until the evening, let's have a drink now to celebrate the victory! Bring the wine! ”

In this way, after a year of fighting, the coastal fortress finally fell into the hands of the enemy.

By the way, the banquet had to be stopped halfway that night because 12 Po-2 bombers bombed the city at night. They chose the only place in the city where there was no light control, killing a total of five lieutenants.