Arc of Gunfire

January 15, 916, Eleventh Army Headquarters, 0641 hours.

As soon as General Shipling entered the headquarters, he asked the chief of staff: "Is there any good news while I'm sleeping? Needless to say bad news, I can read the map myself."

Chief of Staff: "The vanguard of reinforcements transferred from the direction of Shepetovka arrived in Diboskaya last night and is only 30 kilometers away from us."

General Shipling's nose was so angry that he said: "Command No. 8 realized that the main attack direction was ours, but you tell me that the troops are only here now?"

"In fact, the mobilization order was issued on the 9th, but during this process, the enemy's Western Front and the Cusco Front facing Shepetovka launched an attack, and the defensive pressure in the direction of Shepetovka increased sharply, so The troops were not immediately mobilized,” the chief of staff explained, “and after the Sixth Army was surrounded, the guerrillas in the rear suddenly became active, which also affected transportation.”

General Shipling didn't speak, he just took the coffee brought by the orderly and stood in front of the map to sip the coffee.

The chief of staff continued: "In addition, it would have taken about three days to transfer from Shepetovka to our side. If we set off on the 9th, the best case scenario is to arrive on the 12th, and there is no..."

"Not much slower, right? After all, the 15th has just begun. Is that what you want to say?" General Shipling asked back.

The chief of staff nodded.

The general sighed: "Forget it, don't worry about this. These troops are under my control now, right?"

"Yes."

"Then order them to get off the train and form a battle formation, and attack in the direction of Bolsk. Don't take the train. The whole road is full of Ant cavalry and guerrillas."

As soon as Shiplin finished speaking, the phone in the war room rang.

A staff officer immediately picked up the receiver.

As soon as the phone stopped ringing, another phone rang again, and then everyone's phone started ringing.

Shipling held the coffee cup and looked at the headquarters, which was suddenly noisy like a market, and cursed: "Damn, it's so early in the morning!"

The first staff officer who answered the phone had put down the receiver and reported loudly: "General, the 61st Infantry Division is under artillery fire!"

Before he could finish speaking, the phone he had just put down rang again.

Shipling: "There is no need to report one by one. Let's put the bombarded divisions on the map. I want to see how many places Rokosov will launch an attack!"

…

Twenty minutes later, Shipling looked at the dense shelling marks on the map, his brows twisted into knots.

His adjutant said: "It seems that Rokosov has learned the offensive methods of his colleagues."

The chief of staff shook his head: "It's of no use to us. Our front is not as long as Army Group Center, and the troop density is much higher. There are basically no gaps for them to 'exploit'."

Shiplin: "No, have you forgotten that they just captured Plinka yesterday? The troops in Rokosov's hands are generally very strong. He attacks like this because he thinks that he can do it everywhere Make a breakthrough."

As soon as these words came out, all the senior generals around Shiplin fell silent.

The staff officers also looked here, but they had other things to be busy with.

More shelling markers added to the map.

Shipling asked the chief of staff: "Do we have enough troops to launch a counterattack in so many places? I mean, assuming they get all - 50 percent of them get a breakthrough."

The chief of staff shook his head: "No. In fact, launching counterattacks in two directions at the same time is already the limit. Unless the troops in Diboskaya can come over immediately, our flexible defense strategy will not work."

Shipling thought for a few seconds and said: "Draft a message to the headquarters and send it to the headquarters of Army Group A at the same time, emphasizing the difficulties we are encountering. If we are not given more troops, Bolsk will be lost. "Dangerous, we may have to retreat to the coastal fortress and prepare to evacuate from the sea."

"Yes." The chief of staff immediately walked to the desk.

Shipling added: "You are an old staff officer, you know what to do!"

Every staff officer in Prosen's army is proficient in complaining to their superiors, so that they can get more attention and reinforcements for their own troops.

————

On the same day, on the coast of White Sea, the headquarters of Army Group A of Prosen.

"Eleventh Army urgent call!"

As soon as the communications staff officer finished his report, General Steiermark came over and took the telegram from his hand, read it quickly, and then handed it to the chief of staff.

General Styria: "Let us reinforce, just kidding, where do I have troops? There are hundreds of thousands of mountain front troops behind us. The rearguard has no natural barrier to use and can only fight with the enemy on the plains.

"The remaining troops are all crowded on the shore and preparing to retreat. Many troops have abandoned their baggage. Where can I find reinforcements for him?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the whistle of the ship came from the direction of the beach, which was very suitable for the occasion.

Then the air raid siren sounded, and five minutes later, the sound of anti-aircraft gunfire and bomb explosions came one after another from the direction of the beach.

Steiermark walked to the window and looked outside through the glass with a layer of white fog: "All this is a chain reaction. The Sixth Army surrendered too early and released Rokossov's million-strong army. came out, the result was that Army Group B, which was still retreating, was beaten to pieces.

"Army Group B was defeated, and Rokossov's million-strong army had no opponent, so he gave us a right hook. By the way, Rokosov's deception operation was successful also because of Army Group B. It was beaten to pieces, with only the Tenth Army between him and Shepetovka.

"The headquarters had to increase troops in the direction of Shepetovka. All of this is connected, and the starting point is Frederick's premature surrender! If he persists for a month, Army Group B can regroup and continue fighting with the Romans. Kossov versus.

"If he can persist for two months, when Rokosov takes care of him, the muddy period will come."

Steiermark shook his head repeatedly: "Frederick is unworthy of the marshal's scepter given to him by His Majesty the Emperor!"

————

The heart of Prosen Empire, Eagle's Nest, 4 hours later.

"After two days of retreat, we have evacuated 40,000 people by sea." The commander of the White Sea Fleet proudly reported, "At this rate of retreat, we will be able to evacuate all the effective forces of Army Group A in ten days." come out."

Emperor Prosen: "Didn't you tell me that 30,000 people can be evacuated in one day?"

"Well... at that time we did not consider the damage to port facilities, and we did not estimate that the efficiency of using small boats to transfer would be so slow. A considerable number of army soldiers cannot swim, and many people are afraid when using rope nets to transfer I dare not move, which greatly reduces the transport efficiency..."

The commander of the White Sea Fleet looked helpless: "Our estimate is based on the level of navy and marine soldiers."

Marshal Brian: "This is outrageous. You actually put the responsibility on our army! It's obviously your navy that didn't plan well! It's your incompetence!"

"We have mobilized all available transport ships, and while we are expelling the Ant Navy, we are also using naval guns to support the army's operations. If it were not for the naval gun support, the rearguard of Army Group A would have been defeated by the Mountain Front!"

"you!"

"Enough!" The emperor slapped the table, "Enough! How long has it been, and they are still blaming each other like this!"

Air Marshal Grand Duke Meyer stood next to him, his mouth closed. Maybe the heating in the room was turned on too high, and his forehead was covered with sweat.

At this time, the emperor looked at Meyer: "How many aircraft can the Air Force dispatch to participate in the retreat?"

Grand Duke Meyer swallowed: "We lost a lot of transport planes during the airdrop supply operation to the Sixth Army. In addition, the airports around Bolsk are now being harassed by cavalry, making it impossible to safely operate. Landing the plane, so..."

Emperor: "So you can't help, right?"

Meyer: "It can't be said that we can't help. In recent days, the fighter force and bomber force have been operating at full capacity, and they are constantly dispatched to support the ground forces and the navy. In the past week, we have given birth to three new aces!"

The emperor had a straight face, not at all as excited as when he heard about the birth of a new ace.

The Grand Duke's voice, which had just become high-pitched, gradually became low again.

The emperor was silent for a long time and then said: "We can only ask the 15th Army, which has just been mobilized from Shepetovka to near Borsk, to work harder."

Marshal Celtic: "There is a question about this. If the Fifteenth Army Group wants to attack, it has to occupy the road, but the road is full of retreating troops. They... are stuck in a traffic jam."

The emperor was silenced by these words.

Marshal Celtic continued: "Armored troops and half-track vehicles can leave the road and travel on the snowy fields, but trucks still need roads. In addition, the enemy's cavalry harassment has not been resolved..."

Emperor: "Think of a way! You should think of a way! Instead of complaining about this and that in front of me all day long! Last year - and the year before that, we suffered a loss because of Ant's transportation infrastructure problems! We are still suffering a loss now. !”

Marshal Celtic: "We have been building high-standard roads in the Kingdom of Khazalia since the year before last, and we have already achieved initial results. Otherwise, the 15th Army would not have been able to arrive so quickly. The road section where the problem is now occurred last summer The newly occupied areas after the offensive had not yet had time to build roads.”

"It's been half a year since summer, what are the engineering troops doing?" the emperor asked.

Marshal Celt: "Without their efforts in repairing the road from Borsk to the Raoult Mountains, Army Group A's supplies could not survive last year's muddy season. By the way, the Sixth Army's support also occupied a large amount of our resources. "

The emperor opened his mouth, but still no words came out.

At this time Giles said: "I have a way to contain Rokossov. We can let the 10th Army cross the river to attack Rokossov's rear. As long as we cut off the route from Yebao to Yarvik Railway lines, his supplies will have problems, and he will not be able to attack the 11th Army with all his strength. "

The emperor looked at Giles, thought for a moment, and nodded: "It's a way, you can try it."