Arc of Gunfire

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

On the evening of July 20, the headquarters of Army Group Plossen South.

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

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

Marshal Gron pointed at General Shipling: "You may not know that General Shipling has been promoted to the commander of Army Group South. I haven't left yet because I want to help him complete the handover smoothly. If you have anything to do, please contact General Shipling. ”

Bishop, the commander of the 10th Panzergrenadier Division, immediately spoke: "Whose idea was it to dismantle the Panzergrenadier Division? We have already suffered heavy losses, and if we use them separately, we will not be able to form a joint force. When the enemy attacks, we will fall apart." of!"

General Shipling: "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 armor advantages to cover the retreat of infantry and supply convoys.

"A large number of Ant cavalry have crossed the dividing line between the two armies. Aerial reconnaissance shows that they are advancing towards the ruins of Orachi. If we do not take measures, they will slaughter our infantry and truck convoys wildly."

Major General Bishop asked: "Why not let the Air Force do this and let them use fighter jets to straf the cavalry on the ground!"

Marshal Gron answered on his behalf: "We tried it, but the effect was not good. Moreover, many Air Force fighter pilots have been transferred back to China to participate in homeland air defense operations. We do not have enough fighter jets to attack the ground while seizing air supremacy."

Several panzergrenadier commanders looked at each other.

In the end, Major General Bishop, who was ten-thousand-armed, spoke: "It would be too stupid to break the Panzergrenadier Division into pieces! What about the assault guns of the infantry division? Wouldn't it be good to use assault guns to deal with cavalry?"

General Shipling: "The losses of the assault artillery force were as great as yours, and 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 General Armored Corps. The assault gun battalion has been put on black uniforms. Newly formed infantry divisions are rarely assigned complete assault guns. camp.

"More than half of the assault artillery battalions of our infantry division are missing."

Several division commanders looked at each other.

General Shipling: "Stop complaining, complete the mission, and your troops will be reintegrated when they retreat to the Tiber River, and you will be needed as a defensive and counterattack force."

As soon as he finished speaking, the commander of the 8th Armored Division, Adel Schulz, entered the room. He looked at a group of fellow Panzergrenadiers and hesitated: "Uh, shall I go outside for a smoke first?"

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

"Wait a minute!" Major General Bishop once again acted as everyone's spokesperson. "It's too outrageous to break us up. We can actually use the No. 2 tank to do this kind of thing. The No. 2 tank of the Armored Reconnaissance Battalion can completely chase us in the wilderness. The cavalry is leaving, isn’t it?”

General Shipling: "How many Panzergrenadier Division II tanks do you have left, my Excellency Major General Bishop?"

The major general was speechless for a moment: "There are... less than ten vehicles left."

Marshal Gron interjected: "I heard that the Imperial Ordnance Department plans to reuse the production line of the No. 2 tank to manufacture Lynx reconnaissance tanks. Now it seems that using them to fight cavalry might be a good idea?"

General Shipling: "Then it would be better to remove the guard panel of the furniture cart and lay the cannon flat. I really don't know which idiot designer designed this thing, but the anti-aircraft gun can't be laid flat."

Only then did everyone realize belatedly that perhaps a good way to deal with Ant's cavalry had just been born.

General Shipling turned to the Chief of Staff and asked: "I remember we have Cyclone anti-aircraft guns?"

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

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

"yes."

The general looked at the grenadier division commanders again: "Do you have any questions?"

Several division commanders shook their heads.

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

The teachers then saluted and left.

General Shipling turned to Adel Schulz and stretched out his hand directly: "I have long admired the name, 'Armored Schulz'."

"This is just a title created by the propaganda department to fight against Rokossov." Adel Schulz said modestly, took the general's outstretched hand, shook it slightly and let go.

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

"Against the Ant Cavalry?" Schultz asked in vain, but immediately shook his head, "No, the cavalry moves too fast and the tanks cannot catch up. We shouldn't waste our precious motorcycle hours on this kind of thing."

General Shipling nodded: "You are right. In fact, we are planning to form a Schulz cluster and gather all the armored forces we can collect so far. There is only one mission, which is when Rokossov's armored forces launch an attack. , implement counterattack.”

Schulz: "No problem. That's what we did in Army Group Center. We did it pretty well, and many ace tank crews were born.

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

Marshal Goron interrupted, "Don't take it lightly. Rokosov 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 Rokosov's new tanks should be the same. There will always be a way to deal with them."

General Shiplin: "Intelligence shows that Rokosov's new tanks are almost exhausted. Your opponents before August should all be T34W, with at most some vortex."

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

————

July 21, 0800, on the main road northeast of Orachi.

Andreas carried the tripod of the machine gun and moved his feet breathlessly.

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

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

He twisted the lid and licked the mouth of the bottle with his tongue.

At this time, a kettle was handed over: "Drink it. You still haven't learned it. You should bring more kettles for this kind of retreat."

Andreas looked at the person who handed the kettle and found that it was Sergeant Kosrek. He took the kettle and took a big sip, and asked back: "How do you have experience in retreat?"

Sergeant Kosrek: "During the Proson Unification War, my grandfather was the defeated party, and he taught me."

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 weapon, soldier!"

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, and then pulled the recruit up from the left and right.

Kosrek: "Come on! Think about your family, don't you want to go back to see them?"

Andreas: "The Ants will let the judge interrogate you, and then send you to the labor camp, and work until you die! (This is all propaganda)"

Recruit: "It's not that I don't want to go, I really can't walk, I haven't eaten for two days!"

Andreas took out the compressed biscuits, tore open the wrapping paper, broke off a piece and stuffed it into the recruit's mouth.

Kosrek blocked Andreas, picked up the kettle, and unscrewed the lid: "There is no water in his mouth, so the compressed biscuits cannot be dissolved!"

After the recruit drank three mouthfuls of water, his throat finally moved.

Andreas stuffed the biscuits into the recruit's mouth.

The recruit chewed the biscuits and coughed violently while swallowing.

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

Recruit: "You go first, I will catch up with you in a while-"

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

Sergeant Kosrek and Corporal Andreas looked at each other.

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

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

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

More cavalrymen appeared in the field of vision. They did not adopt the traditional cavalry wall formation, but dispersed.

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

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

When this bandolier was about to run out, Andreas reminded: "Change the barrel!"

"Change it after it's finished!"

The bandolier ran out while he was talking. Andreas stood up, skillfully disassembled the fixing device of the barrel, and pulled out the already red-hot barrel.

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

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

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

The sergeant rolled down the wreckage holding the machine gun.

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

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

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

Andreas missed the gun in a hurry, and he fired almost ten rounds without hitting the knight who rushed over.

At this time, the sound of the cloth ripper sounded again.

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

At this time, a more reassuring sound sounded.

Andreas knew it was the sound of a 20mm machine gun as soon as he heard it.

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 a strange tank moving forward while spraying fire with a 20mm machine gun.

Ante's cavalry turned around and retreated, dropping smoke bombs - yes, now the Ante 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're still alive!"

"I saw it, and I'll never stop until I die!"