Chapter 80
July 7th, at 4:30 in the morning.
Wang Zhong was suddenly awakened by a sound like "thunder."
"Is it thundering?" he asked Yegorov, who was in the bed next to him, as he sat up. "Does it thunder this fiercely this time of year?"
"It's artillery fire, General," Yegorov said, standing by the window, peering out from the edge.
Wang Zhong hurriedly got up and moved to the other side of the window.
Outside on the vast plain, countless plumes of smoke and dust had already risen, forming large flowers, with new "blossoms" erupting every second.
Wang Zhong: "The caliber looks pretty big."
"It's 152mm heavy artillery," Yegorov said. "The enemy's heavy artillery has arrived. Back at Upper Peniye, the enemy's curved firing power was at most 75mm infantry guns. If they had heavy artillery then, we wouldn't have held the line."
Wang Zhong nodded and asked again, "Are they clearing our 'minefield'?"
"Yes, after the bombardment, they'll likely start to advance."
Wang Zhong nodded. At that moment, he switched to the overhead perspective, hoping to use an external view to spot the enemy's artillery.
This was a common trick in the Wargame series. Even if you didn't have visibility near the enemy's artillery in that game, you could still see the animation of the shells launching, allowing you to quickly pinpoint their position and counterattack with your own artillery.
Wang Zhong wanted to give it a try. What if it worked? If he could take out the enemy's heavy artillery, the fight ahead would be much easier.
However, no such luck. He could only see the trajectory of the shells already in their descent. Perhaps a math genius could reverse-engineer the launch position from this, but Wang Zhong was no math genius- he barely passed his college calculus exams through make-up tests.
Just then, the phone rang from the forward command next door.
Five seconds later, the cadet on duty came in to report: "General, sir, Monk Petro heard a Do 215 at high altitude. He's certain it's not the kind from yesterday carrying that terrifying weapon, the Do 217."
Wang Zhong looked at Yegorov: "Is this... them waiting to observe our artillery positions?"
"Possibly, but if the enemy launches a real assault later, we'll still have to fire to block their follow-up troops," Yegorov said, looking at Wang Zhong.
Wang Zhong: "If you have something to say, just say it."
Yegorov shook his head: "No, I was going to remind you that sometimes a commander has to decide which part to sacrifice to protect the bigger picture. But then I remembered the battle at Upper Peniye, and I figured you don't need my reminder."
Wang Zhong understood. Yegorov meant to only let half of the B4s fire. If they were spotted and counterattacked, they'd only lose one artillery position, trading the lives at that position for the enemy's assault forces.
But was that really the only way?
He rubbed his chin, listening to the rumbling artillery outside, racking his brain for a solution.
And then, he actually came up with one.
He recalled the movie *Black Hawk Down*, where Somali warlords burned tires to create black smoke, obstructing American aerial reconnaissance.
If they had enough smoke devices, they could create smoke around the artillery positions. However, the Ant Army didn't have that many smoke shells.
So, they'd have to learn from the Somali villagers and burn tires.
Anyway, curved-fire artillery didn't need direct visibility; they could just fire based on pre-set data.
Wang Zhong looked at Yegorov.
Yegorov: "You've got another idea?"
Wang Zhong: "Yes. We'll stack tires in the upwind direction of the city and set them on fire. Burning tires will produce a lot of black smoke, interfering with the aerial reconnaissance planes' observation."
Yegorov clicked his tongue: "That's actually a good idea."
Wang Zhong continued brainstorming: "Don't we have captured smoke shells? Let's use them at our fake artillery positions to make the enemy think that's the area we're prioritizing for protection."
"Feasible," Yegorov nodded repeatedly. "I'll go give the orders right now."
----
Major General Randolph was enjoying breakfast in his command vehicle when someone knocked on the door.
The Major General looked up, saw it was the Chief of Staff, and asked, "What's wrong? Any reaction from the Ant people?"
Chief of Staff: "The artillery observation post reports a large amount of thick smoke rising from the southeast of the city. It might be a fire."
The Major General frowned: "A fire? That's awfully convenient, isn't it?"
He put down his knife and fork, wiped his mouth with a napkin, downed his coffee in one gulp, and stood up.
The orderlies immediately brought over his hat and walking stick.
The Major General got dressed neatly, finally taking the binoculars handed to him by the orderlies, and strode out of the command vehicle.
The division's artillery theodolite was set up right next to the command vehicle. The Major General walked over and patted the shoulder of the staff officer using it.
The staff officer immediately stepped aside and stood at attention, saluting.
After personally observing through the theodolite, Randolph said, "This smoke seems suspicious."
Suddenly, he raised an eyebrow and asked, "Has the air force's reconnaissance plane arrived? Don't tell me after all our requests yesterday, there's still no plane today?"
"It's here," the Chief of Staff said. "And it's established radio contact with the division artillery. It's currently observing Loktov from high altitude."
Major General Randolph clicked his tongue: "Could this be smoke deliberately created by the Ant people to block the reconnaissance plane's visibility?"
Chief of Staff: "......That's a possibility."
Randolph: "Do we know who's commanding the Ant Army on the front line?"
"According to a note we found in Kalinnovka, it should be Alexei Konstantinovich Rokosov."
Randolph frowned: "Why are Ant people's names so long? So, who is he?"
Chief of Staff: "The White Horse General."
Major General Randolph turned his head sharply: "That White Horse General?"
"Yes."
Major General Randolph pursed his lips, stepped away from the theodolite, and began pacing nearby.
Just then, the communications officer ran over with a telegraph message: "Message from the armored cluster headquarters."
Randolph took the telegraph, glanced at it, and handed it to the Chief of Staff.
The Chief of Staff read aloud: "The siege mission at Bogdanovka has now been handed over to the Sixth Army infantry units. Our cluster will reorganize in place for one day before advancing. Your unit should strive to capture Loktov before dawn tomorrow.
"We believe there are at most two brigades of infantry troops there."
After the Chief of Staff finished reading, Major General Randolph asked, "The shell fragments we found yesterday were 203mm, right?"
"Yes, General."
"Two brigades of infantry with 203mm? That's Army Group-level artillery!"
The staff officers remained silent.
Major General Randolph thought for a moment and then said, "Has the artillery observation post seen a lot of landmines being triggered by the cannons?"
"Very few."
Randolph asked again, "How many booby traps did the engineers clear in Kalinnovka?"
"Four, and they were all simple booby traps made with grenades. As long as you don't pull the pin, they're easy to disarm."
Randolph clicked his tongue: "This White Horse General likes to play tricks. The minefield is probably only partially real, with the rest being fake. However, if we want to expand the scale of our attack, we'll need time to reorganize the troops.
"Let the artillery turn those fake minefields completely upside down!
"Start shelling the enemy positions in the city at 6:00. Our attack will be delayed to 8:00 in the morning, and the troop strength will be doubled from the original plan!"
Launching an attack is a complex science, only slightly less complicated than organizing a retreat. Doubling the attacking force often means reorganizing the combat formation.
"And one more thing!" Major General Randolph added, "Don't release smoke during the attack. The air force said yesterday they've destroyed the enemy's only Divine Arrow launcher. I don't trust the air force, but the enemy keeps using Divine Arrows to hit aerial reconnaissance planes without targeting our armored reconnaissance battalion. I think they might not have many Divine Arrows left."
----
On Wang Zhong's side, at exactly 6:00.
The first to notice the enemy artillery fire shifting was Yegorov, who shouted, "The enemy's artillery fire is starting to extend into the city!"
Just as he spoke, a shell landed right in front of the forward command's window.
Although all the glass had been removed beforehand to prevent injuries from shards during combat, the shockwave still surged into the room, completely tearing apart the already glassless wooden window frames, smashing them into the desk and telephone behind the window.
The artillery theodolite was directly knocked backward onto Dimitri, who grabbed it, carefully placed it on the ground, and then lay down.
Wang Zhong also lay flat on the ground.
Yegorov shouted at him, "General, sir! You can't lie like that! Your internal organs will get damaged!"
Wang Zhong lifted his head and looked at Yegorov's posture-damn, wasn't this just a static plank position?
With Wang Zhong's pre-transmigration fitness level, holding this position for long would lead to muscle breakdown.
But he still mimicked it. This Alexei might not be good at much else, but his body was well-trained, so maybe he could hold out.
Shells continued to fall, and nothing could be heard over the explosions.
Wang Zhong kept feeling the house shaking, even hearing the groaning of the steel reinforcements.
Fine dust and gravel kept falling on his head, his neck, and into his collar.
Suddenly, a palm-sized chunk of concrete slapped down not far in front of Wang Zhong, making him instinctively look up just in time to see the ceiling decorations collapsing, crashing down in a clatter.
The shelling continued, as if it would never stop.
Wang Zhong heard someone screaming hysterically, though he couldn't tell who.
He switched to the overhead perspective and immediately saw that the screams came from a few young men in charge of communications next door, curled up in a corner, hugging their heads, shouting to relieve their fear.
The shelling seemed endless. As it dragged on, Wang Zhong grew increasingly worried that the house where the forward command was located wouldn't hold up.
The earth-shaking sensation made him feel like the house would collapse on him at any moment.
The urge to stand up and run out of the house grew stronger, making his breathing quicken as well.
So this is how unbearable enemy artillery preparation is? No wonder some troops with low morale and poor organization collapse after just one bombardment.
This would make anyone break down. If standing up and running didn't require even more courage...
The relentless bombardment finally ended.
Wang Zhong waited a moment before lifting his head: "Is it over?"
Just the act of lifting his head caused a large amount of white dust to fall from him. Now, he was covered in a layer of ash, looking like he'd been lying in the snow for two hours during a blizzard.
Popov spat, wiped the dust off his watch, and looked at it: "Damn it, they shelled us for two hours!"
Wang Zhong was shocked: I actually held a static plank position for two hours?
The moment he realized this, his muscles began to cramp, so he simply collapsed onto the ground and let out a long sigh.
Dimitri got up, repositioned the artillery theodolite by the window, and looked outside: "The fields... have been completely blasted into a different color. Will crops even grow here anymore? The ground is full of metal now!"
Popov also stood up: "Don't worry, the earth's wounds will heal themselves, just like people do."
Yegorov picked up the telephone from the ground and grabbed the receiver: "Connect me to Monk Petro! Connect me to Monk Petro! What? The phone lines are cut? Repair them immediately!"
After hanging up, Yegorov looked at Wang Zhong: "The enemy is probably about to attack. We need to confirm the scale with Monk Petro."
Wang Zhong thought to himself that the monk's ears were almost as good as radar. While they couldn't pinpoint exact locations or measure distances, his reconnaissance abilities were truly unmatched.
Despite the pain in his shoulders, he forced himself up and went to the window, switching to the overhead perspective to observe the distance.
Then he realized that Monk Petro wasn't even needed.
The enemy's armored units had formed an inverted V formation across the open plains, advancing toward the city in a grand display, with a large number of infantry following behind each tank.
The Prossenians hadn't even deployed any smoke screens!
This meant their superior direct-fire capabilities could be fully utilized!
Did the enemy know we were running low on Divine Arrows?
Wang Zhong: "Quick, notify Artillery Position A to commence barrage fire!"
Yegorov: "I'll fire the signal flare."
This was a backup communication method Yegorov had insisted on preparing, specifically for when phone lines were cut.
However, this method couldn't specify exact coordinates for the artillery fire. The B4s would bombard predetermined areas based on preset data.
That area happened to be where the enemy was currently advancing through.
While Yegorov went to fire the signal flare, Wang Zhong checked all combat positions.
Yegorov had explained his defensive plan in detail to Wang Zhong: Make full use of the lessons learned at Upper Peniye, lure the enemy into rugged terrain, eliminate tank escorts with automatic fire and grenades, then move in close to throw incendiary bottles.
Of course, before close combat, they still needed to maximize the use of outer fortifications to weaken the enemy.
Among the 31st Guards Infantry Regiment's remaining three anti-tank guns, the 76mm cannon was placed in the most fortified and concealed position among the outer defenses, with an infantry platoon providing cover.
This platoon also had captured smoke shells to cover the artillery's retreat to the next position.
To facilitate the 76mm cannon's mobility, Yegorov had prepared mules in a nearby house, assigning personnel to tend to them so they could quickly tow the cannon if relocation was needed.
As for the 45mm cannons, infantry could drag them away. Yegorov had pre-cleared escape routes.
However, the 45mm cannons weren't very effective against enemy tank armor, so Yegorov's original intention was for them to divert attention and cover the 76mm cannon.
To put it bluntly, the 45mm guns were sacrificial decoys for the 76mm gun, and their crews were cannon fodder.
Knowing this, Wang Zhong silently repeated the names of the young faces nervously operating the 45mm guns.
This was all he could do as brigade commander at this stage:
Order soldiers to their deaths, then remember their names.
Suddenly, Wang Zhong noticed one name: Alexei Barfionovich.
It was that guy who had been sneaking off for dates during battles! He was actually in charge of operating a 45mm gun-and seemed to be the gun commander!
Even though the 45mm gun was becoming obsolete, ten men had been assigned to operate it.
Gun commander, loader, aimer, breech operator, ammo handler, plus five mule handlers who also served as reserves to replace fallen crew.
However, the mules assigned to this gun team had already been killed in the bombardment.
The ammo truck was still intact though, with the ammo handler crouched beside it holding an armor-piercing shell.
Wang Zhong carefully studied each face.
The young men showed no fear, only excitement. Clearly, the recent bombardment and dead mules around them hadn't shaken their spirits.
The blood of the mules had soaked their spotless, shiny boots.
Then, the signal flare went up.
A single flare meant Artillery Position A was to commence firing on the predetermined area.
The roar of cannons immediately echoed from the city, the whistling of heavy artillery shells overhead making the back of Wang Zhong's head tingle.
He quickly turned his gaze to the enemy and saw shells landing right in front of their formation.
This volley of four shells all landed ahead of the enemy ranks, causing no damage.
After all, they were firing at preset coordinates.
If only the phone lines hadn't been cut, the enemy would be in for a world of hurt!
From Wang Zhong's position, the clanking of enemy tank transmissions was now audible.
Then, a second wave of shells screamed overhead.
This time, every shell landed squarely in the middle of the advancing enemy formation!
One Type IV tank was flipped over completely, while the infantry behind were knocked down by the shockwaves.
Someone's leg was severed by shrapnel and sent flying into the air.
These four 203mm shells immediately halted four tanks, inflicting heavy casualties on the following infantry.
Yet the Prossenians didn't stop; they accelerated instead!
They must have realized the artillery was targeting this area-the faster they crossed it, the safer they'd be, with fewer casualties!
By the third heavy artillery strike, most enemies had passed through the targeted zone, but one shell went wildly off course, landing between two tanks and blowing off both their treads.
This wasn't a game-repairing treads took time, so the enemy crews abandoned their tanks and retreated to fix them after the battle.
The infantry following the tanks merged with adjacent units.
Though they were enemies, Wang Zhong had to admit they were well-trained.
----
At this moment, in the air.
The 103rd Aerial Reconnaissance Squadron's Do 215 was circling over Loktov.
The observer reported: "The heavy artillery positions can't be seen due to ground smoke."
After brief consideration, the captain gently pushed the control stick forward, putting the plane into a shallow dive.
The co-pilot immediately exclaimed: "Diving low will make us targets for enemy Divine Arrows!"
The captain: "So we'll calculate the enemy artillery coordinates before we crash and relay them to our ground artillery!"
Co-pilot: "What?"
"This is our mission-we must complete it! Self-defense machine gunners, co-pilot, and navigator can bail out!"
With that, the captain personally unbuckled the co-pilot's harness: "Go now!"
Then the Do 215 plunged into thick smoke from burning tires below.
Smoke seeped through gaps, making the captain cough violently.
The co-pilot looked solemnly at the captain: "See you in Valhalla."
Then he resolutely turned away.
As the plane emerged from the smoke, the ground loomed dangerously close.
Captain: "Observer! Do you see the firing artillery positions? I can see them! Relay the coordinates to our artillery!"
"15th Artillery! Enemy artillery coordinates are..."
Someone shouted over the intercom: "Divine Arrow!"
The next moment, the plane was hit. The captain took shrapnel from the Divine Arrow, blood staining his flight jacket.
He still fought to maintain control, yelling: "Report the coordinates now!"
Observer: "Artillery! Enemy artillery coordinates are... repeating..."
----
Vasily suddenly shouted: "Enemy planes have spotted our artillery position! They're reporting it to their artillery!"
Wang Zhong looked at the sky through the rear window: "How? Through all this smoke!"
Then through the window, he saw a plane trailing black smoke from burning, crashing toward the ground.
Had a high-altitude recon plane forced itself below the smoke to confirm the artillery position?
No time for shock-he had to warn Position A to relocate immediately! Wang Zhong grabbed the phone receiver, but there was no sound.
He remembered-the phone lines had been cut by the earlier bombardment!
This was disastrous! But disrupting command communications was one goal of artillery preparation, so it made sense.
Why didn't the Ant Army prioritize radios!
Wang Zhong: "Messenger! Messenger!"
Before the messenger arrived, the sound of incoming shells echoed from the sky, clearly aimed at the city behind their position.
Artilleryman Dimitri muttered: "That fast?"
Explosions rang out from the city.
Wang Zhong pulled up the overhead view, hoping against hope, and saw enemy shells landing around the artillery unit's marker at Position A.
Who knew how many of Position A's four B4s would survive.
Then Dimitri shouted: "The 76mm anti-tank guns are firing!"
(End of Chapter)