Chapter 113
Wang Zhong left the estate's main building and immediately headed straight for the new tank that had just been assigned to him.
By the time he arrived, the new tank crews and the veterans from Loktov had already mingled together, chatting casually.
As soon as Wang Zhong appeared, Alexander shouted, "The General is here!"
Alexander Yefimovich was originally an instructor in the training corps. Although he was now Wang Zhong's gunner, his rank hadn't changed, so he naturally took on the role of commander.
Wang Zhong raised his hand in salute to the group, then instructed Alexander, "Organize a combat experience-sharing session as soon as possible. Talk about the enemy's likely tactics against us in battle*like targeting the tracks or jamming the turret ring."
At that moment, one of the new tank crew members asked in surprise, "The enemy actually has ways to counter our new tanks? I heard these tanks are invincible and can slaughter enemies at will. There was this spoiled brat who was so scared on the battlefield that..."
Wang Zhong thought: Wet pants, huh? Is the wet pants joke coming?
"Alexei!" The battalion commander of the armored battalion who had come as reinforcement spoke up, "Shut your mouth! Who allowed you to babble in the ranks? What happened to discipline?"
The one named Alexei shut his mouth.
Wang Zhong looked at the battalion commander and thought this guy had the makings of an armored division commander!
But the main task was more important. Wang Zhong turned his head and said to Alexander, "In any case, make sure you pass on all the experience to these greenhorns. Especially tell them about the T34's deadliest weakness*poor battlefield situational awareness! Tell them how much trouble this cursed two-man turret design causes!"
Alexander said, "Don't worry, General, I'll make sure they all understand."
He looked at the tank crews. "After all, some of you were my students back in the armored training corps."
The platoon leaders of each tank squad looked a bit awkward*it seemed they were recalling their training days at the armored training battalion.
Wang Zhong said, "Also, for today's exchange session, we probably won't have time for anything else. Tonight, I'll prepare some good food to treat everyone. Eat well, drink well, and have fun."
"Tomorrow, remember to schedule tank maintenance. I'll also try to get a batch of mechanics from the tractor factory."
On Earth, the Soviet army paid very little attention to tank maintenance. It was only because the T34s were so rugged that the Soviets could maintain a decent operational rate.
The Third Reich was the opposite. Their armored battlefield maintenance was top-tier like the U.S., but their equipment was extremely delicate. At Kursk, a German tank group had over 160 new Panthers join the battle, but 110 broke down on the way, so they ended up doing very little.
In other words, the Germans' maintenance capacity was forced by their delicate equipment.
Wang Zhong was determined to change this in the Ante Empire. After all, every T34 he got was hard-won. If poor logistics meant they couldn't fight, that was unacceptable!
Tomorrow, Wang Zhong planned to use church support to get a thousand experienced mechanics from the local tractor factory*wherever the tanks went, repairs would follow.
They could even fix enemy tanks. Later on, if they encountered Tigers or Panthers, they could fix them up and use them*even if not, repairing them and donating them to a museum for films like "Liberation" would be great.
Just as Wang Zhong was about to leave, Alexander stopped him: "You're the most experienced tank commander among us. Why don't you speak first? If you don't, none of us will feel comfortable sharing. I, for one, was your gunner and only know things like how many degrees the turret turns and what targets to hit."
Wang Zhong thought for a moment and nodded, "Alright! I'll talk you through it. Get everyone seated and close together."
Alexander said, "Everyone gather up*form a square!"
......
Thirty minutes later.
Wang Zhong said, "That's the summary of my tank battle experience in Upper Peniye and Loktov. In short, the enemy is elite and cunning. Just because our tanks currently have an edge against AP shells doesn't mean we can underestimate them*that will cost us dearly!"
Alexander said, "Applause!"
As soon as he finished speaking, thunderous applause erupted.
Wang Zhong made a "quiet" gesture. "It's getting late, don't waste time*other tank crews still need to share their experience."
"For instance, gunners can talk about the weak spots on enemy tanks."
"Drivers can share what angle to strike the engine or gearbox to fix issues fastest."
Wang Zhong's last line sparked a wave of laughter*it seemed everyone knew their ride's quirks, as well as the 'Ante-style repair methods.'
Wang Zhong waved his hand, turned, and was about to leave. Just then, he saw a new truck driving along the main road beside the lawn, heading toward division command.
Curious to see what was going on, Wang Zhong got into the jeep and told Grigori, "Let's head to division command!"
****
Wang Zhong's jeep arrived at division command just behind the truck. As soon as the jeep stopped, a girl in Protectorate Army uniform jumped off the truck.
Protectorate Army... a girl?
Wang Zhong froze.
Then more girls jumped off the truck.
Wang Zhong looked puzzled and instinctively glanced at Lyudmila*only to find her also looking at him. The two of them locked eyes briefly.
At this moment, several girls in monk uniforms jumped off the truck, and the last one off was Su Fang.
Wang Zhong called out loudly, "Su Fang, what are these girls here for?"
Su Fang lit up with a smile when she saw Wang Zhong*but when she saw Lyudmila, the smile softened. "General, this is the hymn choir! Now we can conduct continuous hymn rituals and stay in contact with the upper-level choir! No more worrying about missing the hymns!"
Wang Zhong glanced again at those getting off the truck. "Only four hymn monks? What about the rest of the Protectorate Army?"
Su Fang said, "They handle miscellaneous tasks during the rituals and provide protection. And of course, they take care of us when we're exhausted from hymn recitation."
"Why are they all women?" Wang Zhong asked naturally. He clearly remembered asking Monk Petro and Brother Yatsemenko earlier, and both said the monks were evenly split between men and women.
Su Fang said, "It just so happens that only female monks were available, so they were assigned to us. And since we're all women, it's more convenient to have female Protectorate Army troops. It's really just a coincidence!"
"Ah, I see. I thought the Grand Patriarch sent you to test me!" Wang Zhong sighed in relief.
At this point, Lyudmila asked, "You'll be staying with division command from now on, right?"
"Of course! We're a vital communication link with higher-ups in emergencies!"
Just then, a staff officer walked out from division command: "Su Fang Batu Wendusu, chief sacrificial monk!"
"Here! Here!" Su Fang raised her right hand. "I'm here!"
The staff officer said, "I'll take you and the Protectorate Army members to the temporary sanctuary. I'll be in charge of building it for you from now on."
Wang Zhong said, "Sanctuary?"
Though asking made him seem clueless, he still asked.
The staff officer immediately explained, "It's a temporary church. Aside from the hymn choir performing mass, it also receives those suffering from shell shock or other battlefield symptoms and heals them through sacred hymns.
"Originally, this was the job of the priests, but sometimes even experienced priests can't handle everything."
Wang Zhong gave an "oh" and gestured for the staff officer to go ahead. The officer immediately turned and said to Su Fang and the others, "This way."
As the group walked off, Lyudmila smiled and said, "Now even Chief of Staff Pavlov has people he can boss around!"
Wang Zhong laughed, "Yeah, he's finally a 'Chief' of staff in name and reality!"
****
As soon as he entered the map room, Wang Zhong saw Chief of Staff Pavlov humming a tune while marking the map.
This morning, when Wang Zhong had been running around everywhere, the map room had only a small map on the table. Now, the entire northern wall was covered with six maps stitched together into a deluxe map*completely different from that small map.
The whole map was filled with military symbols, reflecting nearly the entire situation on the southern front.
As if that wasn't enough, Pavlov had even added curtains to the map, making Wang Zhong feel like his humble division command had suddenly turned into the Xuzhou Suppression Headquarters.
Seeing Pavlov standing in front of that map wall, Wang Zhong almost imagined hearing things*stuff like "Pig Tactics," "Serpent of Changshan," and "Vigorous Vitality, All Things Compete."
Thinking about it, it made sense. The nobles in Ante loved this kind of pomp, and Pavlov, being a noble himself, naturally couldn't resist.
Wang Zhong decided to scold him a bit: "You've got people now, huh? All this pomp*how much manpower did this waste?"
Pavlov turned around. "Don't misunderstand. The map symbols were done by the staff officers. The room's decoration was done by your family's maid."
Wang Zhong said, "How could you let a maid into the map room? What if military secrets leak?"
Pavlov replied, "Uh... my bad."
Vasily looked up. "Chief of Staff picks up poop tonight!"
Wang Zhong frowned. "How did you end up on the staff team?"
"I wanted to go back to being an infantry instructor," Vasily said innocently. "But they wouldn't let me. They said I spent most of the battle at forward command and was a 'command post talent,' so they kicked me back. So now I'm still guarding the field phone you captured*but we're too far from the front now, it can't pick up anything."
Wang Zhong was about to comment on Vasily but suddenly thought of something and asked, "How did the entire southern front's situation get updated today? That must've taken forever to copy maps from headquarters?"
Pavlov took three quick steps to the side door and gently pushed it open.
Instantly, a flurry of beeping sounds drifted out of the room.
Pavlov said, "We finally have our own communications battalion! This is the telegraph unit*six telegraph machines in total. They receive and decode messages from all over and update the maps accordingly. Now our map is as up-to-date as the one at Army Group Headquarters."
Just as he said that, a decoder handed a telegram to a staff officer, who immediately updated the map with the 29th Army Group's position and status.
Actually, Wang Zhong had never known that division command worked like this. Subconsciously, he thought the enemy and friendly positions on the map just appeared*like in a game*even though he knew that couldn't be true.
Looking at the six high-powered radios and listening to the beeping, Wang Zhong thought his command post finally looked like a real command post.
At that moment, Lyudmila asked, "What happened to the Inquisitor who used to handle the radio?"
Pavlov said, "A division usually has a certain number of Inquisitors. They're in charge of catching spies, rooting out dissenters, and shooting us if we plan to defect. They've gone back to their main job."
When Pavlov mentioned "defecting" and "shooting," several young staff officers nearby were so startled they stopped writing and looked over.
Wang Zhong clicked his tongue. "I don't know whether to be happy or scared stiff. Hey, where's your Grade Six clerk? I haven't seen him!"
Pavlov made a "please" gesture and led Wang Zhong and Lyudmila to the other side of the map room. With a click, he opened a door.
The moment the door opened, the sound of beeping was replaced by loud "bang bang" noises, like hammers hitting wood.
Wang Zhong looked closely and realized they were stamping documents.
Just like the goblins stamping documents when Harry Potter first entered Gringotts*this room gave off the same feeling.
The old Grade Six clerk was shouting, "What are you doing! You have to make two types of indexes for the roster! What is this garbage? Redo it!"
After yelling at a clerk, the former academic affairs officer looked at Wang Zhong. "General, you came at the perfect time! I need to talk to you! Look, this is the roster for the Fifth Beshensk Regiment. Almost all the officers are dead, and most companies are gone too. The 81 survivors are basically all from the 3rd Battalion.
"Normally, such a unit would be disbanded, and the people merged into other units. If you want to maintain the Fifth Beshensk Regiment's structure, you'll need to supplement it with officers and clerks*yes, the regiment needs its own clerks!
"That's going to be a big hassle!"
Wang Zhong said, "Can't we just promote the surviving 81 on the spot? Make privates into sergeants, lieutenants into lieutenant colonels..."
"No way! I checked the regulations*we can't promote that directly. Based on my experience dealing with bureaucracies, they'll never approve it. Are you seriously going to have a regiment led by a lieutenant?"
Wang Zhong replied, "Why not? The Third Rear Amur Regiment restored its structure after local promotions too."
The old Grade Six clerk said, "That's because the Third Rear Amur Regiment still had many mid- and high-level officers! For that, you can promote experienced veterans into NCOs. But with this Fifth Beshensk Regiment, there's no way to restore the structure.
"My suggestion is to rename the incoming Protectorate Army's 105th Infantry Regiment to the Fifth Beshensk Regiment, and plug the 81 survivors in as junior officers and NCOs."
Wang Zhong: "You mean, we're going to bend the rules a bit on the paperwork? Pull the wool over their eyes?"
the old butler: "Exactly! That'll make things much easier, and we won't have to submit a huge pile of fast-track promotion forms to the Front all at once."
Wang Zhong nodded: "Alright, let's do it that way! But... the Regiment Commander of the Protectorate Army's 105th Infantry**does he have the proper rank?"
the old butler: "He does, he was transferred from the civilian side according to the conversion regulations. No combat experience, but there's no issue in terms of documents and procedures."
So the Ante Empire actually had a system for converting clerks into military officers based on grade... You'd never learn that unless you were a Grade Six clerk!
Wang Zhong patted Pavlov on the shoulder: "See the talent I found for you! Stop saying we can't generate supply personnel or troops anymore!"
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(End of Chapter)