Cannon Fire Arc-Chapter 683 - 21 Full of Holes

Chapter 683: Chapter 21 Full of Holes

Prosen 9th Army Group Headquarters.

Marshal Mengde was originally holding the receiver, waiting for the communications department to finish repairing the phone line when he suddenly saw a staff officer place a breakthrough symbol at Shostka on the map.

He immediately slammed the receiver down on the desk, loudly demanding, “How could Shostka have been breached?”

The staff officer hurriedly explained, “This breakthrough symbol represents the enemy making some progress, capturing part of the key positions; it does not mean a full breach.”

Mengde: “So, does the 48th Army have confidence in reclaiming the lost territory?”

The staff officer was at a loss of words: “Uh… actually, they are requesting reinforcements. The enemy has deployed the rumored 500mm rocket artillery launchers. The defense points that held till yesterday were blown up one by one.

“The 48th Army managed to destroy the tracks of three rocket artillery vehicles with landmines, and they used magnetic anti-tank mines to destroy one of them, temporarily stopping the enemy’s advance.

“However, the counterattack by the 48th Army was blocked by the Anteans. The Anteans rapidly utilized the original fortifications, inflicting heavy casualties on our forces.”

Mengde: “Pull an Armored Grenadier Division from the Sixth Armored Army to reinforce them.”

“Yes, but on the way from the Sixth Armored Army’s location to Shostka, there were reports of Antean forces.”

Mengde: “From now on, treat such ambiguous reports as minor Antean cavalry units.”

“Yes.”

The staff officer agreed and then bent down to work. Mengde, with his hands behind his back, looked at the defense zone map covered with dense breakthrough symbols—no, it should be said, symbols indicating the loss of key positions but not yet fully overrun, possibly reclaimable.

The real breakthrough points probably hadn’t been marked yet because the defending troops were scattered, unable to report immediately.

Mengde looked at the map: “Full of holes. With insufficient troops to defend such a long frontline, it’s our own doing.”

The Chief of Staff of the Army Group was still busy and couldn’t spare time to chat with the commander, so his deputy took over the conversation: “We can’t possibly give up the land we’ve occupied and retreat voluntarily, General. Domestic opinion wouldn’t allow it; there would be questions about the propaganda.”

“I know, I certainly know,” Mengde looked at the map, “We can only do what we can, hold as long as possible, and if we can’t hold, we should start retreating early, not get surrounded and annihilated like the Sixth Army Group.”

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The deputy was shocked: “Retreat? Retreating without orders can lead to court-martial!”

“Stay calm, nobody said to retreat. We still have an Armored Army—I mean, an Armored Army short of one division. We’re not yet at a stalemate, thanks to last year’s reinforcements from the Third Armored Army.” Mengde mused again as he looked at the map.

Then the telephone rang, Mengde muttered “Is the phone fixed?” as he rushed to pick it up: “Hello? Supreme Command Department?”

Marshal Von Bock’s voice came from the other side: “How’s the situation there? Your Army Group is key to our entire front line; make sure there are no slip-ups!”

Mengde adjusted his expression, speaking with a mix of anxiety and anger, “We’re about to be breached! You should come to my Headquarters, see all these dense breakthrough symbols on the map!”

The staff officers in the room couldn’t help but look up at their commander. Mengde’s deputy showed a nonchalant expression, instructing the staff to continue working.

Von Bock: “It’s the same with the other units. The good news is, I brought back newly formed Infantry Divisions from the Headquarters! I’ve decided to allocate three to you!”

Mengde: “Three? Even six divisions might not be enough! But having three will greatly relieve our pressure; send them over quickly!”

Mengde’s lips slightly curled up after securing the reinforcements, but he dared not show it, fearful that Marshal Von Bock might change his mind.

However, the marshal went silent for a few seconds before saying: “Mengde, I thought I’d better tell you the truth, the Infantry Divisions I brought back are from the 15th and 16th waves formed after total mobilization began. Their artillery is made up of captured Carolingian guns, and some divisions even lack enough machine guns, having to use captured Shosha light machine guns.”

Mengde’s expression stiffened: “What?”

“The reinforcement is from the 15th wave, and the equipment is poor,” Von Bock repeated.

Mengde held his head: “Isn’t it total mobilization now? How can light weapons not be fully equipped? Where is our vaunted industrial capacity?”

“It was bombed by the Allied Forces,” Von Bock said.

Here he was actually being facetious. In reality, as an established industrial power, Prosen’s production recovery was swift.

The Allied bombing indeed impacted Prosen’s production capacity but wasn’t as debilitating as the Allies themselves estimated.

The supply issue was simply due to expanding the army too much at once, far exceeding the increase in industrial output—after all, while arming new units, the frontline troops also needed replenishments.

Mengde: “Send the troops over, I’ll see where they can be utilized. These divisions should have enough combat backbone, right?”

“Of course,” Von Bock immediately asserted, “Most of the wounded withdrawn from your units joined these newly formed units.”

Mengde muttered quietly: “If they had returned these combat backbones to us, perhaps there wouldn’t be so many breakthrough symbols on the map.”

“What did you say?” Marshal Von Bock demanded.

Mengde: “I said the Chairman’s view is excellent.”

Von Bock: “Good luck to you, General Mengde. Also, His Majesty is too busy, so there’s no need to trouble him with a call.”

“Yes,” Mengde reluctantly finished, and the call was immediately disconnected.

After putting down the receiver, he shook his head and cursed, “I have lost control here, and I fear Ante’s Cavalry might follow the phone line straight to your headquarters. Now the entire Central Army Group will be like a dragon without a head!”

His Deputy Officer asked with concern, “How are things?”

Mengde replied, “Terrible, we’ve been sent reinforcements for several divisions.”

“Isn’t that good?” His Deputy Officer was overjoyed.

Mengde said, “But these divisions are from the fifteenth deployment, and they are already facing equipment shortages. Some units don’t have enough machine guns and have to resort to using Carolingian’s outdated Shostka machine guns.”

The Deputy Officer immediately frowned, “Shostka machine guns? That obsolete light machine gun? The one that soldiers, to avoid jamming, have to forcibly control the firing rate?”

Mengde confirmed, “Yes. Even the seasoned soldiers frequently face malfunctions with it, and for new soldiers, it might break down before they can even finish their first magazine. Let’s wish the units using them good luck.”

The Deputy Officer exclaimed, “Damn, how has the Empire come to this!”

Mengde remained silent but stared at the map.

After a while, he said, “I can’t just sit here and wait to die, nor can I send the armored troops I currently control straight to fill the front lines, no. The Third Armored Army’s tank readiness is very high, we need to put this fresh force to work and sweep up those Ante troops breaking through our lines.”

While saying this, Mengde picked up a map stick and pointed sharply at a location on the map, “Order the Third Armored Army to move to this position and deploy along this line.”

The tip of the map stick drew a horizontal line across the map.

“Then attack here, advancing along the highway, and crush all encountered Ante troops, move to this point then turn, sweeping everything along another highway.

“This inverted V-shaped offensive, once completed, will wipe out most of the Ante troops that have penetrated to our rear.”

Mengde looked up at his Deputy Officer.

The Deputy Officer suggested, “It could be done in three days if the attack goes smoothly.”

Mengde responded, “The enemy didn’t use their new rocket artillery until the second day of their attack, and up to now, there have been no confirmed sightings of the rumored new heavy tanks, indicating that the newest weapons are mainly deployed against Rocossov. We should not encounter significant resistance.

“Let’s settle on this, even if the counterattack fails, it’s better than sitting here waiting to die. The Anteans are now like a swarm of ants, aiming to kill our elephant with numerous bites. We can’t let them have their way.”

————

On the same day, far from the central battlefield at the Kazakhstan First Front Army Headquarters.

Wang Zhong: “Could General Gorky’s attack actually collapse the enemy?”

Pavlov: “Don’t rush. The attack has only started two days ago, they wouldn’t collapse that quickly. At least for today, our enemy’s reconnaissance operations continue, it doesn’t look like their attack plans have changed.”

Vasily: “If General Gorky’s attack is successful, can we cease our defensive counterattacks and instead use a pincer movement to envelop the heavily reinforced enemy troops near Orel?”

Wang Zhong: “We could try it; we’ve never annihilated large numbers of the enemy in fully known conditions before. Personally, I don’t care much about fairness. I believe killing the enemy is just that, whether they are fully prepared or worn out, it’s all about elimination.”

Popov: “Who wants to fight them fairly? They didn’t bother with fairness when they ambushed us.”

Wang Zhong: “Of course. To not miss the opportunity to attack, I think I’ll personally scout the area in a couple of days. This way we can confirm whether the enemy has moved their troops. If we find that the enemy at Orel has decreased, we will attack immediately.

“All the troops originally stationed at Orel for defense will also be deployed in the attack.”

Pavlov: “Sure, I’ll modify the existing counterattack plan to develop a new contingency plan for a full-frontal attack.”

Popov: “Originally we were planning to continue with defensive counterattacks, and now it’s turning into an active assault, which is more inspiring, too.”

Wang Zhong: “Yes. Of course, this is contingent on General Gorky making progress. If the enemy withstands the attack, and our immediate enemies haven’t decreased, then we’ll continue with the original plan.”

“There is another possibility,” said Pavlov. “Maybe the enemy has redeployed their reserves to General Gorky’s side while not giving up on attacking us. This scenario would be the best for us.”

Wang Zhong frowned tightly, “Really? Wouldn’t this mean the enemy is caught between two fronts? If they’ve thrown all their reserves into the center, that means Gorky’s attack is highly effective. At this point, they should decisively stop their offensive and switch to defense here, concentrating their forces to respond to the breakthrough at the center.”

He paused and thought deeply, shaking his head, “No, that can’t be right, unless the enemy has become blinded by their losses and lost their judgment, they wouldn’t do this.”