artillery arc

Chapter 77 Artillery Arc
When Wang Zhong rushed to the front, the enemy's engineers had been blown away and retreated.

This is not particularly accurate, because the wreckers modified from the No. 1 tanks still succeeded in shooting out the rockets dragging the blasting cords after the loss of three vehicles.

From Wang Zhong's bird's-eye view, the traces left by the blasting cord in the middle of the road can be clearly seen.

After Wang Zhong observed it for a while, he exclaimed: "Now the enemy knows that we have not laid mines on the road."

Yegorov: "If the enemy attacks from the road, wouldn't that mean they are looking for a fight? We have destroyed three Engineer No. 1 tanks. If they attack from the road, we can certainly destroy more.

"When the time comes, they will be living targets when they are blocked on the road, and they will not be able to disperse. The two sides of the road are real minefields."

Wang Zhong nodded: "Indeed, let's see what the enemy will do."

----

Major General Randolph, commander of the 15th Armored Division, stood on the top of his armored command vehicle and observed the destroyed Panzer No. tank with a telescope.

"The enemy has calculated the shooting elements, and can even destroy the tanks of our engineers through the smoke." Randolph put down the telescope, "Although the Ant Army has been just a group of useless consumables for a long time, this time they did Not bad. Attacking through the main road we will suffer heavy losses."

The division chief of staff echoed: "You must not take the main road. The engineers also reported that there are minefields on both sides of the road and there are no warning signs. If the attacking troops are blocked on the main road, they will really be a living target."

"How about laying out smoke more thoroughly and letting engineers start clearing mines?"

Major General Randolph said "hmm" and held his chin in deep thought.

----

Wang Zhong discovered something at this time. The enemy's mortar truck was in his field of vision.

When he was on Penier, he could see the enemy's mortar truck. It seemed that this was a standard operation in the Prossen's tactical manual. The mortar truck had to advance to this distance and fire.

When going to Penier, Wang Zhong had no direct firepower, and others parked their vehicles on the reverse slope behind the high ground, so there was really nothing they could do with these artillery trucks.

But now the situation is different. First of all, the southwest is a large plain with no back slope at all. Secondly, Wang Zhong has direct firepower this time.

Wang Zhong looked at the enemy's mortar truck from an overhead perspective: It looked like it was a vehicle-mounted mortar battalion. In addition to twelve artillery trucks, there were also various ammunition trucks and half-tracks transporting gunners. Wuyang A large number of Wuyang's stopped on the plain.

The enemy's other troops spread out very widely in order to prevent 203 from being captured, but this artillery battalion seemed to have a limited formation expansion for ease of operation.

Also, who would have thought that there are clairvoyants here who can see the mortar truck through so much smoke.

Of course, Wang Zhong was in a relatively high position now, and it was not impossible to see the half-track vehicle equipped with mortars, but such a poor field of vision made it difficult to accurately determine the target position.

So I can only test-fire regardless, and then correct the impact point.

By then the human mortar battalion had already fled. After all, they were all half-track vehicles and their maneuverability was acceptable.

However, if we don't calibrate our fire and just attack them all over the place, this mortar battalion will probably be reimbursed for most of it.

Wang Zhong is still very confident in the power of the B4 heavy artillery.

So he directly picked up the phone receiver - after yesterday's "practical test", the phone was moved to the window.

"Take artillery position A."

After the call was connected, Wang Zhong reported a series of coordinates and ordered a salvo.

Dietrich, who was in front of the artillery mirror, asked curiously: "What is this shelling? This coordinate is much further back than the position where we shelled the enemy yesterday... Can we hit anything?"

Before Wang Zhong could speak, Yegorov spoke up: "You're shooting the enemy's mortars, right? When the enemy released smoke just now, I looked at the trajectory of the artillery shells in the air. The mortars should not be too far from the front line."

Mortar shells do fly relatively slowly, but being able to confirm the trajectory of the shells with the naked eye is a bit scary.

But thanks to Yegorov, it now became reasonable to shell the enemy's mortar position. Anyway, it was impossible for this side to know whether it had hit or not. From this point of view, it was pure ignorance.

As for why the prediction was so accurate, it was of course the appearance of St. Andrew!

Putting down the phone, he felt that a salvo from one position was not enough, so he picked up the phone again and said: "Take position B!"

Eat my eight huge 203, invader!
----

After a brief thought, Major General Randolph made a decision: "The mortar battalion continues to lay out smoke to completely obscure the enemy's sight, and the engineers are preparing to clear mines."

Soon enough, there was a roar in the sky.

Major General Randolph was also a veteran. As soon as he heard the roar, he knew that the artillery shells would fall behind him, so he immediately turned around——

At this moment, the engine cover of a half-track carrying a 105 mm heavy mortar suddenly dented, and the edges of the cover turned up under the stress.

Randolph couldn't see the culprit behind this phenomenon, because the next moment the half-track exploded violently.

A handbrake flew over Randolph's head, and the strong wind blew away the large cap he was wearing.

The major general swooped down from the roof of the command vehicle.

He held his head in his hands, so he did not see the second shell fall.

When the third shell hit the ground, the major general remembered that he should prop up his body and keep a distance from the ground to prevent his internal organs from being damaged.

The explosions continued, and the loud noise caused by the heavy artillery was mixed with small explosions. It was estimated that the mortar shells were detonated.

The bombardment came and went quickly. It was estimated that the enemy's heavy artillery regiment only fired a volley. After there were no more roars and explosions in his ears, Major General Randolph got up.

The orderly rushed out immediately and began to dust the major general's body. As a result, he slapped the major general's knee that was injured when he jumped down from the command vehicle.

Randolph roared angrily: "Be gentle! It hurts me so much! Call the military doctor! I'll go, my leg..."

Randolph originally suffered from bone hyperplasia, but this opened the floodgates of pain. The pain was so painful that he couldn't stand still and sat back.

Two guards rushed up and helped the major general to the command vehicle next to him.

At this time, the major general had time to observe the losses of his own troops.

There were many burning half-tracks scattered on the field, and some half-tracks seemed to be preparing to leave the shelling area, but the tracks were broken and lay crooked in the field.

The bodies of the artillerymen were scattered among the half-tracks. Without counting the casualties, Randolph knew that this artillery battalion would not be able to regain combat effectiveness for a long time.

Just as he was about to give the order, an ammunition truck suddenly exploded. The shells that were blown away fell to the surroundings, triggering a secondary explosion. An orange-red fireball rose into the air, making the sun seem slightly inferior.

As a nobleman, Randolph seldom cursed, but here he couldn't help it anymore: "Damn it! Reconnaissance camp! Clean all the commanding heights outside the city, and be sure to find the enemy's artillery observation team! Even if you use We need to get on the radio detection vehicle to find him!"

Randolph took it for granted that this was a shelling led by the cunning Ant Army's observation group hidden on the commanding heights outside the city. He never thought that there was a Gua Ge on the other side.

It should be said that he has made the most correct judgment within the scope of common sense.

At this time, the division chief of staff limped over. It was obvious that his lying on the ground just now was quite violent.

"General, should we wait for the divisional artillery to come up before taking action? The divisional artillery is coming up, and we can find the enemy's artillery positions with the help of observation aircraft. According to our intelligence, the enemy's heavy artillery is inconvenient to move, and our army's artillery They can’t dodge if they fight back.”

Randolph nodded and added: "Also, let the 223rd Regiment be prepared to try to seize Lower Lini Village and outflank Loktov from the side. I will reinforce a tank battalion for them to replace the losses they suffered last night. .”

Chief of Staff: "No problem. Then... what about the front?"

Randolph looked at the gray city of Loktov exposed through the smoke, and shook his head: "Unless we kill the enemy's heavy artillery, the losses in a frontal attack on this city will be too great, and we cannot afford it.

"We still have to attack Agsukov, and we must cherish the troops His Majesty the Emperor gave us! We retreat three kilometers and place sentries to prevent the enemy's observation group from infiltrating out of the city."

The chief of staff nodded and shouted to the ordering soldier: "Retreat three kilometers!"

----

Wang Zhong was the first person present to see the enemy begin to retreat, and probably the only one to see it.

He couldn't help but laugh.

Are Proscenians so path-dependent? If you blow up your smoke generator, you won't be able to fight?
By the way, the combination of this plug-in and artillery is really useful. It can be foreseen that I will be famous for my superb use of artillery in the future.

I'm going to write an autobiography in the future, and I might call it "Arc of Gunfire."

Unfortunately, with this plug-in, the field of view is only a little further than a human telescope. In the future, I may have to board a reconnaissance aircraft in person, walk around the enemy's head to see all the enemy's deployment, and then use radio to command the troops - ah, with Ant Army's radio level, it may be faster to deliver orders from the air.

……

At this time, the phone rang, and Yegorov picked up the phone: "Front finger, tell me. Are you sure? Um, um, I understand."

Wang Zhong had already guessed who made the call, and sure enough, Yegorov hung up the phone and said, "Brother Peter heard the sound of enemy vehicle engines moving away. The enemy may have retreated."

Although Wang Zhong already knew, he still pretended to be surprised: "Really? That's great!"

Others in the room breathed a sigh of relief.

Vasily, who was guarding the walkie-talkie, stretched out and said, "The enemy is so incompetent! That's it? I never knew that war was such a simple matter. As soon as the B4 exploded, the enemy ran away!"

Popov put on a serious face and was about to perform his duties as a bishop to eliminate the soldiers' underestimation of the enemy when the phone rang again.

This time it's Pavlov.

"I was not able to get 203 shells. Because these weapons were deployed at the border, so was the ammunition. The rear told us they had enough 122 and 152 mm shells."

Wang Zhong: "Then they should give me a 122 or 152 howitzer!"

In fact, the overall performance of the 152 gun is better than that of the B4, the range is about the same, the power is only slightly smaller, but the rate of fire is more than a little faster.

When loading the B4 howitzer, you need to use the crane attached to the ammunition truck, which is impossible to load manually. However, the 152 can be loaded manually by a strong man Ant.

"No." Pavlov sighed over the phone. "And the supply train that was supposed to arrive today was destroyed by enemy bombers on the road. The wreckage also blocked the railway. I don't know when it will be repaired."

Wang Zhong: "What about our reinforcements? We need reinforcements if we are to stay until eight o'clock in the evening on the 11th!"

There was silence for a while, and then he said, "I'm trying my best."

Wang Zhong was speechless.

He also knew that it was not Pavlov's fault. In this situation of overwhelming defeat, it would be good to stabilize the front.

The good news is that the enemy was repulsed this morning.

The bad news is that today is only July 7th, and the order from above is to stick to July 6th.

(End of this chapter)