Arc of Fire

Chapter 687: Chapter 25 Rocossov Embarks on the Journey Home

On June 30, near the military demarcation line between the Kazarlian First Front Army and the Southern Army Group of Prosen, at 0100 hours.

The Prosen nighttime reconnaissance team quietly crossed the demarcation line of the two forces’ controlled zones.

Such nightly reconnaissance had also become a norm recently, with the same goal as the daytime reconnaissance, to confirm the positions and details of the Antean defense lines.

However, the Anteans also sent out their own nighttime patrols, and in the process of matching wits and bravery, prisoners were often captured on both sides, so these night reconnaissances were also nicknamed “prisoner exchange” among the Prosen soldiers, except it wasn’t about exchanging their own people back from the enemy, but using their own to exchange for the enemy.

Tonight’s reconnaissance team was led by Lieutenant Hank, a veteran of reconnaissance, who had just been awarded a Second Class Iron Cross for capturing prisoners.

For that Iron Cross, Lieutenant Hank had lost 11 soldiers, unsure if they died somewhere in the tall grass during combat, or were captured by the enemy.

Now, Lieutenant Hank gradually saw nighttime reconnaissance as a competition, imagining that on the other side, there must be a commander like himself, eagerly awaiting a new round of confrontation.

There must be such a person.

That was the agreed-upon signal with the scouts; he had discovered the Antean patrol!

In that instant, the sound of Papasha gunfire erupted!

Lieutenant Hank yelled, “Damn it! We’ve been ambushed, retreat!”

As soon as the words were out, the man beside the lieutenant turned around and ran in a straight line towards their own lines.

The next instant, he stepped on a landmine, and his body flew into the air.

Lieutenant Hank himself was also pushed aside by the excessive power of the Antean landmine, his head striking a rock in the bushes, and he lost consciousness.

After an unknown amount of time, the lieutenant suddenly had a bucket of ice water poured on his face, jolting him awake.

He opened his eyes to see an Antean Judge before him with a bucket.

After making eye contact, the Judge immediately saluted someone beside him, loudly reporting something.

Lieutenant Hank felt he might have suffered a concussion from the damned Antean landmine; his entire brain was at a standstill. He struggled to turn his head, only to see an Antean senior general.

It certainly must be a senior general, given the number of stars on the rank, at the very least, an Admiral.

The senior general said something, but Lieutenant Hank couldn’t understand a word — even though he had specifically learned crash-course Antenese for battlefield interrogations of wounded enemies!

Fortunately, the translator spoke up, “The general asks when you received the Iron Cross.”

Lieutenant Hank said, “Less than a week ago, because I captured 15 of your prisoners, a full 15!”

After speaking, Lieutenant Hank laughed, looking provocatively at the Antean high-ranking general laden with stars.

The general said something else and the translator translated with a snicker, “The general says, the few prisoners you’ve captured are less than the number of Prosen generals he’s killed. Furthermore, he’s also captured a few dozen high-ranking officers, including your very own Marshal Frederick.”

Lieutenant Hank laughed, “Hahahaha, how is that possible! The only one capable of that would be your General Rokossovsky!”

Suddenly, the lieutenant had a startle, his heart skipping a beat: Was it possible that this man before him was Rokossovsky?

Because he was now fully awake, many details he had overlooked became clear, and this five-star general before him was indeed the same General Rokossovsky from the recognition manual issued by the Headquarters!

Lieutenant Hank instinctively tried to stand up, but that provoked an overreaction from the guards; before he could react, he was pressed against the table, his cheek flesh wedged into the tabletop’s cracks.

After General Rokossovsky said something, Lieutenant Hank was released. He immediately stood up and said to Rokossovsky, “One of our objectives is to capture you alive!”

General Rokossovsky smiled and inquired in Antenese.

The translator relayed, “The general asks, when do you plan to come? Or even, are you coming at all?”

Lieutenant Hank declared, “Of course we will come! We’re encountering some minor difficulties right now, but as soon as the High Command overcomes this little problem, we will come and capture you!”

General Rokossovsky laughed heartily.

The translator conveyed, “The general says, you might not be able to solve that little problem, and your offensive may never come.”

Lieutenant Hank insisted, “Of course, we’ll attack! We’ve amassed a great deal of cutting-edge equipment, and you will crumble before our technological power, just like two years ago!”

General Rokossovsky suddenly stopped laughing and looked sternly at Lieutenant Hank, his tone becoming serious.

The translator interpreted, “The general says even if you have the latest equipment, you’ll only come to a bloody head-on collision with the Antean Army’s new equipment. Prosen’s technology isn’t as powerful as you boast, and your scientific researchers are just ordinary people. The Aryan race is a manufactured collective delusion.”

Lieutenant Hank stepped forward, but a burly Sergeant immediately inserted himself between him and the general.

Maintaining his stance, the lieutenant spoke loudly, “Our new medium tanks weigh forty-six tons! Our new heavy tanks exceed seventy tons! And they’re equipped with main guns of an incredible caliber! You don’t have any tanks that can match it!”

General Rokossovsky displayed a derisive smile.

The translator said, “Such heavy equipment is liable to not move far before sinking into the black earth. We’re ready to receive these luxury toys. By September, we’ll hold a Prosen new tank exhibition in Yeburg, inviting all representatives of the Allied Forces stationed in Yeburg to come and see.”

Lieutenant Hank: “Hmph, try it if you can! If you’re capable, then attack our army, which is waiting in full battle array!”

After listening to the translation, Rocosov turned his head to look at the wall clock.

Wang Zhong: “Vasily, tell him we’re about to attack.”

Vasily immediately began to speak excitedly in Prosenese.

Pavlov leaned in and said, “It seems the Prosens haven’t realized we’re going to attack. This guy must just be on a routine night patrol.”

Wang Zhong: “Indeed, the enemy probably has an inertia of thought, believing that we would only defend and counterattack in the summer. But General Gorky has already taken the initiative to attack them twice.”

By the time Vasily finished translating, the Prosen man, even more agitated, wanted to step forward but was firmly held back by Sergeant Grigori.

The Prosen man had no choice but to turn his anger into action and blabbered a bunch of words.

Wang Zhong looked toward Vasily.

Vasily: “He says that you—well, we—must be out of our minds to engage in tank warfare with Prosen armored troops on the open plains, and we’ll only humiliate ourselves.”

Wang Zhong: “Tell him thanks for his… um, suggestion. Alright, take him down and hand him over to the Judge.”

Upon hearing Wang Zhong’s words, the Judge, who had been itching for action, revealed a meaningful smile.

The two Judges, one on the left and one on the right, grabbed the captured lieutenant and dragged him away.

Grigori watched the Prosen man leave before returning to the doorway to continue smoking.

Pavlov: “Damn, what he said does make some sense! We really shouldn’t engage the enemy in tank warfare.”

Wang Zhong: “We’ll have to face them in a tank battle at some point. It’s a good chance to test the performance of the Rokossovsky Type Heavy Tank.”

In truth, Wang Zhong was indeed a bit anxious about engaging the Prosens in tank warfare.

Even in the actual history, at the Oder River battle, the Sturmtigers’ armored troops could still launch quite a decent counterattack, managing a favorable casualty exchange.

Wang Zhong seriously suspected that it was the Sturmtigers’ counterattack at the Oder River that inspired Big Liu to write in his publicly released “Full-Channel Blocking Interference,” about West Germany’s final Leopard Tank Battalion counterattacking the iron tide, achieving an exchange ratio of one to one point five.

Pavlov: “Yes, it’s a pity our new medium tanks won’t be ready in time.”

The production of the new medium tanks was slightly delayed—after all, the Egg-shaped Turret required a new production process, but not all of the new machinery and equipment from the Federation had arrived, and some were still being used to train workers.

The Ordnance Department told Wang Zhong that by the time of the winter offensive, they could put two brigades—a total of 82 tanks—into action.

Now summer had just begun.

At that moment, Major General Andro, the artillery commander of the Front Army, walked in and saluted Wang Zhong: “General, the Front Army’s artillery troops are fully prepared.”

"Very good,” Wang Zhong nodded.

The artillery strength of the Kazarlia Front Army had seen a huge improvement compared to last winter’s offensive by the Abawahan Front Army. The artillery of the Front Army expanded to the size of an artillery army. Wang Zhong had deployed two heavy breakthrough artillery divisions on each breakthrough direction.

Such a large-scale artillery troop would consume an astonishing amount of ammunition, requiring a lot of maintenance units to repair damaged artillery and the like. For the convenience of support, Wang Zhong established a separate artillery headquarters within the Front Army and promoted a general of artillery.

At that moment, Popov suddenly said, “Today’s military intelligence report stated that the enemy seems to have deployed a type of heavy Rocket Artillery called the Land Stuka. We should be careful during the attack.”

Wang Zhong frowned; he obviously knew the Land Stuka, having used it in many World War II strategy games.

If the enemy had really mass-equipped this thing, it would be quite a hassle, as it could directly cover our attacking troops.

If the attack was tomorrow, Wang Zhong would have to personally take off to locate these Land Stukas and then guide the Air Force bombers to blow them up.

But now, the arrow was already nocked to the bowstring; they had no choice but to shoot.

Wang Zhong looked at Pavlov, who immediately said, “No matter what new equipment the enemy has, we can’t postpone the attack. The good news is, even if the enemy’s new equipment is effective, it can only delay us locally.”

Indeed, this pincer offensive, the two breakthrough points Wang Zhong chose were both at least twenty kilometers wide—at least. Once a breakthrough occurred, a large number of troops would be put in to tear open the gap, and the width of the breakthrough would have no limit.

This was not the petty pincer offensive of the Prosens; this was the Antean-style Big Clamp.

Wang Zhong once again looked at the clock on the wall and cursed, “Why is time moving so slowly!”

Popov: “Don’t be like that; you sound like a newbie who’s about to launch an attack against the enemy for the first time.”

Vasily: “The General is just eager to get home.”

Everyone in the room laughed, filling the air with a jovial atmosphere.

At that moment, Nelly came in pushing the snack cart: “Would any of you like some late-night snacks?”

The staff officers immediately shouted, “Yes!”

They knew that at this time, the Commander wouldn’t be angry.

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