Arc of Fire

Chapter 697: Chapter 35: Night Reconnaissance

July 3rd, 0030 hrs, Kazarlia Front Army Headquarters.

Wang Zhong yawned and said to Pavlov, “I’m going to rest for a bit, if anything urgent comes up, wake me up.”

"Don’t worry, I’ll definitely wake you up.”

Before the Chief of Staff could finish speaking, a communications staff officer rushed in, holding a telegram: “Urgent message from the Cavalry Troops, they have discovered an abnormally large command facility.”

Wang Zhong was shocked, “What? Give it to me!”

Without waiting for the staff officer to respond, he snatched the telegram, glanced over it quickly, and dashed to the map, picking up a tack and marking it on the map: “Here! Pavlov, look, isn’t this location perfect for setting up a Front Army—no, an Army Group Command?”

The enemy was not called a Front Army; Wang Zhong nearly misspoke.

Pavlov: “It is indeed suitable. The telephone line lengths to various units are about the same, but the length of the telephone lines is actually not important. It’s just a matter of bringing an extra roll of telephone wire when laying them. It can’t prove this is the enemy’s Army Group Command.”

Wang Zhong smiled broadly: “Then let’s go verify it. I’ll go verify it! Vasily, make a call for Amelia to get on the reconnaissance plane, prepare to take off.”

Pavlov shouted, “It’s nighttime! The Pe-3 has never had a record of night sorties!”

Because the Pe-3’s main task was photography, nothing could be photographed at night with the current photographic technology.

Pavlov added, “Besides, how will you determine it’s the enemy headquarters from the air? You might not even be able to make out the details on the ground! The enemy has just been attacked by the cavalry, they’ll have a blackout!”

Wang Zhong: “Of course, we’ll rely on Miss Amelia’s sensing ability!”

Facing a significant strategic opportunity, Wang Zhong had no time to consider the nuances. Previously, he had personally conducted reconnaissance, constantly searching for the enemy’s headquarters, but his ability could only cover an area of 2.5 kilometers. With the enemy’s occupation zone being so vast and the buildings within so numerous, finding the headquarters was like finding a needle in a haystack.

Now that the enemy headquarters seemed to have appeared before him, it was imperative to confirm it immediately and then arrange for a commando airborne assault.

Such a rare opportunity was not to be missed.

Even if it wasn’t the enemy Army Group Command, sending troops to scout out an Army Group Headquarters would suffice.

The Prosenian Army Groups were all large formations, and once their headquarters were taken down, the tens or hundreds of thousands of soldiers would be like a dragon without a head. No matter how elite the Prosenians were, they would be thrown into chaos for at least a day and a half.

Pavlov was still organizing his thoughts when Vasily put down the phone: “Miss Amelia says she’s got it covered, everything will be ready before you get to the airfield.”

Wang Zhong pointed towards the door: “Then I’m off?”

Pavlov: “Alright, alright, with Miss Amelia flying the plane, at least we won’t have to worry about crashing blindly in the dark. But you flying over in a red Pe-3, won’t that startle the snake?”

Wang Zhong immediately said to Vasily: “Right, call Amelia and tell her we’ll be taking a standard Pe-3 this time!”

Vasily immediately picked up the handset to execute the order.

"Well, I’m off then.” Wang Zhong turned and headed straight for the door, fearful that Pavlov might change his mind.

He stopped at the door and suddenly remembered, turning back to look at Pavlov: “I am the highest-ranking officer of this Front Army, right?”

"Right,” Pavlov nodded seriously, “That’s why I haven’t stopped you. If I were the highest-ranking officer, you wouldn’t be able to go out even once.”

Wang Zhong smiled, clapped Grigori on the shoulder: “Drive, let’s go!”

Thirty minutes later, Wang Zhong was already in the sky.

Amelia asked via the internal line, “What made you suddenly decide to take off for a reconnaissance flight?”

Wang Zhong: “We just received a report from the Cavalry Troops, saying they’ve found a place that looks very much like a Prosenian high command. I checked the map and thought the location was perfect for setting up an Army Group Command, so I decided to check it out.”

"Oh, I see,” Amelia replied calmly, probably having caught on to a hint of the news, “With no use for the camera this late at night, we’ll have to rely on your intuition.”

Wang Zhong: “Leave it to me. The enemy Army Group Commander Marshal Geron is a formidable opponent, but as long as we pass over his headquarters, I’ll be able to confirm it!”

He phrased it this way to align with what Amelia had described about her sensing abilities.

After speaking, it dawned on him, damn, how much did this sound like the New Humans’ telepathic sensing from Gundam?

Once they were over Marshal Geron’s position, Wang Zhong envisaged rays of electricity flashing before his eyes, accompanied by strange sound effects…

Oh well, a little far-fetched was okay, as long as they located the enemy headquarters.

The tank slugfest had turned into a pure war of attrition, a competition to see which side would exhaust its reserves first. If they didn’t find a way to break the stalemate, the tank crews who had finally accumulated some experience would all be sacrificed to the elite Prosenian soldiers.

While Wang Zhong was pondering these thoughts, Amelia was looking for something to say: “Night flying is harder than imagined, I wonder how the Dark Night Witches adapt to such flying conditions.”

Wang Zhong: “Their planes are very reliable; even if they make a mistake, they can still manage an emergency landing, but the Pe-3 is different. Only you can take off and land smoothly in the pitch-dark night. If it weren’t for you piloting, my excellent Chief of Staff would never have agreed to let me come out and take the risk.”

Emilia: “Sounds like I’m pretty important, huh? So, did we yaw, Navigator?”

Wang Zhong, currently seated as the Observer, was also serving as the Navigator since he had to mark the photo reconnaissance locations on the map while taking pictures. It was normal for him to take on the role of the Navigator.

He confirmed with an overhead view and replied, “We yawed two degrees, correct to the right.”

"Understood, correcting two degrees to the right.”

The plane gently shuddered, likely due to a small deflection of the rudder.

At that moment, as the plane flew over Prosen territory, the alerted enemy switched on searchlights, trying to locate the aircraft.

However, the Pe-3 was flying so fast that the enemy could not spot it, and the random firing of anti-aircraft guns all fell behind Wang Zhong’s plane.

At the Prosen Southern Group Army Command, Marshal Geron put down the receiver, sighed, and punched the desk.

The Chief of Staff, concerned, asked, “Isn’t there any reinforcement coming?”

"The reinforcements are coming,” Marshal Geron lifted his head, “but not the units already deployed to the Central Group Army, but new units supplemented from the rear.”

The Chief of Staff: “With the current strain on rail transport capacity, both the Central Group Army and we are consuming a lot of ammunition and various supplies. How much more can we spare to transfer troops from the homeland? Those troops won’t reach the front until late July.”

Marshal Geron: “Not necessarily. We have units training in Argesukov that can be moved up more quickly. Once they arrive, they can at least be used to plug holes, sealing some of the larger breaches.

"As for the crucial armoured force, we might as well hope that the grounded Leopard tanks can be repaired and put back into battle, hope for the Elephant tank destroyers, and our Panzer VI Tiger King.”

The Chief of Staff pursed his lips, clearly at a loss for how to respond.

The phone rang at that moment, and the duty staff calmly picked up: “Army Group Command, an aircraft? The Dark Night Witch? Didn’t we say we don’t need to report this anymore? Sounds different?”

Marshal Geron stepped forward, taking the receiver: “This is Marshal Geron, what’s happening?”

The officer on the other end grew very anxious: “Marshal! We just heard the engine sound of an enemy plane, not like one of those mosquito-like biplanes. It’s flying very fast; our searchlights couldn’t keep up with it! It slipped by—might be heading straight for your headquarters.”

Marshal Geron: “I understand; thank you for your diligence.”

After he returned the receiver to the staff, he looked at the Chief of Staff: “We just had a cavalry raid, and before dawn, an enemy plane is heading our way?”

Chief of Staff: “If a single enemy plane drops a bomb, it couldn’t cause too much damage, right? Shall we move into the bunker in advance?”

Marshal Geron: “Is this really just a bombing raid? No, I don’t think so. Put the Anti-Air Group on alert; tell them this is a fast enemy plane and try to shoot it down. I want to see what the Anteans are up to.”

Wang Zhong: “We’re almost there. The enemies we just flew over might report our presence, so be careful.”

Emilia: “Don’t worry. Do we have to sweep over the enemy’s heads, or just graze the edge?”

Wang Zhong: “Just a graze should be fine. If it really is the Army Group Command, the anti-aircraft firepower will be strong.”

"Alright, you confirm it for me, and I’ll show the Prosenian gunners what a special maneuver is.”

Wang Zhong didn’t respond, his attention fixed on the overhead view.

Suddenly, a large number of red dots appeared in front, rushing up to meet them.

Wang Zhong saw clearly that this was, in fact, the “Southern Army Group Command.” He shouted, “Quick, move! Confirmed, that’s the enemy’s headquarters!”

Before he’d finished speaking, dense gunfire rose from the ground toward the sky.

Emilia immediately turned sharply to the right, drastically lowering altitude, the wingtips nearly scraping the ground, with wheat noisily pattering against the wings.

The enemy’s tracer bullets fell like raindrops in the wheat field, and even an 88mm shell grazed the plane’s tail, bouncing off into the field.

Wang Zhong was almost pressed against the window on the side facing the ground.

The aircraft swept past a farmhouse; the enemy’s gunfire followed right behind, tearing off the earthen walls and roof, shattering wooden window frames to pieces.

The dog inside the farmhouse, initially barking furiously at the plane, immediately lay on the ground at the sound of gunfire, whimpering softly.

After passing the farmhouse, the curvature of the Earth finally played its part; ground gunners couldn’t see the low-flying plane, and their gunfire flew aimlessly.

Wang Zhong: “Sukabule!”

Emilia: “We made it out! All aircraft systems are good; how about it? Are you sure?”

"Yes, that’s the enemy’s Army Group Command, get the Commando team ready!”

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!