CANNON FIRE ARC

Chapter 839: Chapter 2 Main Focus (9.4K)

March 20th, Ekaterinburg Fortress, Summer Palace.

Commanders of the five Front Armies and the soon-to-be-established commander of the Kazarlia Third Front Army, responsible for the direction of the Carpathian Mountains, gathered in the war room of the Summer Palace.

Among the six commanders, three were from Wang Zhong’s Front Army, including Wang Zhong himself.

In the meeting room, there was also Marshal Gorky, the head of Military Command, plus Wang Zhong, who also served as the Army Commander; more than half were of Rokossovsky Faction now.

Wang Zhong did not worry about anyone opposing his battle plan.

As soon as Kashuk entered the meeting room, he sought out Wang Zhong and said, “The Prosens’ defense on the Northern Front is more robust than we had imagined. I estimate that we can barely capture Donar before the start of the summer campaign, achieving the previous goals attempted by General Andrei.

“But because we’re advancing slowly, the enemy should be able to escape.”

Kashuk approached the map, picked up a map stick, and gestured on it, “The enemy’s Northern Army Group should retreat around Tukenar Castle. The surrounding terrain there is not suitable for assault, plus there are many permanent fortresses.

“The most important thing is that they can rely on maritime supply lines to resist stubbornly.

“I wonder if we can borrow some more air squadrons from the Federation Navy to take down the Prosens’ transport ships.”

Wang Zhong shook his head: “No, it’s unlikely. They are launching a large-scale offensive against the Empire of Fusang this year. In February, they started a landing operation at the Marshall Islands, and the 58th Special Mixed Fleet providing support had ten aircraft carriers. With such deployment intensity, the Federation Navy will definitely not have the capacity to support us.”

Kiriyenko suddenly said, “I heard that the Federation adopted our strategy in the Marshall, surrounding but not attacking the heavily defended islands of the Empire of Fusang?”

Wang Zhong: “This tactic is originally more suited for naval battles. Those islands, as long as the planes at the airports are destroyed and the runways are bombed, they won’t affect the Federation Navy. The islands can’t produce food, are coral reefs with no civilians; encircling them for a year would starve all the soldiers to death.”

Marshal Gorky: “They call this island-hopping strategy but never mention it was in reference to our tactics.”

Wang Zhong: “Your tactics.”

Marshal Gorky looked very pleased.

Kiriyenko: “I also tried to conduct infiltration attacks along the front lines, but the results were not good. Our Front Army and the enemy are separated by natural river barriers, and the beachheads left over from previous offensives can’t stockpile supplies and attacking troops. We have to launch the attacks from the East Bank.”

Marshal Gorky: “Yes, we have to build pontoon bridges first, but the Prosens are very skilled in disrupting pontoon bridges. Their Land Stuka Rocket Artillery has astonishing accuracy, and those 500mm caliber rockets have explosive power that is remarkably effective against pontoons.”

Kiriyenko: “So my plan is to make a frontal attack and have the engineer troops build a fake pontoon bridge.”

Marshal Gorky’s eyebrows lifted: “A fake pontoon bridge? What do you mean by fake?”

“It looks like a real pontoon bridge on the outside, but it’s actually made of wood and absolutely cannot support the crossing of tanks. Such fake pontoons are also very easy to build, being made of wood and light.

“An engineer brigade could build three pontoon bridges in a day, this intensity will make the Prosens think we are about to launch a large-scale breakthrough.”

Kiriyenko revealed a cunning smile.

“But in reality, our fighting forces are resting, just waiting for Allied forces on the Southern Front to launch a great breakthrough and encirclement and then pursue and annihilate the remaining enemy forces.”

Wang Zhong: “That’s a lot of pressure on the forces at the Southern Front.”

“The pressure is even greater on us,” General Beliyakov of the Front Army scratched his bald head — Wang Zhong always felt that there were a peculiarly large number of bald commanders in Ante, including the two generals at his own command.

Could this actually be a contagious disease? Becoming a general automatically results in hair loss?

General Beliyakov: “Since the order was given, we’ve made 5,000 ‘Swamp Shoes’, issued them to the troops to train in marshland movements. The outcome was the troops complaining bitterly, questioning the practicality of these shoes, which they claimed were fanciful and ineffective for movement in marshlands.”

Wang Zhong: “Have Sergeant Baba Yaga train them!”

General Beliyakov: “There’s only one Sergeant, currently training a teaching squad. I thought it would be too late if we waited for the teaching squad to master it before training the regular troops, so I issued the newly made shoes right away.

“But now all forces are grumbling with complaints, and there have been several reported injuries during training, so we had to halt the regular troop training.

“If we are to launch the offensive in April, we may not be able to complete all preparations.”

Wang Zhong: “Don’t worry about that. Our plan for April is another offensive, to be carried out by the soon-to-be-formed Kazarlia Third Front Army.”

Kazarlia Third Front Army Commander: “We will launch an attack on the Carpathian Mountains. After reconnaissance, we’ve identified the positions of the Moravian and Kingdom of Sardinia troops. The focus of the attack will be on the sectors they defend, with feints in other sectors to tie down the enemy forces.

“We’ve also made contact with the Moravian troops; they may possibly revolt on the battlefield.”

Marshal Gorky: “That’s possible. Moravia has already sent envoys to contact us; their King may withdraw from the Empire led by the Prosens.”

Wang Zhong: “When the walls fall, everyone pushes; when the tree falls, the monkeys scatter.”

“What?” Marshal Gorky raised an eyebrow.

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