Cannon Fire Arc

Chapter 872: Chapter 13 “God Bless Us”_2

Popov: “The question is, can the Melianians hold out that long?”

Wang Zhong: “If they can’t hold out until then, execute Pavlov’s plan, regroup until winter, and attack, arriving at the Oder River before Christmas, gazing at Plowsonia from afar.”

Vasily: “How about we shell Plowsonia’s central square with heavy artillery on Christmas Day?”

Pavlov: “That wouldn’t be possible, it’s still dozens of kilometers from the Oder River to the central square.”

————

Kazarlia First Front Army Headquarters, Allied Forces Liaison Center.

As Amelia pushed the door open, she saw Liaison Officer Richard personally sending out a telegram.

“What’s going on that requires you to personally send a telegram, Officer?” she asked, puzzled.

“The Sarria Army Group has just interrogated prisoners and obtained a series of numbers, which I suspect are the Prosen units originally on the Western Front. To save decryption time, I’m sending the telegram directly.” Richard looked up at Amelia, “I have the codebook in my head, I can encrypt and send it directly.”

Amelia: “What if you make a mistake?”

Richard: “Making one or two mistakes isn’t important. As long as the prime minister knows that the Prosens are massively redeploying troops from the Western Front to the Eastern Front, that’s enough. I believe now is the best opportunity to open the second front.”

Amelia frowned: “Isn’t this just picking fruits? The Anteans are grinding against the newly arrived Prosen units, and we’re taking the chance to land, what’s this about? Why not land earlier to prevent these units from being redeployed to the Eastern Front?”

Richard glanced at Amelia: “You can’t abandon national interests just because you fell in love with that marshal!”

“I did not!” Amelia raised her voice.

Richard stopped sending the telegram and stared at Amelia’s face: “Really? But you just said that you’d rather let our country’s lads die by the hundreds and thousands on the beach, to hold up the Prosen forces and keep them from coming to the Eastern Front to grind against the Anteans!

“You know amphibious operations are the most difficult battles in the world, far harder than Marshal Rocossov breaking through the Prosen lines!

“You describe our rightful, casualty-reducing action as picking fruits! You think we’re stealing the fruits of victory! No, we’re simply avoiding heavy casualties!”

Amelia was about to speak but hesitated.

Richard continued sending the telegram, speaking as he did: “Moreover, as things stand, thinking positively, the Prosens can no longer redeploy forces from the Western Front to the Eastern Front; they might even have to continuously dispatch newly assembled troops to the Western Front.”

“Marshal Rocossov’s subsequent offensive will go much smoother! He might even enter Plowsonia first!”

Amelia: “I need to tell him about this, now, immediately.”

With that, she turned and left the liaison center, and bumped into Yegorov.

Yegorov: “Amelia! Damn! Why haven’t you opened a second front yet? The enemies we face directly are all wearing Western Front Prosen army camouflage! The Eastern Front camouflage isn’t this color!

“Wearing these camouflages on the Eastern Front makes them extremely conspicuous, our machine gunners can spot them from 500 meters away!”

Saying this, Yegorov grabbed the camouflage uniform from his deputy officer’s hand and handed it to Amelia: “Look! This uniform, just look at it! It’s the Western Front Command’s Prosen army being redeployed here!

“These guys from the Western Front don’t have as much combat experience as the veterans of the Eastern Front, but now the enemy’s veteran numbers on the Eastern Front are very low, and these guys from the Western Front are much better than the rookies!”

Amelia looked at the camouflage: “I don’t recognize the Western Front’s camouflage—”

“The Western Front camouflage is more green, while the Eastern Front is more gray and brown. I don’t know why exactly; after all, I’ve never fought on the Western Front. It doesn’t matter, what’s important is that you land quickly!” Yegorov poked Amelia’s forehead forcefully with his finger, “Don’t say I told you so! You’re not waiting for us to kill off all the capable Prosen veterans before swooping in, are you?”

Just then, Pavlov came out of the map room: “Yegorov, your voice is so loud that we can hear it in the map room! Rocossov wants me to ask you, the troops are still fighting, why are you running to HQ?”

“Can I not come? The enemy keeps appearing in waves, all with new codes! We can’t kill them all! Some units have already suffered fifty percent casualties! And most of the new codes appear right in front of me; Eugene doesn’t have any!” Yegorov, veins bulging, said, “Commander, don’t you feel bad about losing more than half of your old unit?”

The youngest of them all, Marshal Rocossov, came out pushing the door: “Why are you shouting?”

Yegorov immediately fell silent, like a student caught doing something wrong.

Rocossov: “Think about why all the new codes appear in front of you. Placing you in that position is to let you fight those units. I’ve warned you long ago to prepare for dealing with enemy units redeployed from other directions.”

Yegorov turned his head sharply: “You did say that, but you didn’t mention this many!”

Marshal Rocossov: “Just give a straightforward answer, can you complete the encirclement by August 15th or not? If not, get out, I’ll take command of the Army Group myself.”

Yegorov squatted on the ground: “I can. But you have to reinforce me! The losses on the frontline are too great, and at this rate, the fundamentals of the troops will be destroyed!”

Marshal Rocossov: “You’re setting conditions for me now! Where is the Yegorov who resolutely completed his tasks back in the day?”