Thirty minutes ago, in the bunker of the Guards Mechanized Infantry Division headquarters.
Wang Zhong had actually been using a captured Prussian radio to follow the situation in the air.
However, due to the poor performance of the Ante-produced Yak-1 radio, he couldn’t make out many details.
So while he was listening, he asked Pavlov, “How many radios did the team manage to dismantle from the enemy tanks yesterday?”
Pavlov shook his head, “The enemy tanks are very complex, and the radios are delicate. Our technicians dismantled two radios, but both were damaged. This morning I reported the situation to Commander Kozelsky of the Inland Navy Fleet; they will send technicians from the ships tonight to dismantle, with Naval Infantry providing cover.
“The technicians from the ships have university education, they should be capable.”
Wang Zhong, “Don’t just let them dismantle, see if they can patch one together from the two broken ones.”
Pavlov nodded, reached for the handset, thought for a moment, turned around and wrote a note, then handed it to a messenger, “Take this to Inland Navy Fleet headquarters.”
After the messenger ran off, Pavlov noticed Wang Zhong looking at him and explained, “If it’s not too urgent, we send a note; maybe they need the phone line for more urgent matters.”
Popov pointed to the peaceful battlefield outside the observation window, “Are you suggesting that there might be urgent matters in this kind of situation?”
Wang Zhong also looked outside, “Why aren’t the enemy attacking? It’s been two hours since the last wave. Shall we hit their assembly area to prod them a bit?”
Nelly’s eyes widened, “Although I shouldn’t interfere in military command, but… why do you talk as if you and the enemy commander are good friends?”
Wang Zhong, “The enemy gives me promotions and bargaining chips with their lives, of course they are my good friends.”
At that moment, the voice of a pilot came through the radio, “… artillery… open fire… big commotion… far away… can see…”
Wang Zhong’s brows twisted into knots, what’s with so much noise and so little substance? Can’t Ante produce some reliable radios?
Vasily checked the captured Prussian gear and looked up at Wang Zhong saying, “It’s not our problem, the situation over there is just too bad. They’re flying low, which is affected by the curvature of the ground.”
Wang Zhong, “It seems they found artillery; was that word just now ‘artillery’? They also mentioned a ‘big commotion’. Keep listening.”
After waiting a few more minutes, a clearer voice came through, “Look at the ground! They’re firing!”
“Where?”
Vasily squeezed in with a comment, “They might have flown higher, so…”
Wang Zhong slapped him and mouthed, “Shut up.”
The radio continued to transmit, “Eleven o’clock direction!”
“Fellows, follow my lead in bombing.”
Immediately after, the communication became fuzzy again, the only clear word being “turn left.”
Wang Zhong frowned, why is there always ‘turn left’ in the communication? Is it because the barrage on the port side is thinner?
Then a pilot suggested, “Let’s call in artillery fire!”
It seemed the attack wasn’t effective. But this suggestion was immediately rejected:
“Easy for you to say, do you know where we are?”
Wang Zhong picked up the radio handset and pressed the button, “Rocossov calling Harlamov! Rocossov calling Harlamov!”
Wang Zhong released the button and waited for a response.
For some reason, he suddenly felt tired from standing, so he ran to the table near the observation port, pushed aside the record books and other items, and sat down, leaning against the wall with the handset in his hand resting on the observation port.
Vasily said, “You look like a dandy in a café whistling at girls.”
Wang Zhong, “Is it possible I am one of those dandies? I just happen to be good at fighting.”
Vasily slapped his forehead, “I forgot.”
There was still no response. Wang Zhong pressed the handset’s button again, “Rocossov calling Harlamov! Rocossov calling Harlamov.”
This time the response came immediately, “General, please speak!”
Wang Zhong, while maintaining his position looking outside, switched to an overhead view.
Then he realized there was only the squadron symbol for Harlamov’s forces and not its field of vision.
Damn, do I not count in Air Force command unless I’m promoted to General? Even if I can order them to load up and strike, are they not considered my forces?
But it was still fixable; after all, the position of that flight squadron was already in sight.
Wang Zhong pointed at the map on the table and kicked Vasily.
At the same time he loudly asked, “You’ve spotted the enemy artillery units, have you?”
“Yes, we’ve carried out an attack. We didn’t destroy a single cannon, nor did we see any ammunition explode. The effect was not good. We are preparing to continue strafing.”
“What direction are they from you? Speak in terms of east, west, north, south!” Wang Zhong asked. Mainly because his view was too high, he couldn’t tell the exact direction of the nose of the planes; watching the movement direction of the squadron symbols was misleading since the squadron consisted of several airplanes, and it was not good to assume the direction of movement as the nose direction.
So Wang Zhong specifically emphasized using east, west, north, south.
At this time Vasily had moved the whole map table over, probably not knowing which map Wang Zhong wanted.
Wang Zhong picked up the small map stacked on top – these types of maps are printed for commanders to freely draw on – and then marked an X on the map with his fingernail.
Vasily pushed a pencil towards Wang Zhong.
Wang Zhong took the pencil and drew a cross on the map. This was the position of Harlamov’s squadron.
Although it kept changing, as long as Harlamov said hurry, it should be fine.
Harlamov: “We’re to the northeast! About a distance of…”
Wang Zhong, “No need to say the distance.”
He drew a line towards the northeast and then, according to the map scale, marked a point on the line.
Wang Zhong: “Fly higher, communication will improve if you fly higher. Climb to three thousand meters, repeat, climb to three thousand meters.”
“Understood, climbing to three thousand meters. What are you planning to do?”
“I’m going to fire a shot over there, and you’ll correct it.”
“Alright, but how can you guarantee that the shot will fall within our field of view?” Harlamov was clearly confused.
Wang Zhong: “You don’t have to worry about that.”
After Wang Zhong released the button on the microphone, he said to Vasily, “Tell the artillery to fire on this spot, just one round.”
————
Meanwhile, at the headquarters of the First Army of the Asgard Knights from the Prussian Army.
Senior officers dressed in the Knights’ black military uniform were gathered around a field telephone.
They had also been listening to the conversation between Rocossov and the Air Force a moment ago.
Giles’s adjutant, Feliz, said, “We should commend the communications personnel who found this conversation.”
Giles nodded, “Yes. We’ll deal with that later, but he only has one direction, how can he determine the location of our artillery positions?”
Everyone looked at each other, puzzled.
Feliz said, “It could be radar. He just had the aircraft fly higher, essentially to let the radar see it.”
All the other Prussian senior officers gasped in shock.
Giles: “The United Kingdom has already transported radar here, and it’s been installed? How did they transport it? From the north of the Balas Plateau and then across the Inland Sea?”
Feliz walked over to the world map: “The timeline works, leaving from the United Kingdom’s colony in Balaha, heading across the Balas Plateau, and then shipping across the Inland Sea.”
At this point, a communications officer came to report, “Artillery Regiment 511 reports being bombed by enemy aircraft and that the enemy’s artillery is test firing, requesting repositioning of our forces.”
Giles: “Initiate emergency evacuation.”
Emergency evacuation is a more urgent command than repositioning, essentially meaning that the artillery must abandon all equipment and evacuate the position, while the ammunition vehicles, driven by the daredevil squad, move in the opposite direction of the personnel evacuation.
————
Wang Zhong, hearing Harlamov’s radio report, “Adjust aim coordinates 100 meters to the north.”
Before Wang Zhong could pass on the message, Pavlov, who had been maintaining his position holding the receiver, gave the order, “Shift 100 meters north.”
What followed was a long wait.
The time it took for a howitzer shell to travel ten-plus kilometers was astonishingly long.
Finally, Harlamov reported, “Shift 200 meters east.”
Wang Zhong didn’t even need to pass on the message, he just maintained his playboy posture, observing the scenery outside the observation port.
Harlamov: “Suspect indirect fire, requesting three rounds to verify.”
As Pavlov relayed the message, Popov murmured, “Isn’t that a naval term? This pilot is quite knowledgeable.”
Wang Zhong spread his hands. An Air Force pilot, guiding the Army’s artillery fire using naval terminology, in some countries, this would have resulted in an uproar.
Vasily: “The General is also very familiar with aircraft.”
At that moment, Harlamov reported, “Indirect fire successful! Ready to fire!”
Pavlov: “Confirm target area coverage, artillery regiment to fire three rapid rounds.”
The sound of the artillery battery firing in unison soon followed.
Popov asked Wang Zhong, “Do you think the target is divisional artillery, or corps artillery?”
Wang Zhong: “Don’t know, whether it’s corps or division, hitting them is a win. Didn’t you notice that the incoming fire started decreasing just now?”
Vasily: “Indeed.”
At that moment, Harlamov’s voice came over the radio, “Direct hit, repeat, direct hit.”
Just then, a scream cut into the calm of the radio communication, “Enemy aircraft, diving from above!”
Wang Zhong’s first reaction to hearing this was “enemy aircraft climbing steeply, diving quickly,” a syndrome that afflicts military enthusiasts, where various strange memes can be triggered at any time.
He pressed the microphone button and yelled, “Break into S! Everyone break into S! Dive into the blind spot under the enemy’s belly. The 109’s roll is poor during a dive!”
Roll performance worsens during a dive for the 109, meaning that when it sees a target breaking into an S-turn into the blind spot beneath its belly, the 109 in a dive might not be able to invert its body in time.
The spatial position of both sides in air combat changes dramatically, and once visual contact is lost, it might not be regained.
Although Wang Zhong shouted, the communication was already in chaos.
“Disperse, disperse!”
“Where’s the enemy aircraft? I can’t see it!”
“I see it, breaking away!”
“My rudder pedals aren’t responding, I’m going to have to make an emergency landing!”
“I got one! He’s on fire!”
“Xiao Miao, you have one on your tail! Turn left!”
“Xiao Miao!”
Wang Zhong’s expression was stern, and he held the microphone several times, thinking about pressing the button to speak, but ultimately he did not say anything.