Wang Zhong finished speaking, and the others in the room were slow to catch on.
Vasily: “Wait a minute, so General, are you saying you want to talk to the enemy? Call out to them using radio?”
Wang Zhong shook his head: “No, that would seem too informal, and it would only let our immediate enemies hear us. After all, even with the best radio equipment we have, the communication range is only so far.
“We need to make sure that all the enemies facing us get this friendly reminder, so let’s use a radio broadcast in plain code to openly tell them.”
Pavlov frowned, looking at Popov: “If this doesn’t violate military discipline…”
Popov scratched his head, which was already quite bare: “Sending messages in plain code to our own troops and leaking military information would definitely be treason. But sending messages in plain code to the enemy, and talking about the weather, that should not count as treason.
“I think it should be treated like having a casual chat over the radio during non-combat times, which means being confined to barracks.”
Vasily was shocked: “Won’t they do something more severe?”
Popov: “Usually not. So, we can make the telegrapher who sends the message take the blame and confine him to barracks for a week.”
Wang Zhong: “That works, let’s send the message in plain code then.”
Pavlov, still clearly wishing to prevent this unconventional tactic, said: “The enemy’s meteorological department should know about this, right? No, their observation equipment is better than ours. Are we meddling unnecessarily?”
Wang Zhong: “Since the enemy’s meteorological department also knows, then there’s even less of a problem with us sending this telegram. Go ahead and send it.”
————
Prussian Army, Asgard Knights First Army Headquarters.
Giles was meeting with the commander of a newly joined engineer brigade when suddenly a communications staff officer entered, stood at attention, saluted, and said loudly: “Report! We’ve received an unsigned telegram in plain code, sent using the International Civil Aviation Organization’s standard code. Judging from the tone of the telegram, it seems to be from the enemy.”
Giles frowned: “International Civil Aviation Organization’s standard code?”
The communications staff officer immediately explained: “Even when sending telegrams in plain code without encryption, the codes for different languages vary. The International Civil Aviation Organization’s standard code is a set of international codes adopted to solve this problem, based on the Anglo language of the United Kingdom.”
“I see. So, what does the telegram say?” Giles asked curiously.
The staff officer picked up the telegram paper and read from it: “‘To the respected commander of the Prussian Army, having observed your forces carrying out earthworks, we kindly remind you that in half a month, the autumn rain season will begin, and conditions will become unsuitable for offensive operations.’
Giles’s eyebrows knitted together: “What does that mean? Why would the autumn rain make it unsuitable for an offensive?”
The adjutant, Feliz, reminded: “In the situation reports issued by the High Command about Ante, it was mentioned that transport in Ante would be somewhat affected during the rainy season.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the chief of staff confidently said: “That’s why we planned for a 20 percent redundancy in our supply plans. Even if it rains, it won’t affect our offensive.”
Giles thought for a moment and said: “Let’s still consult the meteorological department. And call over the Air Force commander too. After we push the trenches to the western bank of the Duva River, we’ll need their cooperation.”
The Prussian Army originally had its own meteorological department, but Duke Meyer, believing that meteorology also fell under the jurisdiction of the Air Force, protested to the emperor for many days. The emperor, with the intention of weakening the traditional officer corps, transferred the meteorological responsibilities to the Air Force.
Therefore, even though Giles was favored by the emperor, he still had to invite the Air Force commander and the meteorological department personnel together.
————
Thirty minutes later, an Air Force Major General, accompanied by a colonel and several aides, arrived at the headquarters of the First Army.
Giles: “Did you receive that plain code telegram?”
“Of course, we did. We even conducted triangulation to confirm that the telegram came from that—White Horse General.” The Air Force Major General deliberately paused before mentioning the nickname of the White Horse General.
Rocossov would surely have an interesting expression if he knew he’d been given a “space” before his title, but sadly he would never know.
Giles: “So, are we really entering the rainy season?”
The Air Force Major General stepped to the side, yielding the floor to the colonel he brought with him.
The colonel’s sleeve bore the insignia of the meteorological troops. With the Major General’s permission, he immediately opened his briefcase, took out the documents, and placed them on the map table: “We’ve been discreetly recording the meteorological information from all over Ante since the year 910.
Our intelligence department promised to steal Ante’s own meteorological records, but so far, they have not fulfilled that promise.”
Upon hearing this, someone among Giles’s subordinates laughed: “Isn’t it normal for Rabowell to fail?”
The colonel ignored the jab at the intelligence department and continued: “According to our records, Ante really will enter the rainy season in the middle of next month. The timing of the first rain each year is quite consistent; in the year 910 it was on October 11, in 911 on October 9, and the following year on the 14th.
“We believe this year will also see rain around the 10th.”
Giles: “Is the impact of the rain significant?”
Colonel: “It will cause a certain level of traffic congestion.”
Giles: “Will it lead to difficulty in military operations?”
“No, in fact, during the civil war within the Ante Empire, they often operated during the rainy season,” the Colonel took out another record. “Before I came here, I specifically compiled the war history of the Ante Empire’s civil war. There were many military operations during the rainy seasons over three years, like the First Cavalry Army’s famous raid.”
Giles frowned deeply: “Cavalry isn’t quite the same as our mechanized units, is it?”
Feliz: “General, could the hooves of a horse possibly have better terrain adaptability than our tracks?”
Colonel: “Still, it’s best to prepare for the worst and to assume a redundancy of about thirty percent would be appropriate.”
Giles still frowned deeply and, after pondering for a while, said, “Get a local, ask about the situation… You haven’t killed them all, have you?”
Feliz immediately said, “Don’t worry, when we occupied Argesukov in August, the Emperor had already issued an order. Considering that the occupied area is too large, it’s necessary to retain a sufficient labor force. Therefore, systematic cleansing has already ended.”
“I’ll have them bring a few locals over now.”
Giles: “Go ahead.”
After the adjutant left, the Air Force Major General said, “Why did the White General send this telegram?”
Giles wore a pensive expression, clearly he hadn’t figured it out either.
But the Chief of Staff of the First Army spoke up: “Because earthwork is his Achilles’ heel, his most adept artillery fire has no place to be used. He’s in a hurry now.”
“I see,” the Air Force Major General nodded and continued, “This White General is a bit strange. Yesterday when the pilots from JG17 (the Prosen Air Force’s unit number) were hunting down their artillery spotters, they heard shouts in Ante language.”
“Shouts in Ante language?” Giles lifted his head.
Major General: “There are quite a few playboys among the pilots, and many of them know Ante and Carolingian languages. So someone heard, they were shouting ‘Break S, drill into the blind spot under the belly, the 109’s roll is bad during the dive.”
Giles: “And the actual situation?”
“I’ve flown the 109E3 that our troops are currently equipped with, and indeed, the control stick is very heavy during a dive. Actually, it’s not because of the dive, but because of the speed,” the Air Force Major General gestured with his hands.
“The 109 can never exceed 600 kilometers per hour in level flight, in fact, we rarely fly to the maximum speed of 536 kilometers per hour listed on paper during operations. But the speed might reach 700 kilometers per hour during a dive.”
Giles: “You mean, the White General is very knowledgeable about our fighters?”
“Right.”
Giles: “And the ‘Break S’? Is that a term?”
“Yes. It’s the exact opposite maneuver of the Immelman Turn. The motion is roughly like this.” The Major General snapped his fingers, and his adjutant immediately stepped forward with a box. Opening it, there were two intricate fighter plane models inside.
Then the Major General picked up one of the models and began to demonstrate.
While demonstrating, he also explained: “You can use the Break S during level flight. If an enemy is on your tail, you can use a better roll to enter a Break S, which can instantly make the enemy lose sight of the target.
“And when the attacking aircraft is diving from a higher altitude, because of the attacker’s high speed and decreased maneuverability, the Break S often allows slipping into the attacker’s blind spot. However, this maneuver doesn’t give the defender an advantage.
As long as the attacker doesn’t forcibly follow but instead pulls up to regain altitude using their speed, the next engagement will still be in their advantage.”
Giles: “What if the attacker does follow?”
The Major General shrugged, “First, you have to control the speed, throttle back while adjusting the pitch of the propeller, using the resistance of the propeller and the like. Fighters don’t have airbrakes like dive bombers, lacking means to quickly reduce speed under such circumstances.
“Even if the speed is controlled, you’ve needlessly lost lots of energy. It’s foolish. So, experienced pilots who encounter a Break S from the enemy will give up the attack and recover altitude to seek another opportunity to battle.
“But most of the time, there’s no chance for another battle. Our pilots like flamboyant liveries, a pride inherited from the Red Baron, but enemy pilots prefer camouflage. Once they dive close to the ground, they blend in with it and are difficult to detect.
“Yesterday’s battle was the same; our lads shot down one, the rest of the enemy planes all flew low and escaped.
“Our lads are proud Eagles, while the enemy is just a bunch of sparrows.”
Giles: “You didn’t have to go into such detail, I understand that Break S is a practical aerial combat maneuver. But how would the White General know about this? Isn’t he from an infantry background?”
Everyone looked at each other before the Chief of Staff finally said, “Maybe the Crown Prince of Ante is quite versatile? Many noble young masters like flying.”
Giles nodded, seemingly accepting this explanation.
At this moment, Feliz entered: “We’ve caught some locals.”
“Bring them in,” Giles paused then corrected himself, “Please bring them in.”