Wang Zhong was very satisfied with Grigori’s demonstration.
Actually, hitting a flying pigeon from the hip was something ordinary people couldn’t achieve.
Of course, an average person using a threaded cutting machine would definitely have a better accuracy rate than the Papasha; at close range, the firepower was the same as the Papasha, and at long distance, it was more accurate than the Papasha, plus it had a lower failure rate, which absolutely made it a superior weapon.
As for the low firing noise, that actually wasn’t so important. What Grigori and the others wanted from the thick-barreled version was its stability during rapid firing; the importance of silencing wasn’t something people of this era realized yet.
Grigori lowered the muzzle and looked towards Wang Zhong.
Wang Zhong, “Good job, pick up the pigeons and ask around, they might belong to the locals, compensate them at the market rate.”
“Yes.” Two soldiers immediately ran to pick up the pigeons and carried them out of the station.
Wang Zhong heard the workers whispering: “Did you hear? They’re even compensating!”
“That’s so great!”
“If I were the owner of the pigeons, I wouldn’t take any compensation no matter what. What’s wrong with the soldiers eating a bit of pigeon meat?”
Wang Zhong turned to the workers, “That won’t do, we can’t take even a needle and thread from the people, only then will they support us.”
He paused and changed the subject, “It’s going to be tough on the workers today, my Army Group’s vanguard has many more trains to arrive today.”
“Leave it to us!”
By this time, the soldiers from the guard company had already taken down the red flag that the textile workers had put on the sealed tank car, and a tall flag bearer stood next to Wang Zhong, holding it high.
The red flag, the general, and the soldiers and workers surrounding the general made for a photo-worthy scene, but unfortunately Wang Zhong’s “official photographer” was not present.
Just then, a large group of officers, led by a senior general, rushed into the station.
The leading general looked around before heading straight for Wang Zhong, “General Rocossov! Yesterday the High Command only told me that a new Army Group would be coming to reinforce me, but they didn’t tell me it was your Instructional Army Group!”
Wang Zhong, “Instructional Army Group?”
“Ah? They all say that!” The general was taken aback.
Wang Zhong, “Our official designation is the First Mobile Group Army, of course, this Army Group is also for testing an entirely new organizational method.”
The general, “I heard your Army Group has almost three hundred heavy guns?”
Wang Zhong nodded, “Yes, actually I wanted to insert even more, but I wasn’t sure if the logistics could keep up.”
After all, Wang Zhong’s Army Group was already very complex, with everything imaginable, just the artillery included calibers like 37, 40, 57, 75, 76, 100, 122, and 152. Discover stories with empire
Many of the guns with the same caliber used different ammunition: for example, the gun on the M6 Tank Destroyer was different from the ammunition for the 37mm anti-aircraft gun.
Wang Zhong had thought about equipping all anti-aircraft units with 40mm Bofors Crusaders, which would mean no more 37mm anti-aircraft guns and only one type of 37mm shells. However, the Crusaders were sent over in too few numbers, so he could only wait for the Bofors factory with authorization to start production and mass produce the 40mm automatic cannons.
In fact, Wang Zhong had done his best to simplify logistics within the permitted scope, like with mortars: the 120mm mortar was too heavy, and since Wang Zhong’s infantry units had a lot of 75mm and 76mm barrels, they tried to only equip with the 82mm mortars.
If this didn’t work out well, logistics would have to suffer a bit more and add the heavier 120mm mortars again.
In any case, Wang Zhong’s Army Group was undoubtedly the one with heavy firepower within the Ante Army’s organization, and even on Earth in the Soviet Union before ’43, it would be considered a heavy firepower unit.
However, when the Soviet Union executed offensive campaigns, they would have artillery reinforcements from the High Command.
And after ’43, the Soviet Union created the insanely powerful breakthrough Army Groups with artillery brigades assigned just to them, with 144 152mm guns, which was terrifying.
Wang Zhong was not yet that insanely ambitious because he was concerned about supply issues.
If the Federation were a bit more supportive and sent 10,000 trucks to Ante within half a year, he might really consider creating such wildly powerful artillery units.
All the fault of the Federation.
But Commander of the Suhayaveli Front Army, General Andrei Ivanovich, didn’t have Wang Zhong’s transcendent knowledge, and he clearly thought that an Army Group with 300 heavy guns of 122mm and above was already too much.
Not to mention that Wang Zhong’s Army Group also had a rocket artillery brigade.
“Looking forward to your performance,” he said, shaking Wang Zhong’s hand. It looked like he was the major general and Wang Zhong was the senior general.
Wang Zhong, “How should I address you?”
“Oh, I am General Andrei Ivanovich, Commander of the Suhayaveli Front Army.”
Wang Zhong introduced himself, “Major General Rocossov, Commander of the First Mobile Group Army.”
“We all know you,” said General Andrei. “Please come quickly to the High Command—let me introduce the frontline situation to you. Leave the unloading of the cargo to the Front Army’s logistics commander; if there are any supply needs, talk to him!”
General Andrei pointed to the major general behind him.
Wang Zhong nodded, “I have brought the vanguard of the Army Group’s staff, led by…”
Wang Zhong glanced at his own grade six clerk.
“…led by Colonel Karataev of the civil service, he will coordinate supply issues with you.”
Originally, civil servants only had civil ranks, but since the war started, it was found necessary for civil servants to have military ranks as well, after all, incidents of staff reductions were common, and the military ranks would quickly determine the new leadership structure of the staff.
So a grade six clerk became a colonel in the civil service.
The old man stood tall and proud like a real soldier, but his salute still looked a bit odd, just like at the beginning.
After connecting with the logistics coordinator, General Andrei made a welcoming gesture, “Let’s go to the High Command.”
Wang Zhong nodded, “Fine, I’ll listen to your briefing first, then set out to inspect the frontline personally.”
General Andrei looked shocked, “You’re really going to inspect the frontline personally?”
“Yes.”
“I thought that was just propaganda…”
Wang Zhong sternly rebuked, “How could you say that! In the newly written regulations, I emphasized that, given the right conditions, commanders should personally scout the terrain. How could I not lead by example?”
General Andrei scrambled for an excuse, “I thought that was your practice when you were a division commander. But now that you’re an Army Group Commander, do you still have to personally reconnoiter the entire operational area of the army group?”
Wang Zhong: “Why not? Of course, if the command structure under my control gets even larger, it won’t be physically possible for me to scout every area myself, and I’ll have to delegate these exploratory tasks to division-level commanders.
“But I will still personally do the reconnaissance on the main thrust! An excellent commander must be intimately familiar with every blade of grass and every tree in the operational area!”
Even through an addon.
General Andrei looked at Wang Zhong with awed eyes, “I… I’m afraid I can’t do that. I can’t tell you that I’m familiar with every blade of grass and tree in Suhayaveli. But I will try my best to answer your questions. This way, please.”
Wang Zhong nodded and then followed General Andrei out of the station.
Then he saw near a shop not far from the station, an old man shouting, “You killed my favorite dove and think you can settle it with money?”
Wang Zhong raised his hand, signaling the whole team to stop, then walked toward the old man under the surprised gaze of General Andrei.
Grigori immediately followed with the threading cutter in hand.
Wang Zhong approached the old man: “Old man! It was my guards who shot your dove while demonstrating a new weapon! I apologize to you!”
The old man squinted at Wang Zhong: “And who are you?”
“I am…”
Just then the old man saw someone holding a red flag behind Wang Zhong and shouted, “Hold on!”
Wang Zhong’s introduction was stuck in his throat, and he was left awkwardly silent.
The old man took a closer look at his face, then at the three stars on the collar tabs: “You are… you’re General Rocossov!”
Wang Zhong: “Yes, it’s me.”
“Oh! You have no idea, from yesterday the people of Yarvik have been in a panic! Now that you’re here, everyone feels reassured! You’re going to strike hard at those detestable Prussians, aren’t you? We have a lot of people here from Western Kazarlia, they all say the Prussians are devils, killing and raping everywhere! They even don’t spare an old man like me! You must stop them!”
The old man grew more agitated as he spoke, clutching Wang Zhong’s hand tightly: “I am an old soldier, but I can’t fight anymore, my children are all in the military, I’ve given everything to the church, to the Ante Army! It’s all to prevent the Prussians from succeeding!”
Wang Zhong: “Don’t worry, old man, but you should still evacuate as soon as possible, because we’re not yet ready to fully stop them.”
Old man: “Not ready yet?”
“Yes, so there will likely be some retreat. But rest assured, we will soon counterattack.”
“Okay, I understand, I understand.”
Wang Zhong: “By the way, about the dove, please accept our compensation.”
“Ah?” The old man was startled, then looking at the doves carried by two guards, he waved his hand, “I don’t know any dove, these two are clearly wild pigeons!”
Wang Zhong: “No, please accept the compensation anyway, especially since you’re about to fall back; use this money to settle down in the rear area.”
The old man, moved: “Such a good general, may Saint Andrew bless you. Saint Andrew bless you!”
Afterward, the old man kept repeating this prayer, watching Wang Zhong leave with his men.
After Wang Zhong returned to his side, General Andrei said: “That’s something a Military Chaplain is supposed to do.”
Wang Zhong: “I haven’t brought a Chaplain partner with me. Let’s go to the headquarters.”
————
The Suhayaveli Front Army headquarters.
As soon as Wang Zhong entered the room, he saw a plethora of marks representing enemy attacks on the map.
The enemy occupied area had embedded itself into the Suhayaveli Front Army’s defensive zone, with the vanguard being less than 50 kilometers away from Yarvik.
Wang Zhong: “The situation is indeed very bad.”
General Andrei: “The enemy has introduced a new type of tank, and a frontline war correspondent took a photograph of it. However, since he didn’t use a flash, the picture didn’t turn out very well.”
With that, General Andrei shuffled through a stack of documents on the desk, pulled out a photo, and placed it on the map table, sliding it towards Wang Zhong.
Wang Zhong picked up the photo.
Although the photo was indeed very poor, with the entire frame a blur, only the silhouette of the new tank was visible.
But Wang Zhong was still certain, that was a Tiger tank.
It was the first battle in September 1942 in Earth’s history, and it happened two months earlier in this world.
Moreover, the initial deployment of Tiger tanks was actually mediocre due to mechanical failures. However, these few Tiger tanks performed exceptionally well, almost breaking through the entire Army Group.
General Andrei added, “Everyone who has seen this new type of tank is especially wary of it. They say our attacks can’t penetrate its armor, and its cannon can destroy our tanks from a very long distance.
“Someone even said it can turn invisible!”
Wang Zhong couldn’t help but chuckle, thinking that those who say it can turn invisible must be operating the standard T34s. The double-manned turret T34s were too inept; it’s quite likely they never spotted the Tiger tank sniping from over 1500 meters away.
There are battle records of such incidents.
Wang Zhong: “It seems to stabilize the front line; we need to deal with these malevolent Tigers first.”