After the meeting, the vanguard soldiers began borrowing brooms from the locals.
The local brooms were quite simple, just a bunch of dried wheat stems tied together.
When sweeping, one had to hold the broom at an angle and press it hard against the ground, so the wheat stems would naturally adhere to the surface, and with a forceful sweep, most of the dirt could be collected.
The soldiers loaded all the borrowed brooms into the back of the Willis jeeps.
Although Wang Zhong had ordered everyone to rest well that night, most people simply could not sleep, and soldiers from the vanguard team could be seen chatting together all over the village.
Trinka Village was a relatively large one, but it couldn’t accommodate a temporary infantry division plus a vanguard team all at once, so many from the vanguard team ended up sleeping outdoors.
Wang Zhong himself slept quite soundly, falling asleep as soon as he lay down on the bed provided by the commander of the 401 Division.
In his dream, Wang Zhong saw himself piloting a fighter jet in a fierce battle with the Ploson Air Force, shouting “Super Lightning Strike, fire!” when facing the enemy.
But there were no missiles launched from beneath the wings, and his plane was shot down by the enemy.
The sensation of falling abruptly woke Wang Zhong up, he sat up sweating profusely.
Nelly held a fan, looking at him with a puzzled expression, “What’s wrong?”
Wang Zhong shook his head, “Nothing. Have you been fanning me the whole time?”
“Yeah,” Nelly nodded, “you said you were hot before sleeping.”
“Just because I said I was hot doesn’t mean you had to fan me all night; what about your rest?”
Nelly replied, “I’ll catch up on sleep when you go off to fight.”
Wang Zhong stared at Nelly, “But doesn’t that mean you’ll be sleeping during the day? Won’t you be hot then?”
“I’m okay,” Nelly shrugged, “maybe because I’m on the thinner side?”
Wang Zhong sighed, “I’m not fat, okay! What time is it now?”
Nelly glanced at Wang Zhong’s watch on the nightstand.
Wang Zhong picked up the watch and checked the time, then got out of bed and stood up, “Alright, it’s about time. Let’s go send the Prussians on their way.”
Then he noticed Nelly hesitating to speak and asked, “What? You want to come too?”
Nelly nodded like a pecking chicken.
Wang Zhong hesitated for a moment but eventually shook his head, “No, this is a battlefield, you can’t come.”
Nelly protested, “I was always at the frontline in Shostka, and I’ve even learned to shoot a pistol; I can be your bodyguard.”
Wang Zhong laughed, “There aren’t many places at the frontline where a pistol is needed; wait until you learn how to use a submachine gun, then I’ll let you be my guard.”
At that moment, Vasily entered the room, “I heard the general is awake… oh, I didn’t see anything.”
Vasily, maintaining his grip on the doorknob, backed out of the room, intending to close the door.
Wang Zhong said, “Enough, don’t start any more baseless rumors about me; it’s all your fault I have so many absurd tales going around! Come in, let go of the doorknob, and stand to attention!”
Vasily stood at the doorway, “Yes, sir!”
Wang Zhong asked, “Is everyone up yet?”
“Many didn’t sleep last night. Didn’t you hear them singing?”
Wang Zhong replied, “No. Have all units assemble and carry out one final check of their weapons and vehicles; we’ll depart in the order planned last night when it’s time.”
————
The scout jeeps were the first to set out, kicking up billowing clouds of dust as they left the village, resembling the charge of tens of thousands of cavalry.
Wang Zhong stood at the entrance of the village, watching them depart, enveloped in dust.
He switched to an aerial perspective and found that the scene was even more spectacular from above—he couldn’t make out how many men and horses were within the “rolling clouds of dust.”
Faced with this scene, the enemy would definitely misjudge their strength and approach reinforcements with trepidation.
This time, Wang Zhong didn’t intend to focus on attacking reinforcements; his goal was to wipe out the enemies in front of him, so it was best if the enemy didn’t send any. He had positioned sniper units just in case.
After the jeep convoy had set out, Wang Zhong turned and walked toward the tank destroyer units waiting to depart.
An infantryman, jokingly perched on a whirlwind tank destroyer, asked, “General, are you going to personally command this vehicle?”
The commander of the tank destroyer battalion was initially instructing his subordinates, but upon hearing the infantryman’s comment, he immediately turned around, “General, are you coming in person? If so, I’ll be your gunner, and you can take charge of commanding!”
Wang Zhong replied, “No, it’s just a long-range engagement; my abilities won’t be too necessary.”
He meant that his ‘cheat’ would not be necessary, as it worked best in automated combat situations. For ambushes and trench warfare, it might not be much better than using the naked eye.
The tank destroyer battalion commander seemed to misunderstand, “How could we not need your expertise? You are currently the tank commander with the highest kill count in our army!”
Wang Zhong said, “Not for long. After all, I’m now a commanding officer; there won’t be many chances for me to personally charge into battle.”
“Says General Rokossovsky, who just twelve hours ago was personally leading a charge against the enemy and engaging with their aircraft,” Vasily commented from the side, quite literally offering a side commentary.
At that moment, Chief of Staff Alexandria announced, “It’s time, we should move out.”
Wang Zhong made a gesture, “Sniper teams, move out! Encircling squads, follow behind them!”
The tank destroyer battalion commander saluted Wang Zhong, then turned to his subordinates, “Remember the radio call-signs, stick close! Move out!”
The subordinates scrambled to their respective vehicles like they were flying.
The commander himself climbed onto the vehicle in front of Wang Zhong, ducking into the combat room, donning his headset, and grabbing the microphone, “Sniper team, follow me; let’s go!”
The engine of the whirlwind roared to life, a plume of black smoke billowed from the side exhaust. Wang Zhong, catching the strong scent of sulfur dioxide, stepped back a few paces, distancing himself from the departing troops.
Fifteen vortexes passed by him in succession, heading for the battlefield.
At that moment, a sentry from the temporary 401st Infantry Division beside him pointed at the sky and shouted, “Look, planes!”
Wang Zhong looked up and saw 24 white contrails in the sky.
This was strange because propeller planes below 7,000 meters rarely produced contrails. The contrails in the movie “Fury” were created by high-altitude heavy bombers.
Wang Zhong switched to an overhead view and then realized these planes were actually B24 Liberators!
Was the Federation so generous in this timeline to provide Liberators? On Earth, the Americans only gave the Russians A20 twin-engine attack planes, not four-engined heavy bombers, right?
Most vitally, as a participant in the aid negotiations, Wang Zhong was certain that four-engine heavy bombers were never mentioned in the discussions.
Could it be that the aid was provided using additional clauses in the process?
Wang Zhong said to Vasily, “Bring me the walkie-talkie, I’ll greet the Air Force.”
Vasily immediately retrieved the walkie-talkie from the nearby jeep, “It’s been tuned to the Air Force’s frequency.”
Wang Zhong took the walkie-talkie, “Ground calling air squadron, ground calling air squadron.”
Shortly after, an impatient voice came from the walkie-talkie, “If you’re calling for close air support, I’m sorry, we’re currently at an altitude of nine thousand meters, completely unable to support you; we can’t even see you.”
Wang Zhong, “No, it’s you guys I’m calling. We’ve obtained intelligence that the enemy has reached Yeisk…”
“We’re not going to bomb there, you’ll have to solve your own problems.”
Wang Zhong was stunned, he somewhat wanted to report his own name, perhaps it would be possible to change the bombing location then.
Just then, a familiar voice cut into the conversation, “Attack Squadron Four calling ground, we’re just a bit below the bombers, maybe we can take care of your target.”
Wang Zhong switched his perspective and indeed spotted the P47 squadron, but their altitude was much lower than that of the bombers, making them less noticeable from an overhead view.
If you paid attention to them, the bombers were just too large.
Wang Zhong, “Enemy’s vanguard is in Yeisk, repeat, enemy’s vanguard is in Yeisk.”
The other side responded, “You mention the name of a place and we really can’t bomb it, after all, we don’t have navigators like the bombers, we don’t even know where we are right now.”
Wang Zhong, “See the village on the ground? Fly westward from the village! Bomb anything moving east and you’re done!”
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The vanguard teams were all moving westward, so as long as they got the direction right, they wouldn’t bomb the wrong targets.
The Air Force responded, “Understood. Leave it to us. And good luck in your fight against the enemy.”
It seemed the Air Force had misunderstood, thinking Wang Zhong’s troops were going to intercept the enemy, not realizing they were actually heading into the jaws of death.
During the time spent communicating with the Air Force, the half battalion that was to play the main role in the “tiger strike” also set off.
Alexandria said to Wang Zhong, “It’s our turn to depart, General. Although I think it would be fine to leave it to the soldiers, you’re not planning to stay behind, are you?”
Wang Zhong, “Of course not, let’s go. The radio comes with me in the same vehicle.”
————
After setting off, Wang Zhong continuously called various units via radio.
This time, all these units were under his command, so when they connected via radio, he would briefly gain the visual perspective of these units.
Although these perspectives could not highlight the enemy and were much worse than his own viewpoint, they were still much stronger than oral reports from the troops.
Wang Zhong relied on this method to maintain real-time control over the entire army’s status.
His streamlined reinforced battalion unfolded across an area roughly ten kilometers square.
The two motorized reconnaissance companies charging at the forefront, like two antennae of an insect, encircled from the north and south to the rear of their hunting target.
————
On the Prussian Army’s side.
Lieutenant Linden was awakened by a flurry of urgent knocking sounds; he rubbed his eyes and got up to push open the hatch of the tank turret.
Sleeping inside the tank left him sore all over, so his expression was very unpleasant.
The expression of the captain outside commanding the infantry troops was even worse, “The enemy has already surpassed us, and judging from the dust, there are a tremendous number of them.”
As he spoke, the infantry captain pointed to the north.
Only then did Lieutenant Linden notice the enormous dust cloud to the north, appearing as if thousands of troops were marching in.
He turned sharply and saw another dust cloud to the south.
“Damn it.”
He immediately picked up the handset, adjusted the radio, and shouted, “217 calling 210, 217 calling 210!”
Soon, the voice of Captain John came over the radio, “What’s the matter, 217?”
“I’ve seen at least a hundred tanks crossing our position and heading towards you! Repeat, 100 tanks!”
“Got it.”
John’s voice had just faded when an infantryman nearby shouted, “Argh, it hurts!”
Linden looked toward the infantryman and then noticed the infantryman was pointing at the sky.
He looked up and saw 24 white lines crossing above their heads.
Linden immediately realized what those were, “There are also 24 heavy bombers heading your way!”