Colonel Busse heard the sound of artillery fire and immediately inquired to the vanguard, “What’s going on? Who’s firing? The caliber sounds quite large!”
The vanguard’s reply was a series of shrieks, “We’re ambushed! The company commander is dead, half the company is wiped out!”
Colonel Busse: “Who are you?”
“I am Lieutenant Hans, the leader of the third platoon!”
“You’re the commanding officer now. I need you to identify the enemy’s direction and fire a signal flare! Now, immediately!”
Colonel Busse saw a signal flare shoot up, arcing directly toward the front.
Busse raised an eyebrow, “Why would an ambush position the firing positions at the front? That’s wrong, how could the front positions wipe out half a company in an instant?”
It was less than half a minute from when Colonel Busse heard the artillery fire to when he spoke with the vanguard, and in that short time, losing half an armored company was rather terrifying.
“Lieutenant Hans, can you see the vehicles the enemy is using?”
“I can’t see! I can only see the smoke and dust kicked up by the enemy’s gun muzzles when they fire! The enemy has adopted the Rocossov-style bunkers!”
Colonel Busse’s brow furrowed even more.
Rocossov-style bunkers take a lot of time and labor to construct. Even the simplified Prussian Army version requires a long time to dig a bunker that can completely conceal a vehicle.
However, when the Prussian Army passed by this place yesterday, there were no signs of the Ante People. The Ploson Air Force reconnaissance planes also flew over multiple times without any sight of the Ante Army engaging in any earthwork.
Colonel Busse quickly dismissed the possibility that the enemy had dug bunkers—at least, not complete ones.
Then he remembered the report from the commander of the motorized reconnaissance platoon who had escaped death earlier, who said that they had not seen any Ante tanks.
Colonel Busse made a swift judgment: “It’s the anti-tank guns pulled in by motorized vehicles, and camouflaged with the wheat fields! The enemy has obtained a large number of motor vehicles from the Federation, and some of their anti-tank gun units could be fully motorized!”
Motorization refers to towing with motor vehicles for mobility.
The Prussian Army’s anti-tank gun units are fully motorized, all towed by half-track vehicles and Opel trucks.
The Ante People might have learned from the Prussian organization, giving priority to the motorization of their anti-tank gun units.
Based on this judgment, Colonel Busse ordered the entire combat group: “Deploy the attack formation immediately, there are enemy anti-tank gun positions on the hills ahead, we’ll encircle them!” empire
————
Vasily slightly removed his headset to distance it from his ears and reported, “The enemy thinks that they’ve been intercepted by our anti-tank guns, and that our anti-tank gun units may have been motorized.”
Wang Zhong laughed. As the chairman of the Equipment Review Committee, how could he not know whether they were motorized?
In reality, very few Ante units could achieve motorization for their anti-tank gun units; most were still “mule-powered.”
Wang Zhong: “Continue monitoring.”
Vasily nodded and pressed his ear to the headset again.
A Federation-supported communications vehicle was parked beside him: a large generator, high-powered radio, and a huge radio antenna were mounted on an M3 half-track vehicle.
This antenna always reminded Wang Zhong of the “roofs” on the tanks from his time before transmigration for drone defense, although this “roof” was open-work, resembling a grape arbor brought along with the vehicle.
Thanks to this communications vehicle, Vasily could hear the radio signals that would normally be inaudible—after all, Wang Zhong’s “headquarters” were almost five kilometers away from the actual combat area, and the Prussian signals were already very weak.
The vehicle’s electrical technician looked at Wang Zhong and said, “This gadget is incredibly powerful, whether the generator or the wireless radio, we definitely wouldn’t be able to make them.”
Wang Zhong corrected him, “We can’t make them now, but that might not be the case in the future.”
The technician nodded.
Wang Zhong’s troops were heavily equipped with radios, which led to a surge in the need for radio maintenance.
He then regretfully discovered that there was a severe shortage of personnel skilled in radio technology.
The church opened a flying club to train pilots, but there was no radio club because at the time, they didn’t realize how important radios would be—if they had realized, they wouldn’t have let only the company commander’s tank in the Ante tank platoon have a radio.
With no alternative, Wang Zhong had to set up night classes to train personnel. The technician accompanying the communications vehicle was a product of such night classes, and his uniform displayed a medal for night school graduation—a medal awarded to honor those who successfully passed night school assessments. Their families also received a certificate, which entitled them to one extra can of Spam every day.
Many joined the night classes for that medal—and the extra can of Spam rewarded to their families.
This technician was one of them.
Noticing Wang Zhong’s gaze on his medal, the young technician felt a bit embarrassed, “When my family first wrote to me that they started getting allocations, I was worried about my two younger brothers who are at an age when they eat a lot, so I joined the night school aiming for the Spam cans.
“Now I somewhat regret it because the famine my father spoke of never came. True, the supply of Doctor’s sausage did indeed decrease, and there’s one day a week when we can only eat fish. We have fish on regular days too, but we definitely haven’t gone hungry.
“So it seems this extra can of Spam each day isn’t really necessary.”
Spam cans at this time were no longer the Spam from the start of the war; it was now just salty meat, good only for solving the question of whether or not there was meat, and only the people from the United Kingdom would find it tasty.”
Wang Zhong: “Are you suggesting the reward should be changed to vodka?”
“No, I have no complaints about the reward. After all, it was originally for the fear of my family going hungry. Now that there’s no risk of them starving, I still want to be a combatant,” the technician said, enviously eyeing the many medals on Wang Zhong’s chest.
Wang Zhong also looked down and said, “We don’t fight for medals.”
“I know, it’s for the liberation of our motherland.” True to someone who could become a technician through night school assessments, “You’ve taught us many times.”
Wang Zhong: “But you still desire medals?”
“Who wouldn’t?”
“Just so you can boast in the tavern?” Wang Zhong asked.
The technician was very embarrassed.
Just as Wang Zhong was about to continue lecturing the technician, Vasily said, “According to intercepted communications, the enemy is deploying their formation, attempting to encircle our ambush positions.”
Wang Zhong: “Notify the Vortex Company.”
Vasily immediately picked up the radio and called the commander of the Vortex Tank Destroyer Company: “Agu Da, Agu Da, Valdai Hills River calling, the Prussians are preparing to encircle your position.”
Wang Zhong raised his line of sight and made a new discovery, as if when he was coordinating with his staff, he could command the troops directly through the ‘external vision.’
Damn, finally I don’t have to howl at each unit myself with the radio! Handheld radios are so heavy!
In the future, I can let the staff or Vasily call, and I’ll just stand by striking cool poses! (Actually, he would be looking at the overhead view.)
Decisively, Wang Zhong struck a very cool pose and changed his viewing angle to see what was going on.
The commander of the Tank Destroyer Company had divided the troops into two parts: the first group of 15 was shooting at the enemy from a small elevation, the second group was positioned behind the elevation, five on each side, and another five clearly as a reserve.
Wang Zhong understood at a glance that the commander had long anticipated the enemy’s encirclement. He was prepared to wait for the enemy’s pincer movement to begin and then show the Prussians a thing or two about the “Wing of Light deployment.”
But Wang Zhong had an even better idea.
He directly said to Vasily: “The Tank Destroyer Company is ready. Tell the commander to proceed as he has planned, and that I approve of his concept.”
Vasily was shocked and temporarily turned off the transmitting function of the radio, saying to Wang Zhong: “I don’t even know what his plan is!”
Wang Zhong, remembering Vasily couldn’t see the overhead view, evasively replied: “I know the commander of the Tank Destroyer Company, I can guess what he’s planning.”
Vasily: “You not only remember everyone’s name but can also guess their plans? Wow, you’re that awesome?”
Wang Zhong: “Hurry up and convey my message.”
Vasily immediately relayed Wang Zhong’s message to the Tank Destroyer Company, and after ending the communication he looked at Wang Zhong: “You want me to contact other units as well, right?”
Wang Zhong: “Yes, call two jeep units at the same time.”
The technician who had just been talking to Wang Zhong said, “I’ll cover both frequencies at once, you call out their radio call signs.”
Wang Zhong, pleased, patted the technician on the shoulder: “You’ve been a big help, good job.”
Soon, Vasily handed the radio to Wang Zhong: “There you go, commanders of both units are on the line.”
Wang Zhong picked up the radio: “This is Rocossov. I’m not using radio call signs because the mission that follows is extremely dangerous, and it will require immense courage from you. Such orders cannot be given under codenames.”
By saying this, he emphasized the importance of the mission and his respect for the two units involved, aiming to boost morale.
As expected, commanders from both units answered energetically: “Please issue the order!”
“General, we will complete the mission.”
Wang Zhong: “I order you to circle around the enemy troops, use machine guns to disrupt their formation deployment.”
“General, we can’t penetrate the enemy’s tanks.”
“But you can force the enemy tank commanders to button up. Once their visibility is limited, try to get close to the tanks and throw incendiary bombs.”
Wang Zhong’s tactic was one African uncles used against Colonel Kada’s tanks.
Just now, the inspiration came from watching jeeps and trikes speeding along. The now dry plains were no different from the African savannas, right? Willys Jeeps and Toyota pickups were almost alike, even more versatile.
So why not give it a try?
Moreover, Wang Zhong himself had avoided tank gun fire while on horseback. If Bucephalus could do it, why not let the Willys Jeeps give it a shot?
At this moment, one of the commanders asked, “If we refuse to carry out the mission, you will personally lead us, right?”
Wang Zhong: “Correct. So, are you refusing?”
“No, we believe in you. We guarantee to complete the mission.”
The other commander also replied, “Guarantee to complete the mission!”
Wang Zhong: “Move out!”
He handed the radio back to Vasily, then changed his viewing angle.
In the first dozen seconds after ending the call, Wang Zhong still had visual on the troops. He saw the jeeps start up, kicking up clouds of dust as they charged towards the enemy’s flanks.