While the frontline soldiers from both sides were casually chatting to pass the time, the power in Wang Zhong’s hands was growing stronger by the minute.
Units under the First Mobile Group Army kept disembarking at Yarvik, continuously arriving by the company, with a new company reaching every hour.
Acting Chief of Staff Alexandria was almost overloaded with work, with a new company needing his arrangement every hour.
Wang Zhong assigned Vasily to assist him while he and Popov watched them work nonstop.
Popov sighed, “Sometimes I’m quite glad I’m just a bishop, especially your bishop, since most of the things I should be doing, you do for me, which makes my life even easier.”
Wang Zhong shrugged, “I’m just not sure if your bald head can cheer up the troops effectively, so I do it myself.”
Popov clicked his tongue, “It’s not like I want to be bald. Just you wait, men get bald at a certain age, and you might lose hair even faster than me in the future! Then your kids will climb on your neck, touch your head, and say, ‘I am the Witch, crystal ball, tell me, who’s the fairest of them all?'”
Wang Zhong chuckled in response. Was this a variation of the Snow White story?
Just then, someone entered through the gate, and upon seeing Wang Zhong, they burst into a “oho ho ho ha ha” laugh.
Wang Zhong, “Alright, Yegorov, I see you, don’t block my gate.”
Popov, “See, men do get bald when they reach a certain age! Isn’t this another example?”
Yegorov was taken aback, “Why am I being mocked for baldness as soon as I enter? I’m not bald yet!”
“You will be soon,” Popov said.
Wang Zhong pointed at the map, “Take a look at the positions of the Guards Motor Rifle Units and pick a location for your division headquarters.”
Yegorov looked at the map while joking, “Aren’t you going to ask about the conditions on the road?”
Wang Zhong, “How are the conditions on the road?”
“The Prosen Air Force attacked us, but they missed. The anti-aircraft guns on the train did their job.” Yegorov paused, pointing at a spot on the map, “This symbol, is that a farm?”
Wang Zhong, “Yes, I scoped it out in advance; there are two houses and a stable.”
“That’s where my headquarters will be then. This prairie is truly vast, too open. If this were in Kazarlia, the map would have at least five more villages, plus a myriad of small farms.”
Popov, “The soil beneath this prairie isn’t chernozem, it’s less fertile, many places can only grow weeds. Unlike the fertile chernozem of Kazarlia, where the grass outside the fields is so tall it can snag car tires.”
Kazarlia was too fertile. The lush grass could impede wheeled vehicles from moving; only tanks could traverse it with ease.
If this were Kazarlia, Wang Zhong would not have been able to let the reconnaissance troops speed around yesterday. Without the ability to do so, they might have been encircled by the enemy’s armored forces, and in close-range combat, the vortex could be suppressed by tanks with turrets.
But Wang Zhong would have preferred to fight on the land of Kazarlia. It was a pity that the last piece of Kazarlian soil was around Bolsk, and that was also the last of Kazarlian territory under Ante’s control.
If Duke Meishikin were defeated, all he could do was retreat south into the mountains and defend the mountain passes.
Wang Zhong waved away the sudden wave of homesickness—or, more accurately, the nostalgia for his second homeland—and turned to Yegorov, “Go command your troops. The enemy could detect our delaying tactics and initiate an attack at any moment.”
Yegorov laughed, “Don’t worry. Although it looks like a big grassland, unsuitable for defense, we have fewer infantry but more technologically advanced weapons. In open terrain like this, we won’t flinch from an exchange of fire. No one has any place to hide; the side with the fiercer firepower will win.”
Wang Zhong’s Army Group wasn’t suited for operation in areas like dense forests with poor visibility; such terrains needed lots of infantry to “open visibility.”
Wang Zhong, “Be careful, the enemy’s strength is in their armored forces, which are also well-suited for combat in open areas.”
“Leave it to me,” Yegorov saluted Wang Zhong and then turned to Alexandria, “My Chief of Staff, come with me. I can’t command the troops without a Chief of Staff.”
Alexandria looked at Wang Zhong.
Wang Zhong, “Go ahead, perform your duties. The Corps Command can be left to Vasily.”
Vasily, “Me?”
Alexandria laughed, “I trust you can handle it, musician.”
As he said this, he patted Vasily on the shoulder and then saluted Wang Zhong.
Yegorov stepped outside first and even shrugged his shoulders as if the gate would catch him if he didn’t duck.
After the two had left, Wang Zhong looked at Vasily and gave him a fist bump, signaling “keep up the good work.”
Vasily clicked his tongue, just as the communications staff reported, “The 2nd Tank Destroyer Battalion calls. They’re about to arrive and are asking where to refuel.”
Vasily, “Tell them to follow the road to find the fuel station. When they see a silo from a distance, that means they’re close.”
The communications staff immediately turned away.
The Tank Destroyer Battalion was an organization Wang Zhong had first proposed, as previously SU76s and similar types were regarded as self-propelled guns, integrated into self-propelled artillery battalions, while anti-tank guns were simply called Anti-tank Artillery Battalions.
These armored vehicles, which Wang Zhong had that could only target tanks, were previously nonexistent in the Ante Army, and thus were uniquely combined into “Tank Destroyer Battalions.”
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In the future, even if the Federation sends Hellcats and wolves, they will be integrated into the tank destroyer battalion.
But right now, in the Ante Army, there is only the Vortex as a dedicated tank destroyer vehicle, so the three tank destroyer battalions currently formed are all in Wang Zhong’s Army Group.
The second tank destroyer battalion is an affiliate of the 225th Infantry Division, and the troops now arriving one after another belong to the 225th Infantry Division.
Wang Zhong, “Didn’t the 225th Division send a vanguard unit? Pavlov wouldn’t make this kind of mistake, he must have organized a part of the 225th Division’s command and dispatched them as an advance team. Fueling up should be the responsibility of the division’s advance team.”
Vasily had yet to reply when another person entered the Corps Command’s door.
It was Colonel Yegorov – a brigadier general.
Popov: “It seems the vanguard has arrived. How come it’s the military officer who came first? It should be the staff and the clerks who set up the forward position.”
Brigadier General Eugene said with a bitter smile, “Because I was originally a clerk myself.”
Wang Zhong: “But you’re a mine manager, aren’t you?”
“That’s still a senior clerk. Compared to commanding troops in battle, I’m better at arranging marching columns. General, you might as well remove my brigadier general rank and the acting division commander title. I would be fine being a colonel.”
Wang Zhong: “Not at this stage. As a field officer, you were among the best performers last year. After all, your troops did not rout; they stubbornly sniped at the enemy. It’s for your military achievements that you were promoted to acting commander of the 225th Division.”
In the Ante Army, last year saw a large number of outstanding field officers being exceptionally promoted to brigadier general, to command brigade-level units.
Whether these individuals could perform well, High Command had no certainty, nor did Wang Zhong.
Fortunately, the 225th Division commanded by Brigadier General Eugene fell under his purview, so if worse came to worst, he could just take direct command.
Wang Zhong was quite sure of his ability to command a division.
But right now, he wouldn’t share this with Brigadier General Eugene. He was curious to see if this mine manager could learn the art of war.
After all, the latter was now considered a “Rocossov man,” a leader whom Wang Zhong knew inside and out.
Brigadier General Eugene: “Aside from some expertise in digging trenches and conducting defensive battles, I’m really not proficient in much else.”
“Are you skilled at map exercises and arranging marching columns?” Vasily asked eagerly, his eyes shining. “You are the 225th Division’s vanguard, so you’re in charge of arranging its march!”
Brigadier General Eugene: “That, I can handle without a problem. I’ve also brought clerks and staff officers with me.”
“That’s great,” Vasily exclaimed with great joy, “The Army Group’s staff is still in Ye Fort, busy loading trainloads of troops, and the clerks and staff that were dispatched here are stuck at Yarvik. Right now, it’s only me, a captain and assistant officer, shouldering the burden. There was also an Alexander who could take some of the weight off, but he was taken away by Yegorov.”
Wang Zhong, supporting his chin, suddenly spoke, “There should be an establishment of a dedicated command to deal with complex transportation work. The way it’s handled now is too chaotic.”
Popov agreed, “Yes, once all the troops have arrived at the combat zone and deployed, this command could then focus solely on logistical transportation, and everything would proceed in an orderly fashion. Especially since our Army Group is particularly reliant on logistics.”
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After all, the First Mobile Group Army had far too many cannons.
During its organization, this issue of rapid deployment to the battlefield wasn’t foreseen, mainly because Wang Zhong only had experience at the division level. For a division-level unit, using trains for long-distance movements was easily managed by Pavlov and his staff without much fuss.
Now, based on what Wang Zhong had observed and experienced, he intuitively felt the necessity for a unit of about 30 to 50 people dedicated solely to directing troop transport.
With such a command, transport would certainly be much smoother, and the Army staff wouldn’t need to be distracted by long-distance train transport; they would only be responsible for the final 50 kilometers from the depot to the front line.
Additionally, Wang Zhong profoundly understood a question he couldn’t comprehend before his transmigration: why did the drills at Zhurihe include train unloading at the station? What was there to practice?
Now, he realized that indeed practice was necessary; one couldn’t afford not to rehearse.
The First Mobile Group Army had never drilled this aspect, and the current scramble was due to the staff’s real capabilities, particularly that of a certain civilian Colonel Karataev in Yarvik.
If the staff and clerks had been any less proficient, the situation would have degenerated into a mess.
Wang Zhong, watching Brigadier General Eugene getting busy like a clerk, felt genuine gratitude for the Prussians’ caution; if they were to attack now, who knows how things would turn out.
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“We need to make a probing attack,” said Major General Witt, looking at the map. “After the enemy completed firepower preparations, they did not attack, making me suspect this is a delaying tactic. Perhaps they are not actually ready to face us head-on and are simply using bluffs.”
Colonel Busse was shocked, “But the opponent is that Rocossov!”
Major General Witt: “It is precisely because it’s Rocossov that we should be suspicious. He is very cunning. He may pretend to be preparing for an attack to buy time until more of his troops arrive.”
Colonel Busse: “Could it be that by thinking this way, you’re playing right into his hands? Just yesterday, we experienced it: a clever double deception. We saw through his first layer and thought the enemy was weak, so we struck. We almost got devoured by his several hundred tanks in the open fields!”
Major General Witt: “Did you see his several hundred tanks? With your own eyes?”
Colonel Busse shut up.
Major General Witt: “There you go. Trust what you see. Deploy the motorized reconnaissance battalion to establish a clear picture of the enemy situation. Especially, check for ‘several hundred tanks’!”
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