On the Prosen front, the headquarters of the 10th Army Group of the Southern Army Group.
General Boke, the commander of the Army Group, currently had a distinguished guest: General William von Frederick, the commander of the 6th Army Group, who had just poured a drink for the general when a communications staff officer burst into the command room, “General!”
General Boke frowned. Although displeased, with the troops in combat, it would be improper to ignore a telegram from the front—especially in front of a fellow officer.
Thus, General Boke gestured, and his adjutant immediately stepped forward to take the telegram: “The front reports that the Sede Division has encountered a major force led by Rocossov.”
“We already knew Rocossov was coming, so the attack was thwarted today, wasn’t it?” General Boke exhibited an unusual calmness in front of his peer, “When we heard that Rocossov had reached the front yesterday, I anticipated today’s attack would be frustrated.”
General William von Frederick asked, “So you have a contingency plan, do you?”
“Of course, Rocossov is a tough nut to crack. To advance quickly, we need to circumvent him. During last year’s summer campaign, General Moochi’s 2nd Armored Division stumbled over this hard rock, twisted its ankle, and ultimately, General Moochi bypassed him. Then Rocossov could only breakout, and it’s said that over half of his division was decimated!”
General Boke stood up and gestured on the map: “The Sede Division will hold him at the front, and then we’ll commit two Armored Division and two Armored Grenadier Divisions on his southern and northern flanks for a breakthrough.”
The adjutant drew symbols for an Armored Division and an Armored Grenadier Division on both the southern and northern sides of the Sede Division on the map.
“By the 18th, I can launch a pincer attack on Rocossov. The enemy’s Suhayaveli Front Army as a whole lacks combat effectiveness. Relying on the city, they can sustain themselves for a while with morale, but unfortunately, this area is all grassland, and the only city Yeisk has already been taken by us.”
General Boke appeared quite pleased: “Speed is of the essence in warfare, and we have once again defeated the Ante People with pace. Facing this vast grassland, Rocossov has no options but to retreat to the banks of the Suhaya Weili River and defend using the riverside cities.”
General William von Frederick nodded in agreement: “A very reasonable conception. Speaking of which, I seem to have a destiny with this Rocossov.”
General Boke’s adjutant: “Gentlemen…”
General Boke: “During last year’s summer campaign, did you engage with him?”
“No, at that time my 6th Army Group was following the 1st Armored Group, and his famed battle at Peniye was less than a hundred kilometers from my headquarters. Later, when he was defending Loktov, my Army Group was dealing with the remnants of the enemy within the Bogdanovka encirclement, and my headquarters was less than fifty kilometers from his battlefield.”
The adjutant: “Generals…”
General Boke: “In the three battles where he was routed, you were nearby for two of them. This time is the third! I won’t make the mistake of clashing with him head-on.”
The adjutant finally lost his patience: “Your Excellencies!”
General Boke finally turned to the adjutant: “What is it? This isn’t like you.”
The adjutant: “The Sede Division hasn’t attacked. The division commander reports that the vanguard combat team encountered prepared enemy fire this morning and immediately went into a defensive state. In the afternoon, upon the arrival of the division headquarters, they discovered a large number of enemy tanks planning to execute a pincer attack on the Sede Division.”
General Boke was stunned: “What? Rocossov attacked?”
General William reminded him: “In last winter’s campaign he also organized an attack, swiftly encircling our heavily defended position at Karanskaya. Have you forgotten the photo of him parading the captured generals through the streets?”
General Boke slapped his forehead: “Damn it, now that you mention it, I remember. I even had a nightmare for a day after seeing that photo, dreaming that I was also captured and paraded through the streets. I think my brain must have wanted to forget that on purpose!”
General William: “You won’t let Rocossov eat up the Sede Division, will you?”
“Of course not, hell no, of course not,” General Boke stood up and ordered his adjutant: “Call the chief of staff in here, no, I should go to the map room myself.”
General William also stood up: “I’ll go with you.”
The two of them made their way to the map room.
Upon entering the map room, what first caught the eye was the deployment diagram for the first phase of the entire Blue Plan.
The 10th Army Group was the spearhead of the first phase.
The 6th Army Group was the second echelon in the attack, following General William’s 10th Army Group, with its vanguard just crossing General Boke’s starting line.
During last year’s summer campaign, the Prussians had adopted a principle of concentrated use of tanks, with most of their armored forces gathered within four armored groups.
However, after a year of warfare, the Prussians realized during their experience review that having so many armored forces together put too much strain on logistics, and the lousy Ante logistics couldn’t keep up.
The result was that the armored groups had to stop after a week of hard charging to wait for the rear troops to catch up.
It was only because the Ante People performed so poorly that they did not capitalize on the gap when the armored forces became disjointed; otherwise, it would have been unthinkable. In fact, some of Ante’s competent commanders noticed the gap and launched counterattacks, but they had too few reliable forces in their hands. Stay updated via empire
Last year, Ante’s armored forces performed extremely poorly, and even when commanders noticed opportunities, they could not seize them.
The infantry forces did succeed in capturing some opportunities, but on a limited scale, insignificant to the grand scale of the summer campaign.
Incidentally, Rocossov was one of the few commanders who spotted opportunities and seized them, but at the time he had only one regiment, and the rest were a mess of support units.
In short, while the Ante People reviewed their experiences, so did the Prussians.
As a result, before the Blue Plan, armored groups were broken down into smaller units and assigned to various Army Groups to advance together with the infantry, thus slowing the overall attack speed and effectively avoiding disjunction.
The 10th Army Group had three Armored Divisions, three Armored Grenadier Divisions, and six Infantry Divisions, with a total force of around 220,000, including troops directly under the army’s control.
The even stronger 6th Army Group, with a force of 300,000, was following the “spearhead” 10th Army Group, tasked with expanding the breakthrough area and extending the occupation zone to the sides.
General Boke briefly recalled his own and allied forces’ assignments, then turned to the busy chief of staff at the map table and asked, “How bad is the situation with the Cedars Division?”
The chief of staff replied, “Do you mean the battle damage? Last night they reported…”
“I mean their current situation! Never mind the battle damage.”
The chief of staff pointed at the map and said, “We just updated the situation. It seems that for now, the Cedars Division hasn’t been attacked, just heavily shelled and thrown into disarray.”
General Boke asked, “How many troops does Rocossov have?”
“We don’t know,” the chief of staff said bluntly. “We have no idea how many troops he’s commanding. At present, we’ve got two unit designations, one is Rocossov’s old unit, the Guard First Mechanized Infantry Division, and the other is the new designation, the 225th Infantry Division, composition unknown.”
General Boke said, “Are the people at High Command just loafing around? Rocossov’s name has been out there for three days, and they still haven’t figured this out?”
The chief of staff replied, “The Air Force is carrying out aerial reconnaissance. Maybe…”
“To hell with the Air Force! Where are the four divisions that are prepared to participate in the pincer movement?”
The chief of staff answered, “They have already deployed to the flanks. Calling off the deployment order now and having them rush to Yeisk would create significant chaos. I suggest we speed up the troops that were originally scheduled to take over the defenses at Yeisk.”
Stroking his chin, General Boke pondered, “And the original forces for the pincer movement continue with the operation—is that the plan? To encircle and consume Rocossov’s concentrated forces? But can our Army Group really swallow that group?”
General William, the guest, who had been silent, could not help but speak up when he heard General Boke’s question, “The troops commanded by Rocossov have been increasing. Last year, during the Siege of Karanskaya, Rabowell thought he was commanding an Army Group.”
“Could he possibly be a Front Army commander now?”
General Boke mused, “A Front Army… you mean, we should ask for the opinion of the Southern Army Group?”
General William suggested, “Anyway, your pincer offensive won’t be ready until the 18th, right?”
“You’re right. Let’s first make an effort to reinforce the Cedars Division so they don’t get eaten, and see what the Southern Army Group has to say.”
————
Meanwhile, at Ye Fort, Summer Palace.
Olga struggled to maintain her dignified expression as she sat in her chair.
In front of her stood an easel and a huge canvas, on which the royal painter was at work.
Suddenly, the cat on Olga’s knees seemed to notice something, and without any warning, it jumped down and ran off at high speed.
Olga exclaimed, “Ah! It ran off! I’ll go catch it!”
“No need, I can paint the cat from memory. Besides, Your Majesty, aren’t you just looking for an excuse to slip away to the High Command’s map room?”
Olga pleaded, “This is a critical time—General Alyosha Rocossov’s troops are fighting at the frontline! I need to be in the map room watching!”
“You’re not in command of the battle, and that’s not your job. But sitting for this portrait is! This painting is to be hung in the gallery, where there is a lineage of the Antonov dynasty. How can we have it without you?”
Olga pouted.
“There may be no Tsar after the war ends, and these portraits might just end up in a museum…”
She muttered softly.
The painter gasped, “What?”
Olga said hastily, “I said you should paint quickly, finish the work, and then I can go supervise troop deployments in the map room!”
No sooner had her words fallen than General Tugenev entered the painting studio.
Overjoyed, Olga stood up quickly, but the weight of the Royal Family robe was a bit too much, and she nearly lost her balance.
“General Tugenev!” she steadied herself and asked, “How are things?”
The general replied, “Rocossov is preparing to take advantage of the enemy’s overextension to conduct a swift annihilation battle. The operations staff think it’s a feasible idea, and we are gathering strength to support the Rocossov Group—that is, the First Mobile Group Army.”
Olga asked eagerly, “Is he going to win another battle?”
“I don’t know,” General Tugenev said with a stern face. “Even Rocossov can lose a battle.”
Olga protested, “Don’t say that!”
“It’s my duty to report the worst possibilities to His Majesty the Tsar,” General Tugenev paused, then added, “But you may hold on to the most beautiful hopes.”