Wang Zhong spent twenty minutes, carefully repeating the recent intelligence.
Tadeusz nodded, “Understood, in short, treat it like smoke covering the entire battlefield, engaging in close combat within the smoke.”
Wang Zhong, “That’s right, we all have suppressed weapons, which means as long as there is gunfire, it’s definitely not from our side, so there will be no friendly fire.”
Tadeusz, “Conversely, once friendly fire occurs, it’s possible that our troops will die silently. We must allocate the assault sectors properly to avoid accidental harm.”
Wang Zhong, “It’s useless, I’ve been a demon in the smoke myself and know how chaotic it can get. Friendly fire is inevitable. The good news is, we are far less in number than the Prussians, so the likelihood of hitting our own is greatly reduced.”
Tadeusz said with a laugh, “We are like little fog spirits, silently annihilating them.”
Wang Zhong couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows at this familiar term, “Little fog spirits?”
“Ah, it’s a creature from the legends of Melania, emerging with heavy fog to harm people. They also use illusion techniques to cover their tracks,” Tadeusz shrugged, “Typical superstitious logic that is self-consistent because the little fog spirits always come with the fog. So, no one has seen them. But when they leave, they use illusion techniques to cover their tracks, and no one finds their traces.”
Wang Zhong nodded, “I see. So, little fog spirits don’t exist?”
“At least no one I know has seen them, I mean, not while they were sober.”
After taking the mushrooms, right?
Vasily slapped his thigh, “We can pretend to be little fog spirits and scare the Prussians away!”
Wang Zhong, “Don’t be foolish, the Prussians used penicillin against witches’ magic. If they really encountered little fog spirits, they would just spray bullets and then send the corpses to the Imperial Academy of Sciences for a reward. It would definitely be like that.”
Tadeusz, “In Melania, only children are afraid of little fog spirits. I always feel it’s a tale made up to frighten children so they won’t go out to play in the fog. There are many real dangers in the fog.”
As he spoke, Tadeusz put away the simple map and photographs, “I’m going to meet with the company and platoon leaders to brief them on the situation.”
Yegorov, “We should also be going, there’s a lot to arrange, and we definitely won’t be sleeping tonight.”
Wang Zhong, “Alright, let’s synchronize our watches.”
He bowed his head, looking at his watch, “It’s now July 15th, 0029 hours, perfect.”
The others also bowed their heads, pulling out the small knob on their watches to stop the hands, then turned the knob to set the time to 0030, waiting for Wang Zhong’s command.
Wang Zhong, “Good!”
Everyone pressed down on the knob at the same time, allowing the watches to start moving again.
“Good luck to you. See you inside the city of Yeisk tomorrow.”
“See you in the city.”
“See you in the city!”
Everyone stood up and walked down.
Wang Zhong noticed that Colonel Semyon looked very nervous, so he patted him on the shoulder, “There’s nothing to worry about. The Prussian pilots are indeed proficient, but what matters in the fog is courage, muster it.”
After speaking, Wang Zhong patted Semyon on the back, pushing him out of the headquarters.
————
Later, Wang Zhong took a short nap until he was awakened by the sound of artillery.
He sat up and looked out the window.
The birds hiding in the grass were startled by the artillery fire and fluttered noisily into the sky.
The plains were still pitch-dark, occasionally illuminated by the flash of heavy artillery firing.
Wang Zhong clicked his tongue, this was the first time his artillerymen tried a simultaneous impact attack during actual combat. During previous exercises at Kubinka, this maneuver often failed. The mathematicians’ calculations were accurate, but Ante’s artillerymen could not always execute the intent of the mathematicians perfectly, so the density of simultaneous impact was also unpredictable.
Hopefully, they would perform above normal this time.
————
Brigadier General Witte lay on the ground, exclaiming, “This fire density! It feels like ten artillery battalions are firing on us!”
A simultaneous impact fire mission could lead inexperienced officers to overestimate the number of artillerymen firing on them. Up to now, no Prussian officer had directly engaged with the Federation, so this was an unknown field for them.
If Rabowell was a bit more reliable, maybe he could have stolen some intelligence on the Federation’s tactical habits. Unfortunately, Rabowell was not that reliable.
Currently, all the Prussian officers in the room were lying flat on the ground, maintaining an artillery defense posture, with a few even holding their heads in their hands.
The earth-shattering artillery fire lasted for who knows how long before finally stopping.
Brigadier General Witte stood up, “It’s not even dawn yet, why did they stop? Are they attacking at this time?”
Night battles are a challenge for most armies, and only a few actively seek and excel at night operations.
For instance, the United Kingdom’s Commando units often took advantage of the night to raid western Prussian facilities.
Colonel Busse also got up, “I fear it’s not an attack, this is Rocossov’s habit, shelling us while we sleep, trying to kill us in our beds.”
Major General Witte came to the headquarters window, looking outside, “…that doesn’t seem right, with the density of fire we just heard, there should be more damage near headquarters, shouldn’t there?”
The Chief of Staff approached the window—having replaced the casualties less than 24 hours ago, he spoke somewhat hesitantly, “Indeed, the number of shells was definitely more than this; could it be the focus of the shelling wasn’t the urban area?”
Colonel Busse also moved closer to the window to observe, “But the density of the exploding shells just now was definitely no illusion of mine.”
After pondering for a few seconds, Major General Witte said, “This is fire preparation, aimed at destroying the barbed wire and mines on the outskirts of our defense zone. It’s nighttime; the engineer troops can’t fix these in the dark, and the enemy could attack. Get the troops ready.”
“Now, sir?” the Chief of Staff confirmed.
“Yes, now. Have the troops ready for battle,” Major General Witte said.
————
Wang Zhong paced back and forth in the headquarters, each time he reached the window, he looked outside.
“A clear moon and scattered stars, this doesn’t look like it’s going to be foggy at all,” he muttered.
Popov, “Didn’t Filippov say yesterday? Morning fog is due to the clear weather’s heat dissipating into the high atmosphere, causing vapor to condense at a lower altitude. There’s a bunch of scientific terms I, a theology student, only half understand. But you probably understood, General.”
Wang Zhong: “I understand, I just forgot.”
Popov: “You’re not commanding an attack for the first time, so why act like a greenhorn just hitting the battlefield?”
“Because before, he was always charging in front, driving his little tank.”
Turning his head, Wang Zhong saw Pavlov entering the room.
“You finally made it!” He stepped forward and gave Pavlov a hug, “I thought you would follow with the last of the troops on the 16th.”
“I left behind a few trustworthy staff officers and clerks, they will arrange the last of the troops well.” Pavlov punched Wang Zhong on the shoulder, “I heard you’ve already exchanged fire with the enemy, really, why the rush? Couldn’t you wait for the entire Army Group to arrive?”
Wang Zhong stepped back, “We can’t help but rush. Look, we can only set up headquarters in these villages. If we don’t confront the enemy soon, we’ll end up fighting them by the riverbank.”
Pavlov: “It’s not like we haven’t fought in urban combat before.”
Wang Zhong: “That’s different. The Vortex has been heavily protected, the flanks are unreliable; we can’t fight urban battles. This vast grassland is where the Vortex can play its role. We have already struck a heavy blow to the enemy on the grassland.”
“I know that already.” Pavlov patted Wang Zhong on the shoulder, “Calm down now, you are the Army Group Commander, not the battalion commander who used to charge with his little tank anymore.”
Wang Zhong nodded.
In fact, he really considered joining the attack. After all, he had a cheat, knowing the position of the enemy in the smoke, and within a range of 2.5 kilometers, his assault team would surely penetrate the enemy’s lines and capture their commander.
But then again, who knows how many enemies are within those two and a half kilometers, it might take forever for him to look through them all, especially under a fog assault. It’s not certain how effective that would be.
Moreover, his cheat was like a minimap that marked people, it wasn’t about actually having a frame for direct shooting, much less a spinning top.
How much he could contribute as an infantryman was up for debate.
Plus, the enemy was now organized, and had the will to fight. Randomly firing in the fog might end up with Wang Zhong catching a lucky shot.
Reality is not a game, taking a bullet won’t kill you, but you’d still end up laying in the rear for half a year.
Wang Zhong couldn’t bear to leave behind the troops he’d painstakingly put together.
So, the assault should be left to his soldiers. He had nurtured them for over half a year, equipping and training them, even setting up night school, teaching them every day why they fight. Now it was time for them to show their worth.
Wang Zhong could absolutely be described as loving his troops like his own children, but now it was time to “use them like mud.”
After crushing the enemy’s morale, he could use his cheat ability to snatch high-ranking officials from the disarrayed enemy forces. At that point, Wang Zhong would be able to leisurely check who the enemy officers are, without worrying about stray bullets and shrapnel.
As he thought this, he came to the window again, “Why hasn’t the fog risen yet? The artillery preparation has stopped for so long.”
————
“Why haven’t the enemy come yet?” Private Andreas yawned as he spoke.
Sergeant Kosolek, on the other hand, was very composed, quietly smoking.
Andreas turned his head to the sergeant and asked curiously, “Why do you hide so much when you smoke, Sergeant?”
“The light from the cigarette,” the sergeant replied, “Unless you want a sniper to send you heavenward, smoke discreetly.”
Andreas: “I heard the Ante People have many women snipers, have you seen them?”
“No,” the sergeant shook his head, “And I’d rather never meet them in my life, those damned reapers in nuns’ clothing.”
Andreas sighed, “I actually want to see for myself. Women in battle, that’s something novel. Fighting and working in factories should be men’s work.”
Clearly, he was still at a stage of having a fascination with the battlefield, even though he’d already seen several trucks of corpses. But merely seeing dead bodies doesn’t turn a new recruit into a veteran.
Sergeant Kosolek continued to smoke in silence.
After hesitating, Andreas asked, “You’re not nervous, are you, Sergeant? Do old soldiers get nervous too?”
“No, I don’t get nervous at the start of a battle. But today I have a bad feeling. When you come back from a battlefield like hell, you gain this ability—you can sense danger, even future danger.” Suddenly Kosolek opened up, “I’ve experienced it before. One time during a march, I suddenly didn’t feel like stepping forward, and I moved aside. Guess what? Just when I was about to step, I realized, there was an enemy pressure mine right next to my foot.”
Andreas: “You got yourself leg back!”
“A leg?” Sergeant Kosolek shook his head, “Ante landmines are not just about taking a leg. If I or someone else had stepped on it, the machine gun platoon on the march would have been gone.”
“Are they that powerful?”
“That powerful, indeed. The landmine we dug out later was this big.” The sergeant gestured.
Andreas’s mouth hung open in astonishment.
At this point, the machine gun platoon leader appeared: “Any news?”
“None,” the sergeant answered, “Even if there were, we would not be the first to find out. If the machine gun crew discovers the enemy first, it means the infantry covering us is finished.”
“Is, is that so?” The platoon leader, obviously a rookie just out of military academy, seemed timid in front of the seasoned non-commissioned officer.
Sergeant: “Platoon leader, sir, are you of the Junker Nobility?”
“I suppose so.” The platoon leader responded.
“Well, that won’t do. You have to show the Junker demeanor. Tell us ‘Stop blabbering, you swine.'” the sergeant said.
Platoon leader: “Stop blabbering, you swine! Like this?”
“No, no.” the sergeant shook his head.
Andreas chimed in: “The quartermaster shouts it with the right tone; Junkers are supposed to carry that air.”
Just as the platoon leader was about to speak, he suddenly stopped, looking outside.
The two men from the machine gun crew also turned their heads and peeked through the ivy outside the bunker.
“The fog, it’s thick.” Andreas said, “In my hometown, the valleys would always be foggy like this in the summer mornings. When I was a kid, Mom used to scare me, saying there were little fog spirits in the mist that especially liked to eat children.”
Sergeant Kosolek’s forehead was knitted tightly, he snuffed out his cigarette and climbed out of his hiding spot to the firing position, opening the feed cover to ensure the belt was properly aligned.
After closing the feed cover, he cocked the bolt, putting the machine gun into ready status.