Arc of Fire

Chapter 624: Chapter 66: Trapped Beast

"November 22, 0100 hours, in the southwestern village below Perka in Abawahan.

The roaring of engines made the residents push open their windows, looking out at the village road piled with snow.

A T34 came from the northwest of the village road, its tracks flinging snow directly onto the faces of the infantry closely following the tank.

The infantry on the back of the tank had nearly filled up the radiator grille, probably because it was a bit warmer on the grille. Anyway, with the temperature at minus forty degrees, there was no need to worry about covering up the grille and causing the engine to overheat.

The tank rumbled toward the central square of the village—the square in front of the church to be precise, where village assemblies were held for any events, and so over time, it came to be called that.

When the tank entered the central square, a Willys Jeep belonging to the Naval Infantry drove in from another village road, packed with six burly Naval Infantrymen. Seeing the tank, the infantrymen immediately jumped from the Jeep and waded through the snow toward the tank.

"Hey!” the leading infantryman raised his hands, “Are you the vanguard of the Guard First Tank Army Group?”

"Yes! Are you guys from the 300th Naval Infantry Brigade?”

"That’s us! We knew it was you when we heard the engines! The Prosen have no tanks left that can move!”

The tank turned on its headlights, illuminating a large expanse of snow ahead, and not to be outdone, the Willys Jeep also switched on its lights, making the central square as bright as day.

More Naval Infantry streamed into the square, while a second tank followed the tracks of the first one into the square.

The two groups embraced each other, and some even took out vodka secretly stashed in their flasks to share with their comrades.

Everyone celebrated this unprecedented large encirclement since the operation began.

Abawahan Front Army Headquarters.

The staff officer entered with a report in hand, a broad smile on his face.

Pavlov took the report, but didn’t rush to read it and instead asked the staff, “What’s the smile for?”

The staff officer beamed, “The pincer movement has closed, Chief of Staff Davarish, we have encircled hundreds of thousands of enemy troops!”

Wang Zhong, “Victory has not yet been achieved. The enemy’s Armored Army has already arrived at our doorstep. Yesterday, the unit responsible for the blocking action reported that it had encountered the enemy’s armored reconnaissance team. It’s too early to be happy now.”

The staff officer immediately straightened his face, “I’m sorry, General. I just… I just thought of the comrades who were sacrificed, and I couldn’t help but

Wang Zhong, “I know, who isn’t like that? Do your job well, and don’t let joy cause mistakes in your work.”

Popov, “Shouldn’t it be my job to warn them of this? You really don’t hold back when it comes to taking my work.”

Wang Zhong didn’t respond but instead looked worriedly at the marker outside the encirclement representing the 15th Armored Army.

He said, “I’ll take another Pe-3 to do some reconnaissance, find the enemy’s ammunition or fuel depot, and deploy the Air Force—or Commando—to bomb them.”

"Agreed.” Pavlov said, “That’s an extra layer of insurance; we can’t put all our hopes on Whirlwind.”

Wang Zhong nodded and left, calling out to Grigori as he walked, “Grigori, come with me to the airport.”

"Alright.”

Prosen Sixth Army Group Headquarters.

William Frederick picked up a can from the table, looked inside, and snorted, “Soybeans, I can’t believe I have to eat soybean cans.”

Orderly, “The logistics department says the Guard Corps will start slaughtering horses tomorrow. Some units have even begun catching rats or field mice to eat.”

As he finished speaking, the Chief of Staff interjected, “We have been running short on supplies for more than a day or two. If the 15th Armored Army cannot break through the encirclement in the next few days, we

A communications staff officer ran in, “Telegram from the 15th Armored Army.”

"Read!” General Frederick ordered aloud.

"To General Frederick, my unit is awaiting the arrival of the new Commander, Vice Admiral Erik von Xiplin, who will coordinate our forces for the assault. He organized the June seaside annihilation battle and the October Northern Army Group annihilation operation. I believe he can surely lead our unit to penetrate Ante’s defenses and rescue your unit from dire straits.”

General Frederick scoffed, “Rescue us from dire straits? Steiner, the corps commander, is probably relieved that he always dragged his feet, so he didn’t fall into Rocossov’s trap with us!

"Why doesn’t he think if he had his armored corps with us, we might actually have broken through that last five hundred meters and stormed into Rocossov’s real death trap? Five hundred meters! It’s because of people like him dragging their feet that we couldn’t make it past those five hundred meters!”

Chief of Staff, “You were promoted for capturing a Red Flag, others are bound to have opinions.”

General Frederick, “That was a sweetener Rocossov gave to keep us in place and prevent us from retreating. Can’t they see that?”

No one answered.

Erik von Xiplin, the admiral, entered the recently established Erik von Xiplin Command Center and looked at the group of officers already waiting there.

Among them were Vice Admiral Steiner, corps commander of the 15th Armored Army, Vice Admiral Schmidt, corps commander of the 25th Infantry Army, and others.

The Chief of Staff assigned to him greeted him on behalf of everyone, “Your Excellency! We wanted to welcome you at the airport, but the airport reported that it was strafed by the Antean Air Force, and for safety reasons

"You were right not to go; your presence at the airport wouldn’t have made any difference.” Erik von Xiplin went behind the desk, took off his gloves neatly, placed them on the desk, and then unfastened his order buckle with his hands.

"The Air Force?” he asked.

"It has been greatly helpful.”

"Armored forces?”

"The 15th Armored Army currently has half of its tanks ready for combat, which includes the latest long-barreled Fours.”

"Infantry?”

"One hundred thousand men, all veterans.”

"Supplies?”

"Still reasonably sufficient.”

"Morale?”

The Chief of Staff, who had been responding smoothly until now, fell silent.

Erik von Xiplin sighed, “No morale, yes, after all, the troops have been freezing in the ice and snow for so long, supplies are not good, and the enemy has just launched a massive attack, I can understand.”

"There is one division whose morale is still not bad,” the Chief of Staff said, “the 16th Armored Grenadiers Division responsible for guarding the vast prairie between the A and B Army Groups has high spirits; we could let them spearhead the counterattack.”

Xiplin frowned, “The 16th Armored Grenadiers Division? I seem to have an impression of them, are they marked with a hound?”

"Yes, their nickname is Greyhound,” the Chief of Staff answered.

Xiplin thought for a while and said, “Send a message to the High Command asking for the Greyhound Division to be assigned to us. Whether we’ll be able to get them or not is another matter. Now let’s address the supply issues. What’s causing the poor supply situation?”

"Precision bombing by the enemy’s Air Force, cavalry units attacking covertly from the frozen Valdai Hills River, and continuous sabotage by guerrillas,” the Chief of Staff replied, obviously well-prepared.

Admiral Xiplin, “Let’s solve them one by one. Didn’t we get full support from the Air Force? Let the Air Force cover our supply lines, deploy the Constitutional Guards, and completely eradicate the guerrillas. As for the cavalry units crossing the ice

The admiral fell silent for a moment and then shook his head, “We will just have to deploy additional escort troops. It’s really unimaginable, at this point in time, that I still have to worry about cavalry units. If the folks back home knew about this, they would be incredulously surprised. When we attacked Melania, our propaganda department mocked Melania’s cavalry for hacking at tanks with sabers!”

Everyone kept a straight face.

In reality, last year during the Yeburg counterattack, the Anteans had used large numbers of cavalry units, taking full advantage of their characteristics and creating plenty of trouble for the Prosen forces.

And now, the damn situation in the Nan’ant prairies was giving the cavalry even more room to maneuver.

Admiral Xiplin, “Anyway, let’s get moving and solve the problems one by one. General Steiner, when can your troops attack?”

"We can do it tomorrow, but our reconnaissance units have found that the enemy has set up a defensive line with those bothersome new assault guns, and many well-hidden anti-tank guns.

"To break through this line, we need the support of heavy artillery!”

At this moment, the telephone on the desk rang. Admiral Xiplin answered, “This is Xiplin, what’s the matter?”

"Air defense outpost has spotted a red-colored Pe-2 bomber (misidentified by the enemy) flying toward headquarters, be alert for air defense!”

Xiplin, “A red Pe-2? Isn’t it a Pe-3 reconnaissance model? It is said that Rocossov himself flies reconnaissance missions in that aircraft.”

Saying so, he left the desk, walked briskly to the window, and yanked it open, allowing the cold wind to rush in.

Just then, a red twin-engine “bomber” entered his field of vision.

The plane was as fast as lightning, seemingly three times the speed of the normal Pe-2 bomber.

It flashed past Xiplin’s view in an instant.

But Xiplin always felt as if he had made eye contact with the person in the rear seat of the aircraft,

Xiplin, “Headquarters must move immediately.”

"Now?” The Chief of Staff was astonished, “This will severely affect all our preparations! Just because an enemy reconnaissance aircraft swept overhead?”

Xiplin, “Carry out the order. If Rocossov himself is conducting the reconnaissance, this place has most likely been spotted, and next, he will send bombers to focus on this location, which will cause even greater delays in our work.”

Having said that, he turned to Steiner, “You will get artillery support, a probing attack must be launched tomorrow.”

Steiner looked troubled, “Just give me one more day, and I could repair dozens more tanks, increasing our attacking strength.”

"Carry out the order, attack tomorrow,” Xiplin said with a tone that brooked no doubt.

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