CANNON FIRE ARC

Chapter 859: Chapter 9: The Road Signs of Hometown

On the night of July 16th, at the First Front Army Headquarters of Kazakhstan, the summary of the first day of the attack was finally placed before Wang Zhong.

“The furthest advancing troops pushed forward eighteen kilometers… fairly standard,” he said as he put down the document.

Pavlov: “It’s worth noting that the loss rate of the new tanks did not increase as we predicted, even though Prosens should have equipped quite a few units with 105-mm anti-tank guns.”

Prosen’s heavy armored units were mostly equipped with Tiger King tanks with 105-mm tank guns, and the Panthers were equipped with new armor-piercing bullets that could potentially penetrate the Rokossovsky Type.

Thus, when Pavlov was making plans, he intentionally increased the loss probability of the Rokossovsky Type and T54 quite a bit.

But it seems the actual loss rate wasn’t much higher than last year.

The Chief of Staff, after staring at the data in front of him for a long time, said: “I guess—it’s because the enemy’s troop quality has declined? Would this estimate be overly optimistic?”

The others in the room exchanged looks.

Even Wang Zhong, who had seen the script from this side of Earth, wasn’t quite sure. After all, he knew about the decline in Sturmtiger troop quality later on, but only through memoirs, not specific data compilations.

For instance, in Carius’s memoir “Tiger in Mud,” it mentions that the Tiger Hunter battalion later put under his command was full of raw recruits, despite being in a position where they could easily annihilate dozens of Allied tanks, yet they didn’t achieve a single victory.

But when exactly this decline in troop quality started and how fast it occurred, Wang Zhong didn’t know.

Even at the very late stages, the Sturmtigers still fought quite a few tactically beautiful battles.

For now, Wang Zhong and the others just exchanged glances.

Popov: “In that case, we should send someone to carefully investigate among the prisoners and produce an evaluation report.”

Wang Zhong: “That’s feasible, this report could also indirectly demonstrate the remaining war potential of Prosen. I suggest we assign dedicated personnel to handle this task quickly!”

Vasily volunteered: “Then let me oversee this matter! Everyone knows I am your Deputy Officer, and I’ll definitely work diligently.”

Wang Zhong nodded: “Alright, you handle this.”

————

Actually, not only the Front Army Headquarters noticed the decline in quality of Prosen troops.

Yegorov’s Headquarters encountered a large batch of Prosen prisoners while following the advancing troops.

“Wait a minute!” Yegorov forcefully slapped the neck of his driver, “Stop, stop! Let me see what’s going on here!”

After the Jeep stopped, Yegorov picked up a flashlight, turned it on, and shone it into the crowd of prisoners.

“My goodness.” He got out of the car and shouted back, “Get me a translator who knows Prosenese!”

Soon, a translator ran up from the back of the convoy and loudly reported: “Commander Davarish, I am fluent in Prosenese, please instruct!”

“You, ask these kids how old they are.”

The translator immediately asked.

The fresh-faced recruit assertively replied: “Eighteen years old!”

“Lies!” Yegorov exclaimed angrily, “You look to be only sixteen!”

Without waiting for the translator to interject, the fresh-faced recruit spat at Yegorov and started cursing in Prosenese.

Yegorov shifted the flashlight to another prisoner, “Ah, this one looks adult. How old are you?”

As he spoke, he pulled the prisoner’s arm to look at the emblem on it.

“No exemption emblem, means not a veteran.”

In the tradition of the Prosen Army, veterans do not need to perform internal duties or take on various miscellaneous tasks. Veterans eligible for these exemptions wear an exemption emblem.

Right after the translator finished translating, a Prosen Private Second Class spoke up: “The same age as the one who just spit on you, Your Excellency General Ante.”

Yegorov changed the question: “How long did you train?”

“Six months.” This time the Prosen prisoners replied more uniformly.

Yegorov: “What about the veterans in the forces? There must be veterans leading you, right?”

The translator faithfully performed his duty.

The first fresh-faced recruit said: “We are a newly formed anti-tank gun unit; there are not many veterans. The officers said we would soon prove ourselves and become veterans, and then it would be our turn to protect and train the inexperienced recruits.”

Yegorov shined his flashlight around again and realized that almost none of the Prosen prisoners doubted what their officers said.

“Where are your officers then?” Yegorov’s Chief of Staff finally caught up, “You can’t be the only ones on the battlefield, right?”

“He was sacrificed.” The fresh-faced recruit said.

Yegorov sighed: “If I were commanding such a bunch of raw recruits, I’d rather die early in battle too.”

Chief of Staff: “But our forces used to be just such raw recruits.”

“Really?” Yegorov widened his eyes, “Is that so?”

“Yes, but those raw recruits grew into tough men,” the Chief of Staff said.

Yegorov spat: “With that remark, I don’t even know what expression to make.”

Suddenly, as if he thought of something, his expression brightened: “It was the Division Commander who brought us out of this perilous situation! The Division Commander saved our nation, turning raw recruits into veterans!

“You, ask the Prosens, do they have anyone as great as a Division Commander!”

The translator grimaced: “How should I ask that?”

The Military Bishop of the Army Group suggested, “Just ask him, who he thinks could lead Prosen out of its current predicament.”

The translator did as told.

The queried Prosen soldier looked troubled; this question was a bit too advanced for an underage soldier. After hesitating for a while, he answered: “I think Marshal Erwin Rommel could do it.”

Source: .com, updated on Novlove.com

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