Cannon Fire Arc

Chapter 68: Chapter 57: Brigadier General Rocossov and His Battle Group

“`

Wang Zhong actually couldn’t remember very clearly what happened after June 29.

Mainly, he had returned to the garrison, had a hearty meal, and then fell asleep in the bathtub while bathing.

By the time he opened his eyes, it was already daylight on the 30th.

Wang Zhong scratched his head in confusion as he looked at the clean shirt on his body and the newly changed bandage on his shoulder.

What happened? Who changed my clothes? Who changed my dressing?

Where am I?

As he sat up, he found himself more energetic than ever before, and besides the pain in his legs, he could hardly find anything uncomfortable.

The high fever from a few days ago seemed as if it had never happened.

Getting out of bed, he found that a new military uniform had already been neatly placed in a cabinet beside the bed.

Wang Zhong touched his head, remembering that he hadn’t brought any military uniform with him; in fact, he hadn’t brought any luggage at all, as the situation had been rather urgent when he left Ronied, hadn’t it?

He picked up the military uniform with a sense of puzzlement, quickly put it on, and then found that it fit perfectly, as if tailor-made.

The only person Wang Zhong could think of who could prepare such a perfectly fitting military uniform was one person.

Just then, someone knocked on the door.

Wang Zhong: “Come in.”

The door opened, and Ludmila entered the room with breakfast, and upon seeing him in the new uniform, she said joyfully, “How is it, it fits well, doesn’t it? I had it prepared by the supply department!”

It really was you.

Wang Zhong: “Was it you who pulled me out of the bathtub last night?”

“No, it was Sergeant Major Grigori who did that, he also changed your clothes, I mean, your shirt and boxer shorts.”

Wang Zhong nodded, but then realized something was off and looked at the girl: “How do you know I’m wearing a shirt and boxer shorts?”

“Because I prepared them,” Ludmila said proudly, then placed the tray on the table, “Have breakfast.”

On the tray were oatmeal, bread, fried eggs, bacon and—milk.

Wang Zhong skipped the bread and directly forked a fried egg into his mouth, then was pleased to discover it was a soft-boiled egg, cooked just right with the yolk perfectly in between liquid and solid states.

After finishing the egg, Wang Zhong picked up the bacon.

Ludmila: “You need to eat some carbs! You didn’t have any carbs yesterday!”

As she spoke, she picked up the bread, added bacon to it, and handed it to Wang Zhong: “I personally picked out this bread, it absolutely suits your taste!”

You even know my preferences… Could it really be a fiancée?

Wang Zhong sized up Ludmila up and down, thinking back to the first time he met her when he had planned on adding her on WeChat, and now, it seemed he had moved forward in one big step, resolving the great difficulty!

Before Wang Zhong could indulge in the happiness brought by the girl’s tenderness for much longer, the air raid siren sounded.

Then came the sound of anti-aircraft gunfire.

Ludmila was very nervous: “Quick, to the air-raid shelter!”

Wang Zhong: “It’s fine, the Prosens’ target is the headquarters’ ammunition depot and the train station, not us. Yesterday the corps command even said if we left earlier, we wouldn’t get bombed by the Prosens, look at this now!”

As he spoke, he activated his tactical view, only to find that, possibly because the entire troop was resting, he had lost quite a bit of vision, only the sentry at the school gate had some visibility.

Wang Zhong thought that he needed to remind Yegorov, as the enemy could be very cunning, capable of infiltrating troops similar to the Brandenburg commandos.

You could never slack on sentry duty.

As he was thinking, the Prosen airplanes appeared.

Then Wang Zhong was shocked, for he saw a bomber with six engines!

Switching back to his normal view, Wang Zhong rubbed his eyes hard.

Not sure, take another look!

Ludmila’s face was full of question marks.

After returning to the tactical view, Wang Zhong indeed saw a heavy bomber with six engines.

He counted the gun turrets and was surprised to find that this thing had four quadruple machine gun turrets at the nose, tail, and trailing edges of the wings.

Additionally, there were two twin-mounted machine gun turrets, one on top and one on the belly.

An Air Force version of the BV238?

The BV238 was a seaplane made by Sturmtiger, which had plans to be converted to a land-based version, but those plans were never implemented. After all, even on Earth, Sturmtiger discarded heavy bomber projects like the Me 264 to focus on manufacturing fighters for homeland air defense.

But in this alternate timeline, the Prosens actually managed to develop this thing?

Combining this with the Prosen Empire’s territorial map he saw at the Army Group Command the day before, Wang Zhong began to wonder whether this timeline’s Prosen was actually what’s known as “Greater Germany,” or even “Jude.”

When playing “Europa Universalis” or “Victoria,” Wang Zhong would always strive toward this goal when selecting Prussia. And now, this actually came naturally in this timeline?

Then, the six-engined heavy bomber didn’t seem so strange, did it?

So the question was, had the United Kingdom been pushed back to India?

Because he hadn’t seen the world map, Wang Zhong wasn’t too clear on this matter.

At that moment, the enemy planes began to drop bombs, and their target indeed was still the train station, along with the adjacent marshalling yard and locomotive factory.

Amidst the rolling sounds of explosions, Wang Zhong switched back and saw Ludmila tilting her head, looking at him intently.

Wang Zhong: “What’s up?”

“What were you daydreaming about? You even rubbed your eyes just now, what’s wrong with you?” the girl asked, puzzled.

Wang Zhong: “Don’t mind it, just woke up from some extra sleep.”

“`

“Asleep while sitting?”

“Uh, pretty much.”

“During a bombardment?”

“I’ve grown used to that rumbling sound, haven’t you?” Wang Zhong countered.

“That’s true,” Ludmila sighed. “After you fell asleep yesterday, I went to the telegraph office in town to send a telegram home, but the place had been requisitioned. Being a maiden of honor didn’t help at all; they just wouldn’t let me send a telegram.”

Wang Zhong frowned involuntarily. Maiden of honor was a rank in the Russian court hierarchy. Unmarried noble girls were generally maidens of honor, and those of lower nobility might not have the ‘maid of’ addition, being simply ‘honor’.

It seemed that Ludmila’s family must also be of count rank.

A match of equal social standing, eh? The probability of her being my fiancée just went up!

Wang Zhong shook his head to rid himself of the thought. Now was not the time for romantic distractions; the day would likely be spent on the journey. Once they reached Loktov, they needed to promptly reinforce their ranks and acquire equipment…

Just then, someone outside shouted, “Report!”

Wang Zhong recognized the voice as Sergeant Majorg Grigori.

Ludmila whispered, “The sergeant major really seems to think of himself as your bodyguard. He didn’t leave your side all day yesterday.”

Wang Zhong nodded. “Come in!”

The sergeant major opened the door. “My lord count, a clerk from the headquarters has arrived.”

Wang Zhong: “A clerk? What for?”

If it were about delivering orders, it should have been a courier or a staff officer.

The arrival of a clerk indicated that it was related to personnel matters.

Ludmila: “When I went to the telegraph office yesterday, I saw people distributing extras on the streets, with headlines about the great victory at Upper Peniye.”

Wang Zhong was astonished. “That’s considered a great victory? I haven’t even spoken to the propaganda bureau about the battle process yet!”

The girl shrugged. “By last evening, some rumor had spread, and citizens started bringing gifts to our encampment. Everyone wanted to meet the ‘heroic Rokossovsky’s Troops.’”

Wang Zhong: “Rokossovsky’s Troops? I’ve never heard of this formation before.”

“That’s what they’re calling us in the extras.”

At this point, the clerk outside seemed to have run out of patience and coughed at the doorway.

Grigori turned and glared at the clerk, who immediately stepped back and hid his figure behind the doorframe.

Wang Zhong: “Let him in.”

Only then did Grigori step aside from the doorway.

The clerk came into the room, glancing at Ludmila: “Um, is this a convenient time?”

Wang Zhong: “It’s fine, go ahead.”

The clerk nodded. “All right.”

He took out a small box, opened it, and placed it on the table. Inside were a pair of major general’s shoulder straps, including versions for dress uniform and combat uniform.

Then he took out an order: “From the Personnel Department of the Southwestern Front Army, based on the outstanding performance of Colonel Aleksei Konstantinovich Rokossovsky at Ronied and Upper Peniye, with immediate effect, he is promoted to the rank of major general.”

Wang Zhong: “Promoted two ranks at once?”

Clerk: “It seems the report submitted was for colonel, but the approval came back for major general. Are you dissatisfied?”

“No, not at all,” Wang Zhong shook his head. “What troops will I be commanding as a major general? Surely I won’t be a general without an army?”

Though the Third Amur Group had been under Wang Zhong’s command, it was actually a result of a change in the order of command on the battlefield; he didn’t really have the authority to command the Third Group, he was even on par with Yegorov.

The clerk looked somewhat troubled, fiddling with the order in his hand.

Ludmila stood up and took the order: “The order has indeed been received.”

So there was this step as well.

The clerk seemed relieved and then unfolded another new order: “By the current order, Major General Aleksei Konstantinovich Rokossovsky is to organize Rokossovsky’s Battle Group in Loktov. The remnants of the Third Rear Amur Group, the remnants of the 31st Regiment of the Fourth Tank Army, and all remnants of Ronied’s troops are transferred to Rokossovsky’s Battle Group.”

Wang Zhong was flabbergasted: “Assigning me a group of remnants? What about my reinforcements?”

The clerk shrank his neck.

Only then did Wang Zhong realize he had raised his voice, so he calmed his emotions and asked again, “What about my reinforcements? Where are the tanks and artillery I requested?”

“I don’t know,” the clerk said, clutching the order. “I just brought two orders. This order, you…”

Wang Zhong stood up and personally took the order to establish Rokossovsky’s Battle Group, scanning it briefly.

At that moment, Yegorov and Pavlov came in. Yegorov casually grabbed a piece of bread from the table, and while eating, said, “It seems you’ve received your order, Count. We’ve just received ours too. It looks like the higher-ups want to follow the Prussians’ example and form battle groups.”

“Prussian devils,” Wang Zhong corrected.

The clerk tentatively asked, “So… may I leave now?”

Wang Zhong waved him off, and the clerk ran off as if he had wings.

“These clerks!” Yegorov said disdainfully.

Pavlov frowned: “Technically, I’m a clerk too.”

Yegorov: “Right, which is why I’m not very fond of you either.”

After saying this, he looked towards Wang Zhong: “So, what’s the plan, General?”

Wang Zhong: “First, let’s head to Loktov and see the situation. It’s a supply center. If the top brass don’t give us good equipment, we’ll have to find our own way. Just like we did in Upper Peniye.”

In Upper Peniye, Wang Zhong and his men had essentially robbed the local Boye lord’s distillery.

Yegorov laughed heartily.

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