Arc of Fire

Chapter 56

Next, Wang Zhong felt as if he had entered a group of flatterers, being showered with praise by everyone.

But he didn't care about any of this; he made every effort to find a moment to look for a comprehensive map.

His Overhead Perspective could basically only see a little over two kilometers around the troops under his command with direct communication, though he could see a bit farther by personally climbing to a higher vantage point.

This distance might only be a single centimeter on a map.

He needed to find a map, ideally one covering the entire battlefield or even the whole country, to get a sense of the current situation.

He now knew that the war had only been going on for a week. Compared to the Operation Barbarossa he was familiar with, the farthest German forces had advanced just 170 kilometers in the first week.

If the trajectory of the two worlds was roughly the same, the Minsk encirclement should happen in the next week.

Wang Zhong looked around and spotted a map of the entire battlefield on the most prominent wall, with a staff officer on a small ladder sticking markers onto it.

So, he left the officers who were still praising him and headed straight for the map.

Once he got close, he suddenly recalled a scene from a movie and, to highlight his professionalism, asked, "What time are the battle reports this map is based on?"

The staff officer on the ladder replied, "The northern part is updated based on the latest battle reports; the southern situation was updated at five this morning."

Wang Zhong nodded and began to carefully examine the map from north to south.

----

After Alexei Konstantinovich Rokosov rushed toward the map, the Duke of Wostrom wiped the smile off his face and turned to his command team.

They had just been praising Rokosov, not only because they genuinely admired his performance in battle but also because Rokosov had a good relationship with the Crown Prince.

This was something all the nobles knew.

Otherwise, a mere Count like Rokosov wouldn't have gained such fame that even the fifty-five-year-old Duke of Wostrom had heard of him.

Of course, the Duke had only heard rumors about Count Rokosov and had never really interacted with him. Even if they appeared at the same social event, the Duke wouldn't have much to discuss with a frivolous young man.

The Duke stared at Rokosov for a while, then turned to his Adjutant and asked, "Have you ever interacted with Count Rokosov? Is he really like this?"

The Adjutant glanced at Rokosov and lowered his voice, "I don't know. The Crown Prince only befriends people who share his tastes. Those people were at the bottom of the class at military academy-or any school, for that matter. I graduated first in my class at Suvorov Officer Academy."

The Duke looked at Rokosov again and asked, "Now that he's held off an enemy several times his strength at Upper Peniye, do you think you could do the same?"

"No," the Adjutant replied without hesitation, "especially the part where he personally drove a T28 to detour and destroy Prossenian tanks. I couldn't do that."

At this point, the Army Group Bishop also joined the conversation, "He even rushed to the map in such a hurry, clearly very concerned about the war. Yet I've heard he's only in the military to gain capital for chasing women."

The Adjutant shrugged, "Maybe he's pretending, just to get close to the Crown Prince. Who knows?"

----

Wang Zhong was struggling with the map.

As a player of the Hearts of Iron series, he was quite familiar with Earth's "Eastern Front" battlefield, having played it countless times on both sides.

He noticed that while many details were different-the shape of the coastline, the specific flow of rivers, and the distribution of mountains all varied.

But the general composition of the map was similar to the Eastern Front he knew.

For instance, the northern front was mostly forests and swamps, while the southern front was largely vast plains.

However, the distribution of countries was different. Ronezh, the first stop after Wang Zhong's transmigration, was on the southern coast, a position similar to Odessa on Earth.

Following the coastline southwest, it should border countries like Romania, but on this map, it directly bordered Prossen.

No wonder Prossenian battleships were directly shelling Ronezh from the coast.

What had happened in the history of this timeline?

But at this moment, Wang Zhong had no leisure to dwell on history. Through the map, he could clearly see that three heavy Prossenian troop clusters were advancing aggressively.

Although the specific city layouts and river paths differed from the Eastern Front he knew, Wang Zhong could still tell that the Ant Army in the central salient was about to be encircled.

And the situation on the southern front, where he was, was also dire. Bogdanovka, where he currently was, served as the capital of the Duchy of Wostrom and a major city on the southern front. Beyond it lay the Tiber River.

This river generally flowed north to south, but after leaving the Duchy of Wostrom, it made an L-shaped bend and flowed westward.

According to the markings on the map, the upper reaches of the Tiber River seemed to be connected by a canal to the Bog River, which led to the northern sea.

It was obvious at a glance that this riverine defensive line was extremely important.

And Bogdanovka was the most critical barrier in front of the Tiber River on the southern front. A tributary of the Tiber River also flowed through here, leading all the way to the sea.

At first, Wang Zhong thought his current position was this planet's equivalent of Kyiv, but then he felt that wasn't right.

This place was too far south.

The heavy troop clusters of the Ant Army on the southern front were deployed near the border, and now they were finished. The main forces on the southern front were now concentrated in Agsukov, a place northeast of Bogdanovka, right at the bend of the Tiber River.

The hymn Su Fang had received earlier seemed to have been sent from Agsukov. The hymn mentioned that it was the headquarters of the Southwestern Front.

Judging by the administrative divisions, it also seemed to be the capital of the Kingdom of Kosalia, the superior administrative region of the Duchy of Wostrom.

Could that be this timeline's Kyiv?

The more Wang Zhong looked, the more it seemed likely. If the central cluster continued advancing, broke through the canal, and then turned south, they could encircle Agsukov.

But... where was the other half of the southern pincer? Was it the one I blocked yesterday?

Why did it feel off?

Wang Zhong stared at the map, calculating frantically, as if he were once again the strategic "player" from Hearts of Iron.

At this moment, the Duke of Wostrom came to his side and asked, "Alexei Konstantinovich, what do you think of the overall situation?"

Wang Zhong casually said, "I think the Prossenian central cluster will break through the canal and then turn south to encircle Agsukov, wiping out our heavy troop clusters there."

The Duke looked at the map without commenting, but the Army Group Chief of Staff said, "There's the entire reserve force of the Southwestern Front there. The reserves alone number 300,000.

"No, no, that won't happen. If the Prossenians can complete this encirclement, it would be a massive encirclement of over 700,000 troops. It would make their glorious victory in the Carolingian Campaign seem insignificant. I doubt even the Prossenian generals would think such a thing is possible."

Wang Zhong looked at the map with deep concern, starting to think about what he, a mere Lieutenant Colonel, could do in such a situation.

At this point, the Duke patted his shoulder, "You should go rest. When was the last time you slept?"

Wang Zhong: "20 hours ago."

"Go rest. You're too exhausted to think clearly," the Army Group Bishop also said.

Wang Zhong looked at them, thinking that forget about himself-even these generals probably couldn't influence the overall course of the war.

This was just an Army Group Headquarters, and looking at the map's deployment, this Army Group only had the 63rd Corps in position, with the other corps still on trains.

According to what the Duke had just said, the 4th Tank Corps was also part of the 41st Army Group, but the 4th Tank Corps had been completely depleted in the counterattack and was gone.

Generals commanding such an Army Group, in a war of this scale, could only do their best to hold their defensive lines and complete their tasks.

Though deeply worried, Wang Zhong, realizing his own powerlessness, accepted the Army Group Bishop's suggestion, "Alright, I'll go rest now."

The Army Group Chief of Staff said, "Tomorrow, we'll arrange vehicles to pick you up from your station and take you to the train station. The empty return train cars will be assembled, and you'll depart early to avoid Prossenian bombings."

Wang Zhong nodded.

The Duke of Wostrom gave a subtle signal to his Adjutant, and the young Adjutant stepped forward, gesturing to Wang Zhong with a "please" motion.

----

Sergeant Major Grigori was outside the map room, smoking a cigarette and waiting. Perhaps due to the aura of lethality he exuded, the passing staff officers kept their distance from him.

Seeing Wang Zhong, the Sergeant Major stubbed out his cigarette, "Count, how's the situation?"

"Not bad. Tonight, we can enjoy good wine, good meat, and good tobacco. We depart early tomorrow morning."

"I see."

The two followed the guiding Adjutant out of the headquarters, only to see a large crowd gathered across the road.

Upon closer inspection, they were all young kids, probably only sixteen or seventeen years old, half boys and half girls.

The young people had blocked the road, crowding all the way to the intersection.

The youth at the front shouted, "Why won't you let us enlist!"

Wang Zhong stopped, looking at them from across the road.

He could hear a middle-aged man's voice replying, "Kids, right now we're only mobilizing adult men. Look at you, you've just graduated from tenth grade! You're just young men and women; we really can't draft you!"

"We can hold guns too!"

"I can drive a tractor! So I can drive a tank!"

"I've even been in a flying club! I can be a pilot and beat the Prossenian devils' planes!"

Watching them, Wang Zhong suddenly recalled a memoir he had read. It mentioned that just two days after the war started, all the children in a commune made up their minds and ran to the recruitment office to enlist.

When they got to the recruitment office, "it felt like all the young people in the Soviet Union had come."

Looking at these young people, Wang Zhong suddenly thought that if he hadn't transmigrated and the Americans had attacked, he'd probably rush to the local armory too.

With this thought, these "foreign faces" in front of him suddenly felt familiar.

So, driven by an inexplicable sense of mission, Wang Zhong climbed onto a truck stuck in the middle of the road, stood on the step, and shouted, "Young friends!"

He didn't use "kids."

The kids turned their heads curiously, looking at Wang Zhong.

At this moment, Wang Zhong-Alexei Konstantinovich Rokosov-carried the unique killing aura of someone who had returned from the battlefield.

His uniform was dirty, the bandage on his shoulder was dirty, and his face was dirty, but that didn't stop him from exuding an air of authority and lethality.

So the young people quieted down, all looking at Wang Zhong in unison.

Wang Zhong said, "I understand how you feel! But even if you enlist now, they won't let you go to the front lines. Because that would just be sending you to your deaths!"

"We're not afraid to die!" a young person shouted.

"Yes, I know," Wang Zhong glanced at the one who spoke, "but if you die without taking down even one Prossenian devil, that death has no value!"

The person who had just shouted fell silent.

Wang Zhong: "The battlefield is hell! Even those who have completed full rookie training and passed numerous tests mostly don't survive the first hour! No, not even the first half-hour!

"So even if you enlist now, you'll be sent to the rear for at least three months of training! However, I have a way for you to immediately participate in the counterattack against the Prossenian devils!

"Look over there! That's the city defense engineering office recruiting laborers! You can join right now and build fortifications on the outskirts of the city!

"Every trench you dig can help a platoon survive enemy artillery fire! That platoon can then inflict heavy casualties on the Prossenian devils!

"Every anti-tank stake you build can stop a Prossenian tank!"

The young people turned their heads to look at the engineering office.

Wang Zhong: "This is the right way to serve the country! First, dig trenches, and when the enemy comes, retreat to the rear, enlist, and undergo training! I look forward to seeing you join my unit as rookies six months from now!"

The children exchanged glances with each other.

At that moment, someone shouted, "Since digging trenches is so important, let's go dig trenches!"

"Let's go dig trenches!"

"Let's go!"

The crowd surged toward the recruitment point of the engineering office in a grand wave.

Once most of the people had left, a colonel from the recruitment office walked over.

The colonel, missing one arm, could only salute Wang Zhong with his left hand.

"You've been a great help, Lieutenant Colonel."

Wang Zhong returned the salute: "You're welcome. It's my duty."

The colonel looked at the children crowding the entrance of the engineering office again and said, "Looking at these kids, I suddenly feel confident. We won't surrender like Carolingian did."

Wang Zhong said with certainty: "Of course not. Rest assured, we definitely won't."

(End of Chapter)