Arc of Fire

After dinner, the senior officers of the Rocossov combat group met again, with a defense map of Lokotov City laid out on the table they gathered around.

Yegorov was the first to speak, “I’ve placed both the first and third companies in the chemical plant. To be honest, it’s fairly sturdy there. When it comes to withstanding enemy heavy artillery fire, the casualties should be lower than in the garrison.”

"Another location that is quite suitable for artillery defense is here.”

He pointed behind the fertilizer plant.

"The warehouse district, which is also made of very strong concrete buildings, where we can station the reserve troops, meaning the second company.”

"Lokotov is half an industrial city, with many concrete structures, which is one of the few pieces of good news.”

Yegorov paused, then added, “By the way, the logistics command has allocated one of their communications companies to us, and they have been busy all afternoon getting the telephone lines up.”

As he spoke, Yegorov picked up the telephone on the table and continued, “This is finally no longer just for show. We can now call the main position at the fertilizer plant, the hidden B4 howitzer battalion, the position of God’s Arrow Company, and the Lokotov Defense Brigade.”

After finishing, he put the handset back in place.

"After all, the lines were just laid this afternoon.”

Pavlov frowned, “Why is there a phone line to the defense brigade? It isn’t under our command.”

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"Now it is,” Popov answered, “We’ve established contact with Argesukov’s Front Army headquarters. The Front Army has ordered us to unify command of the combat troops in Lokotov, to hold off enemy raids by small units, and to support General Anton’s counter-attack.”

Wang Zhong sneered, “Small units? We’ve clearly heard that an Armored Division is advancing on us, with its vanguard reconnaissance company already in Karlinovka. Popov, did you actually report the intelligence we’ve gathered to the intelligence department of the Front Army?”

"I reported it, but they need time to analyze,” Popov looked rather helpless, “They might also simply not believe it, given that it’s just ‘eavesdropped’ radio communication. The higher-ups think ‘truly important information would definitely be transmitted through a telegraph, while the enemy’s Enigma machine was prepared for this purpose.’”

Hearing the familiar term Enigma machine, Wang Zhong immediately thought of the story of a bunch of mathematicians gathered at Bletchley Park in England to decipher the Enigma code and asked, “How advanced is our country’s mathematics?”

I remember that both the Russian Empire and later the Soviet Union had a very high level of mathematics, so if the British could handle it, the Russians should too—right?

After all, this is an alternate world; maybe in this world the entire Ante Empire can’t mentally calculate multiplication or division within 100?

In Wang Zhong’s view, his question is closely related to the topic, but to others, it seems completely irrelevant, if not utterly non sequitur.

The room filled with confusion as everyone looked at Wang Zhong, and the command center quieted down, leaving only the sound of the beeping from the neighboring Tribunal’s radio surveillance unit’s improvised telegraph operators.

Pavlov: “Mathematics… huh?”

Popov: “What does this have to do with mathematics?”

Wang Zhong: “Didn’t we just mention the Enigma code? Just find a bunch of mathematicians to decipher it. It’s only a mechanical device, not truly indecipherable. Of course, that’s assuming that Ante has a sufficient number of outstanding mathematicians.”

Everyone looked at each other perplexed, and Yegorov asked, “Then why not capture an Enigma machine?”

Wang Zhong: “Simply capturing one is not enough, the Enigma machine can adjust its encryption by changing its initial settings, and even with the exact same settings, the encryption effect will differ if the starting positions of the rotors are different. So even if we capture an Enigma machine, we still need a large number of cryptologists… Why are you all looking at me so ‘affectionately’?”

Popov: “I never knew before that you had such knowledge. I thought you just knew the dress sizes of the high society ladies in the capital.”

Wang Zhong was shocked; was this what it was like to be a playboy immersed in the game of romance? I’d like to know too!

Inserting himself into the conversation, Pavlov said, “None of this matters, whether it’s mathematicians or corsets, they’re not what we need to worry about right now. Whether the higher-ups believe it or not, we know an Armored Division is advancing on us.”

"It’s said that Prosen has only committed 20 Armored Divisions in total, and one of them is coming right at us! And against them, all our anti-tank weapons consist of only ten Divine Arrows and three anti-tank guns!”

"Regarding the Divine Arrow,” Wang Zhong interrupted Pavlov, “where is it currently deployed?”

Yegorov: “At the fertilizer plant, the second floor of the factory building provides a good vantage point, suitable for launching the Divine Arrows, and after firing, they can move to a safe new position swiftly. Yeca Neiko is very pleased with the new firing position.”

Wang Zhong: “They should be pulled back.”

"What?” Yegorov frowned, “Pulled back?”

Wang Zhong: “I plan to use the Divine Arrow for anti-air defense.”

"You intend to use the Divine Arrow to protect our 203 mm gun position?” Yegorov was amazed, “That’s quite suitable, indeed. If the 203s survive an extra air raid, the damage they could inflict on the enemy would be far greater than destroying ten tanks!”

"No,” Wang Zhong shook his head, “I captured a motorized reconnaissance company in Karlinovka today; they are part of the enemy Air Force’s ground guidance unit, which inspired me. The Air Force needs to know where the targets are to bomb them. Do you get my drift?”

Yegorov shook his head: “I don’t follow.”

Wang Zhong: “Lokotov is a reasonably sized city, full of buildings, and the surrounding terrain lacks any high mountains. I saw it clearly when I went out reconnoitering—the highest observation point the enemy can find is the barn outside the city.”