Arc of Fire

Jules Year 914, July 5th morning.

Wang Zhong had already taken his position at his “wartime command post”: actually, it was the office building of a fertilizer plant. This reinforced concrete building was quite sturdy, suitable as a front-line command post and could also serve as a defensive position.

More importantly, the fertilizer plant already had a telephone, which greatly reduced the workload of the communications company.

The brigade command post was manned by Pavlov, and the radio was with the brigade HQ as well.

Pavlov was strongly against Wang Zhong’s practice of going to the front himself, but he was ignored.

Yegorov actually liked this: “This was supposed to be my wartime command post. If you want to use it, I’ll let you have it, and I’ll go down to the troops!”

Wang Zhong: “You can go, but make sure to stay within the reach of the telephone.”

Yegorov sighed, “Then I might as well not go anywhere.”

This front-line command post was already at the furthest extent the telephone lines could reach. The communications company that was hauled over from the quartermaster’s headquarters couldn’t extend it any further, at least not for another day before they could ensure the telephone lines reached the battalion command post below.

In fact, as soon as he raised his binoculars his perspective changed; where could a binoculars get a good bird’s-eye view?

To the southwest, the plain was quiet, and there was no sign of the Prussian Army.

After surveying the area, Wang Zhong shifted his view back and saw Dmitri and another soldier from the third company carrying in the artillery observation scopes.

The forward command post had the best field of vision, so naturally, the artillery observation post was also set up here, which also allowed the sharing of the telephone line with the command post.

Dmitri was the artillery cadet with the best performance among those supplemented into the 31st Guards Regiment and was naturally assigned to the artillery observation post.

The field telephone was now watched by Vasily, who also understood the Prosen language.

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Dmitri set up the artillery observation scopes, the two tubes spread out in a V-shape, then he pressed his eyes against the eyepiece and adjusted the knobs toward the distant targets.

The target was the fake minefield signs planted by Vasily and his men yesterday.

Wang Zhong watched Dmitri operate and realized he didn’t understand at all.

After all, the military training he had received was only at the level of college military courses.

But suddenly he discovered something he could “advise” the professional artillery cadet Dmitri on: if the artillery observation scopes were just left there, they might reflect light and be noticed by the enemy far away!

So Wang Zhong said, “Dmitri, like this, the enemy might notice your position through the reflection. I suggest you drape the lenses with netting that has larger holes.”

Before Dmitri could respond, Vasily spoke, “Then wouldn’t we see nothing at all?”

Wang Zhong: “Are you stupid? The cloth is so close to the objective lens, and the image is formed way in front of the eyepiece, so you won’t see the fabric through the eyepiece, it will just affect the amount of light entering.”

"What?” Vasily was puzzled, “What are you talking about? Dmitri, did you understand?”

Dmitri: “The general is right; it really won’t affect the observation too much!

"Artillery observation scopes are different from binoculars, which are only raised when looking. Artillery scopes are left out after the parameters are set, and indeed, they can be noticed by the enemy because of the reflection.

"Why didn’t I think of that… The teachers at school didn’t teach us this!”

Wang Zhong: “Now I’ve taught you.”

Dmitri looked at Wang Zhong, hesitant to speak.

But Vasily had no such reservations and directly asked, “How did you graduate last in your class, Colonel? Your military literacy is quite high!”

Wang Zhong felt embarrassed; by now, he couldn’t admit that he learned this knowledge from “Operation Red Sea.”

Dmitri turned to the cadet who had helped him carry the artillery scopes and said, “Mishka, go get some gauze from the medic, the kind with the biggest holes, used for dressing.”

Mishka nodded and ran off.

At that moment, the telephone rang and Yegorov, who was closest to the phone, picked it up: “Hello, forward command, go ahead. What? You should have informed Divine Arrow Company first, Brother Peter! You did? Okay, we’re aware.”

Yegorov hung up the phone and looked at Wang Zhong, “Brother Peter used that rudimentary auditory array to hear that a reconnaissance plane is flying towards us. God’s Arrow Company is already prepared.”

Wang Zhong: “Order the assignment of three soldiers who can drive, along with a jeep and a DShK machine gun, to immediately head to the crash site as soon as the reconnaissance plane is shot down, to ensure that the enemy cannot obtain the reconnaissance information.”

Vasily: “Let me go!”

"You stay put!” Wang Zhong glared at him, “Have you heard anything valuable?”

Vasily shook his head: “No, the enemy is very cautious, not revealing their whereabouts at all, just mentioning ‘progressing smoothly,’ ‘reached the first objective.’ This notebook only has the call signs of the units and a few location codes; there’s nothing about the objectives.

"Besides, some of the conversations are in dialects, really heavy accents, basically unintelligible.”

Wang Zhong was amazed: “Dialects, huh…”

He was reminded of the movie “Windtalkers,” where the Americans used Native Americans as radio operators, using Native American languages as “codes,” incomprehensible to the Japanese.

Therefore, Native Americans were useful to the United States for more than just scalps.

Vasily continued to complain, “What’s the use of listening to this… I’d rather be on the frontline…”

Wang Zhong placed a finger on his lips and hushed, “Listen!”

The sound of engines, distinct from those of bombers.

Wang Zhong moved to the window and lowered his body to look up into the sky.

After switching to a bird’s eye view, he finally saw the plane, a Focke-Wulf 189 reconnaissance aircraft.

This was a professional reconnaissance aircraft that could be fitted with a camera gun. Its cockpit offered an excellent view, allowing the pilot to clearly see the ground in front of the plane in order to ensure a precise flyover of the reconnaissance target.