Cannon Fire Arc

At the same time, at the Tenth Army Group Corps Command.

General Boke suddenly heard the sound of hooves outside.

He turned his head in confusion, "So many hoofbeats, doesn't sound like a transport unit."

The Prussian Army's logistical units still maintained a large number of mules and horses as a supplement to the Opel trucks. However, a mule and horse transport team would not produce such a dense sound of hoofbeats.

At nearly sixty years old, General Boke had certainly experienced the era before mechanization; he knew that only a cavalry brigade on the march could make such a racket.

"Where are the cavalry from?" he turned and asked his chief of staff.
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"The Moravian Cavalry Troops, they were supposed to have arrived a week ago, but due to the Ant Air Force bombing the train stations, they only just made it. The original intention of High Command was to reinforce us with these cavalry troops to counter the Ante Army's cavalry."

General Boke said sarcastically, "Well, they're right on time."

The Ante Army's cavalry troops had already retreated due to running out of supplies, and the Tenth Army Group had also withdrawn forces vulnerable to cavalry raids, consolidating into a fist, so they no longer needed to worry about cavalry cutting off their supply lines.

In other words, the Moravian Cavalry Troops no longer had a role to play.

At that moment, two Prussian officers wearing the old insignia of the Moravian military entered the command post, the one in front wearing a red collar patch—that was a major-general, but General Boke had no recollection of him.

He must be a Moravian general who became a Prussian major-general after incorporation.

The Moravian saluted General Boke.

While returning the salute, General Boke said, "You've arrived too late, the cavalry threat has been removed, and the enemy's cavalry has suffered heavy casualties."

The Moravian appeared embarrassed, "After we entered Ante territory, the train stopped many times, each wait being half a day or even a full day. We had to get off the train and find a way to gather grass and feed from the surrounding villages for the warhorses. In Kazarlia, it was fine; the land is very fertile, the prairies have enough robust natural grass, and even if we just let the warhorses graze on their own, they wouldn't get too skinny.

"Once we entered South Ante, the situation turned grim. The prairies seemed lush, but most were not grass for grazing, some even harmful for the horses' digestive systems. Moreover, the ground covered by the green grass had a lot of complex terrain, causing horses to frequently sprain their legs when running, and the wear and tear on their hooves was far more than in Kazarlia!

"Our soldiers were privately complaining, what's the point of occupying this godforsaken place where even birds don't shit!"

General Boke replied, "I believe it's for Ante's industrial area by the Valdai Hills River, and for their transportation lines through the Inland Sea, as well as Kuban's oil."

The detailed answer from General Boke made the Moravian major-general pause, then he embarrassingly said, "I was just venting, I didn't mean to say that capturing this place was useless."

"I know," General Boke nodded, "Let's talk about your mission. The enemy's cavalry has already retreated, we estimate they've lost fifty percent of their forces, and won't be able to harass us again for a while. You might not have anything to do; may I ask how much supply you consume per day?"

The Moravian major-general didn't directly answer, "General, we have twenty-five thousand men and one and a half times that number in warhorses and packhorses. Just the feed for our horses alone is a staggering amount each day.

"But, compared to your armored units, we are relatively energy-efficient."

At this point, the Corps chief of staff interjected, "This is probably also why General Rokossovsky of Ante committed the cavalry troops. Cavalry rely on logistics much less than armored units, even less so than fully equipped infantry units."

In fact, the chief of staff's remark was somewhat biased—some Ante infantry units had only five thousand men each, without much artillery or many machine guns.

Such infantry units truly lived up to the old nickname given to Ante infantry: grey beasts.

The Prussians had already crushed countless such units, and yet the Ante People still had countless more.

General Boke sighed, "Although you rely less on logistics than our armored units, our logistics are in very bad shape right now, and we can't even handle this new pressure. Maybe you can fall back—"

"We came to fight," the Moravian major-general interrupted General Boke, "We want to prove our worth to the empire through valiant fighting, and then be promoted to first-class citizens of the empire, recognized as Aryans. Please let us fight!"

General Boke gazed into the eyes of the Moravian, and after a few seconds, he raised his hand to scratch his forehead, "Alright, I'm moved by your passion and loyalty. But the mission I can give you—hmm?"

General Boke's scratching hand suddenly stopped; he maintained the raised hand pose and glanced at the Moravian, "We have a task that requires your completion. Please come over here."

The general lowered his hand and walked briskly to the map table, picked up some photographs that had just been air-dropped from the rear, selected a few, and placed them near a candle, "Come, take a look, the Air Force has photographed a large number of Ante armored troops in Yeisk, and tomorrow the Air Force will perform dive bombing to verify the authenticity of these tanks.

"But I suspect that these tanks will definitely be protected by Divine Arrow, so Stuka won't achieve very good results. Plus, the accuracy of horizontal bombing is limited. Moreover, bombing alone isn't enough to determine whether the tanks are real or fake, after all, fake tanks could also have fuel poured on them, so they would catch fire when bombed.

"To identify these tanks, only low-altitude reconnaissance can do it, but the Air Force bastards won't do it; wherever there is Divine Arrow defense, the Air Force will never perform low-altitude bombing. Do you understand what I'm getting at?"

"Are you saying the Air Force is unreliable?" the Moravian major-general asked doubtfully.

"That's one way to put it." The general waved his hand dismissively, "I want you to infiltrate past the enemy's lines, strike at these tank units, and confirm whether or not they are real tanks!"

The Moravian frowned, "If these are real tanks, my cavalry would suffer heavy losses."

"If you want to become a true Aryan, you have to endure this sacrifice," General Boke said with a stern face, in an indisputable tone, "If you won't execute this order, then please go back. I will personally send a telegram explaining why you have returned."

Major General Moravia sighed, "Fine, we'll scout these tanks. You must give us a positive recommendation after we complete our mission, helping us become true citizens of the Empire!"

General Boke: "I promise."

Major General Moravia saluted, turned to leave, but General Boke stopped him, "Hold on, you don't need to set off in the middle of the night. Leave tomorrow morning, you can still have a hot meal tonight."

Suddenly, the sound of explosions came from outside.

Major General Moravia's body instinctively wanted to react and throw himself to the ground, but seeing that no one else around him moved, he stopped himself, though his adjutant had already hit the dirt.

"What's that?" the major general asked.

General Boke answered indifferently: "Witches, the night witches."

The major general was shocked, "Did Ante people deploy real witches?"

"No, it's their night bomber regiment, piloted by female aviators. They come to drop bombs at this time every day."

"But I didn't hear any engine noise!"

The general pointed to the top of the tent: "You'll hear it soon enough, just be patient."

As if on cue with the general's words, the sound of engines started to come from the sky.

Major General Moravia cursed, probably in Moravian language, which had significant differences from standard Prussian, and General Boke couldn't understand.

The general said: "These witches, when they approach our camp, will turn off their engines. Relying on their planes' amazing aerodynamic capabilities, they just glide over. So you can only hear the whizzing of the wings through the sky as if there were witches flying on broomsticks.

"Only after they've finished bombing do they start their engines again. The Air Force says it's because they lose a lot of speed when making turns and have to start the engines to ensure the planes maintain speed and altitude."

Only then did the Moravian who had ducked stand up, brushing off the dust from his uniform awkwardly.

General Boke: "Is your adjutant a new recruit?"

The major general nodded.

By this time, the sound of the airplane engines had finally faded away, and the major general asked, "Can this kind of attack cause significant losses?"

The Army Group Chief of Staff answered: "No, we have shot down one of the enemy planes and found that it had no night-vision observation equipment at all. They locate targets by the light of anti-aircraft fire, so as long as the anti-aircraft guns fire, most of the bombs will land around them.

"So we have come up with the best way to counter these bombings—completely ignore them. Use thorough blackout measures against them and don't fire the anti-aircraft guns. Then they would be completely baffled, and the effectiveness of their air raids would plummet dramatically."

Major General Moravia showed a contemptuous smile: "So they are completely useless?"

The Chief of Staff replied with a serious expression: "No, they still kill some people. For instance, at Corps Command, an average of eight people die every night. This continuous casualty rate is a disaster for morale."

General Boke joined the conversation: "That's why it would be even better if you could also eliminate the witches' airfield on the way. Get rid of the witches, let the troops have a good night's sleep, if you please."

The Moravian saluted for the second time.

Just then, a staff member came in with documents, "Report, preliminary casualty report. Six people died tonight."

General Boke: "Not too bad, below the average. The Night Witches' damage to us isn't even as significant as mosquitoes and lice! These two pests suck hundreds of kilograms of blood from our soldiers every day! Hundreds of kilograms!"

Major General Moravia didn't quite know how to respond.

General Boke waved his hand: "Alright, off you go, eat, rest. I believe a room suitable to your rank has been arranged for you."

Just as the general finished speaking, an orderly who had been waiting outside the tent peeked in, "We are ready, generals."

With a gesture from General Boke inviting them to proceed, the Moravian followed the orderly out.

No sooner had they left than the Army Group Chief of Staff asked, "Is it right to wear them down like this? Perhaps we could also use cavalry to attack Rokossovsky's supply lines."

General Boke shook his head: "Reports from all quarters mention that the terrain beneath the South Ante Prairie is rugged. It's not that I don't want to strike at Rokossovsky's logistics, but even the cavalry, without a guide, could easily perish in this damn green hell."