Arc of Fire

On the morning of August 18th, at 0900 hours, Wang Zhong arrived at the Expeditionary Force’s base.

All troops had formed up on the parade ground, and as soon as Wang Zhong got out of the car, a thunderous "Hoorah" rang out.

Wang Zhong glanced at Popov, "I haven’t said anything yet, haven’t even approached the podium, what are they hoorah-ing for?"

Popov replied, "You’ll get used to it, the Propaganda Department exaggerated your victory into a great triumph again."

Pavlov urged, "Let’s go, time is tight, you need to see all the units assigned to us this morning and understand their situation."

Wang Zhong looked at Pavlov, suppressed the desire to ridicule, and walked toward the troops.

As the troops clearly saw his face, they shouted with even more vigor.

I have to say, it was quite exhilarating, almost like becoming Napoleon himself.

In the final moments of Waterloo, even as the French Guards were crumbling and fleeing past Napoleon, they didn’t forget to cheer for him, which made Napoleon laugh in spite of himself.

Praying as such, Wang Zhong walked up to the front of the troops.

Then he was taken aback.

Because at a glance, from officers to non-commissioned officers to soldiers, all were young faces, with only the Division Commander with his sideburns and the Military Chaplain appearing older, even the Chief of Staff seemed to be only about thirty!

Wang Zhong, puzzled, turned back to look at Pavlov and pointed at the troops. Before he could speak, Pavlov nodded, "Yes, that’s the situation."

Once again looking at these young soldiers, he couldn’t help but cry out, "Alright, stop shouting now! Stop!"

The leading officer called out, "Stop shouting! Quiet!"

Then the call for "Quiet" spread like dominoes all the way to the distance, and the cries of "Hoorah" gradually ceased, bringing calm to the parade ground.

Wang Zhong approached the Division Commander with sideburns, "What’s the average age of your division? What’s the proportion of seasoned non-commissioned officers? How many experienced officers do you have?"

Faced with Wang’s rapid-fire questions, the Division Commander shook his head, "General, our 450th Temporary Infantry Division doesn’t have any experienced officers or non-commissioned officers. Even I was a high school principal. They said if I could manage a high school of five thousand, I could manage a temporary infantry division of eight thousand, so they gave me the rank of Major General and made me the Division Commander."

Wang Zhong couldn’t help but comment, "Even Eugene began as a Lieutenant Colonel battalion commander, what is the reserve Front Army doing!"

The Division Commander didn’t dare to respond.

Pavlov said, "Not bad, this division still has eight thousand fighters, and everyone has fully undergone recruit training, proper training! The most hard-pressed division only has five thousand men, and their training was done by Guardian Army instructors. Their combat effectiveness is no different from a Militia Division."

Taking a deep breath, Wang Zhong calmed his mood and asked the Division Commander with sideburns, "How should I address you, High School Principal Davarish?"

"Davarish?" The principal was momentarily stunned, "Isn’t that a title from the Navy?"

"My troops refer to each other that way. So, how should I address you?"

"Semyon Aleksandrovich Roshenkov, Division Commander of the 450th Temporary Infantry Division." After finishing, the sideburns remembered to salute Wang Zhong.

Wang Zhong returned the salute, then turned to the soldiers of the 450th Temporary Infantry Division.

He asked a young private in the front row, "How long have you been in the army?"

"Six months, General. I’m one of the old hands here," the private replied.

Wang Zhong hesitated to speak, then just took the Mosin-Nagant rifle off the shoulder of the private to inspect it. It was clear that it was well-maintained; this private must have received better training and took good care of his weapon.

After returning the rifle, Wang Zhong asked Pavlov, "Other than Mosin-Nagants, are there no other weapons? I saw the report before coming here, the daily production of Papashas has already exceeded 6000!"

Pavlov explained, "But we have ten million troops, at least three million of them are in fierce battle on the front line. The remaining seven million, many like the First Mobile Group Army, are in rest and recuperation. Six thousand a day is not enough for them to share."

At this moment, the private interjected, "Report, General, our division’s officers are also equipped with Papashas, it’s a reward for being promoted to an NCO. Those who perform exceptionally in training may also be selected as submachine gunners and receive a Sten Submachine Gun. I wasn’t good enough, so I have a Mosin-Nagant!"

Wang Zhong stared at the private’s face, suddenly feeling that it was a dereliction of duty on his part as the Chairman of the Equipment Review Committee to have such good kids going to the front lines with outdated rifles—even though he wasn’t actually in charge of the specific production.

Pavlov mentioned, "Once the supply line is re-established, maybe they could be equipped with a full set of United Kingdom gear."

Wang Zhong replied, "You mean Sten Submachine Guns and Bren light machine guns? Forget it, the United Kingdom’s planes are good, but we should use our own light weapons. What did the Quartermaster Commander at Abawahan say?"

Pavlov said, "I’ve already used whatever equipment I could intercept to arm them."

Wang Zhong patted the private on the shoulder, then placed his hands behind his back and slowly walked down the line.

After a few steps, he saw a private, who looked slightly older, holding a Sten Submachine Gun—he must have been the skilled soldier selected to be the submachine gunner.

The submachine gunner, with a chest rig designed by Wang Zhong, stood spiritedly and looked up at Wang Zhong with his chin held high.

Wang Zhong inquired, "How does the Sten Submachine Gun feel to use?"

The submachine gunner replied, "Report, General, it’s not as easy to use as the Papasha, mainly because it has too few rounds and the magazine is prone to jamming, requiring very careful handling. If the General can swap for us to Papashas, that would be better."

Wang Zhong: "There will be."

After saying that, he continued to walk forward, his gaze sweeping over each young face.

The few infantry divisions assigned to the Expeditionary Force were all in the same situation as the 450th Temporary Infantry Division.

Good news: they were fully equipped and staffed.

Bad news: that was all they were.

Wang Zhong went around and pretty much knew what kind of forces were stuffed under his command. Taking these troops into a fight with the Prosens was asking to be thrashed by Aryan supermen.

Taking these troops to Balas for actual combat might be a good thing for them.

After inspecting the infantry troops, Wang Zhong moved on to the tank troops.

The faces of veterans suddenly became more common, nearly half and half with the young recruits! Wang Zhong was so moved that tears came down his face. It seemed that Pavlov wasn’t lying yesterday, the 51st Tank Army was in a better overall condition than the infantry troops.

The T34W tank, with the 422 tactical number brushed on it, stood at the very front of the entire tank army’s formation, crewed by four— the tank could be operated and fought in even without a commander, which was exactly like reserving the commander’s position for Wang Zhong.

Wang Zhong shook hands with the highest-ranking gunner: "We’ll be fighting side by side. Whether I can come back alive depends on you guys."

The gunner’s voice trembled a bit: "Rest assured, leave it to us!"

Wang Zhong nodded, then turned to the Colonel standing next to the tank: "Is this your brigade?"

The 51st Tank Army had three tank brigades under it, with no tank division set up, but the brigade commander should be a Brigadier, so that’s why Wang Zhong asked.

Colonel: "Acting brigade commander. General, why are we still producing T34s? Just switch to producing T34Ws. We’ve had enough of the two fatal flaws: the two-man turret and the lack of radio."

Wang Zhong: "Haven’t your T34s been equipped with radios yet?"

"Yes. It’s said that the 915 model T34s all have radios, but ours are all old tanks."

After the Colonel finished, Pavlov explained: "High Command thinks that the Balas Army is weak and that the old T34s are enough. Besides, they wouldn’t be able to support that many radios anyway. You might as well ask them how many electrical engineers they have."

Wang Zhong: "How many electrical engineers do you have?"

Colonel held up two fingers: "Two, our whole brigade only has two electrical engineers."

Wang Zhong was shocked and quickly asked: "Then how many tractors do you have for towing broken-down tanks? How many repair camps?"

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Colonel: "Repair camps? We have a support company, which includes six tractors."

"Six tractors!" Wang Zhong was taken aback, "What about the artillery? How many tractors and prime movers does your artillery have?"

"We don’t have artillery in our brigade," said the Colonel.

Wang Zhong’s mouth formed an ’O’, but he quickly regained control of himself and muttered: "It’s okay, I’ve fought worse battles last year."

Pavlov: "The 2nd Brigade has artillery, and they have a bit more prime movers and tractors."

Wang Zhong: "Really, let’s go take a look at the 2nd Brigade."

After he said this, he walked toward the 2nd Brigade full of expectation, but a few minutes later, he was again deeply frustrated.

The organization of the 51st Tank Army showed that they had learned from last year’s lessons. Except for the first brigade, which didn’t have artillery, the other brigades had organized a little bit of each type of troops, but not enough of any type.

It was sort of integrated, but not fully integrated.

Especially in terms of support capabilities, the entire Tank Army basically had "shortcomings" written all over their faces.

After understanding the situation, Wang Zhong was one hundred percent certain that this Tank Army would fall apart when they went up against the Prosens.

Even though the non-mainstream tank units strengthened for him in Yeisk last year had a balanced overall structure, it turned out that wasn’t the common situation!

Wang Zhong asked Pavlov: "Is it possible to reassign the support troops from the First Mobile Group Army alone to us, so at least the armored troops’ operations can be assured?"

"I called you in a hurry exactly to coordinate this matter," Pavlov spread his hands, "Only you can do this. I’m just a Chief of Staff; I really can’t handle such movements involving many aspects."

Wang Zhong: "Okay, I’ll make a few calls to sort this out. Are there any other troops I haven’t seen?"

Pavlov pointed toward the Black Legion in the corner of the parade ground.

Wang Zhong’s mood improved the moment he saw them.

The warriors of Naval Infantry Brigade 393 had been standing under the sun for so long, yet they did not waver in the slightest.

Wang Zhong walked up to them, looking at each young yet weathered face with satisfaction, and praised: "Good! Looking at the previous units, I was a little bit uneasy, because whether it’s their training or combat readiness, or the condition of their weapons and equipment, all were worrisome.

"But seeing you gives me confidence. It’s on you now, Black Reapers!"

The naval infantrymen in their sailor shirts roared in unison, "Ura!", as the wind swept across the parade ground, lifting the streamers behind their wide-brimmed caps.