Chapter 321 Mendel and His Pea Shooter

Walter Mendel didn't figure out the situation until noon that day.

Mainly, General Gorky launched feint attacks in many places, and also dispatched the air force of the Western Front to bomb the headquarters of the Ninth Army.

Mendel's adjutant was injured in the bombing, and a young staff officer was temporarily replaced as adjutant, and he didn't even have the "adjutant's ribbon" as the adjutant's symbol.

It can be seen that the young man who was an adjutant for the first time was very nervous, and he spoke very fast when reporting.

Mendel: "Don't speak so fast, I can hardly hear you clearly. Speak slowly. As my adjutant, you must always be very calm."

"Yes, General."

The army chief of staff brought a glass of water over: "Drink some water and calm down."

The young man took the glass and drank it all in one breath.

Mendel: "Have the losses from the air raid been counted?"

"Yes, the enemy must have known we were here a long time ago. The headquarters accompanied the anti-aircraft regiment and reported that they had observed an aircraft they had never seen before. It had a thick fuselage and black and white stripes on its wings like a zebra. It might be a new type of dive bomber, and the bombs it dropped were extremely powerful."

Mendel: "Did they not identify this type of aircraft?"

"No." The adjutant looked apologetic, as if it was his fault.

Mendel patted the young man on the shoulder: "It's not your fault."

The adjutant swallowed his saliva and continued: "The commander of the anti-aircraft artillery regiment said that the Ant Army had never had a single-engine dive bomber before, and the enemy's Il-2 never performed large-angle dive bombing. This is definitely a brand-new aircraft, and its performance is better than our Stuka."

Mendel frowned and muttered: "The equipment of the Empire is actually backward..."

Obviously, Mendel didn't know that this "dive bomber" was actually a pure-blooded air superiority fighter, but the United States fighter engine had high horsepower and high octane aviation fuel, so it could carry a load of nearly two tons and was used as a dive bomber.

After a brief sigh, he immediately shook his head: "No, we suffered from the T34 and KV heavy tanks last year. Although we now know that these two tanks have fatal flaws and are easy to deal with, it is even easier to deal with in the hands of the Ants, but we must admit that this is indeed a good tank, but the Ants don't know how to use it.

"So now, where is the enemy's T34? ”

New adjutant: “It mainly appeared in two places. The first is the defense line of the 337th Division, and the second is upstream of Shostka. We don’t know where the enemy upstream crossed the river from.”

Mendel: “Has the contact with the 337th Division been restored?”

“Yes, we just contacted their division headquarters through the radio. The defense line on the east bank of the ferry has been breached, and the enemy has established a beachhead position on the west bank. The 337th Division originally used artillery to suppress the beachhead, but the division’s artillery force was immediately counterattacked by the enemy.”

Mendel looked at the map and suddenly asked the chief of staff: “Did the communication troops hear the enemy’s radio communications?”

“Yes, there are a lot of them, and there are a lot of code words and radio call signs that are obviously agreed upon in advance. They are no longer directly shouting numbers like before.” The chief of staff replied.

Mendel was shocked: “The enemy has obviously equipped more radios and has more experience, so the coordination between their arms has improved. It is normal that the 337th Division, which has just been converted from the National Guard Division, cannot stop it. ”

Chief of Staff: "The enemy still has tanks. The 337th Division is just short of assault guns. The anti-tank guns are only PAK38, and there is no latest PAK40. Last year's battle has proved that PAK38 is not enough to penetrate the front of T34. "

Mendel walked to the defense zone map of the Ninth Army hanging on the wall. Now the map is full of symbols representing the attack of the Ant Army.

He said: "Now we can preliminarily judge that the enemy's main attack direction has two directions. The first is the position of the 337th Division, and the second is a certain section upstream. We didn't know where we could cross the river before, so we didn't have defensive forces, and we didn't find them crossing the river in the first time. "

Chief of Staff: "This happened because the troops on the defense line were severely withdrawn. The command must be planning to do something big. "

As the commander of the army, Mendel and his chief of staff did not know about the combat operations that their army did not participate in.

Some generals with powerful networks would get some information through "old friends" in the headquarters, but the most critical part would definitely be covered up.

Mendel did not have such a powerful "old friend", so he had no idea what the headquarters would do next.

But he could probably guess the headquarters' plan.

Because many strategic things are open conspiracies, everyone is not stupid, and the real key is the specific details under the open conspiracies.

It's like Sandezi knew that the Allies would definitely open up a second battlefield, but he didn't know where to land or when to land.

Now for General Mendel of Plossen, he knew that he would most likely attack the Kuba oil field next. But he didn't know the specific combat plan.

However, he also understood that the Ninth Army did not bear the main offensive responsibility in the next large-scale offensive campaign, so it was natural to transfer the Ninth Army's troops and technical weapons to the troops that actually launched the offensive.

Mendel took over the conversation: "This must be a grand offensive operation, but it has nothing to do with us. We just need to complete our mission. Has the aircraft reconnaissance found the place where the enemy crossed the river upstream of Shostka?"

Chief of Staff: "The Air Force reported that two FW189s did not return. They are responsible for reconnaissance in these two sectors."

The reconnaissance planes sent out by the Air Force every day will divide the reconnaissance area according to sectors. Which one did not return proves that something must have been found there.

After the chief of staff drew the sectors with a pencil, he suggested: "We should send troops to search along the Duva River and touch the rivers covered by the two sectors."

Mendel shook his head: "No, no, it's too late to conduct reconnaissance before deciding whether to counterattack. The 1st Armored Division's base happens to be covered by this sector. Order them to attack eastward immediately, fire at all the Ants they see, and destroy everything that looks like T34."

The chief of staff nodded, walked to the phone and began to issue orders.

Mendel's new adjutant asked, "Is it really okay to give such a general order?"

"There is nothing good or bad about it. Have you seen how much false information and fake news we have been exposed to since this morning? In this case, we should trust the judgment of the commanders on the front line. They are closer to the battlefield than us."

After saying that, Mendel cursed, "Damn it, damn General Baima, now we dare not set the army headquarters within the range that can be hit by Ant's artillery."

In fact, the army headquarters commanding so many units should not be too close to the front line. The area defended by the army is too large. In theory, the best position for the army headquarters is in the middle of the defense zone, keeping a similar distance from the various units in the army.

In this way, even if the telephone lines and walkie-talkies are out of service, the messengers of each unit will know where to find the headquarters - or the wreckage of the headquarters, and no messenger will have to run a lot of distance.

The chief of staff came back after giving the order and asked, "What about the lost beachhead position of the 337th Division? They should not be able to recapture the position."

Mendel looked at the map and pointed to the 9th Armored Division stationed 15 kilometers behind the 337th Division: "Let them launch a counterattack."

The chief of staff immediately said: "This division is withdrawn to rest, and many middle-level commanders are still in Agsukov. In addition, the equipment replenishment of this division has not been completed. They only have 46 Type 3 tanks and 15 Type 4 tanks in combat readiness, and the rest are Type 2 and Type 1. "

"Don't worry!" Mendel comforted, "We can reinforce the 9th Armored Grenadier Division of the Great Plossen Division (this is the name of the division) and drive the Ants into the river. If we can build a pontoon bridge in time, we will rush over to attack the enemy's logistics station and headquarters."

Mendel stopped, stared at the map for a few seconds, and said to himself: "I will never let last year's blood flow in vain. You can't take back even a square of these lands!"