Cannon Fire Arc

Chapter 314: Chapter 3 The Weight of Being Last (Extra 20/33)

After dismissing the officers, Wang Zhong started to think about what to teach the students that had been thrust upon him. He walked alongside a group of professors while pondering.

He thought carefully and realized there were too many issues with the Ante Army, feeling that whatever he lectured on wouldn't make an immediate impact on the situation of the Ante.

Professor Valery: "This is our wargaming building, and the first wargame room is currently replaying the defense of Ye Fort."

Wang Zhong: "Ah? Oh."

He was intending to continue thinking about tomorrow's lecture, but suddenly realized that everyone was looking at him with expectant eyes.

It was obvious they were hoping Wang Zhong would say something.

Professor Valery introduced dutifully, "Currently, students specializing in infantry command are playing the role of our army, while the students of the Armored Troops command are playing the Prosens."

Wang Zhong didn't think much and said, "The Prussians are also very strong in infantry. In fact, their infantry's offensive under artillery cover is a significant threat; we shouldn't naively think of them as only good at armored troops rushing forward." Discover stories at m,v l'-NovelBin.net

The students on both sides looked at each other in confusion.

A student suddenly remembered to applaud and raised his hand to clap once—

But Wang Zhong continued to speak and the student could only quiet down.

Wang Zhong carefully examined the map of the exercise and shook his head.

"You have obviously oversimplified the Prussian forces. In truth, the Prussians were able to defeat us not because their armored troops were so formidable—our propaganda always focuses on this, but neglects the real situation," Wang Zhong said as he repeatedly waved his hand and walked over to a student holding a two-meter-long pole.

Taking over the pole, he began to adjust various chess pieces on the map for the confrontation while saying, "The Prussian forces could win against us mainly because of their high level of combined arms.

"This is their real advantage. Take the Prussian Armored Divisions for example; in fact, they only have two armored battalions, and it's rare to even see a division with three armored battalions.

"But most of their armored divisions besides the two armored battalions will have an Armored Grenadier Corps, artillery battalions, anti-aircraft battalions, logistics support battalions, motorized reconnaissance battalions..."

As he spoke, Wang Zhong completed the map by adding the Prussian Armored Division's subordinate units.

"And us, some high-ranking officers have a superficial understanding of the enemy. Without a detailed investigation, they make decisions off the top of their heads. We lost ten thousand tanks in just 18 days of fighting, ten thousand! And although most of these tanks were the likes of BT and T26, there were also a considerable number of T34 and KV tanks, which were likewise lost.

"I've exchanged thoughts with several commanders of our tank divisions. These tank forces have nothing except for the tanks, naively thinking that with tanks, they're invincible!

"And the result? These tank divisions and corps, which lacked coordination with other troops and had nothing but tanks, vanished like bubbles under the sunlight.

"Who was leading this foolish expansion? One of them was General Skorobo, whom I've already killed. Facts proved he was a Prussian spy. Another was Tsar Nikolai V, who died pining for Ivan—the Crown Prince.

"There's still one left, and that is Chief of Staff Tukhachev—now the Commander of the Western Front Army. He will be given the opportunity to prove his loyalty to the mother of Ante."

When Wang Zhong mentioned "loyalty to the mother of Ante," he noticed several students frowning.

Probably nobles; according to noble terms, one should prove loyalty to the Tsar.

Wang Zhong disregarded them: "These digressions are not our main topic for today's discussion. What we need to discuss is how tanks should be employed.

"Currently, who has achieved the most with tank usage among all Ante's forces? It is I, Rocossov.

"And my tank forces never operate alone. In fact, my division is a mechanized infantry division. I only have one tank battalion, but this battalion consists almost entirely of decorated tank operators, each crew averaging over ten Prussian tank kills.

"Tanks can only perform best when combined with infantry, anti-aircraft artillery, anti-tank gunners, and howitzers. The Prussians realized this early on, which is why their tank divisions—or rather armored divisions—have so many non-tank units."

Wang Zhong stopped, as his mouth had become dry from speaking. At that moment, a female student came up with a tray holding tea.

Wang Zhong picked up the teacup, finding its temperature just right to drink, thanked her with a "thank you," and drained the cup in one go.

After putting the cup back on the tray, he continued, "Our tank forces not only have issues with organization, but also with their use. Many commanders only know how to charge blindly, which is incorrect. The key to tank deployment, in fact, is to exploit their firepower.

"Whether it is during tank battles against enemy tanks or providing cover for infantry attacks, it is most important to utilize the firepower.

"This requires the tank to have as good observation and search capability as possible. The Prussian tanks all have a tank commander, and commanders like to pop their upper body out of the tank to scout. Their tanks generally have very good scouting abilities, and the latest model, the Type III G tank, even comes equipped with a commander's observation turret... Any pictures?"

Since the room contained students specializing in armored command, Wang Zhong wanted to show them to give them a concept of the observation turret.

However, the lecturer in charge of the wargame shook his head, "Not yet."

Wang Zhong: "No problem, I also captured many intact Mark III G-type and Mark IV E-type tanks in this campaign. Students of the armored command program will be able to personally drive them soon and experience the advantages of these tanks."

"The Prosen people are very good at utilizing the firepower advantage of tanks, their tanks have the best targeting devices in the world, and the precision of their cannons is also very high. The first time I won a defensive battle was at the small village of Peniye. Prosen tank operators actually hit the window of the village bell tower with their cannon from a distance of two kilometers."

"Two kilometers! At that time, the commander of my Divine Arrow Company was Monk Yeca Neiko, who initially insisted on setting up a firing position in the bell tower, but changed location after my opposition."

"If I hadn't opposed it, my fiancée—the prayer hand of Divine Arrow, Ludmila, would have died under the enemy's precise artillery fire."

Wang Zhong stopped and looked at the students.

From the expressions in their eyes, it was clear they were listening very intently.

This pleased Wang Zhong immensely: "Do you understand? Utilize firepower! And the role of armor is mainly to allow the tank to sustain firepower for a longer duration! Firepower! Search for the enemy, hit on the first shot, that's more reliable than any armor!"

The reason Wang Zhong was saying this was because he had just been pondering how to combat Tiger tanks, and had then gone through a full round of thinking about the characteristics of the Tiger.

As a result, he was now directly sharing some of his thoughts at the time as "actual combat experience" to the students.

Wang Zhong: "But what about our tanks? Our tanks don't have a commander! Because those who led the development and those responsible for the review at the time believed that a commander was useless, a waste of manpower! That is simply ludicrous!"

In reality, the one who ultimately approved the design without a commander was the former Tsar Nicholas V, but he was dead.

Wang Zhong: "Because our tanks lack a commander, or rather, the commander must also serve as the gunner, this results in very poor scouting ability during combat. If our commanders, like their Prosen counterparts, were to stick their upper bodies out of the tank, the tank would not be able to fire."

"This is the most ridiculous design I have ever seen."

"Also, with our tank guns, once you have personally driven a T34, you will know that the cannon of this vehicle can't hit anything at distances over 1000 meters, with most effective hits achieved within 500 meters."

"Compared to the firing distance of the Prosen people, it's absolutely inconceivable!"

At this moment, a student raised their hand: "But the newspapers say that the T34 is invincible, beating any Prosen demons and monsters!"

Wang Zhong: "Bullshit! Yes, the Prussians cannot effectively penetrate the armor of the T34 right now, but they quickly found countermeasures. As I've just said, the scouting ability of the T34 is poor, to put it plainly, the T34 is like a blind man!

"The Prosen people just have to circle around from the front to the side of the T34, and the T34 would then be unable to find it! Regarding this point, we can bring over the Prosen Mark III G-type later and have a confrontation with the T34.

"Although the Prussians are unable to penetrate the main armor of the T34, they can target the turret ring and break the tracks!"

"My troops first got their hands on the T34 during the defense battle at Loktov, and at that time the Prosen's ace tank operators dealt with our T34s just like that. If I hadn't returned and discovered this ace crew that had already taken out several T34s and destroyed their tank, our army would have suffered immense losses."

General Wang stopped.

The girl who thought he might be thirsty again promptly came up with water, but Wang Zhong waved her off and instead surveyed the entire room.

Wang Zhong: "Do you understand now? For tanks, two things are important: First, the long-range scouting ability to fully utilize firepower, and second, combined arms cooperation.

"Armor is also important but not as crucial as it is made out to be in propaganda! We have some generals who think that as long as tanks have thick armor, everything will be fine; they think that just having tanks means they can win any battle, which is a mistake."

Wang Zhong paused, feeling that he had said enough, especially since he hadn't even prepared a draft for today's talk. So he concluded with, "Any questions?"

Immediately, a student raised their hand.

Wang Zhong: "Go ahead."

Student: "General, is it because of this that you came in last? Because our military theory is wrong?"

Wang Zhong glanced at the professors accompanying him for the tour.

Sweating yet?

Wang Zhong: "Of course. And I am here to correct these mistakes! Fundamentally correct them! If we do not reverse this situation and eradicate the bad influence of incorrect military thinking, more Ante soldiers will bleed and die for nothing in the future!

"These sacrifices are avoidable! This is why I personally requested from His Majesty Tsar Olga I to become the head of the Suvorov Military Academy!"

After Wang Zhong spoke, he pounded heavily on the large wooden table used for tactical exercises.

The students erupted with thunderous applause, making the ceiling hum with vibration.

The professors huddled in the corner exchanged glances.