Cannon Fire Arc

An hour had passed since the attack on the Headquarters of the Sixth Army Group of the Prosen Empire.

A Lieutenant Colonel of the Constitutional Guards entered the Headquarters with three Constitutional Guards and approached General Frederick, "General, we found this at the site of the airstrike."

The Lieutenant Colonel snapped his fingers, prompting one of the guards to step forward with a box, which was opened in front of General Frederick to reveal the completely charred remnants inside.

General Frederick asked, "What is this?"

The Lieutenant Colonel explained, "Our explosives experts believe it's the timing device from a bomb. This wasn't just a simple air raid. Before the enemy planes arrived, the timed bomb exploded, creating a large fire and thick smoke to mark the target for the enemy planes."

General Frederick let out a sigh of relief.

The puzzled Lieutenant Colonel asked, "General? Why do you seem relieved?"

General Frederick elaborated, "Many legends revolve around Rocossov, including one that he has a special sense to pinpoint our position.

"In fact, in Ante, Carolingian, and the United Kingdom, there are some records of people with such abilities, but they're all very ambiguous. I initially thought I'd encountered the real deal.

"Now, these timed bombs indicate that guerrillas were guiding the enemy Air Force. The guerrillas got hold of intelligence, and last night large aircraft skimmed our occupied area, most likely dropping the explosives and timing devices for the guerrillas.

"This immediately turns the situation from one of supernatural nonsense to one that is scientific and logical."

As soon as the General finished speaking, the Chief of Staff, with a very troubled expression said, "But now, the matter concerning Rocossov has also become ambiguous, moving closer to resembling those rumors."

Frederick responded, "Don't scare yourself. Now that we know it's the work of the guerrillas, what's left to do is simple. To all the Constitutional Guards, your task is to take care of the guerrillas! Find a way to make those Antean workers in the logistics system confess—how was their behavior last night? Even better if someone directly confesses to being part of the guerrillas!"

The Lieutenant Colonel of the Constitutional Guards saluted General Frederick, "Yes, sir! We will complete the mission."

After the guards left, Frederick turned to the Chief of Staff, "To prevent this situation, I had all units stockpile more ammunition. Are all these munitions and fuels safe?"

"They're safe," the Chief of Staff replied, looking down at the report in his hands, "it's odd, the attacked sites were all along a single line, as though someone flew over these stations in a plane and marked them all."

Frederick remarked, "Is that so? It is indeed strange. If the guerrillas were signaling, they wouldn't have only marked this one line."

"Right, and the same goes for a mole; they wouldn't have just reported the locations along this one line," the Chief of Staff said, stroking his chin pensively, "it's just too strange. I should ask the Air Force if there have been any Antean planes flying this route in the last few days."

General Frederick nodded, "That's indeed worth asking about. Better to inquire and be sure, even if it's an overcaution. Where's the Air Force liaison?"

"I am here, General," the Air Force Colonel said, suddenly appearing by their side as if out of nowhere.

General Frederick requested, "I need the activity records of the Antean Air Force for the past few days, all of them if possible. We'll have our own staff sort through them."

The Air Force Colonel replied, "That might be difficult, sir. We will organize the information and present the results to you."

"No need, we'll sort it out ourselves."

"Very well. I'll try to convince the Air Force Commander."

General Frederick suddenly changed his mind, raising a hand to stop the Colonel about to make the call, "No! Don't bother. I'll phone the Admiral of the B Army Group Command. He will talk to the Air Force Commander."

The Chief of Staff interjected, "It's of no use. The King's strategy to check us by not allowing direct command of the Air Force, opting for a liaison system instead, won't change even if we approach the Army Group Command.

"It's said that the Front Army Commander in Ante can directly command their air forces. That is truly enviable."

Frederick nodded in agreement before steering the topic back, "As long as our stockpiled ammunition and fuel are intact, we should use them to launch an attack.

"Rocossov's striking at our logistics is simply trying to make us pause, which shows he is weak at the moment. We must seize this opportunity and attack with full force!"

The Chief of Staff concurred, "That makes sense. But our reserve ammunition can only sustain about two days of heavy artillery fire since we've only just advanced to this location and haven't had much time to accumulate heavy artillery shells."

With a grand gesture, Frederick declared, "Two days will be enough. Maybe we'll break through in two days and see the beaches of the Inland Sea. Rocossov is on the other side, and I've watched him receive reinforcements while defending Yeisk, the troops coming endlessly.

"He's rumored to be the favored older brother of the Tsar, highly favored by the Tsar. Whatever troops he requests, the Antean High Command delivers. The railways on the East Bank must be packed with trains transporting troops.

"After two days, who knows how many troops we'll be facing!"

The Chief of Staff hesitated but eventually agreed with General Frederick's perspective, "You're right; no one knows what we'll face in two days.

"I'll order our forces to launch an attack using the ammunition and fuel we've accumulated! In our original plan, we had feints in secondary directions. Now we can concentrate the fuel and ammunition reserved for feints, and the troops allocated for the feints will carry only basic ammunition and remain in position to defend."

General Frederick confirmed, "Exactly, that's the plan! We must achieve our objective with a swift offensive, at least exposing Rocossov's weakness so that when our logistics are restored, we can strike a deadly blow!"

————

October 19, in the evening at 1930 hours, the "Odin" Comprehensive Supply Station of Prosen (radio call sign).

Under the blood-red sunset, 1000 Antean workers, hired by the Prosen Empire and working here, stood in five rows, silently watching the fat Constitutional Guards Colonel on the "lectern."

The lectern was actually a Panzer IV tank, which had been transferred to rear security forces and the Constitutional Guards because of its short-barreled gun; it then became the colonel's vehicle of choice.

When the Desert Fox gained fame, some young Prosen officers began the trend of using tanks as personal vehicles. It was only after Rocossov of the Anteans became famous that the trend really took off.

Moreover, the high-ranking officers who were less competent militarily and less popular with their troops were even more fond of this practice, as if sitting in a tank made them qualified officers.

This chubby Constitutional Guards Colonel was one of them.

He stood atop the tank, shouting in broken Antenese, "I want to know who planted the bomb at the supply station! We've found remnants of the detonator and know it was someone among you!

"If the person who did it comes forward, I can spare the rest of you innocents!

"If you don't come forward! I will use decimation, killing one out of every ten of you! Now, the first one!"

The guards immediately dragged out the eleventh person in the first row, a boy who looked no more than sixteen or seventeen.

As the Constitutional Guards seized him, the boy shouted, "Don't come out! Don't come out, Uncle Guerrilla! My brother is also in the guerrillas! Tell him..."

The gun fired.

The fat colonel, satisfied, blew on his Luger pistol's muzzle and said to the guards, "Throw the body in the pigpen. The pigs will have meat today."

Two guards dragged away the boy's body, leaving a crimson trail of blood.

Colonel: "Such bravery is commendable! But it is through your cowardice, you guerrilla fighters, that such a brave boy dies for nothing, becoming pig feed! He died because of you, because of all of you!"

One thousand—999 Antean workers watched in silence, with icy stares at the blustering Constitutional Guards Colonel.
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Colonel: "Hmph, your cowardice is astonishing! Then the next one!"

They immediately pulled out a middle-aged man with graying hair.

"Have you anything to say, old man? You must understand things better than that fiery young kid."

The old man looked at the colonel: "Yes, I understand. I didn't retreat because my grandson had a fever, and in such cold weather, I feared he would not survive the journey.

"To keep him alive, I joined your work crew. I've betrayed my neighbors, my local community, and everyone in the city. Do you think the guerrillas would come forward for me? No, Colonel, they won't. They will only watch me die."

As soon as the old man finished speaking, the colonel pulled the trigger.

"Drag him away," he said irritably, "they're all the same! Why doesn't someone cry and beg for mercy? Any of you want to cry and beg for mercy?"

998 Anteans remained silent, yet their silence was thunderous.

"Then I'll ask differently," the Colonel said through clenched teeth, "I'll ask you, did anyone notice suspicious behavior last night? Speak up, and the Empire of Prosen won't let you down!"

No one answered.

The colonel paced back and forth, continuing to question, "Who saw something, anything, even a shadow of a doubt!"

Suddenly, someone spoke up, "Give it up. After today's bombing, we can see, you're about to fail. It looks like rain is coming soon, and then winter.

"You'll fail when winter comes!"

"Who said that?" the Colonel was overjoyed, "Pull him out!"

Quickly, a robust man in his late thirties was brought in front of the tank.

The fat colonel: "You have quite a knack for rallying troops! You must be one of the guerrillas!"

The man laughed heartily: "How I wish I were! I'm not afraid to tell you, I've been shirking work these past days, arranging the clothes hung up in the barracks to spell words, and today they finally saw my message! Ha ha ha ha!"

"It was you!" The Colonel raised his hand, ready to pull the trigger, but the gun jammed.

"Damn it!" He furiously worked the Luger pistol's slide, finally ejecting the unfired round and reloaded.

He aimed and pulled the trigger a second time.

But the gun did not fire!

The Colonel, for the third time, furiously worked the slide to clear the jam, raised the gun, and pulled the trigger, but the hammer snapped down and the bullet did not fire; it seemed to be a primer failure this time.

"Damn it!" the Colonel tried to clear the fault for the fourth time—

And the man kept laughing: "Guerrilla fighters! Do you see this? Join in laughing at the enemy's incompetence! Ah, guerrillas! Take me with you!"