Russian Arty with Direct LOS

[Dog Soldier]

There is really no difference when firing offensively. In your example this is in the Russian turn. If the artillery is designated as indirect fire capable, and is set up, then firing the unit indirectly or directly at targets in LOS of the artillery unit will yield the same fire value results.
The indirect fire modifier from the pdtonly applies to defensive fire. In this case during the Axis turn.
Another significant difference is when the artillery unit has moved recently and is not set up. It can not fire at all indirectly, but can still fire at direct targets in LOS. The fire value is then the same for offensive fire above.

Try this by setting up a test using one of the started scenarios. I used the one in K43, since it is easy to conduct an indirect and direct fire attack on the same German unit in just a few turns due to the open and long (4km) LOS. Be sure to turn off the on map results so you can see the fire value of the guns in the fire dialog box.

Dog Soldier