Free Web NovelChapter 1220: Chapter 25: The Blade That Breaks the Net! (4)
In this battle without mechas, deprived of intelligence and reconnaissance, the two divisions, nearly twenty thousand Chuckna soldiers, relied not on infantry, nor on gathering scattered armored units of no more than two regiments throughout, but rather on an armored engineering regiment deployed first as the troops landed!
If not for this regiment, the hastily retreating divisions constructing defensive positions along the way would have long been wiped out. It can be imagined how crucial these positions are now to the 13th Armored Division and the 51st Infantry Division.
Leaving the protection of these positions and advancing three kilometers is an absolutely risky endeavor.
If the enemy were to split their forces and intercept, if poor communication between the units led to further chaos, not only would these three kilometers become a bloodbath littered with bodies, but even the 415 stronghold could be seized by the enemy in one swoop! freeωebnovēl.c૦m
Without this main stronghold, the enemy would advance unhindered. By that time, the mountainous area from the 415 stronghold to the east and Hot Spring Town to the west would become the burial ground for the 13th Armored Division and the 51st Mechanized Infantry Division!
Wang Yuan painstakingly turned his eyes to look at the basin battlefield in the distance from the stronghold.
Gunfire, cannon fire, incessantly ringing out, while the violent explosions had not ceased from the start. Though several kilometers away, the ground’s tremor was felt without obstruction.
That small Mecha company was desperately holding back the enemy’s advance. They were so tenacious, so heroic. To cover the infantry behind them, they fought on without retreat against the enemy’s steel torrent. Less than ten minutes into the battle, they had already lost a fifth of their numbers. Despite their efforts to hold the line, the infantry, moving sluggishly, still suffered tremendous losses.
Jiepeng missiles and Energy Cannons kept crashing into the crowds. Each towering mushroom cloud often signaled the life of a Chuckna warrior.
Yet, all these men could do was to watch and wait. Watching them sacrifice, waiting for them to rush close enough!
The winter wind howled into the trench in the stronghold, making a mournful sound.
Thousands of soldiers stood quietly, silently watching the battle below, like a silent forest.
An officer suddenly burst into tears.
He wiped his eyes forcefully with his sleeve. He knew Pei Litong was right, but this sense of helplessness made him feel unspeakably angry and wronged.
The officer’s cries were carried away by the wind, turning into whimpers. Many soldiers crouched, crying like children. Still, many others bit their lips until they bled. freēwēbnovel.com
That valley basin, like a never-ending thunderstorm, was where their comrades were fighting bloodily. Where their comrades were falling, were sacrificing!
Ten meters, twenty meters, a hundred meters, two hundred meters......
Under the assault of an entire Jiepeng Armored Battalion, the forces slowly moved towards the 415 stronghold. It was clear to see the three attack arrows from the Jiepeng people being thwarted one by one by the weaving armored company. Wherever those ten red Spirit Cats went, it was a scene of carnage and blood. The enemy’s assault waves, however fierce and vicious, shattered against them into splashes in the sky.
"Give me a chance!"
Pei Litong stood like a sculpture on the stronghold. Gazing at the land filled with smoke and war fire, this was the only thought in his heart.
He had to muster all his strength to restrain himself from ordering a charge.
But the heavens seemed to conspire against him. When he saw the Jiepeng Armored Battalion suddenly split from three winding rivers of steel to form seven or eight attack arrows targeting the infantry, his face turned ashen.
To lead two full regiments to the 415 stronghold was a decision he and Balmer made with great resolve. As the two brigades of the 51st Division had already set out for Hot Spring Town, these two regiments were all mechanized warriors of the 13th Armored Division. Among them, many were local guard soldiers who had joined along the way.
He bid farewell to Balmer and stayed. Leading the troops in a forced march to the 415 stronghold as soon as possible. When the battle erupted below, less than an hour had passed since his arrival at the stronghold. It was a mad act. Pei Litong felt it was the madman ambushing the entire armored regiment with an armored company on the opposite side who had rubbed off on him.
He had envisaged countless times the scene of meeting the other side. According to two Leray researchers, the opponent was likely a Leray Hero named Tian Xingjian.
That Hero had foreseen Russell’s battle plans, led the Miloke counteroffensive, had once gone alone to Gazalin to capture the Gazalin Emperor James, and had, on a solo mission, shot Stephen dead from over 3000 meters away, bringing the three-year defensive war of Leray to a close.
However, no one had expected that when he appeared, he would be carrying over two thousand Chuckna warriors captured by the Jiepeng people!
In modern warfare, the mobility of troops is a critically important metric.
If the flatland mobility of armored units is ten, then the flatland mobility of the Mechanical Infantry Division is seven. If the mountain mobility of armored units is seven, then the mountain mobility of the Mechanical Infantry Division is only three.
And a force without infantry transport mechas and transport mechas, what their mobility would be while trekking through mountains......probably not even one.
