Thunder Warrior Saves the World

Page 35

The shells left the barrels with hope, but what the artillerymen ultimately saw was a scene of despair: the shells accurately hit the front of those low, round-headed tanks. They saw the flashes of fire and smoke from the explosions, but the tanks did not stop as they had imagined, nor did the crews burst into flames and flee. Instead, the massive round heads turned around, and the flashes of fire from the dark muzzles became the last image in their minds.

"Bure!" Because he had taken a hit from a shell, the deputy company commander's head slammed into the instruments in the cramped cockpit, making a crisp sound.

"Attention all vehicles! The Belken have brought up their flank guns! Prioritize attacking these cannons!"

"This is 'Dagger,' and I don't see any other anti-tank guns."

"'Blazing Flame' did not find the target."

However, what was rather embarrassing was that, apart from the cannon that had ambushed them but was subsequently destroyed, there seemed to be almost no other Belken heavy artillery on the position. Could it be that the only cannon brought to the front line just happened to target them? This awkward guess made the deputy company commander's lips twitch.

"No matter what, stay vigilant. The Belken are almost at their breaking point; be careful they don't act rashly." The situation was becoming increasingly clear. More and more Belken were turning and fleeing, and some Belken soldiers had already instinctively thrown down their weapons and raised their hands in an attempt to surrender. The 210th Regiment was already a crumbling wooden hut; one last kick and it would collapse.

"Forward! Forward! Don't waste ammunition on those who surrender, keep moving forward! Our infantry behind us will help us deal with these prisoners!" The deputy company commander pressed the PTT on the radio to report the situation to the mechanized infantry company behind him.

Tanks passed by the surrendered soldiers one after another. The Belken men looked at each other in bewilderment through the acrid black smoke. What was going on? Had they accepted our surrender or not?

Unbeknownst to the deputy company commander, the 210th Infantry Regiment headquarters was also in chaos. Those who remained were diligently destroying various intelligence documents, while the regimental commander had changed into a common soldier's uniform and, along with a few trusted confidants, mingled with the fleeing soldiers, attempting to escape—they had even found several corpses and dressed them in the rank of field officers.

When the 1st Tank Company finally broke into the core of the 210th Infantry Regiment's position, the command post, with only a few men remaining, was reduced to ruins by a high-explosive shell. The destruction of the command post dealt another heavy blow to the morale of the remaining troops of the 210th Regiment. Under the urging of BMP-2M machine guns and grenades, most of the fleeing soldiers wisely chose to surrender, while those who were unwilling to surrender mostly chose to flee to the northwest.

This time, the tank company and the mechanized infantry company did not choose to press their advantage and completely annihilate the 210th Regiment; they wanted to save their ammunition and fuel to entertain Colonel Schmidt.

Volume 17: Chapter 1493, Chapter 1178, A Brief Nine-Year Tranquility

Just as the 210th Regiment was being brutally bombarded by armored forces, the 21st Rifle Battalion of the Royal Guard of the Kingdom of Elgia, which had rested and finally regained some combat capability, also began to enter Swarburg. With intelligence and tactical support from Spetsnaz, they began to sweep through the buildings house by house.

Princess Rosa's description of the Royal Guard proved to be quite accurate; this garrison unit was indeed highly skilled in combat within such confined spaces. Perhaps the earlier bout of motion sickness had caused these self-proclaimed elite men to lose face; if this were to fall into the hands of certain media outlets within the kingdom, they would likely be accused of "disrespecting the nation," and the officers of the 21st Rifle Battalion might even be held responsible. To salvage the kingdom's dignity, they acted with extreme bravery—even bordering on recklessness—in this operation.

This tactical arrangement and aggressive fighting style had both advantages and disadvantages. The advantage was that the 21st Rifle Battalion cleared the castle faster than planned, but the disadvantage was that the 21st Rifle Battalion suffered many unnecessary casualties. Of the Imperial Guards who entered the castle, only half emerged unscathed. The ratio of wounded to killed was a staggering 1:2! Along with the fallen Imperial Guards, the bodies of 13 Gilahani warriors were also carried out.

The equipment and physical characteristics of these Gilahani warriors were almost identical to those of the samples previously obtained by the 7th Brigade. The 7th Brigade only gave the 13 corpses and their accompanying equipment a cursory inspection before returning them to the Kingdom of Elgia, as these items were considered their spoils of war.

After this battle, the 7th Brigade had completely consolidated its control over Swarthburg. However, this joy was short-lived; it almost vanished once the drones updated the status of the 139th Regiment in Belken.

"Why did they stop?" Princess Rosa asked in a puzzled whisper, almost as if talking to herself.

“Our ambush has been exposed.” Despite the lack of evidence, Lu Wu still made this judgment; otherwise, it would be difficult to explain why this situation had occurred. He felt a little regretful. After all, this was a battlefield, and the variable of human beings was indeed too unpredictable. It was all too common for the enemy not to follow his script completely. Rather, the idea of ​​expecting the enemy to cooperate perfectly with him was a pipe dream.

The 139th Regiment did not stay in place for long. They quickly changed from front to rear and then from rear to front, rapidly disengaging to the northwest.

Yes, despite not receiving further orders from headquarters, Schmidt, desperately unable to contact the 210th Regiment, already assumed it was finished. To avoid following in their footsteps, he decided to retreat—no, I mean, to turn northwest. After all, every Imperial soldier was a precious asset of the Empire and couldn't be wasted carelessly. The terrifying enemy capable of wiping out the 210th Regiment in such a short time was beyond the capabilities of his unit. Schmidt, with a clear understanding of his own abilities, thought this way.

Watching the footage transmitted back by the drone, the 139th Regiment abandoned the 210th Regiment without hesitation, showing no regret for Kairun. Lu Wu also extinguished his greedy idea of ​​annihilating the 139th Regiment as well. In the past 24 hours, his companies had experienced three high-intensity battles, with almost all the breaks between battles spent on forced marches. At this moment, the men and horses were exhausted. Rather than forcibly chasing after them for another wave of fighting, it was better to let these soldiers rest and regroup to better prepare for the battles to come. Moreover, the large amount of ammunition they had consumed also needed to be replenished.

Helicopters once again played a crucial role in this process. Although the Mi-4 and Mi-8 helicopters had limited payloads, unlike the Mi-6 which could carry 12 tons of supplies at a time, they still managed to bring some in-demand tank high-explosive shells and maintenance spare parts.

While the 7th Brigade was taking advantage of the time to rest and prepare for battle, Belken's command post was once again shrouded in a low-pressure atmosphere. The loss of contact with the 210th Infantry Regiment seemed to confirm their previous suspicions—a large force had silently bypassed their lines and advanced behind them.

"We must recall some of our frontline troops to protect our supply lines."

“But what if the Elgians launch a counterattack…” Some of the commanders deployed at the front lines clearly had some objections.

"So you're just going to let our supply lines fall into enemy hands, leaving our soldiers to fend off attacks from two directions while enduring hunger and running out of ammunition, forced to charge the enemy bare-handed?" The general looked displeased. Was he the only one who knew that the enemy would launch an attack when the front lines were weakened?

At this point, he dared to guarantee with his honor and life that the enemy's attack was not a one-in-a-million chance, but a certainty, and it would definitely occur after their troop movements were complete and they had begun engaging the enemy along the supply lines. He had also read some classical military treatises written by Easterners and knew what "attacking where the enemy must defend" meant—a calculated strategy employed by the Ergia. His choice was simply a matter of choosing the lesser of two evils. By securing the supply lines, his troops could still have a chance to continue fighting, but if they lost their supplies, they would slowly perish in a foreign land, like lone travelers sinking into a swamp.

He slammed his fist on the table and scolded, "In the end, it was because you were too slow that you gave the enemy a chance to counterattack! This situation should never have happened! If we lose Fabandi because of this, we will all be sinners against the Empire!"

"This is a rare opportunity! We must seize this opening when the Belken retreat to their rear to launch a counterattack!"

Just as General Belken had predicted, dozens of kilometers away on the front line of Faban, the Kingdom of Elgia was making mobilization preparations for a counterattack. Large numbers of second-line troops were being relieved of their duties with the front-line troops who were not in combat. These elite troops, withdrawn from the front lines, were quietly attempting to assemble along several main roads that would form the core of the counterattack, without being noticed by the Belkens.

“We suspect the Belken won’t easily move these troops; some of them are currently fighting our people.” The Kingdom’s staff officers were also diligently deducing the enemy’s actions based on various intelligence leads, providing the decision-makers with their insights: “They might abandon these areas they are fighting us for, or even go further, voluntarily relinquish these occupied territories to stretch our battle lines and make us unable to continue. This would give them enough time to deal with Amelia’s 7th Brigade.”

……

The number of updates in the last few days is more than the total number of updates from January to March combined!

Volume 1: Chapter 194 (Chapter 179) Before the Storm

Although Lu Wu, at the Swarthburg command post, had no idea what the Belkens were discussing, he was quite clear about what was about to happen. It was precisely because of this that he dared to let his men relax a little.

At this moment, in the open space outside Swarthburg Castle, the armored and infantry soldiers who had completed their resupply missions left the sweltering wagons and sat or lay down outside, some even covering their faces with their helmets to avoid the glaring sunlight. Wearing heavy gear, no position was comfortable for rest, but the soldiers quickly fell asleep—of course, this sleep was inevitably fragile and short-lived; the slightest noise would wake them, their instinctive urge to draw their weapons ignited. This behavior had almost become a bodily instinct.

However, while the soldiers could rest, the commanders weren't so lucky; they couldn't rest for the time being. The command post remained in the same location, not moved inside even though the castle was completely safe. After all, they didn't need to guard anything, and setting up the command post outside was more suitable for quick maneuvering.

Incidentally, the more than 300 prisoners of war from the 210th Regiment have been imprisoned in the underground prison of Swarthaburi, but what to do with them is still undecided. After all, Swarthaburi will eventually be abandoned, and they can't just leave the prisoners inside waiting for the Belken to take them back, can they? The helicopters are already burdened with the tasks of transporting supplies and providing air support; they shouldn't have to sacrifice flight hours and pilots' rest time for transporting prisoners of war. As for the idea of ​​sending these prisoners of war to Fabandi by land, that's too impractical. Perhaps the greatest use these prisoners of war can serve is in exchanging them with the Belken and doing the Kingdom of Elgia a favor.

The Allied forces' idea of ​​exchanging these men for prisoners of war was "intentionally or unintentionally" leaked out by the guards watching over them during casual conversation. This could be considered a shrewd move by Lu Wu. Soldiers fighting for their country were unfortunately captured, and the nation had the opportunity to rescue them from the POW camp, but they ultimately chose to give it up. For these loyal soldiers, this was tantamount to betrayal. In any time and country, this would be considered a scandal. An inhumane decision would only cause the regime to quickly lose the support of the military and the people, fueling anti-war sentiment within the system and the opposition party. Then, Paz could expose this, and ONI could turn some disgruntled or even resentful soldiers against the regime, sending them back to Belken. Heh, that would be entertaining. Countless facts have proven that if you want to undermine the cohesion of a country, starting with "your own people" is much simpler, cheaper, and more effective than personally intervening.

The atmosphere in the command center was neither as oppressive as the atmosphere in Berken, nor as tense and excited as in Elgia.

Surrounded by such tranquility, Rosa found it incredibly difficult to tense up—even though she knew they were about to face an enemy several times, even dozens of times, larger. Perhaps it was because she had become accustomed to winning against overwhelming odds, and already felt victory was assured? She felt a little lost.

"This stuff is really bitter." Rosa, who was thinking, subconsciously looked in the direction of the voice and saw Lu Wu's face scrunched up, holding a stainless steel cup in his hand. Judging from the smell, it should be a cup of very pure black coffee.

After downing the cup of black coffee that Yelena had personally brewed as if it were medicine, Lu Wu wiped the dark brown liquid that had spilled from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand and instructed, "Yelena, keep an eye on things for me. I'm going out for a walk."

"Understood." Yelena knew that Lu Wu's "visiting" actually meant going to several front-line positions. He needed to go to the front lines as often as possible to truly understand the situation on both sides—one of the important lessons Lu Wu had learned at the academy. Yelena gave a look to the guard beside her. Although the enemy had temporarily retreated, these necessary safety measures were still essential in the midst of a battlefield. The guard nodded, turned, and left to prepare the vehicle.

"Commander, the vehicle is ready." A moment later, the guard reappeared beside Lu Wu and reported.

"Um, can I go for a walk with you?" Seeing Lu Wu preparing to leave, Rosa quickly stepped forward and asked.

The Ergia officer, who had been feeling drowsy but was standing nearby, suddenly snapped awake: "Your Highness?!" He even broke out in a cold sweat—if anything happened to this ancestor in their hands, they would all be finished!

“Don’t worry, we’re just taking a quick look around the front lines; we won’t be leaving. Besides, the vest you’re wearing is bulletproof,” Lu Wu explained proactively. To be honest, after spending this time together, this royal girl who dared to follow him around the front lines and never complained about the harsh conditions or the hurried marches had left a good impression on him. She wasn’t like the arrogant, haughty nobles often portrayed in novels; he had never seen any disdain in her eyes for these ordinary soldiers who were always covered in sweat and gunpowder. From the words of some Elgins, Lu Wu was also certain that she wasn’t just a political figurehead. In the context of the Ens Continent, which was close to World War I, such an approachable “high-ranking person” was truly rare. That was why he had stood up to say a few words in her defense.

“You can come along too.” Lu Wu knew that the only thing these Elgins were worried about was safety. Since they were all coming along, what was there to worry about? After saying that, he put on his helmet and left the command post first, leaving no time for discussion.

Rosa quickly followed. As soon as she stepped outside, she saw Lu Wu already seated in the driver's seat of the Tiger armored vehicle parked by the door. She quickly slipped to the passenger seat and, mimicking Lu Wu, fastened her seatbelt. Lu Wu looked the girl up and down, making Rosa feel uneasy. She looked down at the seatbelt that ran across her chest and abdomen and whispered, "Did I do something wrong?"

Lu Wu didn't answer. Instead, he rolled down the car window and shouted to the sentry at the door, "Hey, Oleg! Get me a helmet!"

After Rosa put on her helmet, two new faces appeared in the back seat. One of them was none other than the Ergia officer who had just tried to persuade Rosa.

Volume 1: Chapter 195 (180) The Flames of Liberation (1)

"Is that a Belken plane? They actually dare to fly over here?"

Through his binoculars, Lu Wu could almost see the details of the biplane pesticide sprayer flying slowly at low altitude. He frowned. His outpost was right next to the 210th Infantry Regiment's position.

That old-fashioned plane was clearly there for reconnaissance. Unfortunately, the 7th Brigade had almost subconsciously considered aerial reconnaissance defenses when setting up their positions, and the positions were naturally concealed accordingly. As a result, the reconnaissance plane simply flew straight over the top of the positions.

"Shoot him down," Lu Wu ordered. While assault rifle rounds might struggle to take him down—given the wind and the fact that 5.45x39mm rounds are more prone to drifting—machine gun rounds, with their greater weight and higher muzzle velocity, would be no problem at all. The outcome of war, to some extent, depends on the ability of both sides to obtain accurate intelligence. Whoever can disrupt the other's intelligence gathering capabilities will greatly increase their chances of victory. Therefore, even if using an advanced anti-aircraft missile like the 9M311 might seem like overkill, it's still necessary.

Of course, he doesn't have a Tunguska rifle on hand right now, so he can't use the 9M311. However, the infantry does carry a "needle"—if the gun misses, they can use the "needle." Don't get me wrong, this "needle" isn't made in Canada, and it won't prick little girls.

The machine gunner had specifically upgraded his PKP with a tracer belt—this weapon was usually used for target designation, but it was surprisingly effective against these old-fashioned aircraft with wooden fuselages and canvas skins. The self-igniting coating on the bullets easily ignited the fuselage materials, turning the planes into fireballs. As for the people on board… well, they would either be burned to death or crash-to-death, unless they ejected the moment the plane was hit. Due to limitations in materials and design, early aircraft had very low fuselage strength, and being hit by these large-caliber bullets was prone to causing "main structural fractures." Under such circumstances, getting the pilot to eject was extremely difficult.

"10 seconds."

The machine gun crew's actions naturally attracted the attention of some bored soldiers, and one of them uttered a meaningless statement.

"what?"

“I said, they could shoot down that poor little bird in 10 seconds at most.”

"Are you crazy?" the person who had just asked the question exclaimed incredulously. "You actually need 30 seconds to shoot down that 'plane' that's not even as tall as my pee? I only need 5 seconds!"

"As if we can pee standing up." The man scoffed. We're all the same, what's with the pretense? "I bet you a can of peaches, you can't finish in 5 seconds, dare you? The little bird is getting further and further away from us."

"Come on! Hey buddy, someone said you guys can't take down that big, slow-flying stupid bird that's so close! Shouldn't you give her a good shove on the ass to open her eyes?!" she shouted at the machine gun team, then turned back to the man and said very seriously, "And, I really can."

"???"

The machine gun crew simply gave these meddlesome guys an elegant, extremely traditional middle finger and pulled the trigger in the direction the reconnaissance plane was heading.

A fiery orange serpent shot up from the ground, lunging at the unsuspecting bird. Its first strike missed, hurtling past the bird. The startled bird fluttered wildly, trying to dodge the intense heat, but the serpent had already adjusted its position, lashing out at the bird like a whip.

"4.3 seconds! You lost, hand over the can!"

"Canned food? What canned food? Where can I find canned food?"

"You *Slavic swear word*!"

Hearing the boisterous shouts coming from the machine gun emplacement, Princess Erluosa was silent for a moment. "They really are full of energy."

"That's how it is on the front lines. There aren't any particularly good or suitable ways to relax, so everyone has to learn to find their own fun." Lu Wu was somewhat used to it. Smoking, telling dirty jokes, some people secretly drinking alcohol—in short, everyone has their own way of relaxing. Otherwise, the endless fighting would drive everyone who gets involved crazy.

But, standing... is it really that fun? So fun that it can make you relax? Rosa blushed and subconsciously squeezed her legs together to suppress this strange thought.

In fact, while Lu Wu, Rosa, and others were wandering around the outpost, the Belken people weren't idle either. They once again deployed their air force aircraft, attempting to dispel the fog of war and make better deployments. All aerial reconnaissance missions around Swarthorpe failed; not a single aircraft managed to transmit intelligence back alive. However, in their reconnaissance of the Elgia Kingdom's forces, these pilots did manage to obtain some valuable intelligence.

Such intelligence leaks were unavoidable. The Elgin forces lacked effective rapid-fire weapons to destroy or drive away enemy aircraft. Upon spotting enemy reconnaissance planes, they could often only take cover or offer feeble protests with rifles. Furthermore, large-scale troop movements leave indelible traces in all directions, especially since the Elgins had little time to deal with these traces. Therefore, they ultimately chose to engage directly—as long as they created enough traces in all directions, the enemy would be unable to determine their true main attack direction.

As long as you don't figure out my true main attack direction, even if you know I'm going to attack you, you won't be able to make targeted preparations and will only be able to react passively.

The Belken people understood this principle, and they wouldn't place all their hopes on aerial reconnaissance; traditional ground reconnaissance remained indispensable. The scouts had already set out and would continue their reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance battle with the Allied infantry.

On the surface, both sides seemed to have tacitly halted large-scale operations, but in just two days, nearly a hundred skirmishes of platoon size or smaller had broken out. Both sides had their share of victories and defeats; even in the Swarthburg area, elite squads of Gilahani warriors, more numerous than those in Belken, had caused some trouble for the 7th Brigade.

On the third day after taking control of Swarthaburi, at 3:00 AM, the 7th Brigade left only a platoon and three self-propelled rocket launchers to guard the fort, while the rest of the troops poured out and headed directly towards Fabandi. At the same time, the Kingdom of Ergia's army, which had already completed its assembly inside the city, also launched its offensive, igniting the flames of liberation on Ergia's soil.

……

San, it's been a long time since I've asked for a recommendation?

Volume 1: Chapter 196 (Chapter 181) The Flames of Liberation (2)

Lugilian Zabi is a private first class in the Belken Empire's army. He joined the army not voluntarily, but because he had offended a nobleman within the empire named Caspar Deiken. He enlisted on the eve of the Empire's blitzkrieg against Elgia, simply to avoid Caspar's retaliation.

After experiencing so many battles on the front lines, Wu began to doubt whether his initial decision had been ill-considered; it seemed like nothing more than jumping from one fire pit to another. If he had even sensed the impending war, he wouldn't have joined the army at that time.

Kilian, perched atop the wooden watchtower, felt a deep sense of bitterness. Since donning this uniform, he had completely severed ties with his past life. First, there was the daily drills back home; after the outbreak of war, these ordinary soldiers spent most of their time exposed to the elements. The Belken army was rigidly hierarchical, with a strong emphasis on seniority. Someone like him, lacking both seniority and connections, quickly became the "object of pity" for the veterans.

Yes, this tough night shift was specially arranged by a veteran to help him "train his night vision and combat capabilities in complex environments." For this, he even had to contribute his own canned yellow peaches to thank the veteran for giving him such a rare opportunity.

"Scum! Villains! I hope you get a bullet from those elusive Elgins someday." Kilian cursed everyone in his squad under his breath. He glanced down; there weren't many officers still on night duty at this hour, and no one would notice him standing there in the wind. So he plopped down on the floor. Although it was still a bit chilly, at least the wooden planks blocked the night wind.

This made him feel sleepy all of a sudden. You see, he hadn't rested all day, and the food hadn't been very good.

There are more watchtowers here than just the one right below you. If anything happens, the people in the other watchtowers should be able to spot it too. It'll be fine for me to close my eyes and take a nap...

Then Gihren slowly closed his eyes.

He dreamt of his family of seven for the first time in a long time. Then he saw the woman who had caused his falling out with Caspar, which immediately woke him up. He was covered in cold sweat and his face was pale.

'I must not have slept for long...' Without a watch, he tried to stand up by holding onto the wooden planks around him to see what was below, but perhaps because his legs were numb, Kirian couldn't stand steadily and his knees hit the wooden planks with a sound.

"what's the situation!"

"It's nothing! I just bumped into something!" Kilian replied loudly when he heard people asking below. Sure enough, he heard many people cursing for being disturbed from their sleep. He sat down again, rubbing his knee and looking at the sky. What time was it? He didn't know how much time had passed, or even if it was time to change shifts.

"Whoever wants to work the night shift next time can fucking do it," Kilian muttered harshly.

If only there were some amusement to pass the time. Kilian thought to himself, then involuntarily recalled the "happy times" at the very beginning of the war—even though they were just the most numerous and cheapest-to-train peasant infantry, they were the emperors of this land. At that time, the Elgin army had been almost completely annihilated by the chariot forces, and the remaining soldiers were utterly incapable of fighting against their overwhelming numerical superiority. Without an army, the civilians became their playthings, from gold and silver to women; they could obtain whatever they wanted from these Elgins without any burden.

But this period of euphoria didn't last long. In Fabandi, they finally encountered resistance. 'Once we take Fabandi, we'll definitely need to find a clean woman; it's just not fun with those puppets still oozing semen,' he thought, trying to paint a rosy picture of his future, imagining how sexy his target would be, to dispel the negative emotions in his heart. This seemed to work; his penis was throbbing, and his knees seemed to hurt less. This allowed Kirian to stand up again and continue his mission—keeping his sights on the horizon.

According to the instructions, the enemy would attack from behind along Highway 76, which is why they built these watchtowers. It was strange; how did the Elgins get around to their rear? He couldn't continue thinking about it because he heard strange noises.

"What the hell is that noise?" This sound also woke up many people.

From his vantage point, Kilian had a much wider field of vision than those below. He seemed to see several dark shapes growing larger in the lower sky. He squinted, trying to clear his vision. But as the shapes suddenly shifted upwards, he saw orange-red tails behind them, and silhouettes that didn't resemble birds at all. In the orange-red backlight, he saw numerous small black dots protruding from the wings of the silhouettes, rapidly approaching.

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!" He quickly turned on the searchlight next to him, trying to use the bright yellow beam of light to trap these uninvited guests.

The camp erupted in chaos. High-powered searchlights were switched on one after another, illuminating Highway 76 and the surrounding treeline, with only a few beams pointing skyward. Before they could react to the enemy coming from the sky, rockets were already raining down on them—whether still lying down or already running, those Belken men closest to the blast point were all knocked to the ground. The canvas windproof tents became sieves, and the startled warhorses and packhorses began running wildly around the camp. Many were wounded or even killed by these large, ferocious beasts. The explosions set some tents ablaze, but fortunately, the tents were spaced far enough apart that the flames didn't spread everywhere.

"From the sky! Watch out from the sky!"

Kilian slid down the ladder, his palms already bleeding from the friction against the rough wooden surface, but he felt nothing. He ran all the way back to his squad's position—these people were all gang scum, but if it weren't for them, Kilian would probably be dead.

"Dog shit." (Wu)

Kirian abruptly stopped Sprint Clock, for he saw that the squad's tent had been reduced to tattered curtains, stained with blood and bits of flesh, with a hole the size of a human head in the roof. He had no time to think about how to save his own life; the second wave of attack arrived. 7

The air raid, the first of the 7th Brigade's three-pronged attack, arrived as expected.

Volume 1: Chapter 197 Chapter 182 The Flames of Liberation (3)

On Highway 76, a massive armored convoy was advancing towards the Belken positions. Inside the command vehicle in the middle, a group of staff officers were assessing the effectiveness of the initial strike. Because preliminary reconnaissance indicated that the Belken forces at this position were mainly infantry with few tanks, the 1st and 2nd Squadrons of the 588th Air Regiment were primarily using rockets to launch their attacks.

The nighttime bombing raid by 10 attack aircraft was highly effective, as evidenced by the orange-red flashes of light rising on the distant horizon.

“Perhaps we don’t need to provide artillery coverage,” one staff officer suggested. “Besides the significant losses suffered by Belken, the main reason is that their troops have begun to fall into disarray.”

The Belken forces began to fall into disarray. This intelligence, of course, wasn't relayed by the attack aircraft, but rather by regular reconnaissance units lurking near the enemy positions. Yes, such regular reconnaissance wouldn't likely involve elite infantry like Sergeyev; Valylia's regular reconnaissance troops were perfectly capable of handling it.

As for why this staff officer proposed canceling the artillery barrage before the ground troops' offensive, the reason is quite simple: they're running low on ammunition. Ah, don't misunderstand, it's that they're running low on readily available ammunition. Unlike the Aerospace Forces, the 7th Brigade's Alpha Base still has a considerable amount of ammunition reserves, but the delivery efficiency is too slow, and replenishment can't keep up with the rate of consumption. As for the Aerospace Forces, they are genuinely poor and simply can't afford precision-guided weapons. With the 7th Brigade launching another offensive, helicopter units will be deployed more extensively on the battlefield, significantly reducing the number of aircraft capable of continuing resupply missions. Under these circumstances, naturally, every bit of resources is precious; after all, good resources should be used where they're most needed.

The staff officer's suggestion was approved by most. Under the cover of darkness and chaos, the tank battalion, as the vanguard, could break through the current position without any fire support. Therefore, the 7th Brigade did not use "fire support" as a second move as usual, but jumped directly to the third move—"armored assault".

However, somewhat surprisingly, not long after Major Snow White's tank battalion set off, Captain Valyria sent back new intelligence: after the 588th Air Regiment withdrew, the chaos among the enemy forces began to subside, and some of them had begun to realize that the Allied ground forces were about to appear and had made preparations for battle in advance.

Well, although this unit took a while to react, at least they reacted. Even if they weren't elite troops, they were by no means cannon fodder that could only be used to fill in the gaps.