Chapter 291: Western Desert Battle Conclusion
Li Kexi certainly has reason to be angry.
Although the Beast-Slaying Brigade subsequently received a lot of reinforcements, nearly half of its personnel were still the Beast-Slaying Regiment that he had led in the past.
They had fought greenskins in the ruins, fought greenskins in space, fought aberrations and cultists in the south, and suppressed rebels when pacifying the eastern provinces...
Every soldier in the Beast Killing Brigade is a good guy.
But many of them died here.
The specific and accurate information on casualties in this battle has not yet been released, but based on current estimates, the total losses of the Alliance Army may exceed three thousand people - most of them came from the Beast Slayer Brigade, a small part came from the Wind Extinguishing Brigade, and the 47th Brigade suffered only very few casualties.
Of these losses, nearly one-third were suffered due to ambushes during the march on the Western Desert Highway due to insufficient preparation.
In the battle, another two-thirds were lost under the enemy's full resistance.
Among these losses, the 2nd Regiment of the Beast Slaughter Brigade suffered the heaviest losses.
The entire regiment was almost crippled.
The 2nd Regiment has only 9 combat companies in total, and if you count some other support forces such as artillery, logistics, and engineers at the regiment headquarters, the total number of people is probably less than 1,600.
Now, they have almost no fighting power. Although there are only two examples of the 3rd and 9th companies being completely wiped out, other companies have also suffered heavy casualties in the battle to block the enemy's retreat to the south.
According to the current situation, the entire regiment needs to go back to rest and replenish troops and equipment before it can restore its combat effectiveness.
That's no different than rebuilding a group.
Li Kexi really loves his soldiers like his own sons, and he cannot bear to see his soldiers suffer too many casualties. But he is a soldier and a qualified commander, and if a victory can only be achieved at the cost of the soldiers' sacrifice, he will pay for it without hesitation.
He understood that a kind-hearted person cannot command an army.
But was this battle, which we just won, really necessary?
They did achieve a crucial victory, clearing the final hurdle for Operation Flash Tail.
But... in essence, it is still making up for the mistakes made by the 47th Brigade in the south.
If they hadn't made the mistake, this battle wouldn't have been necessary.
Those 15,000 mechanical units were firmly locked in the south. If the 47th Brigade kept a close watch on them, the alliance troops advancing along the West Desert Highway would be able to reach the 'Scorpion Oasis' faster and achieve their strategic goals.
Even if the Mechanical Legion tried its best to stop them, whether it was attacking the 47th Brigade head-on or going around to the west to block the Wind-Extinguishing Brigade and the Beast-Slaying Brigade, it was still fighting head-on.
Firstly, there will be no situation where they are caught off guard by bombing during the march; secondly, the soldiers of the Beast Slaughter Brigade will not have to fight to the death with a mixed force of infantry, armored vehicles and drones that far outnumbers their own in number without artillery and need to temporarily dig defensive fortifications in order to block the enemy's retreat.
"This is a crucial victory, yes, but it is a war that we have to wage in order to make up for the big mistake you made!"
"The soldiers' sacrifice is glorious, and the victory they won is also glorious, but that cannot wash away the shame on you!"
Li Kexi was still criticizing the Lieutenant Colonel Commander of the 47th Brigade.
The lieutenant colonel, who was almost drowned in spit, lowered his head and dared not say a word.
If his troops were in a bloody battle and were unable to withstand the enemy's attack, there would still be room for argument. But the fact is that the enemy bypassed his defense line without any battle, and he was not able to detect it in advance. It was the air force brothers who saw the situation during routine patrols and warned the headquarters.
First, he cannot let the enemy come; second, he cannot be ignorant of everything.
He made both of these mistakes.
There is no excuse.
In the end, Li Kexi was tired of spraying.
He said coldly: "I have already reported the relevant situation to the headquarters. You can wait for the military court!"
…
Li Kexi, with the rank of colonel, temporarily assumed the duties of front-line commander and was in charge of four brigades, but that did not mean he had the authority to dismiss a lieutenant colonel brigade commander.
But when he mentioned "going to court-martial", he was not just talking.
He did not have the power to remove the lieutenant colonel, but Yan Fangxu did.
Soon, the transfer order from the general headquarters arrived.
The lieutenant colonel commander of the 47th Brigade and the major chief of staff were removed from their posts. The deputy brigade commander and the deputy chief of staff took over, but since their qualifications and ranks were not high enough, the political commissar of the 47th Brigade temporarily took over the command.
The two men who were dismissed got into a car and headed east in disgrace, led by a team of military police.
They will first report to the headquarters where General Yan is located to report the situation, which will also be a chance for them to explain what Colonel Li Kexi reported.
But... there is not much room for explanation, and I will inevitably be scolded again.
It would be easy to just scold them. After that, they would have to go to Fuxing City to be tried by the Alliance Military Court.
The Alliance Military Tribunal is a court independent of the Alliance's normal legal system, specializing in the trial of active military personnel. It is headed by Major General Thadius, the General Political Commissar, and assisted by Alliance Chief Justice Lambert.
The man who was dismissed from his post had studied relevant military regulations and laws, and he probably had a clear idea of what would happen to him.
Life... not yet. He didn't commit the most serious crimes, such as treason, desertion, and disobeying orders from superiors.
Negligence and malfeasance are the most serious crimes.
In fact, what happened later was similar to his own judgment.
He was dismissed from his military post, his rank was reduced to captain, and he was sent to a civilian department. In the following six months, he was transferred to a new unit, a garrison division in the Qinggu area, and served as a battalion commander. Every day he was in the jungle dealing with the deformed monsters that still remained in the southern Qinggu.
He must have some ability, otherwise he wouldn't have been promoted; even after making a big mistake and suffering a big blow, there will always be growth. What's more, he is only a battalion commander in the garrison division, so he must be qualified.
It's impossible that those deformed monsters could grow brains and use a roundabout, detection, and deception operation to bypass his defenses, right?
…
Half a month later.
Gu Hang, who was in Fuxing City, received a complete report on "Operation Flash Tail" from Yan Fangxu.
The whole operation is over.
Before this battle report arrived, he had already seen the settlement interface from the system panel.
[Western Desert Campaign Settlement:]
[Epic victory, gain 12284 points of grace]
[Loss 17,325, 246,645 destroyed]
This data is still very beautiful.
In fact, before Operation Flash Tail, the Alliance had already lost more than 13,000 troops in the full-scale battles of infiltration and counter-infiltration.
This was a huge loss, especially considering that the fighting had lasted less than a month.
Although the Alliance destroyed more than 50,000 mechanical units of various types in the process, this kind of blood-letting war situation is definitely not what the Alliance wants.
In Gu Hang's opinion, exchanging human lives for the wreckage of mechanical units is definitely a losing business.
After Yan Fangxu submitted the plan report for Operation Flash Tail, Gu Hang agreed. He also looked forward to a great victory.
Yan Fangxu and a series of soldiers fighting on the front lines did not disappoint his expectations.
Although there were some unexpected situations in the process, the overall strategy was smooth.
After destroying the enemy's last mobile force, they destroyed the logistics distribution center at the "Scorpion Oasis".
After that, the situation developed just as expected. After losing important energy sources such as batteries and fuel, all the enemy's front-line troops began to collapse. The troops with less reserves were probably only capable of fighting for two or three days, and those with more reserves would be finished in eight or nine days at most.
They realized that there was no chance of victory and began to retreat - in fact, when the last mobile force was destroyed, the controllers behind these mechanical monsters had already realized this and prepared for the worst.
However, retreat is still not just talk.
Just retreating from the desert to a place with logistical support would require a long journey. Just like the human troops going deep into the desert, the mechanical army also had to travel thousands of kilometers.
What's more, how could the human troops just watch them retreat?
Throughout the Western Theater, the Alliance's troops began an all-out attack.
Their first priority was not to destroy the enemy, but to delay, harass, and encircle them...
The four brigades that had created a huge salient, under the command of Colonel Li Koshi, also began to outflank the enemy's rear on both sides.
On the entire map, it can be clearly seen that after the four brigades created a large salient on the front line, they began to move in a blooming manner to both sides, with the goal of cutting off the enemy's retreat.
Of course, this is not perfect. If you encounter a mechanical army that has retreated far back, they will really fight to the death. Their numbers are still not enough, so if you encounter such a thing, just let them pass.
But if they encounter insufficient energy reserves or insufficient number of troops, they will be intercepted decisively.
This form of fighting lasted for more than ten days.
In the central part of the Western Desert, the enemy, with 400,000 mechanical units, was confronting the allied forces on a front line thousands of kilometers wide from north to south, and the battle collapsed directly.
On their way to the west, a small part of them were destroyed, another part escaped, and the remaining half of the mechanical units ran out of energy in the process of fleeing or fighting, and turned into scrap metal on the ground, which was collected effortlessly by the Alliance. Except for the samples, the rest were all destroyed.
Even now, this destruction work is still ongoing.
The power of Blackbird Heavy Industries was even driven out of the Western Desert region at one point.
However, Yan Fangxu still has a clear understanding of this.
He gathered all the troops and strictly ordered them not to chase out of the Western Desert. In fact, starting today, the entire Western Theater Command was shrinking back to the original front line.
Gu Hang still felt very sorry about this, but he knew that Yan Fangxu's choice was correct.
If possible, he would certainly want to make a concerted effort, march hundreds of thousands of troops westward, and defeat Blackbird in one fell swoop.
But no.
Thaddeus gave a warning: Our own logistics have also reached their limit.
The alliance's logistics were not actually very strong, and they relied entirely on the West Desert Road as their lifeline. The previous offensive had consumed a large amount of ammunition, food, and medical supplies. At the same time, there were a large number of wounded soldiers who needed to be transported.
The enemy still had more than 100,000 troops, and before the power ran out, they escaped back to the west of the continent and received reinforcements.
Even in various places in the western part of the continent, there are probably still quite a few mechanical units.
Blackbird Heavy Industries did not collapse.
If you continue to pursue it, it is normal that others may push back against you.
Under this kind of risk, it is more reasonable to play it safe and not make mistakes.
Gu Hang could fully understand this.
But it would be a pity to let the enemy go this time.
Gu Hang has always felt that people should face the most pessimistic plans with the most optimistic attitude.
He estimated that with the level of rebellion by Iron Man like Blackbird Heavy Industries, they would be able to recover quite quickly.
I'm afraid their various production lines have already been running at full capacity. A large number of mechanical units will run off the assembly line, without the need for ten months of gestation or military training, and will be added to various fronts very quickly.
In this process, the fastest production speed is probably to use humans as raw materials to manufacture robots.
This means a huge loss of population.
Gu Hang was very heartbroken about this.
But what can the alliance do?
He had ordered Yan Fangxu to establish a "rescue lifeline" along the West Desert Highway all the way west, and ordered the intelligence front that Lambert was in charge of to make the two or three hundred intelligence personnel buried in the west become active.
They will publicize the victory of the Alliance, the atrocities of Blackbird Heavy Industries using human raw materials to manufacture robots, and the existence of a lifeline. Those who are willing can go all the way east, and the Alliance army will pick them up and escape from the control of Blackbird Heavy Industries.
But… this strategy might be able to save some people, but for the entire western part of the continent, with a population of over 15 million, it is impossible to serve as a savior.
First, the intelligence personnel's actions were also limited, and they could not organize a large-scale escape operation; second, the refugees went east on their own, and the probability of escaping was very low, and those mechanical units would continue to patrol; third, the lifeline established by the alliance was also very fragile, and it could only be established during the window period when the Blackbird was severely damaged. When the Blackbird recovered and the mechanical army took over the front line again, this "rescue lifeline" would probably be broken.
(End of this chapter)
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