Chapter 353, Going against the current
And the city of Fino was still moving forward. In six hours, it had advanced twelve kilometers.
The plague demon army that emerged from its "body", with the support of air superiority and the firepower support of the activated war fortress of Fino City, has already penetrated the human army's front line of more than 50 kilometers.
The human army on the second line of defense has already started fighting with these plague demon armies.
At this moment, at the headquarters in the rear, Lieutenant General Hans had received the latest intelligence.
"…Our first line of defense has been breached."
"The 55th, 60th, 61st, 71st, 72nd and 83rd Armies of the mainland have been completely routed."
"The 3rd and 5th armies of the Dragon Eagle Legion have also withdrawn."
This is shocking news.
Everyone in the command post, from Lieutenant General Hans to many staff officers, remained silent, allowing the staff officer who was giving the report to report the situation at the front in a trembling voice.
"The battle on the front line is too intense, and the statistics cannot be guaranteed to be accurate. At present, twelve divisions have been completely disconnected and are expected to be completely destroyed. The remaining troops that have withdrawn have also suffered losses. It is estimated that in the past six hours, we have lost a total of more than 400,000 people..."
Six hours, four hundred thousand people.
All those present claimed to be veterans of the battlefield and had fought in countless wars, big and small.
But they have never fought this kind of battle before.
The entire battle will mobilize 60 million people, and within six hours, the first line of defense consisting of multiple armies and millions of people collapsed directly, destroying twelve divisions and losing 400,000 people... It's too exaggerated.
On average, a division could only hold out on the front line for a few minutes before being defeated, and on average a division would be completely destroyed in half an hour.
Of course, it is not possible to calculate it evenly. The width is hundreds of kilometers and the depth is fifty kilometers. The troops are scattered throughout and the battles are almost simultaneous. Generally speaking, a division can still fight for several hours at the front.
But even so, the numbers sent back from the front line are still too frightening.
What's more, the development of the situation on the battlefield completely exceeded their original plans.
Originally, General Hans planned to bring the war to the city of Fino. When the hive city approached, the troops would rush into the hive city under the cover of firepower, using burning weapons and bombs to destroy the body of the activated hive city as much as possible.
Even though that would lead to a fierce counterattack from the plague demon army, as was the case with the failed attempted attack involving a million people, at least some results were achieved.
More importantly, this time the number of troops they are prepared to deploy for the attack is not in the millions, but in the tens of millions.
As long as the front-line troops gain a foothold in the hive, subsequent support forces will immediately follow up from the second line of defense, join the battle, and withdraw the first wave of troops that are expected to suffer heavy casualties.
With such rotation, continuous penetration, and increasing military input, perhaps, they could finally destroy this revitalized city at the cost of the blood of countless human soldiers.
But unexpectedly, the first wave of troops could not even break into Fino City. Under the cover of air superiority, the Plague Demon Army did not allow the human troops to even touch the edge of the hive city. Instead, they rushed out and directly broke through the first line of defense of the human army.
The speed of the collapse was too fast and the casualties were too severe, which was beyond their expectations.
More importantly, even they are trembling with fear here, what about the troops on the front line?
After coming back to his senses, Hans first focused on this question: "What is the current situation of the troops on the second line of defense?"
"Very bad." The intelligence officer responded immediately. "The defeat was too quick. The defeated troops retreated and had no time to regroup before the enemy pressed forward again. Several local army groups on the second line of defense have reported the emergence of organized deserters. Although it can be controlled for now, as the war continues to burn on the second line of defense, I am afraid the situation will become even more pessimistic, or even..."
"Even what?"
"It's even possible that the second line of defense may not last as long as the first line of defense." The intelligence officer gritted his teeth and stated his judgment.
An atmosphere of panic and despair completely enveloped the command post.
They could all imagine one consequence: if the worst-case scenario occurred and the human army's second line of defense also collapsed quickly, then countless plague demons, accompanied by a large number of deserters, would rush back all the way, and a chain reaction might occur, destroying all the arrangements behind.
No matter how many tens of millions of people there are, once they lose their organization, it will be useless. The entire battle situation will collapse like a huge domino. No matter how many people are behind, the collapse will only make it seem more grand.
At this moment, an intelligence officer broke into the command post.
Everyone was startled by the slam of the door opening, fearing that there might be worse news.
The new intelligence officer was a little confused, but the intelligence was important, so he quickly said, "Commander! There is news from the third line of defense. Brigadier General Li Kexi said that the Angry Bear Corps he leads is taking the initiative to attack. The goal is to stabilize the front line where he is located and to receive the retreating troops to the rear for reorganization. He hopes that the command can make a decision as soon as possible and send elite troops to take the initiative to attack. Don't be stingy with the investment of the air force. We must stabilize the situation, otherwise there will be endless troubles."
Hans was stunned for a moment.
In the midst of a total rout, there was actually a legion going against the current?
It's not like he hadn't thought about moving the troops at the rear forward, but he always had a question in his mind: would it be useful?
He could still hold on now. If the enemy's offensive slowed down, especially if they were far away from the support of the Hive City's fel energy cannons, the enemy's offensive would inevitably weaken as they got farther away from the activated hive. He had already made plans to abandon the first few lines of defense and regroup in the rear.
But if the troops in the rear lines of defense are really moved forward, if they can hold off the enemy, then everything will be fine. But if they can't, the great collapse will come ahead of time.
How to choose?
…
No matter how Lieutenant General Hans struggled later, Li Koxi finally took action.
The Angry Bear Legion currently has a fully staffed army of 1.2 million, with a total of 49 division-brigade units, which is considered an army-level specification. It is responsible for a separate section on the third line of defense.
Without a clear order from the headquarters to attack the entire army, Li Kexi could not really attack with his entire army no matter what.
He also has his own defense zone to manage.
However, based on the information sent back by the reconnaissance troops and the information from the friendly forces ahead, Li Kexi made a sharp judgment that the situation ahead was not going to work. Seeing the friendly forces being beaten without moving, when the second line of defense collapsed and all the pressure came to him, he would not be able to bear it.
Then, he stretched out two 'tentacles' and reached forward.
The 77th Koroja Armored Combined Brigade, the 92nd Koroja Large Infantry Division, and the 21st Garrison Division form a tentacle.
The other one has almost the same configuration.
The armored brigade charged forward as the spearhead, with a large infantry division of 40,000 people building up in the rear to support it. The garrison division was cruising nearby, ready to fill the shortage of infantry for the armored division at any time.
In this situation, it took them about an hour to reach the second line of defense.
In fact, on the way, they were able to encounter some small number of enemy units that had overcharged and were annihilated along the way.
And when they reached the second line of defense, the pressure of the battle suddenly increased.
This place has been completely covered by the raging flames of war.
The entire area is said to be several hundred square kilometers, but a large number of troops are deployed here, and almost everywhere is filled with trenches and semi-underground bunkers dug in recent months. And the human army, right here, is fighting a desperate duel with the plague demon.
Many positions had been lost, while many were still resisting. The two sides fought repeatedly for every inch of land, every trench, and every firing point.
But overall, the human side is on the verge of collapse.
Originally, the 56th Army, a local defense force, was stationed in this area, with more than 20 large divisions under its command. However, since many troops had collapsed from the front, they were attacked when they were trying to send people to support them. Many divisions lost contact, and a large number of positions were divided. At the same time, the troops' fighting spirit was not strong enough. The terrifying enemy and the loss of the sky further dealt a severe blow to morale.
With the superposition of various factors, the situation of their entire army became somewhat shaky.
The front-line troops were already in a state of collapse, and the reserve troops could not hold out for long. In fact, a large number of enemies poured in from some of the places that had been breached, causing great chaos in the rear of the army.
The evil clouds of the subspace in this area quietly input the electronic waste code into the communication channels of the human army. This caused the communication channels between the human forces to be disconnected for one-third of the time, and the situation was even worse for another one-third, with the channels filled with the whispers and evil laughter of demons, which made people feel very uncomfortable, with cold sweats and vomiting being the least of their symptoms, and some people even went crazy because of it.
Only in the last one-third of cases, if they were lucky, could they communicate normally. Human forces could only rely on this completely unreliable method to communicate with each other.
The problem of poor communication also greatly affected the organization of the entire army.
Among the armored forces of the advancing Angry Bear Legion, there are special communication vehicles and communication companies. Relying on the stability of the equipment and the ability to withstand interference, their situation is much better.
The vanguard successfully contacted the 56th Army's headquarters. Upon hearing of their arrival, the commander of the army was overjoyed and immediately shared intelligence, pointing out the biggest gap.
The commander of the 77th Armored Brigade gave it just a moment's thought, communicated briefly with the troops in the rear, and then led his troops straight toward the target area.
The Lion tanks with high turrets kept firing while moving, and their high-explosive shells covered the visible enemy groups; infantry fighting vehicles accompanied them, and their rapid-fire machine guns fired in coordination, annihilating a large number of enemy troops; the self-propelled artillery units urgently set up artillery arrays to cover the direction of the troops' advance, and the garrison divisions following up in the rear, on the one hand, also deployed their own artillery in coordination, and on the other hand, they held their positions to prevent the enemy, who had already broken through the friendly lines of defense, from directly threatening the artillery array from other directions.
As for the large division of the Angry Bear Legion, it was further back. The artillery had also deployed its attack formation, and a large number of troops, in companies and battalions, took over many friendly positions to ensure that the front-line troops had a clear route back.
The firepower of a unit of the 77th Brigade of the Angry Bear was equal to that of several large divisions of the local army. After they joined the battle, the situation changed greatly.
At least the gap was plugged.
The turning point occurred when a tank company on the advance discovered an area that was heavily protected by the enemy. After calling for several rounds of artillery support from the rear, the company's eleven Lion tanks launched a cluster charge. The roar of the engines of the eleven steel behemoths and the heavy bombardment of the tank guns not only stunned the enemies who had just endured the artillery bombardment and had not yet recovered, but also aroused the fighting spirit of several local companies that had fled previously.
At the request of the tank company commander, these infantrymen bravely launched an accompanying attack.
After paying the price of destroying two tanks and using five or six armor-piercing shells to destroy a flesh and blood monster that was larger than the Lion tank, the enemy's most important resistance force was disintegrated.
The infantry rushed forward and after eliminating the remaining enemies, they discovered what was being protected by this army of plague monsters—a crawling flesh and blood machine with an antenna, from which shrill, piercing sounds came.
The captain commander of the tank company roughly guessed what it was - it was most likely an information center where the enemy dropped electronic waste code.
No matter what, it's a demonic creation, so just fire a few shots and destroy it without saying anything.
Sure enough, his guess was correct.
After this flesh-crawling machine with an antenna was destroyed, the communication conditions in a large area around it immediately became much better.
Troops that can be reorganized and mobilized are no longer so easy to collapse.
As the armored brigade advanced along the gap in the defense line, the situation on the entire front was stabilized.
This attracted a swarm of plague flies.
The power of these things in a diving posture for suicide bombing is still not small. However, the Alliance Armored Brigade is equipped with a large number of anti-aircraft armored vehicles, anti-aircraft guns, and anti-aircraft high-explosive bombs, which can eliminate a large number of these monsters that are not flying fast and have to dive. Even the firearms in the hands of the infantry can bring considerable results.
Although quite a few giant flies successfully self-destructed, the losses were still within an acceptable range.
With a large number of wind falcons participating in the battle from the flight squadron under the corps in the rear, the air threat was further alleviated.
In an instant, the vanguard troops sent out by the Angry Bear Legion actually made a rapid advance against the odds!
(End of this chapter)
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