Chapter 354: It’s not the time yet
The two vanguards of the Angry Bear Legion blocked the two gaps in the positions, which had a significant impact on the battle situation.
In terms of the war situation, once the two gaps are blocked, the surrounding troops will no longer be attacked from multiple sides. At the same time, when the troops of the first line of defense are retreating from the front, there will be a way to go.
What is more important is the aspect of military morale.
From the beginning of the battle until now, the human army has been losing positions. The company-battalion-level positions were directly destroyed, and the regiment- and division-level positions could only hold out for a few hours. The enemy was like an empty field. Not to mention holding out, if they ran a little slower, they would be surrounded and lost contact. The entire war zone at the army level was also shaken terribly.
Either they are destroyed or they run away. How can morale be good when they keep losing battles?
And now, the key to the Angry Bear Legion's going against the current is that it has really achieved some results, which is like raising a torch in the darkness.
Although this could only be considered a partial victory on the battlefield, and even the so-called victory was only temporary, it did tell others that the enemy was not invincible.
The troops that had suffered heavy losses could be withdrawn and reorganized; the same was true for the troops that had collapsed in the first line of defense. Later, the reserve troops of the 56th Army also began to move up and fill the positions that had been recaptured by the troops of the Angry Bear Legion.
At this stage, it was a bit awkward for the plague demon army to take over.
Before this, some of the plague monsters that poured in through the gap in the defense zone were pushed back by the attack of the armored forces of the Angry Bear Legion, but more of them had no time to retreat and were now all blocked inside. Within a few hours, they were almost completely surrounded and wiped out.
At this stage, it is no exaggeration to say that this is a partial victory.
Of course, the armored forces of the Angry Bear Legion also suffered heavy losses. And it was somewhat beyond expectations. The main losses were not during the attack, but during the defense after the recapture of the position.
The enemy forces in front of them did not stop their fierce offensive. In order not to lose the fruits of victory, they had to block the gap. But at this time, the disadvantage of the armored combined brigade was reflected: there were few front-line combat troops, especially the number of infantry. When the armored troops were defending, they could only play the role of a fire support platform at most.
You can't use precious armored vehicles as cover.
There are many trenches and gun pits on the battlefield, which can be used as shelters.
Fortunately, the 92nd Infantry Division that accompanied the attack came forward and alleviated the problem of insufficient combat infantry. Later, multiple regiment-level troops from the 56th Army's local defense forces also came up one after another, further expanding the force.
That holds up.
The situation on the battlefield has become stable - at least for now.
Of course, stability does not mean no intensity. In fact, the battle was still very tragic and the sacrifices were very great. The defensive pressure brought by the Plague Demon Army was still very great. Their continuous and casualty-free attacks turned the frontline battlefields of both sides into a meat grinder.
Every minute and every second, countless people died wailing, taking away even more monsters.
During the ongoing battle, even the Angry Bear Legion, an elite force on the entire battlefield whose members had all met the standard training requirements of the Astra Militarum and had sufficient weapons and equipment, could not withstand such a fierce battle.
The 92nd Division lost more than 5,000 soldiers in just a few hours. Although the casualty rate was only a little over 12%, in fact, the combat effectiveness of the entire division had been greatly affected.
It is true that the division has 40,000 soldiers, fully equipped and staffed, but in fact, the number of non-frontline soldiers such as logistics, communications, artillery, air defense, engineering, and division headquarters also accounts for a large proportion. And the troops lost in the battle were almost all frontline combat troops.
In fact, the 92nd Division's combat effectiveness had been lost by more than one-third.
The situation did not improve until a fully-staffed reserve native infantry division arrived.
But the number of reserve troops is limited after all. Without further support, this cruel meat grinder cannot continue forever.
Fortunately, the human army's central command finally made the right decision. A large number of troops in the rear received the order and began to push forward to provide support.
…
The results achieved by the Angry Bear Legion are the only good news the Central Command has heard since the war began.
In any case, the attack of the Angry Bear Legion helped the 56th Army in the front to hold the defense line and even pushed back a little.
This is the only solid place in the entire second line of defense.
The central command, which had been stunned since the war began, finally issued an order.
The troops of the third line of defense began to press forward to fully support the front line; at the same time, following the example of the Angry Bear Legion, Lieutenant General Hans also mobilized his main elite forces, namely the armored forces of the Dragon Eagle Legion.
To be honest, although the Dragon Eagle Legion is a legitimate interstellar army, its combat level is not as good as that of the Angry Bear.
There's even a big difference.
There is a difference in the number of soldiers. The Dragon Eagle Legion may only have 40% of its soldiers who have reached the standard level of the Astra Militarum. There is also a gap in equipment. The infantry division may be about the same, but the armored division is very different. Obviously, a large armored division has more than 30,000 people, but the number of heavy equipment may be only two-thirds of a synthetic brigade of the Raging Bear Legion.
But there are as many as forty large armored divisions like the Dragon Eagle Legion.
In addition, there are some Lion tanks inside. This thing, judging by its name, sounds like an upgraded version of the Lion tank, but in fact, it is two completely different things. The Lion tank can only be regarded as a regular tank in the classification of the Astra Militarum, while the Lion tank is a serious heavy tank. Its size is three times that of the Lion tank, with extremely heavy armor, and even a small shield generator that can protect one side but is movable. Its main gun is a super-heavy artillery, with two secondary guns equivalent to the Lion, and two heavy bolter machine guns. Nearly twenty people are needed inside to drive this tank well.
Comparing it with the Lion tank, one Lion King can blow up dozens of Lions - mainly because its internal artillery and multiple auxiliary combat sighting and servo skulls can operate with very high precision, and its main gun can cause devastating damage no matter where it hits the Lion - the secondary gun can actually do the same, but it needs to be more accurate.
On the contrary, the Lion tank could hardly cause any effective attack on it. Even if it could bypass the energy shield and surround the Lion King, the protection capability of the Lion King tank's weakest buttocks or the grid armor on the side tracks was even greater than that of the frontal armor of an ordinary Lion tank.
Such a heavy monster can even destroy the Knight Titan in a head-on confrontation!
Although there were not many of these big guys in the entire Dragon Eagle Legion, and on average, there was not even one for each armored division. However, when Lieutenant General Hans made up his mind, he was decisive enough and did not hide it anymore. He took out half of the eighteen Lion King heavy tanks as his last trump card and supported them on the most dangerous battlefield.
At the same time, the armored divisions of the Dragon Eagle Legion also set out.
In terms of tactics, it imitates the armored combined brigade of the Angry Bear Legion.
The effectiveness of the armored divisions of the Dragon Eagle Legion was actually far less than that of the Angry Bear Legion, but after all, there were enough of them, and with the assistance of heavy tanks, they also broke through the enemy's lines and stabilized the overall defense line.
The second line of defense, which had been shaky, was stabilized in this way.
Even after that, the situation with the meat grinder slowed down a lot.
At first, the human side was a little surprised, but soon, the human army staff who regained their wisdom also figured out the reason:
The enemy's losses were also huge, and those plague monsters would be invincible.
Although the lowest level of plague monsters, such as the Plague Flies or the Plague Zombies, are brainless, have no morale, and are fearless of death, the commanders behind them, the enemy leaders, obviously still have brains and will not waste the number of troops under their command.
If we can continue to inflict devastating blows on the human army and directly destroy the human army's war zone, then the sacrifice is certainly worthwhile.
However, once the human battle line stabilized, this became unnecessary.
The most critical factor is that in the previous attack, the losses suffered by the plague monsters were actually far greater than those of the human side.
Before this, it was difficult to count the enemy's losses because the human army was in a state of retreat. But when the second line of defense stabilized and the situation became a meat grinder, it was possible to make a certain degree of estimation.
Although it is not accurate, it can at least serve as a reference.
The exchange ratio between humans and plague monsters is probably about 1 to 8.
This is a very high figure. This is the price the enemy has to pay for maintaining the highest intensity of attack at every point along the entire front line that is hundreds of kilometers wide, regardless of the cost.
Humans were stunned at first, but have recovered now.
Up to now, the battle has lasted for a whole day. Even if we don't count the plague fly swarms, the human side has suffered nearly one million casualties in the ground forces alone, while the enemy's casualties are estimated to be more than eight million.
The demons couldn't fight anymore.
In addition, there is another objective factor. When the battle line reached the second line of defense of the human side, it was already more than 80 kilometers away from the city of Fino.
At this distance, the support that Fino City can provide is not that much.
The most powerful evil energy artillery in Fino City was not used for ground combat, but had to be aimed at the sky. The human fleet also appeared and disappeared in orbit, and after a while, it would pour a round of artillery fire on Fino City and carry out an orbital strike. In this way, they declared their presence.
Although it is difficult to destroy the void shield that breaks through the city of Fino simply by relying on the insufficient firepower of the fleet, the existence of the fleet still brings great significance to this battle.
If there was no fleet to hold them back, if the orbital cannons in Fino City were laid flat and fired at the human army's positions, they would have penetrated every corner with one shot, without any hesitation.
Moreover, the fleet's orbital strikes can also provide support in the direction of attack of the plague demon army.
The support is just not strong enough.
The fleet cannot be too reckless when facing the threat of anti-orbital gun attacks from the city of Fino, otherwise losing a ship would be unbearable.
As a result of this mutual entanglement, as the battlefield moved away from Fino City, the number of conventional evil energy cannons that could reach such a distance of 80 kilometers was greatly reduced. And without the heavy firepower support from the rear, the plague demon army was even more unable to fight.
If they insist on fighting, on the front line stabilized by humans and under the fierce bombardment of artillery mobilized in the rear, the price they pay may not be just one to eight, but probably more than double.
Even the Plague Demon Army could not withstand such a loss.
Fino City originally had a population of one billion. Before it was completely occupied, 600 million of them eventually evacuated the city. In the hive city that was swallowed by Fino City, most of the people also ran out before it was swallowed up, and only a little over 100 million were swallowed up.
It is impossible for those plague demon armies to transform all these more than 700 million people into an army - at least there will be more than half losses in the transformation process.
Due to the comprehensive losses and insufficient firepower support, the Plague Demon Army slowed down its attack.
In this way, the human army can also breathe a sigh of relief.
Nearly twenty army groups in the first and second lines of defense all returned to the rear and rested at the foot of Mingyan City; fifteen army groups that were originally in the rear all rushed to the front, and behind them there were dozens of army groups as reserve forces.
The exception was the Angry Bear Legion. Hans didn't want to use such a capable force as a regular filling-in division, waiting to be deployed at any time in the back.
With this arrangement, the defense line was finally completely stabilized.
However, Lieutenant General Hans was still uneasy.
He dialed Gu Hang's number.
"Governor Gu, although you didn't tell me, I know you are preparing something very special." Lieutenant General Hans said in a deep voice. This was his guess based on Gu Hang's actions. "The current balance on the front line cannot be maintained forever. In fact, by tomorrow, when Fino City advances 30 kilometers and our front line is brought back into the range of firepower, our pressure will become very huge. By then, I'm afraid we will have to retreat from the second line of defense."
"Whatever your plan is, start it as soon as possible!"
However, in response to Lieutenant General Hans' words, Gu Hang simply said, "It's not the right time yet."
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I will try to write another chapter during the weekend, but it will probably be very late, so please wait until tomorrow morning to read it!
(End of this chapter)
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