Chapter 662, Healthy Competition
The "Alliance National Knights" has the word "Knights" in its name, but it has actually been positioned as a Titan Legion for a long time.
It is true that there are a large number of knight mechas among them, but the most powerful ones are still the numerous Titans.
There are dozens of them, from warlord level to war dog level.
There are three times as many Knight Mechas of various levels. For example, the Overlord Knight Mechas are almost as big as the War Dog Titans.
They roamed across the plain, and every step they took brought a heavy tremor, like an earthquake.
The huge cannon mounted on it caused lasers, macro cannons, and rockets to fly wildly on the battlefield.
At the same time, their huge bodies also provided the best cover. The tanks and armored vehicles that accompanied them and advanced together fired recklessly.
Behind the attacking armored forces, 100,000 artillery pieces were assembled and fired all kinds of shells intensively at the enemy's positions at a speed that did not spare the life of the gun barrels.
The width of this attack is limited to about ten kilometers.
At this width, such intensive firepower caused the Iron Armor's defense line to be shaken significantly.
The resistance forces on the position were almost suppressed to the point where they could not raise their heads.
When the tanks rolled over the trenches, the enemy soldiers hiding in the soldier caves and trench corners had no way to come out to resist. Then, when the infantry rushed up and began to clear the enemy trenches one by one, as soon as they showed signs of resistance, tank guns and even Titan guns would immediately bombard them. No matter how strong the soldier caves were, they could not withstand such bombings.
Those bunkers and close-range support firepower points were all ruthlessly eliminated one by one.
At this time, the long-range firepower of the Iron Armor also showed its power.
The artillery pieces, which were no less numerous than those of the Empire, targeted the attacking National Knights and the artillery positions of the Empire that had already opened fire in the rear.
Artillery is certainly useful.
In just two rounds of attacks, many of the Empire's tanks were destroyed and the artillery positions in the rear also suffered losses.
But the most critical Titan was not seriously damaged.
The agility of the Titans and Knight mechas meant that despite their size, they were actually less likely to be hit than tanks; the energy shields they were equipped with, and even the void shields used by the Warlord-class mechas, made it difficult for them to suffer substantial damage unless they were hit by a large amount of concentrated firepower in a short period of time.
The artillery positions where the Iron Armor side launched a counterattack were quickly destroyed.
Not only did the Empire's artillery fire over there, but the assault Titans also had enough power to pour their firepower over there.
To take a step back, assuming that the ground positions could not withstand the assault of the Empire's armored forces, with the speed and off-road capabilities of the Knight mecha, it would only take a little over an hour to reach a place 40 kilometers away from the front line.
The artillery commander of Tiekai also understood this, but under the strong request of his superiors, he still fired two more rounds of fire as much as possible.
Of course it was meaningless in the end, as it was a foregone conclusion that this 15-kilometer-long position would be completely breached.
At the same time, because of the two extra rounds of fire, it was too late to move the artillery position.
They had suffered losses in the long-range bombardment, which was fine, after all, they had achieved some results. But being attacked by dozens of knight mechas in the face was really a disaster.
At close range, the artillery positions with powerful firepower had no ability to resist at all.
They could only flee in scattered groups with heavy casualties.
If they ran now, they could still take advantage of the fact that the number of Knight Mechs was small and they could not take care of all the people who escaped. If they delayed for a while longer and waited for the equally fast mobile forces to arrive, then no one would be able to escape.
During the entire process, the most powerful Space Marines of the rebel side never showed up.
Space Marines are certainly powerful, but in such a large-scale battlefield, what can even the most elite Space Marines do?
Faced with the roar of a hundred thousand artillery pieces and the carpet-style bombing, the Space Marines would die if they were hit.
They are not like Titans, each of which has energy shields and void shields that can withstand artillery fire to a certain extent.
They also cannot continue to advance forward under heavy firepower like the Knight Mecha.
Even if they stood in front of the steel torrent, they would still be crushed. In this scenario, the Space Marines were not much different from the advanced infantry.
That's not how Space Marines work.
The use of Space Marines was also demonstrated in Iron Armor that night.
They organized an infiltration attack at night.
The Space Marines formed dozens of three-person teams in total, quickly infiltrated the Imperial lines, and began to massacre.
It's not just killing people without any purpose.
Destroy the ammunition depot, capture the prisoners alive and then ask them about the camps of the Knight Mech and Titan operators, and then slaughter them, destroy the artillery positions...
They came quickly, like ghosts; when they left, they left in a flash and could not be stopped.
Often, the Empire would launch similar retaliatory actions, or station troops in the area to fight against the armored warriors that infiltrated.
Similar situations occurred every moment along this 300-kilometer-long front.
This time, the situation is a little different in that after mobilizing so many knight mechas and Titans to break through a 15-kilometer-long defense line, it must be to continue to accumulate strength for the next attack. It is a major strategy that affects the entire war situation. How could it allow such destruction?
The Space Marines from the Empire had already been arranged to come here.
After the massive attack during the day, they did not show up.
With the torrent of steel pushing forward, there is no need for the Space Marines to take action.
However, in this kind of special offensive and defensive operations at night, facing the infiltrated Space Marine vanguards, only they of the same level can fight against them.
The number of our Space Marines is less than the number of Ironclads who have infiltrated, only about half.
However, when the fight really started, it was quite spectacular.
The most brilliant results were achieved by a Phoenix squad and an Ortopis squad.
They were organized into groups of three, and each group wiped out at least several times more armored warriors than themselves.
After daybreak, they compared their results together. The Ortopis Regiment had a slight advantage, with 17 people. The Phoenix Squad on the other side had only 14 people, three fewer.
However, the Phoenix team of three remained intact after the battle. Although all three of them were injured, at least they all survived. On the contrary, one of the brothers in the Ortopis team died after a night of fighting. From this perspective, it is hard to say who won and who lost in the end.
This healthy competition between the two chapters has been going on for some time.
At first, the warriors of Ortopis were quite arrogant and aloof.
They have always been like this when coordinating and communicating with other regiments.
Better equipment, better treatment, stronger personal strength... They are the direct descendants of the regiment from the center of the empire. Except for those founding regiments with glorious history, they look up to them, and they don't take others seriously.
However, the performance of the Phoenix Regiment forced them to admit that it was a strong competitor even though they were unwilling to accept it.
Although, during the brutal war period, the middle and high-level officers of the two regiments were restraining their arrogant soldiers and generals, strictly prohibiting private fights and duels, even if it was just to exchange martial arts.
If you have that energy, wouldn't it be better to keep it on the battlefield and use it to kill the enemy?
But when facing the same enemy, using Iron Armor's head as a comparison tool is very useful.
The results of the battles between the two sides are often similar.
What else is there to say?
It is certainly impossible for them to admit defeat verbally, but in their hearts, they undoubtedly regard the other party as someone of the same level as themselves.
In comparison, another regiment, the Blood Shark Regiment, is also eye-catching enough.
They might be a little behind the Ironclad and Ortopis in terms of combat power, but the tactical tradition of rapid assaults, which this chapter is particularly good at, has allowed them to achieve very significant results in various attacks on key enemy targets.
Their performance in preventing infiltration and special operations is mediocre; but if they are sent to perform similar tasks, they can be slightly more efficient than Ortopis and Phoenix.
Apart from these three regiments that performed extremely well, the remaining seven regiments all performed mediocrely, which was at a normal level, and were even slightly worse than the Iron Armor.
Among these seven regiments, except for the Spear of the Dragon King, the other six only have about one hundred or two hundred people each. They were sent by their parent regiment to provide support when the Solar Expeditionary Force was formed.
The confrontations between the Space Marines are also very important and very brutal.
There are always some front-line command centers on both sides that are suddenly destroyed at critical moments; various decapitation tactics emerge one after another; key strategic points are quickly taken down by the Space Marines... Often only a few dozen people, or even a few people, can have a decisive influence on a battle involving tens of thousands of participants on both sides.
The infighting among themselves also caused both sides to lose men at a rapid rate.
Up to now, more than five hundred Imperial Space Marines have been killed.
On the other hand, the number of Iron Armored Warriors who were confirmed to have been killed must have exceeded a thousand. Among these results, more than half were killed by Phoenix, Ortopis, and Blood Sharks. On the one hand, these three regiments had the largest number of people, and on the other hand, it also showed that they had strong combat capabilities.
Together, more than 1,500 Space Marines died on both sides in less than a month, which shows how intense the war was.
Even the Space Marines died like this, not to mention the ordinary troops.
Millions of people were fighting each other on this not-so-large plain, and hundreds of people died every minute from bullets, artillery, and bombing.
After one month of fighting, the total number of soldiers killed on the imperial side has exceeded two million.
There was no difference between a minor battle and a major battle. The two sides fought tooth and nail for a position, filling it with countless shells and bombs, supplemented by the blood of soldiers, the wreckage of tanks and armored vehicles... The trenches were filled up!
Even the Solar Legion and the Alliance Army, which were known for their elite troops, had their morale shaken by such horrific casualties.
Perhaps it is okay on the overall front, but when it comes to the division or regiment where the fighting is most intense, the sacrifice rate can reach 50% or 70% in a short period of time.
It is normal for the morale of those who are left alive to collapse.
Even if it is an iron army, the people who make up the army are not truly iron.
However, no one would lose their minds and run away. Even if their morale collapsed, they would not abandon their positions and run away.
If you run away, you will have no chance to survive.
Not to mention how terrifying the subsequent military court proceedings would be, even if there were brutal battles taking place every moment, day and night, they would not be able to escape.
If you stay at your position honestly, you may be able to live a little longer; if you run back, you will probably be shot or hit by a cannon and fall to the ground in the next second.
Except for the anti-gun holes and trenches, the enemy's artillery fire range was perhaps several kilometers away, and there was no way to escape.
On the other hand, Tiekai didn't have to worry about morale issues.
Those infected whose brains have been completely parasitized are not afraid of life or death.
However, they also lack subjective initiative and are rigid, inflexible, and clumsy. Even though they are armed with similar weapons and armor as human troops, they can only act according to the orders of their commanders. This certainly makes them highly organized and disciplined, but they also lose their "humanity" and are unable to show the bravery that is unique to humans on the battlefield, unable to create "miracles", and often make huge sacrifices when they make a mistake, and then they don't know how to adapt.
When they were asked to charge a position, they would charge forward with a heavy grenade launcher. According to the orders of their superiors, they would indeed charge forward without hesitation, but when fire from the side suddenly came, they did not know how to hide and were wiped out in large numbers. Before the superiors came with new orders, the troops on the front line of combat missions did not know how to adapt.
Because of this, after the Empire suffered millions of casualties, the number of casualties suffered by the opposing infected army would only be higher, even about twice as much.
Moreover, the infected do not have the ability to eat corpses, recycle biomass and hatch new soldiers. If they die, they are really dead.
From this perspective, if the war on Wanzhou Star continues, the one who will finally collapse will be Tiekai... right?
No.
There is also a huge variable that comes from the sky.
The warships of both sides are constantly trying to provide support.
A fierce orbital bombardment can bring about a huge change in ground combat.
(End of this chapter)
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