Chapter 189: Chapter 147, Taking the Initiative to Attack (6k Subscription Request!)_3
But now is a special moment, there’s no more commanding to be done. What the soldiers lack is not strategy, not tactics, but courage.
What’s needed is for senior officers to lead by example, to put themselves at the front.
While leading the guard company, the battalion commander pressed forward and encountered a unit that was fighting while retreating.
Meisheke was furious. He grabbed the unit commander by the collar and screamed, “The military order given to you was to advance! Advance! Advance again! Who gave you the order to retreat?!”
“I… ” The company commander’s face turned pale, unable to speak.
Meisheke kicked him in the stomach, knocking him down, and raised his pistol to his head:
“Disobeying orders and showing cowardice in battle is seen as desertion. As an officer, your crimes are even greater!”
“No, no…” The company commander was still trying to argue his case, and the battalion commander standing beside Meisheke also wanted to say something to persuade him.
But Meisheke wasn’t interested in listening and pulled the trigger without hesitation.
The bullet went through the head of the officer who had just received the rank of second lieutenant, and his body fell lifelessly.
Then, Meisheke shouted to the squad instructor beside him, who seemed a bit dazed by what he witnessed, “You’re in command now! Take your company and follow me!”
The instructor snapped to attention and quickly called out to the troops.
Meisheke waved his hand, signaling for the guard company to follow, and said to the battalion commander beside him, “For the Governor! We are bound to win! You can’t continue as before! We are soldiers! Not scavengers searching for scraps in a trash heap!”
“I… I understand.”
“Pick up your rifle! Fight like a warrior!”
Watching the battalion commander reluctantly move out, Meisheke picked up the field telephone again and issued orders to every squad instructor in the battalion, strictly ordering them to ensure that the troops were always on the offensive, and those who showed timidity could be executed on the spot.
Afterward, Meisheke fired his pistol into the air and roared to those around him, “Comrades! Charge with me!”
Under his strict commands and after he and the battalion commander led the guard company into battle, the troops’ timid situation finally began to reverse. Under the leadership of officers at all levels, especially the political commissars in the instructor system, the troops began to regain an offensive posture.
As the distance between the two sides closed further, the fight quickly became bloodier and more brutal. The Green Skins’ advantage in close-combat was being put to good use, and the casualties on the human side increased. However, the advantages of greater numbers and stronger firepower on the human side were still maintained, along with higher precision in close-range shooting.
Human warriors continued to fall, even among the officers, but the Green Skins were also falling at an even faster rate.
When the 4th battalion’s losses reached 15%, meaning over two hundred people were down, there were only about seventy to eighty Green Skins left.
Reed Meshako knew clearly that they were now in a desperate situation.
Because they were too close to retreat, the bloody battle had fully triggered his fighting spirit. His skin turned greener, and his body size even grew slightly during the combat.
“Waaagh!” He bellowed, bursting out of the cover and charging toward the nearest position occupied by human warriors.
Inspired by him, all the living Green Skins entered a frenzied state.
The final charge began.
Reed Meshako, wielding a heavy spear, fired six shots on the charge, killing five soldiers. At the same time, he was hit by at least a hundred bullets. Blood covered his green skin; one of his eyes was blinded, but his remaining single eye grew even more ferocious.
He burst into the position of the infantry platoon, instantly turning into a meat grinder on the battlefield. His heavy chopping knife spun like a whirlwind of death, and in just a short while, he slaughtered all the warriors there.
Despite following combat tactics, arming themselves with bayonets for close combat as he approached, the human warriors were no match for the Green Skins in terms of strength, durability, or even agility. Stabbed by the bayonet seven or eight times, Reed Meshako showed no signs of weakening, and with a backhand strike, he slaughtered all those daring enough to engage him in close combat.
When the courageous had all died, the rest lost their will to fight.
After the Sergeant Major was killed in battle, the few surviving members of the infantry platoon panicked and fled. When the supporting company instructor also had his upper body blown apart by a shot, the entire company began to collapse.
This triggered a chain reaction; the Green Skins, who charged with Reed Meshako and after suffering twenty-odd casualties, broke through the front line of one company. Then, the two companies beside it, caught off guard, began to show signs of collapse in the face of the ferociously charging Green Skins.
Reed Meisheke observed this sign.
He would not allow a victory within reach to slip away again. He immediately led the guard company to the breach, and strictly ordered several nearby companies to do the same.
In his words, stacking corpses would still suffice to kill off the remaining fifty Green Skins.
Reed Meshako also saw the continuously shouting Red Cap; he howled as he charged towards him. He reloaded his heavy spear and fired wildly toward Meisheke’s direction.
In a moment, three or four of Meisheke’s surrounding warriors were blasted dead, and that unkillable Green Skin leader was rushing straight toward him.