Chapter 608: Chapter 352, Going Against the Current
And yet, Fino City was still advancing. Over six hours, it had pushed forward by twelve kilometers.
The Plague Demon Army that surged from its ‘body’, with the support of aerial superiority and the fire support of Fino City, the War Fortress come to life, had already pierced through over fifty kilometers of the human army’s front lines.
The human army on the second line of defense had already engaged these Plague Demon forces in battle.
At this moment, back at the main command post, General Hans had just received the latest intelligence.
“…Our first line of defense has been breached.”
“The 55th, 60th, 61st, 71st, 72nd, and 83rd Armies of the homeland have all collapsed completely.”
…
“The 3rd and 5th Armies of the Dragonhawk Legion have also retreated.”
This was shocking news.
Everyone in the command post, from General Hans to numerous staff officers, remained silent, allowing the staff officer who was delivering the report to continue, his voice trembling, with the frontline situation.
“The frontline battle is too intense for accurate data. Currently, twelve divisions are completely out of contact and presumed to have completely lost their structure; the remaining troops that have retreated have all suffered losses. It is estimated that in the past six hours, we have lost a total of over four hundred thousand men…”
Six hours, four hundred thousand men.
Everyone present was a seasoned veteran, who had fought countless wars, big and small.
But a war like this, they had truly never fought.
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The entire campaign would mobilize sixty million people and, within six hours, several army groups, millions of people forming the first line of defense, directly collapsed, losing twelve divisions, four hundred thousand men… It was too exaggerated.
A division, on average, lasted only a few minutes on the frontline before retreating, and every half an hour a division was completely wiped out.
Of course, it couldn’t actually be calculated so evenly. Over hundreds of kilometers in width and fifty kilometers in depth, the troops were spread out, and the battles almost happened simultaneously. Normally, a division holding the front could last several hours of fighting.
Yet even so, these figures sent back from the frontline were still chilling.
Moreover, the development of the battle exceeded their original plans by far.
Initially, General Hans intended to bring the battle into Fino City. As Nest Capital approached, the troops would rush into it under the cover of firepower, using incendiary weapons and bombs to cause as much damage as possible to the living body of Nest Capital.
Although doing this would subject them to fierce counterattacks by the Plague Demon Army, the initial trial attack involving a million men had failed but still managed to achieve some results.
More importantly, the forces they prepared for this offensive were not on the million scale but the tens of millions.
As long as the frontline troops could gain a foothold inside Nest Capital, follow-up support would immediately come from the second defensive line to join the fight and pull out the first wave of troops, which were expected to suffer heavy casualties.
By rotating like this, continuing to push deeper and increase troop commitment, perhaps they could ultimately destroy this living city at the cost of the blood of countless human soldiers.
But unexpectedly, the first wave of troops didn’t just fail to breach Fino City, the Plague Demon Army, under the cover of aerial superiority, didn’t even let the human troops touch the edge of Nest Capital; instead, they broke out and directly overwhelmed the human army’s first line of defense.
The collapse was too fast, and the severity of the casualties too high, entirely beyond their expectations.
More crucially, if they were trembling with fear in the command post, what about the front line troops?
Snapping back to reality, Hans was the first to focus on this issue, “What’s the situation with the troops on the second line of defense?”
“Very bad.” The intelligence officer immediately responded, “The front was defeated too quickly. The routed army was retreating without any chance to reorganize, and the enemy pressed on. Multiple homeland army groups on the second defensive line have reported incidents of organized desertion. Although it can still be controlled for now, as the battle fully ignites on the second defensive line, the situation will likely become even less optimistic, even…”
“Even what?”
“Even the second line of defense might not hold as long as the first did.” That intelligence officer still gritted his teeth and voiced his judgment.
An atmosphere of panic and despair entirely enveloped the command post.
They could all foresee the consequence: if the worst-case scenario occurred and the human army’s second line of defense also quickly collapsed, then countless Plague Demons, sweeping up the vast numbers of fleeing soldiers, could possibly trigger a chain reaction, toppling all the subsequent arrangements.
Regardless of the tens of millions of people, once organization was lost, no amount of personnel would help; the entire situation would collapse like a giant set of dominoes. Any reinforcements would only make the collapse appear even more massive.
And just at that moment, an intelligence officer burst into the command post.
Everyone was startled by the loud opening of the door, fearful of even worse news coming.
The newly arrived intelligence officer was a bit baffled, but with important information at hand, he hurriedly spoke up, “Commander! There’s news from the third defensive line. Major General Li Kexi reports that the Rage Bear Legion he leads is launching a counterattack with the objective of stabilizing the front line ahead of his position and arranging for the retreating troops to reorganize in the rear. He hopes that command will make a decision soon to deploy elite troops for the counterattack and not spare the aerial support any longer. We must stabilize the situation, or the consequences will be dire.”