Chapter 609: Chapter 352, Swimming Upstream_2
General Hans was momentarily stunned.
In the face of a full retreat, there was actually a legion moving against the current?
He hadn’t ruled out the idea of moving the rear troops forward, but one question always lingered in his mind: would it be of any use?
They could still hold their own for now, and if the enemy’s offensive slowed down, especially it moved further away from the support of the Nest Capital’s Sinister Energy Cannon, their assault would inevitably weaken with increasing distance from the active Nest Capital. He had already prepared himself to abandon the first few defense lines and regroup further back.
But if he really moved the troops from the remaining defense lines forward, and if they could hold off the enemy, all would be well. If they couldn’t, a massive collapse could come even sooner.
How should one choose?
…
…
No matter how conflicted General Hans was behind the scenes, Li Kexi nevertheless took action.
The Rage Bear Legion currently had a complete roster of one million two hundred thousand troops, with a total of 49 divisional and brigade-level units, the equivalent of an army group, solely responsible for a segment of the third defense line.
Without a clear command for a full-scale assault from the high command, Li Kexi couldn’t possibly commit his entire force.
He still had his own defense zone to manage.
However, according to the intelligence returned by the scouting units and information from allied forces at the front, Li Kexi astutely judged that the situation ahead was unsustainable. Watching the allies take a beating without moving, if the second defense line collapsed, all the pressure would come to him, and he wouldn’t be able to withstand it either.
Consequently, he extended two “tentacles” outward to probe.
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The 77th Kologa Armored Composite Brigade, the 92nd Kologa Heavy Infantry Division, and the 21st Garrison Division comprised one tentacle.
The other was similarly equipped.
The Armored Brigade, as the spearhead, surged forward with a force of forty thousand. The heavily structured infantry division followed behind to provide support while the Garrison Division patrolled nearby, ready to fill in any infantry gaps in the armored division.
In this formation, it took them just over an hour to reach the second defense line.
Even on the way, they encountered and annihilated some of the enemy units that had overrun their positions.
And when they reached the second defense line, the intensity of the battle suddenly increased.
The entire area was completely engulfed by raging flames of war.
It covered several hundred square kilometers, but with a large number of troops stationed there, practically everywhere were trenches and semi-underground bunkers dug up in recent months. Here, the human troops engaged the Plague Demons in a fight to the death.
Many positions had already been overrun, while others were still resisting. Both sides contended for every inch of land, every trench, and every firepower point, fighting repeatedly for control.
But on the whole, the human side was on the brink of collapse.
Initially, the 56th Local Defense Corps, with over twenty large-size divisions, was stationed in this area. But with a large number of units retreating from the front line and needing to be managed, and a sudden attack during reassignment, contact with several divisions could no longer be established. Many positions were split, and at the same time, the troops’ will to fight was not strong. The frightening appearance of the enemy and the loss of the skies further damaged their morale.
Under these compounded factors, the entire Army Group was close to falling apart.
The front-line troops had already begun to retreat, and the reserves that moved up could not hold out for long. In some places where a breakthrough occurred, a large number of enemies poured in, causing significant chaos in the rear of the Army Group.
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Yunrao quietly infused the subspace around the area with dark magic, sneakily inputting electronic garbage code into the human legion’s communication channels. This caused the communication channels between human forces to be disconnected for one third of the time, and for another third, the situation was even worse, with channels filled with the Demons’ whispers and sinister laughter, causing anyone who heard it to feel extremely uncomfortable, breaking out in cold sweat, vomiting, and that was just the mild effects; some even went mad because of it.
Only in the final third of cases, if luck was on their side, could they communicate normally. The human forces could only rely on this completely unreliable method for communication.
The problem of poor communication greatly affected the cohesion of the entire force.
Within the advancing Rage Bear Legion’s armored forces, there were specialized communication vehicles and communication companies who, relying on the stability of their equipment and their ability to resist interference, were faring much better.
The vanguard force successfully made contact with the 56th Army’s headquarters. Upon hearing of their arrival, the commanding officer was overjoyed and immediately shared intelligence, pointing out where the largest gap currently was.
The commander of the 77th Armored Brigade only considered briefly, communicated slightly with the forces behind, and then led his troops straight toward the target area.
The Lion Tanks, with their turrets held high, continued to fire as they moved, blanketing the visible enemy groups with high-explosive shells; armored personnel carriers accompanied them, firing rapid-shot machine guns in coordination, annihilating large numbers of enemy forces; self-propelled artillery units set up an urgent artillery array, covering fire in the direction of troop advancement, and the garrison division following behind simultaneously deployed their own artillery in coordination, while also securing their positions, to avoid the enemy, who had already broken through the friendly lines, from directly threatening the artillery array from other directions.
As for the Rage Bear Legion’s large formation division, they were a bit further back. Artillery had also set up their attack formation; massive troops, organized into companies and battalions, took over many of the friendly positions, ensuring a clear rear for the frontline troops.
The firepower of a single unit from the Rage Bear 77th Brigade was comparable to several large formation divisions of the local corps. After they joined the battle, the situation changed significantly.
At least, the gap was plugged.
The turning point occurred when an advancing tank company discovered an area heavily guarded by the enemy. After calling for several rounds of artillery support from behind, eleven Lion Tanks from the company charged in a cluster. The roars of the steel behemoths’ engines and the heavy pounding of the tank cannons not only stunned the enemies who had just withstood the bombardment and hadn’t recovered yet but also awakened the combat will of several local companies that had previously fled in defeat.
These infantrymen, at the request of the tank company commander, plucked up their courage and conducted a joint attack.
After sacrificing two tanks and destroying one flesh monster larger than the Lion Tank with five or six armor-piercing rounds, the enemy’s most important resistance force was shattered.
The infantry rushed forward and wiped out the remaining enemies, discovering what this force of plague monsters had been protecting—a crawling flesh machine with antennas, from which a piercing and shrill noise was emanating.
The captain commanding the tank company roughly guessed what it was—likely a hub where the enemy released electronic garbage code.
Regardless, it was a demonic creation, so without a second word, they fired several shots and destroyed it.
Sure enough, his guess was correct.
As the antenna-laden flesh machine was destroyed, communication conditions in the surrounding large area improved significantly.
The troops that could now be reorganized and mobilized no longer collapsed so easily.
As the Armored Brigade pushed forward along the frontline gap, the entire battle line’s situation thus stabilized.
This attracted a swarm of Plague Flies.
The destructive power of these creatures’ suicide bombing dives was not to be underestimated. However, the Armored Brigade within the alliance was equipped with a large number of anti-air armored vehicles, anti-aircraft guns, and anti-air high-explosive shells, which took a significant toll on these not-so-fast and dive-bombing monsters. Even the infantry’s handheld guns could bring about substantial results.
Albeit a significant number of the giant flies succeeded in their suicide bombing, the losses were within an acceptable range.
Then, as the Aviation Forces of the Corps from the rear joined the battle with a large number of Wind Falcons, the aerial threats were further mitigated.
For a time, the Rage Bear Legion’s dispatched vanguard forces, against the odds, launched into an advance!
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