in2ebook Chapter 246 Mushroom cloud rising on the battlefield
Chapter 246 Mushroom cloud rising on the battlefield
Rubian 5, 80 kilometers south of Ptolemaic City, coalition headquarters.
The coalition command headquarters, which had already retreated once, was now deployed at a previously selected backup location.
In the camouflaged shelter vehicle that was used as a large mobile command post, Major General Benjamin, the commander of the coalition forces, was sternly staring at the battlefield situation map of the enemy and ourselves presented on the electronic sandbox.
In one sentence, it can be summed up as "alarm across the board, and the organization level of each department is steadily declining."
The coalition's first battle group is composed of troops from seven private military companies and defense contractors, with a total of seven brigades.
The determination of the battle is also to concentrate superior forces on the left wing of the battle line to break through while the right-wing troops are feigning an attack and the central troops are slowly advancing, and to intersperse and surround the enemy troops in the central part.
Not to mention anything else, just talking about the idea of fighting determination, it is actually very beautiful.
However, from the beginning of the war to the present, all three brigade-level units on the left wing responsible for the attack have been blocked.
Not only failed to complete the task of breaking through the defense line, but also lost a lot of manpower in the counterattack of the remaining imperial soldiers and caused the battle line to continuously retreat.
Especially the two brigade-level combat units on the far left, which were composed of three companies, suffered casualties as soon as they contacted the enemy.
According to the newly updated information, the Imperial Armored Brigade Combat Teams in front of these two brigades are currently pursuing them.
Its highly mobile HCP troops have begun to conduct interspersed attacks, trying to separate and encircle some battalion-level units of the two brigades on the left wing of the coalition.
"What are these things? Two combined brigades are being chased and beaten by a brigade-level unit from the Empire!"
Major General Benjamin angrily threw the cigarette butt on the ground of the cabin vehicle. After the ventilation device above his head detected the smoke, it increased the power and started running "buzzingly".
The orderly next to him glanced down and saw that many cigarette butts had been crushed on the floor.
In other words, this major general has never stopped smoking from the beginning of the war to now.
Although according to daily management regulations, smoking is prohibited in the command cabin.
But who said that this person in front of him was the commander of the entire coalition forces? At this time, there was no one with greater military rank and command authority than him in the entire combat force.
Major General Benjamin didn't know that the orderly beside him, who was recruited from the local area and was good at handling housekeeping, cooking, and preparing afternoon tea, was thinking about something else.
He looked at the electronic sand table in front of him, and inexplicably felt that the familiar feeling of being defeated when he led the planetary defense force in the face of the invasion of the imperial army came back.
This 'top student' who graduated from the command position of the First Federal Army Command Academy was able to achieve the position of commander of the planetary defense force in his forties.
In addition to relatively solid basic skills and business capabilities, the support given by the family business is also considerable.
At least on Lubion 5, there are several large industrial parks invested by the family companies behind Benjamin.
Although there are these objective reasons, the young major general still believes that his ability to climb to this position is 'inseparable' from his excellent performance in combat command.
Even if the expeditionary force dropped by the empire was swept away, Major General Benjamin attributed the reason to the poor combat capabilities of the planetary defense force.
The same applies to the coalition forces he is commanding now. In his opinion, they are just some motley crews that are just fake.
Otherwise, why would he be beaten like this under his textbook-standard combat deployment?
However, there is not no good news on the entire front.
Although the attack of the two brigades in the middle of the front was also blocked, at least they held their own and were not repulsed.
These two brigades are also the troops of Thunder Defense, which has the strongest comprehensive strength among the 15 companies.
In addition, Atlas, which was originally deployed on the right wing and was responsible for containment and feint attacks, was mixed into a brigade - a team that was looked down upon by other companies because it was not optimistic about this attack in the pre-war meeting.
Instead, it became the only combat unit on the entire front that could "attack".
"What are these things?"
Major General Benjamin had to admit at this time that he had indeed made a mistake before.
But at the same time, he still believed that his deployment was 'indispensable'.
If it weren't for his 'magic move', he would place Atlas's troops on the right wing to take charge of the feint attack.
This mixed brigade of more than 3,000 people cannot achieve this effect.
Thinking of this, Major General Benjamin couldn't help but think of the beam of light falling from the sky in the night sky, and the huge fireball that rose afterward.
After confirmation from multiple sources, the coalition command, including other forces, also knew that this round of strikes was completed by Atlas warships in orbit.
"How many other good things does this Atlas hide?"
Not to mention Major General Benjamin who was at the rear command post, even the commanders at the front who were organizing the retreat of the brigade headquarters were wondering how this little-known company could complete this 'shattering blow'.
Many people even took advantage of their company's warships to communicate with the captains of these warships, asking them if they could learn from Atlas's warships and provide fire support for ground troops.
One of the captains laughed at these "Army idiots who don't know how to command the Navy" in his heart, and also gave a rather darkly humorous answer.
"Support is possible, but there are two possibilities, each accounting for 50%."
"Which two possibilities? Hit the target or miss? It doesn't matter! You can scare the Imperial Army on the other side."
"No." The captain interrupted the emotional commander and continued:
"There is a 50% chance that the supporting warship will fall into the atmosphere, and a 50% chance that this round of attack will fall on our own people."
"."
——
Located about 35 kilometers behind the Imperial Army's offensive front, several armored command vehicles equipped with anti-detection camouflage nets are parked in a relatively dense forest.
Several soldiers from the brigade's communication support company are checking several optical fibers connected to the vehicle's external interface.
These optical fibers are connected to the command information network management vehicle and the communication node vehicle 3 kilometers away. While ensuring smooth communication, they will not allow the communication node to be discovered, which will cause the brigade headquarters to be reimbursed.
In the armored command vehicle, several Imperial officers are crowded together, looking at the vehicle-mounted command terminal.
Since the mobile command cabin had to be destroyed and abandoned due to mechanical failure in the previous battle, the combat command center could only be moved to several armored command vehicles.
The commander-in-chief of the "Broken Sword" counterattack operation, Viscount Drake, a colonel of the Star Dragon Empire Royal Army, also looked at the electronic sand table with some worry.
From the current situation, the counterattack of the imperial forces has been progressing rapidly in most directions.
Most of the federal forces facing them are easier to fight than they imagined.
Especially on the west side of the front, the 58th Armored Brigade Combat Team was even chasing two federal brigade combat units on its own.
But the glaring salient on the eastern front was like a nail in Colonel Drake's heart.
According to the news sent back by the 49th Armored Brigade Combat Team that met the enemy in that direction, the combat effectiveness of the enemy brigade-level unit in the salient was not at the same level as other enemies.
The extremely strong frontal attack capability, coupled with the terrifying orbital strike, has caused two battalion-level units of the 49th Brigade to withdraw from the battle.
The entire 49th Brigade was also forced to stop its offensive momentum under the enemy's fierce attack, and now it is relying on a small town to barely stabilize the front line.
"My Lord, the troops in the east are facing this tough bone, which is not easy to deal with."
A combat staff officer said:
"The 49th Brigade was reinforced with personnel and combat vehicles before the attack was launched. It can be said that it is the brigade with the strongest attack capability on the front line, but now it has been beaten like this. I suggest that they ask the 54th Brigade on their flank for emergency support and let them withdraw first."
As the combat staff officer spoke, he extended a dotted line representing "planned attack" on the attack arrow of the Atlas Mixed Synthetic Brigade.
"It is obvious that this enemy force wants to cut off the retreat of the 49th Brigade and try to completely annihilate them."
"I second the motion, my Lord." Another staff officer also spoke.
"We have lost support and supplies now, and we absolutely cannot afford to lose organized troops. Withdrawing the 49th Brigade is the best option now. If we are dragged into urban warfare later, we will have more mobile forces to defend."
Listening to the staff, Colonel Drake did not think for too long. The fierce battle on the front line did not allow him to think carefully.
And he actually had his own decision.
"Pass my order, let the 54th Brigade speed up the attack and help the 49th Brigade to withdraw before the enemy encirclement is formed."
While issuing this order, the imperial commander opened his personal terminal and transmitted an authorization command to the command terminal after identity verification.
"At 0230, authorize the 58th Armored Brigade Combat Team to use tactical nuclear weapons. Tell the commander of the 58th Brigade to annihilate the enemy's manpower as much as possible before the headquarters orders a retreat! He knows what to do."
Drake's order was quickly issued, and at the same time, a combat staff officer in the command vehicle asked cautiously:
"Sir, are you sure you want to use nuclear weapons?"
"What? Do I still have to think about protecting the environment of this planet and facilitating subsequent colonization at this time?"
Colonel Drake said disdainfully, his tone full of resentment towards the Empire and the Navy:
"**** (Imperial swear words), the Navy's sons of bitches have all run away, leaving us on this planet to die, do I still have to consider these bullshit things?"
--
After receiving the order from the headquarters and seeing the authorization code for tactical nuclear weapons, the commander of the 58th Armored Brigade Combat Team glanced at the battlefield situation map and immediately understood what Colonel Drake meant.
Under his order, the troops, who were already attacking smoothly, accelerated the pace of the attack.
The HCP troops that had penetrated the junction between the enemy units also received new instructions - focus on attacking the enemy's accompanying air defense units, and lead the enemy's HCP troops away to weaken the enemy's air defense capabilities as much as possible.
The Imperial HCP pilots who received the order immediately abandoned some armored and infantry units in front of them, and then relied on the mobility of HCP to crush other units on the ground to search and destroy all air defense units.
The two brigades of the coalition forces that were being pursued were also confused. Their commanders didn't understand why the enemy in front of them was like crazy, madly targeting their own air defense units.
But they didn't have time to think so much, so they could only let the HCP troops who could still fight go forward to intercept and protect their own air defense units, which were not cheap.
Just when the HCP and air defense units on both sides started to play the game of "Eagle Catching the Chicken".
On a hillside 5 kilometers away, an HCP carrying a huge launch box removed its optical camouflage and walked out of the forest.
After the walking unit ejected several mechanical auxiliary tools for buffering and fixing, the seemingly ordinary launch box on its back opened the front cover, revealing a stealth warhead inside.
"The 'Light Picker' has arrived at the designated launch location and is in the second phase of the 'Breaking Point' operation."
"Enter the authorization code and verification has been completed!"
"Launch program unlocked!"
"HQ, now for the final confirmation, are you going to carry out the final phase of the 'breaking point' operation?"
"This is HQ, confirming the execution of the final stage of the 'breaking point' operation."
"Received, start executing the launch program. The program enters the irreversible stage."
"3, 2, 1, launch!"
Amidst the smoke and dust that suddenly rose up on this hillside, a warhead with a tail flame quickly rushed towards the target airspace amidst the explosion that broke the sound barrier.
At this moment, all imperial units on the western front stopped attacking. The mobile infantry either hid in vehicles or used vehicles as bunkers. All units also turned on the 'nuclear defense' mode.
The coalition HCPs on the front line looked at the enemy units that suddenly retreated, thinking that the other party had given up on continuing the attack due to their interference, and cheered.
The next second, an extremely dazzling light tore through the dark night sky, like a supernova exploding on the surface of Lubion 5.
The huge fireball expanded rapidly like the blazing sun in midsummer, lifting itself up with its majestic power and climbing towards the sky.
Its brightness is so bright that it is impossible to look directly at it. Even on the distant front, the reflection of this strong light can be seen on the armor of mobile infantry and vehicles.
As the fireball soared into the sky, the air at the center of the explosion was compressed and violently expanded in an instant, eventually forming an invisible but destructive supersonic shock wave that swept away in all directions.
Wherever it went, whether it was solid concrete fortifications or armored units such as main battle tanks and HCPs, they were easily torn apart and thrown like paper in front of this huge force, mixed with debris, soil, and countless unfortunates. wailing.
In the end, when the huge mushroom cloud slowly rose in the firelight, the units on both sides of the battlefield finally felt the sense of oppression that the former 'King of War' should have.