From cannon fodder to sweeping across thousands of stars.

Chapter 261 The Burning Position

It was early morning on August 589th, 8th year of the New Calendar.

The heavy fog that shrouded the city was slowly dissipating, and the sunlight began to shine on the positions of the warring parties again.

It's the 'one year anniversary' of Amber's crossing.

One year ago today, he was still a lieutenant candidate who had just arrived on Robert IV. He was still trying his best to survive in the cracks and find opportunities to escape from the war-torn planet.

A year later today, he was on another planet, commanding a coalition force numbering tens of thousands in a final showdown with another imperial expeditionary force.

In this year, the Robert IV was bombed, the Federation and the Empire sank tens of millions of tons of warships in the star sea, and countless soldiers died in the void.
The Federation recovered from its initial dazed state, and while expanding its armaments and engaging in "big construction," it also allowed the power of the military-industrial complex to expand.

And the 'reins' loosened from the necks of the autonomous governments of each galaxy also planted a 'seed' for the unbreakable federation.

The seemingly prosperous and powerful Xinglong Empire also began to reveal its old side. The old emperor was dying soon, and the domestic party struggle reached the most intense level.

The legal heir to the empire had just completed a bloody crackdown on the border planet, purging all those who tried to split the country with a tough iron fist.

The Prince Regent, who was standing at the other end of the 'stage', was still patiently waiting for an opportunity to complete the 'fatal blow'.

In the prelude to this war, Atlas also grew from a 'start-up group' of dozens of people to the most basic form on the blueprint planned by Amber.

And with the nourishment of another 'corporate war' in the shadow of this war, it gradually grew in a corner where people could not see it.

But on the current Lubion 5, perhaps only Amber would think about these things.

The soldiers in various attack preparation areas of the coalition forces who were ready to attack did not think so much at all, because they were looking at the position in front of them that turned into a sea of ​​fire with slightly frightened eyes.

Shells passed over their heads like a meteor shower, whizzing out and heading towards the enemy's position.

The moment the shell hit the ground, the entire earth trembled, and the explosion's flames dyed half of the sky blood red.

Huge shock waves and flying mud fragments swept over. Although they were at a safe distance, the violent power was still frightening.

Taking the Hermes heavy particle cannon's ground salvo as a signal, the orbital attack ship's tactical ground missiles kicked off the fire preparations.

Immediately afterwards, more than 300 self-propelled artillery pieces of various types distributed by the coalition forces behind the attack surface began to send 15 and 18 mm programmed grenades to the opposite position at an average speed of 155-203 rounds per minute.

At the same time, the main battle tanks and multi-legged tanks on the offensive front equipped with 120- and 155-mm straight and curved electrothermal chemical cannons also began to carry out supplementary fire strikes.

High-explosive bombs, attack bombs, terminally sensitive bombs, submunition bombs, the coalition's self-propelled artillery units projected various types of ammunition on the bound coordinates in various ways.

The vehicles and engineering machinery used to assist self-propelled artillery are constantly delivering ammunition and helping some self-propelled artillery with problems replace the entire barrel module.

In 30 minutes of fire preparation time, the coalition ground forces alone fired more than artillery shells at the opposite side, not to mention that the Hermes also completed two orbital strikes, and the orbital attack ship also dropped hundreds of missiles. .

In another parallel world, during Operation Michael in 1918, the German army assembled 6000 artillery pieces to prepare for firepower, but only 32 artillery shells were fired in half an hour.

The target of their attack was the 13 infantry divisions of the British Fifth Army on the front.

The targets of the coalition's attack were just a few thousand remnants of the Star Dragon Empire's expeditionary force.

"Perhaps this can also be considered a kind of military progress? After industrial manufacturing capabilities have reached new heights, the God of War is still not old enough to retire?"

Amber in the HCP cockpit looked at the fire preparation report sent by the headquarters. At this point in time, he could still make such a comparison in his mind.

When the coalition soldiers looked at the position on the opposite side that had been flooded by artillery fire, they may be glad that such artillery fire did not fall on their heads.

The imperial troops on the outer defense line of the city were completely unable to think clearly under the artillery fire.

Although the moment the coalition firepower preparations began, most of the soldiers and equipment on the position had already evacuated to the second line of defense and behind the large buildings in the city in accordance with combat doctrine.

But there are still many company and platoon-level troops who have been relegated to the battlefield as part of their organizational structure.

The soldiers who were lucky enough to evacuate to the second line of defense were lucky enough to see the largest ground artillery preparation in recent decades - after all, this level of artillery bombardment was not used in previous low-intensity battles.

The earth is shaking and the air is burning.

Every artillery shell that fell on the position and exploded was like an invisible giant hand, ruthlessly tearing at our defense line.

Especially those special attack bombs, which turned solid semi-permanent fortifications into powder.

The artillery fire was like a torrential downpour, dense and ferocious, almost making people breathless.

The beam of light falling straight down from the sky is like a divine punishment that destroys the world, melting everything near the impact point.

Although the Imperial soldiers all wore combat exoskeletons and hid in combat vehicles or bunkers protected by armor and overpressure explosion-proof layers, the artillery preparations like Vulcan's hammer still smashed them out Psychological shadow.

Even if the exoskeleton's pickup has turned the noise reduction to the highest level, it is still difficult for the soldiers to hear the shouts of their teammates in the radio channel.

They could only use their elbows and knees as support, curl up as much as possible, and at the same time pray to the Dragon God that the next shell would not fall on their heads. The half-hour preparation time for artillery fire was like a passing day for soldiers on both sides.

In the final stage of artillery preparations, the mechanized forces of the coalition rushed out from their hiding spots and quickly completed the deployment of the battle formation with the attitude of "heavy armored units in front, light armored units, and armored personnel carriers at the sides and rear."

Hundreds of HCPs also rushed out from their respective hiding places, using faster speeds to overtake the coalition armored forces and rush towards the outer defense line of the city.

Among them, the fastest 'spearhead' was the HCP company directly under the brigade headquarters led by Amber and the five test machines of ATT.

The 16 HCPs formed a standard 'arrow cluster' assault formation and stepped onto the first line of defense almost at the same time as the last 155 shell exploded.

When the imperial soldiers and combat vehicles were urged by the officers, at the moment when the bombardment ended, they also rushed towards the first line of defense that was almost flattened at the fastest speed.

But what greeted them was a salvo of heavy particle cannons from the position.

"What's going on? Why are we being attacked from our own position?"

This idea only appeared in the minds of several multi-legged chariot drivers for a moment. The next second, they and the vehicles under them were vaporized by the surging heavy metal particle jets.

"The HCP of the enemy's vanguard has boarded the first line of defense! Repeat, the enemy's HCP has boarded the first line of defense! Where is our Titan?!"

The roar of the frontline officer echoed in the communication channel. He watched his men use individual anti-vehicle missiles in vain to attack the steel giant raging on the position.

However, the incoming missile was detonated by the close-in defense laser in mid-air, and then several large-caliber high-speed rod-piercing shots fired by electromagnetic rifles covered the launch team just now.

When the smoke cleared, all that was left were pieces of equipment and limbs in pieces.

Just as the imperial officer was cursing the friendly HCP, he rushed towards an anti-vehicle missile on the ground nearby.

A sharp sonic boom sounded from behind him, and before he could even turn around, he felt a huge object fly over his head and create a wild wake.

A silver-white fanatic, amid the dazzling blue light erupting from the plasma propulsion array, brandished a heavy sword and rushed towards the coalition HCP.

The timing of this attack was clever. Before the HCP of the coalition could even turn its gun, it was already pushed forward by the empire's fanatics.

But at the moment when the Heavy Sword was about to be struck down, a dark red HCP smashed into a shattered building nearby, using its heavy shield flashing with electric arcs amidst the flying rubble and smoke, it struck fiercely. It hit the side of the fanatic hard.

The moment the two steel giants collided, this officer, who had been reduced to a bystander, even felt that he saw a shock wave visible to the naked eye spreading.

The Zealot was knocked away unexpectedly, and the pilot in the cockpit only felt his eyes go dark. He didn't even have time to adjust his posture when he saw the blue plasma blade tearing open the armor outside the cockpit.

The nearby imperial officers never expected that their own HCP, which had high hopes, would be pierced through the cockpit by this dark red HCP in just one encounter.

But he didn't have time to think too much. While subconsciously hiding behind the building around him, two consecutive sound explosions came from behind him. The two supporting zealots passed over his head again, and then fought with the other two units. During the struggle, HCP disappeared into a nearby building.

The imperial officer slowly sat down on the ground against the wall of the building behind him. On his command interface, two-thirds of the people in his platoon were marked with red crosses.

The remaining soldiers were not only scattered everywhere, but each one was marked with light or dark yellow marks, which meant that they had suffered varying degrees of injuries.

This was just the beginning of the battle, and the platoon under his command had already lost its combat effectiveness.

"Isn't this just the beginning?"

The officer suddenly fell into confusion, but the voice coming from the radio still pulled him out of his momentary trance.

"Lieutenant Ram! We are here to support you!"

After hearing the sound, Ram followed the guidance of the 'out of sight unit indication arrow' on the tactical visor's HUD and looked to his left.

On the street opposite this intersection, I saw a Pacifier heavy multi-legged tank driving towards this direction with about a platoon of infantry.

He stood up, and just as he was about to say something to the friendly troops who came to support him, he saw a huge 'reptile'-like figure appearing on the right side of the first position that originally belonged to the imperial troops.

"Don't come here! Hide quickly"

Before he could finish his words, the Pacifier, who had just walked out of the street, was hit by a tungsten alloy penetrating rod through the turret. The huge kinetic energy almost tore the turret of this heavy multi-legged tank into pieces.

In the midst of the burning fire of the tank, several anti-personnel anti-personnel bombs fired by electrothermal chemical bombs also exploded at the street entrance.

The flying fragments quickly knocked down the mobile infantry accompanying the pacifier, and Lieutenant Ram also felt as if he had been bitten hard on the neck.

He raised his hand to touch his neck, only to find that the silicon carbide neck guard had been shattered, and the blood spurting from the arteries in his neck was flowing everywhere on the tactical gloves and arm armor.

As he fell to the ground, Second Lieutenant Ram stared blankly at the sky full of gunpowder smoke, his mouth kept making "ho ho" sounds, and his vocal cords cut by shrapnel struggled to form his last words.

"Isn't this just the beginning?"

(End of this chapter)