Tomorrow's Ark, the journey of hardcore and ruthless people

The six-kilometer width of the Kursk Valley is the most suitable terrain for large troops to pass through. On the left and right sides of the North Ridge of the valley, there are continuous forests, and the slope is getting bigger and bigger.

Therefore, neither the fifth infantry regiment deployed in the woods on the west side of the line of defense nor the cavalry regiment on standby in the woods on the east side of the line of defense were substantially attacked.Only a few small groups of infantry came to harass the Ursus army.Seeing bullets shooting out of the woods on these hillsides, they turned around and retreated.Only a small number of cavalry watched from a distance.

The long artillery battle and the turbulent crowd did not reach the cavalry regiment in the woods.The cavalrymen just sat near the tethering place in full armor, listening to the earth-shattering shouts and overwhelming gunfire outside, whispering:

"A machine gun is going on outside..."

"They must be shooting at the imperial army..."

On the observation post at the forward position, the cavalry regiment commander Berkonski and the cavalry regiment political commissar Zhukov have not left since the battle started.

Berkonsky has been using his identity as a "former officer of the Ursus Empire" to tirelessly introduce the battle situation before Zhukov.From infantry formations to flag numbers, to the history and characteristics of each unit.Most of these things were introduced by the head of the regiment a long time ago, and they were well-known by the commanders of the Civilian Army, so he was talking nonsense.Zhukov understood the opponent's actions: Andrei was just trying to relieve his tension.

Then Belkonsky suddenly took the initiative to mention the thing that everyone was avoiding: "I saw the military flag of the 42nd Line Infantry Regiment. Legend has it that in the previous civil wars and rebellions in Ursus, there were people from both sides of the enemy. It happens all the time when friends are on opposite sides. You see, a civil war, whatever its nature, is bound to have this sort of thing."

"I can be a loyal listener." Zhukov could only reply.

"Valery and I are essentially the same, we are both rebels in our original lives. But he walks a little behind me. However, a little slower... This is what we are now, not the way we used to ride on brooms and wave sticks. Just playing around."

Berkonsky looked at Zhukov next to him: "Can the wisdom of the proletariat help me in such a predicament, Comrade Commissar?"

"I really don't want to say that, but I really don't." Zhukov shook his head slightly. "Our theory is to explain politics, economics and history. It mainly helps people determine the basic line of thinking, rather than pointing out specific actions like road signs. Road. I can only say two things, first, as this war expands later, this will be more common;

"And then, anyway, since we've made the choice, we're responsible for it. We're going to do our part in our respective positions."

Belkonsky let out a long breath: "Yes. After all, I chose to stand here..."

Then the two people and the surrounding cavalry were stunned by the volley of rocket launchers.

What pulled them out of the silence was the signal corpsman who rushed over with a radio on his back: "Comrade regiment leader! Comrade political commissar! Order from headquarters, the cavalry regiment attacks!"

The next moment, the two jumped up like an electric shock, turned over and rushed back to the hiding place of the troops, giving orders while running.In less than 3 minutes, the cavalry who had been scattered in the woods as a company and stood by had mounted their horses and assembled, forming a horizontal line.

The political commissar of the cavalry regiment waved the bright red regiment flag.The political commissar of the regiment, who personally acted as the standard bearer, held the red flag with one hand and shouted loudly in front of the cavalry formation.

This is the battle cry that resounded throughout the tundra——

"Cavalry Regiment! Members of the Integrative Movement gather—!"

The cadres shouted their names and pulled out their sabers, the party members shouted and drew their sabers, and the ordinary soldiers also shouted and drew their sabers.

After shouting, the cavalry fell silent again.The political commissar carefully rolled the face of the regiment flag on the flagpole, and clamped the flagpole under the armpit like a lance; the soldiers carried their sabers diagonally below their sides.

Commander Berkonsky personally caught the battalion commander of the regiment's firepower battalion and ordered his machine gun carriages and mortars to continue to provide fire cover until the cavalry broke into the enemy's infantry formation.

Then the cavalry began to move.

When moving out from the woods, the pack animals took slow steps, and the four-beat "ta-ta-ta-ta" movement was coherent but weak, almost drowned in the noisy background noise of the battlefield.As all nine cavalry companies of the cavalry regiment left the tree line, the pack animals began to pick up speed, changing from a regular pace to a trot.As the speed increases, the two horseshoes of the beast of burden rise and fall diagonally at the same time, forming two beats:

"Da da! Da da! Da da! Da da!"

The three battalions of the cavalry regiments were fully extended at the trot, each battalion in formation two companies behind the previous one, trying to maximize impact, although this would give the enemy a larger target for shooting.

Berkonski started to move.The head of the regiment, like the political commissar, ran side by side at the front of the team.He held the reins tightly in one hand, and the tassel of his saber was wrapped around the other.Then silently he pointed his saber to the right, then to the left, then forward, tilting it over the raised horse's ears.The silent password was translated in the minds of the cavalry at the same time:

All charge!

The red battle flag suddenly stood up and was unfolded by the strong wind.The beasts of burden started running, their hooves flying, and they jumped up immediately after touching the ground, which turned into three beats of "ta-ta-ta".

In the next second, the cavalry burst into earth-shattering shouts: "U-la-la-la-la-la-!"

The vigilant Ursus cavalry watched in horror as the enemy cavalry poured out from the woods not far away.The surging cavalry line seemed to suddenly rise from the dark deep sea, undulating a tsunami rushing towards the land.The handles of the revolvers and sabers in the hands of the Ursus cavalry were as if soaked in water.They barely made any resistance, and they began to scatter: this is just a cavalry company that has dispersed its vigilance, and it is too late to gather, but the enemy is a whole regiment of thousands of cavalry!

The slow-running Ursus cavalry disappeared in the torrent of the cavalry regiment in an instant.Their only meaning was to buy insignificant time for the 42nd Ursus Infantry Regiment, which was severely frightened by the shelling.

Valery Berkonsky's blood froze when he saw thousands of cavalry suddenly burst out in the distance and rushed towards the valley of the Kursk Valley where he was.He was very clear about the situation he was facing: the Preobrazhensky Guards Infantry Regiment who set out together but walked in front had been completely trapped in the dust after the shelling. The army was wiped out.The 42nd Regiment of their own Line Infantry is the only Ursus unit capable of holding back this enemy force.As long as this cavalry defeats the 42nd Regiment, the divisions and brigades on the slopes of the North Ridge will be surrounded by this group of cavalry from the rear-in this case, if they are not completely wiped out, they will be completely defeated!

While these thoughts popped out of his head, Valery's body had already reacted.He galloped on his horse and rushed directly to the far right wing of the regiment. He pointed at the commander of the third battalion who was the first to meet the enemy cavalry attack, pointed his command knife at the surrounding formations, and shouted: "Bayonet up! Phalanx formation!"

The snare drum and trumpet sounded rapidly.The third battalion immediately began to move, the company on the far right immediately turned to face the east, and the other company was divided into two, with half of the soldiers on the left and right.The third company turned its back on them.The phalanx is three columns deep on each side.The first row knelt on one leg in front, pointing their bayonet-loaded rifles obliquely upward.The rear two rows of rifles were raised horizontally.Always be ready to fire.

Following the orders of the officers and non-commissioned officers, the phalanx is being rapidly fine-tuned. One platoon from the front and rear layers is transferred to the two wings respectively, so as to prevent the two wings from being too weak and being broken through by the enemy. Warlocks and sharpshooters are placed at the four corners of the phalanx to cover these The location with the weakest firepower.

The other two battalions of the 42nd Regiment are retreating rapidly to the northwest and southwest to form a triangular phalanx with the third battalion to cover each other.The third battalion had to cover their positions and deploy the phalanx as much as possible. Even before they were fully ready, the soldiers facing the east side had already opened fire in the command of the officers:

"Shoot at their horses! Remember, aim at their horses!"

"Ruler four hundred! Fire!"

A white smoke screen suddenly sprayed out from the east side of the phalanx.The well-trained Ursus soldiers repeated the loading-shooting action. The officers and sergeants stopped directing the soldiers to shoot after firing the first round of volley. Discharge bullets.

With the combination of breech-loading rifles and skilled shooters, the rifle firepower formed by only two rows of soldiers can be described as intensive.The cavalry of the Nationalist Army who were charging turned upside down as if they had hit an invisible wall of air. People kept falling to the ground and horses, and pack animals could be seen struggling everywhere.

There is no cover in the open snowfield.The bullet flew from a distance, making a strange scream as it passed overhead, and hit the ground causing a cloud of dust.The fireball condensed at the tip of the staff and flew out, sometimes exploding into clouds of snow and dust in the distance, and sometimes covering the cavalrymen and horses in the queue in the explosion.

Warriors and pack animals were knocked down one after another.The fallen cavalry rolled a few times, got up and continued to move forward with their sabers all over their faces; when they couldn't get up, they trembled and raised their guns to shoot.The iron stream of cavalry rushed towards the enemy's small phalanx like a storm.From the very beginning of the attack, the cavalry ran at a sprint speed—there was no need to reserve physical strength for the pack animals. Only by completely defeating the enemy in front of them and encircling the 29th Brigade of the Eighth Division and the Ninth Division of the enemy could it be completely reversed. Battle situation!

The deadly fire net runs across the battlefield, like a dense tripping rope, and like a terrifying high-voltage power grid.As the two Ursus phalanxes in the back barely took shape and started shooting, the leading squad suffered one after another casualties, and even more than a dozen cavalry fell down at the same time as if they were electrocuted.The formation of the impact disappeared quickly like a snowball in a boiling water pot.

But this one-sided killing will not last long.

Few of the Ussans noticed that a large procession of carriages emerged from the woods with the cavalry.Some of those carriages swung their tails in unison on the high ground in the distance, pointing their rears towards the battlefield; others lined up in the open space, and a group of cavalry soldiers carrying mortar tubes and seat plate brackets jumped down and were busy.

The 24 machine gun carriages of the two machine gun companies of the firepower battalion took the lead in strafing. The movements were skillful and fast, and the rain of bullets knocked down the Ursas phalanx 500 meters away.Then the fast-moving mortar gunners also started firing 82MM mortars.

The pouring rain of bullets roared and caught the Ursus phalanx standing in rows in the open space. The east side of the formation was wiped out in the blink of an eye by the machine gun fire swept by the wind, as if a wall was being blasted in a targeted manner. Then it collapsed with a loud crash.Mortar shells exploded one after another around several phalanxes, and the flying shrapnel exploded into blank areas among the crowd.

The 42nd Regiment lined up three dense targets in the open space, without cover or concealment, and suffered heavy losses in just one minute. From the initial full resistance to the gradual weakening of firepower, the number of rifles that could be fired dropped sharply. The battalion commander fell one after another, the casualties increased rapidly, and the bayonet platoon resisting the cavalry was also incomplete.And the next moment, the wave of the tribal army cavalry coincided with the faintly shaken phalanx.

By this time, twenty holes had been pierced through the regimental flag of the cavalry regiment.And the car was shot and sacrificed himself to fall off the horse and then ran with a limp. Belkonski, who had just intercepted the empty pack beast after others fell off the horse, finally climbed on the new mount.

The shouts of "Fire! Shoot!", the screams of "They are approaching!", and the roars of "Don't retreat!" disappeared in an instant, leaving only the terrifying sound of sabers piercing flesh and bones and the Ursus soldiers. screams.The broken phalanx was penetrated and torn like a piece of paper, and countless strips of cold steel flashed above the heads of the cavalry and between the Ursus soldiers.Sabers and bayonets clashed, parrying.From time to time, cavalrymen were thrown off their horses, but more often than not, Ursus soldiers had their heads or limbs removed with sabers.

Ten seconds after the two sides fought hand to hand, the collapse of the 42nd regiment began.

Among the three battalion-level hollow phalanxes of the 42nd Regiment, the first to collapse was the third battalion facing the impact.This battalion not only bears the brunt of facing the cavalry, but also bears the brunt of being intensively shot by the cavalry regiment's firepower battalion.The phalanx, which was severely weakened by firepower, failed to block the charge of the cavalry at all, and was directly smashed into the phalanx. The result can be imagined;

The resistance effect of the remaining two battalions was not very good either. The cavalrymen armed with an automatic rifle, and the whole squad and platoon fired wildly at the living targets that were close at hand.Only the Ursus infantry with the "only son gun" was obviously the target of unilateral massacre in this face-to-face confrontation, and the remaining two battalions did not stand up for 3 minutes before they began to collapse.

Valery Berkonsky shouted, shouted, and cursed desperately, all to no avail, and felt as if he were blocking the Dnieper with a shovel.Going against the flow of fleeing people, he drew out his command saber, howled furiously, and galloped his horse towards the swarming Tribal Army cavalry.

At first, no one took the lonely Ursus officer seriously.Eight integrated movement cavalry surrounded Valery Berkonsky and tried to capture him alive.But the fellow swung his saber, whirled about in the saddle, and resisted with all his strength.

During the melee, the tip of the knife pierced a bloodstain on Valery's neck.A tribune cavalry charged again from the left, the cold light of his saber flickered in front of his eyes.Valery raised his knife to block the frame; the swords clashed with clangs and sparks flew.In a blink of an eye, three cavalrymen were chopped down by him one after another.After his saber was knocked down, he immediately snatched it from a Tribune cavalryman who was close by, and swung it as freely as on the training field.

Suddenly, the wounded cavalry squad whirled away, leaving only Valery alone.Before he could react, an extremely familiar figure caught his eyes.

Wearing the enemy's uniform, the movements of galloping horses are extremely familiar.Valery could even recall from the swing of the knife and the angle of holding the horse's belly with his legs how the stick hit him on the head, and how the idiot who rushed over jumped from the colt when he first learned to ride a horse. After falling down, I recalled my brother standing on horseback picking apples.

For the first time, Valery lost his mind during the cavalry battle.He and his opponent were walking towards each other, galloping their horses and approaching at a fast speed.And he was thinking wildly.

The opponent is someone who is more skilled in horsemanship and swordsmanship than him.And when Valery came to his senses and realized that he was distracted, and only slashed, stabbed, and blocked with muscle memory but was unscathed, he found the same expression on Andre's face.

The two of them were not fighting each other with absolute murderous intent, nor were they flirting with each other for obvious reasons.They were just at a loss, but because of the inertia of war, they raised their swords against each other.

The two stunned, confused and aggrieved people just cut at each other and looked at each other.It wasn't until the tribal cavalrymen next to them realized that they were no longer busy aiming at the figures on horseback circling around each other, and then fired the bullets at the pack animals.

The pack animal that was shot fell to the ground, pressing Valery under it.The head of the 42nd Regiment of the Sixth Army's Line Infantry struggled to inhale and exhale. He felt a burning pain from the chest down, and couldn't help screaming.

Andre rode over, his body blocked a large area of ​​light, forcing Valery to look up at this guy against the light.Andre's dignity is also not flattering: this guy's hat fell somewhere, his whole body is covered with dust, his face is set off by gunpowder smoke and blood, and his teeth are extremely white.

The two looked at each other silently for a few seconds, then Andre turned his horse's head and calmly ordered the squad leader to arrange the senior prisoner.Amidst Valery's hoarse curses, he looked towards the battlefield next to him.

The battle has come to an end, around the last resistance of the 42nd regiment, the cavalry's swords and guns are surging.With the continuous explosion of grenades and the intensive bursts of automatic rifles, dozens of Ursus soldiers surrounding the flag of the 42nd Regiment who were desperately resisting fell down one after another.Military banners with double-headed eagles were draped over their bodies.

The remnants of the enemy finally lost their will to fight, and in desperation, they raised their hands tremblingly and surrendered.

He was shot in the left shoulder, and Zhukov, who was still oozing blood from the hastily wrapped bandage, galloped up to the small dirt bag.The regimental flag of the cavalry regiment, which was like a piece of rag in front of the Ursus army flag, with only red silk and yellow embroidered "First Cavalry Regiment", was hunting in the strong winter wind; Under the ten thousand zhang light glows a dazzling brilliance.

The trumpets representing victory roared loudly and loudly in the valley of Kursk, resounding through the rolling mountains and clear sky, heralding the end to those who have not yet perished but will eventually perish, and declaring to those who are about to win but not yet won direction.

Chapter 42 Victory

"Even if an absolute advantage is not obtained, a relative advantage should be formed through the ingenious application of tactics and the grasp of timing."

——Carl von Clausewitz

The fate of the Sixth Army of the Fourth Army of the Ursus Empire was sealed.

It knows almost nothing about the enemy's specific strength, combat power, and combat characteristics, but still subconsciously believes that it must be the stronger side; The opponent's slaughterhouse was carefully prepared, but its own reserve team was used recklessly; its artillery and land-ships could neither effectively destroy the enemy's defense line nor kill the enemy's vital forces, and fell into a disadvantage in the artillery battle.

In order to completely withstand the impact of the Ursas Empire army, the Tribal Army also deployed five battalions on the four-kilometer front, which also formed a large force density. They prevented the Sixth Army from even being able to cross 300 meters At the same time, he also suffered a lot of casualties.

But the ending of the Sixth Army was already doomed. The Ursas Empire Army, which had no means to deal with the changes in the battlefield situation, would fall apart in the counterattack of the Tribal Army.

The cavalry regiment that cut into the battlefield from the northeast defeated the last reserve of the Sixth Army, and the fifth infantry regiment that entered from the northwest also made great strides forward under the leadership of Hangou's entire company of space warriors.

The enemy was the [-]th Infantry Division of the [-]th Army, an entire Ursus Infantry Division.Even though it suffered considerable losses during the attack, when it has turned to defense, it is difficult for just one infantry regiment to defeat it.If the fifth infantry regiment, which has been squatting in the forest for a long time, wants to crush it, it will be very difficult and the casualties will inevitably be huge——

This is common sense, but it is not common sense for the Space Marines of the Human League.

A whole company marched in front of the Fifth Regiment in a sparse skirmish line, bored faces hidden under their helmets.It was neither a surprise beheading nor a one against ten.The space fighters, who have always been sharp swords and iron fists, were not satisfied with the tasks they got in this battle.It's a farce for a dignified space warrior to bully a group of enemies whose weapons are several generations behind their automatic guns.

The riflemen fired lead bullets at a speed that could burn the barrels red, and fierce firepower roared in; the bullets hit the armor of the Space Marines, but only left a few ugly scratches on the surface of the monsters.The artillerymen's faces were darkened by gunpowder smoke, and their eyes looked blood red against the flames; they poured excessive amounts of propellant into the cannon's chambers that would almost certainly blow them up, causing the cannons to emit angry roars and long tongues of flame.

The iron ball, which was burnt dark red, flew towards its target with a piercing whistling sound—it was useless.

The few hit bullets were easily bounced off by the armor of the cement-gray monsters, and they couldn't even make them stagger.The new rear-loaded rifled steel cannon can tear apart most Cazimir knights including their horses and men, but it is like a child's toy in front of these mechanical monsters.

The Space Marines of the 113th Division are genetically modified people, and most of the "gene seeds" implanted in them come from the Primarch Mozedorik of the Red Scythe Hammer Legion. They are born with hoarding habits, the pursuit of self-sufficiency, and firepower. There are many styles such as insufficiency phobia, and caution is also one of them.However, at this moment, facing the enemy's desperate blocking fire, and facing countless flying bullets and artillery shells, these Space Marines did not avoid it, and even yawned as the bullets splashed sparks on their powered armor.

Hangou shouted in the company communication channel: "Comrades, shooting this kind of target is a waste of explosive bombs and plasma! Only bayonets are used this time!"

That being said, as the distance gradually began to approach, the space warriors who were endlessly harassed by those small water pipes still raised their pulse plasma guns and heavy bolter machine guns, and fired three neat salvos.

The automated command system in the armor used the data link to accurately allocate the shooting targets, so that the company's three salvos wiped out the entire Ursas infantry battalion.The Ursus soldiers could only let the bombs and plasma clusters howl and detonate in their bodies.Without even screaming, these soldiers turned into blood mist in the air and minced meat on the ground.

The sound of guns on the west side of the entire battlefield has visibly stopped.Immediately afterwards, the entire Seventh Division of the Ursas Infantry began to flee.The fifth infantry regiment of the National People's Army let out deafening cheers and chased after it.Hangou was flustered throughout the battle, so that the thing he was most impressed with was actually picking up the Seiko revolver with gems embedded in it from the side of the killed Master Ursas.

But the highlight of the counterattack phase of the entire battle was to crush the divisions and brigades in the eastern section of the offensive line of defense from the front.

The Ursus soldiers who survived the Battle of Kursk will never forget the sound of tank tracks crushing the ground.

When seeing more than 20 tanks and armored vehicles rushing out of the woods in the distance, the Ursus soldiers attacking the Kursk North Ridge defense line, whether they are the most grassroots soldiers or the generals with the highest intelligence level, are very concerned about these The eight pairs of road wheels that came towards him with their square heads all had expressions of "you're fucking kidding me".

The Terra Tribal Army has advanced equipment, which has become the consensus of the Sixth Army of Ursus.But people still think that this is limited to small arms, and technical arms should not be so sufficient.For example, compared with the enemy's unprecedentedly powerful light weapons, the artillery of the Civil Protection Army is relatively weak, at least not as unparalleled as light weapons.

But when that group of things that didn't know whether to call them micro land craft or large armored vehicles appeared with the rolling militia infantry, they collectively fell into a state of confusion. It felt like Europe in the [-]th century. People wearing brightly colored military uniforms, holding flintlock guns with bayonets, lined up in neat queues, and were preparing to hang the Native Americans, when Maxim was carried out from the opposite side...

Strictly speaking, even with light weapons, the Ursus army cannot be said to be that bad.Although there are no automatic weapons at all, in terms of supporting firepower, there are all the direct-firing warlocks and curved-firing mortars. The power level is acceptable, but the number is relatively rare.In fact, in addition to artillery and land carriers, the main source of casualties for the militia was Ursus warlocks and mortars.

However, tanks and anti-tank weapons for tanks have not yet appeared in the Ursus army.Warlocks don't know what kind of Originium skills and where to aim can cause effective damage to armored vehicles. Mortars... don't expect this thing to be anti-armor; rely on a rifle?Are you serious?

Seeing these tens of tons of guys roaring and rushing towards me, feeling the slight tremor of the ground under the tracks, the Ursus soldiers who were defending on the mountains and slopes, shooting desperately were terrified, and let out desperate cries. Howl.

Then the tank roared.