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

Chapter 20 Battlefield Refresh in One Day

"Artillery is the god of war."

—Joseph Stalin

"Without artillery, there is no victory."

——Mosedoric

Morning of February 1093, 2.The middle section of the former east-west actual control line of Kazdel, the northwest of the fixed industrial city "Hamburg", desert terrain.

Greythroat, the operator of the Tower of Babel, was panting heavily, his eyes frantically moving on this noisy battlefield, but he couldn't find a focus to stop.Chaos, chaos everywhere, chaotic roads, chaotic sand, chaotic battles, chaotic crowds...

what do I do?What should be done? !

Only 5 minutes should have passed since the battle started.But this East Kazdare coalition infantry company, reinforced by the Tower of Babel tactical team, has been beaten to the edge of collapse.The infantry company commander who was supposed to be in charge had disappeared a long time ago amid the continuous explosions, and it was not known whether he was alive or dead; two of the four platoon commanders were killed, one's condition was unknown, and one was cut in the neck by a mortar shell fragment. , was lying in an empty ditch on the side of the road receiving first aid.The casualties of squad leaders and ordinary soldiers were completely impossible to count in this chaotic battlefield.

At the beginning of the encounter, a 45MM rapid-fire cannon that had been strengthened for this company was detonated by the opposite machine gun and the ammunition truck exploded into colorful fireworks.The two beasts of burden responsible for towing the artillery were smashed into sieves by shrapnel flying in all directions in the blink of an eye, and they fell down neighing miserably.The big thing they had dragged so hard was quickly burned into black and gray scraps of metal.

This infantry company has no other heavy weapons.Compared with the shabby group of "Kazdel Kingdom's orthodox army", the firepower of Wang Ting's army is so strong that it makes people crazy. Machine guns, grenades, grenades... They throw explosives here unscrupulously, The road section where the reinforced infantry company is located was blown up.

In the front and on the left and right wings, dense tracer belts can be seen everywhere.Explosions of various colors and sizes constantly squeezed the few remaining positions of the survivors.If the soldiers of Wang Tingjun dared to take the risk of launching a bayonet charge, this infantry company would have been turned into a pile of corpses long ago.

But this fact does not bring much consolation: around this company, rammed earth roads, gravel roadbeds, roadside soil slopes, wasteland on both sides... Bullets and shells of different calibers fell everywhere, blowing out One after another, the earth-brown dust pillars, with bright green tracer ballistics flying across them, firmly nailed the more than 100 officers and soldiers of this reinforced infantry company to the dusty wasteland.

The blue-gray coats of Babel operators are covered in dust, making Gray Throat barely noticeable in this chaotic battlefield.But everyone has been broken up, the company has been broken up.

Of course it is impossible to win. Being able to retreat these people to their own positions in an organized manner would be the best outcome.But the question is, how can this chaotic group of frightened birds maintain the most basic order during their retreat?

Gray Throat knew that the survivors of this company had been completely wiped out by Wang Tingjun's pursuit and firepower.Their formation was in such disarray that it could neither be called a march nor a battle formation.Excluding the dead and injured, the remaining more than 100 people were actually divided into more than 20 groups, and there were groups everywhere.And the teammates who were supposed to be in the same team as him are also missing at this moment.

Gray Throat would never do such a bad thing as abandoning his comrades and running for his life alone.However, what role can a lone shooter have on this battlefield?

Set up your own SVD sniper rifle, place your body precisely on the best exit pupil position of the scope, judge the distance, turn the height of the scope and the wind deflection handwheel, hold your breath, and the second joint of your right index finger is smooth and smooth Depress the trigger firmly.

The enemy's water-cooled heavy machine gun went silent.

Then the firepower of revenge flew in, and the bullets of the heavy machine gun and the bolt-action rifle kept pouring in the direction of Gray Throat.Huihou rolled and scrambled down the dirt slope, bowed his waist and ran to the new position.

As the strategic initiative changed hands, Teresi's Wang Tingjun began to advance eastward step by step.And Teresia's front line is steadily blocking, covering the deployment of reinforcements from the rear.

Unlike Theresia, who almost captured Tracy's lair, Tracy's front advance was slow and bloody.Wang Tingjun, who lost the sudden advantage, also fell into the disadvantage of being forced to attack the defensive position.Their firepower, from long-range firepower to field artillery to the number of machine guns, is stronger than Theresia's, but to overcome this kind of position, the number of weapons and tactical level of the Wang Ting Army are far from enough.The battlefield became unprecedentedly bloody.

However, Teresys, who has a higher level of combat effectiveness and overall combat readiness, and a deeper militarization of the national economy, slowly overwhelmed the East Kazdale coalition forces that had switched from offense to defense.Three months into the war, when the newspapers announced that they would unify Kazdel, Wang Tingjun returned to the industrial area lost at the beginning of the war.Contests between small groups of scouts then became frequent.

As small-scale battles between the two sides unfolded in the outskirts of the industrial area, the East Kazdale coalition launched a series of combat operations in response to this situation.This infantry company, which was strengthened with a rapid-fire gun and a Babel tactical squad, was originally tasked with setting up an ambush on this road branch line, waiting for an opportunity to defeat or eliminate the forward vanguard of a certain unit of the Wang Ting Army.

There is nothing wrong with this squad harassment tactic, even if the doctor himself is asked to come, there is no reason to object.Theoretically, the degree of motorization of the infantry units of the Wang Ting Army is very low, and heavy weapons such as artillery rely heavily on pack animals for transportation, and the speed can be called creeping.Such an enemy is equivalent to putting himself on the dinner plate. The harassment and guerrilla units can choose the battlefield at will, set up an ambush wherever they want, and fire when they like.

However, we all know that war is a contest that only follows objective laws.As long as we accurately grasp the rules and use our own conditions to exert them, the situation is by no means impossible to reverse.For example, the main force of the first regiment of the Wangting Army's [-]st Infantry Division, the face-to-face enemy of Gray Throat, was indeed very slow in marching.But the commander of the first regiment of the [-]st Infantry Division was a very cautious guy and made full preparations for counter-ambush.

After entering the range of activities of the reconnaissance unit of the defending army in the industrial area, the first regiment of the [-]st Infantry Division immediately strengthened the vanguard, increasing its strength from one infantry company to at least two infantry companies, and also strengthened mortars and scouts.This light infantry detachment was not dragged down by heavy weapons like the main force of the regiment, and its marching speed was much faster than expected by its counterparts in the east.

Even if the Greythroats can enter the ambush position as planned and establish an ambush position in advance, it will be difficult to defeat such a powerful enemy.What's more, when the company of the Dongka Allied Forces was one kilometer away from the destination, it collided with the advance unit of the Wang Ting Army in a daze, and an encounter directly occurred?

The number and firepower of the Queen's Girl Faction Company were at an absolute disadvantage, and it was not long before they were cornered...

That's what happened on this spur of the road.

As the company was forced to retreat steadily, Wang Tingjun's infantry began to pursue.In the hazy sand in the distance, it seems that the armor of the enemy infantry is looming, approaching like a moving iron wall.

The survivors of the reinforced company finally found a clear shooting target. As the backbone of light weapons, bolt-action rifles and water-cooled machine guns, cutting-edge automatic rifles and light machine guns crackled.

Although the environment was so bad, the East Kazdare coalition infantry company did not collapse.Many soldiers, including the wounded, spontaneously chose to fire back rather than huddle in a shivering ball on the wasteland.At least forty rifles, two light machine guns, and an air-cooled heavy machine gun that miraculously survived were firing heavily.

Among the officers and soldiers of the East Carolina Allied Forces, the most worthy of a medal is the heavy machine gun team. Every time they finish firing [-] rounds of [-] rounds of canvas ammunition, they will move as quickly as their buttocks are being kicked by the squad leader. The position is always half a step ahead of the enemy's shells and bullets.

Doing so would definitely affect the firepower effect, but if they stayed still, they would have been smashed into a pile of parts by the firepower of Wang Tingjun.The reinforced mortars and heavy machine guns of this company are basically the same result. The 45MM towed rapid-fire gun reinforced for the infantry company, as mentioned above, turned into a bonfire in the middle of the road as soon as it was fired.

Amidst the noise, Gray Throat secretly shot short shots.It is hoped that the enemy's numerical advantage can be reduced as much as possible before the enemy launches a charge.

Her efforts could not even attract the exclusive attention of the enemy.The enemy only had a small group of infantry leaping forward from the skirmish line, and the speed could almost be described as unhurried.Their real choice is to let the artillery fire be squared and squared again.

A 75mm high-explosive bomb suddenly exploded on the right side of Gray Throat, turning her thinking into chaos.Behind the dead tree stump, three coalition soldiers poked their G98 rifles out of the temporary shelter and were about to shoot back. They were instantly engulfed by the tumbling flames and gunpowder smoke.

The high-speed shrapnel mixed with clods of soil and gravel made a sharp noise on the top of Huithroat's head like a storm, giving her the urge to turn around and run, and even had a faint urge to urinate...

There were screams, howls and harsh curses all around.Gray Throat's heart suddenly became extremely cold, as if he had run to the northwest tundra where the Atlas instructors were born: After the exchange of fire for only a few minutes, the strength of the Wang Ting Army not only did not decrease, but increased even more.In addition to the company's mortars, higher-level firepower such as regiment-owned field artillery and battalion-owned heavy-duty mine throwers were summoned by the enemy in front of them, further strengthening the already exaggerated firepower density.

Field artillery shells and mortar shells roared from the sky, setting up rolling walls of fire all around.There were East Kazdare soldiers lying down and crouching everywhere in front, back, left and right.Faced with the enemy's deadly artillery fire, they had no time to dig anti-gunfire holes. They could only use natural obstacles such as tree stumps, shrubs, and mounds of earth as simple bunkers. They hoped that their previous luck could continue to be maintained and that they would survive more in this purgatory. Stay up for a while.

Gray Throat trembled in the explosion, and the air in his chest hit his petite body.The trainee operator, who had not completed three missions, finally couldn't maintain the disguise that he had been wearing since his father's death, and whispered to himself:

"Whatever it is...come and save us..."

Then there was a crackling sound from her earphones.At first, background noise from the radio prevented her from hearing clearly.But with the automatic tuning of the handheld radio, the harsh male voice became clear: "...Repeat, call Alpha-1, call Alpha-1, this is Tentacle-05, please answer... .”

"This is Gray Throat, a trainee sniper operator of the Tower of Babel under Alpha-1's jurisdiction!" Gray Throat came alive like lightning, and hurriedly replied: "Ask for support!"

"This is Tentacle-05, received. This is 'Faust', artillery support will be here soon."

"What? Wait, I have to report on the target..."

Before the words fell, whistling came faintly from the sky.

At first, it is dull and raucous, and as time goes on, the whistling sound gradually becomes high-pitched and sharp.

Gray Throat suddenly heard a story told by an Atlas instructor to the Tower of Babel students in his spare time during the tactics course:

Whenever the battle situation falls into the worst situation and the soldiers usher in the most desperate moment, the death angels of the Lord of Humanity will descend from the sky and reverse the battle situation...

Everyone just wants to hear about it.

However, the excitement and emotions of the instructors when they talked about this matter are still impressive.Now, Gray Throat suddenly has a certain understanding of the instructors...

Wang Tingjun's skirmish line was approaching gradually, but at this moment he hesitated amidst the whistling of heavy artillery shells.Then, disaster struck.

A terrifying brown soil column stood up abruptly in the skirmish line, with an unprecedented size and height.As a sniper operator, Gray Throat never hoped that his eyesight would be as good as it is now:

A considerable part of the soil pillar was a dignified reddish brown, and parts of it that resembled gun fragments and stumps and arms splashed out...

An infantry squad of the Wang Ting Army reflexively lay down on the spot, tearing a conspicuous gap in the middle of the skirmish line; The group looked around in panic, not knowing whether to move on, or to temporarily throw away the heavy weapon parts and ammunition——

The whole platoon of shells followed.

A row of tumbling dust waves rose from the ground, as if an invisible giant sword cut across the land in the hands of a giant.The first round of effective fire accurately shot a wall of fire no more than 50 meters away from the survivors of the queen's faction, isolating the arrogant enemies and the desperate allies. Immediately afterwards, the artillery fire began to extend.A rolling bullet screen slowly moved forward, obliterating the several thousand meter wide bullet impact zone in the churning dust.

The explosion flashed wildly in the sea of ​​dust, the shock wave stirred up the dust like boiling water in a pot, and the shrapnel cut the air and harvested life wantonly.As several rounds of rapid fire meandered from near to far, the fighting seemed to subside.

The survivors of the infantry company sent by Wang Nu were frozen like stone sculptures, staring blankly into the distance until the last round of bullets hit the ground, and the artillery fire finally subsided.They just dissipated from the petrification, and their bodies sensed that the ground was slightly roaring from behind.

The artillery reconnaissance armored vehicles that had just retracted the lifting and lowering sight mast slowly drove over and stopped behind the survivors.The small vehicle-mounted drone in mid-air swooped down and plunged into the recovery net on the roof of the car. It was as if the guard who had drawn a sword to kill an assassin neatly sheathed the sword.

Faust, who was at the top of the Babel sharpshooter list, quickly jumped out of the car, and looked at Gray Throat with those gray eyes: "Good afternoon, Babel swallows, how are you doing here now?"

Before the words fell, the "Alliance" 155MM self-propelled howitzer battalion in the distance roared again, changing the direction of the balance of war with artillery fire.

**

after many years(

Chapter 21 The Scales of War

Kazdare's column has an entire mechanized and information-enhanced marine division. As a unit with a complete range of light and heavy equipment, from infantry to land carriers, its combat effectiveness is among the best in the entire land of Terra.

However, a considerable number of forces in Theresia's regime had firm suspicions about Atlas.Some of them are wary of external interference as Sarkazi people, and some are neurotic about any existence that may threaten their power.The Tower of Babel also felt nervous that "Atlas seems to have no competitiveness in holding us in its mouth". Even Theresia had no trust in Atlas and only used Atlas to play a few idle chess moves. .

And when Atlas expressed his willingness to participate in the military operations of the Theresia regime, even if he only expressed an intention, it caused a stress response from the Theresia Group.The proposal to send out the formation of land ships was torn apart by layers of obstacles, wishing that Kazdel's column would squat to death in the remote Oder River Basin.

As a result, Atlas was completely ignorant of the specific military action plan of the Teresia regime from beginning to end.After discussion by the Column Decision-Making Committee, they decided to go downhill and make up their mind not to interfere in the military for the time being.In this way, on the one hand, it can ease the vigilance caused by the "this fucking transport fleet" on the East Kazdale side, and on the other hand, it can buy time for the construction of the Usas-Cazdale border base.If Teresia screwed up, she might be able to give Atlas a chance to shine.

Whether as a soldier or hoping to open up the situation in Kazdel, Comand secretly hoped that Therecia Group would lose.Considering the military action policy revealed by Theresia before, Comand felt that the possibility of His Highness the Demon King's overturning was very high.In the preparation plan of the column, this environment is also given priority, and an action plan is formulated based on this.

Taking into account the vigilance of the Sakaz people, the troops preparing to enter the Kazdaele Civil War must be small in size, and cannot have large battleships of the capital ship level; but they must have sufficiently outstanding performance and high battlefield value.They should avoid close combat as much as possible to reduce losses, but they should also cause great damage to the enemy——

At the meeting of the military cadres of the column, Fourth Master Shaoming took over the important task of organizing a battalion-level synthetic battle group with a blunt face.

To achieve this effect, it is natural to use artillery as the main force!

On present-day Terra, the development of artillery weapons and tactics is not exactly consistent with Earth's history.The people of Terra have very few long-range firepower systems picked up from the ruins, including large electromagnetic guns and electrothermal chemical guns.These advanced long-range weapons can still operate normally today thanks to the automated maintenance and production systems in the supporting storage facilities.The natives of Terra know almost nothing about them, and they can still install them on mobile cities as city defense guns.

However, people have long been inspired by the technical route of "long-range artillery", and with the blessing of Originium technology and Originium gunpowder, a batch of immature indirect aiming artillery has been created.

And the people of Terra have small radios, and they can also communicate wirelessly with the help of communicators.In this way, the artillery range and communication equipment performance meet the requirements for establishing indirect targeting artillery.

With the great development of gunpowder technology, when black powder gradually matures and smokeless gunpowder develops, new long-range howitzers and cannons are already practical enough.For example, Teresis has been producing 75MM rapid-fire guns, 105MM howitzers, and 150MM howitzers on a small scale by relying on the army, military industry, and military technology. The level on the eve of World War I.Although the backward industrial level and weak economic foundation make the number of new artillery limited, but on the Kazdale battlefield where no division can be supported by a land frigate, such artillery is really important for Theresa's army. Great threat.

— but not so for the SUPF.

In the old "Empire of Humanity" period, the main barrel suppression artillery of the Imperial Astral Army was the "Earth Shaker"/"Petrified Lizard". The two types used the same structure of 132MM towed and self-propelled howitzers.Depending on the sub-model and the type of ammunition, the range of this thing ranges from a little over ten kilometers to seventy or eighty kilometers.

In today's People's Federation Army, especially in the "Grand Army" that undertakes the main combat missions, the advanced modification of the truck-shaped and self-propelled petrified lizards has become the main body-barrel artillery of regiments and brigade-level units.In larger division-level units, the role of the main suppressing artillery is replaced by a new type of artillery——

"Alliance" 155MM self-propelled howitzer.

If you dare to call it by this name, you will know the status of this kind of artillery in the People's Alliance army.In fact, this thing is indeed worthy of its name.Their range can reach fifty or even hundreds of kilometers. With the support of advanced technology, their combat effectiveness cannot be competed by the numbers of old-fashioned artillery.What's more, Tracy's artillery now generally only has 105MM howitzers and independent 150MM howitzers belonging to the infantry division. The range of these things is only between [-] kilometers and [-] kilometers; larger-caliber field artillery is even installed on mobile city modules. Even the city defense artillery had not had time to be transported to the front line.

Artillery, especially artillery that does not directly approach the front line, but relies on observation and transmission information from other positions for "indirect targeting" shooting at long distances, is extremely dependent on timely and accurate information.

The most advanced Terra artillery companies now mainly rely on wired equipment for communication to organize artillery firing.First of all, when facing targets that are completely outside the sight of the artillery aimer, artillery scouts must use observation instruments to calibrate the target at the forward observation post, record coordinate data, and report to the artillery firing command post using wired or wireless communications.

Artillery officers and artillery staff officers have to work hard for a long time with slide rules and pencils in front of paper maps and shooting charts of various types of artillery before they can figure out the high and low angles, shooting directions, etc. shooting parameters; , They must also call the switchboard operator while cranking the generator, contact each artillery or artillery battery one by one in order, and report the elements that need to be installed for each artillery to the operator over there. Artillery crew... It will take at least a quarter of an hour to concentrate the firepower of multiple artillery positions on the same square on the artillery map.

Who knows where people in Tylaya can pull out calculators and even smartphones, but medium and long-distance field wireless communication technology is not reliable, and the concept of "electronic countermeasures" has not even been produced.Limited by the level of artillery and ammunition technology, communication technology and command and control system, their artillery is currently at this level.In comparison, the artillery level of the current Terra People's Guard Army is much higher.

The 113th Division of the Extraterrestrial Corps of the People's Federation provided a sufficient number of relatively advanced technical equipment, such as a relatively advanced artillery automatic command system and a large number of radios with better performance.The indirect artillery of the National People's Army can provide timely and accurate coordinates by the artillery observers who follow the front-line units, and carry out quite accurate fire support and fire escort.

The indirect artillery of the Terran army has almost no such capabilities.They relied primarily on fire plans and schedules drawn up in advance and followed by rear artillery and forward troops.There is no problem when bombarding the areas and targets that have been observed in advance, but when the infantry starts to advance, the enemy starts to retreat, reinforce and counterattack, and when the positions of the enemy and the enemy in the target area and the target situation change completely, it is difficult for the artillery of the Terra army to respond. In response, he could only stare blankly.

The artillery of the National People's Army has overwhelming advantages in communication, sighting, and command capabilities. The forward artillery observation post can maintain contact with powerful artillery positions through high-power radios and extensive field telephone networks.The large redundant communication system means that the Artillery of the National People's Armed Forces established an artillery observation post, formed an observation network, and established an artillery communication network and an infantry, tank, and artillery cross-arms communication network. Also very powerful.This overall level of artillery is beyond the reach of the current Terran army.

And now the field artillery of the "Grand Army" of the People's Federation is even more heavyweight——

The People's Federation's army brigade/regiment-level force, this kind of "basic combat corps"-level force, has all the artillery battalions under its jurisdiction autonomous, with trucks, wheeled, tracked and even suspension chassis carrying howitzers and rocket launchers. Each has its own artillery reconnaissance platoon, with 3 reconnaissance vehicles in each row, and it is a special artillery reconnaissance vehicle equipped with a telescopic reconnaissance mast and an informationized command and communication platform. The battalion has also set up a command support company equipped with 3 artillery reconnaissance Calibration positioning radar vehicles, ammunition supply vehicles with one gun per gun, and support vehicles such as engineering rescue vehicles and electromechanical maintenance vehicles.

The higher-level "campaign legion", that is, the group army/army/division and other units, they have jurisdiction over the artillery divisions and artillery battalions of the artillery brigade. On the basis of the brigade artillery, a reconnaissance company has been added, equipped with Medium-sized reconnaissance drone and electronic countermeasure equipment.In addition, there are more advanced and professional reconnaissance force support.

The group of artillery staff officers at the Artillery Command Post of the People's Federation only needs to tap a few times on the electronic map on the display of the automated command system—or even rely on the one-way brain-computer interface to "think about it" to indicate the shooting target for the artillery company , Setting the marching route, not to mention sending a telegram and shaking the phone, even the voice call is not very useful.

And that's just an improvement in the chain of command and associated equipment.In terms of equipment technical content, even the artillery of the National People's Army cannot compare with the "Alliance".The artillery squad that the People's Federation adds its own howitzers only needs to click on the keyboard or touch screen, or even use the one-way brain-computer interface to "think about it", and can complete the tasks including setting the elements, ammunition types/ All work including fuze selection and propellant charge number selection.After entering the position, they don't even need to stare at the scope to adjust the elevation angle of the gun body, and the fire control system can take care of everything.

An automated command system supported by high-speed data links, an excellent fire control system that is also outstanding in the second millennium of No.40, an efficient and durable fully automatic loading system, new artillery, ammunition and modular unmanned turrets Advanced technology...With the support of many advanced equipment and the best gunners in all of Terra, this Atlas advance battle group built around an "Alliance" self-propelled howitzer battalion, On the battlefield of the Kazdel Civil War, it can only be described as devastating.

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