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

"The Fulda gap will be the key to this war. On the eastern front, our troops are pursuing it with all their strength; on the western front, the aviation force will concentrate all its efforts on blocking the enemy and supporting you in this gap, and Hefan's combined brigade will depart from Hamburg , all the way south along the west side of the Hessian Mountains, blocking this gap from the direction of West Kazdaele. In a word, if the enemy controls this gap, then this war will continue; if we control this gap, this battle will This is the final battle of the Kazdaele Civil War!

"Your task is to rush to the Fulda Valley immediately, reinforce the local defenders, and stop the enemy's attempt to pass through the Fulda Gap at all costs! I will use all means to send troops to you, and use all firepower to support your defense. In a word, nailed there like a steel nail!

"Your actions will determine the outcome of the entire war! Start as soon as possible, the sooner the better!"

**

"Hurry up, everyone who can move their legs quickly put on their equipment! 10 minutes! If I don't see your asses on the deck in 10 minutes, I'll tie you up with explosives and throw them at Tracy On the head!"

"Man, you're Babel trainees, you don't need to—"

"Hey, hey, hey, you're almost done. If you're in the limelight, you guys from Atlas will be out, and then we in the Tower of Babel are going to be out of order. We have to catch up with the excitement today!"

"Let me make it clear, this time it's an airborne assault operation! You guys who have been idle on weekdays have a chance! Even if you see the Emperor today, let him praise the Gunship Knight of our squadron!"

"Hey buddy, help me find the bag, it's not convenient to put on the exoskeleton. Yes, it's the Velcro armband of BabelTower. I was sent by Kelsey's old lynx for special training. It's not for lying on the ground. Atlas's bastards are mixed together!"

"Mr. Silly Dog, your transport capacity should be enough to leave room for a few of us guys. The Atlas Communication Team of the Emergency Task Team directly under the Tower of Babel requests to go to Fulda together!"

"Then why don't you hurry up and put on your exoskeleton, Ace! Wait, throw away your useless shield!"

The outskirts of Hamburg ushered in an unprecedented spectacle: from the Atlas amphibious assault ships parked on the outskirts to the temporarily built field airport, various aircraft belonging to the Fleet Air Arm and Marine Air Force of the People's Liberation Army Corps They all began to prepare to attack.

The big and heavy aerospace vehicles are roaring; the little guys in the atmosphere are in groups.All kinds of fighter jets, bombers, gunboats, helicopters and unmanned attack aircraft have different modifications and a large number; or use their powerful hearts to make deafening roars; or use their rotors to set off tsunami-like waves on the tarmac and aviation deck.

The Atlas's red-edged silver triangle insignia proudly shines on the iron-gray fuselage, with the badges of the various aviation groups or aviation brigades below.Wrapped in various types of power armor and exoskeletons, with different military emblems and uniforms, soldiers from Atlas, National Guard, East Casdales and even the Tower of Babel rushed to various gunboats and helicopters , Human-shaped, dog-shaped and other military robots of different shapes have also boarded gunboats and helicopters.

When Hangou led his company command squad into the front gangway of the Thunderhawk gunboat, with a loud shout of "wait a moment", a small group of exoskeletons wore Babel's blue-gray coats , the operator with the armband of the special trainer hurried into the Thunderhawk gunboat with a relatively spacious space.

The command plane has a natural detached status. According to the regulations, personnel who have nothing to do with the command business should try not to take the command plane as much as possible. This is to avoid things that interfere with the command work.But considering the special situation of having to bring as many troops as possible to reinforce the battlefield, Hangou acquiesced to the behavior of these young men.

And there is another question...

"Why are you here?"

He asked Mephistopheles and Faust.

Mephisto winked: "How can you miss such a big commotion?"

Faust's expression was serious: "Isn't it mobilizing all combatants in non-critical positions? We have just rotated out of the Rhodes Island ship squadron, and by the way, we have brought a new batch of Babel who came to us for training. Operator."

Hangou said lightly: "...We space fighters are not likely to lose in a battle of this level, but we don't have the leeway to protect anyone."

Mephisto rolled his eyes: "Hey, uncle, we are going to fight, we didn't see that you are full of canned food, so we tried every means to sneak in and use you as a follower to block bullets. It won't hold you back, right?"

"......That's good."

Hangou finally answered simply. While looking at the firepower preparations of the various transport and escort units and the air and ground responsible for covering, he activated his personal communication channel and sent a brief message to Comand.

So when the Thunderhawk gunboat soared into the sky amidst the suddenly increasing roar, together with the iron birds on the decks of the amphibious assault ships and the ground field airports, they took off and climbed in groups, densely swarming like locusts in the air, Faust received communication.

He answered the phone and heard Command's cold voice: "Are you on the plane to Fulda?"

"Yes."

"Where's Mephisto?"

"It's right next to me."

"..." After a short silence, Comand spoke again, "You should know that in this situation, I have no way to take care of you."

Faust looked a little sullen: "Of course we understand! And we are still leading a small team, we need to consider our responsibilities as captain first!"

Mephisto, who was pulled in, interjected leisurely: "Hey, Comrade Commissar, don't worry about it. We are also professionals who have received professional training and obtained relevant qualifications. We didn't attach a bow to your coat back then. The little kid who can't even shoot through it. Besides, can you still protect us for the rest of your life? Sister Tallulah will be able to take care of herself!"

Comand fell silent again.It wasn't until they thought he wouldn't answer that Comand said, "I don't want you to promise anything, just survive as long as you can. Take care."

Mephistopheles still had a carefree look: "Hey, don't worry. We're sure—"

"To shut up!"

Comand angrily interrupted the little beep boy's move to set up the Flag, and hung up the phone.

After a brief silence, the two looked at each other and smiled wryly.

Being on the same plane with the huge and well-armed Astartes obviously made the Babel Turks a little awkward.But soon everyone didn't have time to care about this. As the various helicopters and gunboats that took off successively completed formation in the air and began to turn to the south, the terrifying air power of Atlas was displayed in front of everyone in the most intuitive way. :

Groups of iron-gray aircraft scattered sunlight from the sky, shrouding the entire fleet in a dense haze of light.The terrifying roar penetrated the thick armor of the Thunderhawk universal gunship, making people's souls tremble.Looking up, no matter which porthole you look at, you can see a large number of Atlas helicopters and gunboats.

The slightly awkward Libo Babel operator next to Faust seemed to have become more relaxed from being slightly nervous.But then Faust poked her shoulder: "Hey, Swallow of Rhodes."

Gray Throat showed no expression: "What's wrong?"

"We are in the midst of an operation of violence, and ground power is the highest form of violence. Air power can't solve everything. You have to be prepared to roll in the mud and face the enemy face to face with your life."

"You don't forget to go to class at this time?" Gray Throat retorted.

"Isn't this the best time to go to class? You must remember it very well. Because there will be an extremely intense...discussion process."

Gray Throat curled his lips, as if he wanted to say something, but he couldn't say it:

The fleet was approaching the Fulda Gap, and the air-to-ground long-range firepower that was concentrating there was beginning to emerge: swarms of missiles and long-range rocket shells tore through the sky, leaving a large track in the sky, and the shells flashed across the long sky.There is continuous gunpowder smoke and dust in the distance, and clusters of grayish-white or orange-red flames continue to rise from it, like a volcano erupting. The whole land is burning, tormenting everything; faintly visible.

Even the impenetrable background noise of aircraft engines was broken through, and people began to hear the roar of explosions.

Gray Throat stared at the noisy battlefield in the distance.Faust shook her again.

"..." Gray Throat glanced at him silently, and then seemed to have made up his mind. He plucked Li Boli's feather from his hair and handed it to the boy Feidiya, "Keep it as a souvenir. I hope you keep it."

Faust said calmly: "There is no reason why you must die. Keep it."

"...Put it away," Gray Throat repeated stubbornly.

So Faust stuffed the feather into the pocket on the chest of his tactical vest.

Hangou received a text message from Mephisto, and there was a sense of gloating in the short text: "I don't think it looks like I'm going to keep a souvenir for the dead. I heard that the Liboli tribe has a custom of using their own feathers As a token of love..."

Hangou rolled his eyes at him - even though no one could see it through the helmet.

Chapter 48 The Last Battle 1

Air power is critical in modern warfare.Throughout the history of warfare since the advent of air power, there has never been a single instance in which the side with air superiority and effective use of it has fallen into a situation of total defeat.

The aviation combat and training activities in Terra's atmosphere did encounter a lot of difficulties for a while.For example, Originium is distributed in the atmosphere in the form of dust and crystals, which is a very harsh working environment for aircraft engines.The installation of relevant protective equipment will have a very adverse impact on the flight performance of the aircraft.Another example is "natural disasters" such as meteorites, storms, earthquakes, etc., which will inevitably put forward extremely high requirements for meteorological early warning work, and also severely limit the attendance rate and scope of activities of the aviation force.

But even so, the Air Force remains vital.What Wang Tingjun hated most must be the Atlas planes and helicopters, followed by artillery, and the tank unit could only come in third.

Just like now: on the verge of breaking through the National Guard defenses in the Fulda Gap and opening the passage back to West Casdales, there's the sound of high-velocity jets of gas and propellers churning the air in the damn sky again …

Long before the air cluster arrived to provide fire support and deliver reinforcements, the leading Atlas team arrived on the battlefield on a small gunboat and met with the defenders who had established defensive positions along the road in the gap. Busy guiding aviation and armed drones to implement air support and air interdiction.As the swarms of "Predator" armed drones swarmed in and paralyzed the front-line Wang Ting Army troops, fighter jets and bombers used aerial bombs to blast out a carpet in the follow-up echelon of the Wang Ting Army. There are stumps and broken arms hanging on the top, and the enemy's offensive is temporarily blocked.

But the problem has not been completely resolved: the entire army of the Wang Ting Army is rushing here, the density of warlocks in the frontline troops is frighteningly high, and even some predator drones have been injured and knocked down.Although the Predator is originally a "swarm" drone, it mainly relies on its large number and low cost to deal with the danger and high loss rate of close air support; but the battle damage in Terra is still too funny I also remind everyone: don't think that if you are too backward here, you can be completely unscrupulous!As a result, the support efficiency of Army aviation units will inevitably be greatly reduced.

As for artillery, there are currently almost no units that can provide effective support for the Fulda Gap.The location here is too remote, and almost none of the artillery units, even land-ship guns, can hit here.It will take time to reposition and enter the new position.

After counting and counting, only tactical missiles and fixed-wing aircraft can effectively support high-altitude bombing.However, tactical missiles and fixed-wing aircraft are far less timely and accurate than artillery, and the overall projection efficiency is not as good as artillery.How easy is it to block the follow-up breakout army with a crippled regiment and various detachments that have landed by plane?

On the other side, it is not easy for the Wang Ting Army - with the battlefield situation completely showdown, all feints and misdirections are almost meaningless. All troops have broken away from their camouflage and are running towards Fulda at full speed.of course?Atlas long-range artillery and air power began bombing wildly throughout the Kazdale area.

Groups of planes roared in and took turns dropping bombs and strafing, and artillery shells and rockets roared and rolled.The ground trembled in the dense explosions, and the sound of explosions and guns merged into a dense roar. Gray gunpowder smoke pervaded the land of Kazdel, and waves of heat rushed out of the huge crater, scorched, bloody and spicy. The smell pierced the nostrils.

Through the slowly dissipating gunpowder smoke and dust, the ground blackened with blood can be seen everywhere.Around the densely packed crater, big trees fell, vegetation burned, pack animals ran wildly, corpses, guns and rags flew around together, and bloody cloth fragments were hung on the fallen branches near the crater. Groups of officers and soldiers of the Royal Army Falling in a pool of blood...

In such a desperate situation, the officers and soldiers of the Wang Ting Army were completely cut off from logistics. Their stomachs were hungry and full at times, and their rags and tattered clothes could barely cover their bodies. Most of them were exhausted due to lack of rest.With many scars and diseases, they staggered with bloodstained steps, inspired by the belief of "going home", and continued to shuttle on the rugged mountain road in the south of Kazdale with incredible tenacious endurance... .

This torrent of lava is rushing towards Fulda, and the armed forces of East Kazdale will stick to Fulda at all costs!

**

The Fulda Valley is a lowland in the Hesse Mountains, where many roads from many directions converge.This is the only passage within a radius of hundreds of kilometers that allows large-scale corps to travel between East and West Kazdel.If they don't go here, Wang Tingjun will have to disband completely, and flee for their lives with battalions, companies and even squads as units.However, Wang Tingjun chose this place as the direction to break through. It can also be said that risks and opportunities coexist.The blocking force here is weak, the long distance and the complex terrain limit the long-range firepower of the Atlas air and ground.

Faced with the critical situation that Wang Tingjun would rush to within hours, Hangou took over the command of the Fulda gap without even taking a sip of water after getting off the plane.While applying for troops, personnel, and material support from all his superiors and allies, from Command to He Fan, he went to the front to observe the terrain on the spot, and reorganized the defense during the battle.

The head of the National Guard, who lost a battalion, simply handed over the command authority, but insisted that his troops should be on the front line.Hangou is very satisfied with this - the landing troops are patchwork, with companies and even platoons as units, barely the size of four companies, and the combat effectiveness is hard to say.Since the National Self-Defense Forces are willing, it is feasible to put out an inverted triangle defense configuration with two National Self-Defense Force battalions in front and a mixed battalion in the rear.

After all, the air assault force is a dazzling thing at first glance.Infantry with helicopter mobility can increase the assault speed of traditional infantry from tens of kilometers or even several kilometers per hour to 180 kilometers per hour.However, the firepower and mobility of the airborne infantry are far inferior to the army's main mechanized troops. Even with helicopters as fire support, it is still too difficult to go deep into the enemy's rear to occupy key points, and to persist until the arrival of reinforcements in the encirclement of the superior enemy.Therefore, the airborne infantry is only a light cavalry-style role after all. It is an important auxiliary with unique advantages to take the lead in breaking into the enemy's depth of up to [-] kilometers in offensive battles and stick to it for two to three days and nights.

But still an auxiliary.

Everyone knows that the key to the blocking battle at Fulda Gap is not only the bloody battle in this direction, but more importantly, the main forces of the two armies are coming at full speed.Considering Wang Tingjun's advantage in distance, it must be Wang Tingjun who arrived first.Whether Fulda's defenders can withstand the pressure of their absolutely superior force during this time gap and persist until the main force arrives will determine the outcome of the entire war.

It was knowing the extreme severity of the form and the extreme importance of persistence that gave the officers and soldiers of the National Self-Defense Forces an extremely strong will to fight.Everyone is determined to let the war end as soon as possible, so that the war will not ravage their homeland again.

It is good to have determination.However, the defenders in the Fulda direction are absolutely inferior in terms of strength, and they don't have many heavy weapons. It is hard to imagine that they can block the surging waves of Wang Ting's army.As Hangou went from east to west, from south to north, from subordinates to colleagues, and then to superiors in the battlefield communication system, they scolded their mothers and cried for help. The armed forces of the entire East Kazdale camp launched operations around this position.

Hangou came back from looking at the terrain from the front, and then drew a circle in the center of the gap in Fulda, which is only more than [-] kilometers wide at the widest point, with a diameter of only more than two kilometers. All the ground forces in the area - Atlas, National Guard, East Kazdel Allied Forces and even Babel Tariffs were stuffed into this circle to form a circular defensive position.

At the same time, Comand desperately dispatched the transport aviation unit to fully support Fulda during the adjustment and deployment of the aviation unit.The airdrops of transport planes and even the ultra-low-altitude strong drops continued one after another, and transport helicopters and transport gunboats were constantly flowing on the take-off and landing field in the center of the ring position.They brought in mountains of weapons, equipment, food and ammunition, as well as reinforcements from east to west.

Only five hours later, eighteen 105mm light howitzers, six twelve-mounted 107MM light rocket launchers, and twelve small and medium-sized rockets of various types appeared in the center of the Fulda circular position. Caliber rapid-fire self-propelled antiaircraft guns, plus 43 medium and light armored vehicles and 80 medium and heavy towed and self-propelled mortars with a diameter of [-]MM or more.Although the quantity is quite large, the quality cannot be overestimated. They are all personnel and equipment from the Conservation Army of the Integrated Movement, and their combat effectiveness is far from being on par with the Artillery of the People's Federation.

After thinking about it, Hangou still didn't put his space fighters directly into this circular position, but ordered them and a few Thunderhawk gunboats to find a place to hide in the distant mountains and stand by; the mobile reserve of this position except those four, Apart from the six or eight rounds of armored assault vehicles and armored transport vehicles, only he and the Command Squad, the Astartes in their early teens, were left.Although when you bully a group of backward world natives who don't even have automatic guns, of course you can use only armor and swords to unleash Wushuang, even if you withdraw all other troops, you can guarantee to kill seven in and seven out of the Wang Ting army-but ten It is impossible for a few people to completely prevent the escape of several divisions.

However, for the Wang Ting Army, which had lost all its land fleet and marched lightly to abandon most of its artillery, and now mainly relied on infantry to attack, Fulda was already an extremely difficult nut to crack.

Seeing large and small planes taking off and landing in the Fulda circular position, the Wang Ting army troops in front of them took a breather and swarmed again.They knew that this was the weakest moment for the defenders of Fulda. Every take-off and landing of those transport planes and helicopters strengthened the strength of the defenders. They would only become stronger and harder to fight!

The artillerymen are still busy building positions, and haven't even completed the geodesic work, so they can't help the current battle.

The National Self-Defense Forces participating in this "Thunderstorm" campaign were all armed by Atlas. The commanders and fighters were all equipped with automatic weapons, and the general machine guns were connected to the lower row. Each regiment had a total of twelve 12.7MM large Caliber machine guns and eighteen 82MM mortars, and some regiments also have 120MM mortars.But the 21st National Self-Defense Regiment at the Fulda Gap had lost one-third of their heavy weapons. The only good news was that they destroyed them in time when they gave up their weapons, and did not let Wang Tingjun use these guys to clean up themselves in turn.

These national self-defense troops armed and trained by Atlas are very good in appearance: camouflage training uniforms, tactical vests, composite helmets and even knee pads, elbow goggles and tactical gloves; while the royal army on the opposite side only has military coats and canvas bullet belt.

However, apart from looking at the appearance, nothing can be determined.As the face-to-face enemy, the Wang Ting Army troops are the vanguard of their entire army. They undertake the important task of tearing apart the breakthrough for the entire army of 10,000+ people. They have concentrated a large number of captured automatic weapons and ammunition, and their firepower is not inferior to that of the National Self-Defense Forces; In terms of strength, they were even more imposing as soon as they made a move-they directly threw two regiments in and attacked the two battalions of the National Self-Defense Forces on the first defensive zone!

A large number of automatic weapons make the battle bloody.Although the officers and soldiers of the Wang Ting Army had excellent tactical skills, accurate shooting, effective camouflage, and good use of terrain and features, they still suffered heavy casualties under the fierce firepower.

The National Guard's defensive units were also suffering, with companies suffering casualties at a fairly rapid rate from the enemy's continuous mortar fire, precision machine gun fire, and swarms of hand grenades.

Just as the first-line defense of Fulda's circular position was beginning to waver, what Wang Tingjun feared most happened -

The goddamn Atlas planes are fucking up again!

The "Predator" armed drones that replaced the "armed helicopter" ecological niche of the Army Aviation Corps swarmed like crows seeing carrion. The aviation rockets were dense like a torrential rain, setting the frontier positions on the battlefield like a boiling pot, destroying everyone. The officers and soldiers of the royal court were wrapped in the explosion point and exploded to pieces; the Gatling cannon sprayed out tongues of fire more than one meter long, and the bullet casings fell like hailstones. The bullet stream formed a blazing fire whip hundreds of meters long to harvest life, and the roar Almost suppressing the roar of the aircraft engine.

The officers and soldiers of the royal court, along with the trees and shrubs, fell in pieces as if they were hit by a lawnmower. Wherever the "Predator" passed, the officers and soldiers of the Royal Court who tried to attack the armed drones with automatic rifles or staffs did not even have time to scream, before they turned into flying blood mist, leaving only fragments on the ground.

Under the cover of armed drones, swarms of Valkyrie gunboats roared in, unloading a fully-staffed company of the United Air Assault Infantry for Hangou.

Helicopter landing assault is not a simple matter, especially the current airborne assault launched directly to the war zone, which involves very complex air and ground fire cover and support, as well as coordinated operations between escort units and transport units , but you can always trust the People's League Army in terms of military quality.For example, these guys successfully coordinated the 155th self-propelled howitzer battalion, which was the first to start supporting Fulda nearly a hundred kilometers away, and let its firepower cover their own airborne operations.

Known as "Gunship Knights (Gunship Knight)", the daring gunship pilots of Yigao achieved "not bad in seconds". When the last batch of 155MM shells flying nearly 30 kilometers landed and exploded in less than 20 seconds, the Valkyrie The gunboats passed through the impact zone that had just shaken the sky, broke through the smoke and dust, and quickly landed successfully on the edge of the Fulda circular position.It took less than [-] seconds for the three batches of general-purpose gunboats to unload from the first batch to the last batch.

This gap of less than 1 minute had not even ended before multiple "Predator" armed drones roared in, using cautious and precise aviation rocket firepower to continue to suppress the surrounding areas. As the Valkyrie began to blockade the sky with firepower, At that time, aircraft guns were also used.The landing People's Alliance combat infantry quickly began to move. With their superb technical and tactical qualities and the powerful equipment of the power armor laser rifle, they easily eliminated the surrounding Wang Tingjun infiltration teams, and then regrouped to report to Hangou.

At the same time, multi-purpose aerospace fighter jets and medium and large gunboats began to perform air interdiction missions, completely destroying the eastern and northern parts of the Fulda area from cities to roads, and all Royal Army troops entering the Fulda area began to suffer from bombs.