The Emperor’s Angel of Death

"Is the enemy's offensive that fierce?"

The situation in the battle report was surprising. The enemy's first counterattack was swift and fierce, and there were a large number of Chaos Space Marines in the counterattacking forces. Many units were forced to abandon their initial positions and retreat to the second line of defense, but the red line drawn by the war zone was 40 kilometers. Any further retreat would allow the enemy to directly attack the landing zone, causing a large number of unnecessary casualties to the subsequent landing forces.

Now, Abubakr's 310th Infantry Regiment had become the only unit in the nearby defense area to hold its ground. Although other units were assisting in the defense on their flanks and rear, they had undoubtedly become the forefront of a salient, making them very easy to attract the enemy's attention.

And the instructions from above were for them to hold their ground, and soon there would be troops to replace them.

But Arnie felt that things were not that simple. After being framed by the letter incident, he realized that there were probably many people in the war zone who wanted him dead, and the so-called replacement troops might not arrive on time.

At this time, one of his close retainers offered an opinion.

"Young Master, this is a great opportunity, a heaven-sent stage! Now that everyone is retreating, we are the only ones standing at the front. As long as we hold on, the rumors about you will be self-defeating! The entire war zone will see it then."

But Arnie still had concerns, after all, he had led these soldiers for a long time.

"But the soldiers have been fighting hard continuously, I'm worried"

"Young Master, soldiers can be recruited, as many as you want! There are still many reserve recruits waiting on the ships. These soldiers, after fighting for a long time, will just become veterans. This tactic was very successful, and we can do it like this in the future. Let those cannon fodder stay on the front lines to attract fire, and the elite wait in the rear. When the enemy's attack momentum subsides, then we go up and counterattack!"

"Hmm"

At that time, Arnie did not avoid Olanio when speaking. The new battalion commander listened to everything with no expression on his face. After waiting for the other party to finish speaking, he suddenly opened his mouth:

"Can't you see it yet?"

"What?"

Arnie turned his head in surprise.

Olanio just spat on the ground rudely, a gesture that made Arnie frown in contempt.

"This landing zone was a trap from the beginning. Such an important weapon factory, the Red Corsairs would definitely regard it as their lifeblood. But look at the troops that landed, they are all cannon fodder regiments or regiments of new recruits. There are only a few Astartes main forces."

After hearing this, Arnie picked up the data slate and flipped through it, and found that it was indeed the case. He hadn't really noticed it before. The first batch of landing troops were basically second- or even third-line cannon fodder regiments. No wonder they retreated so easily, it wasn't just because of the Chaos Space Marines.

"Whose trap is it?"

"Who knows, some superior who doesn't take human lives seriously, I guess. The calculation is quite clever. Use a large number of cannon fodder to contain the Red Corsairs' main force. As long as they are still breathing and standing here, the Red Corsairs will have to mobilize a large number of troops to protect their key weapon factory, so that the landing in other areas will not have so much resistance."

Olanio laughed nervously.

"So, it's best not to expect any reinforcements. I guess no one will come in 10 hours."

Arnie was silent for a moment. He was not a fool. He immediately understood what the other party meant. After hesitating for a moment, he whispered:

"Should I retreat then?"

"Young Master, if we retreat like this, it will become a handle for those who want to attack you, and we have just sent the good news up."

Frowning, Arnie walked back and forth in the newly rebuilt command post, and finally looked at Olanio. For some reason, he felt that this special guy might have a way.

"What's your opinion?"

"If we retreat like this, the superiors will definitely make things difficult, but if we just wait for the next wave of enemies, our people won't be enough to compensate. We've already lost thousands of brothers, right?"

Arnie nodded. The entire regiment had indeed suffered more than a thousand casualties, and it hadn't even been an hour.

"The Red Corsairs will definitely send Space Marines again. Then there will be dozens or even hundreds of them. We can't stop them. But now there is a way..."

Olanio walked past the table that was missing a leg, picked up the map buried in the dirt, then shook it and spread it on the table.

"It depends on whether you dare to gamble, Commander."

"What? Which way?"

Olanio's hand swiped across the map, and Arnie's eyes widened immediately.

The other party's meaning was—

Forward!

"You're saying"

"There used to be a fortress there, but it's gone now. And this place has just been subjected to orbital bombardment. The Red Corsairs' troops definitely wouldn't dare to gamble on whether there will be a second time, so they'll probably go around it. They're counterattacking across the board. It's hard to say how many troops are left behind, it's an unknown, but we can gamble on it. If the Red Corsairs didn't leave many troops behind, then the distance from here to that weapon factory is about three hundred to four hundred kilometers. Our regiment's advantage is that we have a lot of vehicles. There are no rivers in the middle to block us, and the orbital bombardment just happened to blast a gap in the mountains. If we march at the limit, we can probably get there in three or four hours."

This plan was bold, very bold, and even in a sense could be called a suicide mission. An unknown cannon fodder regiment was going to attack a heavily guarded armory alone, surrounded by possibly hundreds of thousands, millions of guards.

However, Arnie saw his shining moment of creating a miracle of war like a Solar Lord. Every legendary general in history had made earth-shattering gambles, and it was those life-and-death decisions that ultimately allowed them to be remembered in history.

He dared to come to the battlefield, he was not afraid to gamble!

Arnie slammed his fist on the table, his arm trembling slightly with excitement. For him, this was more exciting than sleeping with a woman.

"Okay! Let's do it!"

"There's one more problem."

Olanio immediately poured a bucket of cold water on the other party.

"During this process, the enemy only needs one aircraft to immediately discover our movements, so we must ensure that the sky is clear during the march."

Arnie thought for a while and said:

"I have a friend in the Naval Aviation Corps, he can probably help me with that."

As for what to do after occupying the armory, Arnie hadn't even thought about it, because all his thoughts were now focused on how to make this gamble with the lives of the entire regiment as a bargaining chip.

Soon, the order was conveyed. The entire army was preparing to depart in 20 minutes. The wounded and dead were transported to the rear. The towed artillery and other equipment that was not convenient to carry were either transported away or directly destroyed. Everyone got on trucks and armored vehicles, but in order to ensure morale, Arnie ordered that the soldiers not be told the real destination. They just thought that troops were coming to relieve them, and they were going to a new station to rest. Everyone was ordered to stay in the vehicles and did not know that they were passing through a bombed area.

Only a few officers knew that the entire regiment was heading straight for the armory!