Warhammer: In the Name of Ashes

Unlike the brutal and bloody scenes at the front of the battlefield, the senior officers in the command post behind the mortal legions have always maintained an almost cold gaze on the battlefield.

In the empire's command sequence, the biggest difference between commanders at the regiment level and those above the regiment level is whether they can break away from their own perspective and turn the casualties on the battlefield into cold numbers.

This kind of ability cannot be developed through acquired training, because the cost is too high. In most cases, such officers have already shown signs of being a lieutenant, and have been noticed by senior officers and promoted.

This is completely different from the standards of the lower-level soldiers of the Imperial Army. Of course, the soldiers prefer "parental" officers who eat and live with them.

In other words, in terms of normal human moral standards and spiritual needs, this is in line with the needs of most events in the entire group's long existence.

But war is an exception. It has been known from the beginning to be anti-human and anti-human. All normal human moral needs are shortcomings here, and all normal behaviors for the survival of human groups are flaws.

In a word, the essence of war is anti-humanity.

Therefore, when the art of war has been studied and studied by the human race for tens of thousands of years, they clearly understand that the logic of the middle and upper levels of war is completely opposite to the logic of the bottom level.

The more you care about the survival of the entire human race, the less you care about the damage to a corner of the world;

The more we want to win a comprehensive victory, the less we can dwell on local costs.

This is the true selection criteria for officers:

The most basic quality requirement for a qualified officer who has been separated from the grassroots front line is that he must be able to look at the overall situation regardless of the gains and losses of a city or a place.

And right now, this is the case for the legion commanders deep behind the positions.

"The 42nd Infantry Regiment is in urgent need of ammunition! Position B9 needs to be replenished!"

"The 33rd Motorized Infantry Regiment has approached the enemy at close range! Found a heavily armored unit! Coordinates are B2, requesting heavy fire support!"

"The 19th Anti-Aircraft Armor Regiment encountered a Tzeentch Daemon teleportation raid at coordinates C15. The target has been eliminated! However, most of the weapons were damaged. Please change the defense!

Information from the front is raining down from the forward headquarters, and the messengers and communication rooms are overloaded with requests for help from all directions.

"Notify the 42nd Regiment that the legion's transportation unit set off five minutes ago. Let them hold on for a while!"

"Notify the 12th Heavy Artillery Regiment, coordinate B2 forward firing, three bases!"

"Notify the 16th Armored Air Defense Regiment and immediately arrive at the C15 position to take over the defense! The 19th Regiment is prepared on the spot and can be replenished at any time!"

After seeing the information on the desktop screen, Colonel Eric, the chief of staff, frowned and quickly issued the order. After writing it, he confirmed it with his fingerprint and encrypted it.

After finishing his work, he raised his head from his seat and inspected the status of the entire hall:

The staff members are updating the situation between the enemy and the enemy on the holographic map based on the latest information feedback at all times.

The mechanical priests and officers of the Munitions Department are also always paying attention to the material stocks and the latest consumption index on the front line, and are ready to send materials from behind the second line to support them at any time.

In the hall of the entire legion headquarters, seemingly chaotic information is being sorted out in an orderly manner and handed over to decision makers for processing.

In contrast to these busy backgrounds, in the dim corner below the holographic map, the commander of the Corps, Major General Horne Chavez, was wearing a black and gold uniform coat, holding his pipe in his mouth and thinking silently in the mist.

Compared with these officers who are busy with specific affairs, the veteran who decides the direction of the entire legion's battle is the one who is under the greatest pressure.

Colonel Kane, the chief political commissar of the regiment, tried to interrupt his thinking several times, but he raised and lowered his hands and finally chose to remain silent.

Feedback from the positions of the forward troops that were in close contact with the enemy was very bad. The positions were easily lost within ten minutes after entering hand-to-hand combat. Although they were later recaptured by a counterattack organized by the regiment's political commissar, whether battlefield discipline needs to be enforced again is A question he has been struggling with.

Killing is easy, just one bullet. But after the command sequence is paralyzed, can the regimental political commissar assume complete tactical command responsibilities?

After a moment of success, what will happen in the next battle? Just rely on the regiment-level political commissar's gun to collapse, form a team, and follow me? The three-axe?

What to do next after you finish swinging? Bullets are always most intimidating when they are not out of the barrel, and the same applies to the battlefield discipline of political commissars.

As a veteran who has become a political commissar of a legion, this is very clear.

So the question is, should he trust the commander at the front? Or to put it more clearly, should he believe in the ability of the legion commander in front of him to recognize people?

Colonel Kane decided to wait. It was true that he had his difficulties, but there was no doubt that the pressure on Horn was greater.

Major General Horn, the commander of the corps, is also making a difficult choice. As Kane knows, he is now facing a seemingly stable, but in fact, rotten situation.

The large forces have already deployed to engage the enemy, and there is no room for retreat and adjustment. However, a defense line of more than ten kilometers with 32,000 troops was too thin. Fortunately, the pressure from Nurgle and Slaanesh was not too great, which gave him a chance to breathe.

This battle mission was beyond specifications from the beginning. Such a narrow defensive front should not have been able to be defended by a mere legion.

However, the war situation is urgent, and soldiers always have no chance to choose their enemies and battlefields.

Regardless of their honor or their sense of mission, as the elite of the advance legion, they are bound to take on such a difficult task.

The extremely large front line and the larger than expected number of enemies were temporarily notified before the airborne landing. In desperation, they could only activate the worst plan among the emergency plans:

Minefields were deployed in the first-line positions to delay time, while the existence of the second-line troops was actually prepared for elastic defense based on subsequent counterattacks.

As for the third-line troops? Sorry, Horn doesn't have a third line. If you take a step back, it will be a ruin.

A clever woman cannot make a meal without straw, and this principle also applies to the 40K universe. The current situation is really difficult for this old man who is over fifty years old.

what to do? what to do?

Major General Horn stood up again and looked at the holographic screen. He examined the intertwined red and blue sides on the battlefield situation map.

The six infantry regiments in front have already engaged the enemy. The five air defense and armor regiments have too few people and are purely supported by functional equipment.

So excluding the departments directly under the legion, Horn's reserve troops only have three integrated regiments.

Once thrown in in advance, it was like a stud on the gambling table, which meant that he led the entire army to play a gamble with more losses and less wins. What's the cost? What happens if you lose? Horn didn't dare to think about it, and he didn't want to think about it.

The chief of staff and political commissar were also aware of his actions. They understood that the decision the top leader of the legion was about to make would affect the fate of the entire legion.

The entire command hall was affected by the decision Major General Horn was about to make. Everyone's eyes followed his figure, and the atmosphere became quiet and anxious.

At this time, on the huge clock on his left, only 49 minutes had elapsed before the next airborne reinforcements.

Second update, please vote.