"Sir, our 7th detachment now has 4 non-commissioned officers and 39 soldiers, of which 17 are wounded who have basically or completely lost their combat effectiveness, and the rest are wounded."

As the senior non-commissioned officer was saying this, two large-caliber shells fell one after another with a piercing scream, and this huge explosion brought not only the sensory impact of shaking the ground and shaking the mountains, but also the pain of making people roll over and the blood in the whole body bursting, and those who were closer to the landing point of the shells were more likely to faint at the moment of the explosion, or even die directly.

The aftermath of the explosion dissipated, and the senior non-commissioned officer hurriedly added: "The situation I said was calculated before you came, and about ten minutes have passed, and during this period, it is inevitable that there will be new changes......

Weiss patted him on the shoulder, a heavy expression of understanding.

It is very likely that this kind of high-power artillery shell just now came from the turret-type twin-mounted artillery that he had seen in the enemy's fixed position earlier, but unfortunately he only brought a few dozen people to rush into the position at that time, if there were hundreds or thousands of people, he had every chance to seize control of the position from the enemy, and then use the artillery and ammunition there to bombard the enemy, and that kind of battle seemed to be beyond the scope of guerrilla warfare - with the change of strength and environment, it is certainly feasible for guerrilla warfare to turn into a war of annihilation and a battle against fortified positions, but it is only in the guerrilla advance stage, None of the conditions are ripe enough.

The situation was bad enough to be continuously bombarded by enemy heavy artillery, but it was not the worst. When Weiss poked his head out of the trench to observe the situation on the battlefield so that he could make his next decision, he saw the last thing he wanted to see: the Norman battleship was dispatched!

Previously under the cover of morning fog, even if the Normans sent out warships, they could not distinguish between friend and foe, and they could collide with each other if they were not careful. Now, the morning fog had cleared, and although Slane was still shrouded in a lot of smoke, it no longer affected the Norman ships from cruising around the perimeter and attacking those targets they could identify.

What a desperate situation!

Weiss let out a silent lament. He saw two Norman warships flying over Slane, the larger one was a cruiser-class steel behemoth armed with powerful main guns and a sizable number of secondary guns, and the smaller one was also a threatening first-class frigate.

The anti-aircraft weapons in the field positions here have been completely destroyed - and even if they remain, few fighters in the 7th detachment know how to operate the artillery. Now, if you continue to hold your position, sooner or later you will be bombarded into pulp by the Normans' naval guns, and you will leave the position and retreat with all your might, how can all kinds of small and medium-caliber weapons on the Norman battleships be vegetarian? With the heart of death, it doesn't matter how to choose, but if you want to survive, it seems that the only way to go is to raise the white flag.

Weiss took a deep breath and said to the senior non-commissioned officer beside him: "It's a pity, this beautiful battle, but there is no happy ending. ”

Seeing Weiss's mood change 180 degrees, the senior non-commissioned officer also poked his head out to take a look, and his face immediately became even worse than Weiss. He took a deep breath and said in a trembling voice: "We have killed three or four hundred enemies in front of each other, and to tell you the truth, we have made a qualified contribution to the Federation and the spirit of freedom that we have sworn to defend, and we have nothing to regret. As for our family and loved ones, they have been expecting us to return safely, and this time, we are afraid that we will disappoint and grieve them. ”

After speaking, he took out a small flat metal jug from his breast pocket, unscrewed it, and a strong smell of wine suddenly diffused. He handed the pot to Weiss: "Take a sip!" Taste some of the strongest wines in our North. ”

Weiss took a sip, his mouth was spicy, he choked, and after swallowing, a warm current suddenly rose in his abdomen.

The senior non-commissioned officer was not as polite as Weiss, he raised his head and took a big sip, roared "happy", and then took another sip, actually drank all the wine in this pot, then covered it, put it back in his breast pocket, and patted it. Perhaps stimulated by alcohol, or unwilling to fate, he grabbed his gun and stood up, and stretched out his hand to Weiss: "Sir Clumber-Haysen, I admire you, and I admire all those who insist on resisting behind enemy lines, they can die on the battlefield, and I die without regrets!" ”

Weiss took his calloused hand and followed. A veteran non-commissioned officer of the Union Army, he has been in the army for at least eight or nine years. Even though the federal army has such and such problems in its system and mechanism, and goes to the battlefield, especially when facing life and death, the character forged by military career is stronger and more determined than that of recruits who are called up in wartime.

"Perhaps, it's not time to say death yet...... If you don't fight, how do you know you can't do it? Weiss said as he loaded his guns.

The senior non-commissioned officer shouted repeatedly: "Assemble in all groups, take the wounded, and prepare to break through!" ”

Before the Norman ships were in battle, the dark clouds had already changed the situation on the battlefield: the fighting spirit and confidence of the raiders were shaken, and the morale of the Normans was greatly boosted. At this turning point, Weiss led the surviving soldiers of the 7th detachment, and under the response of the officers and soldiers of the 14th detachment, they began a desperate run. At the beginning, the Normans were slightly relaxed in their thinking because of the boost in morale, and there was a brief stagnation in suppressing firepower. Taking advantage of this fleeting opportunity, the fighters managed to withdraw from their positions and enter the unremarkable field at a very small cost. Here, too, there were many remnants of the Normans, and the weeds showed their full autumn colors, and through the fields, they reached the sandy road, where most of the soldiers of the 14th detachment held up a valuable lifeline to cover the retreat.

This time, as he walked through the fields, Weiss had little to deal with the Norman soldiers, and from time to time he slowed down and beckoned his companions while on alert: "Go, go, go!" ”

Seeing that the dirt road was close at hand, the Normans fired several red flares into the field on the side—because of the different composition of the incendiary agent used, their red color was red and yellow, which was clearly different from the red flares used by the Union Army. As soon as the red flare fell, Weiss saw the flickering guns on the Norman battleship, knew that the most dangerous moment had come, and hurriedly shouted, "Get down!" Take cover! Gunfire! ”

Before the last word could be spoken, the terrible scream had already hit. In the field, the retreaters have no trenches to hide, even if they lie on the ground, they are threatened by the impact of explosions and various shrapnel fragments at any time, and those Norman soldiers who have not died and have not withdrawn are also in a desperate situation of dying like them at this moment, some people can't stand this kind of physical and mental double destruction, and they get up and run wildly, and some people are more afraid and dare not move, and they lie on the ground tightly until they die.

The enemy's cruiser was condescending, and it was only a matter of time before the field was razed with artillery fire, and what was even worse was that it had three sets of twin main guns with a firing range, which could be bombarded in turns, plus more than a dozen medium-caliber guns, there was almost no gap in artillery fire for Weiss and them to get up and run quickly.

If you die like this, you can be regarded as dying on the battlefield, and you have no regrets......

Weiss waited for Death to swing his scythe, but once again, a miraculous fate befell the brave men: the cannon fire from the sky suddenly stopped, and the two Norman warships sounded a terrible anti-aircraft siren, and then the Normans sounded the sirens in various anti-aircraft positions in Slien.

Weiss shook his head full of sand, got up and looked, only to see a flock of blue-gray warhawks whizzing down from the sky and attacking the Norman warships.

The senior non-commissioned officer, who was also alive, stood up excitedly and shouted hysterically: "Oh my God, it's our flying unit!" They're coming! ”

Weiss couldn't believe his eyes, knowing that the kestrel carrying the letter had left here for more than half an hour. Even if it had relayed the report back as soon as it had left the Norman radio jamming zone, how could it have been enough time for the Union Flying Forces to take off from various airfields and travel hundreds of miles to get here?

The planes attacking the Norman warships in front of you have a slightly different livery from the usual Federal Flying Units. Weiss suddenly realized a plausible possibility: knowing that the guerrilla advance party would attack Slane under the cover of the morning fog, the Federation deployed flying carriers near the battle line, their positions farther forward than the field airfields, and the speed of sorties of carrier-based aircraft, all of which combined to fly over Slien in such a short time. When he was recuperating in the hospital before, he heard a few words from Nikolai's mouth, and he roughly knew that such an elite aviation force existed. Compared with land-based fighters, the carrier-based aircraft carried by the Federation Flying Aircraft are slightly smaller, but the bombs they carry do not reduce the size, but ensure the attack performance at the expense of range. In terms of air combat, as long as the load is lost, these carrier-based aircraft are lighter and more agile than land-based fighters...... The billowing smoke in the city of Slane restricted the observation and targeting of the remaining anti-aircraft fire, and also adversely affected the air raids of the Union warplanes. As a result, the first wave of air raids and the air defense of the Normans quickly became a fight between fighters and battleships.

The development of this battle situation is like a roller coaster, bringing unbearable excitement to people's hearts. Weiss did not forget the situation at this moment, and hurriedly called to the soldiers: "Everyone, move forward quickly!" ”

The arrival of a large group of Union fighters drew the attention of the Normans from the ground to the sky - the lives of a few hundred raiders, how could two flying warships or even Slyon's aviation facilities be important, and almost all the artillery that the Normans could use raised their muzzles to shoot at the air. In this way, the survivors of the temporarily forgotten 7th detachment supported each other through the journey that almost killed them. When he arrived at the dirt road, Weiss let the wounded withdraw first, and he took some soldiers of the 14th detachment to act as the rearguard. In the sunlight, he unfolded the trunk of a tree that had been blown off by the barricade, silently watching the battle that had shifted its center of gravity. Those blue-gray Federation fighters seemed to be a group of elegant battle elves, sometimes diving at high speed, sometimes spiraling and rising, sometimes dropping bombs, sometimes strafing. In contrast, the two Norman warships became bulls played by the matadors, and they desperately resisted, and the large and small guns kept spitting out tongues of fire, but they still could not change the fate of being bombed one after another. The cruiser with a smaller tonnage, neither the armor protection nor the hull structure, could withstand the attack of a heavy bomb, maybe just one hit, the bow and bridge were already on fire, and the cruiser was more solid, and two or three shots were not necessarily fatal, but it didn't take a long time, and it was one step closer to the end of destruction.